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First, David's prayer was *personal*—a secret communion between his soul and the Almighty alone.
The Messiah's enemies cannot withstand His power any more than an earthen vessel can resist the blows of an iron rod.
"In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord." The righteous person refuses to pay respect where it is undeserved and withholds it nowhere it is merited.
Scripture's value lies not merely in possession but in keeping its statutes.
First comes the ascription of blessing: "Blessed art thou, O LORD." Here the psalmist recognizes Yahweh's infinite perfection, His majesty, and His absolute worthiness of praise.
Exell's Victorian commentary identifies seven principles embedded in this moment.
The phrase *paides tou nymphonos* (children of the bridegroom) reveals the spirit reigning in Jesus's circle—not accident or temperament, but the natural radiance of new life imparted to those joined in His society.
Yahweh pleads the justice and equity of His cause through three arguments: attestation of creation itself (Verse 1), appeal to Israel's own memory, and commemoration of manifold blessings bestowed upon them.
One such truth concerns a child's early accountability.
Yet Maclaren observes a deeper mercy in this barbarity: "Pitiable as the loss was, Samson was better blind than seeing.
The Hebrews had nicknamed Egypt *Rahab*—meaning "Stormy-speech" or "Braggart"—evoking the crocodile's monstrous reputation.
First comes the temporal: "Afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh" (Joel 2:28).
When Yahweh commanded the Twelve to take neither two coats nor extra provisions, He was not imposing arbitrary hardship. Scholar W. M. Thomson, D.D., observed the cultural context that made this instruction spiritually wise rather than materially cruel. In the...
God's method of punishment is not arbitrary cruelty but divine permission—He lets us punish ourselves.
When friends multiply, when abundance flows, when earthly helpers stand ready—that very moment we face our gravest spiritual peril.
First comes the hopeful resolve: "I will keep thy statutes." The believer plants his feet firmly, determined to walk in obedience to Yahweh's ordinances.
Maclaren captures this with penetrating imagery: "God, as it ere, lays His right hand on Cornelius, and His left on Peter, and impels them towards each other." The magnitude of this transformation cannot be overstated.
First, he framed obedience as *easy*—merely "say the word." Second, he presented *opportunity*: stones lay ready at hand.
When God needed a warrior to accomplish His purposes, He qualified David for the work.
His brother said, "I go, sir," but went not.
This is no temporary statute, no passing ordinance that grows obsolete with the turning of years.
These appear contradictory, yet they are essential antagonistic forces—like hydrogen and oxygen combining to form water, or attraction and repulsion functioning as complementary principles in nature.
Isaiah 9:10 records a defiant boast spoken in Ephraim and Samaria: "The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will put cedars in their place." Scholars suggest these words...
Though believers, Paul could not address them as spiritual persons, for they moved in the lower, earthly region of human nature, where strife and division held sway.