Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 94:12
Blessed [is] the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
12, 13. Happy the man whom thou instructest, Jah,
And teachest out of thy law,
To give him rest from the days of evil,
Until a pit be dug for the wicked.
Israel, as well as the nations ( Psa 94:10) is being divinely educated, and that with a higher teaching, the teaching of revelation. This will give him such an insight into the ways of God’s Providence, as will enable him to endure calmly, without murmuring or losing heart, until the day of retribution overtakes the wicked. Cp. Hab 3:16. The A.V. rendering chastenest limits the meaning of the verb, which is the same as that in Psa 94:10. But doubtless it includes the discipline of suffering which Israel was undergoing. Cp. Job 5:17; Pro 3:11-12. The conception of life as a discipline and education is specially characteristic of the Book of Proverbs. The wise man welcomes it, but the fool rebels against it. Thy law is not limited to the Pentateuch or any part of it, but is synonymous with the word of Jehovah, and includes all Divine revelation as the guide of life (Psa 1:2). The days of evil, or, of the evil man, are the times when wrong and wrong-doers seem to have undisputed sway. Cp. Psa 49:5.
until a pit &c.] Until the day of retribution comes, as it certainly will do; a metaphor from the pitfalls used by hunters. Cp. Psa 7:15; Psa 35:7; Psa 57:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
12 15. The Psalmist consoles himself and his fellow-sufferers with the thought that they are being educated by God, and that, sooner or later, Right must have its rights.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord – Happy the man; or Oh the blessedness of the man. See the notes at Psa 1:1. The word here rendered chastenest does not mean to chasten in the sense of afflicting or punishing. It means here to instruct; to warn; to admonish; to exhort. So the word is employed in Pro 9:7; Job 4:3; Psa 16:7. The meaning here is, that the man is blessed or happy whom God so instructs, warns, or teaches, that he understands the principles of the divine administration. Such a man will see reasons for confidence in him in trouble, and for calmness of mind until punishment is brought upon his enemies.
And teachest him out of thy law – Causest him, from thy word, to understand the great principles of thy government.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 94:12-15
Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of Thy law.
Blessed discipline
I. Gods children are under tuition. Other children may run about, and take holiday; they may wander into the weeds, and gather the flowers, and do very much what they like; but. Gods own children have to go to school. This is a great, privilege for them, although they do not always think so. Children are not often good judges of what is best for themselves. Note how this tuition is described in our text; the very first word concerning it is chastenest. In Gods school-house the rod is still extant; with the Lord, chastening is teaching. He does not spoil His children; but chastens them, aye, even unto scourging, as the apostle puts it (Heb 12:6). I know that some of us have learnt much from the Lords chastening rod. For instance, we have learnt the evil of sin. Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy Word. Our chastening teaches us the unsatisfactory nature of worldly things. We can easily become attached to the things which we possess. It is a very difficult thing to handle gold without allowing it to adhere to your fingers; and when it gets into your purse, you need much grace to prevent it getting into your heart. Do we not also learn by affliction our own frailty, and our own impatience? Ah, yes, we find how great our weakness is when first one thing is taken away, and then another. Do we not then learn also the value of prayer? And then how precious the promises become. They shine out like newly-kindled stars when we get into the night of affliction. And oh, how should we ever know the faithfulness of God if it were not for affliction? We might talk about it and theoretically understand it; but to try to prove the greatness of Jehovahs love, and the absolute certainty of His eternal faithfulness–this cometh not except by the way of affliction and trial.
II. Gods children educated. That Thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, etc. What! you ask, chastened to give us rest? It is usual for chastening to break our rest. Yes, I know that it is so with other chastenings; but in very deed this is the way in which God gives rest to His people. First, we learn to rest in the will of God. Our will is naturally very stubborn; and when we are chastened, at first we kick out, like a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke; but by degrees we feel that we must bear the yoke. We then go a little further, and we feel that we ought to bear it, even though God should lay upon us anything He pleases, and we should feel it very galling. By and by the yoke begins to fit our neck, and we come even to love it. We make advances in our spiritual education when we learn to rest after our afflictions. When any trouble is over, great delights often come to us. It is with us as it was with our Master; He had been with the wild beasts; worse still, He had been tempted of the devil; but angels came, and ministered unto Him. Perhaps there is no happier period of life than the state of convalescence, when the sick man is gradually recovering his former strength after a long illness. So God gives surprising peace to His people when He takes away their troubles, but He also gives them a great measure of peace in their troubles. Thus, for another lesson, we learn to rest in adversity. The Lord chastens us in order that we may learn how to stand fast, and bear up bravely while the trouble is yet upon us.
III. Gods children are still dear to Him (Psa 94:14). First, the Lord will not east off His people. When you are put into the furnace, and into the greatest heat that can be obtained, it is that the Lord may take away your dross and purify you for His service. Then, further, the Lord will not forsake His inheritance.
IV. Gods people will be righted in the end (Psa 94:15). Judgment has gone out of the world for a while, though it watcheth and recordeth all things. It is gone partly for our trial and testing, that we may learn to trust an absent God and Saviour. Judgment is also gone away in order that mercy may be extended to the ungodly, that they may live, and that they may turn to God; for He willeth not the death of any, but that they may turn unto Him and live. Judgment has gone up to the throne for a while until the wicked shall have completed the full measure of their sin, until the pit be digged for the wicked. Do not be in a hurry, child of God; the Lord has timed His absence. Judgment shall return unto righteousness. You shall hear the trumpet soon. And what then? Judgment shall be welcomed by the godly. When it comes, all the upright in heart shall follow it. The chariot of righteousness shall lead the way, and all the people of God shall follow it in a glorious procession. Then shall they receive their Lords commendation, Well done, good and faithful servants. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Word of God taught by His providence
I. Why God chastises men in order to teach them out of His word. The general reason is because they disregard milder modes of teaching. If men would regard the still small voice of God in His works, and read His character therein displayed, they would fly to His Word for light and instruction, without needing or feeling His chastising hand. But they will not open their eyes to see Him, nor their ears to hear Him, until they are constrained to do it by the rod of correction.
