Psalm 5:7














This psalm seems to have been written for, or handed to the leader of a special choir, that he might adapt music for its use in sanctuary worship; not necessarily that of the temple - for its composition was probably anterior to the erection of that building - but for use in the services of that temporary structure which preceded it, and which, though but temporary, and even fragile in a material sense, was nevertheless in a high and holy sense the dwelling-place of God, yea, "the palace of the great King." Note: No material splendours of gold, silver, and precious stones can make a temple without the Real Presence; but however humble the structure, the Real Presence therein will make it a temple of God. Whether David was actually the penman of this psalm or no, matters not. It is evidently the composition of a true saint of God, and reflects in its several verses the spirit of the time and circumstances under which it was written. And not only so. But it shows us that the saints of olden time were wont to regard the house of God as a house of prayer, and to let their prayers be an unburdening of the heart to God on every matter of immediate and pressing concern. Note: In our prayers in God's house we have no need to include everything in one service. Nor are we bound to use the words of another's prayers, except as far as they suit our case at the line. Still less need we rack and tear such a psalm as this to find in it the whole gospel. That would not only be a strange anachronism, but we should even lose very much by missing the historic setting and aim of the psalm. Who cannot find comfort in the obvious fact that the Old Testament saints, in their prayers, used to tell God everything, just as it seemed to them, and as they felt about it? There is no greater boon in life than to have a friend who will never misunderstand us, and to whom we can tell anything, knowing that he will hide all our folly in his loving forgetfulness, and sympathize with all our cares. Such perfection of friendship is found in God alone. And we have in this psalm a beautiful illustration of the use which the psalmist made thereof.

I. THE PSALMIST LAYS THE ENTIRE SITUATION BEFORE GOD. (Vers. 8, 9, "mine enemies," equivalent to" those that lie in wait for me.") The whole of the ninth verse shows the treachery and hollowness that mark the hostile bands, and the consequent peril in which the people of God were on that account. (This verse is one of those quoted by the Apostle Paul in proof of human depravity. Nor is there any contrariety to reason in his so doing. For while the psalm speaks of all this wickedness in its relation to society, St. Paul speaks of similar wickedness in its relation to the Law of God and to the God of law. And it is because the psalmist knows how foreign to the nature of God all this iniquity is, that he brings it before God in prayer, and asks him to put it to shame.) Note: Let us learn to pray minutely, and not to lose ourselves in generalities.

II. IN DOING THIS HE RECOGNIZES AN ENDEARING RELATION. (Ver. 2.) "My King," "my God." God was not a far-distant Being, only remotely related. The name "Jehovah" brought him near as Israel's redeeming God; and that very name, which removes us infinitely from anthropomorphism, was the one in which the saints of old found their joy and glory. They could call God flair God. Under the New Testament our thoughts of God may be more sweet and endearing still.

III. HE OBSERVES A DEVOUT AND WISE METHOD IN HIS PRAYER. "In the morning I will direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. The meaning is - I will order it accurately, and then look out to see whether it has sped, and when the answer will come. (Many of the old divines are very felicitous in their treatment of these two words.) Sometimes, indeed, the yearning Godward is too deep for outward expression (see ver. 1, "consider my meditation," i.e. understand my murmuring). "Lord, read the desires of my heart by thine all-piercing eye - and interpret my petitions in thine own loving-kindness before they rise to my lips." Happy they who know that they have a God with whom they can thus plead, and who have learned the blessed art of thus pleading with God!

IV. HE SETS HIS APPLICATION ON SUBSTANTIAL GROUNDS. (Vers. 4-6.) The psalmist knows the character of God, and the righteousness of his administration; and in these verses he shows us how real was the revelation on these great themes which God had given in his Law (see Psalm 103:6, 7). All these glorious disclosures of the holiness of God are reiterated and confirmed in the teaching and redemption of the Son of God. (For the specific phrases, see the Exposition; also Perowne and Cheyne.) It is because we know what God is, and the principles of his government, that we can under all circumstances commend ourselves, the Church, and the world to him.

V. ON SUCH GROUNDS THE PSALMIST OFFERS VARIED PETITIONS.

1. For himself. (Ver. 8.) Beautiful! He wants

(1) to go along God's way, not his own;

(2) to be shown clearly what that way is; and then

(3) to be led along that way.

He who thus puts himself into God's hand, wanting only to be led aright, shall never be put to shame.

2. For the people of God. (Ver. 11.) He prays that in the midst of the whirl and tumult which surround them, the righteous may ever ring out a peal of joy because of God's protecting care and love.

