"A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed" (or exhausted) "and poureth out his complaint before the LORD," is the title in the Hebrew prefixed to this Psalm.
A peculiarity about this should be noticed. It is not uncommon to meet with a title affixed to a Psalm, recounting some special circumstances under which it was written. Psalm 3; 7; 18; 30; 34; 51; 52; 54; 56; 57; 59; 60; 63, and 142 are examples of this; but in each case they refer to some incident in the life of David which furnished an occasion for the utterance of his heart. And though there are in the book Psalms of Asaph, of Heman, and of Ethan, and one by Moses, yet the only composer, whose circumstances are stated as having called forth any of these inspired compositions, is David, the type of the Lord Jesus as God's Anointed, suffering from others before being seated firmly on his throne.
In the Psalm before us, however, while we have the circumstances stated under which it was composed, the name of the afflicted one, with whose trials we are hereby made acquainted, is withheld from us. The question then might be asked, Was the name withheld by accident or by design? By design we must surely agree, for not until the epistle to the Hebrews was written, was it (we may well believe) generally known to whom the Psalm referred. Then the ellipsis could be filled up with the name of the suffering One, who is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, God over all, blessed forever. Who penned the Psalm by the direct guidance of the Holy Ghost, or what were the peculiar trials of the writer under which this divine effusion was poured forth, we shall never know while on earth.
At what epoch or at what place the sacred penman put on record these wonderful words, are questions we must leave undetermined; and though they are the expression of an individual that we have not before our eyes, we can very intelligently peruse them by the light cast on the subject from the epistle to the Hebrews.
This brings out a very interesting point in connection with the structure of the Word of God; namely, the existence of latent truth—truth not apparent on the surface, yet really in the text, which when brought out, all can see was actually there. At times passages of Scripture are applied to individuals and to events with which they have no direct connection. We have an instance in the application by Matthew (chap. 2:17, 18) of Jeremiah's words in chapter 31:15 of his prophecy. Then was fulfilled, says the evangelist, the prophet's words with reference to the sorrow caused by the Babylonish captivity; not indeed that Jeremiah predicted what Matthew relates, but the evangelist could apply the language of the son of Hilkiah to the general sorrow caused by the massacre of the infants in Bethlehem.
It is not, however, any accommodation of our Psalm to a purpose foreign to its original intention, which its use in Hebrews suggests; but it is the true meaning of it, which its real Author, the Holy Ghost, there brings out. It is God quoting His own word to bring out the original thought contained in it. If we read the Psalm without the divine explanation, we should say that there was but one speaker throughout it; when we see the bearing of the quotation in Hebrews 1, we learn that there are two. From verses 1-23 is the utterance of the One, the afflicted One; from verse 24 to the end is the response of the other; and from Hebrews we learn that both the one and the other are the Lord God of hosts. "I said, 0 My God, take Me not away in the midst of My days," are the words of entreaty from Jehovah as man, addressing the Lord in heaven. "Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of Thy hands," etc., are the words of Jehovah in heaven in response to Jehovah on earth, acknowledging that the afflicted One who cries, is indeed the Creator of the universe. Without the quotation in the Hebrews we never should have guessed this. With it, all is clear, and the amazing grace and real humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ is brought out to us.
For, let us remark, He is not here called God's Son, but Jehovah Himself. God witnesses of it; God addresses Him as such. He who will not give His glory to another, here admits the eternal existence and creative power of the virgin's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not turned to His works to see who He must be; we stand by and listen to Jehovah's own statement to Him, and hear the wonderful announcement that the afflicted One upon earth is really Jehovah of hosts. A mystery which none can solve, we have here revealed; but though an insoluble mystery, it is a simple truth which we must accept. To explain it is beyond our power; to accept it is the duty of every creature. God owns Him to be God, who could say in truth, "O My God."
Thus in this Psalm we have the divine and human natures of the Lord Jesus distinctly proclaimed. Distinct they are from one another, but united in one Person; for the One who tells out His affliction, is declared on the highest authority to be the self-existing One. His deity none but God could declare, for who besides God could reveal His eternal existence? His manhood, with death before Him, He sets forth. One sees the propriety of this, and it is just what we meet with in Hebrews. In chapter 1 God affirms His deity, and in chapter 2 Christ bears witness to His own humanity. In the former chapter God tells us about His Son, for God alone could pronounce as to His divine essence. In the latter, He speaks in the quotations to God, and thus gives evidence of the reality of His human nature.