II. How God employs chastisements to teach men out of His word. He makes them feel the necessity of reading, hearing, understanding and embracing the Gospel, and then opens their hearts to embrace it. He causes them to know the rod, and who has appointed it; and the happy fruit is the taking away of their sins. Thus He often afflicts men for the purpose of giving them saving instruction.
III. The happiness of those whom God effectually teaches the knowledge of His word, by means of the afflictive dispensations of His providence.
1. The knowledge men are taught through this medium affords them real comfort and consolation, though their afflictions continue. They feel a joyful confidence in the rectitude, wisdom and goodness of all His dispensations. They choose that His will should be done rather than their own; and that His glory should be promoted, rather than their own personal good should be regarded.
2. They are happy when their peculiar troubles and trials are removed. Divine instruction in adversity teaches them how to feel and act in prosperity.
3. They shall be happy for ever.
IV. Improvement.
1. If God sometimes chastens men in order to teach them out of His Word, because milder means will not produce that desirable effect, then we must conclude that they are very unwilling to receive Divine instruction.
2. If it be owing to Divine-instruction that Divine chastenings do men good, then we may conclude that Divine chastenings alone will do them no good. The natural tendency of Divine chastenings is to stir up whatever moral corruption lies in the heart; and they will produce no other effect unless God Himself teaches them to profit.
3. If God improves the time of affliction as a favourable opportunity of instructing men out of His Word in the knowledge of Divine things, then the friends of God ought to improve the same favourable season for giving religious instruction to the afflicted.
4. If God employs chastenings as the most powerful means of instructing men in the knowledge of spiritual and Divine things, then those who refuse instruction under His correcting hand have reason to fear He will say concerning them, Let them alone, that they may perish in their ignorance. He has said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man.
5. Since God oftener instructs men in a time of adversity than in a time of prosperity, they have more reason to fear prosperity than adversity.
6. Let what has been said lead all to inquire whether they have ever derived any spiritual benefit from adversity. (N. Emmons, D.D.)
The school of affliction
I. The qualities of the man here blessed by the prophet.
1. He is chastised of God.
(1) This must teach us patience when we are wronged, injured and oppressed in any sort by evil men, because then being under them we are under Gods rod.
(2) It is a doctrine of singular comfort to the children of God being in the hands of their cruel and crafty adversaries, because their adversaries also are in the hands of God, as a rod in the hand of the smiter.
2. He is taught of God in His law. If in our affliction we will learn anything, we must take Gods Book into our hands, and seriously peruse it. And hereby shall it appear that our afflictions have been our teachers, if by them we have felt ourselves stirred up to greater diligence, zeal, and reverence in reading and hearing the Word.
3. The lessons which affliction teacheth.
(1) Those who are yet to be converted. They by their afflictions are taught this one worthy lesson, worth all the lessons in the world; namely, to convert and turn to the Lord, to repent and believe the Gospel.
(2) The second kind of lessons taught by affliction is to those already converted. Concerning the right manner of bearing affliction. Concerning the right profit and holy use of afflictions. These lessons are proper to the converted, it being impossible for a man unconverted to leave either of them.
II. The blessedness which belongeth to the child of God.
1. The first kind of blessedness I call privative, because it consisteth in taking away of that curse which naturally cleaves to all afflictions.
2. There is also a positive blessedness in the afflictions of the godly. There is not only the absence of evil from affliction, but good also is present, in regard whereof the afflicted worthily are called and counted blessed.
(1) The good from whence they have their original; namely, the love of God disposing these afflictions to us.
(2) The good annexed to them, and necessarily concomitant with them. Our conformity with Christ our elder brother, who first suffered, and then entered into glory, who first wore a crown of thorns, and then of glory; who first felt the weight of His burdensome cross, and then that eternal weight of happiness (Rom 8:29). Our communion with Christ who is a fellow-sufferer with us in all our afflictions, unless such wherein we suffer as evil-doers (1Pe 4:18). The powerful presence of Gods Spirit, cheering and comforting us in our affliction. Blessedness is nothing else but enjoying sweet communion with God. Now, since this communion is most of all enjoyed in affliction, worthily are the afflicted counted blessed.
(3) The good confirmed to us by them. The present good is our adoption, whereof they are assured pledges and badges unto us (Heb 12:1-29.). Good which afflictions confirm unto us is future. And that twofold.
(i.) In this life, an enlargement of comforts both inward and outward, even answerable to the measure of afflictions.
(ii.) In the life to come. If we suffer with Him, etc. Thus were the martyrs blessed in their afflictions, blessed in their martyrdom, God honouring them like Elias, sending for them, as M. Bradford speaks, to heaven in a fiery chariot. Thus we see how in every respect the afflicted are to be accounted blessed. (D. Dyke, B.D.)
