 Charles H. Spurgeon Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings Hints to the Village Preacher Psalm 20 Verse 1-4SUBJECT. We have before us a National Anthem, fitted to be sung at the outbreak of war, when the monarch was girding on his sword for the fight. If David had not been vexed with wars, we might never have been favoured with such psalms as this. There is a needs be for the trials of one saint, that he may yield consolation to others. A happy people here plead for a beloved sovereign, and with loving hearts cry to Jehovah, "God save the King." We gather that this song was intended to be sung in public, not only from the matter of the song, but also from its dedication "To the Chief Musician." We know its author to have been Israel's sweet singer, from the short title, "A Psalm of David." The particular occasion which suggested it, it would be mere folly to conjecture, for Israel was almost always at war in David's day. His sword may have been hacked, but it was never rusted. Kimchi reads the title, concerning David, or, for David, and it is clear that the king is the subject as well as the composer of the song. It needs but a moment's reflection to perceive that this hymn of prayer is prophetical of our Lord Jesus, and is the cry of the ancient church on behalf of her Lord, as she sees him in vision enduring a great fight of afflictions on her behalf. The militant people of God, with the great Captain of salvation at their head, may still in earnest plead that the pleasure of the Lord may prosper in his hand. We shall endeavour to keep to this view of the subject in our brief exposition, but we cannot entirely restrict out remarks to it.DIVISION. The first four verses are a prayer for the success of the king. Verses 5, 6, and 7 express unwavering confidence in God and his Anointed; verse 8 declares the defeat of the foe, and verse 9 is a concluding appeal to Jehovah.
Verse 1. "The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble." All loyal subjects
pray for their king, and most certainly citizens of Zion have good cause to
pray for the Prince of Peace. In times of conflict loving subjects redouble
their pleas, and surely in the sorrows of our Lord his church could not but
be in earnest. All the Saviour's days were days of trouble, and he also
made them days of prayer; the church joins her intercession with her Lord's,
and pleads that he may be heard in his cries and tears. The agony in the
garden was especially a gloomy hour, but he was heard in that he feared. He
knew that his Father heard him always, yet in that troublous hour no reply
came until thrice he had fallen on his face in the garden; then sufficient
strength was given in answer to prayer, and he rose a victor from the
conflict. On the cross also his prayer was not unheard, for in the
twenty-second Psalm he tells us, "thou hast heard me from the horns of the
unicorns." The church in this verse implies that her Lord would be himself
much given to prayer; in this he is our example, teaching us that if we are
to receive any advantage from the prayers of others, we must first pray for
ourselves. What a mercy that we may pray in the day of trouble, and what
a still more blessed privilege that no trouble can prevent the Lord from
hearing us! Troubles roar like thunder, but the believer's voice will be
heard above the storm. O Jesus, when thou pleadest for us in our hour of
trouble, the Lord Jehovah will hear thee. This is a most refreshing
confidence, and it may be indulged in without fear. Verse 2. "Send thee help from the sanctuary." Out of heaven's sanctuary came the angel to strengthen our Lord, and from the precious remembrance of God's doings in his sanctuary our Lord refreshed himself when on the tree. There is no help like that which is of God's sending, and no deliverance like that which comes out of his sanctuary. The sanctuary to us is the person of our blessed Lord, who was typified by the temple, and is the true sanctuary which God has pitched, and not man: let us fly to the cross for shelter in all times of need and help will be sent to us. Men of the world despise sanctuary help, but our hearts have learned to prize it beyond all material aid. They seek help out of the armoury, or the treasury, or the buttery, but we turn to the sanctuary. "And strengthen thee out of Zion." Out of the assemblies of the pleading saints who had for ages prayed for their Lord, help might well result to the despised sufferer, for praying breath is never spent in vain. To the Lord's mystical body the richest comes in answer to the pleadings of his saints assembled for holy worship as his Zion. Certain advertisers recommend a strengthening plaster, but nothing can give such strength to the loins of a saint as waiting upon God in the assemblies of his people. This verse is a benediction befitting a Sabbath morning, and may be the salutation either of a pastor to his people, or of a church to its minister. God in the sanctuary of his dear Son's person, and in the city of his chosen church is the proper object of his people's prayers, and under such a character may they confidently look to him for his promised aid. Verse 3. "Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice. Selah." Before war kings offered sacrifice, upon the acceptance of which the depended for success; our blessed Lord presented himself as a victim, and was a sweet savour unto the Most High, and then he met and routed the embattled legions of hell. Still does his burnt sacrifice perfume the courts of heaven, and through him the offerings of his people are received as his sacrifices and oblations. We ought in our spiritual conflicts to have an eye to the sacrifice of Jesus, and never venture to war until first the Lord has given us a token for good at the altar of the cross, where faith beholds her bleeding Lord. "Selah." It is well to pause at the cross before we march onward to battle, and with the psalmist cry "Selah." We are too much in a hurry to make good haste. A little pausing might greatly help our speed. Stay, good man, there is a haste which hinders; rest awhile, meditate on the burnt sacrifice, and put thy heart right for the stern work which lieth before thee. Verse 4. "Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel." Christ's desire and counsel were both set upon the salvation of his people; the church of old desired for him good speed in his design, and the church in these latter days, with all her heart desires the complete fulfilment of his purpose. In Christ Jesus sanctified souls may appropriate this verse as a promise; they shall have their desire, and their plans to glorify their Master shall succeed. We may have our own will, when our will is God's will. This was always the case with our Lord, and yet he said, "not as I will, but as thou wilt." What need for submission in our case; if it was necessary to him, how much more for us?
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"The name of the God of Jacob defend thee;" or, as some read it, "set
thee in a high place." By "the name" is meant the revealed character and
Word of God; we are not to worship "the unknown God," but we should seek to
know the covenant God of Jacob, who has been pleased to reveal his name and
attributes to his people. There may be much in a royal name, or a learned
name, or a venerable name, but it will be a theme for heavenly scholarship
to discover all that is contained in the divine name. The glorious power of
God defended and preserved the Lord Jesus through the battle of his life and
death, and exalted him above all his enemies. His warfare is now
accomplished in his own proper person, but in his mystical body, the church,
he is still beset with dangers, and only the eternal arm of our God in
covenant can defend the soldiers of the cross, and set them on high out of
the reach of their foes. The day of trouble is not over, the pleading
Saviour is not silent, and the name of the God of Israel is still the
defence of the faithful. The name, "God of Jacob," is suggestive; Jacob
had his day of trouble, he wrestled, was heard, was defended, and in due
time was set on high, and his God is our God still, the same God to all his
wrestling Jacobs. The whole verse is a very fitting benediction to be
pronounced by a gracious heart over a child, a friend, or a minister, in
prospect of trial; it includes both temporal and spiritual protection, and
directs the mind to the great source of all good. How delightful to believe
that our heavenly Father has pronounced it upon our favoured heads!