Psalms 37:40

Psa 37:40 And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.

Ver. 40. And the Lord shall help them, &c.] He shall, he shall, he shall. Oh the rhetoric of God! the safety of the saints! the certainty of the promises!

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

40. (Psa 37:40) And Jehovah has helped them. It is not in name or in profession merely that he is their stronghold and protector. Jehovah has helped them and delivered them. And what he has done he will still do. He will deliver them from the wicked. The mention of this specific evil brings us back to the point from which we started, the temptation to repine at the prosperity of sinners and resent their evil treatment. But the true wisdom of the righteous is to wait, to wait for God. He will deliver them from the wicked, and will save them from all evil, as this verb when absolutely used imports, not because of any merit upon their part, but because they have trusted, taken refuge, sought for shelter, in him, not only under his protection, but in intimate union and Communion with him. See above, on Psa 2:12; Psa 5:12 (11), Psa 7:2 (1), Psa 25:20; Psa 31:2 (1).

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 40. The Lord - shall deliver them] For they are always exposed to trials, and liable to fall.

Because they trust in him.] They keep faith, prayer, love, and obedience in continual exercise. They continue to believe in, love, and obey God; and he continues to save them.

ANALYSIS OF THE THIRTY-SEVENTH PSALM

What is here delivered may be reduced to these two general heads: -

I. He sets down the duty of a good man, which is to be patient, and put his confidence in God when he sees the wicked prosper and flourish.

II. He gives many reasons to prove the propriety of such conduct.

I. He begins with an interdict, and then descends to give some directions.

1. His interdict is, "Fret not thyself," c. Be not angry nor envious to which he adds this reason, that their prosperity is but short: "For they shall be cut down," c.

2. Then he sets down some directions and rules to prevent fretting and anger.

1. The first is a perpetual rule for our whole life: "Trust in the Lord." Rely not on human helps, friends, riches, c.

2. "Be good." Increase not thy state by evil arts or means.

3. "Dwell in the land." Desert not thy station.

4. "And verily thou shalt be fed." Enjoy quietly what thou hast at present.

5. "Delight thyself in the Lord." Be pleased with his way.

6. "Commit thy way unto the Lord." Labour in an honest vocation, and leave the rest to him for "he will work for thee."

7. "Rest in the Lord." Acquiesce in his will and the dispensations of his providence wait patiently for him; his time is the best. And then he repeats his interdict: "Fret not thyself."

II. Then he resumes his former reason, mentioned Ps 37:2, and amplifies it by an antithesis, viz., that it shall be well with the good, ill with the wicked, Ps 37:9-11; and so it falls out for the most part, but not always; which is enough for temporal blessings.

1. "Evil doers shall be cut off, but those who wait on the Lord shall inherit the land."

2. "Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be," c.

To this he adds a second reason, taken from the providence of God: -

1. In protecting the righteous, and confounding their enemies.

2. In blessing the little they have in which he seems to remove a double objection: the first, about the tyranny of the wicked over the righteous; the second, that they are commonly in want and poverty.

The first temptation, by which many pious souls are troubled, is the power, the cruelty and the implacable hatred of wicked men: "The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him." To which the psalmist answers, "The Lord shall laugh at him; for he seeth that his day of punishment is coming." Yea, "but the wicked have drawn out their sword and bent their bow," which is beyond plotting and derision, "to cast down the poor, and slay such as are of an upright conversation." To which he answers, Be it so: "Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bow shall be broken."

The other temptation is beggary and poverty, than which nothing is more afflictive, The ungodly swim in wealth; but the godly are commonly poor, and therefore exposed to contempt; for poverty reckons up no reputable genealogy. To this he answers: "A little that the righteous hath is better than the riches of many wicked." Better, because used better; better, because possessed with contentment; better, because it has God's blessing upon it. And this he proves by many reasons: -

1. "For the arms of the wicked (their riches) shall be broken; but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. "

2. "The Lord knoweth the days (good or bad) of the upright." He loves them, and they are his care; and "their inheritance shall be for ever," firm and stable.

3. "They shall not be ashamed in the evil time," nor destitute, nor forsaken of necessaries; for "in the days of famine they shall be satisfied."

But with rich wicked men it is not so. Though they abound in wealth, yet they shall insensibly consume and perish, "as the fat of lambs," burnt upon the altar, "vanisheth into smoke and passeth away."

4. And yet there is another blessing on the good man's little: he has often over and above, and something to spare to give, whereas the wicked is a borrower, with this bad quality, that he payeth not again. "But the righteous showeth mercy, and giveth."

Of which he gives this reason: for "such as God blesseth shall possess the earth;" and "they that be cursed of him shall be cut off." They may have, but not enjoy, the goods of this life.

And thus much the psalmist proved by his own experience: "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread." His liberality was the cause of it; "He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed."

A third reason of God's protection is, that God upholds him: "The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord;" and should he by infirmity fall into error, or get into trouble or affliction, "he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand." He shall have his judgment corrected by God's teaching, and no disease shall be able to remove him till God's work be done in him, and by him.

In the rest of the Psalm he makes a repetition of all that went before: he repeats his chief rule, his promises, his comforts, and his threatenings.

He begins with this rule, Ps 37:3: "Depart from evil and do good, and dwell for evermore." In which he exhorts to obedience, and in both parts brings instances of repentance, mortification, and vivification, which he fortifies with a double reason, as before.