3. For evil ones. (Ver. 10.) He prays that they may be

(1) held guilty and condemned for their transgressions. Yea

(2) rejected by God, even as they had themselves rejected God.

We are not bound to imitate the psalmist in such petitions. Jesus Christ tells us that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than the greatest of Old Testament prophets. They could not rise above the level of their inspiration, nor advance in prayer beyond the point their understanding had reached in those days. For us it would be far more appropriate to pray for the conversion of God's enemies by the power of his love and grace.

VI. THERE IS HERE A CONFIDENT ASSURANCE EXPRESSED. (Ver. 12, "Thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous... as with a shield.") The word means, not a small shield which may be held out to ward off a dart, but a large buckler which can cover one around as with armour. So effective are the Divine protection and care with which he guards his own. May such protection ever be ours!

VII. IT IS WORTHY OF NOTE AT WHAT HOUR OF THE DAY THIS PRAYER IS OFFERED. We are twice told in the third verse, "in the morning." The early morn, when the frame is freshest and the spirit freest, is the best time for devotion. The early hours, when sanctified by prayer, will help us to sanctify the whole day for God. Before ever we look upon the face of man, let us catch a morning smile from our Father in heaven; and we shall find how true it is that -

"His morning smiles bless all the day." C.

I will come into Thy house in the multitude of Thy mercy.
Homilist.
This noble resolution. It manifests —

I. AN INDEPENDENCE OF CHARACTER. "As for me." How many there are who follow the crowd! Whether for evil or good, where the multitude go they will go. Hundreds stay away from the house of God either because it is not fashionable to go there or because they are afraid of being singular. Such was not David's course.

II. A NOBLE DETERMINATION. "I will come into Thy house." Two or three thoughts will show the nature of the act.

1. David was a king. He might have thought it beneath him to leave his throne and humble himself before God in the worship of the temple. But kings as well as subjects need the pardon of their sins, the help of the Holy Spirit, and the Divine favour. And no king could do a more noble act than show an example of pious devotion.

2. David was a man of war. He was constantly engaged in bitter contests. But he did not, therefore, abstain from attending the house of God.

3. David was a busy man. He had to manage the affairs of a large and distracted kingdom; yet he still found time for attending the house of God.

4. David was a clever man. He was also a good man. He might have said, "What good can I get from the temple? I know the services," etc. But humility always attends those who have real merit, while those who have little to boast of fail to avail themselves of opportunities of improvement because of their self-conceit. A real Christian feels his deficiencies.

III. A WORTHY OBJECT. "I will come into Thy house." Public worship is the most important part of Christian life.

1. It is obeying the Divine command. The duty of gathering ourselves together is imposed upon us in many parts of the Scriptures. Not only was it insisted upon in the Old Testament, but it is still more urged in the New.

2. It is the means of developing the Christian life. In the assemblies of the saints the Holy Spirit was given at first, and is still bestowed. Here spirituality is deepened and the work of conversion carried on.

3. It is the appointed means of communing with God. We can pray in private; but we have particular access in the house of prayer.

(Homilist.)

From the sense the Psalmist had of God's manifold, repeated favours to him, from the multitude of the Divine mercies towards him, he would be always glad and ready to resort to the house of God; there to prostrate himself with all humble reverence, and there to pay Him the tribute of a public and solemn worship.

I. THE REASONABLENESS OF THIS RESOLUTION. His reason in this instance was indeed occasional and particular, and but one of the many motives which persuade to the discharge of this important duty. Consider well the intrinsic grounds of that fitness which it is so generally agreed there is in the worship of our Maker. Moral duties have, besides His will and pleasure, reasons of their own. How doth the relation of a reasonable creature to an all-perfect Creator, infinite in wisdom, goodness, and power, introduce the fitness of any application from the one to the other, in the offices of religious worship? How should it appear, if God had not commanded it, that He would either expect or accept such a service from us? With what view do we lay our wants before Him? Doth He not know them beforehand much better than we do? Or doth His goodness want solicitation to induce Him to be yet more gracious than He is? Or when we deprecate the punishment of our sins, and implore His merciful pardon, do we intend to make our impressions upon the tenderness of His nature? Or when we approach Him with the charity of our intercessions for His mercies and blessings to our fellow creatures, is it that we are better than they? Are we more mindful of their interests than He is? Or when we praise Him for His benefits with joyful lips, do we mean by the pleasing sound of our eucharistical oblations to engage 'His goodness in the more and further largesses of His favour? If these are improper regards, what more proper reason will be left for the support of our worship? Why are we commanded to pray? Because prayer recognises and settles upon our minds a sense of those several attributes and perfections in God, the dutiful and cordial acknowledgment whereof is most likely to maintain and preserve us in the state of dependence and subjection we were made for. When we approach God in the humble strains of penitential sorrow, what a scene of melting and moving considerations must open to our minds! What indignation that we have not yet approved, what fear that we may not, what vehement desire that we may approve our hearts before Him in all holy obedience. Do we engage in the charitable office of intercession for others? The seeds of mutual benevolence are fostered hereby and greatly cultivated. We cannot ask with any decency the forgiveness of their sins at the hands of God, whose trespasses against ourselves we should not be willing to remit or pardon. Finally, the offices of praise and thanksgiving add the motives of gratitude to the sense of our dependence, and inspire us with a more generous and honourable principle of obedience.

