← Back to the beginning of Psalms 16
Ver. 5. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance] Therefore I have neither need nor mind to run a madding after dumb idols; for he is good original, universal, all sufficient, and satisfactory, proportionable, and fitting to my soul; so that, having him, I am abundantly provided for. And of my cup] A phrase taken from those shares that every one had assigned unto him at feasts, Genesis 43:34 1Sa 1:4 9:23: q.d. Thou art my meat and my drink, Lord, and I am very well content with my condition, be it better or worse. That which gives quiet in any portion, is, First, The favour and presence of God; Secondly, That it is from the hand of a Father; Thirdly, That it comes to us in the covenant of grace; Fourthly, That it is the purchase of Christ’s blood; Fifthly, That it is an answer of prayers, and a blessing from above on honest endeavours. Thou maintainest my lot] Upholdest me in a good condition, who should otherwise soon lose and forego it, were it in mine own keeping. And here the psalmist useth four several words, all to the same sense, ad corroborandum, saith R. David.
Ver. 6. The lines are fallen] In allusion to those lines wherewith they measured land when they parted it. See Deuteronomy 32:9 Ps 105:11 78:55 Ac 26:18 Eph 1:11. David, having God for his portion, could say with Jacob, I have all things, Genesis 33:11. Paul also saith the same, Philippians 4:18, and further telleth us that, having nothing, he yet possessed all things; for why, he had got the divine art of contentation, Philippians 4:12, and so could be either on the top of Jacob’s ladder or at the bottom; he could sing either Placentia or Lachrymae, abound or be abased, &c. Sine Deo omnis copia est egestas (Bern.). In pleasant places] From the delectable orchard of the Leonine prison, said that Italian martyr, dating his letter. Tua praesentia, Domine, Laurentio ipsam craticulam dulcem fecit, said that ancient; Thy presence, Lord, made Laurence’s gridiron pleasant to him. Quia in Deo est portio mea, est quasi in loco amaeno (R. David). Yea, I have a goodly heritage] I have as much (in content at least) as he who hath most. The bee is as well pleased with feeding on the dew, or sucking from a flower, as Behemoth that grazeth on the mountains. The lark when aloft seeth farther, with a little eye, than the ox on the ground with a greater. Atque suum tirilitirilitiritirlire cantat.
Ver. 7. I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel] David frequently consulted with God by Abiathar the priest, whom God, by a sweet providence, sent unto him with an ephod for a comfort in his banishment, 1 Samuel 22:20. Saul had slain those that wear the ephod, therefore God answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets, 1 Samuel 28:6, as he did his servant David; who therefore blesseth him, when the other runneth from him to the witch for counsel, and from her to the sword’s point. My reins also instruct me] God hath not only illuminated me, whereby I shall be the better able to endure a great fight of affliction, Hebrews 10:32, but he hath also sanctified me, and honoured me with holy inspirations, and feeling of the Spirit of adoption, whereby mine internal thoughts and secret motions do dictate and suggest unto me what I ought to do and undertake. Methinks I hear a sweet still voice within me, saying, This is the way, walk in it; and this in the night season, when I am wrapped in rest and silence; or, night after night, the Spirit is a continual spring of counsel and comfort within me, prompting me to make God my portion, and to choose this good part that shall never be taken away from me. In the night seasons] When commonly we are prone to evil (Nox et Amor, &c. Ilia pudore vacat, &c. (Ovid.)), and which is the wicked man’s fittest opportunity, Job 24:13,15,16, &c. It must not content us that God by his word hath given us counsel, but we must labour to be inwardly taught of God. A man may read the figure upon the dial, but he cannot tell how the day goes, unless the sun shine upon the dial; we may read the Bible over, and hear it opened and applied, but can learn nothing till the Spirit shine into our hearts, 2 Corinthians 4:6, and so our reins instruct us, &c.
