GLEANINGS IN THE PSALMS

(Psalm 60)

Divisions - Properly the song may be said to consist of three parts; the complaining verses, 1 to 3; the gladsome verses, 4 to 8; the prayerful verses, 9 to 12. We have divided it as the sense appeared to change.f

C. H. Spurgeon

Verse 1. “O God, thou has cast us off –” David knew that the displeasure of the Lord had brought calamity upon the nation, and to the removal of that displeasure he set himself by earnest prayer. To be cast off by God is the worst calamity that can befall a man or a people, but the worst form of it is when the person is not aware of it and is indifferent to it. When the Divine desertion causes mourning and repentance, it will be but partial and temporary. When a cast-off soul sighs for its God it is not indeed cast off at all.

Verse 3. “Thou hast shewed thy people hard things –” God will be sure to plough his own ground, and to weed his own garden, though the rest of the world should be let alone to grow wild.

Trapp

Verse 4. “Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it might be displayed because of the truth.” Here the strain takes a turn. The Lord has called back to himself His servants, and commissioned them for His service, presenting them with a standard to be used in His wars. Their affliction had led them to exhibit holy fear, and then being fitted for the Lord's favour, He gave them an ensign, which would be both a rallying point for their hosts, a proof that He had sent them to fight, and a guarantee of victory. The Lord has given us the standard of the gospel, let us live to uphold it, and if needful die to defend it. For the truth's sake, and because the true God is on our side, let us in these modern days of warfare emulate the warriors of Israel, and unfurl our banners to the breeze with confident joy. Dark signs of present or coming ill must not dishearten us; if the Lord had meant to destroy us He would not have given us the gospel.

Spurgeon

Verse 4. “Thou hast given a banner –” Perhaps the delivery of a banner was esteemed an obligation to protect; this is how David would then reason; “Though Thou didst for a time give up Thine Israel into the hands of her enemies, thou has now given her an assurance of Thy having received her under Thy protection.”

Thomas Harmer.

Verses 6 and 7. “God hath spoken in his holiness – I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine, Ephraim also –” God has spoken the word, says David, therefore it shall be done. No sooner does God speak than the psalmist sounds the trump of victory: “all's mine - Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, Moab and Edom are mine.”

Joseph Caryl

Verse 7. “– Judah is my lawgiver.” All his subjects should be brought under one head, one governor, who should give them laws, according to which they should be ordered or governed. This power and authority belonged to the tribe of Judah, according to that prophecy of Jacob (Genesis 49 verse 10). No way, no means to bring the people into unity, but by bringing them under one head, one law-giver, by whose laws they may be regulated and governed. Now in the Church, and in matters of religion, this one Head is Christ, even that “Lion of the tribe of Judah,” as He is called in Revelations 5 verse 5. He is the Lawgiver of His church, and let Him so be. This will be found the one, yes, and the only means to breed on holy and religious unity, and bring home straying, wandering sheep.

John Brinsley

Verse 9. “Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into Edom?” The believer, when he promises himself great things, must neither be senseless of the difficulties of opposition that he is to meet with, nor of his own inability to overcome those difficulties. But, being sensible of both, he must look to God for assistance and furniture to overcome. When David considered the strength of the fenced royal cities of the enemy, he saith, “Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me into Edom?” But he finds his answer in the next verse, “Wilt not thou, O God –?”

David Dickson

Verses 11 to 12.

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