Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 91:2
I will say of the LORD, [He is] my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
2. I will say unto Jehovah, My refuge and my fortress;
My God in whom I will trust.
I can and will address Him thus in the language of faith. Cp. Psa 18:2; Psa 31:3; Psa 71:3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I will say of the Lord – I, the psalmist; I will take this to myself; I will endeavor to secure this blessedness; I will thus abide with God. In view of the blessedness of this condition, and with the hope of securing it to myself; I will adopt this resolution as the purpose of my life. It is what I need; it is what my soul desires.
My refuge and my fortress – I will say of Jehovah, My refuge and my fortress! I will address him as such; I will regard him as such. On the meaning of these terms, see the notes at Psa 18:2.
My God – I will address him as my God; as the God whom alone I worship; as the only being to whom the name God can properly be applied; as being to me all that is implied in the word God.
In him will I trust – I will repose that confidence in him which is evinced by making my home with him, and seeking permanently to dwell with him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 91:2
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust.
The souls experience of God
I. A souls experience of God. The humblest child of God has as great a weapon forged for his defence of spiritual truths as has the most learned: they each have an experience of God, and that is a weapon which can never be blunted by any intellectual parrying.
II. The wealth of such a soul-experience of God.
1. He is my refuge–from trouble, sorrow, despair.
2. He is my fortress. The forces arrayed against the soul are not merely powers which need to be coerced if they are to yield their best, but some of the forces are in antagonistic opposition to the soul. At such times as these, what a fortress was to the people of ancient days–a place of secure defence–so God was to the psalmist.
3. He is my God. This is an advance upon the other two utterances. It is a grand thing to be able to say of any one, He is my refuge. It is a better thing to be able to say, He is my fortress, my protector. But it is the acme of happy experience to say, He is my friend, my companion, my confidant.
III. The result of his soul-experience of God. In Him will I trust! Trust, or faith in God, is the experiment of the soul in spiritual things, and the only way to a fuller knowledge and a more blessed experience. No longer need the scientist sneer at the faith, the experiment of the Christian, for the man who trusts God in all the circumstances of life is as rational, and proceeds from as rational a basis, as the scientist who, starting from the known, goes on by experiment to discover the unknown. Let your experience of God, of the Christ, of the Holy Spirit, never alter, except to be enlarged, purified, and intensified. This is the will of God concerning you. What are you to do in order to obtain that better experience? Why, this: you must experiment with God–In Him will I trust–along the lines He shall reveal. (W. A. Todd.)
My God.—
My God
To try and preach from this text is like trying to carry honey in your hands. Ere you can reach your friends to whom you would give it, you will find that a large part of it has oozed out between your fingers: or that you failed to convey to others what was so delicious to yourself. My text has been to my own heart sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. Have you been in the Alps, or in some other region where the scenery is peculiarly impressive, and where you have witnessed some transcendently beautiful and sublime view, have you tried to tell your friends what you have seen? How utterly you have failed, your words are all inadequate to give them any satisfactory idea of the glorious spectacle you have seen. Now, the unspeakable beauty of these two words is such that I feel I cannot fully convey it to you. I have seen in these two words such a wonderful display of the Lords condescension, of His favour to His chosen, and of the intense delight which springs therefrom, that I feel all incompetent to set it forth to you. However, may God the Holy Spirit give His help, and our meditation shall be sweet. Think–
I. Of these two words together. Now, to get at them, let us think of some of the special occasions in which Gods children have used them and have said, My God.
1. This is the young converts early confession. See Ruths word to Naomi–thy God, my God.
2. The statement of the Christian belief. There is one creed and confession of faith. See Thomas–My Lord and my God.
3. They have often been used to declare the determination of the believer when he has been surrounded by opponents and persecutors. See old Micaiah when the false priests were around him. As the Lord my God liveth.
4. They express the secret vow of the believer as he consecrates himself to the Most High. See Jacob at Bethel–then shall the Lord be my God.
5. They have been the deepest possible comfort to children of God in times of terrible trouble. See our Lord upon the cross, when all the waves and billows of judgment were going over His soul–My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
6. And in times of great deliverance. Hear Miriams song–He is my God and I will exalt Him. Daniel to Darius–My God hath sent His angel, etc. May these words be the frequent language of our lips.
