Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings (part 1 of 2)

Whole Psalm.—The righteous are preserved in Christ with a special preservation and in a peculiar safety. In the thirty-seventh Psalm this point is excellently and at large handled, both by direct proof, and by answer to all the usual objections against their safety. That they shall be preserved is affirmed, verses 3, 17, 23, 25, 32. The objections answered are many.

Objection 1.—Wicked men flourish.

Solution.—A righteous man should never grieve at that, for “they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.” Verse 2.

Object. 2.—Righteous men are in distress.

Sol.—Verse 6.—The night of their adversity will be turned into the light of prosperity; and as surely as they can believe when it is night that it shall be day, so surely may they be persuaded when crosses are upon them, that comfort and deliverance shall come.

Object. 3.—But there are great plots laid against the righteous, and they are pursued with great malice, and their intended ruin is come almost to the very issue.

Sol.—Verses 12-15.—The Lord sees all the plots of wicked men, and laughs at their spiteful and foolish malice; while they are busy to destroy the righteous, and hope to have a day against them, “The Lord seeth that their own day is coming upon them, even a day of destruction, a day of great judgment and eternal misery;” their bow shall be broken, and the sword that they have drawn shall enter into their own heart.

Object. 4.—But the just have but small means.

Sol.—Verses 16, 17.—“A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.”

Object. 5.—Heavy times are like to befall them.

Sol.—Verse 19.—“They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall have enough.”

Object. 6.—But the wicked wax fatter and fatter, and they prevail in vexing the righteous.

Sol.—Verse 20.—Indeed the wicked are fat, but it is but “the fat of lambs,” their prosperity shall soon melt; and as they be like smoke in vexing the godly, so shall they be like smoke in vanishing away.

Object. 7.—But the righteous do fall.

Sol.—Verse 24.—Though he do fall, yet he falls not finally, nor totally, for he “is not utterly cast down;” and besides, there is an upholding providence of God in all the falls of the righteous.

Object. 8.—We see some wicked men that do not so fall into adversity, but rather are in prosperity to their dying days.

Sol.—Verse 28.—Though they do, yet “their seed shall be cut off.”

Object. 9.—But some wicked men are strong yet, and in their seed spread also.

Sol.—Verses 35, 36.—Note also that these “spreading bay-trees” many times “soon pass away;” and they and their houses are sometimes “utterly cut off.”

Object. 10.—But upright men are under many and long crosses.

Sol.—Verse 37.—Yet, “his end is peace.”

Object. 11.—But nobody stands for the godly when they come into question.

Sol.—Verses 39, 40.—“Their salvation is of the Lord;” he is their strength, he will help them and deliver them, etc.

But if we would be thus delivered, observe: 1. That we must not unthankfully fret at God’s providence (verse 1). 2. We must “trust in the Lord and do good” (verse 3). 3. We must “delight ourselves in the Lord,” and not place our contentment on earthly things (verse 4). 4. We must “commit our ways to God” (verse 5). 5. We must get patience and humble affections (verses 7-11). 6. We must be of upright conversation (verse 14). 7. We must be merciful (verses 25, 26). 8. We must “speak righteous things,” and get “the law into our hearts” (verses 30, 31). 9. We must “keep our way,” and “wait on God,” and not use ill means.—Nicholas Byfield.

Whole Psalm.—This Psalm may well be styled, The good man’s cordial in bad times: a sovereign plaister for the plague of discontent: or, a choice antidote against the poison of impatience—Nathanael Hardy, in a Funeral Sermon, 1649.

Whole Psalm.—This Psalm very much reminds one in its construction of the sententious and pithy conciseness of the Book of Proverbs. It does not contain any prayer, nor any direct allusion to David’s own circumstances of persecution or distress. It is rather the utterance of sound practical wisdom and godliness from the lips of experience and age, such as we might suppose an elder of the church, or a father of a family, to let fall as he sat with his household gathered around him, and listening to his earnest and affectionate admonition.—Barton Bouchier.

Whole Psalm.—The present Psalm is one of the alphabetical Psalms, it is called “Providentiæ speculum,” by Tertullian; “Potio contra murmur,” by Isidore; “Vestis piorum,” by Luther.—Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 1.—“Fret,” or, inflame not, burn not thyself with anger or grief.—John Diodati.

Verse 1.—“Neither be thou envious,” etc. Queen Elizabeth envied the milk-maid when she was in prison; but if she had known what a glorious reign she should have had afterwards for forty-four years, she would not have envied her. And as little needeth a godly man, though in misery, to envy a wicked man in the ruff of all his prosperity and jollity, considering what he hath in hand, much more what he hath in hope.—John Trapp.

Verse 1.—Would it not be accounted folly in a man that is heir to many thousands per annum that he should envy a stage-player, clothed in the habit of a king, and yet not heir to one foot of land? who, though he have the form, respect, and apparel of a king or nobleman, yet he is, at the same time, a very beggar, and worth nothing? Thus, wicked men, though they are arrayed gorgeously, and fare deliciously, wanting nothing, and having more than heart can wish, yet they are but only possessors: the godly Christian is the heir. What good doth all their prosperity do them? It does but hasten their ruin, not their reward. The ox that is the labouring ox is the longer lived than the ox that is put into the pasture; the very putting of him there doth but hasten his slaughter; and when God puts the wicked men into fat pastures, into places of honour and power, it is but to hasten their ruin. Let no man, therefore, fret himself because of evil doers, nor be envious at the prosperity of the wicked; for the candle of the wicked shall be put into everlasting darkness; they shall soon be cut off, and wither as a green herb.—Ludovic de Carbone, quoted by John Spencer.

Verse 2.—“Cut down like the grass,” with a scythe, and even at one blow.—Thomas Wilcocks.

Verse 2.—“Wither.” O bitter word, which will make the ears of them that hear it to tingle! O sentence intolerable, which depriveth sinners of all good things, and bringeth them to all woe! The Lord sometime accursed the fig tree, and immediately, not only the leaves, but also the body and root were wholly withered: even so, that fearful curse of the last day shall be no less effectual; for on whomsoever it falleth it shall so scorch them, and shall so make them destitute of God’s grace, that they shall never more be able to do, to speak, think, or to hope for any good thing.—Thomas Tymme.