II. THE FITNESS OF THE PLACE HE CHOSE FOR IT. The palace of God's holiness where numbers resorted for the purposes of public prayer and thanksgiving. An appropriate place is necessary to the purposes of public worship.

III. THE MANNER OF EXECUTING THE PIOUS RESOLUTION. In the fear of God with an awful sense of His wisdom, goodness, and power. With reverence and godly fear. This every attribute of God, when duly improved to us by proper reflections, may help to enforce and to inculcate. Even the forgiveness that there is with Him, by the manner and method wherein we partake of it, was, with our holy Psalmist, a motive to the fear of Him.

(N. Marshall, D. D.)

In Thy fear will I worship toward Thy holy temple.
Two qualifications of a right worshipper of Jehovah are here set before us.

1. "I will come into Thy house in the multitude of Thy mercy." He seems to trace all the multitudinous streams of the Divine goodness to one great fountain, and then as he looks at that fountain overflowing on every side, and pouring out its waters in those numberless streams, he calls it a multitudinous fountain; he says, "The multitude of Thy mercy." He will go to God's house -

(1)With a thankful remembrance of the Lord's great mercies past.

(2)With a lively sense of God's great mercy now. And

(3)With great expectations from His mercy.

2. "In Thy fear will I worship." Fear, as we generally experience it, is a humiliating and painful feeling. We suffer under it, and are ashamed of it. And because of this, we cannot disconnect the ideas of pain and humiliation from it. But fear is not necessarily a painful thing. Real godliness is called a "holy fear of God." Perfect love does indeed cast out fear; but what fear? Only the fear that hath torment; servile fear. The fear David means here, is that feeling which naturally arises in the human mind from the contemplation of any object immensely superior to ourselves. It is made up of admiration, awe, and reverence. The phrase "worship toward His holy temple," is taken from a custom among the Jews of always turning towards the temple or tabernacle when they prayed.

3. See these two things conjoined. They may be conjoined; and it is good for us to have these two things conjoined. The union qualifies us for the service and worship of God in His house. And these feelings must correspond with God's character. Let us all, then, seek to cultivate these holy feelings.

(C. Bradley.)

Belief in God is the great regenerating force of the world. The loss which the unbeliever suffers is enormous. For it does matter what God a man believes in, for his character will be as his faith. Darwin says, "That with the existence of the more civilised races the conviction of the existence of an all-seeing Deity has had a potent influence in the advancement of morality." But morality means the highest welfare of mankind. Faith in God depends upon culture: we are not born believers. There are races who seem to have no such faith; and there seems, alas, in too many Christian countries, a tendency to revert to primitive barbarism in this respect! Its beginning may be detected in the neglect of public religious service. When a man begins to neglect his church, he loses one of the things which keep faith in God alive within him. But if such faith is to be a power, it must have some finer education than can be had from mere formal attendance at church; it must, in fact, be a sight of God. This is the highest act of religious service, it is the act and state of worship. What is worship? It does not mean all sorts of religious services, but it is one particular state of mind. And this not a self-regarding one. It seeks not to get something for itself, though indeed it gains much. But that is not its object, which is the looking upon that which attracts the mind by its own intrinsic worth or worthiness. This is the real meaning of the word "worship." Of the self-regarding states are our appetites and passions. They are for self. And prayer, whilst it looks to God, is yet that it may gain for self. Its two great words are, Give and Forgive. But there are states of mind which look quite away from self. Nature, in her highest moods, and Art, in some of its grandest expressions, are able to thus absorb us and hold us spellbound. The mind is taken out of itself and placed in a strange mysterious atmosphere. And so worship is the mind entranced, fascinated, spellbound by the sight of what God is in Himself. Thus worship implies a sight of God. But not any sight. Some views of God are so oppressive and terrifying as to palsy the mind with fear. For many practically hold God to be the author of evil rather than of good, and think of Him only to find out how they may appease Him. They come before Him in awful dread. But the highest form of religious service — seen with such lofty pathos in the worship of our Lord and Master, and presented to us as the absorbing occupation of heaven — is the beatific vision of God and the dwelling upon Him until earthly pains and sorrows and sins fall off from us and all is tranquil as a dreamless sleep.

