Psalm XXXVII
1 Fret not thyself because of evildoers,
Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green
herb.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
So shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
4 Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine
heart.
5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; And he shall bring it to pass.
6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment
as the noonday.
7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him:
Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, Because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wi.se to
do evil.
9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they
shall inherit the earth.
10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be:
Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth;
And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
12 The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his
teeth.
13 The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.
14 The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow.
To cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.
15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be
broken.
16 A little that a righteous man hath, is better than the riches of many
wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the
righteous,
18 The Lord knoweth the days of the upright; and their inheritance shall be
for ever.
19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they
shall be satisfied.
20 But the wicked shall perish.
And the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: They shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.
21 The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth
mercy, and giveth.
22 For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; And they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.
23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in
his way.
24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: For the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.
25 I have been young, and now am old;
Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
26 He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.
27 Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.
28 For the lord loveth judgment, and foi’saketh not his saints.
They are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut otlf.
29 The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.
30 The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talkcth of
judgment.
31 The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.
32 The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.
33 The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is
judged.
34 Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit
the land.
When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
35 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green
bay tree.
36 Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not! yea, I sought him, but he could
not be found.
37 Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright! for the end of that man is
peace.
38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked
shall be cut off.
39 But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in
the time of trouble.
40 And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them:
He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.
There are seven alphabetic Psalms, and this is one of them. ^|.^,cture!’’ It is a song of Zion, in which precious truths are stored up in the memory by the aid of the alphabetic beginnings of each verse. But, as usual, there occurs one irregularity (viz. y is omitted), to prevent us, perhaps, attaching too great importance to this form of structure.
The two-edged sword gleams bright here; justice and mercy ride together over the field of earth. It is a song suitable for the Church and the Church’s Head alike, and for every age of the Church’s history. And yet how exactly some verses suit special scenes. Thus, verses 31, 82, is a full-length portrait of the Just One — word, thought, deed j while Antichrist might be said to have sat for his picture in verses 85, 36. “I saw the wicked,” &c.
Our Lord seems to quote this Psalm in Matt. v. 2: “Blessed are the meek — they shall inherit the earth.” And in this Psalm “the little while” is spoken of, that “little while” of the Church’s patient waiting, now so well known to us:
“Yet a little icliile and the icicked shall not 6e.”
“And the ineek shall inherit the earth.” (Ver. 10, 11.)
Verses 37, 38, describe the final reward, “The End,” of the perfect man, and the final doom, “the end,” of transgressors, on the Great Day, when He comes who has “His reward with him.” And so it closes with ascribing all victory to the Lord alone. (Ver. 39, 40.)
Christ and his
Church.
The title is simply, “of David,” and this much we may remark regarding the penman’s style in it, that in very many portions his own history supplied striking exemplifications of his doctrinal statements.
In verses 1-6 we have the Lord’s treatment of His own. He lets them be proved and tried, while the wicked prosper. David’s adversity in the day of Saul’s authority, and Nahal’s history, might be referred to as illustrating these verses. “Dwell in the Land” may send us to Gen, xxvi, 34, or to 1 Sam. xxvli. 1, 2, by contrast. Notice how it is faith and hope together that are recommended in verses 5, 6, and remark that “judgment’^ may well be rendered “The decision of thy cause in favour of the right,” just as in Isaiah xlii. 3, 4; John xii. 31, and xvi. 11, it signifies the decision of the controversy pending between God and us, against the great Accuser.
In verses 7-15 we have The Lord’s treatment of his foes. Instead of complaining of our burdens, and anxieties, and cares, and fears, and instead of throwing them off in stoical indifference, let us “roll them on the Lord” (as ver. 5), and then “Wait — be silent” — q.d., standing still at the Red Sea, till God opens the way. “The meek” are they who bow to God’s will; they shall as surely “inherit the earth,” as ever Israel entered into possession of Canaan. This is a promise repeated in verses 1 1, 22, 29, 34, as if to reiterate, “that though you have little of earth and earth’s good things now, all shall yet be yours, and the ungodly be gone for ever.”
From verses 16-22 we have God’s blessing on the substance of the godly, and his curse on what belongs to the wicked. This is seen in the godly enjoying sufficiency at all times, and in their being able (ver. 21) to give to others also; whereas the ungodly are blighted, yea so reduced (ver. 21) as to be found “borrowing,” and unable to repay. All this is a foretaste of the future day described in Matt. xxv. 34, 41, and to which reference is made in these words,
“For the Lord’s blessed ones shall inherit the earth, And his cursed ones shall be ctit off.”
In verses 23-26 we have contrasts that even now distinguish the lot of these two classes of men. The godly are directed; lifted up when calamity has overtaken them (ver. 24); never forsaken (ver. 25).
“/ have never seen the righteous forsaken (of God), Nor (have I seen) his seed (forsaken) even when in greatest poverty.”
Nay, so far from this, the righteous is enabled to shew kindness to others (ver. 26), and leaves blessing to his seed. “For (says one) so far is charity from impoverishing, that what is given away, like vapours emitted by the earth, returns in showers of blessing.”
From verses 27-33 we have an implied invitation to join the godly, whom the Lord so cares for, in cherishing all that is holy. Things are said which in their full sense are realised only in the person of the Righteous One.
In verses 34-40 we arrive at the final issues of things. Wait — that “wicked one” who is so “terrible” (V’lV), shall soon disappear — that Saul, that foe of yours, that Antichrist, the Church’s foe! And fail not to mark the perfect, “For to the perfect there is an end,” a,n r)’nni. This “ri.“‘’]nX” is what Baalam speaks of in Numb, xxiii. 10, the end in the latter day, the resurrection time.
And now let us revert to several expressions, in which we find a marked likeness to our Lord’s mode of speaking when on earth. We noticed at verse 22, the resemblance to Matt. xxv. 34, 41, the “blessed” and the “cursed;” but not less remarkable is the five times repeated “inherit the earth” for our Lord quotes it in Matt. v. 5, when promising still future blessing. Add to these the “little while’’ of verse 1 0, as used by the Lord in John xvi. 16-19, and also “the end” as parallel to our Lord’s “end of the age” in Matt. xiii. 19. With all these expressions before us, may we not say that the Master himself is the chief speaker of this Psalm? It is as properly the lips of David’s Son that utter it, as it is the pen of David that writes it. And this is the theme of it —
2he Righteous One quieting our heart by teaching us to discern between the godly and the wicked.
Christ the
speaker