How God deals with His saints
We all seek happiness. Some place it in high, some in low things; some seek it in the gifts of earth, some in the thoughts of heaven; some in sensuality, some in temperance; some in gratifying themselves, some in helping others; some in the fleshpots of Egypt, some in the manna which is angels food; but happiness we all seek, even if, at the very moment of our seeking it, we are utterly destroying its possibility. Now, does God grant what we call happiness to His saints on earth? Think you that they will complain that He slew them, though they trusted in Him? Do you imagine that had they to make their choice once more, they would say that they had been but miserably befooled, and would be ready to exchange their Saviours service for Satans lies? Oh, let them come forth; let them lean from the crystal battlements of heaven; and though we see them not, let them make the silence voiceful. And do they not say, Listen ye, our brothers, who are toiling on the sea, while we have gained the shore. And know first that God in no wise deceived us. If He gave us not the things that earth counts blessings, neither did He ever promise them, but forbade us to set our heart in any way upon them. And if He gave us sorrow and sighing, and what the world accounted evil things, neither in this has He deceived us, for He warned us that we should have them. He bade us mortify the flesh; and we knew that mortification is not bliss. He told us that whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth; nor were we ignorant that chastisement is not pleasant. Tradition told us that our Lord had said, He who is near Me is near the fire; and no tradition, but His own words, told us (Mat 10:25). No, our God never deceived us. Our eyes were open. We had counted well the cost. Nor is this all their answer. They bend to us from those pure sunlit heights, and we hear them saying, And all that our God made us suffer, we knew to be for our good. We wished to be true and noble men, and at any cheaper price than this we could not be so. Not a pang we suffered, but it weaned us more wholly from the world. Not a disappointment which befell our feebleness, but it made us rest more utterly on Him. Not a garish lamp of earth which died out in fume, but it made more visible to us the living sapphires of spiritual hope. For the afflictions which were but mercies in disguise; for the flame which purged away the dross; for the furnace-heat which tried the silver; for the conflagration which burned up the straw and stubble, while the precious stones were left; for the floods which swept away the sand-built bases, to prove to us how unshakeable is that alone which is built upon a rock; for all these we thanked God then–we thank Him yet more deeply now. Yes, remember that our desires were not those of the world. All that we prayed God for was a noble heart which no earthly affection could drag down; and that He gave us, not only in, but by our sufferings. Oh, think not that we repine at these our sorrows; for we longed for one thing, and one thing only, which was to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect; and He (as with His own dear Son) so made us perfect by the things which we suffered. And once more the saints say to us, And you who think that God dealt hardly with us His saints, ask yourselves whether others, who were not saints in any wise, escaped the sorrows which He gave to us. Selfish men, mean men, vulgar men, false, sensual, unloving men, may seem for a time to escape their cross, but does it not fall on them more crushingly at the end? If our lives seemed to fail, do not theirs? If the wicked flourish like a green bay-tree, are they not scathed sometimes by the fire from their bramble passions, and does not the axe at last swing down through the parted air upon their root? If men abused and slandered us, do bad men also escape slander and abuse? And have they any amulet against pain, sickness, loss, bereavement, and all the natural ills of life? But was there not this difference between us, that when calamity fell on us we were strong and calm and pure to bear it, but when it fell on them it was calamity meeting an accusing conscience? And when calamity meets crime, then indeed it is the thunder-cloud gathering upon the midnight, it is the dashing of the sea against the sea. And even at what they would have called the best, did not the very world sicken them of the world? Is there not, as Bossuet said, enough of illusion in its attractions, of inconstancy in its favours, of bitterness in its rebuff, of injustice and perfidy in the dealings of men, of unevenness and capriciousness in their intractable and contradictory humours–is there not enough of all this to disgust us? Aye, and therefore better was our hunger than their satiety; better the freedom of our emancipated affections than their sick, surfeit, and passion-fettered ease. So, then, the saints would tell us that God did indeed deal hardly with them–that He did send them trials, but had forewarned them that it should be so, and He sent largely and richly His peace therewith; and if they had not been His saints, then they would have had the trials but not the peace. The things we resigned, they say, were mean things, and vile, and things we did not value; the things we gained were eternal. To us alone was it given to be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; to count it all joy when we fell into divers temptations; to rejoice in tribulations; to plunge into the willing agony and to be blessed. And in choosing this lot we heard voices which you too may hear; we saw beckoning hands which you too may see. Come, My children, those voices called to us, come and do My will. Let the hearts of others be foul with iniquity or fat as brawn–had all been such, the world had been a fen of corrupted waters, or a hell of raging strife–but ye are called to help, to raise, to inspire, to ennoble it. (Dean Farrar.)
New conceptions of truth gained through discipline
A friend, writing of Dr. Gunsaulus, the beloved Chicago preacher, tells us that one large factor in his later religious development has been an experience in physical suffering and nervous depletion such as is rarely the lot of any child of God. I have suffered an inch off my leg, he said plaintively, and then he added words that sank deep into his friends memory: If I had to suffer it all again, and, in addition, to crawl across the continent on my hands and knees in order to get the conception of truth and life which has come to me through this discipline, I would gladly do it. What a testimony from such a man!—
The privilege of trial
At a meeting I attended lately for the Army Scripture Readers Society (writes a correspondent) I was greatly struck by a speech made by one of the soldiers present. In this speech he twice remarked, It was my privilege to be wounded, when speaking of the South African War. How beautiful and how rare. If we could all only have faith like this simple untaught soldier, and receive all trials and sorrows of our everyday life as privileges because sent from our Heavenly Father to lead us to Him! So by our woes to be Nearer, my God, to Thee; Nearer to Thee.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest] teyasserennu, whom thou instructest; and teachest him out of thy law. Two points here are worthy of our most serious regard:
