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Commentary on Psalms 94 verses 12–23
The psalmist, having denounced tribulation to those that trouble God's people, here assures those that are troubled of rest. See Th2 1:6, Th2 1:7. He speaks comfort to suffering saints from God's promises and his own experience.
I. From God's promises, which are such as not only save them from being miserable, but secure a happiness to them (Psa 94:12): Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest. Here he looks above the instruments of trouble, and eyes the hand of God, which gives it another name and puts quite another color upon it. The enemies break in pieces God's people (Psa 94:5); they aim at no less; but the truth of the matter is that God by them chastens his people, as the father the son in whom he delights, and the persecutors are only the rod he makes use of. Howbeit they mean not so, neither doth their heart think so, Isa 10:5-7. Now it is here promised,
1.That God's people shall get good by their sufferings. When he chastens them he will teach them, and blessed is the man who is thus taken under a divine discipline, for none teaches like God. Note, (1.) The afflictions of the saints are fatherly chastenings, designed for their instruction, reformation, and improvement. (2.) When the teachings of the word and Spirit go along with the rebukes of Providence they then both manifest men to be blessed and help to make them so; for then they are marks of adoption and means of sanctification. When we are chastened we must pray to be taught, and look into the law as the best expositor of Providence. It is not the chastening itself that does good, but the teaching that goes along with it and is the exposition of it.
2.That they shall see through their sufferings (Psa 94:13): That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity. Note, (1.) There is a rest remaining for the people of God after the days of their adversity, which, though they may be many and long, shall be numbered and finished in due time, and shall not last always. He that sends the trouble will send the rest, that he may comfort them according to the time that he has afflicted them. (2.) God therefore teaches his people by their troubles, that he may prepare them for deliverance, and so give them rest from their troubles, that, being reformed, they may be relieved, and that the affliction, having done its work, may be removed.
3.That they shall see the ruin of those that are the instruments of their sufferings, which is the matter of a promise, not as gratifying any passion of theirs, but as redounding to the glory of God: Until the pit is digged (or rather while the pit is digging) for the wicked, God is ordering peace for them at the same time that he is ordaining his arrows against the persecutors.
4.That, though they may be cast down, yet certainly they shall not be cast off, Psa 94:14. Let God's suffering people assure themselves of this, that, whatever their friends do, God will not cast them off, nor throw them out of his covenant or out of his care; he will not forsake them, because they are his inheritance, which he will not quit his title to nor suffer himself to be disseised of. St. Paul comforted himself with this, Rom 11:1.
5.That, bad as things are, they shall mend, and, though they are now out of course, yet they shall return to their due and ancient channel (Psa 94:15): Judgment shall return unto righteousness; the seeming disorders of Providence (for real ones there never were) shall be rectified. God's judgment, that is, his government, looks sometimes as if it were at a distance from righteousness, while the wicked prosper, and the best men meet with the worst usage; but it shall return to righteousness again, either in this world or at the furthest in the judgment of the great day, which will set all to-rights. Then all the upright in heart shall be after it; they shall follow it with their praises, and with entire satisfaction; they shall return to a prosperous and flourishing condition, and shine forth out of obscurity; they shall accommodate themselves to the dispensations of divine Providence, and with suitable affections attend all its motions. They shall walk after the Lord, Hos 11:10. Dr. Hammond thinks this was most eminently fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem first, and afterwards of heathen Rome, the crucifiers of Christ and persecutors of Christians, and the rest which the churches had thereby. Then judgment returned even to righteousness, to mercy and goodness, and favour to God's people, who then were as much countenanced as before they had been trampled on.
