Expositions on the Book of Psalms
PSALMS. 37
PsaLm X.] ON THE kill the body, whilst they themselves were dying in soul. "In that snare which they hid, has their foot been taken.'"' The hidden snare is crafty devising. The foot of the soul is well understood to be its love : which, when depraved, is called coveting or lust ; but when upright, love or charity. . . . And the Apostle says, "That being rooted and grounded in love, ye may be able to take in."! 'The foot then of sinners, that is, their love, is taken in the snare, which they hide: for when delight shall have followed on to deceitful dealing, when God shall have delivered them over to the lust of their heart ; that delight at once binds them, that they dare not tear away their love thence and apply it to profitable objects ; for when they shall make the attempt, they will be pained in heart, as if desiring to free their foot from a fetter: and giving way under this pain they refuse to withdraw from pernicious delights. 'In the snare" then "which they have hid," that is, in deceitful counsel, 'their foot hath been taken," that is, their love, which through deceit attains to that vain joy whereby pain is purchased.
1g. " Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail" (ver. 19). The future judgment is prayed for: but before it come, '" Let the heathen," saith he, "be *judged in Thy sight:" that is, in secret ; which is called in God's sight, with the knowledge of a few holy and righteous ones. " Place a lawgiver over them, O Lord." (ver. 20). He seems to me to point out Antichrist: of whom the Apostle says, "When the man of sin shall be revealed." 3 "Let the heathen know that they are men." That they who will be set free by the Son of God, and belong to the Son of Man, and be sons of men, that is, new men, may serve man, that is, the old man the sinner, "for that they are men."
20. And because it is believed that he is to arrive at so great a pitch of empty glory, and he will be permitted to do so great things, both against all men and against the Saints of God, that then some weak ones shall indeed think that God cares not for human affairs, the Psalmist interposing a diapsalma, adds as it were the voice of men groaning and asking why judgment is deferred.*
"The Lord is known executing judgments" (ver. 16). These are God's judgments. Not from that tranquillity of His blessedness, nor from the secret places of wisdom, wherein blessed souls are received, is the sword, or fire, or wild beast, or any such thing brought forth, whereby sinners may.be tormented : but how are they tormented, and how does the Lord do judgment? "In the works,' he says, "of his own hands hath the sinner been caught."
PSALM X.5
"Why, O Lord," saith he, "hast Thou withdrawn afar off ?" (ver. 1). Then he who thus inquired, as if all on a sudden he understood, or as if he asked, though he knew, that he might teach, adds, "Thou despisest in due seasons, in tribulations:"' that is, Thou despisest seasonably, and causest tribulations to inflame men's minds with longing for Thy coming. For that fountain of life is sweeter to them that have much thirst. Therefore he hints the reason of the delay, saying, "' Whilst the ungodly vaunteth himself, the poor man is inflamed" (ver. 2). Wondrous it is and true with what earnestness of good hope the little ones are inflamed unto an upright living by comparison with sinners. In which mystery it comes to pass, that even heresies are permitted to exist; not that heretics themselves wish this, but because Divine Providence worketh this result from their sins, which both maketh and ordaineth the light ; but ordereth only the darkness, that by comparison therewith the light may be more pleasant, as by comparison with heretics the discovery of truth is more sweet. For so, by this comparison, the approved, who are known to God, are made manifest among men.
17. Here is interposed, "The song of the diapsalma" (ver. 16): as it were the hidden joy, as far as we can imagine, of the separation which is now made, not in place, but in the affections of the heart, between sinners and the righteous, as of the corn from the chaff, as yet on the floor. And then follows, " Let the sinners be turned into hell" (ver. 17) : that is, let them be given into their own hands, when they are spared, and let them be ensnared in deadly delight. "All the nations that forget God." Because " when they did not think good to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind." ?
18. " For there shall not be forgetfulness of the poor man to the end" (ver. 18) ; who now seems to be in forgetfulness, when sinners are thought to flourish in this world's happiness, and the righteous to be in travail: but "the patience," saith He, "of the poor shall not perish for ever." Wherefore there is need of patience now to bear with the evil, who are already separated in will, till they be also separated at the last judgment.
1. "They are taken in their thoughts, which they think: " that is, their evil thoughts become chains to them. But how become they chains?
3 2Thess.ii.3. ; 4 [For light on this interpretation, see Neale, Commentary, p. 160. —C. 5 The two Psalms are combined in the Vulgate. But here the verses begin again, treating this as '"' Ps. x. secundum Hebra@os."
[And so our English version. — C.]
3 Eph. iii. 17, 18. 2 Rom. i, 28.