He looks forward to death in this Psalm as we have seen in others also. But here we must mark a great difference. In Psalm 16 we see Him looking to be brought up out of death; in Psalm 40 we learn that He has been delivered—raised up from the dead. But here, while we have Him contemplating death, we have nothing from Him about His future—nothing about resurrection. Viewed as a man we can see the reason for this. Man's proper portion is an earth; so the earthly hopes, the earthly blessings, are all that we have here depicted—those hopes and blessings of which death deprives all those over whom it has power. Viewed as Jehovah, we can see another reason for this. Jehovah abides; therefore resurrection would be quite out of place in a Psalm which sets forth Christ's deity. As man, as Messiah, we have the Lord brought before us. "Thou hast lifted Me up," refers to His Messiahship. Thou hast "cast Me down," shows what He has to expect in accordance with Daniel's prediction, to be cut off, and to have nothing (Dan. 9:2626And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (Daniel 9:26), margin).
What this was to Him we now get set forth. "My days are like a shadow that declineth" (lit., stretched out to nearly its full length); "and I am" (or shall be) "withered like grass." Yet He had not reached the full term allotted to man upon earth, for He adds, "He weakened My strength in the way; He shortened My days"; and turning to Jehovah, cries, "0 My God, take Me not away in the midst of My days." With His feelings as a man we are thus made acquainted, for, really a man, He could feel, and did feel, all that man, as man, should feel under the circumstances in which He was placed in grace to us. A sinner dreads death because of the consequences to him after it. A saint may rejoice because of what is beyond it. But man, as man, can only view it as the Lord here does—the cutting off of His days—akin to Hezekiah's feelings, who expressed himself in a similar manner (Isa. 38:1010I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. (Isaiah 38:10)).
We read in Phil. 2:77But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (Philippians 2:7) that the Lord Jesus made Himself of no reputation (or, emptied Himself), and humbled Himself; the former was manifested in His becoming a man, as a servant subject to God; the latter was displayed in His submitting to death—the death of the cross. Both of these, but especially the first, are exemplified in this Psalm. He emptied Himself—how truly, how fully. Though He is the Lord Jehovah, of whose creative and sustaining power the universe bears witness, He was found as a man upon earth, crying in His affliction to Jehovah. All man's feelings He could and did enter into; and the effect of intense mental suffering, the Word tells us, He learned by experience (Luke 22:4444And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:44)).
Here He describes how His affliction acted on His bodily frame (vv. 3-5), a condition to which man may be subject—to be pitied, yet not to be wondered at; but when it is of the Lord Himself that we read it, we may wonder indeed. Added to all this, He was reproached by His enemies, who were banded together against Him (v. 8). Nothing then is before Him but death, and that the death of the cross; for though atonement is not the subject of which the Psalm treats, the reason why He was to be cut off is stated (v. 10). Thus He emptied Himself, and He humbled Himself. He stooped to be a man, and was to die the death of the meanest of men. To this He here looks forward, not as a contingency, but as a certainty.
Thus feeling about it as none but a man could feel, His perfection as man appears in a twofold way. He receives it all as from Jehovah, and is occupied with God's thoughts about the future, as regards the earth, Zion, and the world.
He must die, but it is God who takes Him away (v. 24). He must pass off this scene by His enemies persecuting Him to death, but He regards this as Jehovah's doing (v. 10). Facing death as He here does, He speaks, as has been observed, of nothing about Himself beyond it. Seen upon earth once, when He entered death He passed off it, and the world saw Him no more. "Withered like grass." Born into this world a king (Luke 2:1111For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:11)), saluted as such in His infancy (Matt. 2), proclaimed as such by the multitude on His public entry into Jerusalem (Luke 19:3838Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. (Luke 19:38); Matt. 21:55Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. (Matthew 21:5)), death seems to have cut short all hopes founded on His Messiahship (Luke 24:2121But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. (Luke 24:21)), and effectually to have barred against Him the way to the throne. "Cut off, having nothing," fitly described Him.
Perfect as a man, He is not engrossed with this, but looks forward to what saints will witness and enjoy upon earth after His decease. Death then is not here contemplated for those who shall witness what He describes, and enjoy what He predicts. "I am withered like grass," He says of Himself. "But Thou, 0 LORD, shalt endure forever; and Thy remembrance [or memorial] unto all generations," is His statement about the Lord God of hosts. This at once introduces a sketch of God's plans about Zion, the earth, the destitute, the world, and all who belong to it.
