Charles H. Spurgeon

TITLE. The word Neginah (the singular of Neginoth) may be understood to be synonymous with the kinnor or harp: that is to say, the instrument of eight strings, probably played with a bow or plectrum. John Jess.

Verse 1. Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. Aquinas saith that some read the words thus, Intende ad cantica mea, attend unto my songs—and so the words may be safely read, from the Hebrew word hgr ranah, which signifies to shout or shrill out for joy—to note that the prayers of the saints are like pleasant songs and delightful ditties in the ears of God. No mirth, no music, can be so pleasing to us as the prayers of the saints are pleasing to God. So 2:14 Ps 141:2. Thomas Brooks.

Verse 1. My cry. There is a text in Job where the "hypocrites in heart" are spoken of condemningly, because "they cry not when he bindeth them." I like to feel that no hard fortitude is required of the chastened child of God, but that it ought to feel, and may cry, under the rod, without a single rebellious thought. Mary B. M. Duncan.

Verses 1-2. One uttered outburst begetteth another. Hear my cry; attend unto my prayer (yet no words thereof mentioned); and Ps 61:2. From the end of the earth will I cry: he had thus cried, and he will therefore cry again and again. As billows of temptation ever and anon stop his mouth and interrupt him, so as he now and then doth but peep above water, and get breathing space, he will thus cry, Lead me, or "guide me, "or carry me to yonder rock which is higher than I. Thomas Cobbet (1608-1686), on Prayer.

Verse 2. From the end of the earth. This may be taken two ways: either naturally, and then it is an allusion to men that are far distant and remote from help, relief and comfort: or, as I may say, ecclesiastically, with reference to the temple of God, which was "in medio terrae, ""in the midst and heart of the land, "where God manifested and gave tokens of his gracious presence and favour: as if he had said, "I am at the end of the earth; far from any tokens, pledges, or manifestations of the love and favour of God, as well as from outward help and assistance." John Owen.

Verse 2. The end of the earth. What place was this, the end of the earth, referring the expression to the writer of the Psalm? We know that the centre of the affections and devotions of the pious Israelite was the "holy city, Jerusalem; whither the tribes went up, even the tribes of the Lord, to testify unto Israel, and to give thanks unto the name of the Lord." The country of which this city was the capital, was to the Jew the world; it was the world within the world; the earth within the earth; the whole globe besides was to him a waste, a place out of the world; an extraterrestrial territory, beyond the limits set up by the Lord Almighty. Thus in Holy Writ what is called the world, or the earth, frequently signifieth only that part thereof which was the heritage of the chosen people... The end of the earth, then, as referred to the psalmist, would signify any place of bodily absence from the temple where the Deity had taken up his special abode, or any place whence his spiritual affections were unable to reach that temple. As referred to us, the expression signifies any sensible distance from God: for as God is the centre of life, hope, love, and joy, distance from him, of whatsoever degree, is the antipodes of the soul, a region of sterility and darkness; the Iceland of man's spirit. Alfred Bowen Evans, 1852.

Verse 2. I will cry unto thee. There is in this expression an endeavour to approach unto God; as you do when you cry after one whom you see at a distance, and are afraid he will go farther from you. It is the great work of faith to cry out after God, at a distance, when you are afraid lest at the next turn he should be quite out of sight. Crying to the Lord supposes him to be withdrawing or departing. John Owen.

Verse 2. Cry. No matter how abrupt the prayer be, so it be the representation of our hearts. Thus did David. Where doth he pray? In banishment. When? When his spirit is overwhelmed. How does he pray? He cried. Thus Hannah prayed herself into a composed state of mind. Remember, resignation is the work of the Spirit of God; and therefore you must plead for it before you have it. John Singleton (1706), in "The Morning Exercises."

Verse 2. Cry. Crying is a substitute for speech; and also the expression of earnestness. William Jay.

Verse 2. When my heart is overwhelmed. Troubles are of various kinds; some are provoking, some are gnawing, some are perplexing, and some are overwhelming; but whatever form they assume, they are troubles, and are part of the wear and tear of life. ...Overwhelming troubles are such as sweep over a man, just as the mighty billows of the ocean sweep over and submerge the sands. These are troubles which struggle with us, as it were, for life and death; troubles which would leave us helpless wrecks; troubles which enter into conflict with us in our prime, which grapple with us in our health and strength, and threaten to conquer us by sheer force, no matter how bravely we may contend. Such trouble the psalmist knew. Philip Bennett Power, in "The I wills of the Psalms, "1861.

