--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 647 of 914 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/647/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 647. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/647/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2. ## 647. Psalms · 101 of 159 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/647/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/647/#p-N ### Verse 7 [¶1] A thousand shall fall at thy side - Calmet thinks this place should be translated thus: "A thousand enemies may fall upon thee on one side, and ten thousand may fall upon thee on thy right hand: but they shall not come nigh thee to take away thy life." It is a promise of perfect protection, and the utmost safety. ### Verse 8 [¶3] The reward of the wicked - Thou shalt not only be safe thyself, but thou shalt see all thy enemies discomfited and cast down. ### Verse 9 [¶5] Because thou hast made the Lord - Seeing thou hast taken Jehovah, the Most High, for thy portion and thy refuge, no evil shall come nigh thy dwelling; thou shalt be safe in thy soul, body, household, and property, [Psa 91:10]. Every pious man may expect such protection from his God and Father. ### Verse 11 [¶7] He shall give his angels charge over thee - Evil spirits may attempt to injure thee; but they shall not be able. The angels of God shall have an especial charge to accompany, defend, and preserve thee; and against their power, the influence of evil spirits cannot prevail. These will, when necessary, turn thy steps out of the wag of danger; ward it off when it comes in thy ordinary path; suggest to thy mind prudent counsels, profitable designs, and pious purposes; and thus minister to thee as a child of God, and an heir of salvation. [¶8] To keep thee in all thy ways - The path of duty is the way of safety. [¶9] Thou canst not reasonably expect protection if thou walk not in the way of obedience. Thy ways are the paths of duty, which God's word and providence have marked out for thee. The way of sin is not thy way - thy duty, thy interest. Keep in thy own ways, not in those of sin, Satan, the world, and the flesh; and God will take care of thee. ### Verse 12 [¶11] They shall bear thee up in their hands - Take the same care of thee as a nurse does of a weak and tender child; lead thee, - teach thee to walk, - lift thee up out of the way of danger, "lest thou shouldst dash thy foot against a stone," receive any kind of injury, or be prevented from pursuing thy path with safety and comfort. [¶12] Let us remember that it is God, whose these angels are; He gives them charge from Him they receive their commission, - to Him they are responsible for their charge. From God thou art to expect them; and for their help he alone is to receive the praise. It is expressly said, He shall give his angels charge; to show that they are not to be prayed to nor praised but God alone, whose servants they are. See the note on [Mat 4:6]. ### Verse 13 [¶14] Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder - Even the king of the forest shall not be able to injure thee; should one of these attack thee, the angels whom God sends will give thee an easy victory over him. And even the asp, (פתן pethen), one of the most venomous of serpents, shall not be able to injure thee. [¶15] The asp is a very small serpent, and peculiar to Egypt and Libya. Its poison kills without the possibility of a remedy. Those who are bitten by it die in about from three to eight hours; and it is said they die by sleep, without any kind of pain. Lord Bacon says the asp is less painful than all the other instruments of death. He supposes it to have an affinity to opium, but to be less disagreeable in its operation. It was probably an this account that Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, chose to die by the asp, as she was determined to prevent the designs of Augustus, who intended to have carried her captive to Rome to grace his triumph. [¶16] The dragon shalt thou trample - The תנין tannin, which we translate dragon, means often any large aquatic animal; and perhaps here the crocodile or alligator. ### Verse 14 [¶18] Because he hath set his love upon me - Here the Most High is introduced as confirming the word of his servant. He has fixed his love - his heart and soul, on me. [¶19] Therefore will I deliver him - I will save him in all troubles, temptations, and evils of every kind. [¶20] I will set him on high - I will place him out of the reach of all his enemies. I will honor and ennoble him, because he hath known my name - because he has loved, honored, and served me, and rendered me that worship which is my due. He has known me to be the God of infinite mercy and love. ### Verse 15 [¶22] He shall call upon me - He must continue to pray; all his blessings must come in this way, when he calls, I will answer him - I will give him whatever is best for him. [¶23] I will be with him in trouble - Literally, I am with him. עמו אנכי