Bible Commentaries
Psalms 17

Verse 3

Psalms 17:3

The religious aspects of night are many.

I. Viewed in its relations to the life of man, it strikes us, first of all and pre-eminently, as an interruption. It breaks in upon and suspends human occupations, of whatever kind; it writes on the face of the heavens the veto of God on uninterrupted work. This enforced suspension of activity suggests, not merely the limited stock of strength at our disposal, but it also reminds us that we have a higher life than that which is represented and made the most of by the activity of this life, which will last when all that belongs to this life shall have passed away, a life for the nutriment and development of which God thus makes provision, and invites us to make provision, lest we should be swept without thought, without purpose, down the stream of time into the vast eternity that awaits us.

II. Night suggests danger. The daylight is of itself protection. Night is the opportunity of wild beasts and of evil men; they ply their trade during its dark and silent hours. He who gave us life can alone guarantee to us the permanence of the gift, since He can order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men, and can control the destructive force of nature and the sequence of events.

III. Night is a time during which God often speaks solemnly to the soul of man. (1) The sleep of the body is not always the sleep of the soul. If the Bible is to guide us, there can be no doubt that dreams have often been made the vehicle of the communication of the Divine will to man, and that it leads us to expect that they may be so again. (2) But it is not in dreams that God generally speaks to man in the silent hours of the night. Never does God speak more solemnly, more persuasively, to the human soul than during the waking hours of the night. Sleeplessness may be a very great blessing, if we only think of it, first, as a part of the will of God concerning us, and, next, if we are open to its many opportunities.

H. P. Liddon, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 193 (see also Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvi., p. 161).

Verse 5

Psalms 17:5

The prayer may be regarded as showing (1) the right spirit, (2) the right method, (3) the right purpose, of life.

I. In pointing out the right spirit of life, we see humility, dependence, ignorance of the future, etc.

II. The right method of life is based on (1) devotion; (2) trust in God; (3) continuous prayer for help.

III. The right purpose of life is to traverse the whole way of righteousness, that our footsteps slip not, that every step of the journey be taken safely and successfully.

Parker, City Temple, vol. i., p. 60.

References: Psalms 17:7 . Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 141.Psalms 17:8 . Ibid., Sermons, vol. xv., No. 904; F. V. Brown, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 190; G. Bainton, Ibid., vol. xxi., p. 244.

Verse 13

Psalms 17:13

I. If any are tempted to ask why the ungodly sometimes have such power and do so much evil, here is an answer. The ungodly in power is a sort of public hangman or executioner, who is appointed to do the vile but necessary scavenger work of the universe, the destroying and clearing away that is needed.

II. The sword is the very type and embodiment of the idea of successful force. Sword-power is very strong. And many strive to forge their being into a hard perfection, hard, and keen, and glittering. The sword-power works by wounding, by cutting, by oppressing the weak, by sharp words, by selfish actions, by having its own way, by being feared, by never sparing. God permits such success; God uses such success to punish or try mankind. "The ungodly, which is a sword of Thine" a mere hard tool, without any directing power of its own, a sword, not the wielder of a sword, not working intelligently with God, not knowing what is really being done.

III. True training for true life is the learning to heal wounds, not to inflict them; to save, not to destroy; to build up, not to pull down; to be as oil to the afflicted, not sharp as a sword. Beware of the sword-power and its spirit. "They that take the sword shall perish by the sword."

E. Thring, Uppingham Sermons, vol. ii., p. 128.

Verse 14

Psalms 17:14

The general purport of the expression "a man of the world" will be allowed to be that which is evidently David's meaning in the text: a man who has no spiritual yearnings, no holy aspirations; a mere earthworm, selfish, sordid, and greedy of gain; whose supreme and only thought is to make money, and have his nest well feathered here.

I. Think of the portion which belongs to men of the world. There is not a greater mistake than to imagine that you will be heart-rich as soon as you become purse-rich. Riches do make happy; but it is not the riches of the pocket, but the riches of the mind and heart: the riches of taste, of culture, of affection, and, above all, the riches of God's grace, which impart capacities of deep and intense enjoyment, otherwise unknown. It is a very solemn thought for any of you who are mere "men of the world" that, though you should be ever so successful, though your gains indeed should be far beyond your expectation, what you have got is only "a portion for this life."