Verse 2. Heart. The heart is here represented to us as being overwhelmed, or, as it is otherwise translated, "covered over; "it is smothered in, unable to perform its functions with proper action, unable to throw out the blood to the extremities, to give them needed vitality and power for necessary effort. When the action of the heart is paralysed, even temporarily, it will tell upon all the members, a chill there send its cold vibration through every limb; Satan knows this well, and so all his dealings are heart dealings, efforts to paralyse the very spring of life itself. This is precisely what we ourselves have experienced; we have partially felt death within us, we have felt a gradual numbing of our heart; a gradual diminution in the quickness of its beat; a gradual closing in, and pressure of a weight upon it, and this was the overwhelming process. Philip Bennett Power.

Verse 2. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. The tower, in Ps 18:2, is "an high tower, "and the rock is here an high rock, the rock higher than I; and yet there is a way to get into the highest towers; by scaling ladders a man may get over the high walls of towers. This tower and rock were too high for David himself to get into, and therefore he sets to the scaling ladder. "Lead me to the rock, and into the tower that is higher than I. Hear my cry, attend unto my prayer." So he makes prayer the scaling ladder to get upon that rock and into that tower that otherwise had been too high for him; he gets that safety and deliverance which otherwise but by prayer unto God had been impossible to have been obtained. Jeremiah Dyke.

Verse 2. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. The language is very remarkable. It gives us the idea of a man suffering shipwreck. The vessel in which he has been sailing has sunk. He has been plunged into the mighty ocean; and there he is buffeting the waves, struggling for life, panting for breath, and just about to give up all for lost. Suddenly he discovers a rock towering above him. If he can but climb up to the top of it, and get sure footing upon it, the billows will not be able to reach him, and he will be safe. Now, the prayer in our text is the cry of that poor wretch for help. He is so spent and exhausted, that he cannot reach the rock himself. He shouts aloud for the friendly hand of some one stronger than himself, or for a rope that may be flung to him by those who are already safe on the rock, if by these helps he may gain it. Lead me to the rock, cries the poor perishing wretch. "O, lead me, guide me, direct me to it; for I am so worn and spent, that I cannot reach it otherwise. I am at the point to die; and I must sink, and be no more seen for ever, if there is none to help me." Thus he calls for some one to rescue him from the deep, and to place him on the rock. But what rock? He knows that unless the rock be a high one, he will not be in safety, though he should be on it. The rock, he says, "must be higher than I, or the waves will reach me, and wash me off again." It is not a rock, the top of which just shows itself above the sea, no higher than a man's own body, that will save the life of a shipwrecked mariner. Such a rock may occasion the wreck, but it will not afford any help to the sufferers afterwards; it is a rock to split upon for destruction, not to stand upon for safety. Lead me to the rock, or as it is in the Prayer book version, "Set me upon the rock that is higher than I!" ...The text having shown us the danger of sin, does not leave us comfortless; it shows us the security of the refuge. We have before remarked, that the prayer of David, as a shipwrecked man, is, to be "led to, "and set upon a rock, that is higher than himself. The expression seems to imply much. The rock that is higher than he, must be higher than any man; for David was a mighty monarch. He implies, therefore, that the refuge he seeks must be more than any "arm of flesh" can afford him; it must be therefore divine. Condensed from a Sermon by Fountain Elwin, 1842.

Verse 2. It is more the image of one overtaken by the tide, as he is hastening onwards to get beyond its reach, and yet with every step he sees it rolling nearer and nearer to him; he hears its angry roar, the loosening sand sinks beneath his tread—a few minutes more, and the waves will be around him; despair hath "overwhelmed his heart; "when in the very depths of his agony he sees a point of rock high above the waves. "O that I could reach it and be safe!" And then comes the cry, the agonizing cry, to him that is mighty to save, Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. It is the sinner's cry to the sinner's Saviour! Barton Bouchier, A.M., in "Manna in the Heart; or, Daily Comments on the Book of Psalms," 1855.