1. God gives knowledge to man: gives him understanding and reason.
2. He gives him a revelation of himself; he places before that reason and understanding his Divine law.
This is God’s system of teaching; and the human intellect is his gift, which enables man to understand this teaching. We perhaps may add a third thing here; that as by sin the understanding is darkened, he gives the Holy Spirit to dispel this darkness from the intellect, in order that his word may be properly apprehended and understood. But he gives no new faculty; he removes the impediments from the old, and invigorates it by his Divine energy.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And whereas these ungodly persons esteem themselves the only happy men, and conclude thy people to be of all men the most miserable, because of the manifold persecutions and afflictions which they commonly suffer, and upon this account dispute against thy providence, so far is their opinion from the truth, that the contrary is most certain, that as their prosperity is a real mischief to them, so those afflictions of good men which are accompanied with Divine instructions are great and true blessings to them, themselves being judges.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12, 13. On the other hand Hefavors though He chastens, the pious, and will teach and preservethem till the prosperous wicked are overthrown.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord,…. Much more happy now, and hereafter, than the proud insulting persecutor of him; he is chastened of the Lord, that he might not be condemned with the world; he is chastened not in wrath, but in love; not with the chastisement of a cruel one, nor indeed of a magistrate nor a master; but of a tenderhearted father, who always does it for his profit and advantage, and therefore is he “blessed”, or happy; for these chastenings are tokens of God’s love, evidences of sonship, or of a man’s being an adopted child of God; are for, and do work for good, either temporal, spiritual, or eternal, and even in every sense; and, besides, the Lord grants his presence in them, supports under them, and teaches by them, as follows:
and teachest him out of thy law; or “doctrine” f; and may be understood of the doctrine of the Gospel, as well as of the law; the Lord teaches by his Spirit, his word, and providences; and, even by afflictive ones, he teaches men their sins and transgressions, and shows them wherein they have exceeded; brings them to a sense and confession of them, repentance and reformation; he teaches them hereby their duty, both to himself and all men, which they have neglected, and departed from; he teaches many lessons of faith, patience, humility, self-denial, and submission to his will in the school of affliction; here they learn much of God, of his power and faithfulness, truth, goodness, grace, and love, and of evangelical doctrines; of his everlasting love, of eternal election, the covenant of grace, the righteousness of Christ, and salvation by him; which the Lord makes known unto them at such seasons, and on which account they are pronounced blessed, or happy persons.
f “ex lege”, sc. “doctrina verbi tui”, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The fourth strophe praises the pious sufferer, whose good cause God will at length aid in obtaining its right. The “blessed” reminds one of Psa 34:9; Psa 40:5, and more especially of Job 5:17, cf. Pro 3:11. Here what are meant are sufferings like those bewailed in Psa 94:5., which are however, after all, the well-meant dispensations of God. Concerning the aim and fruit of purifying and testing afflictions God teaches the sufferer out of His Law (cf. e.g., Deu 8:5.), in order to procure him rest, viz., inward rest (cf. Jer 49:23 with Isa 30:15), i.e., not to suffer him to be disheartened and tempted by days of wickedness, i.e., wicked, calamitous days (Ew. 287, b), until (and it will inevitably come to pass) the pit is finished being dug into which the ungodly falls headlong (cf. Psa 112:7.). has the emphatic Dagesh, which properly does not double, and still less unite, but requires an emphatic pronunciation of the letter, which might easily become inaudible. The initial Jod of the divine name might easily lose it consonantal value here in connection with the preceding toneless u ,
(Note: If it is correct that, as Aben-Ezra and Parchon testify, the , as being compounded of o ( u) + i, was pronounced like the u in the French word pur by the inhabitants of Palestine, then this Dagesh, in accordance with its orthophonic function, is the more intelligible in cases like and , cf. Pinsker, Einleitung, S. 153, and Geiger, Urschrift, S. 277. In , Gen 19:14; Exo 12:31, , Deu 2:24, Tsade and Samech have this Dagesh for the same reason as the Sin in , Exo 12:15 (vid., Heidenheim on that passage), viz., because there is a danger in all these cases of slurring over the sharp sibilant. Even Chajug’ (vid., Ewald and Dukes’ Beitrge, iii. 23) confuses this Dag. orthophonicum with the Dag. forte conjunctivum.)
and the Dag. guards against this: cf. Psa 118:5, Psa 118:18. The certainty of the issue that is set in prospect by is then confirmed with . It is impossible that God can desert His church – He cannot do this, because in general right must finally come to His right, or, as it is here expressed, must turn to , i.e., the right that is now subdued must at length be again strictly maintained and justly administered, and “after it then all who are upright in heart,” i.e., all such will side with it, joyously greeting that which has been long missed and yearned after. is fundamental right, which is at all times consistent with itself and raised above the casual circumstances of the time, and , like in Isa 42:3, is righteousness (justice), which converts this right into a practical truth and reality.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Comfort to Suffering Saints; God the Defence of His People. | |
12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law; 13 That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. 14 For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. 15 But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it. 16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? 17 Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. 18 When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up. 19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. 20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? 21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. 22 But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge. 23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.
The psalmist, having denounced tribulation to those that trouble God’s people, here assures those that are troubled of rest. See 2Th 1:6; 2Th 1:7. He speaks comfort to suffering saints from God’s promises and his own experience.
