Psalms 16

Psalms 16:1-7

This psalm has something of David in it, but much more of Christ, to whom alone some points of it are applicable, Acts xii. 24.—xiii. 36. and of whom the whole may be well interpreted. 1. It contains the language of joint affection, whether of David or of Christ, his delight in God and his people, and thanks for his displays he enjoyed, ver. 1—7. 2. The confidence of God’s favour in his sufferings, ver. 8. 3. The assurance of a speedy and glorious rejuvenation, ver. 9—11.

Michtam of David.

1. PRESERVE me, O God: * for in thee do I put my trust. 2. O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: * my goodness extended not to thee: 3. But to the saints that are in the earth, and to * the excellent * in whom is all my delight. 4. Their forrows shall be multiplied that * hasten after another God: their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, * nor take up their names into my lips. 5. The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup: thou maintained my lot. 6. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, * I have a goodly heritage. 7. I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: * my reins also instruct me in the night-seasons.

The title of this psalm is Michtam, interpreted golden, as containing such displays of the sufferings and glory of Christ, as deserved to be recorded in letters of gold.

1. The psalm opens with the prayer of faith. Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust; as David professes ever to do, in opposition to all his enemies; and as the Lord Jesus did, when in the days of his flesh he offered up supplications and prayers, and was heard, in that he feared, and trusted on God, Heb. v. 7. Now, The prayer of faith is ever effectual.

2. He solemnly devotes himself to God. O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord; and therefore as such, there was a sure foundation for faith: as our God, we may ever safely trust him with all the concerns of body and soul. This may be well applied to the Redeemer; who, as possessing a human soul, as well as flesh, is in that respect inferior to the Father; and therefore, as mediator, avouches the Lord for his God.

3. He expresses his humble sense of his own goodness; it extended not to thee, to make God his debtor, or to add to his happiness; but to the saints that are in the earth, who felt the exercise of it; and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight; and

therefore I am desirous to serve them in every good word and work. Of Christ this may also be said, whose obedience and suffering, however infinitely extensive in their blessed influence to the sons of men, added nothing to the self-sufficient God, to whom the righteousness of his Son brought no gain; nor could our everlasting ruin have occasioned any loss. And though in the mediatorial transactions, there is a glorious display made of the wisdom, grace, and righteousness of God; yet had they never appeared in this way, they would have, notwithstanding, eternally excited the same in him; the good will is wholly to us, whom his grace sanctifies, and in whom he is pleased to express his delight. Note, (1.) Every redeemed soul is a saint of God, and bound by his very relations to him, to seek us he like him. (2.) They are truly great and excellent, who most resemble the glorious pattern of all greatness and excellence. (3.) The higher a soul advances in holiness, the humbler thought he hath of himself in the views of the pure and all-sufficient God. (4.) Like loves like; they who delight us God, delight in his image where it appears. (5.) Though we can add nothing to God by our good works, yet they are profitable to men; and when done in faith and love, the Redeemer declares he will accept them as kindness done to himself.

4. He declares the misery of idolaters, and professes his own renunciation of their ways. Their fortress shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: these vanities will both disappoint their hopes, and provoke the indignation of Jehovah. Or the words may be considered as applicable to the Jews, who rejected Christ, the word God being not in the original, who hides after another, rejected the true, and so eagerly sought raise Messiah’s, which hath proved the cause of so much misery to them. Their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer: such sacrifices as bloody men offered; or as the Gentiles, who fought to placate their denies with human sacrifices; nor take their arms in my lips, as abhorring them. Refer it to Christ, and it signifies the abolition of all the typical sacrifices, whereas in much blood of beasts was fixed; now useless by the oblation of himself once for all, and to be no more mentioned or accounted of. Note, They who have the blood of Jesus to plead, need tests no other sacrifice or oblation.

5. He cleaves to God as his happy and enduring portion. The Lord is the portion of my inheritance, and of my cup: his love is my richest treasure, his favour my sweetest enjoyment. The maintained my lot, maketh it safe and abiding, to that the world cannot take it away. Which is also most applicable to the Redeemer, whose meat and drink it was to do the Father’s will; happy in constant communion with him, and sure to see his lot maintained, his saints and redeemed ones preferred and kept as the reward of his soul, in which he should be everlastingly satisfied. Note, (1.) The love of God is the best portion; compared with that, all things before are doing and loss. (2.) They who live by faith, find consolations in their cup, more cheating than wine. (3.) The present comfort God bellows, is an earnest of the everlasting bless he hath in thee for his people. (4.) They who have once truly taken God for their portion, may consistently be assured he will keep them from falling, and preserve them for his everlasting kingdom.