Verse 2. Lead me to the rock. If we would find ourselves upon the rock, and enjoy the realisation of being so, we must be dependent upon another's hand. And that hand can do everything for us, even in our worst of times. When we are so blinded by the salt waves that dash in our eyes, so reeling in brain that we perhaps cannot think, much less make continuous efforts, there is a hand which can lead us, which can draw us out of the waters, which can set our feet upon the rock. Surely we have already experienced the power and tenderness of that hand? and it may be that in the reader's case, the waves, as they made sure of their prey, found it supernaturally drawn forth from them, that it might be set upon a rock, immoveable amid all the waters, and sufficient amid all storms! Philip Bennett Power.

Verse 2. The rock that is higher than I. The rock of our salvation, then, is "higher than we." Here we have the Deity of Christ, the Rock, set forth; in this he is "higher than we." And except as he is thus higher, as he is God, he could not be a Saviour; for "He is a just God, as well as a Saviour." A being no higher than we, or but a little higher, as the angels (for we are but "a little lower than they"), though he might teach us, or warn us, or console us, could never save us. The prey is in the hands of the mighty, and the Almighty alone is mightier. But a rock is not only high, but deep; it not only erects its front above the waves, but its base is fixed in the ocean's bed. "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find our the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea." Job 11:7. Here we have the humanity of him who is the rock; that humanity by which he was able to go down to the deeps, as well as ride triumphantly on the bosom of the waters—those deeps, whereof David speaking experimentally of himself, spake prophetically of him; the depths of our fall and degradation—that humanity in which he went down into the grave, into the recesses of the intermediate state, and "preached to the spirits in prison." This is our rock, both deep and high; the rock of our salvation; to which those whose sons have set them at "the end of the earth, "desire to be brought, that they may find a place of safe standing. Let not those fear who feel the bitterness of distance from God, for they shall be brought nigh; desolate may be the coast to which they are driven, but over against it is the Paradise of God; clouds and darkness may gather at the base of this rock of safety, but "eternal sunshine settles in its head." Alfred Bowen Evans.

Verse 2. Higher. A hiding place must be locus exelsissimus. Your low houses are soon scaled. Jesus Christ is a high place; he is as high as heaven. He is the Jacob's ladder that reacheth from earth to heaven. Ge 28:12. He is too high for men, too high for devils; no creature can scale these high walls. Ralph Robinson (1614-1655), in "Christ All and in All."

Verse 4. I will abide in thy tabernacle. Some render it, I shall dwell in thy tent or pavilion royal, making it a metaphor from warfare, where those that are in the king's own tent must needs be in greatest safety. And this sense suits well with the following words: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. John Trapp.

Verse 4. Covert of thy wings. To a person who should penetrate the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle, the most conspicuous object would be the outspread wings above the mercyseat: under their shelter and upon the mercyseat David would abide in quiet confidence. C. H. S.

Verse 5. (first clause). About this time I began to know that there is a God who hears and answers prayer. John Newton, in his Journal.

Verse 5. Thou, O God, hast heard my vows: that is, his prayers, which are always to be put up with vows. Indeed, that prayer is a blank which hath not a vow in it. Is it a mercy thou prayest him to give? If sincere, thou wilt vow to praise him for it, and serve him with it. Is it a sin thou prayest against? Except you juggle with God, thou wilt vow as well as pray against it. William Gurnall.

Verse 5. The heritage. Eternal life is called an inheritance. Theodoret remarks: "The true inheritance is eternal life, concerning which Christ saith to the sheep on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world. This inheritance the Lord giveth to them that fear him." In Eph 1:14, the Spirit is called "the earnest of our inheritance." In Col 1:12, the apostle exhorts them "to give thanks unto the Father, who hath made them meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." On this verse we have the golden comment of Chrysostom, reiterated by Theophylact. He calls it an inheritance, to show that no man obtaineth the kingdom by his own good works; for no man hath so lived as to render himself worthy of the kingdom, but all is of the grace of God. Wherefore he saith, "When ye have done all, say that we are unprofitable servants, for we have only done that which we ought to have done." John Caspar Suicer's "Thesaurus," 1728.