I. From God’s promises, which are such as not only save them from being miserable, but secure a happiness to them (v. 12): Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest. Here he looks above the instruments of trouble, and eyes the hand of God, which gives it another name and puts quite another color upon it. The enemies break in pieces God’s people (v. 5); they aim at no less; but the truth of the matter is that God by them chastens his people, as the father the son in whom he delights, and the persecutors are only the rod he makes use of. Howbeit they mean not so, neither doth their heart think so, Isa. x. 5-7. Now it is here promised,
1. That God’s people shall get good by their sufferings. When he chastens them he will teach them, and blessed is the man who is thus taken under a divine discipline, for none teaches like God. Note, (1.) The afflictions of the saints are fatherly chastenings, designed for their instruction, reformation, and improvement. (2.) When the teachings of the word and Spirit go along with the rebukes of Providence they then both manifest men to be blessed and help to make them so; for then they are marks of adoption and means of sanctification. When we are chastened we must pray to be taught, and look into the law as the best expositor of Providence. It is not the chastening itself that does good, but the teaching that goes along with it and is the exposition of it.
2. That they shall see through their sufferings (v. 13): That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity. Note, (1.) There is a rest remaining for the people of God after the days of their adversity, which, though they may be many and long, shall be numbered and finished in due time, and shall not last always. He that sends the trouble will send the rest, that he may comfort them according to the time that he has afflicted them. (2.) God therefore teaches his people by their troubles, that he may prepare them for deliverance, and so give them rest from their troubles, that, being reformed, they may be relieved, and that the affliction, having done its work, may be removed.
3. That they shall see the ruin of those that are the instruments of their sufferings, which is the matter of a promise, not as gratifying any passion of theirs, but as redounding to the glory of God: Until the pit is digged (or rather while the pit is digging) for the wicked, God is ordering peace for them at the same time that he is ordaining his arrows against the persecutors.
4. That, though they may be cast down, yet certainly they shall not be cast off, v. 14. Let God’s suffering people assure themselves of this, that, whatever their friends do, God will not cast them off, nor throw them out of his covenant or out of his care; he will not forsake them, because they are his inheritance, which he will not quit his title to nor suffer himself to be disseised of. St. Paul comforted himself with this, Rom. xi. 1.
5. That, bad as things are, they shall mend, and, though they are now out of course, yet they shall return to their due and ancient channel (v. 15): Judgment shall return unto righteousness; the seeming disorders of Providence (for real ones there never were) shall be rectified. God’s judgment, that is, his government, looks sometimes as if it were at a distance from righteousness, while the wicked prosper, and the best men meet with the worst usage; but it shall return to righteousness again, either in this world or at the furthest in the judgment of the great day, which will set all to-rights. Then all the upright in heart shall be after it; they shall follow it with their praises, and with entire satisfaction; they shall return to a prosperous and flourishing condition, and shine forth out of obscurity; they shall accommodate themselves to the dispensations of divine Providence, and with suitable affections attend all its motions. They shall walk after the Lord, Hos. xi. 10. Dr. Hammond thinks this was most eminently fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem first, and afterwards of heathen Rome, the crucifiers of Christ and persecutors of Christians, and the rest which the churches had thereby. Then judgment returned even to righteousness, to mercy and goodness, and favour to God’s people, who then were as much countenanced as before they had been trampled on.
II. From his own experiences and observations.
1. He and his friends had been oppressed by cruel and imperious men, that had power in their hands and abused it by abusing all good people with it. They were themselves evil-doers and workers of iniquity (v. 16); they abandoned themselves to all manner of impiety and immorality, and then their throne was a throne of iniquity, v. 20. Their dignity served to put a reputation upon sin, and their authority was employed to support it, and to bring about their wicked designs. It is a pity that ever a throne, which should be a terror to evil-doers and a protection and praise to those that do well, should be the seat and shelter of iniquity. That is a throne of iniquity which by the policy of its council frames mischief, and by its sovereignty enacts it and turns it into a law. Iniquity is daring enough even when human laws are against it, which often prove too weak to give an effectual check to it; but how insolent, how mischievous, is it when it is backed by a law! Iniquity is not the better, but much the worse, for being enacted by law; nor will it excuse those that practise it to say that they did but do as they were bidden. These workers of iniquity, having framed mischief by a law, take care to see the law executed; for they gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, who dare not keep the statutes of Omri nor the law of the house of Ahab; and they condemn the innocent blood for violating their decrees. See an instance in Daniel’s enemies; they framed mischief by a law when the obtained an impious edict against prayer (Dan. vi. 7), and, when Daniel would not obey it, they assembled together against him (v. 11) and condemned his innocent blood to the lions. The best benefactors of mankind have often been thus treated, under colour of law and justice, as the worst of malefactors.
2. The oppression they were under bore very hard upon them, and oppressed their spirits too. Let not suffering saints despair, though, when they are persecuted, they find themselves perplexed and cast down; it was so with the psalmist here: His soul had almost dwelt in silence (v. 17); he was at his wits’ end, and knew not what to say or do; he was, in his own apprehensions, at his life’s end, ready to drop into the grave, that land of silence. St. Paul, in a like case, received a sentence of death within himself,2Co 1:8; 2Co 1:9. He said, “My foot slippeth (v. 18); I am going irretrievably; there is no remedy; I must fall. I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul. My hope fails me; I do not find such firm footing for my faith as I have sometimes found.” Ps. lxxiii. 2. He had a multitude of perplexed entangled thoughts within him concerning the case he was in and the construction to be made of it, and concerning the course he should take and what was likely to be the issue of it.