"In such access of mind, in such high hour

Of visitation from the living God,

Thought was not; in enjoyment it expired.

No thanks he breathed, he proffered no request,

Rapt into still communion that transcends

The imperfect offices of prayer and praise."Now we might and should have more of this Divine elevation in our religious services. If there were there would be no fear of the neglect of public worship. But for this we must prepare ourselves. Like David we should sit still for a while. We should come as he says, here in the text, that he will come. In praise we have the best opportunity of rising to adoration, as in the "Te Deum" and in the "Gloria in Excelsis." But we cannot drop into a grand view of God as we drop into our seats at church. To such an elevation we must climb. This is the ideal after which we should reach. It is no sterile contemplation. It gives tone to the character, and dignity to the life.

(W. Page Roberts.)

I. THE MOTIVES WE HAVE TO JOIN IN THE SOLEMN SERVICE OF GOD. One leading object which we ought to have in view is to promote the glory of God by the conversion or confirmation of others; but still it is in consideration of His mercy that we magnify Jehovah in His other attributes. The Psalmist considered it to be an invaluable privilege that he was permitted to take part in the solemn and public worship of God. He knew the comfort and benefit which flowed from that privilege.

II. THE DISPOSITIONS TO BE ACQUIRED IN ORDER THAT IT MAY BE AN ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE. The value to ourselves depends on the use we make of it, and on the state of our own hearts. The true worshipper is studious.

1. To bring into the sanctuary a purified heart, at least a heart that seeks to be purified and to experience, in the serious and faithful use of the appointed means of grace, the renewing and refreshing influences of that Spirit who helpeth our infirmities.

2. The spirit of purity requires a spirit of fear. "In Thy fear will .I worship." We are invited, by the Sabbath bell, to an act of solemn and direct intercourse with our Maker, our Redeemer, our Sanctifier, and our Judge. Is that an employment which we can presume to take in hand without the most serious consideration, the most entire collectedness of thought, the warm glow of thankfulness and love?

3. The worship must be attended with faith and hope. The experience of mercies past, and the sure promise of their continuance, the gracious invitations and affectionate expostulations of Him who has described Himself as hearing and answering prayer, should fill us with the spirit of supplication. God loves to listen to the united praises of those who are met together in His name.

(Bishop Bloomfield.)

People
David, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Abundance, Abundant, Bow, Enter, Fear, Full, Greatness, Holiness, Holy, Kindness, Love, Loving, Lovingkindness, Loving-kindness, Measure, Mercy, Multitude, Myself, Reverence, Steadfast, Temple, Towards, Turning, Worship
Outline
1. David prays, and professes his study in prayer
4. God favors not the wicked
7. David, professing his faith, prays to God to guide him
10. to destroy his enemies
11. and to preserve the godly

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 5:7

     1065   God, holiness of
     5138   bowing
     5763   attitudes, positive to God
     6687   mercy, God's
     7328   ceremonies
     8334   reverence, and God's nature
     8608   prayer, and worship
     8632   adoration
     8660   magnifying God

Library
A Staircase of Three Steps
'All those that put their trust in Thee ... them also that love Thy name ... the righteous.'--PSALM v. 11, 12. I have ventured to isolate these three clauses from their context, because, if taken in their sequence, they are very significant of the true path by which men draw nigh to God and become righteous. They are all three designations of the same people, but regarded under different aspects and at different stages. There is a distinct order in them, and whether the Psalmist was fully conscious
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Morning Hymn.
"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord."--Psalm 5:3. "Morgen glanz der Ewigkeit." [35]Knov. von Rosenroth. transl., Jane Borthwick, 1855 Jesus, Sun of righteousness, Brightest beam of Love Divine, With the early morning rays Do Thou on our darkness shine, And dispel with purest light All our night! As on drooping herb and flower Falls the soft refreshing dew, Let Thy Spirit's grace and power All our weary souls renew; Sbowers of blessing over all Softly fall! Like the sun's reviving
Jane Borthwick—Hymns from the Land of Luther

Morning Hymns
Morning Hymns. [2] My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up. Psalm 5:3
Catherine Winkworth—Lyra Germanica: The Christian Year

