Psalms (Vol. 1)

by Charles H. Spurgeon, Alister McGrath (Editor), J. I. Packer (Editor), J. I. Packer (Introduction)

Overview

For hundreds of years Christendom has been blessed with Bible commentaries written by great men of God highly respected for their godly walk and their insight into spiritual truth. The Crossway Classic Commentaries present the very best work on individual Bible books, carefully adapted for maximum understanding and usefulness for today's believers.

This book and its companion volume share the practical encouragement from a favorite Bible book. Charles H. Spurgeon spent twenty years compiling his seven-volume exposition of Psalms, which Crossway has carefully edited for the modern reader.

In the words of Spurgeon in his Preface: "None but the Holy Spirit can give a man the key to the Treasury of David; and even he gives it rather to experience than to study. Happy he who for himself knows the secret of the Psalms.... In these busy days, it would be greatly to the spiritual profit of Christians if they were more familiar with the Book of Psalms, in which they would find a complete armory for life's battles, and a perfect supply for life's needs."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781433532146
Publisher:	Crossway
Publication date:	11/19/1993
Series:	Crossway Classic Commentaries , #3
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	366
File size:	898 KB

About the Author

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834–1892) was an English Baptist pastor at New Park Street Chapel, London (which later became the Metropolitan Tabernacle), for thirty-eight years. As the nineteenth century's most prolific preacher and writer, his ministry legacy continues today. 

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834–1892) was an English Baptist pastor at New Park Street Chapel, London (which later became the Metropolitan Tabernacle), for thirty-eight years. As the nineteenth century's most prolific preacher and writer, his ministry legacy continues today. 

  Alister McGrath (PhD, University of Oxford) is the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford, president of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, and senior research fellow at Harris Manchester College in Oxford. He is also a noted author and coeditor of Crossway's Classic Commentaries series. 

J. I. Packer (1926–2020) served as the Board of Governors’ Professor of Theology at Regent College. He authored numerous books, including the classic bestseller Knowing God. Packer also served as general editor for the English Standard Version Bible and as theological editor for the ESV Study Bible.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Expositions

Psalm 1

1. Blessed. See how this Book of Psalms opens with a benediction, as did the famous Sermon of our Lord on the Mount! The word translated blessed is plural, and it is a controverted matter whether it is an adjective or a substantive. Hence we may learn the multiplicity of the blessings which will rest on those whom God has justified, and the perfection and greatness of the blessedness they will enjoy. We might read it, "Oh, the blessednesses!" and we may well regard it (as Ainsworth does) as a joyful acclamation of the gracious man's felicity. May the like benediction rest on us!

Here the gracious man is described both negatively (verse 1) and positively (verse 2). He is a manwho does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. He takes wiser counsel, and walks in the commandments of the Lord his God. To him the ways of piety are paths of peace and pleasantness. His footsteps are ordered by the Word of God, and not by the cunning and wicked devices of carnal men. It is a rich sign of inward grace when the outward walk is changed, and when ungodliness is put far from our actions. Note next, he standeth not in the way of sinners. His company is of a choicer sort than it was. Although a sinner himself, he is now a blood-washed sinner, quickened by the Holy Spirit, and renewed in heart. Standing by the rich grace of God in the congregation of the righteous, he dares not herd with the multitude who do evil. Again it is said, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.He finds no rest in the atheist's scoffings. Let others make a mock of sin, of eternity, of hell and heaven, and of the Eternal God; this man has learnt better philosophy than that of the infidel, and has too much sense of God's presence to endure to hear his name blasphemed. The seat of the scorner may be very lofty, but it is very near to the gate of hell; let us flee from it, for it will soon be empty, and destruction will swallow up the man who sits therein. Mark the gradation in the first verse:

He walketh not in the co unsel of the ungodly,
Nor standeth in the way of sinners,
Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

When people are living in sin they go from bad to wrose. At first they merely walk in the counsel of the careless and ungodly, who forget God - the evil is rather practical than habitual - but after that they become habituated to evil, and they stand in the way of open sinners who willfully violate God's commandments; and if let alone, they go one step further, and become themselves pestilent teachers and tempters of others, and thus they sitin the seat of the scornful. They have taken their degree in vice, and as true Doctors of Damnation they are installed, and are looked up to by others as Masters in Belial. But the blessed man, the man to whom all the blessings of God belong, can hold no communion with such characters as these. He keeps himself pure from these lepers; he puts away evil things from him as garments spotted by the flesh; he comes out from among the wicked, and goes outside the camp, bearing the reproach of Christ. O for grace to be thus separate from sinners.