Verse 2.—“Green herb.” We cannot gather riper fruit of patience from any tree than is found upon the low shrubs of man’s short life; for if that fretting canker of envy at the prosperity of the wicked have overrun thy mind, a malady from which the saints have no shelter to be freed, out of this apothecary’s shop take antidote; either thy time is short to behold it, or theirs shorter to enjoy it: “they are set in slippery places, and are suddenly destroyed,” Psalm lxxiii. 18; “They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave,” Job xxi. 13; “They shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.”—Edmund Layfield’s Sermon, entitled “The Mappe of Man’s Mortality and Vanity,” 1630.

Verse 2.—Sometimes the wicked, like the green herb, wither in their spring, they fall in their rise, they perish in the beginnings of their mischievous designs; but if they do come to a full growth, they grow but to harvest, the fit season of their cutting off.—Robert Mossom.

Verse 3.—Note well the double precept “trust” and “do.” This is the true order, the two must go together, the one produces, the other proves; the promise is to both.—C. H. S.

Verse 3.—“So shalt thou dwell in the land,” etc. Thou shalt have a settlement, a quiet settlement, and a maintenance, a comfortable maintenance: “Verily thou shalt be fed;” some read it, Thou shalt be fed by faith, as the just are said to live by faith, and it is good living, good feeding upon the promises. “Verily thou shalt be fed,” as Elijah in the famine, with what is needful for thee. God himself is a shepherd, a feeder to all those that trust in him, Psalm xxiii. 1.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 3.—“So shalt thou dwell in the land,” etc. The land of Canaan was considered as the sum of earthly, and the type of heavenly felicity: to be provided for in the Lord’s land, and there to dwell under his protection, near his ordinances, and among his people, was all that the genuine Israelite could desire.—Thomas Scott (1747-1821) in loc.

Verse 3.—“Thou shalt be fed.” A manner of speech taken from cattle feeding securely, under the conduct and keeping of a good shepherd.—Henry Ainsworth.

Verse 3.—“Thou shalt be fed.” Fed in plenty.—Thomas Secker (Archbishop), 1768.

Verse 3.—Fed in security.—John Parkhurst.

Verse 4.—Note thy part and God’s part. Do thou “delight,” and he will “give.” C. H. S.

Verse 4.—How much grace and love breathes in these words, “Delight thyself also in the Lord!” Trust in him was recommended before, and now, this being added also, how plain is it that your ease and rest is the thing designed! Is it fit to receive so much kindness with neglect? Again, he delights in you: I speak to such of whom this may be supposed. And it is indefinitely said, “His delights were with the sons of men,” Prov. viii. 31. Think what he is, and what you are; and at once, both wonder and yield. And what else have you to delight in? what thing will you name that shall supply the place of GOD, or be to you in the stead of him? Moreover, who should delight in him but you—his friends, his sons, those of his own house? Think what life and vigour it will infuse into you, and that “the joy of the Lord will be your strength,” Nehem. viii. 10. How pleasantly will you hold on your course, and discharge all other duties of this your present state! You must serve him. Dare you think of throwing off his yoke? How desirable is it then to take delight in him whom I must serve; which only makes that service acceptable to him, and easy to myself! Further, this is a pleasure none can rob you of; a joy that cannot be taken from you. Other objects of your delight are vanishing daily. Neither men nor devils can ever hinder you delighting in God, if your hearts be so inclined. And were you never brought to take pleasure in any person or thing to which you had a former aversion? One that had wronged you might yet possibly win you by after kindness. Give a reason why you should be more difficult towards the blessed God that never wronged you, and whose way towards you hath constantly imported so much good will!

And consider that your condition on earth is such as exposes you to many sufferings and hardships, which, by your not delighting in him, you can never be sure to avoid (for they are things common to men), but which, by your delighting in him, you may be easily able to endure. Besides all this, seriously consider that you must die. You can make no shift to avoid that. How easily tolerable and pleasant will it be to think, then, of going to him with whom you have lived in a delightful communion before! And how dreadful to appear before him to whom your own heart shall accuse you to have been (against all his importunities and allurements) a disaffected stranger!—John Howe’s “Treatise of Delight in God.”

Verse 4.—We have in the former part extended the meaning of the words “Delight thyself in the Lord,” beyond what they seem at first sight literally to signify; so as not to understand them merely as requiring that very single act of delight to be immediately and directly terminated on God himself; but to take them as comprehending all the sum of all holy and religious converse with God, i.e., as it is delightful or as it is seasoned (intermingled, and as it were besprinkled) with delight; and upon the same account, of all our other converse, so far as it is influenced by religion. And I doubt not, to such as shall attentively have considered what hath been said, it will be thought very reasonable to take them in that latitude; whereof the very letter of the text (as may be alleged for further justification hereof) is most fitly capable. For the particle which we read in the Lord, hath not that signification alone, but signifies also with or by, or besides, or before, or in presence of, as if it had been said, “Come and sit down with God, retire thyself to him, and solace thyself in the delights which are to be found in his presence and converse, in walking with him, and transacting thy course as before him, and in his sight.” As a man may be said to delight himself with a friend that puts himself under his roof, and, besides personal converse with himself, freely enjoys the pleasure of all the entertainments, accomodations, and provisions which he is freely willing to communicate with him, and hath the satisfaction which a sober person would take in observing the rules and order of a well-governed house.—John Howe.

Verse 4.—“He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” It shall be unto thee even as thou wilt. It is said of Luther that he could have what he would of Almighty God. What may not a favourite, who hath the royalty of his prince’s care, obtain of him?—John Trapp.

Verse 4.—“The desires of thine heart.” All the desires of this spiritual seed are of the nature of this seed, namely, substantial, and shall meet with substance. All the desires of natural man, even after God, after Christ, after righteousness, shall burn and perish with him (for they are not the truth, nor do they come from the truth, nor can they reach to the truth;) but all the desires of this spirit shall live with the Spirit of God, in rest and satisfaction for ever.—John Pennington, 1656.

Verse 4.—The desires of God and the desires of the righteous, agree in one; they are of one mind in their desires.—John Bunyan.