Moreover what is Written "Thou Wilt Destroy all that Speak Leasing...
35. Moreover what is written "Thou wilt destroy all that speak leasing:" [2360] one saith that no lie is here excepted, but all condemned. Another saith: Yea verily: but they who speak leasing from the heart, as we disputed above; for that man speaketh truth in his heart, who hateth the necessity of lying, which he understands as a penalty of the moral life. Another saith: All indeed will God destroy who speak leasing, but not all leasing: for there is some leasing which the Prophet was at that time
St. Augustine—On Lying

But if no Authority for Lying Can be Alleged...
9. But if no authority for lying can be alleged, neither from the ancient Books, be it because that is not a lie which is received to have been done or said in a figurative sense, or be it because good men are not challenged to imitate that which in bad men, beginning to amend, is praised in comparison with the worse; nor yet from the books of the New Testament, because Peter's correction rather than his simulation, even as his tears rather than his denial, is what we must imitate: then, as to those
St. Augustine—On Lying

A Great Deal for Me to Read Hast Thou Sent...
1. A great deal for me to read hast thou sent, my dearest brother Consentius: a great deal for me to read: to the which while I am preparing an answer, and am drawn off first by one, then by another, more urgent occupation, the year has measured out its course, and has thrust me into such straits, that I must answer in what sort I may, lest the time for sailing being now favorable, and the bearer desirous to return, I should too long detain him. Having therefore unrolled and read through all that
St. Augustine—Against Lying

On the Other Hand, those who Say that we must Never Lie...
6. On the other hand, those who say that we must never lie, plead much more strongly, using first the Divine authority, because in the very Decalogue it is written "Thou shall not bear false witness;" [2306] under which general term it comprises all lying: for whoso utters any thing bears witness to his own mind. But lest any should contend that not every lie is to be called false witness, what will he say to that which is written, "The mouth that lieth slayeth the soul:" [2307] and lest any should
St. Augustine—On Lying

What Then, if a Homicide Seek Refuge with a Christian...
22. What then, if a homicide seek refuge with a Christian, or if he see where the homicide have taken refuge, and be questioned of this matter by him who seeks, in order to bring to punishment a man, the slayer of man? Is he to tell a lie? For how does he not hide a sin by lying, when he for whom he lies has been guilty of a heinous sin? Or is it because he is not questioned concerning his sin, but about the place where he is concealed? So then to lie in order to hide a person's sin is evil; but
St. Augustine—On Lying

Since the Case is So, what is Man...
19. Since the case is so, what is man, while in this life he uses his own proper will, ere he choose and love God, but unrighteous and ungodly? "What," I say, "is man," a creature going astray from the Creator, unless his Creator "be mindful of him," [2683] and choose [2684] him freely, and love [2685] him freely? Because he is himself not able to choose or love, unless being first chosen and loved he be healed, because by choosing blindness he perceiveth not, and by loving laziness is soon wearied.
St. Augustine—On Patience

Second Sunday after Trinity Exhortation to Brotherly Love.
Text: 1 John 3, 13-18. 13 Marvel not, brethren, if the world hateth you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death. 15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 16 Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso hath the world's goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Question of the Division of Life into the Active and the Contemplative
I. May Life be fittingly divided into the Active and the Contemplative? S. Augustine, De Consensu Evangelistarum, I., iv. 8 " Tractatus, cxxiv. 5, in Joannem II. Is this division of Life into the Active and the Contemplative a sufficient one? S. Augustine, Of the Trinity, I., viii. 17 I May Life be fittingly divided into the Active and the Contemplative? S. Gregory the Great says[291]: "There are two kinds of lives in which Almighty God instructs us by His Sacred Word--namely, the active and
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life

Covenanting a Duty.
The exercise of Covenanting with God is enjoined by Him as the Supreme Moral Governor of all. That his Covenant should be acceded to, by men in every age and condition, is ordained as a law, sanctioned by his high authority,--recorded in his law of perpetual moral obligation on men, as a statute decreed by him, and in virtue of his underived sovereignty, promulgated by his command. "He hath commanded his covenant for ever."[171] The exercise is inculcated according to the will of God, as King and
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Covenant Duties.
It is here proposed to show, that every incumbent duty ought, in suitable circumstances, to be engaged to in the exercise of Covenanting. The law and covenant of God are co-extensive; and what is enjoined in the one is confirmed in the other. The proposals of that Covenant include its promises and its duties. The former are made and fulfilled by its glorious Originator; the latter are enjoined and obligatory on man. The duties of that Covenant are God's law; and the demands of the law are all made
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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