John Gill Commentary Psalms 60

O God, you have cast us off
What is said in this verse, and (Psalms 60:2Psalms 60:3), are by some applied to times past; to the distress of the people Israel by their neighbours in the times of the judges; to their being smitten by the Philistines, in the times of Eli and Samuel; and to the victory they obtained over them, when Saul and his sons were slain; and to the civil wars between the house of Saul and David; but rather the whole belongs to future times, which David, by a prophetic spirit, was led to on the occasion of the victory obtained, when before this the nation had been in bad circumstances.

This refers to the casting off of the Jews as a church and nation, when they had rejected the Messiah and killed him, persecuted his apostles, and despised his Gospel; of which see (Romans 11:15Romans 11:19–21);

you have scattered us ;
as they were by the Romans among the various nations of the world, and among whom they are dispersed to this day; or "you have broken us" ^F11 , as in (Psalms 80:12); not only the walls of their city were broken by the battering rams of the Romans, but their commonwealth, their civil state, were broke to pieces by them.

Jarchi applies this to the Romans; his note is this; ``when Edom fell by his hand (David's), he foresaw, by the Holy Ghost, that the Romans would rule over Israel, and decree hard decrees concerning them;''

you have been displeased ;
not only with their immorality and profaneness, with their hypocrisy and insincerity, with their will worship and superstition, and the observance of the traditions of their elders; but also with their rejection of the Messiah, and contempt of his Gospel and ordinances;

O turn yourself to us again ;
which prayer will be made by them, when they shall become sensible of their sins, and of their state and condition, and shall turn unto the Lord; and when he will turn himself to them, and turn away iniquity from them, and all Israel shall be saved, (Romans 11:25Romans 11:26); or "you will return unto us" ^F12 ; who before were cast off, broken, and he was displeased with; or others to us.

FOOTNOTES:

• F11: (wnturp) "rupisti nos", Montanus, Michaelis; "disrupisti", Gejerus; so Ainsworth.
• F12: (wnl bbwvt) "reverteris ad nos", Pagninus, Montanus; "reduces ad nos", Gussetius, p. 836.

You have made the earth to tremble; you have broken it
As is frequently done by an earthquake; which, whatever natural causes there may be of it, is always to be ascribed to God. The ancient Heathens ^F13 were of opinion that all earthquakes were of God. This respects not the whole earth, but the land of Israel only; and so the Targum,

you have moved the land of Israel, you have shaken and rent it;'' and it does not design a natural earthquake in it, but a figurative one; a shaking and rending of their civil and church state; see (Hebrews 12:26Hebrews 12:27);

heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh ;
which will be done in the latter day, when they shall return into their own land, and be restored as at the beginning, (Isaiah 30:30) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F13: A. Gell. Noct. Attic. l. 2. c. 28.

You have showed your people hard things
As to have their city and temple burial, multitudes of them slain, and the rest carried captive, and put into the hands of cruel lords and hard masters, and made a proverb, a taunt, and a curse, in all places; and all this done to a people that were the Lord's by profession, who called themselves so, though now a "loammi", (Hosea 1:9) ;

and these were hard things to flesh and blood, yet no other than what they deserved;

you have made us to drink the wine of astonishment ;
or "of trembling" {n}, (Isaiah 51:17) ; that is, to endure such troubles as made them tremble, and astonished and stupefied them; took away their senses, and made them unfit for anything, being smitten with madness, blindness, and astonishment of heart, as is threatened them, (Deuteronomy 28:28) ; see (Romans 11:7Romans 11:8) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F14: (hlert) "tremoris", Musculus, Vatablus, Amama; "trepidationis", Michaelis; "horroris", Gejerus.

You have given a banner
The word (on) is, by Jarchi, taken to signify "temptation" or "trial" ^F15 ; and he interprets it of many troubles which they had, that they might be tried by them, whether they would stand in the fear of God, and so considers these words as a continuation of the account of the distresses of the people of Israel; but they are rather to be considered as declaring a peculiar blessing and favour bestowed upon some among them, who are here described, when the rest were involved in the greatest calamities, signified by a "banner" or "ensign" given them; by which is meant, not so much David literally, and the victory he obtained over the Syrians and Edomites, of which the banner displayed might be a token; but the Messiah, who is said to be given for a banner, or set up as an ensign for the people, (Isaiah 11:10) ; for the gathering of them to him, to prepare them for war, and animate them to fight the good fight of faith, and oppose every enemy; to direct where they should stand to be on duty, where they should go, and whom they should follow; and is expressive of the victory over sin, Satan, and the world, they have through him: and this is given

to them that fear you ;
who have the grace of fear put into their hearts; who fear the Lord and his goodness, and serve him with reverence and godly fear; who worship him both inwardly and outwardly, in spirit and in truth, whether among Jews or Gentiles, though the former may be chiefly intended; such as old Simeon, Anna the prophetess, and others, to whom Christ was made known; and especially the apostles of Christ, and those to whom their ministry became useful; whose business it was to display this banner, set up this ensign, and hold out this flag; as it follows:

that it may be displayed because of the truth ;
not because of the truth of Abraham, as the Targum; nor because of the truth, sincerity, and uprightness, of those that fear the Lord; but because of his own truth and faithfulness in the performance of his promises made concerning the displaying of this banner; or the sending of his son into the world, and the preaching of his Gospel in it; see (Romans 15:8) .

Selah; on this word, (See Gill on Psalms 3:2).

FOOTNOTES:

• F15: So Yalkut Simconi in loc. par. 2. fol. 103. 1.

That your beloved may be delivered
Some think that these words express the effect or end of the banner being displayed; but because of the word "Selah" at the end of (Psalms 60:4) , which makes so full a stop; rather they are to be considered in construction with the following clause. By the Lord's "beloved" ones are meant, not so much the people of Israel, who were loved and chosen by the Lord above all people on the face of the earth, as the elect of God, both among Jews and Gentiles, who are the chosen of God, and precious, and are loved of him with a free, sovereign, everlasting, and unchangeable love: these are the beloved of Father, Son, and Spirit; who, falling into a state of condemnation and death in Adam, and being under the power of sin, and involved in the guilt and faith of it; and being fallen into the hands of many enemies, sin, Satan, and the world; stood in need of deliverance out of all this, which they could not work out of themselves, nor any creature for them; wherefore, that they might be delivered, the following request is made;^F16

save [with] your right hand ;
from sin, the cause of damnation; from the law, which threatens with condemnation and death; from Satan, that would devour and destroy; and from all their enemies; from wrath to come, from hell and the second death; or from going down to the pit of corruption. The persons for whom this petition is put up are not only David himself, but all the beloved ones; and these God has appointed unto salvation; Christ is the Saviour of them, and to them salvation is applied in due time by the Spirit, and in a little while they will be in the full possession of it: and this is wrought out by the "right hand" of the Lord; either by his mighty power, the saving strength of his right hand, who is mighty to save; or by his Son, the man of his right hand, made strong for himself, who able to save to the uttermost; and by whom God has determined to save, and does save all his people; or the words may be rendered, "save your right hand, [your] Benjamins"

and hear me ;
in so doing, he suggests he would hear and answer him his prayers would be ended and accomplished; this being the sum of them, his own salvation, and the salvation of the Lord's beloved ones. The "Cetib", or writing of this clause, is, "hear us"; the "Keri", or reading of it, "hear me".

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: (Knymy heyvwh) . who are as near and dear to you as your right hand, being his mystical self, to whom salvation is brought by him, (Isaiah 63:1Isaiah 63:5) ;