Verse 5.—“Commit thy way unto the Lord,” etc. When we bear the burden of our own affairs ourselves, and are chastised with anxiety and want of success, and with envying the ungodly who prosper better than we do, the best remedy is first to do our duty, as we are enabled in the use of the means, then cast the care of the success over on God, as the ploughman doth when he hath harrowed his land; and let the burden of it rest on God, and let us not take it off him again, but put our mind to rest, resolved to take the harvest in good part, as he shall send it.—David Dickson.

Verse 5.—“Commit thy way unto the Lord,” is rendered by the Vulgate, Revela viam Domino, reveal thy way; and by St. Ambrose, understood of revealing our sins to God. Indeed, since is it impossible to cover, why should we not discover, our sins? Conceal not that which God knoweth already, and would have thee to make known. It is a very ill office to be the devil’s secretary. Oh, break thy league with Satan by revealing his secrets, thy sins, to God.—Nathaniel Hardy.

Verse 5.—“Commit thy way unto.” Marg. and Heb., Roll thy way upon—as one who lays upon the shoulder of one stronger than himself a burden which he is not able to bear.—William De Burgh, D.D., in “A Commentary on the Book of Psalms. Dublin: 1860.”

Verse 5.—Note the double again, “Commit” and “trust.”—C. H. S.

Verse 5.—“He shall bring it to pass.” When a hard piece of work is put into the hand of an apprentice for the first assay of his skill, the beholders are justly afraid of a miscarriage in his young and unexperienced hand; but when the worker is an old master of craft, none are afraid but his cunning hand can act again what so oft it hath wrought to the contentment of all the beholders. Were our God a novice in the great art of governing the world, and of the church in the bosom thereof; had he to this day never given any proof of his infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, in turning about the most terrible accidents to the welfare and joy of his saints; we might indeed be amazed whenever we feel ourselves sinking in the dangers wherein the practices of our enemies oft do plunge us over head and ears; but the Lord having given in times past so many documents of his uncontroverted skill and most certain will to bring about all human affairs, as to his own glory, so to the real good of all that love him, it would be in us an impious and unexcusable uncharitableness to suspect the end of any work which he hath begun.—Robert Baylie’s Sermon before the House of Commons, 1643.

Verses 5, 7:—

To God thy way commending, Trust him whose arm of might, The heavenly circles bending, Guides every star aright: The winds, and clouds, and lightning, By his sure hand are led; And he will, dark shades brightening, Show thee what path to tread.

Although to make God falter, The powers of hell combine, One jot they cannot alter Of his all-wise design: All projects and volition Of his eternal mind, Despite all opposition, Their due fulfilment find.

No more, then, droop and languish, Thou sorrow-stricken soul; E’en from the depths of anguish, Whose billows o’er thee roll, Thy Father’s hand shall draw thee; In hope and patience stay, And joy will soon shed o’er thee An ever brightening ray.

All faithless murmurs leaving, Bid them a last good night, No more thy vexed soul grieving, Because things seem not right: Wisely his sceptre wielding, God sits in regal state, No power to mortals yielding, Events to regulate.

Trust with a faith untiring In thine Omniscient King, And thou shalt see admiring What he to light will bring. Of all thy griefs, the reason Shall at the last appear; Why now denied a season, Will shine in letters clear.

Then raise thine eyes to heaven, Thou who canst trust his frown; Thence shall thy meed be given, The chaplet and the crown; Thy God the palm victorious In thy right hand shall plant. Whilst thou, in accents glorious, Melodious hymns shall chant.

Paul Gerhard (1606-1676), translated by Frances Elizabeth Cox, in “Hymns from the German,” 1864.

Verse 6.—“He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light,” etc. If thou shouldst be accused as a man of evil designs, let not that trouble thee neither: for though thy fame may be obscured for a time by calumnies and slanders, as the sun is by mists and clouds, yet as that scatters them all at last, so shall thy integrity appear, and shine as bright as the sun at noonday.—Symon Patrick.

Verse 7.—“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.” There are two words in the original, which express the privilege and the duty of resting on Christ: one implies such a state of acquiescence, as silences and clamours of conscience, and composes the perturbation of the spirit; the other signifies the refreshment and repose of a weary pilgrim, when he arrives at the end of his journey, and is settled for life in a secure, commodious, plentiful habitation.—James Hervey.

Verse 7.—“Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.” Take the case of one who, with a load above his strength, has been toiling some steep and broken path, when suddenly he finds it lifted off and transferred to another whose strength he knows to be more than equal to the task, and in whose sympathy he can securely trust. What would his feeling be but one of perfect rest, and calm reliance, and joyous freedom, as they went on their way together? And such is the blessedness of rolling our care upon the Lord—in weakness we are resting on superior strength, in perplexity and doubt we are resting on superior wisdom, in all times of trial and hard service we can stay ourselves on the assurance of his perfect sympathy. The literal meaning of the word “rest,” is “be silent” towards the Lord. With the eye fixed on him let all unbelieving thoughts be stilled, such thoughts as rise and rankle in the querulous spirit when it sees only its troubles, and not God in them, when the mists of earth hide from its sight the eternal stars of heaven. Then like Jacob, it may say morosely, “All these things are against me;” or, like Elijah, despondently, “It is enough, now, O Lord, take away my life;” or, like Jonah, fretfully, “I do well to be angry.” In regard to all such dark and unbelieving suggestions, the heart is to keep silence, to be still and know that he is God; silent as to murmuring, but not silent as to prayer, for in that holy meditative stillness the heart turns to commune with him. What is “resting in God,” but the instinctive movement and upward glance of the spirit to him; the confiding all one’s griefs and fears to him, and feeling strengthened, patient, hopeful in the act of doing so! It implies a willingness that he should choose for us, a conviction that the ordering of all that concerns us is safer in his hands than in our own.

A few practical remarks:—1. Our “resting patiently” in the Lord applies only to the trials which he sends, not to the troubles which even Christians often make for themselves. There is a difference in the burdens that come in the way of duty, and those that come through our wandering into other ways. We can roll the one upon the Lord, but with the other our punishment may be to be left to bear them long, and to be bruised in bearing them. 2. The duty here enjoined is to be carried through all our life. We all admit that patient waiting is needed for the great trials of life, but may not acknowledge so readily that it is needed as much for little, daily, commonplace vexations. But these are as much a test of Christian principle as the other. 3. This resting in God is a criterion of a man’s spiritual state. It needs a special faculty of discernment, a new sense to be opened in the soul, before our fallen nature can understand or desire it.—James D. Burns, M.A.