1. A promise to the godly: "For the Lord loveth righteousness; he forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever."

2. A threatening to the wicked: "But the seed Of the wicked shall be cut off." These two reasons he resumes, amplifies, and illustrates.

First, That of the righteous: "The righteous shall inherit the land," c. and that you may know whom he means by the righteous, he sets down his character.

1. He is one whose mouth speaks wisdom. He speaks reverently of God's justice and providence.

2. One whose mouth talks of judgment; i.e., of that only which is just and right.

3. "The law of God is in his heart;" not in his tongue alone, or in his brain.

4. "None of his steps shall slide." He keeps on his right way, and will not be seduced. Yet this righteous man has his enemies, Ps 37:13-15: "For the wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him."

But although he has his enemies, yet has he also his protector: "The Lord will not leave him in his hand," c. therefore "wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee. When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it."

Secondly, For they shall be cut off, as was said before, Ps 37:28; and this he knew from his own experience: "I have seen the wicked in great power, and flourishing like a green bay-tree; yet I passed by, and lo, he was gone; I sought him, but he could not be found."

And what he observed, others, if attentive and diligent, may observe also, both in respect of the righteous and the wicked. 1. For "mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace." 2. "But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off."

Should the cause be inquired why God does these things, it is added, that this sums up all the doctrine of the Psalm: -

1. "The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord; he will save them because they trust in him."

2. On the contrary, "the wicked shall be cut off and perish, because they trust not in him."

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

40. And the Lord helpeth them, and rescueth them:

He rescueth them from the wicked, and saveth them,

Because they have taken refuge in him (R.V.).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the Lord shall help them - He will interpose to defend them when they are in danger and in trouble.

And deliver them - Rescue them from their dangers, and from the power of the wicked.

He shall deliver them from the wicked - From all the attempts of the wicked to destroy them.

And save them - Or, preserve them. He will keep them to everlasting life.

Because they trust in him - They rely on him, and not on themselves. This verse is a summing up of the sentiments of the psalm, and is designed to confirm the main thought which runs through it, to wit, that we should not fret, or complain, or repine at the prosperity of wicked men, Psa 37:1. The reason ultimately assigned for this is, that whatever may be the danger of the righteous from the designs of wicked men, they will in the end be safe. It will go well with them, for the Lord will keep them. The general course of thought in the psalm is, that, whatever prosperity the wicked now have, it is temporary, for they will soon be cut off; and that whatever troubles now come upon the righteous, they too are temporary, and that their “hereafter” - “their futurity” - will be blessedness and peace. There is a moral government: God is the friend of the righteous; along the path of the present life there are proofs that he is so, and beyond the present life he will show himself to be so in their eternal peace.

He is the enemy of the wicked; there are evidences in the present life that he is so, and this will be fully and finally manifested in their destruction in the future world. The argument in the psalm, indeed, is mainly drawn from the “present life,” from what there is to encourage virtue and goodness in the blessings which religion scatters on earth, and by the peaceful termination of the course - as well as from what there is to discourage wickedness and vice, in the fact that the wicked will be cut down and pass away. The argument is, that if this life were all, there are encouragements here to virtue and goodness. In Ps. 73, which in some respects resembles this psalm, the argument which satisfied the mind of the troubled psalmist - troubled at the prosperity of the wicked - is drawn mainly from the future world. Here it is drawn chiefly from the present life; and the main thought here - the practical lesson from the psalm - is, that even with reference to the life that now is - to its security, to its peace, to its blessedness, and to its happy close - it is an advantage to be righteous. It is better to have God for our friend in life, and our support in death, than to have all the external prosperity of wicked men.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 40. And the Lord shall help them. In all future time Jehovah will stand up for his chosen. Our Great Ally will bring up his forces in the heat of the battle. He shall deliver them from the wicked. As he rescued Daniel from the lions, so will he preserve his beloved from their enemies; they need not therefore fret, nor be discouraged. And save them, because they trust in him. Faith shall ensure they safety of the elect. It is the mark of the sheep by which they shall be separated from the goats. Not their merit, but their believing, shall distinguish them. Who would not try the walk of faith? Whoever truly believes in God will be no longer fretful against the apparent irregularities of this present life, but will rest assured that what is mysterious is nevertheless just, and what seems hard, is, beyond a doubt, ordered in mercy. So the Psalm ends with a note which is the death knell of the unhallowed disquietude with which the Psalm commenced. Happy they who can thus sing themselves out of ill frames into gracious conditions.

Ver. 40. And the Lord shall help them. He shall, he shall, he shall. Oh, the rhetoric of God! the safety of the saints! the certainty of the promises! John Trapp.

Luther closes his Exposition of the Psalm with the words, Oh, shame on our faithlessness, mistrust, and vile unbelief, that we do not believe such rich, powerful, consolatory, declarations of God, and take up so readily with little grounds of offence, whenever we but hear the wicked speeches of the ungodly. Help. O God, that we may once attain to right faith. Amen.

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them; he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him. The ground of God"s favour towards the righteous, and the ground moreover of their righteousness itself (ver. 3), is their trust in him. Trusting in him, they have taken his Law for their rule of life, and made it their constant endeavour to serve and please him.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

trust

(See Scofield "Psa 2:12").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.