3. In this distress they sought for help, and succour, and some relief. (1.) They looked about for it and were disappointed (v. 16): “Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers? Have I any friend who, in love to me, will appear for me? Has justice any friend who, in a pious indignation at unrighteousness, will plead my injured cause?” He looked, but there was none to save, there was none to uphold. Note, When on the side of the oppressors there is power it is no marvel if the oppressed have no comforter, none that dare own them, or speak a good word for them, Eccl. iv. 1. When St. Paul was brought before Nero’s throne of iniquity no man stood by him, 2 Tim. iv. 16. (2.) They looked up for it, v. 20. They humbly expostulate with God: “Lord, shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee? Wilt thou countenance and support these tyrants in their wickedness? We know thou wilt not.” A throne has fellowship with God when it is a throne of justice and answers the end of the erecting of it; for by him kings reign, and when they reign for him their judgments are his, and he owns them as his ministers, and whoever resist them, or rise up against them, shall receive to themselves damnation; but, when it becomes a throne of iniquity, it has no longer fellowship with God. Far be it from the just and holy God that he should be the patron of unrighteousness, even in princes and those that sit in thrones, yea, though they be the thrones of the house of David.
4. They found succour and relief in God, and in him only. When other friends failed, in him they had a faithful and powerful friend; and it is recommended to all God’s suffering saints to trust in him. (1.) God helps at a dead lift (v. 17): “When I had almost dwelt in silence, then the Lord was my help, kept me alive, kept me in heart; and unless I had made him my help, by putting my trust in him and expecting relief from him, I could never have kept possession of my own soul; but living by faith in him has kept my head above water, has given me breath, and something to say.” (2.) God’s goodness is the great support of sinking spirits (v. 18): “When I said, My foot slips into sin, into ruin, into despair, then thy mercy, O Lord! held me up, kept me from falling, and defeated the design of those who consulted to cast me down from my excellency,” Ps. lxii. 4. We are beholden not only to God’s power, but to his pity, for spiritual supports: Thy mercy, the gifts of thy mercy and my hope in thy mercy, held me up. God’s right hand sustains his people when they look on their right hand and on their left and there is none to uphold; and we are then prepared for his gracious supports when we are sensible of our own weakness and inability to stand by our own strength, and come to God, to acknowledge it, and to tell him how our foot slips. (3.) Divine consolations are the effectual relief of troubled spirits (v. 19): “In the multitude of my thoughts within me, which are noisy like a multitude, crowding and jostling one another like a multitude, and very unruly and ungovernable, in the multitude of my sorrowful, solicitous, timorous thoughts, thy comforts delight my soul; and they are never more delightful than when they come in so seasonably to silence my unquiet thoughts and keep my mind easy.” The world’s comforts give but little delight to the soul when it is hurried with melancholy thoughts; they are songs to a heavy heart. But God’s comforts will reach the soul, and not the fancy only, and will bring with them that peace and that pleasure which the smiles of the world cannot give and which the frowns of the world cannot take away.
5. God is, and will be, as a righteous Judge, the patron and protector of right and the punisher and avenger of wrong; this the psalmist had both the assurance of and the experience of. (1.) He will give redress to the injured (v. 22): “When none else will, nor can, nor dare, shelter me, the Lord is my defence, to preserve me from the evil of my troubles, from sinking under them and being ruined by them; and he is the rock of my refuge, in the clefts of which I may take shelter, and on the top of which I may set my feet, to be out of the reach of danger.” God is his people’s refuge, to whom they may flee, in whom they are safe and may be secure; he is the rock of their refuge, so strong, so firm, impregnable, immovable, as a rock: natural fastnesses sometimes exceed artificial fortifications. (2.) He will reckon with the injurious (v. 23): He shall render to them their own iniquity; he shall deal with them according to their deserts, and that very mischief which they did and designed against God’s people shall be brought upon themselves: it follows, He shall cut them off in their wickedness. A man cannot be more miserable than his own wickedness will make him if God visit it upon him: it will cut him in the remembrance of it; it will cut him off in the recompence of it. This the psalm concludes with the triumphant assurance of: Yea, the Lord our God, who takes our part and owns us for his, shall cut them off from any fellowship with him, and so shall make them completely miserable and their pomp and power shall stand them in no stead.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
12 Blessed is the man whom thou hast instructed, O God! The Psalmist now passes from the language of censure to that of consolation, comforting himself and others of the Lord’s people with the truth, that though God might afflict them for a time, he consulted their true interests and safety. At no period of life is this a truth which it is unnecessary to remember, called as we are to a continued warfare. God may allow us intervals of ease, in consideration of our weakness, but would always have us exposed to calamities of various kinds. The audacious excesses to which the wicked proceed we have already noticed. Were it not for the comfortable consideration that they are a blessed people whom God exercises with the cross, our condition would be truly miserable. We are to consider, that in calling us to be his people, he has separated us from the rest of the world, to participate a blessed peace in the mutual cultivation of truth and righteousness. The Church is often cruelly oppressed by tyrants under color of law — the very case of which the Psalmist complains in this psalm; for it is evident that he speaks of domestic enemies, pretending to be judges in the nation. Under such circumstances, a carnal judgment would infer, that if God really concerned himself in our welfare he would never suffer these persons to perpetrate such enormities. To prevent this, the Psalmist would have us distrust our own ideas of things, and feel the necessity of that wisdom which comes from above. I consider the passage to mean that it is only in the Lord’s school we can ever learn to maintain composure of mind, and a posture of patient expectation and trust under the pressure of distress. The Psalmist declares that the wisdom which would bear us onward to the end, with an inward peace and courage under long-continued trouble, is not natural to any of us, but must come from God. (26) Accordingly, he exclaims, that those are the truly blessed whom God has habituated through his word to the endurance of the cross, and prevented from sinking under adversity by the secret supports and consolations of his own Spirit.
