This also shall please the Lord, &c.— i.e. This is the most acceptable sacrifice which can be presented to him; and this shall be used by the Christian church, instead of the sacrifices of the law. The horns and hoofs are mentioned as being conspicuous in an ox going to be sacrificed; being probably gilded, and adorned with flowers, as among the Romans and other people.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, We have here, in the suffering son of Jesse, a lively figure of the suffering Son of God, of whom these things are chiefly spoken. He pours out his complaints to God, and they are many and grievous. Troubles, deep as the swelling flood, compassed him, and he was ready to sink under them; exhausted with strong crying and tears, and failing because no help appeared. Hated, persecuted by many and mighty foes, and cruelly as wrongfully: his dearest friends were afraid to own him, lest they should be involved with him in ruin: his zeal for God exasperated his enemies, and brought upon him a load of reproaches and infamy: and when he was engaged in the holy exercises of religion, they ridiculed his humiliations: the great, who sat in the gate, maligned and abused him; and the drunkards, in their midnight revels, made him the subject of their sport and songs. And herein he was,
1. A type of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose soul in the garden, deluged with anguish, seemed as if weighed down with the insupportable load, and the humanity unable to support it: with strong crying and tears he then made supplication to God, and on the cross with bitterness lamented the divine dereliction: though sinless and harmless, he paid the debt of sin that he had never contracted, and satisfied that justice which he had never injured: yet did those sinners, whose guilt he bore, persecute him with ceaseless hatred: fixed on his destruction, they suborned false witnesses against him, to take away his life: he was disowned by every friend; betrayed by one disciple; denied by another; forsaken of all: loaded with the most malignant reproaches by his enemies; his tears over them, and his efforts to save them, despised and rejected; insulted, with the most unrelenting cruelty, by the meanest as well as greatest; by governor, priests, elders, soldiers: his miracles imputed to diabolical agency; and his importunate cries upon the cross mocked and ridiculed.
2. Of believers, whose trials are often severe, and help often long delayed; whose souls are ready to faint; the objects of the world's malice and scorn; forsaken and given up by their once dearest friends and relations; treated as mad, and derided as foolish; opposed by the great, and often literally still the drunkard's song. But through much tribulation we must thus enter into the kingdom of God, through evil report and good report; and, while we carry our griefs to a compassionate Redeemer, must patiently expect the salvation of God.
2nd, While we have a gracious God to fly to, we need not be concerned about the malicious reproaches of the proud.
David, oppressed, has recourse to God for deliverance from his dangers, that his enemies might not prevail, nor his soul sink under his troubles. And he enforces his requests, (1.) By the acceptableness of the time: never could relief come so welcome, as when he is reduced so low. (2.) By the multitude of God's mercies, which now would be especially manifested. (3.) By his truth, his faithfulness being engaged for the answer of humble and fervent prayer. (4.) By the views of his great trouble, which God well knew; the shame, reproach, and dishonour that he endured for his sake, which required speedy help, and the comforts of his countenance, that he might not be discouraged. (5.) By the desolateness of his estate: all other friends have forsaken him, therefore the more needs he God to appear for him. (6.) By the insolence and cruelty with which he was treated, which he knew God would not behold with unconcern.
Such requests, in the days of his flesh, the Son of David made. God knew what sufferings he endured; what trouble and reproach he bore from foes without; what anguish, from the withdrawing of his sensible favour; how exceeding sorrowful, and how heavily his soul was burdened; no friend to pity or relieve; in his enemies' hands, ready to be swallowed up; the pit of the grave opening; death, with all its horrors, the death of the cross, approaching; and even when in his agonizing pangs extended on the tree, there insulted with vinegar mingled with gall, to mock his raging thirst. In his distress he prayed, and pleaded the multitude of his Father's mercies, and his truth engaged for the fulfilment of his promises. He begged to behold the light of his Father's countenance, which was hid from him; to be supported and carried through his work of redemption; that those who hated him, Satan and his servants, might be disappointed, and the grave unable to keep him prisoner: that he might be delivered from all his enemies, redeemed from death and hell, and finally victorious: and God abundantly answered his prayers in the resurrection-day, when all his reproach and sorrow were for ever rolled away, and his glory great as his sufferings had been.
