The Book of Psalms
Psalm 63
Psalm LXIII · Vol. II, pp. 1026–1027
1 David's thirst after God. 4 His manner of blessing God. 9 His confidence of his enemies' destruction, and of his own rejoicing.
A psalm of David, awhen he was in the wilderness of Judah.
1 O God, thoub art my God; cearly will I seek thee: my soul dthirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and 1thirsty 2land, where no water is;
4 Thus hwill I bless thee while I live: I will ilift up my hands in thy name.
h Ps.104.33,34; 145.1-5; 146.1,2. Is.63.7.
i Ps.28.2; 134.2. 1 Ki.8.22,23. 1 Ti.2.8.
5 My soul shall be jsatisfied as with 3marrow and fatness; kand my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips;
j Ps.36.8; 65.4; 103.5; 104.34. Is.25.6. Jn.6.53-57.
3 Heb. fatness.
A.M. cir. 2946 or 2983. B.C. cir. 1058 or 1021.
k Ps.103.1-6; 118.28; 71.8; 14.21; 149.1-6.
8 My soul ofolloweth hard after thee: pthy right hand upholdeth me.
o Is.26.8,9. Ca.3.1-4; 2.6. Ps.94.18,19.
p Ps.18.35.
10 They shall rfall by the sword:5 they shall be a sportion for foxes.6
r 1 Sa.xxxi. 2 Sa.v. viii. x. xviii. xx. Je.18.21.
5 Heb. They shall make him run out like water by the hands of the sword.
s Ca.2.15. La.5.18. Job 40.13.
6 The jackals search by night for dead bodies, which they tear up from defenceless graves, and greedily devour even in the most putrid condition.—C.
Notes
Ver. 1. David was away from the sanctuary when this psalm was written. It expresses the earnest longing desire of his soul for communion with God once again in his courts. The imagery is graphic. The desert traveller can fully realize it. As one longs for water in the parched wilderness, where the heaven is as brass and the earth as iron, so the psalmist longs for God. P.——On comparing Ac. 4. 25, 26 with Ps. ii.; 61. 66; 63. 11, there can remain no doubt that the King who speaks in this psalm is the Son of God, with whose supplications in the days of his flesh the ancient church was thus prophetically edified. C.
Ver. 2. This exactly corresponds with the prayer of our Lord, Jn. 17. 5, 'And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory that I had with thee before the world was.' C.
Ver. 11. Every one that sweareth by him shall glory. Every one that reverences his name, and acknowledges his omniscience and judgment. C.
Reflections.—What a dry and barren wilderness is this world, with nothing in it that can satisfy the longings of a soul! And the more we find of the emptiness of created enjoyments the more we should fly to the fulness of God, as our God and all-sufficient portion. They who have experienced fellowship with him, and discoveries of his glory in public ordinances, will feelingly regret the want of them, and ardently desire the re-enjoyment of them. But great is the mercy that God himself, the fountain of happiness, and his throne of grace, are everywhere accessible. And if our hearts be refreshed with the tokens of his favour they ought to be enlarged in his praise. Happy and delightful is it to meditate on his loving-kindness—and in his strength to follow him closely in the means of grace and paths of duty. It is his help and favour only that can tune our hearts to praise him while we enjoy his protection.—Dreadful is the destruction of the enemies of Jesus Christ and his people! But eternal shall be the honours and unspeakable the joys of him and his children, while all their malicious reproachers and discouragers shall be filled with astonishment, and struck into endless silence and confusion.