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The Treasury of David
Psalm 4
Psalm 4:1
Exposition
This is another instance of David’s common habit of pleading past mercies as a ground for the present favor. Here he reviews his Ebenezers and takes comfort from them. It is not to be imagined that he who has helped us in six troubles will leave us in the seventh. God does nothing by halves, and he will never cease to help us until we cease to need. The manna shall fall every morning until we cross the Jordan.
Observe, that David speaks first to God and then to men. Surely we should all speak the more boldly to men if we had more constant converse with God. He who dares to face his Maker will not tremble before the sons of men. The name by which the Lord is here addressed, God of my righteousness, deserves notice since it is not used in any other part of Scripture. It means, Thou art the author, the witness, the maintainer, the judge, and the rewarder of my righteousness; to thee, I appeal from the calumnies and harsh judgments of men. Herein is wisdom, let us imitate it and always take our suit, not to the petty courts of human opinion, but into the superior court, the King’s Bench of heaven.
Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress. A figure taken from an army enclosed in a defile and hard-pressed by the surrounding enemy. God hath dashed down the rocks and given me room; he hath broken the barriers and set me in a large place. Or, we may understand it thus:—”God hath enlarged my heart with joy and comfort when I was like a man imprisoned by grief and sorrow.” God is a never-failing comforter.
Have mercy upon me. Though thou mayest justly permit my enemies to destroy me, on account of my many and great sins, yet I flee to thy mercy, and I beseech thee hear my prayer and bring thy servant out of his troubles. The best of men need mercy as truly as the worst of men. All the deliverances of saints, as well as the pardons of sinners, are the free gifts of heavenly grace.
Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings
Hear me when I call, etc. Faith is a good orator and a noble disputer in a strait; it can reason from God’s readiness to hear: “Hear me when I call, O God.” And from the everlasting righteousness given to the man in the justification of his person: O God of my righteousness. And from God’s constant justice in defending the righteousness of his servant’s cause: “O God of my righteousness.” And from both present distresses and those that are by-past, wherein he hath been, and from by-gone mercies received: Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress. And from God’s grace, which is able to answer all objections from the man’s unworthiness or ill-deserving: Have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.—David Dickson, 1653.
Hear me. The great Author of nature and of all things does nothing in vain. He instituted not this law, and, if I may so express it, the art of praying, as a vain and insufficient thing, but endows it with wonderful efficacy for producing the greatest and happiest consequences. He would have it to be the key by which all the treasures of heaven should be opened. He has constructed it as a powerful machine, by which we may, with easy and pleasant labor, remove from us the direst and unhappy machinations of our enemy, and may with equal ease draw to ourselves what is most propitious and advantageous. Heaven and earth, and all the elements, obey and minister to the hands which are often lifted up to heaven in earnest prayer. Yea, all works, and, which is yet more and greater, all the words of God obey it. Well known in the sacred Scriptures are the examples of Moses and Joshua, and that which (James 5:17) particularly mentions of Elijah, whom he expressly calls δμοιοπαθὴς, a man subject to like infirmities with ourselves, that he might illustrate the admirable force of prayer, by the common and human weakness of the person by whom it was offered. And that Christian legion under Antonius is well known and justly celebrated, which for the singular ardor and efficacy of its prayers, obtained the name of κεραυνοβόλος, the thundering legion. Robert Leighton, D.D., Archbishop of Glasgow, 1611-1684.
Hints to the Village Preacher
It is full of matter for a sermon upon, past mercies a plea for present help. The first sentence shows that believers desire, expect, and believe in a God that heareth prayer. The title—God of my righteousness, may furnish a text (see exposition), and the last sentence may suggest a sermon upon, “The best of saints must still appeal to God’s mercy and sovereign grace.”
Works Upon The Fourth Psalm
Choice and Practical Expositions on four select Psalms: namely, the Fourth Psalm, in eight Sermons, etc. By Thomas Horton, D.D. 1675 Meditations, Critical and Practical, on Psalm IV., in Archbishop Leighton’s Works.
The Treasury of David.
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