Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 31
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Psalms 31
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Psalms 31
"In thee, O Jehovah, do I take refuge; Let me never be put to shame: Deliver me in thy righteousness." — Psalms 31:1 (ASV)
The words of this verse are interesting as being the last words of Xavier, and as concluding the Te Deum.
Psalms 31:1–3 occurs again with slight variations in Psalm 71:1-3.
Let me never. —Literally, let me not forever be ashamed.
"Bow down thine ear unto me; deliver me speedily: Be thou to me a strong rock, A house of defence to save me." — Psalms 31:2 (ASV)
My strong rock. —Literally,
“You are to me for a rock of a stronghold,
For a house of fortresses to save me.”
"For thou art my rock and my fortress; Therefore for thy name`s sake lead me and guide me." — Psalms 31:3 (ASV)
Rock. — As rock in this verse is selâ (Septuagint and Vulgate, “strength”) instead of tsûr, as in Psalms 31:2, it is better to render for you are my cliff fortress; literally, cliff and fortress.
For your name’s sake — i.e., because you have this name of rock and fortress.
Lead me, and guide me. —The future is better:
You will lead and guide me.
To pray for protection and then stoutly affirm belief, as in Psalms 31:3, has been called illogical; but it is the logic of the heart if not of the intellect; the logic, it may be added, of every prayer of faith.
"Pluck me out of the net that they have laid privily for me; For thou art my stronghold." — Psalms 31:4 (ASV)
The net. — This image is a common one in the Psalms. (Compare to Psalms 10:9 and following).
Laid secretly. — Literally, hidden. Translate still with the future tense, you will pull me out.
"Into thy hand I commend my spirit: Thou hast redeemed me, O Jehovah, thou God of truth." — Psalms 31:5 (ASV)
I commit. —Most memorable, even among expressions of the Psalms, as the dying words of our Lord Himself (Luke 23:46), and a long line of Christian worthies. Polycarp, Bernard, Huss, Henry V., Jerome of Prague, Luther, Melancthon, are some of the many who have passed away comforted and upheld by the psalmist’s expression of trust. But death was not in his thought; it was in life, amid its troubles and dangers, that he trusted (Hebrew, deposited as a trust) his spirit (rûach, compare to Isaiah 38:16) to God. But the gift brought to the altar by the seer of old has been consecrated anew and yet anew.
Lord God of truth. —Compare to 2 Chronicles 15:3, where, as here, there is a contrast between Jehovah and idols; but also, as in Deuteronomy 32:4, the faithful God.
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