Ver. 1. My son, forget not.] We should be able to say to wisdom, as Coenis did to her Lady Antonia, Frustra, domina, iussisti: haec enim atque caetera omnia quae mihi imperas, ira semper in memoria habeo ut ex ea deleri non possint. You need not, madam, bid me do your business, for I so remember your commands, as I need never be minded of them. Iussa sequi tam velle mihi, quam posse, necesse est, I am ready, to my power, to do your pleasure. But let thine heart keep.] As the ark kept the two tables; as the pot kept the hidden manna. Dio, in Respons.
Ver. 2. For length of days.] A sweet mercy, and generally desired. (Psalms 34:12) Short life is reckoned as a curse, (Psalms 89:47) yet in some cases it is a blessing. (1 Kings 14:13 Isaiah 57:1) Ωκυμοροι οι θεοφιλεις —God taketh away his from the evil to come, as, when there is a fire in a house or town, men carry out their jewels; but then God makes them up in his cabinet. “They do enter into peace”; their souls go to heaven; “they rest in their beds”; (Isaiah 57:2) their bodies rest sweetly and safely in the grave till the resurrection of the just. And is not this far better than the longest life here? Length of days may prove a curse, when it brings shame, sorrow, &c., as it did to Cain, Ham, &c. And peace shall they add to thee.] Without which to live is nothing else but to lie dying. Rebecca, for want of this, was weary of her life; so was Elijah when he sat under the juniper tree. “All the days of the afflicted are evil.” (Proverbs 15:15) Συνοικουσι, ου συμβιουσι; they dwell together; they do not live together, said Themistocles of married folk that agree not. Non ille diu vixit, sed diu fuit, said Seneca of one. And again, Non multum navigavit, sed multum iactatus est; He was tossed much up and down, but sailed not far, as being driven about by contrary winds. Shall they add to thee.] Multiplicem pacem significat, saith one. “Peace, peace,” as in Isaiah 26:3; that is, a multiplied peace; with God, with one’s self, with others; or a renewed continued peace, today, tomorrow, and every day; or a perfect, sheer, pure peace. Ον φιλει φεος, θνησκει νεος.— Dion. Prus. Orat. 28.
Ver. 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee,] That is, True mercy; not that which is natural or moral only, but that which is right, both quoad fontem, and quoad finem. They that do otherwise, as heathens and hypocrites, lay up their treasure in the eyes and ears of men, which is a chest that hath neither lock nor key to keep it. Bind them.] That is, My commandments. He seems to allude to Deuteronomy 6:8. [See Trapp on “De 6:8”]
Ver. 4. So shalt thou find favour.] As did Joseph, Moses, David. He was a man after God’s own heart, and whatsoever he did pleased the people. It is God that gives credit; he fashioneth men’s opinions, and inclineth their hearts, as Ezra oft acknowledges with much thankfulness. (Ezra 7:27,28)
Ver. 5. Trust in the Lord.] To trust in God is to be unbottomed of thyself, and of every creature, and so to lean upon God, that if he fail thee thou sinkest. Confidence is the least, and yet the best we can render to the Lord, for hereby we acknowledge his sovereignty, and set the crown upon his head, as it were. See Judges 9:15. And lean not to thine own understanding.] Which, because men do, hence it is, many times, that the fairest blossoms of their endeavours wither, and the unprobablest things do come to pass. God loves to confute men in their confidences, as he did the Philistines in their champion Goliath. We must not, therefore, trust—no, not trust itself—but God, on whom it relies, who is therefore called our trust. They trust not God at all that do it not alone. He that stands with one foot on a rock, and another foot upon a quicksand, will sink and perish as certainly as he that stands with both feet on a quicksand. “Lord, lead me to a rock that is higher than I,” saith David. Whither, when he was once got, then he sat and sang, “The Lord is my rock and my salvation.” (Psalms 27:1) Surely, as one said of general councils, they seldom were successful, because men came with confidence, leaning to their own understanding, and seeking for victory rather than verity. So it holds as true in other like cases.
Ver. 6. In all thy ways acknowledge him.] Ask counsel at his mouth, aim at his glory, be evermore in the sense of his presence, and light of his countenance. It is reported of a worthy divine of Scotland, that he did even eat and drink and sleep eternal life. This is to walk with God; this is to live by faith; this is to see him that is invisible (Moses’s optic); this is to go the upper way, even that “way of life that is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.” (Proverbs 15:24) [See Trapp on “Pr 15:24”] And he shall direct thy paths.] As he carefully chose out the Israelites’ way in the wilderness; not the shortest, but yet the safest for them. So will God do for all that make him their guide. The Athenians had a conceit that their goddess Minerva turned all their evil counsels into good unto them. The Romans thought that their Vibilia (another heathenish deity) set them again in their right way, when at any time they were out. All this, and more than this, is undoubtedly done by the true God for all that commit their ways unto him, and depend upon him for direction and success. “Lo, this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.” (Psalms 48:14) Zaccheus Convert. preface.