Such also must be our recourse in our distresses, such our pleas, and such then assuredly will be the deliverance that we may expect from all our enemies.
3rdly, We have a prophetical denunciation of God's righteous judgments against the Jews; and we see them this day lying under his curse, and, in the fulfilment of the prophesy, standing evidences for the truth of the Christian religion. We have here,
1. The judgments denounced. (1.) Their comforts should ensnare them; or the sacrifices, part of which belonged to the offerer, to which they so obstinately adhered, in opposition to the true sacrifice of the Redeemer, whom they rejected; these should be made the means of hardening them against him, instead of leading them to him, as we see they were. (2.) They should be given up to judicial blindness, rejecting the clearest declarations of their own prophets. (3.) They should be in continual terrors, or bow down their backs always, as the apostle renders the words, Romans 11:10 which was not only the case when the Romans came and besieged Jerusalem, and made such a dreadful massacre; but to this day, they are aliens in almost all lands: and almost every where have been more or less harassed and plundered, and are still exposed to the same sufferings; not to speak of their horrors, when they shall see him whom they have pierced, coming in the clouds of heaven. (4.) They should feel the severity of his wrath, which they eminently did when their city and country were utterly destroyed and the land ploughed up; so that for a while none dwelt there; and to this day these desolations in a great measure continue, very few Jews being now found in the whole land of Palestine, and these miserably oppressed by the Turkish governors. (5.) They should add sin to sin; having crucified the Master, they would persecute the disciples, and, instead of being convinced by all that they suffered, would continue hardened and inveterate as ever. And, lastly, that their name should be blotted out from the living, as was literally in a great measure, fulfilled, when the Romans slew such vast numbers, that they seemed to threaten an entire excision of the whole Jewish race; and spiritually is accomplished in their exclusion from the blessings of the gospel, till they be again recalled, previous to the establishment of the universal reign of Christ.
2. The cause of these judgments is mentioned: their persecutions of Jesus, whom they esteemed stricken and smitten of God; and whom they with wicked hands crucified and slew; and, insatiate in their rage against his cause, contrived every method to insult God's wounded ones, as the word signifies, those who suffered for their fidelity to Jesus. Note; It is doubly cruel to grieve those already weighed down with sufferings; but diabolical malice sports at misery.
3. The Psalmist, in the person of the Redeemer, commends himself to God. But I am poor; in his humiliation for our sakes he became poor; so poor that he had not a place to lay his head; and sorrowful: from the cradle to the grave, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: sorrows, like unto which were no sorrows. Let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high, or, thy salvation shall set me up on high. Either it is a prayer for, or his confident expectation of, the glory which should follow after his sufferings, when by death having overcome every enemy, he should arise, ascend, and reign on his eternal throne. Note; The poor and sorrowful believer may be comforted. If we have been planted with Jesus in the likeness of his sufferings and death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.
4thly, David in the prospect of this salvation of the Redeemer and his faithful people, triumphs, and calls on heaven and earth to join his praises.
1. He declares his own purpose to exalt and magnify God's holy name, and is assured that these grateful songs will please him beyond the most expensive sacrifices. These are all now abolished by the offering of the body of Jesus once for all; but the sacrifice of praise, with which God is well-pleased, will never cease being offered in earth and heaven for redeeming love. So cheap yet so acceptable a sacrifice then who will grudge?
2. The faithful people of God shall rejoice in beholding his salvation, manifest in the resurrection of Jesus. They will be encouraged now to seek God, because since he lives, they shall live also. Though in general poor in this world, and prisoners for Christ, God will not despise their prayer; he will hear their cry, and will help them. Note; As long as we have a heart to pray, we shall always have cause to rejoice.
3. He calls upon all men, and angels, yea, and every creature that moveth through the paths of the water, to praise God with him for his glorious salvation. His Zion shall be protected; his church, and the cities of Judah, the different assemblies of the faithful, be built up. The faithful seed shall inherit a portion in God's holy mountain, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; and they that love his name, his person, his worship, his word, his ways, shall dwell therein, as at present the children of God's family, and shortly to possess the enduring mansions in the skies, where, with Jesus, their exalted head, they shall take up their glorious and eternal abode. Well do such inspiring hopes demand our warmest praise!