2. And now mark his positive character. His delight is the the law of the Lord. He is not under the law as a curse and condemnation, but he is in it, and he delights to be in it as his rule of life; he delights, moreover, to meditate in it, to read it by day and think upon it by night. He takes a text and carries it with him all day long; and in the night-watches, when sleep forsakes his eyelids, he muses upon the Word of God. In the day of his prosperity he sings psalms out of the Word of God, and in the night of his affliction he comforts himself with promises out of the same book. The law of the Lord is the daily bread of the true believer. And yet, in David's day, how small was the volume of inspiration, for they had scarcely anything save the first five books of Moses! How much more, then, should we prize the whole written Word which it is our privilege to have in all our houses! But, alas, what ill-treatment is given to this angel from heaven! We are not all Berean searchers of the Scriptures. How few among us can lay claim to the benediction of the text! Perhaps some of you can claim a sort of negative purity, because you do not walk in the way of the ungodly; but let me ask you - Is your delight in the law of God? Do you study God's Word? Do you make it the man of your right hand - your best companion and hourly guide? If not, this blessing does not belong to you.

3. And he shall be like a tree planted. Not a wild tree, but one planted, chosen, considered as property, cultivated and secured from the last terrible uprooting (see Matthew 15:13). By the rivers of water. Even if one river should fail, he has another. The rivers of pardon and the rivers of grace, the rivers of the promise and the rivers of communion with Christ, are never-failing sources of supply. That bringeth forth his fruit in his season. Not unseasonable graces, like untimely figs, which are never full-flavored. But the man who delights in God's Word, being taught by it, brings forth patience in the time of suffering, faith in the day of trial, and holy joy in the hour of prosperity. Fruit-fulness is an essential quality of a gracious man, and that fruitfulness should be seasonable. His leaf also shall not wither. His faintest word will be everlasting; his little deeds of love will be remembered. Not only will his fruit be preserved, but his leaf also. He will neither lose his beauty nor his fruitfulness, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Blessed is the man who has such a promise as this. But we must not always estimate the fulfillment of a promise by our own eye-sight. How often, my brethren, if we judge by feeble sense, may we come to the mournful conclusion of Jacob, "All these things are against me!" For though we know our interest in the promise, yet are we so tried and troubled that sight sees the very reverse of what that promise foretells. But to the eye of faith this word is sure, and by it we perceive that our works are prospered, even when everything seems to go against us. It is not outward prosperity which the Christian most desires and values; it is soul prosperity which he longs for. We often, like Jehoshaphat, make ships go to Tarshish for gold, but they are broken at Ezion-geber; but even here there is a true prospering, for it is often for the soul's health that we should be poor, bereaved, and persecuted. Our worst things are often our best things. As there is a curse wrapped up in the wicked man's mercies, so there is a blessing concealed in the righteous man's crosses, losses, and sorrows. The trials of the saint are a divine husbandry, by which he grows and brings forth abundant fruit.

4. We have now come to the second head of the psalm. In this verse the contrast of the bad state of the wicked is employed to heighten the coloring of that fair and pleasant picture which precedes it. The more forcible translation of the Latin and Greek versions is, "Not so the ungodly, not so." And we are hereby to understand that whatever good thing is said of the righteous is not true in the case of the ungodly. Oh, how terrible it is to have a double negative put upon the promises! And yet this is just the condition of the ungodly. Mark the use of the term ungodly, for, as we have seen in the opening of the psalm, these are the beginners in evil, and are the least offensive of sinners. Oh, if such is the sad state of those who quietly continue in their morality, and neglect their God, what must be the condition of open sinners and shameless unbelievers? The first sentence is a negative description of the ungodly, and the second is the positive picture. Here is their character- they are like chaff, intrinsically worthless, dead, unserviceable, without substance, and easily carried away. Here, also, mark their doom — the wind driveth away; death will hurry them with its terrible blast into the fire in which they will be utterly consumed.

5. The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment. They will stand there to be judged, but not to be acquitted. Fear will lay hold upon them there; they will not stand their ground; they will flee away; they will not stand there in their own defense; for they will bush and be covered with eternal contempt.