Verse 7 (first clause).—“Hold thee still” (so it may be translated). And this is the hardest precept that is given to man; insomuch that the most difficult precept of action sinks into nothing when compared with this command to inaction.—Jerome.

Verse 7 (first clause).—The Hebrew word rendered silent is דּוֹמ, dom, from which the English word dumb appears to be derived. The silence here enjoined is opposed to murmuring or complaining.—James Anderson, in Calvin’s Commentary.

Verse 7.—Note again the twin duties, “rest” and “wait.”

Verse 7.—“Bringeth wicked devices to pass.” Observe the opposition between this and God’s bringing to pass, in verse five. The ground for grief is that the ungodly appear to achieve their end, the reason for comfort is that our end shall be achieved also, and that in the best manner by God himself.—C. H. S.

Verse 8.—“Forsake wrath;” which is anger wrought up to a greater degree; and the rather to be shunned and avoided, as being very disagreeable to the character of a good man. “Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil;” evil may be done by fretting at the prosperity of wicked men, or by imitating them, doing as they do, in hope of being prosperous as they are.—John Gill.

Verse 9.—“They shall inherit the earth.” He means that they shall live in such a manner as that the blessing of God shall follow them, even to the grave.—John Calvin.

Verse 10.—“Thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.” To wit because he shall be grubbed up by the roots.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 10.—“His place ... shall not be.” The very land he occupied as a home, and the title to which was unimpeachable, is no longer “his place.” It has passed into other hands. Nothing of all he had on earth is his. He is as poor as the most miserable object that subsisted on alms.—William S. Plumer.

Verse 10.—The peacock, a glorious fowl, when he beholds that comely fan and circle which he maketh of the beautiful feathers of his tail, he rejoiceth, he setteth, and beholdeth every part thereof: but when he looketh on his feet which he perceiveth to be black and foul, he by-and-by, with great misliking, vaileth his top-gallant, and seemeth to sorrow. In like manner, a great many know by experience, that when they see themselves to abound in riches and honours, they glory and are deeply conceited of themselves; they praise their fortune, and admire themselves; they make plots, and appoint much for themselves to perform in many years to come. This year, they say, we will bear this office, and the next year that: afterward we shall have the rule of such a province; then we will build a palace in such a city, whereunto we will adjoin such gardens of pleasure, and such vineyards: and thus they make a very large reckoning aforehand, who if they did but once behold their feet, if they did but think upon the shortness of their life, so transitory and unconstant; how soon would they let fall their proud feathers, forsake their arrogancy, and change their purpose, their minds, their lives, and their manners.—Thomas Tymme.

Verse 11.—“The meek shall inherit the earth.” In the meantime, they, and they only, possess the present earth, as they go toward the kingdom of heaven, by being humble, and cheerful, and content with what their good God has allotted them. They have no turbulent, repining, vexatious thoughts that they deserve better; nor are vexed when they see others possessed of more honour, or more riches, than their wise God has allotted for their share. But they possess what they have with a meek and contented quietness: such a quietness as makes their very dreams pleasing, both to God and themselves.—Izaak Walton (1593-1683), in “The Complete Angler.”

Verse 11.—“The meek.” What is thy Beloved more than any other beloved? It is spoken to the spouse. So what is meekness more than any other virtues? We may say, here is synecdoche speciei, one particular taken for the general, one virtue for all the rest. Or the effect is put for the cause; because meekness is one of the principal and chiefest parts of holiness. But if you will give me leave to conjecture, the Holy Ghost may seem in this promise at once to show the condition of the church, and to comfort her; and because being laid hard at on every side, she stands in need of this virtue more than any other, to fit and fashion the reward to the virtue, to cherish and exalt it in us with the promise of something beyond our expectation, even the inheritance of the earth. And indeed what fitter reward can there be of meekness? What more fit and just than that they who have been made the anvil for injuries to beat on, who have been viri perpessitii, as Seneca speaks of Socrates, men of great sufferance, who have suffered not only their goods to be torn from them by oppression and wrong, but their reputations to be wounded with the sharp razor of detraction, and have withstood the shock of all spectantibus similes, with the patience of a looker on, should be raised and comforted with a promise of that which their meekness gave up to the spoil; and that by the providence of God which loves to thwart the practice of the world, they should be made heirs even of those possessions which the hand of violence hath snatched from them.—Anthony Farindon, B.D., 1596-1658.

Verse 11.—Not the hot stirring spirits who bustle for the world shall have it, but the meek, who are thrust up and down from corner to corner, and hardly suffered to remain anywhere quietly in it. This earth, which they seem most deprived of, they only shall have and enjoy. When the Lord hath made it worth the having, then none shall have it but they. “They shall inherit the earth.” The earth is the Lord’s; these are the children of the Lord, and they shall inherit his earth. When the Lord taketh it into his own possession and enjoyment, they shall succeed him in the possession and enjoyment of it. It is their right, and shall descend unto them by right, by inheritance. It is the Lord’s right, and by the Lord shall descend to them as their right. They cannot yet have it, for the Lord hath it not yet; but when the Lord hath it, it shall fairly descend to them. This accursed earth they shall never have, but when it is taken into the hands of the Lord, and blessed by the Lord, then it shall be theirs, then it shall be inherited by the children of blessing.—John Pennington.

Verse 11.—“And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Surely when the glory of the Lord covers the earth, and all the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of the Prince of Peace, and the wicked one is rooted out, we may well expect peace in rich abundance.—W. Wilson.

Verses 12, 13.—Note how the gesture of the wicked in gnashing their teeth is returned to them in the Lord’s scornful laughter at their devices. Their plotting, too, is countermined by that winding up of all plots, which the Lord knoweth, though they are wilfully ignorant of it.—C. H. S.

Verse 13.—“The Lord shall laugh at him,” etc. He seems to provide very coldly for our consolation under sorrow, for he represents God as merely laughing. But if God values highly our salvation, why does he not set himself to resist the fury of our enemies, and vigorously oppose them? We know that this, as has been said in Psalm ii. 4, is a proper trial of our patience when God does not come forth at once, armed for the discomfiture of the ungodly, but connives for a time, and withholds his hand. Lest the flesh should still murmur and complain, demanding why God should only laugh at the wicked, and not rather take vengeance upon them, the reason is added, that he sees the day of their destruction at hand. “For he seeth that his day is coming.”—John Calvin.