The words with which the verse begins, Blessed is the man whom thou hast instructed, have no doubt a reference to chastisements and experience of the cross, but they also comprehend the gift of inward illumination; and afterwards the Psalmist adds, that this wisdom, which is imparted by God inwardly, is, at the same time, set forth and made known in the Scriptures. (27) In this way he puts honor upon the use of the written word, as we find Paul saying, that all things
“
were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope” (Rom 15:4)
This shows from what quarter we are to derive our patience — the oracles of God, which supply us with matter of hope for the mitigation of our griefs. In short, what the Psalmist means is summarily this: Believers must, in the first place, be exhorted to exercise patience, not to despond under the cross, but wait submissively upon God for deliverance; and next, they must be taught how this grace is to be obtained, for we are naturally disposed to abandon ourselves to despair, and any hope of ours would speedily fail, were we not taught from above that all our troubles must eventually issue in salvation. We have here the Psalmist’s testimony to the truth, That the word of God provides us with abundant ground of comfort, and that none who rightly avails himself of it need ever count himself unhappy, or yield himself to hopelessness and despondency. One mark by which God distinguishes the true from the false disciple is, that of his being ready and prepared to bear the cross, and waiting quietly for the Divine deliverance, without giving way to fretfulness and impatience. A true patience does not consist in presenting an obstinate resistance to evils, or in that unyielding stubbornness which passed as a virtue with the Stoics, but in a cheerful submission to God, based upon confidence in his grace. On this account it is with good reason that the Psalmist begins by laying it down as a fundamental truth, necessary to be learned by all the Lord’s people, That the end of those temporary persecutions, to which they are subjected, is their being brought at last to a blessed rest after their enemies have done their worst. He might have contented himself with saying, that the truly blessed were those who had learned from God’s word to bear the cross patiently, but that he might the more readily incline them to a cheerful acquiescence in the Divine disposals, he subjoined a statement of the consolation which tends to mitigate the grief of their spirits. Even supposing that a man should bear his trials without a tear or a sigh, yet if he champ the bit in sullen hopelessness — if he only hold by such principles as these, “We are mortal creatures,” “It is vain to resist necessity, and strive against fate,” “Fortune is blind” — this is obstinacy rather than patience, and there is concealed opposition to God in this contempt of calamities under color of fortitude. The only consideration which will subdue our minds to a tractable submission is, that God, in subjecting us to persecutions, has in view our being ultimately brought into the enjoyment of a rest. Wherever there reigns this persuasion of a rest prepared for the people of God, and a refreshment provided under the heat and turmoil of their troubles, that they may not perish with the world around them, — this will prove enough, and more than enough, to alleviate any present bitterness of affliction.
(26) “ Les hommes ne sont point si sages, qu’au milieu des afflictions continuelles ils taschent d’un courage paisible de parvenir jusques au but; mais qui ceste sagesse-la leur est donnee de Dieu.” — Fr.
(27) “ Mais le Prophete adjouste incontinent, que ceste sagesse laquelle Dieu nous inspire au dedans, nous est quant-et-quant proposee et manifestee en la Loy.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12, 13) Blessed.A far higher note than one of mere complaint, or even of trust in God, is struck here. The beatitude of suffering could not be made altogether plain in the Old Testament, though in Job the spirit of it is nearly reached. Here the poet sees thus far, that he who is the victim of misfortunes may be congratulated if he may stand aside and calmly watch the course of Divine Providence involving evil men in punishment. What he has himself endured has chastened him, and caused him to be quiet from the evil daysi.e., has calmed him in viewing evil circumstances. It would, however, but for the next clause, be more natural to understand, shall deliver him from evil days.
Pit.Comp. Psa. 9:15.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest So far from this trouble arising from any indifference on the part of God toward his people, it is his method for bringing them into a higher grade of knowledge and blessedness.
Teachest him out of thy law Which is of infinitely more value than all personal or national wealth, or even national life. “Law,” here, is to be understood in the general sense of inspired revelation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 94:12. Blessed is the man How happy the man whom thou instructest, O Lord, and teachest out of thy law, (Psa 94:13.) to set him at ease from the days of evil, till the pit be digged for the wicked. “Out of the law of God a good man may set his heart at ease in the days of evil; in full assurance that the pit is digging for the wicked.” See Mudge and Green.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Here the subject takes a new turn. From appealing to men, the petitioner turns now unto the Lord; and he puts it down as an unquestionable truth, that, let men persecute how they may, or let the sorrows of God’s afflicted ones be what they will, yet that man cannot fail to be blessed whom the Lord chasteneth. As many as I love, saith Christ, I rebuke and chasten. Rev 3:19 ; Heb 12:5-9 . Reader! do not fail to recollect this, in all thine afflicting exercises.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 94:12 Blessed [is] the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
Ver. 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, &c. ] And thereby effectest that his vain thoughts lodge not within him, Jer 4:14 ; but that the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return to thee, &c., Isa 55:7 . Feri Domine, feri, said Luther, Strike whiles thou pleasest, Lord; only to thy correction add instruction, Ut quod noceat, docent. See my Love Tokens.
And teachest him out of thy law
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 94:12-16
12Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord,
And whom You teach out of Your law;
13That You may grant him relief from the days of adversity,
Until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14For the Lord will not abandon His people,
Nor will He forsake His inheritance.
15For judgment will again be righteous,
And all the upright in heart will follow it.
16Who will stand up for me against evildoers?
Who will take his stand for me against those who do wickedness?
Psa 94:12-16 As Psa 94:3-9 describe the words and deeds of the wicked, this strophe relates to the faithful followers.