Well may the saints long for heaven, for no evil men will dwell there, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. All our congregations on earth are mixed. Every church has one devil in it. The tares grow in the same furrows as the wheat. There is no floor which is as yet thoroughly purged from chaff. Sinners mix with saints, as dross mingles with gold. God's precious diamonds still lie in the same field with pebbles. Righteous Lots are this side of heaven continually vexed by the men of Sodom. Let us rejoice, then, that in "the general assembly and church of the firstborn" above, there shall by no means be admitted a single unrenewed soul. Sinners cannot live in heaven. They would be out of their element. Sooner could a fish live upon a tree than the wicked in Paradise. Heaven would be an intolerable hell to an impenitent man, even if he could be allowed to enter; but such a privilege will never be granted to the man who perseveres in his iniquities. May God grant that we may have a name and a place in his courts above!

6. The Hebrew puts this verse yet more fully: "The Lord is knowing the way of the righteous." He is constantly looking on their way, and though it may be often in mist and darkness, yet the Lord knows it. If it be in the clouds and tempest of affliction, he understands it. He numbers the hairs of our head; he will not let any evil come to us (see Job 23:10). But the way of the ungodly shall perish. Not only will they perish themselves, but their way will perish too. The righteous carves his name upon the rock, but the wicked writes his remembrance in the sand. The righteous man plows the furrows of earth, and sows a harvest here which will never be fully reaped till he enters the enjoyments of eternity; but as for the wicked, he plows the sea, and though there may seem to be a shining trail beghind his keel, yet the waves will pass over it, and the place that knew him will know him no more forever. The very way of the ungodly will perish. If it exist in remembrance, it will be in the remembrance of the bad; for the Lord will cause the name of the wicked to rot, to become a stench in the nostrils of the good, and to be only known to the wicked themselves by its putridity.

May the Lord cleanse our hearts and our ways, that we may escape the doom of the ungodly, and enjoy the blessedness of the righteous!

Psalm 2

1-3. We have in these verses a description of the hatred of human nature against the Christ of God. No better comment is needed upon it than the apostolic song in Acts 4:27-28.

1. The psalm begins abruptly with an angry interrogation; and well it may: it is surely little to be wondered at that the sight of creatures in arms against their God should amaze the psalmist's mind. We see the heathen rage, roaring like the sea, tossed to and fro with restless waves, as the ocean in a storm; and then we mark the people in their hearts imagine a vain thing against God. Where there is much rage there is generally some folly, and in this case there is an excess of it. Note that the commotion is not caused by the people only, but their leaders foment the rebellion.

2. The kings of the earth set themselves. In determined malice they arrayed themselves in opposition against God. It was not temporary rage, but deep-seated hate, for they set themselves resolutely to withstand the Prince of Peace. And the rulers take counsel together. They go about their warfare craftily, not with foolish haste but deliberately. They use all the skill which artifice can give. Like Pharaoh, they cry, "Let us deal wisely with them." O that men were half as careful in God's service to serve him wisely, as his enemies are to attack his kingdom craftily. Sinners have their wits about them, and yet saints are dull. But what say they? What is the meaning of this commotion?

3. Let us break their bands asunder. "Let us be free to commit all manner of abominations. Let us be our own gods. Let us rid ourselves of all restraint." Gathering impudence by the traitorous proposition of rebellion, they add let us cast away as if it were an easy matter - "let us fling off their cords from us." What! O ye kings, do ye think think yourselves Samsons? Are the bands of Omnipotence like green twigs before you? Do you dream that you will snap to pieces and destroy the mandates of God - the decrees of the Most High -as if they were but threads? And do you say, "Let us cast away their cords from us"? Yes! There are monarchs who have spoken thus, and there are still rebels on thrones. However mad the resolution to revolt from God, it is one in which man has persevered ever since his creation, and he continues in it to this very day. The glorious reign of Jesus in the latter day will not be consummated until a terrible struggle has convulsed the nations. His coming will be as a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap, and the day thereof shall burn as an oven. Earth loves not her rightful monarch, but clings to the usurper's sway: the terrible conflicts of the last days will illustrate both the world's love of sin and Jehovah's power to give the kingdom to his only begotten. To a graceless neck the yoke of Christ is intolerable, but to the saved sinner it is easy and light. We may judge ourselves by this: do we love that yoke, or do we wish to cast it off?

4. Let us now turn our eyes from the wicked council-chamber and raging tumult of man, to the secret place of the majesty of the Most High. What does God say? What will the King do to those who reject his only-begotten Son, the Heir of all things?