Verse 13.—“For he seeth that his day is coming:” He laughs at such poor worms, who make themselves so great upon the earth, and act so loftily in their impotence seeing it must so soon be over with them.—Berleb. Bible, quoted by E. W. Hengstenberg.

Verse 13.—“For he seeth that his day is coming.” His dismal day, his death’s day, which will also be his doom’s day.—John Trapp.

Verses 14, 15.—The tongue is a “sword” and a “bow,” which shooteth its arrows, even bitter words, against the humble and upright, Jesus and his disciples. But these are not the only weapons that have been drawn against them. How the malice of the Jews returned upon their own heads no one is ignorant, though few lay it to heart, and consider them as set forth for an example.—George Horne.

Verses 14, 15.—When the wicked are most near to do a mischief to the Lord’s people, then is a mischief most near unto them.—David Dickson.

Verse 16.—“A little that a righteous man hath,” etc. To wit, 1. Because the wicked do often enrich themselves by unjust means, and so have much vexation and trouble with them, and likewise thereby do treasure up wrath against the day of wrath; whereas the righteous with a little, well gotten, have much peace of conscience, with hope of heaven hereafter. 2. Because the righteous use theirs well, and are the better for them; whereas the wicked abuse their many ways, and are in many respects the worse for them. 3. Because the righteous enjoy what they have from hand to mouth as the gifts of God, and the pledges of his fatherly love and care over them, and so it is to them as manna from heaven, and hereby they enjoy much sweet comfort, and are fully satisfied with what they have; whereas the wicked have none of this joy nor satisfaction by their wealth. 4. Because God by his blessing doth usually make that the righteous enjoy to be more effectual for their good than is the abundance of the wicked. A little coarse fare makes them more healthful and strong than the wicked are with all their plenty. And, 5. Because the wicked enjoyeth not his wealth long, as the righteous man doth; and this indeed agrees best with the following words.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 16.—Strangers to Christ have the use of outward mercies, but cannot be properly said to have the enjoyment; they seem to be masters of them, but indeed they are servants to them; possessors as to outward use, but slaves as to their inward affections; they serve them while they seem to dispose of them; they do not dominari, but servire—have not the command of, but are enslaved. Nor is their use truly comfortable; they may fancy comfort, but their comfort is but a fancy; it flows from another fountain than can be digged in earth; true, solid comfort is the portion of those only who have the righteousness of Christ for their portion. These may look upon every temporal enjoyment as a token of everlasting love, as a pledge and earnest of eternal glory; and both these, because they may receive them as the purchase of the blood and righteousness of Christ; ay, here is the well-spring of comfort, the fountain of that comfort which is better than life. Oh, what comfort is it to taste the sweetness of Christ’s love in every enjoyment! When we can say, “Christ loved me, and gave himself for me, that I might enjoy these blessings,” oh, how will this raise the value of every common mercy! Christ’s righteousness which was performed, the highest expression of his love, purchased this for me! Upon this account is that of the Psalmist true, “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.” He that hath but food and raiment hath in this respect more than he that hath the Turkish empire, or the gold of the Indies. He hath more ground of comfort in his little than they in all.—David Clarkson.

Verse 16.—If thine estate were but little, yet it would be perfumed with love and that lump of sugar in thy cup would make the liquor sweet, be it never so small. As the waters which flow from the hills of some of the islands of Molucca taste of the cinnamon and cloves which grow there, so should thy gift, though it were but water, taste of the goodwill and special grace of the Giver. Thy “little,” with the fear of the Lord, would be “better than the riches of many wicked men.” As a little ring with a very costly diamond in it is far more worth than many great ones without it, so thy estate, though it were but a penny, should be joined with the precious jewel of that love which is better than life, and enjoyed by special promise, and thereby be infinitely more worth than the thousands and millions of others bestowed merely from common bounty, and enjoyed only by a general providence.—George Swinnock.

Verse 16.—’Tis as possible for a wicked man to fill his body with air and his chest with grace, as his mind with wealth. ’Tis with them as with a ship; it may be overladen with silver and gold, even unto sinking, and yet have compass and sides to hold ten times more. So here, a covetous wretch, though he have enough to sink him, yet he shall never have enough to satisfy him. So that the conclusion which the Psalmist delivers is most worthy to be observed: “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked;” he doth not say of how many, because let us think of never so many, yea, of all of them, the righteous man’s little is better in very many respects than all their greatest treasures heaped together. The King of Spain although the greatest prince in Christendom by far, having his empire so far extended, that he may truly say, that the sun ever shines upon his dominions, yet gives this for his motto, Totus non sufficit orbis, The whole world is not sufficient. God by Solomon tells us that “In the house of the righteous is much treasure” (Prov. xv. 6), although many times there is scarce a good bed to lie, or a seat to sit on. The time will certainly come, when the richest wicked men that ever lived will see clearly that their account would have been much narrower, and consequently their condition to all eternity less miserable, if they had been so poor as to have begged their bread from door to door all their lives long. ’Tis with the blessings of this life as ’tis with perfumed gloves; when they are richly perfumed their perfume is much more valuable than the leather of which they are made: so, not so much earthly blessings considered in themselves, as their being perfumed with the sweet love of God in Christ, is that which maketh them blessings indeed, truly deserving the name they bear. Now all the blessings of those who have made Mary’s choice are all thus perfumed; all the barley bread they eat, be it never so coarse; all the clothes they wear, be they never so mean; with all their other temporal blessings, they proceed from the same sweet love of God, wherewith he was moved to bestow Jesus Christ upon them for salvation. Rom. viii. 32.—John Glascock’s Sermon, entitled “Mary’s Choice,” 1659.