II. Look, next, at the contrast as suggested by David's words in the next verse: "As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness." There were two things in which he placed the secret of true happiness: the one was seeking God as his Saviour, and the other was being made like Him in character. (1) "I will behold Thy face in righteousness." When reference is made to the "face of God," there is generally an allusion to Jesus Christ, His Son. The Psalmist means that he will fix his eye on God as reconciled to him through the righteousness of the Redeemer. This is the first secret of a happy life. (2) Satisfied when? "When I awake." The moment of resurrection will be the first moment in our history when, in the fullest, amplest sense of the word, we shall be able to say, "I am satisfied! I have all that I can desire!"

J. Thain Davidson, The City Youth, p. 169.

Reference: Psalms 17:14 . Expositor, 3rd series, vol. v., p. 308.

Verse 15

Psalms 17:15

Psalms 73:20

The period to which both David and Asaph look in these two verses is the end of life. The words of both, taken in combination, open out a series of weighty lessons.

I. The first of these is that to all men the end of life is an awaking. The representation of death most widely diffused among all nations is that it is a sleep. The recoil of men's heart from the thing is testified by the aversion of the languages to the bald name "death." And the employment of this special euphemism of sleep is a wonderful witness to our weariness of life and to its endless toil and trouble. But the emblem of sleep, true and sweet as it is, is but half the truth. We shall sleep. Yes; but we shall wake too. We shall wake just because we sleep. The spirit, because emancipated from the body, shall spring into greater intensity of action, shall put forth powers that have been held down here, and shall come into contact with an order of things which here it has but indirectly known. To our true selves and to God we shall wake.

II. The second principle contained in our text is that death is to some men the awaking of God. "When Thou awakest, Thou shalt despise their image." God "awakes" when He ends an epoch of probation and longsuffering mercy by an act or period of judgment. So far then as the mere expression is concerned, there may be nothing more meant here than the termination by a judicial act in this life of the transient "prosperity of the wicked." But the emphatic context seems to require that it should be referred to that final crash which irrevocably separates him who has "his portion in this life" from all which he calls his "goods." The whole period of earthly existence is regarded as the time of God's gracious forbearance and mercy, and the time of death is set forth as the instant when sterner elements of the Divine dealing start into prominence.

III. Death is the annihilation of the vain show of worldly life. The word rendered "image" is properly "shadow." "Thou shalt despise their shadow." The men are shadows, and all their goods are not what they are called, their "substance," but their shadow, a mere appearance, not a reality. That show of good is withered up by the light of the awaking God. What He despises cannot live. "When he dieth, he shall carry nothing away." Let us see to it that not in utter nakedness do we go hence, but clothed with that immortal robe and rich in those possessions which cannot be taken away from us, which they have who have lived on earth as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.

IV. Death is for some men the annihilation of the vain shows in order to reveal the great reality. "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness." "Likeness" is properly "form," and is the same word which is employed in reference to Moses, who saw "the similitude of the Lord." If there be, as is most probable, an allusion to that ancient vision in these words, then the "likeness" is not that conformity to the Divine character which it is the goal of our hopes to possess, but the beholding of His self-manifestation. These dim hopes suggest to us some presentiment of the full Christian truth of assimilation dependent on vision, and of vision reciprocally dependent on likeness. "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness," cries the prophet Psalmist. "It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master," responds the Christian hope.

A. Maclaren, Sermons Preached in Manchester, 2nd series, p. 1.

References: Psalms 17:15 . A. Raleigh, The Little Sanctuary, p. 257; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. i., No. 25; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 277; Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiv., p. 233, and vol. xv., p. 47; Preacher's Monthly, vol. v., p. 180; G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 39; J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 137; T. Binney, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 120. Psalms 17:0 I. Williams, The Psalms Interpreted of Christ, p. 296. Psalms 18:9 . J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 4th series, p. 10. Psalms 18:16 . Spurgeon, Sermons , vol. xxiv., No. 1432.Psalms 18:19 . W. Wilkinson, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 80. Psalms 18:25 , Psalms 18:26 . J. Service, Salvation Here and Hereafter, p. 156.