Section 510
II. We may now consider the manner in which these words Were delivered
And that they may be considered, either, 1. As a prayer, and be read thus, "O that his left hand was under my head, and that his right hand would embrace me!"[3561] and suppose her still in the same case in which she was in the former verse; and seem to intimate, that she had a sense of her present state and condition, and a desire to be out of it; also, that she was without Christ's presence and communion with him, though she had a value for it, and an earnest desire after it, and did firmly believe that the enjoyment of it would relieve her. Or, 2. They may be considered as spoken in the strength of faith, that it would be so; and then the words may be read thus, "his left hand will be under my head, and his right hand will embrace me;"[3562] and the sense of them is, as if she should say, It is true I am now in a very weak, feeble, and fainting condition; yet I know I shall not totally sink, fail and perish; for he will hold me up and support me, so that I shall not be moved: the words seem then to be spoke much in the same manner, and to argue the same strength of faith, as those spoke by the church in Micah 8:7, 8. Or else, 3. As expressing her present experience that it was so; and then the words may be read as they are rendered by our translators, "his left hand is under my head," etc. which experience of hers she mentions with thankfulness, as she ought to do, to the glory of his love and grace, who had so kindly and graciously appeared for her in a time of distress; and this she does also in an exulting manner, and with a kind of boasting; for though we are not allowed to glory in ourselves, nor have any reason to boast of any thing which we have done, yet we may glory in Christ, and boast of what he is unto us, and has done for us,