immo anochi; as soon as the trouble comes, I are there. [¶24] I will deliver him - For his good I may permit him to be exercised for a time, but delivered he shall be. [¶25] And honor him - אכבדהו acabbedehu, "I will glorify him." I will load him with honor; that honor that comes from God. I will even show to men how highly I prize such. ### Verse 16 [¶27] With long life - Literally, With length of days will I fill him up. [¶28] He shall neither live a useless life, nor die before his time. He shall live happy and die happy. [¶29] And show him my salvation - ואראהו בשועתי vearehu bishuathi, "I will make him see (or contemplate) in my salvation." He shall discover infinite lengths, breadths, depths, and heights, in my salvation. He shall feel boundless desires, and shall discover that I have provided boundless gratifications for them. He shall dwell in my glory, and throughout eternity increase in his resemblance to and enjoyment of me. Thus shall it be done to the man whom the Lord delighteth to honor; and he delights to honor that man who places his love on him. In a word, he shall have a long life in this world, and an eternity of blessedness in the world to come. ### Introduction [¶31] The psalmist shows the duty and advantage of praising God, [Psa 92:1-3]; speaks of the grandeur of God's works, [Psa 92:4-6]; the fall of the wicked, [Psa 92:7-9]; the happiness of the righteous, [Psa 92:10-14]; and all this founded on the perfections of God. [¶32] The title, A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath, gives no information concerning the time, oecasion, or author. The Chaldee, has "Praise, and a song which the first man spoke concerning the Sabbath:" but this is an idle conceit; and, though entertained by some rabbins, has been followed by none of the Versions. Calmet supposes the Psalm to have been composed by some of the Levites during or near the close of the Babylonish captivity, acknowledging the mercy of God, and foreseeing the desolation of their enemies, and their own return to Jerusalem, and their temple service. ### Verse 1 [¶34] It is a good thing to give thanks - This Psalm begins very abruptly. Good to confess unto the Lord. He had been acknowledging God's goodness, and praising him for his mercy; and now he breaks out and tells how good he felt this employment to be. ### Verse 2 [¶36] To show forth thy loving-kindness - חסדך chasdecha, thy abundant mercy, in the morning - that has preserved me throughout the night, and brought me to the beginning of a new day: and thy faithfulness in the night, that has so amply fulfilled the promise of preservation during the course of the day. This verse contains a general plan for morning and evening prayer. ### Verse 3 [¶38] Upon an instrument of ten strings - Eusebius, in his comment on this Psalm, says: Ψαλτηριον δε δεκαχορδον, ἡ του Ἁγιου Πνευματος δια των αισθητηριων πεντε μεν του σωματος, ισαριθμων δε της ψυχης δυναμεων, επιτελουμενη λατρεια· "The Psaltery of ten strings is the worship of the Holy Spirit, performed by means of the five senses of the body, and by the five powers of the soul." And, to confirm this interpretation, he quotes the apostle, [1Cor 14:15] : "I will pray with the spirit, and with the understanding also; I will sing with the spirit, and with the understanding also." "As the mind has its influence by which it moves the body, so the spirit has its own influence by which it moves the soul." Whatever may be thought of this gloss, one thing is pretty evident from it, that instrumental music was not in use in the Church of Christ in the time of Eusebius. which was near the middle of the fourth century. Had any such thing then existed in the Christian Church, he would have doubtless alluded to or spiritualized it; or, as he quoted the words of the apostle above, would have shown that carnal usages were substituted for spiritual exercises. I believe the whole verse should be translated thus: Upon the asur, upon the nebel, upon the higgayon, with the kinnor. Thus it stands in the Hebrew. ### Verse 4 [¶40] For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work - I am delighted with thy conduct towards me; with the work of thy providence, the works of thy grace, and thy works of creation. ### Verse 5 [¶42] Hour great are thy works! - They are multitudinous, stupendous, and splendid: and thy thoughts - thy designs and counsels, from which, by which, and in reference to which, they have been formed; are very deep - so profound as not to be fathomed by the comprehension of man. ### Verse 6 [¶44] A brutish man knoweth not - איש בער ish baar, the human hog - the stupid bear - the boor; the man who is all flesh; in whom spirit or intellect neither seems to work nor exist. The brutish man, who never attempts to see God in his works. [¶45] Neither doth a fool understand this - כסיל kesil, the fool, is different from בער baar, the brutish man; the latter has mind, but it is buried in flesh; the former has no mind, and his stupidity is unavoidable.