The rod - Their power and authority. Not rest - Not continue long. The lot - Upon the habitations and persons of good men. Lest - Lest they should be driven to indirect courses to relieve themselves.
Lead them - Unto sinful courses. Israel - Upon the true Israel of God.
Turned - Brought the captive Israelites out of Babylon into their own land. Dream - We were so surprized and astonished.
Turn - As thou hast brought us home, bring also the rest of our brethren. As - As thou art pleased sometimes to send floods of water into dry and barren grounds, such as the southern parts of Canaan were.
Build - Assist and bless those that build it.
You - Builders, or watchmen. To sit - To use constant and unwearied diligence. So - By his blessing. Giveth - Freely, without that immoderate toiling, wherewith others pursue it.
Children - The chief of these blessings. Heritage - Only from God's blessing, even as an inheritance is not the fruit of a man's own labour, but the gift of God.
Youth - These he prefers before other children, because they live longest with their parents, and to their comfort and support, whereas children born in old age seldom come to maturity before their parents death.
Full - Who hath a numerous issue. Shall speak - They shall courageously plead their cause in courts of judicature, not fearing to be crushed by the might of their adversaries.
Olive - plants - Numerous, growing and flourishing.
From my youth - From the time that I was a people.
Righteous - Faithful or merciful. The cords - Wherewith the plow was drawn. By these cords he understands all their plots and endeavours.
House - tops - Which there were flat. Which - Having no deep root, never comes to maturity. And so all their designs shall be abortive.
The blessing - Which was an usual salutation given by passengers to reapers: so the meaning is, it never continues 'till the harvest comes.
Mark - Observe them accurately and punish them as they deserve. Stand - At thy tribunal.
Forgiveness - Thou art able and ready to forgive repenting sinners. Feared - Not with a slavish, but with a childlike fear. This mercy of thine is the foundation of all religion, without which men would desperately proceed in their impious courses.
I wait - That he would pardon my sins.
They - Whether soldiers that keep the night - watches in an army, or the priests or Levites who did so in the temple.
Israel - Every true Israelite. Plenteous - Abundantly sufficient for all persons who accept it upon God's terms.
Surely - When my mind was provoked. Weaned - Wholly depending upon God's providence, as the poor helpless infant, relies upon its mother for support.
Afflictions - All his sufferings for thy sake.
Until - Until I have raised an house in which the ark may be put.
It - Of the ark. Ephratah - In the tribe of Ephraim, which was called also Ephratah. Found it - Afterwards we found it in Kirjath - jearim, which signifies a city of woods, in the territory whereof the ark was seated for twenty years.
Tabernacles - Into his temple. Footstool - The ark, is often said to sit between the cherubim, which were above the ark.
Rest - Into thy resting place, the temple so called, Isa 66:1, where thou hast now a fixed habitation. The ark - The seat of thy powerful and glorious presence.
David's sake - In regard of thy promises vouchsafed to David. Turn not - Cast me not out of thy presence. Of - Of me whom thou hast anointed to be king over thy people.
Salvation - With thy saving graces and blessings.
There - In Jerusalem. To bud - His power and glory to flourish. A lamp - A successor to continue for ever in his family, as this phrase is expounded 1Kings 11:36 15:4, and particularly one eminent and glorious light, namely, the Messiah.
Ointment - It is no less grateful and refreshing than that oil which was poured forth upon Aaron's head at the time of his consecration to the priestly office. Skirts - Not to the lower skirt or bottom of his sacerdotal garment, but to the upper skirt of it, or the mouth of it, as the Hebrew word properly signifies.
Zion - It is as desirable as the dew which falls upon mount Hermon, nay, as desirable as that heavenly dew of God's ordinances and graces which he hath commanded to fall upon the mountains of Zion and Moriah, and others which are round about Jerusalem. There - Where brethren live in peace and unity.
Servant - Peculiarly so called, priests and Levites. Night - Not only by day, but also by night, when their watch was more necessary. Stand - Serve or minister.
Thee - Thee whosoever thou art who dost faithfully perform the duty here commanded.
Ye - Ye priest and Levites.
Seas - In the visible seas, and in the invisible depths both of the earth and of the waters.
From - From all parts of the earth, from one end to another. Rain - An eminent instance of his good providence.
Judge - Will in due time plead the cause of his people. Repent - He will recall that severe sentence which for their sins he had passed upon them.
The God of gods - Who is infinitely superior to all that are called gods, whether angels, or princes, or idols.
Israel - He speaks of all that people as of one man, because they were united together in one body in the worship of God.
Food - To all living creatures. For which God deserves great praises, which the psalmist teaches us to render to God for them, because those who are most concerned, either cannot, or do not perform this duty. Chapter CXXXVII Probably this psalm was wrote toward the end of the Babylonish captivity. Herein the captives complain of the scoffs of their enemies, yet remember Jerusalem, and foresee the downfall of Babylon, ver. 1 - 9.
Sat - The usual posture of mourners.
Harps - Harps are here put for all instruments of musick.
A song - Such songs as you used to sing in the temple of Zion.
The Lord's - Those songs which were appointed by God to be sung only in his service.
If - If I do not value Jerusalem's prosperity more than all other delights.
The day - In the time of its destruction.