Verse 6. Thou wilt prolong the king's life, etc. David cannot be considered as using these words of gratulation with an exclusive reference to himself. It is true that he lived to an extreme old age, and died full of days, leaving the kingdom in a settled condition, and in the hands of his son, who succeeded him; but he did not exceed the period of one man's life, and the greater part of it was spent in continued dangers and anxieties. There can be no doubt, therefore, that the series of years, and even ages, of which he speaks, extends prospectively to the coming of Christ, it being the very condition of the kingdom, as I have often remarked, that God maintained them as one people under on head, or when scattered, united them again. The same succession still subsists in reference to ourselves. Christ must be viewed as living in his members to the end of the world. To this Isaiah alludes when he says, "Who shall declare his generation or age?"—words in which he predicts that the church would survive through all ages, notwithstanding the incessant danger of destruction to which it is exposed through the attacks of its enemies, and the many storms assailing it. So here David foretells the uninterrupted succession of the kingdom down to the time of Christ. John Calvin.

Verse 6. The king's life: and his years. David speaks designedly of the days of the king instead of his own days, as might have been expected from what had been said, for the purpose of showing that he considered the promise of eternal dominion as relating not to himself personally, but to his family—the royal family of David. E. W. Hengstenberg.

Verse 7. O prepare mercy. David having declared in his own behalf the purpose of God towards him for everlasting salvation, he, speaking of himself, shall abide before God for ever: he withal considering what he was to run through in this life, and what it might require to keep him unto the end, and so for ever, doth presently thereupon, in way of prayer, subjoin prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve me. As if he had said, I have yet a long journey to go, and through many hazards, and thy promise is, I shall abide before thee for ever. Lord, thou hast need lay up and aforehand prepare an abundance of mercy and truth to preserve me for time to come. Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 8. They that are godly are oppressed and vexed in the church or congregation for this purpose: that when they are pressed, they should cry; and when they cry, that they should be heard; and when they are heard, that they should laud and praise God. Augustine.

Whole Psalm. The progressive I wills.

1. I will cry.
2. I will abide in thy tabernacle.
3. I will trust.
4. I will sing praise.

Verse 1. Answers to prayer to be earnestly sought.

1. What hinders the answer of prayer?

2. What is our duty when answers are denied?

3. What encouragements we have to believe that the delay is only temporary.

Verse 2. Lead me.

1. Show me the way: reveal Jesus.

2. Enable me to tread it: work faith in me.

3. Uplift me when I cannot tread: do for me what is beyond me.

Verse 2. Higher than I. Jesus greater than our highest efforts, attainments, desires, expectations, conceptions.

Verse 2. God, the saint's rock. John Owen's Two Sermons. Works. Vol. 9, pp. 237-256.

Verse 2. The heart's cry and desire.

1. A recognition of a place of safety; then,

2. We have this place brought before us, as abundantly sufficient, when personal weakness has been realised.

3. This place cannot be attained without the help of another's hand.

4. The character of this refuge, and the position of a believer when availing himself of it: the place of refuge is "a rock, "and the position of the believer is "upon a rock." P. B. Power.

Verses 2-3.

1. How would he pray? I will cry unto thee.

2. Where would he pray? From the ends of the earth.

3. When would he pray? When my heart is overwhelmed.

4. For what would he pray? Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

5. Whence does he derive his encouragement to pray? For thou hast been, etc. (Ps 61:3). William Jay.

Verse 3. A shelter from the rain of trouble, the storm of persecution, the floods of Satanic temptation, the heat of divine wrath, the blast of death. The ark, Lot's mountain, the blood stained door in Egypt, the city of refuge, the cave Adullam. A strong tower: lasting in itself, impregnable against foes, secure for the occupant.

Verse 5. (second clause). Enquire whether or no it fares with us as with the saints.

Verses 5, 8.

1. Vows heard in heaven.
2. Vows to be carefully fulfilled on earth.

Verse 5. (second clause).

1. They that fear God have a "heritage."
2. This heritage is "given."
3. We may know that we possess it. William Jay.

Verse 6. Our King, his eternal existence, our personal joy in this, and our joy for our descendants.

Verses 4, 7.

1. My privilege, I will abide (Ps 61:4).
2. The ground of it, He shall abide, etc. (Ps 61:7).

Verses 5, 8.

1. Vows heard in heaven.
2. Vows to be carefully fulfilled on earth.