The LORD [is] good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
Ver. 7. The Lord is good] To Israel (though terrible to the Assyrians, as hath been plainly and plentifully set forth), to the pure in heart, Psalms 73:1, and he doth good, Psalms 119:68, to those that are good, that are upright in their hearts, Psalms 125:4. These shall taste and see that the Lord is good: these shall feelingly say, "Oh, blessed is the man that trusteth in him," Psalms 34:8, "Oh, praise the Lord, for he is good," &c.
A strong hold in the day of trouble] Praesidium, aut fortalitium, A strong fort or fortification, better than a tower of brass or town of war: "the righteous run thereinto and are safe," Proverbs 18:10. Hezekiah (for whose sake this is spoken) had the experience of it. He had a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: the children were come to the birth, and there was not strength to bring forth, Isaiah 37:3. To God, therefore, he runs in this doleful day of his, and had present help. And what though the gods of the nations had not delivered them; yet Hezekiah's God, in whom he trusted, did not deceive him, as Sennacherib said he would, Nahum 1:10; Nahum 1:12. He is the champion of his Church, and will be the strong hold of his people, when the heathen's tutelar gods and the Papists' patron saints will leave them in the lurch. England was sometime said to have a warlike George, but the Papists being offended with us (to do us, as they suppose, a mischief), have robbed us of our George, and left us God alone to be our champion: for which honour and favour all true English hearts are bound to thank them, and can merrily sing, as he did once, Contemno minutulos istos deos, mode Iovem propitium habeam, We care not for their he-saints or she-saints to shelter us, so that the great God will be good to us, a stronghold in the day of trouble.
And he knoweth them that trust in him] That hover and cover under his wings, as the chickens do under the hen's: for that is the force of the Hebrew word here used. Such as these God knoweth for his, 2 Timothy 2:19; he knoweth their soul in adversity, Psalms 31:7; he knoweth how to deliver them, as he did the righteous Lot, 2 Peter 2:9; then, when they know not what to do, as Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 20:12, yet if their eyes be toward him, their affiance in him, he will extricate and deliver them. So well pleased is he with those that trust in him (for that is meant here by his knowing of them, Psa 1:6 cf. Job 9:29 1Th 5:12), he taketh such complacence and delight in them Psalms 147:11; Psalms 33:18, and such continual care of them (as hath been proved by a universal experience, not one instance can be given to the contrary), that they shall be sure to have whatsoever heart can wish or need require, 2 Samuel 22:2,3, even miraculous lovingkindness from God in a strong city, Psalms 17:7; Psalms 31:21, so great as cannot be uttered, Psalms 31:19. This is for the comfort of God's Israel. But lest the wicked (as they are apt) should meddle with children's meat, which was never meant for them; lest Nineveh should please herself in a fond conceit of God's goodness to her also, and so turn it into wantonness, the prophet brings in a stinging "but" in the next words.