What are those plans upon which He can dwell, to be carried out after His decease? They are far-reaching and comprehensive. The heathen and all the kings of the earth will be concerned in them. Nations and kingdoms will find that they affect them. Zion must be rebuilt, her desolate condition must be reversed, and the Lord must appear in His glory. Then too will it be seen that Jehovah regards the prayer of the destitute, and does not despise their prayer; for the afflicted, persecuted remnant of His people shall rest again finally in their land and in Jerusalem.
But how can this be secured if the enemies of the righteous can make war against them upon earth, and even Messiah Himself be cut off? Upon what ground can they hope that objects and purposes so opposed to this world's interests can ever triumph and be made good? Can righteousness ever gain the ascendancy in a sphere where self-interest is the ruling passion, and hostility to God the prevailing feature? What answer does the Psalm make to this? It does give a complete answer, and what an answer it surely is! All the future rests upon Jehovah's nature and character; "Thou, O LORD, shalt endure forever." Upon this is based by the afflicted One the certainty of the fulfillment of the Word.
Generations may pass, but Jehovah abides. Man goes away, but God never changes. To Him then He looks to fulfill all the prophecies about Zion and the world. He, as a man, would be cut off, but Zion's hopes would not fail, for Jehovah ever remains. Let the wicked then triumph as they may—let Satan seem all-powerful—Jehovah's nature assures the saints that not one of His words shall fail of its accomplishment. Of men we may have to speak in the past; as regards their connection with earth, "they have been." Of Jehovah we can always speak in the present—"He is." If we think of the future—"He will be." Therefore He will fulfill His Word. Upon, this, His eternal existence, as a rock which time cannot disintegrate, nor the waves of man's opposition uproot, earth's future and Zion's sure blessing can and do rest. What ground this is to take up! He who has pledged His Word will never pass away. So His purpose, who is ever-existing and almighty, shall assuredly be established. This is a consideration full of comfort for the godly, but most solemn for the ungodly.
On Jehovah's immutability and nature His people can lean; and to point this out as equally true for future generations, these words were written (vv. 17-20). Solemn as this consideration surely is, it becomes intensely solemn when we learn who that One is who cries in His affliction, and speaks of the malice of His enemies. He is Jehovah Himself, as we have seen; and God answers His appeal by declaring
(that all may be acquainted with it) His eternal existence, and the mighty power of Him whom man despised and even abhorred. Heaven and earth may pass away, but He is, and His years have no end.
What then must those expect who, having crucified Him, refused afterward to believe on Him? What too must those have before them who persistently stand out against Him? Where He has been dishonored, there will He act in power; and Jerusalem, which witnessed His crucifixion, will rejoice in the exercise of His goodness and avenging power. What will His enemies then receive? On this the Psalm is silent, being beyond its scope. The portion of the children of His servants, a portion to be enjoyed upon earth, it does relate: "The children of Thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before Thee." But of nothing beyond earth does it take cognizance. What a change will then take place! He died; His enemies survived. He will reappear in power and great glory; the children of His servants will rejoice and be blest, while His enemies will be—where? Other scriptures tell us their then condition, and their future portion (Rev. 19:21; 20:5, 12-1521And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. (Revelation 19:21)
5But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (Revelation 20:5)
12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:12‑15)).
Balaam, looking forward to the future, exclaimed, "Alas, who shall live when God doeth this!" He asked a question which was not given to him to answer. To us the answer has been made known.
Will those then left behind on earth after the Church has been removed behold these things of which the Psalm speaks? Some will, but none, we believe, will be among that number, who, once having had the offer of God's grace, have resisted it. For of all such, who shall be on earth when He returns to it in power, we read, they "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe" (2 Thess. 1:9, 10; 2:129Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. (2 Thessalonians 1:9‑10)
12That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:12)). Will such have another chance? Scripture is clear. Those who share not in the first resurrection at the commencement of His reign, will only be raised up for judgment at its close.
There is a resurrection unto life, which will be a completed act when He begins to reign. There will be a resurrection unto judgment for the ungodly dead at the close of it (Rev. 20:4, 5, 12, 134And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (Revelation 20:4‑5)
12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. (Revelation 20:12‑13)). All who share not in the former must have to do with the latter; and the lake of fire, the second death, must be their portion forever and ever.
This solemn question having been answered so clearly from the Word, why should any, who have the opportunity of sharing in the portion of God's saints, exclude themselves from it? The number of the heavenly saints is still incomplete; the house furnished for the feast is not yet full; and the Lord, by His servants. i$ still beseeching souls to enter while there is room.