--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 648 of 914 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/648/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 648. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/648/" --- # 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. ## 648. Psalms · 102 of 159 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/648/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/648/#p-N ### Verse 7 [¶1] When the wicked spring as the grass - This is a lesson which is frequently inculcated in the sacred writings. The favor of God towards man is not to be known by outward prosperity; nor is his disapprobation to be known by the adverse circumstances in which any person may be found. When, however, we see the wicked flourish, we may take for granted that their abuse of God's mercies will cause him to cut them off as cumberers of the ground; and, dying in their sins, they are destroyed for ever. ### Verse 8 [¶3] High for evermore - They are brought down and destroyed; but the Lord is exalted eternally, both for his judgments and his mercies. ### Verse 10 [¶5] Like the horn of a unicorn - ראים reeym, perhaps here, the oryx or buffalo. But the rhinoceros seems to be the real monoceros of the Scriptures. [¶6] I shall be anointed unth fresh oil - Perhaps the allusion is here not to any sacramental anointing, but to such anointings as were frequent among the Asiatics, especially after bathing, for the purpose of health and activity. ### Verse 11 [¶8] Mine eye also shall see, - and mine ears shall hear - Even in my own times my enemies shall be destroyed; and of this destruction I shall either be an eye-witness or have authentic information. ### Verse 12 [¶10] The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree - Very different from the wicked, [Psa 92:7], who are likened to grass. These shall have a short duration; but those shall have a long and useful life. They are compared also to the cedar of Lebanon, an incorruptible wood, and extremely long-lived. Mr. Maundrell, who visited those trees in 1697, describes them thus: "These noble trees grow among the snow, near the highest part of Lebanon. Some are very old, and of prodigious bulk. I measured one of the largest, and found it twelve yards six inches in girt, and yet sound; and thirty-seven yards in the spread of its boughs. At about five or six yards from the ground, it was divided into live limbs, each of which was equal to a large tree." Some of these trees are supposed to have lived upwards of one thousand years! The figure of the palm-tree gives us the idea of grandeur and usefulness. The fruit of the palm-tree makes a great part of the diet of the people of Arabia, part of Persia, and Upper Egypt. The stones are ground down for the camels; the leaves are made into baskets; the hard boughs, or rather strong leaves, some being six or eight feet in length, make fences; the juice makes arrack, the threads of the web-like integument between the leaves make ropes, and the rigging of small vessels; and the wood serves for slighter buildings and fire-wood. In short, the palm or date tree, and the olive, are two of the most excellent and useful productions of the forest or the field. [¶11] The cedar gives us the idea of majesty, stability. durableness, and incorruptibility. To these two trees, for the most obvious reasons, are the righteous compared. William Lithgow, who traveled through the holy land about a.d. 1600, describes the cedars of Mount Lebanon as "being in number twenty-four, growing after the manner of oaks, but a great deal taller straighter, and thicker, and the branches growing so straight, and interlocking, as though they were kept by art: and yet from the root to the top they bear no boughs, but grow straight and upwards like to a palm-tree. Their circle-spread tops do kiss or embrace the lower clouds, making their grandeur overlook the highest bodies of all other aspiring trees. The nature of this tree is, that it is always green, yielding an odoriferous smell, and an excellent kind of fruit, like unto apples, but of a sweeter taste, and more wholesome. The roots of some of these cedars are almost destroyed by the shepherds, who have made fires thereat, and holes where they sleep; yet nevertheless they flourish green above, in the tops and branches." - Lithgow's 17 years' Travels, 4th., London, 1640. ### Verse 13 [¶13] Those that be planted in the house of the Lord - I believe the Chaldee has the true meaning here: "His children shall be planted in the house of the sanctuary of the Lord, and shall flourish in the courts of our God." As these trees flourish in their respective soils and climates, so shall the righteous in the ordinances of God. I do not think there is any allusion to either palm-trees or cedars, planted near the tabernacle or temple. ### Verse 14 [¶15] They shall still bring forth fruit in old age - They shall continue to grow in grace, and be fruitful to the end of their lives. It is a rare case to find a man in old age full of faith, love, and spiritual activity. ### Verse 15 [¶17] To show that the Lord is upright - Such persons show how faithful God is to his promises, how true to his word, how kind to them who trust in him. He is the Rock, the