6. He rejoices in the blessed portion God had bestowed on him. The best are fallen unto me in pleasant places; abiding to the measuring of ground; yea, I have a goodly heritage, outwardly in temporal blessing; but especially in the enjoyment of God, his chief good. Christ’s saints are his glorious heritage, and they are pleasant in his eyes, beautiful in his blood and righteousness, as the curtains of Satanes; and adorned with the graces of his spirit, as a robe of wrought gold. Note, (1.) If we have God for our portion, we may well be content, not envy others their greatness, power, and assurance, he is far better. (2.) The heritage of the saints is fixed not by lure, but by the eternal decree of God; and its excellence can only be fully known when we shall enter our glorious rest above: and this, though distant, faith brings near, and faith, I have, because I believe.

7. He ascribes the praise of all to God. I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel, to chuse this happy portion: my reins also instruct me in the night-seasons. His inmost thoughts, under the Divine influence, when on his bed, mule upon God; both instructing him in the blessing he possessed, and the obligations thence arising to love and serve so gracious a matter: on Jesus the Spirit of needless life. so: a: reflect, and whale nights be spent in meditation and prayer to God. May the same Spirit of wisdom and counsel rest on my soul; and taught by this day and night, may I be led in the way the Lord would have me to go.

8. • I have set the LORD always before me: because * he is at my right hand, * I shall not be moved. 9. Therefore my heart is glad, and * my glory rejoices: my flesh also shall rest in hope. 10. For * thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thy holy One to see corruption. 11. Thou wilt shew me the part of life: * in thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Psalms 16:8

—11. If it be asked, as the eunuch did, of whom fenneth the prophet, this of himself, or of some other person? we have an expert’s answer, All. xi. 25. where the words are particularly applied to our divine Redeemer.

1. They express his confidence in God, and the support derived from him to go through the arduous tofs affigned him: I have yet the Lord always before me; his power and faithfulness; because he is at my right hand to strengthen me, I shall not be moved, unworthstanding all the fiasces of my enemies, the toments before me, at which the humanity fholders, and the pains of hell which leave my soul, whilst my body agnance on the tree. Though Jelsey prayed the cup might pass from him, he was content to drink us, and triumphantly cried, It is finished, when he gave up the ghoff.

2. They declare his joy in the God of his salvation, under the most dark and dismal dispensation: when his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, and his body laid low in the grave, there was reviving hope in the end; therefore my heart is glad, and my glory, my tongue, as appears All. xi. 26. rejoiceth in hope; in turn and certain hope of God’s glory being displayed, and his people’s salvation accomplished by these sufferings in their stead. Note. When the body is most afflicted, believing hope can make the soul triumph. My flesh will shall rest in hope, even when my body is lying in the dust, and my enemies triumphantly, as if they had complained their compact, still I shall rule, find the clouds of the valies there! when, in expectation of the glory which shall follow. Two chief causes of this joy are here adopted: (1.) His victory over death by a freely and glorious resurrection. For this will not leave my soul in hell: not the place of the damned, for thither Christ never went, but that state of death in which he lay; or the place of separate spirits, where the souls of the faithful abide, as is usually believed, till the resurrection-day: neither suffer thy holy God to be corruption. The body of Christ being pure as his soul, and joined inseparable with the divine person of the Son, was a holy thing; not suffered, as our mind loofers, in journey in the dust; for on the morning of the third day he broke the hands of death, of which it was impossible he should be holden, and not the conqueror of death and hell, to the confusion of his amazed foes, and to the comfort of his dejected disciples. (2.) His attention into heaven, and reigning in glory everlasting. This will show me the path of life; not only raise me from death temporal, but exalt me also to his eternal: that life in glory, where in thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Confessions unattractable, and dignity transcendent, reward the sufferings of the glorified Jesus. Note. (1.) Where Jesus found support in his sufferings, there may we; for every member of his body mythical can say, thy God is my God. (2.) When we are putting off our bodies in the dust; the resurrection of Jesus is the support and comfort of the dying believers; for if we have been planned with it in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection, and in members of his body, because he lives, we shall live also. (3.) The lively prospects of approaching glory may well make us fit loose to all the joys of lusts, and reconcile us to all the sufferings we may be called to: our light afflictions are but for a moment; but a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory approaches; earthly joys are poor and transitory, but the pleasures at God’s right hand are pure without allay, and perpetual as the everlasting spring from whence they flow. Be their my happy portion!