Mark the quiet dignity of the Omnipotent, and the contempt which he pours on the princes an i their raging people. He has not taken the trouble to rise up and do battle wit l them - he despises them, and therefore laughs at them.

5. After he has laughed he will speak; he does not need to smite; the breath of his lips is enough. At the moment when their power is at its height, and their fury most violent, then shall his Word go forth against them. And what is it that he says? It is a very galling sentence.

6. Yet Despite your malice, despite your tumultuous gatherings, despite the wisdom of your counsels, despite the craft of your lawgivers, I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Is not that a grand exclamation! He has already done that which the enemy seeks to prevent. While they are proposing, he has disposed the matter. Jehovah's will is done, and man's will frets and raves in vain. God's Anointed is appointed, and shall not be disappointed. Look back through all the ages of infidelity, hearken to the high and hard things which people have spoken against the Most High, listen to the rolling thunder of earth's volleys against the Majesty of heaven, and then think that God is saying all the while, Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Yet Jesus reigns, yet he sees of the travail of his soul, and "his suffering kingdom shall yet come" when he takes to himself his great power, and reigns from the river to the ends of the earth. Even now he reigns in Zion, and our glad lips sound the praises of the Prince of Peace. Greater conflicts may be here foretold, but we may be confident that victory will be given to our Lord and King. Glorious triumphs are yet to come; hasten them, we pray thee, O Lord! It is Zion's glory and her joy that her King is in her, guarding her from foes and filling her with good things. Jesus sits upon the throne of grace, and the throne of power in the midst of his church. In him is Zion's best safeguard; let her citizens be glad in him.

7-9. This psalm wears something of a dramatic form, for now another person is introduced as speaking. We have looked into the council-chamber of the wicked, and to the throne of God, and now we behold the Anointed declaring his rights of sovereignty, and warning the traitors of their doom.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Psalms Volume I"
by .
Copyright © 1993 Watermark.
Excerpted by permission of Good News Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Volume 1,
Series Preface, ix,
Introduction, xi,
Preface, xii,
Expositions:,
Psalm 1, 1,
Psalm 2, 4,
Psalm 3, 8,
Psalm 4, 11,
Psalm 5, 14,
Psalm 6, 17,
Psalm 7, 20,
Psalm 8, 23,
Psalm 9, 25,
Psalm 10, 28,
Psalm 11, 31,
Psalm 12, 33,
Psalm 13, 35,
Psalm 14, 37,
Psalm 15, 41,
Psalm 16, 43,
Psalm 17, 48,
Psalm 18, 53,
Psalm 19, 65,
Psalm 20, 71,
Psalm 21, 74,
Psalm 22, 78,
Psalm 23, 88,
Psalm 24, 91,
Psalm 25, 95,
Psalm 26, 101,
Psalm 27, 104,
Psalm 28, 108,
Psalm 29, 111,
Psalm 30, 113,
Psalm 31, 116,
Psalm 32, 123,
Psalm 33, 127,
Psalm 34, 131,
Psalm 35, 135,
Psalm 36, 141,
Psalm 37, 144,
Psalm 38, 153,
Psalm 39, 158,
Psalm 40, 162,
Psalm 41, 168,
Psalm 42, 173,
Psalm 43, 178,
Psalm 44, 180,
Psalm 45, 186,
Psalm 46, 192,
Psalm 47, 195,
Psalm 48, 197,
Psalm 49, 201,
Psalm 50, 205,
Psalm 51, 210,
Psalm 52, 215,
Psalm 53, 217,
Psalm 54, 219,
Psalm 55, 221,
Psalm 56, 227,
Psalm 57, 231,
Psalm 58, 234,
Psalm 59, 237,
Psalm 60, 242,
Psalm 61, 247,
Psalm 62, 250,
Psalm 63, 255,
Psalm 64, 258,
Psalm 65, 261,
Psalm 66, 266,
Psalm 67, 271,
Psalm 68, 273,
Psalm 69, 283,
Psalm 70, 293,
Psalm 71, 295,
Psalm 72, 300,
Psalm 73, 305,
Psalm 74, 312,
Psalm 75, 319,
Psalm 76, 321,
Psalm 77, 323,
Psalm 78, 328,
Psalm 79, 344,
Psalm 80, 347,
Psalm 81, 351,
Psalm 82, 355,
Psalm 83, 356,
Psalm 84, 359,
Psalm 85, 363,