II. The first word, my. My God. How can I call God mine? How can I call that mine which I cannot even conceive? If my thoughts cannot compass it, my heart shall possess it. Love possesses what reason cannot even look upon. But this daring appropriation means–
1. That I own God to be my God.
2. That I do personally recognize him. He is not a god in cloudland to us; He is intensely real and true.
3. That we have come into personal relations with Him, and–
4. That we have appropriated Him to ourselves.
III. The last word, God–what does it mean? But that is more than I can answer. There is no defining the Incomprehensible One. Yet we can call Him My God. But reflect upon His being near as to–
1. His nature, His person, His essence.
2. His attributes.
3. In what He has done I do not know, but I seem to myself to have talked away and to have missed my aim and object altogether, compared with what I have felt in meditating in private upon these dear and blessed words, My God. It is a deep well, but the water is cool and sweet if you can draw it up. My God–there is more than satisfaction in the words. If you have no money, never mind; you are rich if you can say, My God If the husband is buried, if the children have Bone home to heaven, do not despair, thy Maker is thy husband, if you can cry, My God. If your friends have forsaken you, if the unkindnesses of men drive you to say, My God, you will be a gainer by them. Anything which weans from earth and leads to heaven is good. I saw yesterday a park in which they were felling all the trees, and yet there were the poor crows building on elms that were marked to be cut down. I thought to myself, You foolish birds to be building your nests there, for the woodmans axe is ringing all around, and the tall elms are tumbling to the ground. We are all apt to build our nests in trees that will be cut down. We get to love the creature, and to say, My this, and My that, and from this weakness our sharpest sorrows arise. If you build nowhere but on the tree of life, which can never be felled, your happiness will be eternal. For this you must be able to say, My God. (C. H Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. I will say of the Lord] This is my experience: “He is my fortress, and in him will I continually trust.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Upon that ground I will confidently commit myself and all my affairs to God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
I will say of the Lord,…. Or to the Lord p: these are the words of the psalmist, expressing his faith in the Lord in the following words, taking encouragement from the safety of the godly man above described: the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read, he shall say to the Lord; that is, the man that dwells in the secret place, and under the shadow of the Lord: the Targum is,
“David said, I will say to the Lord,”
as follows:
he is my refuge: a refuge in every time of trouble, outward or toward; a refuge when all others fail; and is himself a never failing one, a strong refuge, which none can break through and into, and in which all that have fled thither and dwell are safe:
and my fortress; what fortifications, natural or artificial, are to a city and its inhabitants, that is God to his people, and much more; he is round about them, as the mountains were about Jerusalem; his salvation are walls and bulwarks to them; yea, he is a wall of fire about them, Ps 125:2, they are kept by his power, as in a garrison, 1Pe 1:5,
my God, in him will I trust; his covenant God, his God in Christ, and who would ever continue so; and was a proper object of his trust and confidence, both as the God of nature, and the God of grace; who is to be trusted in, both for temporal and spiritual blessings, and at all times; to which his lovingkindness, power, and faithfulness, greatly encourage and engage: the Targum is,
“in his Word will I trust.”
p Domino, Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Musculus; “ad Jehovam”, de Dieu.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In the second verse he repeats the truth which he had already inculcated, showing at the same time that he speaks from his personal feeling and experience as a believer. This is very necessary in one who would be a teacher; for we cannot communicate true knowledge unless we deliver it not merely with the lips, but as something which God has revealed to our own hearts. (576) The Psalmist accordingly gives evidence, that what he had taught in the preceding verse accorded with his own inward experience. Some read, I will say concerning the Lord, and the Hebrew prefix, ל, lamed, may be so rendered; but the other translation which I have given conveys the more forcible meaning. The believer does more than simply resolve to make God his fortress; he draws near in the trust of the Divine promises, and familiarly addresses God. This confidence in prayer affords an additional proof how securely the people of God can dwell under his shadow. This holy species of boasting constitutes the very highest triumph of faith, when we betake ourselves to God without fear under our worst trials, and are fully persuaded that he answers all our prayers, nay, that we have in him a sufficiency and a superabundance of help.