Verses 16, 17.—A little blest is better than a great deal curst; a little blest is better than a world enjoyed; a pound blest is better than a thousand curst; a black crust blest is better than a feast curst; the gleanings blest are better than the whole harvest curst; a drop of mercy blest is better than a sea of mercy curst; Lazarus’ crumbs blest was better than Dives’ delicates curst; Jacob’s little blest unto him was better than Esau’s great estate that was curst unto him. ’Tis always better to have scraps with a blessing, than to have manna and quails with a curse; a thin table with a blessing is always better than a full table with a snare; a threadbare coat with a blessing is better than a purple robe curst; a hole, a cave, a den, a barn, a chimney-corner with a blessing, is better than stately palaces with a curse; a woollen cap blest is better than a golden crown curst; and it may be that emperor understood as much, that said of his crown, when he looked on it with tears: “If you knew the cares that are under this crown you would never stoop to take it up.” And therefore, why should not a Christian be contented with a little, seeing his little shall be blest unto him? Isaac tills the ground and sows his seed, and God blesses him with an hundredfold; and Cain tills the ground and sows his seed, but the earth is cursed to him and commanded not to yield to him his strength. Oh, therefore never let a Christian murmur because he hath but little, but rather let him be still a-blessing of that God that hath blest his little, and doth bless his little, and that will bless his little to him.—Thomas Brooks.

Verse 17.—“For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but he upholdeth (or underprops) the righteous.” By “the arms of the wicked,” you are to understand their strength, their valour, their power, their wit, their wealth, their abundance, which is all the arms they have to support and bear up themselves in the world with. Now, these arms shall be broken, and when they are broken, then, even then, will God uphold the righteous, that is, God will be a continual overflowing fountain of good to his righteous ones; so that they shall never want, though all the springs of the wicked are dried up round about them.—Thomas Brooks.

Verse 18.—“The Lord knoweth the days of the upright.” Depositeth their days, lays them up in safety for them: for such is the original idea of ירע.—John Fry.

Verse 18.—“The Lord knoweth the days of the upright,” and they cannot be cut short by the malice of man.—W. Wilson.

Verse 20.—“As the fat of lambs.” As the glory of fat sheep, which are at length slain.—Targum.

Verse 20.—“Fat of lambs.” As the fat of the sacrifices was consumed on the altar by the fire (which was a type of God’s righteous vengeance upon sinners), till it vanished into smoke; so the wicked will be the sacrifices to God’s justice, and be destroyed by the fire of his indignation.—Thomas Scott.

Verse 20.—“Into smoke shall they consume.” “What hath pride profited us? or what hath our boasting of riches given us?” Such are the things, they shall speak who are in hell, and who have sinned. For the hope of the ungodly is like a dry thistle-down, by the wind carried away, or the thin foam spread upon the billows or as a smoke floated hither and thither by the wind, or as the remembrance of a wayfaring man for a day.—Wouter of Stoelwÿk, 1541.

Verse 21.—“Payeth not again;” i.e., has it not in his power, from his straitened circumstances, to repay what he has borrowed: comp. Deut. xxviii. 12. A Jew thus circumstanced became the bond-slave of his creditors: comp. 2 Kings iv. 1.—Daniel Cresswell.

Verse 22.—God promiseth that the seed of his people shall inherit the earth. The child of such a tenant as paid his rent well, shall not be put out of his farm.—John Glascock.

Verse 23.—“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” When this Pilot undertakes to steer their course, their vessel shall never split upon the rock, run upon the sands, or spring a leak, so as to sink in the seas. To be sure he will see them safe in their harbour. He was no Christian, yet I suppose none will deny but he spake good divinity, who said, “If a man will choose God for his Friend, he shall travel securely through a wilderness that hath many beasts of prey in it; he shall pass safely through this world; for he only is safe that hath God for his guide.” (Ar. Epist. xxvii.) Doth he not speak a little like David himself (Psalm xxxvii. 23), who never expected to come to glory except he were guided by his counsel? Now, if a poor heathen could say thus, and see good reason to trust God, and admire his faithfulness as he doth frequently (and so doth Seneca, justifying God’s faithfulness in all his dealings with the best men in all their sufferings, and the prosperity of the wicked); what then shall the heavenly Christian say, who hath experienced so much of God’s faithfulness in answering his prayers, in fulfilling his promises, and supplying all his exigencies?—James Janeway.

Verse 23.—“He delighteth in his way.” Note that in verse four, we are bidden to delight in the Lord, and here he delights in us, and as here our way is his delight, so in verse thirty-four we are to “keep his way.” These antitheses are instructive.—C. H. S.

Verses 23, 24.—Strange words to us! the very “steps” all “ordered,” and that by an Almighty One, who “delights” in the goodness of the good man’s way. And yet the inference so distinctly to be drawn is that the good man may fall, and that his God and Guide may stand by and behold and permit!

Let us add to the suggestion of these verses, one or two references which may help us to establish the principle in our hearts, that the child of God may fall and still remain the child of God; and also to explain somewhat of the reason why this is part of their lot, whether ordered, or only permitted, at all events, a step of the “right way,” by which God leads them to a city of habitation. Psalm cvii. 7.

It is observed near the close of Hezekiah’s good and prosperous life that, “in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon ... God left him to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.” 2 Chron. xxxii. 31. And again, in Daniel’s prophecy regarding the latter days, we find (Daniel xi. 35), “And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white.” In the two preceding verses, we have also some valuable details regarding such falls, such as the help with which God will uphold them, the flatteries with which the world will still beset, and hinder them from rising again; the outward troubles into which their fall shall lead them, as through a furnace; the high position (instructors of many) which yet shall not save them from their needed ordeal—the time appointed—and the end in view. So here. The acknowledgment of the possibility of the good man’s fall is accompanied with the precious assurance that “he shall not be utterly cast down.”—Mary B. M. Duncan, in “Under the Shadow, 1867.”

Verse 24.—“Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down,” etc. Thus the Spirit comforts and answers the secret thoughts which everyone might have, saying with himself, I have, however, seen it happen, that the righteous is oppressed, and his cause is trodden in the dust by the wicked. Nay, he replies, dear child, let it be so, that he falls; he still cannot remain lying thus and be cast away; he must be up again, although all the world doubts of it. For God catches him by the hand, and raises him again.—Martin Luther.

Verse 24.—“Though he fall,” namely, as one that were faint-hearted, “he shall not be cast off,” namely, utterly, or for ever from God (2 Cor. iv. 9); “for the Lord putteth under his hand,” i.e., his power and might, namely, to uphold him from utter falling away, which we should quickly do if God were not with us.—Thomas Wilcocks.