Fountain, whence all good comes. [¶18] There is no unrighteousness in him - He does nothing evil, nothing unwise, nothing unkind. He is both just and merciful. ### Introduction [¶20] The universal government of God, [Psa 93:1], [Psa 93:2]; the opposition to that government, [Psa 93:3], [Psa 93:4]; the truth of God's testimonies, [Psa 93:5]. [¶21] This Psalm has no title either in the Hebrew or Chaldee. The Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic, state it to be "A song of praise of David for the day preceding the Sabbath, when the earth was founded;" but in such a title there is no information on which any man can rely. This Psalm is written as a part of the preceding in twelve of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. It was probably written at the close of the captivity by the Levites, descendants of Moses. ### Verse 1 [¶23] The Lord reigneth - He continues to govern every thing he has created; and he is every way qualified to govern all things, for he is clothed with majesty and with strength - dominion is his, and he has supreme power to exercise it; and he has so established the world that nothing can be driven out of order; all is ruled by him. Nature is his agent: or rather, nature is the sum of the laws of his government; the operations carried on by the Divine energy, and the effects resulting from those operations. [¶24] He hath girded himself - The girding with strength refers to the girding in order to strengthen the loins, arms, knees, etc. When a Hindoo is about to set off on a journey, to lift a burden, or to do something that requires exertion, he binds firmly his loose upper garment round his loins - Ward. ### Verse 2 [¶26] Thy throne is established of old - There never was a time in which God did not reign, in which he was not a supreme and absolute Monarch; for he is from everlasting. There never was a time in which he was not; there never can be a period in which he shall cease to exist. ### Verse 3 [¶28] The floods have lifted up - Multitudes of people have confederated against thy people; and troop succeeds troop as the waves of the sea succeed each other. ### Verse 4 [¶30] The Lord - is mightier than the noise of many waters - Greater in strength than all the peoples and nations that can rise up against him. [¶31] Mighty waves of the sea - Even the most powerful empires can prevail nothing against him; therefore those who trust in him have nothing to fear. ### Verse 5 [¶33] Thy testimonies are very sure - Thou wilt as surely fulfill thy word as thou wilt keep possession of thy throne. [¶34] Holiness becometh thine house - Thy nature is holy, all thy works are holy, and thy word is holy; therefore, thy house - thy Church should be holy. The building itself should be sanctified - should be so consecrated to thy worship alone, that it shall never be employed in any other service. The ministers of this Church should be holy, the members holy, the ordinances holy; its faith, its discipline, and its practice holy. And this at all times, and in all circumstances; for holiness becometh thine house-for ever," לארך ימים le-orech yamim, for length of days. During the whole lapse of time; till the sun and moon shall be no more. The old Psalter says the house of God is man's saule; and of this house holiness is נאוה naavah, "the ornament;" it produces that meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price. No decoration of person nor simplicity of dress can supply the place of this heavenly clothing. ### Introduction [¶36] An appeal to God against oppressors, [Psa 94:1-7]. Expostulations with the workers of iniquity, [Psa 94:8-11]. God's merciful dealings with his followers, [Psa 94:12-15]; and their confidence in him, [Psa 94:16-19]. The punishment of the wicked foretold, [Psa 94:20-23]. [¶37] This Psalm has no title either in the Hebrew or Chaldee. The Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic, have "A Psalm of David, for the fourth day of the week;" but this gives us no information on which we can rely. In three of Kennicott's MSS. it is written as a part of the preceding. It is probably a prayer of the captives in Babylon for deliverance; and was written by the descendants of Moses, to whom some of the preceding Psalms have been attributed. It contains a description of an iniquitous and oppressive government, such as that under which the Israelites lived in Babylon. ### Verse 1 [¶39] O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth - God is the author of retributive justice, as well as of mercy. This retributive justice is what we often term vengeance, but perhaps improperly; for vengeance with us signifies an excitement of angry passions, in order to gratify a vindictive spirit, which supposes itself to have received some real injury; whereas what is here referred to is that simple act of justice which gives to all their due. ### Verse 2 [¶41] Lift up thyself - Exert thy power. [¶42] Render a reward to the proud - To the Babylonians, who oppress and insult us. ### Verse 3 [¶44] How long shall the wicked triumph? - The wicked are often in prosperity; and this only shows us of how little worth riches are in the sight of God, when he bestows them on the most contemptible of mortals. But their time and prosperity have their bounds.