(576) This psalm is allowed to be one of the finest in the whole collection. “Could the Latin or any modern language,” says Simon de Muis, “express thoroughly all the beauties and elegancies as well of the words as of the sentences, it would not be difficult to persuade the reader that we have no poem, either in Greek or Latin, comparable to this Hebrew ode.” It is supposed by some to have been composed by Moses on the same occasion as the preceding; but others think it was written by David on the occasion of the pestilence which was inflicted upon the people as a punishment of his sin in numbering them, (2Sa 24:0.) It is ascribed to David in the Septuagint, Chaldee, Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, and Æthiopic versions. Its subject-matter affords us no assistance in determining who was its inspired author, or on what occasion it was written. “There is, however, no reason,” says Walford, “to regret our unacquaintedness with these particulars, as the poem is so clear and intelligible, that nothing in it can be mistaken or misunderstood. The purpose of it is to illustrate the safety and happiness which result from the knowledge of God, and the exercise of a steadfast dependence upon his promise and grace. The sentiments are expressed with great force and beauty; and dead indeed must be the soul to every emotion of spiritual and heavenly delight that fails to be impressed by its truth, or to aim at the acquirement of such faith and reliance upon it as will alone render it productive of the peace and tranquillity of mind which it is intended to bestow. The learned Michaelis is of opinion that this psalm was to be recited in alternate parts by two choruses or sets of singers responding to each other, and that God himself is introduced in verse 14 as taking part of the performance.” It is supposed by the Jews to relate to the Messiah. See Mat 4:6; Luk 4:10.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
2. I will say of the Lord The Septuagint has it: “He shall say to the Lord,” but the author must be considered as speaking in his own person, from his own experience, though from the heart of the people.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Is not this the very language of Christ to the Father, to whom he constantly looked, in and through all his vast undertaking?
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 91:2 I will say of the LORD, [He is] my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Ver. 2. I will say of the Lord ] I dare say it is so as I have said, said the psalmist (whom the Jews make to be Moses), and I will presently make proof of it in myself; Non verbis solum praedicans, sed exemplis. Some conceive that the believer having heard the former proposition, Psa 91:1 , is here brought in professing his faith; and saying to the psalmist, Behold, I dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and shall I abide under the shadow of the Almighty? The answer follows.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I will say. Messiah speaks. See 2, above.
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
trust = confide. Hebrew. batah. App-69.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
trust
(See Scofield “Psa 2:12”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
I will: Psa 91:9, Psa 18:2, Psa 46:1, Psa 71:3, Psa 142:5, Deu 32:30, Deu 32:31, Deu 33:27-29, Pro 18:10
my God: Psa 43:4, Psa 48:14, Psa 67:6, Psa 67:7, Gen 17:7, Deu 26:17-19, Jer 31:1, Luk 20:38, Heb 11:16
in him: Psa 62:5-8, Isa 12:2, Isa 26:3, Isa 26:4
Reciprocal: 1Sa 23:17 – shall not 2Sa 22:2 – General 2Sa 22:51 – the tower 2Ki 19:14 – spread it Psa 9:9 – The Lord Psa 16:2 – thou hast Psa 18:32 – girdeth Psa 21:7 – For the Psa 63:1 – thou Psa 89:18 – the Lord is Psa 119:114 – my hiding Psa 140:6 – I said unto Pro 30:5 – pure Jer 16:19 – my strength Joe 3:16 – hope Nah 1:7 – strong hold 2Ti 3:11 – but Heb 2:13 – I will
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 91:2-3. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge Upon that ground I will confidently commit myself and all my affairs to God. Surely he shall deliver thee O thou believing, pious soul, who after my example shalt make God thy refuge, thou shalt partake of the same privilege which I enjoy. From the snare of the fowler Which is laid unseen, and catches the unwary prey on a sudden; and from the noisome pestilence Which, like a fowlers snare, seizeth men unexpectedly, and holdeth them fast, and commonly delivers them up to death. This promise, saith Henry, protects, 1st, The natural life, and is often fulfilled in our preservation from those dangers which are very threatening, and very near, and yet we ourselves are not apprehensive of them, no more than the bird is of the snare of the fowler. 2d, The spiritual life, which is protected by divine grace from the temptations of Satan, which are as the snares of the fowler, from the contagion of sin, which is the noisome pestilence. He that has given grace to be the glory of the soul, will create a defence upon all that glory.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
91:2 {b} I will say of the LORD, [He is] my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
(b) Being assured of this protection, he prays to the Lord.