Ver. 8. I have set the Lord always before me] Heb. I have equally set, or proposed. The apostle translateth it, “I foresee the Lord always before my face,” Acts 2:25. I set the eye of my faith full upon him, and suffer it not to take to other things; I look him in the face, oculo irretorto, as the eagle looketh upon the sun; and oculo adamantino, with an eye of adamant, which turns only to one point; so here, I have equally set the Lord before me, without irregular affections and passions. And this was one of those lessons that his reins had taught him, that the Holy Spirit had dictated unto him. Because he is as my right hand] To help me that I fall not, saith R. David, or as a thing that I cannot but remember, as being of continual use to me. It is as necessary to remember God, as to draw breath, saith Chrysostom. I shall not be moved] i.e. Not greatly moved, as Psalms 62:2. Though Satan stand at the right hand of a godly man, to resist and annoy him, Zechariah 3:1, yet so long as God is at his right hand, to assist and comfort him, and he at God’s right hand, Psalms 45:9 (which is a place of honour and safety), he cannot be moved. The gates of hell shall never prevail; Christ, our Samson, hath flung them off their hinges.
Ver. 9. Therefore my heart is glad, &c.] That is, I am all over in very good plight, as well as heart can wish or need require; I do overly abound exceedingly with joy. God forgive me mine unthankfulness and unworthiness of so great glory (as that martyr, Mr Philpot, said). In all the days of my life I was never so merry as now I am in this dark dungeon, &c. Wicked men rejoice in appearance, and not in heart, 2 Corinthians 5:12; their joy is but skin deep, their mirth frothy and flashy, such as wetteth the mouth, but warmeth not the heart. But David is totus totus, quantus quantus exultabundus, his heart, glory, flesh (answerable, as some think, to that of the apostle, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, spirit, soul, and body), were all over joyed. My flesh shall also rest (or confidently dwell) in hope] Namely, in this world, as in a way faring lodging; then in the grave, as a place of safeguard and repose; and at last in heaven, as in its true and eternal mansion (Diodati).
Ver. 10. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell] That is, my body in the grave (animamque sepulchro condimus -Virg, de Polydori funere. Aeneid. iii.), or in the state of the dead, Genesis 37:35. That soul is sometimes put for a carcase or dead corpse, see Job 14:22 Le 19:28 21:1,11 Nu 5:2 6:6 19:13, which place is expounded, Ezekiel 44:25. David can confidently write upon his grave, Resurgam, I shall rise again. This many heathens had no hope of, 1 Thessalonians 4:13 (Horat. lib. iv. Od. 7). Cum semel occideris, Non Torquate, tuum genus, aut facundia, non te Restituet pietas, &c. Yet some heathens believed both the immortality of the soul, and therefore durst die (— animaeque capaces mortis —), and the resurrection of the body, as did Zoroastes, Theopompus, Plato; and as do the Turks today. Neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one, &c. That is, the Messiah that is to come out of my loins, and who saith to me and all his members [as Isaiah 26:19] in effect, “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust,” &c. [See Trapp on the title Michtam “Ps 16:1”] The former part of this verse seems to be spoken of David, the latter of Christ; like as Job 35:15, the former part is of God, the latter of Job. See the margin. Christ’s resurrection is a cause, pledge, and surety of the saint’s resurrection to glory; for joy whereof David’s heart leaped within him. Christ’s body, though laid in the corrupting pit, could not see, that is, feel, corruption, it was therefore a pious error in those good women who brought their sweet odours to embalm his dead body, Luke 24:1.
Ver. 11. Thou wilt show me the path of life] This being applied to Christ, seemeth to show that as man he did not yet fully understand that inexplicable glory wherewith the Father would glorify him after death with himself, John 17:5. Sure it is, that David did not, nor can any man living, 1 Corinthians 2:9: here is as much said as can be said (but words are too weak to utter it). For quality, there is in heaven joy and pleasures. For quantity, a fulness, a torrent, whereat they drink without let or loathing. For constancy, it is at God’s right hand, who is stronger than all, neither can any take us out of his hand; it is a constant happiness without intermission. And for perpetuity, it is for evermore. Heaven’s joys are without measure, mixture, or end. Contra Acheron, ab αα χαιρειν, quod sit illaetabilis unda; vel ab αχος and υριν (ut vult Plato) quod fluat luctuosis undis. A Prayer of David] He was a man of prayer; but this was his appeal to God, the supreme Judge, as the word importeth.