Verse 24.—A man pardoned, and justified by faith in Christ, though he may, and sometimes doth, fall into foul sins, yet they never prevail so far as to reverse pardon, and reduce to a state of non-justification. “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand!” He speaks of a good man pardoned, justified; he may fall; but how far? from pardon, from justification? No, then he should utterly fall, be cast down beneath God’s hand; but the text saith, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand; or, as Montanus renders the words, the Lord upholdeth his hands, and he will not let him sink into such a condition. If it were so, then sin should have dominion over him, but, Rom. vi. 14. “Sin shall not have dominion over you;” and chap. viii. 2, justified ones are freed from the law of sin and death; and verse 30, the predestinated, called, justified, and glorified ones, are so linked together, that there is no breaking their chain; if they do sin, they have an “Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John ii. 1, 2.—William Greenhill.

Verse 25.—“I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken” (he doth not say, In my experience I never saw the righteous afflicted, but, I never saw him left or forsaken in his affliction), “and I never saw his seed begging their bread:” he puts in that, because begging of bread, especially in the commonwealth of Israel, and in the state of the Jews, was a note of utter dereliction! for though God had told them that they should have the poor always with them, yet he had given an express law that there should be no beggar among them; therefore, saith he, I have not seen the righteous so forsaken, that they should be forced to live by begging. If any say, that David himself begged, he asked bread of Abimelech and of Nabal; I answer, it is a good rule, and it resolves the case; transitory cases, and sudden accidents, make no beggars: we must not say, David was a beggar, or begged his bread, because once he was in a strait and asked bread of Abimelech; and in a second strait sent to Nabal: in such sudden cases, the richest man in the world may be put to ask a piece of bread. A good man may fall into such wants, but good men are rarely, if ever or at all, left in them.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 25.—“Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Perhaps it will be objected that there have been many righteous men poor: but the place speaketh of a righteous charitable man, for so the following verse showeth, which saith, “He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.” And who hath seen such a one or his seed to be brought to such poverty as to beg his bread? When our Saviour Christ had fed four thousand with seven loaves and a few fishes, all being filled, seven baskets full of fragments were gathered up; and it is Saint Austin’s note upon it, crescit dum impenditur victus, sic eleemosyna si indigentibus erogetur, the victuals in expending were augmented, and so is the alms which is given to the poor.—Michael Jermin.

Verse 25.—“Yet have I not seen,” etc. I believe this to be literally true in all cases. I am now grey-headed myself; I have travelled in different countries, and have had many opportunities of seeing and conversing with religious people in all situations in life; and I have not, to my knowledge, seen one instance to the contrary. I have seen no righteous man forsaken, nor any children of the righteous begging their bread. God puts honour upon all that fear him; and thus careful is he of them, and of their posterity.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 25.—“Begging bread.” This is not meant of an occasional seeking relief in want (for so David himself desired bread of Abimelech, 1 Samuel xxi. 3, and he and his soldiers desired some supply of victuals from Nabal, ch. xxv. 8); but of living in a continual way of begging from door to door, which is denounced as a curse against the wicked (Psalm cix. 10), “Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg.” Nor doth it hence follow, that neither the righteous man, nor his seed, are ever brought to this sad degree of misery; but only that it doth so rarely happen, that David in all his time had never seen it.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 25.—This observation of the Psalmist will be found generally verified. We find indeed exceptions, as in the case of Eli’s family. But this was the result of his defect of character as a righteous man. And we know that the promises must fail, if they neglect the means necessary to their accomplishment (see Genesis xviii. 19). But some think that this verse admits of an explanatory supplement; and render the last clause thus, “Nor his seed (forsaken, though) begging bread.”—David Davidson, in “The Pocket Commentary, 1836.”

Verse 25.—These words must be taken as a general observation, not absolutely verified in every case; yet the strict fact is, I apprehend, that the immediate descendants of truly pious persons are very seldom, if ever reduced to such extremities, unless by their own great imprudence, or their abandoned practices.—William Walford.

Verse 25.—Here he recordeth an experiment of his (such as whereof Psalm cxix. is mostly made up), and if other men’s experiences agree not altogether with his, it is no wonder: kings use not to mind beggars.—John Trapp.

Verses 25, 26.—Many persons are solicitously perplexed how their children shall do when they are dead; yet they consider not, how God provided for them when they were children. Is the Lord’s arm shortened? Did he take thee from thy mother’s breasts; and when thy parents forsook thee (as the Psalmist saith), became thy Father? And cannot this experienced mercy to thee, persuade thee that he will not forsake thine? Is not “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever?” “I have been young,” saith David, “and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken,” that is granted, nay, “nor his seed begging bread.”

Many distrustful fathers are so carking for their posterity, that while they live they starve their bodies, and hazard their souls, to leave them rich. To such a father it is said justly, Dives es hœredi, pauper inopsque tibi. Like an over-kind hen he feeds his chickens, and famisheth himself. If usury, circumvention, oppression, extortion, can make them rich, they shall not be poor. Their folly is ridiculous; they fear lest their children should be miserable, yet take the only course to make them miserable; for they leave them not so much heirs to their goods as to their evils. They do as certainly inherit their fathers’ sins as their lands: “God layeth up his iniquity for his children: and his offspring shall want a morsel of bread.” Job xxi. 19.

On the contrary, the good man “is merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.” What the worldling thinks shall make his posterity poor, God saith shall make the good man’s rich. The precept gives a promise of mercy to obedience, not confined to the obedient man’s self, but extended to his seed, and that even to a thousand generations, Exodus xx. 6. Trust, then, Christ with thy children; when thy friends shall fail, usury bear no date, oppression be condemned to hell, thyself rotten to the dust, the world itself turned and burned into cinders, still “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.”—Thomas Adams.

Verse 26.—“He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.” He, the good man, is “merciful” to himself, for mercy, like charity, begins at home; he is not afraid to eat a good meal because he hath children. And he is merciful to others too; for he will lend and do good to whom he can, and then his seed fares the better for it. Mark, that the more he gives and lends in doing works of mercy, the better it is for his children; for those children are ever best provided for whose parents bear this mind—they had rather trust God with their children, than their children with riches; and have made this their hope, that though they die, yet God lives. Did but one of those rich and wretched parents (who pinched and pined himself to make his son a gentleman, forsooth), rise from the dead, and see that proverb of Solomon fulfilled in himself, “He begetteth a son, and in his hand is nothing;” I persuade myself, the rumination of this world afflict him in his soul as much as any one pain of sense, even in hell itself, O consider this, you that now live and see it in others; and remember withal, that if your goods be either ill-gotten, or worse kept, it may be your children’s case when you are departed, and feel it, though you see it not.—Matthew Griffith.