1. they are blessed (characteristic term of Wisdom Literature, see notes at Psa 1:1) even by YHWH’s discipline (cf. Heb 12:5-13), Psa 94:12
2. they are blessed by being taught from YHWH’s laws (i.e., Special Revelation, see SPECIAL TOPIC: TERMS FOR GOD’S REVELATION and SPECIAL TOPIC: BLESSING [OT]), Psa 94:12
3. they are granted relief (i.e., inner peace, BDB 1052) from the days of adversity, until the wicked are caught in their own schemes, Psa 94:12
4. they are not abandoned by YHWH, (cf. Psa 37:28; 1Sa 12:22; Lam 3:31), Psa 94:14
5. they will receive justice and will walk in it, Psa 94:15
Psa 94:16 This verse shows the individual nature of this Psalm but it is also a plea for the psalmist’s friends to help and support him (possibly in court). It could easily apply to the king! But my problem with this royal possibility is that if it were the king, why not just replace the wicked officials
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Blessed = Happy. See App-63.
man. Hebrew. geber.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 94:12-15
Psa 94:12-15
PRAISE OF THE PIOUS SUFFERER
“Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Jehovah,
And teachest out of thy law;
That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity,
Until the pit be digged for the wicked.
For Jehovah will not cast off his people,
Neither will he forsake his inheritance.
For judgment shall return unto righteousness;
And all the upright in heart shall follow it.”
“Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest” (Psa 94:12). Some of the sufferers mentioned earlier, no doubt, were allowed to pass through such difficult experiences by the Lord. “The affliction was for their betterment. This is one of the most beneficial forms of experience that the Lord lets men live through.”[8] In the New Testament, Hebrews 12 stresses the benefit and the necessity of such chastening.
“Rest from adversity … until the pit be digged for the wicked” (Psa 94:13). Two great blessings are mentioned here for the sufferers: (1) God will give them “peace” and “rest” spiritually, even during their afflictions; and (2) meanwhile, the pit is being digged for the wicked into which they shall surely fall. It is evident that God’s punishment of evil-doers, while inevitable and certain, in many instances must wait (a) until their wickedness has run its course, or (b) until God’s preparation for their punishment is complete.
“For Jehovah will not cast off his people … nor forsake his inheritance” (Psa 94:14). This was not an “unconditional promise,” despite the fact of Racial Israel’s treating it exactly that way. What is meant here is that “God will never cast off his faithful people.” Rom 11:15 speaks of the “casting away” of many in Israel; yet Paul declares God has not “cast off his people,” because he himself and others in the service of Jesus Christ are indeed the “True Israel” which was not cast off.
“Judgment shall return unto righteousness” (Psa 94:15). The RSV seems to be clearer. “Justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.” Martin Luther translated it, “For right must remain right, and the upright in heart shall walk in it.
In addition to these options, we like the proposal of Addis, who rendered this difficult verse, “Authority shall return to the righteous man, and all the upright in heart shall follow him. The practical meaning was that whoever the wicked king on the throne of Israel might have been, he would be succeeded by one who would honor God’s law.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 94:12. Afflictions are sent frequently for the purpose of correction. That is the meaning of chasteneth, and Paul taught the same in 1Co 11:32. Not all treatment for disease is pleasant to the patient, but a man would be very unwise who refused the treatment because of its unpleasantness. Another thought in this verse is that chastisement is not always of a physical nature. It consists also in the exhortations and admonitions in the law regarding duty and punishment for neglect of it.
Psa 94:13. If the innocent victim will endure and profit by his chastisement, he will then be given divine relief. His enemy will finally be cast down into the pit, which means a condition of forgetfulness and disgrace.
Psa 94:14. When the Lord punishes his people it is for their good and not that he intends to cast them off. The people are his inheritance which means they belong to Him. He certainly will not bring afflictions on them in the sense of forsaking them.
Psa 94:15. Judgment here means that a merciful decision will be rendered by the Lord for the righteous. When that is done it will have a good effect on other people who are upright in heart. When they see the outcome of the Lord’s plan of instructions, they will be inclined to follow it or profit thereby.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Blessed: Psa 119:67, Psa 119:71, Job 5:17, Pro 3:11, 1Co 11:32, Heb 12:5-11
teachest: Job 33:16-25, Mic 6:9, Rev 3:19
Reciprocal: Deu 8:5 – as a man 2Sa 7:14 – I will 2Sa 12:14 – the child 1Ki 8:36 – thou teach 2Ch 6:27 – when thou hast Job 33:19 – chastened Job 33:23 – an interpreter Job 35:11 – General Job 36:9 – he Job 36:22 – who Psa 73:14 – For all Psa 118:18 – chastened Ecc 7:14 – but Jer 6:8 – Be thou Jer 24:5 – them that are carried away captive Jer 31:18 – Thou hast Lam 3:27 – bear Hos 7:15 – bound Hab 3:16 – that I Act 9:6 – and it Jam 1:12 – the man Jam 5:11 – we count
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 94:12-13. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest Not he that prospers in his wickedness is happy, but he whom the Lord chasteneth when he acts amiss, and thereby teaches to study and obey his law with the greater care and diligence. That thou mayest give him rest, &c. For the present and short troubles of the righteous prepare them for, and lead them to, true rest and blessedness, while the seeming felicity of the wicked makes way for those tremendous judgments which God hath prepared for them.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
94:12 Blessed [is] the man whom thou {h} chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;
(h) God has care over his, and chastised them for their own good, that they should not perish for ever with the wicked.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Oppression from the wicked is discipline that God permits for His people (cf. Hab 1:5-11). Because of this the writer saw it had value. However, he also believed that God would relieve the godly and not forsake His faithful ones. Eventually God will execute justice, and this will encourage people to follow the path of righteousness.