I. SUPPRESSED EMOTIONS (1-3). Confession of inward strivings. I. The Resolve (1). 2. The Results (2""'.3). II. STRONG ENTREATY (4-5). .Supplication for greater enlightenment. I. The Prayer (4). 2. The Plea (5 ). The Vanity of Man. His Fleeting Days. Selah. III. SOLEMN EMPHASIS ( 6). Assertion of sober facts. The Folly and Futility Man's Efforts. IV. STRONG ENTREATY (7-8). Supplication for complete deliverance. I. The Profession (7). 2. The Prayer (8). Positive and negative petitions. V. SIGNIFICANT EXPLANATION (9). Manifestation of becoming humility.
VI. STRONG ENTREATY (10-n). Supplication for speedy relief. r. The Prayer (10). 2. The Plea (n). The Vanity of Mm,. His Fnlli11g Delights (R.V.m.). Selah. VII. SOULFUL ENDING (12-13). Conclusion in tearful importunity. I. The Prayer (12a). 2. The Plea (12b). 3. The Prayer (13). SUPERSCRIPT.-A psalm of David. SUBSCRIPT.-For the Chief Musician. PRIMAR:Y AssocIATION.-Written by David possibly during the period of Absalom's rebellion. It is a sequel to xxxviii. and related to lxii. with many parallels also in the Book of Job. Said to be the most beautiful elegy in the P$alter. David speaks throughout as one failing in strength and perplexed by the mystery of the continued impunity o( ungodly n1en, as Shimei, Joab, .etc. For this reason some assign the psalm to the time of Adonijah' s revolt. PROPHETIC .ANTICIPATION.-Prophetically belongs to the same period as the preceding psalms; the godly remnant still seen in deep exercise of soul. PERSONAL APPLICATION.-Keep ward and watch over words and works (1). It is better to be absolutely silent than to say the wrong thing (1-2). Our days have a measure, therefore let us measure our days (4). Suppressed feelings feed the :fire (3). We are frail but do we face the facts? (4) Human life and earthly treasures are fleeting (6). Man's only sure stay is in God (4-7). Human frailty should drive us and divine faithfulness draw us into the loving arms of God (7). There is hope for one whose hope is in God (7). Sin is the sole cause of the frailty of human existence and the futility of human efforts (8). It is only ·the foolish who regard the sufferings of the godly as a mark of God's wrath (8). The Christian, too, is a stranger and sojourner (12); c£ 1 Peter ii. 11. Only by" looking away" from the sinner and "looking upon" the face of the Saviour can a holy God regard man with favour, lxxxiv. 9. VERSE NOTES I. C£ xxxviii. 13-14 and note marg. He would avoid complaining while waiting for God to "cut off" the wicked. 2. I.e. he kept absolute silence, but the suppressing of his emotions aggravated his sufferings, cf. xxxii. 3 .
stro e, s. .w., XXXVlll. II. II. (a) c£ xxxviii. I; (b) As the larva of the clothes moth destroys the beauty of garments, so easily does God's chastening destroy all that in which man prides himsel£ (c) "Nought but vanity are all men," c£ lxii. 9; "surely" represents the Hebrew particle" ak" characteristic of this psalm and bcx. It occurs here four times in the sense of "only," or "nought but.' 12. Israelites were taught to regard themselves as strangers and sojourners in the land of promise, which belonged to Jehovah Himself, Lev. xxv. 23. Thus as a stranger (or guest) he pkads clemency according to the rule, Exod. xxii. 21, etc.; c£ David's words recorded I Chron. xxix. 15. In passing, it may be pointed out that man generally is but a temporary tenant in the earth which is Ùe Lord's, cxix. 19. 13. Br. as margin,. i.e. avert Thy frowning countenance. Book One. III. Record of the Divine Redeemer, xvi.-xli. 3. The Redeemer. The Saviour and Sinners, xl.-xli. These two psalms stand in emphatic contrast to one another. In the former we see the heart of Christ, the Saviour; in the latter, the heart of men, saints and sinners (again a contrast).
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