Verse 28.—“For the Lord ... forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever.” How? since they die as others do. Mark the antithesis, and that will explain it. “They are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.” They are preserved in their posterity: children are but the parents multiplied, and the parents continued; ’tis nodosa æternitas; when the father’s life is run out to the last, there is a knot tied, and the line is still continued by the child. I confess temporal blessings, such as long life, and the promise of an happy posterity, are more visible in the eye of that dispensation of the covenant; but yet God still taketh care for the children of his people, and many promises run that way that belong to the gospel administration, and still God’s service is the surest way to establish a family, as sin is the ready way to root it out. And if it doth not always fall out accordingly, yet for the most part it doth; and we are no competent judges of God’s dispensations in this kind, because we see providence by pieces, and have not the skill to set them together; but at the day of judgment, when the whole contexture of God’s dealings is laid before us, we shall clearly understand how the children of his servants continue, and their seed is established. Psalm cii. 28.—Thomas Manton.

Verse 29.—“The righteous shall inherit the land,” or the earth. There is clearly an emphasis in the repetition of the same promise in the same terms which ought to have been uniformly rendered throughout verses 9, 11, 22, 29, 34. And it cannot be doubted, that there is a reference to the new heavens and the new earth of Isaiah lxvi. 17; 2 Peter iii. 13.—W. Wilson.

Verse 29.—“The righteous shall inherit the land,” etc. Comp. Matt. v. 5. Consider well this Bible truth, of the future exclusive possession of the earth by the righteous. The millennial kingdom furnishes a fuller explanation.—T. C. Barth.

Verse 31.—“The law of his God is in his heart,” etc. The flock of sheep that’s indisposed and unwilling to drive, start out of the way into every lane’s end, one this way and another that; and just so is it with an unwilling heart; one thought starts this way, and another that, and it’s a piece of skill to drive them through. But a willing heart, a heart prepared and ready to every good work, it flies quite up an end, and delights itself in the Lord.—Richard Steele.

Verse 31 (first clause).—He hath a Bible in his head, and another in his heart; he hath a good treasure within, and there hence bringeth good things.—John Trapp.

Verses 32, 33.—The Jews “watched” that Just One daily and hourly; they “sought to slay him,” and did so; but Jehovah left him not in their hands, but vindicated his innocence by raising him from the dead.—George Horne.

Verse 34.—“Wait on the Lord,” etc. He that truly trusts in God will stay God’s time, and use God’s means, and walk in God’s way, though it seem round about; they will not neglect their souls for haste; they know this would be to make more haste than good speed. Nor would they step out of the way, the way that is holy and righteous, though they may escape a loss, an affliction by it, though they might gain some desirable advantage by it. True faith goes leaning upon God, and therefore will “keep his way.” He that will not be liberal for the promoting and honouring of the gospel; he that fears poverty or affliction more than he fears sin; he that is more careful for the things of the world than for his soul; he that takes indirect or suspected courses, to get, or increase, or secure his estate; he that is not jealous or watchful, lest his cares for the world (when he is much engaged therein) should be immoderate—it is plain he doth not trust God with his estate; and he that does not trust God for his estate, whatever he think or pretend, he does not trust God for his soul, for his salvation; his hopes of heaven and salvation are but presumption.—David Clarkson.

Verse 34.—“Wait on the Lord.” Bind him not to a day, wake not the Beloved till he please.—John Trapp.

Verse 34.—“Wait ... keep.” While we are waiting let us take heed of wavering. Go not a step out of God’s way, though a lion be in the way; avoid not duty to meet with safety; keep God’s highway, the good old way (Jer. vi. 16), the way which is paved with holiness. “And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness.” Isaiah xxxv. 8. Avoid crooked paths, take heed of turning to the left hand, lest you be set on the left hand. Sin doth cross our hopes, it barricades up our way; a man may as well expect to find heaven in hell, as in a sinful way.—Thomas Watson.

Verse 35.—“Green bay tree.” The LXX translates כְּאֶוְרָח רַעֲנָן as if it were כְּאֶזְרָח לְבָנֹן, “Like the cedar of Lebanon;” but אֶזְרָח רַעֲנָן according to Delitzsch, means a noble timber-tree, one that in the course of centuries of growth has acquired a gigantic trunk, and an umbrageous, dome-like crown.

Verse 35.—“Green bay tree.” The marginal rendering—“a tree that groweth in his own soil”—is, no doubt, the true one. The idea generally formed of this passage by the reader of the English Bible is that the tree referred to was the bay laurel (Prunus laurocerasus), or cherry laurel of our gardens. But this plant belongs to an entirely different family. The bay and the Portugal laurels, whose forms of growth and evergreen leaves make them highly ornamental in shrubberies, belong to a sub-family (Drupaceæ, Lind.) of the rose tribe (Rosaceæ), but the bay tree proper, which flourisheth luxuriantly in Southern Europe, is the type of the laurel family (Lauraceæ). Several circumstances make it unlikely that the true bay tree represents the Hebrew esrāch. There is no evidence that it was ever so plentiful in Palestine as to be chosen by the Psalmist in an illustration in a poem for popular use. It is indeed to be met with, but that chiefly in localities on the borders of the eastern shore of the Great Sea. The chief objection to the supposition that the bay tree was referred to by the royal poet is to be found in the Psalm itself. Having mentioned it in the lines quoted above, he adds, “Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.” The idea here is not one which could be represented and illustrated by an evergreen plant, slow of growth, and yet reaching in maturity a height of above thirty feet. The words demand a quick growing tree, in a soil more than usually favourable to its growth. Thus planted, and shooting up in calm and sunshine, it would attract every eye; but when the storm broke over it, when the strong wind swept impetuously through its branches, it would not stand. Torn up by the root, and its timber comparatively useless, like Abraham’s dead, it would be buried out of sight. And thus with the wicked. He was sought and could not be found.—John Duns, D.D., F.R.S.E., in “Biblical Natural Science.”