II. From his own experiences and observations.
1.He and his friends had been oppressed by cruel and imperious men, that had power in their hands and abused it by abusing all good people with it. They were themselves evil-doers and workers of iniquity (Psa 94:16); they abandoned themselves to all manner of impiety and immorality, and then their throne was a throne of iniquity, Psa 94:20. Their dignity served to put a reputation upon sin, and their authority was employed to support it, and to bring about their wicked designs. It is a pity that ever a throne, which should be a terror to evil-doers and a protection and praise to those that do well, should be the seat and shelter of iniquity. That is a throne of iniquity which by the policy of its council frames mischief, and by its sovereignty enacts it and turns it into a law. Iniquity is daring enough even when human laws are against it, which often prove too weak to give an effectual check to it; but how insolent, how mischievous, is it when it is backed by a law! Iniquity is not the better, but much the worse, for being enacted by law; nor will it excuse those that practise it to say that they did but do as they were bidden. These workers of iniquity, having framed mischief by a law, take care to see the law executed; for they gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, who dare not keep the statutes of Omri nor the law of the house of Ahab; and they condemn the innocent blood for violating their decrees. See an instance in Daniel's enemies; they framed mischief by a law when the obtained an impious edict against prayer (Dan 6:7), and, when Daniel would not obey it, they assembled together against him (Psa 94:11) and condemned his innocent blood to the lions. The best benefactors of mankind have often been thus treated, under colour of law and justice, as the worst of malefactors.
2.The oppression they were under bore very hard upon them, and oppressed their spirits too. Let not suffering saints despair, though, when they are persecuted, they find themselves perplexed and cast down; it was so with the psalmist here: His soul had almost dwelt in silence (Psa 94:17); he was at his wits' end, and knew not what to say or do; he was, in his own apprehensions, at his life's end, ready to drop into the grave, that land of silence. St. Paul, in a like case, received a sentence of death within himself, Co2 1:8, Co2 1:9. He said, "My foot slippeth (Psa 94:18); I am going irretrievably; there is no remedy; I must fall. I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul. My hope fails me; I do not find such firm footing for my faith as I have sometimes found." Psa 73:2. He had a multitude of perplexed entangled thoughts within him concerning the case he was in and the construction to be made of it, and concerning the course he should take and what was likely to be the issue of it.
3.In this distress they sought for help, and succour, and some relief. (1.) They looked about for it and were disappointed (Psa 94:16): "Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers? Have I any friend who, in love to me, will appear for me? Has justice any friend who, in a pious indignation at unrighteousness, will plead my injured cause?" He looked, but there was none to save, there was none to uphold. Note, When on the side of the oppressors there is power it is no marvel if the oppressed have no comforter, none that dare own them, or speak a good word for them, Ecc 4:1. When St. Paul was brought before Nero's throne of iniquity no man stood by him, Ti2 4:16. (2.) They looked up for it, Psa 94:20. They humbly expostulate with God: "Lord, shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee? Wilt thou countenance and support these tyrants in their wickedness? We know thou wilt not." A throne has fellowship with God when it is a throne of justice and answers the end of the erecting of it; for by him kings reign, and when they reign for him their judgments are his, and he owns them as his ministers, and whoever resist them, or rise up against them, shall receive to themselves damnation; but, when it becomes a throne of iniquity, it has no longer fellowship with God. Far be it from the just and holy God that he should be the patron of unrighteousness, even in princes and those that sit in thrones, yea, though they be the thrones of the house of David.
4.They found succour and relief in God, and in him only. When other friends failed, in him they had a faithful and powerful friend; and it is recommended to all God's suffering saints to trust in him. (1.) God helps at a dead lift (Psa 94:17): "When I had almost dwelt in silence, then the Lord was my help, kept me alive, kept me in heart; and unless I had made him my help, by putting my trust in him and expecting relief from him, I could never have kept possession of my own soul; but living by faith in him has kept my head above water, has given me breath, and something to say." (2.) God's goodness is the great support of sinking spirits (Psa 94:18): "When I said, My foot slips into sin, into ruin, into despair, then thy mercy, O Lord! held me up, kept me from falling, and defeated the design of those who consulted to cast me down from my excellency," Psa 62:4. We are beholden not only to God's power, but to his pity, for spiritual supports: Thy mercy, the gifts of thy mercy and my hope in thy mercy, held me up. God's right hand sustains his people when they look on their right hand and on their left and there is none to uphold; and we are then prepared for his gracious supports when we are sensible of our own weakness and inability to stand by our own strength, and come to God, to acknowledge it, and to tell him how our foot slips. (3.) Divine consolations are the effectual relief of troubled spirits (Psa 94:19): "In the multitude of my thoughts within me, which are noisy like a multitude, crowding and jostling one another like a multitude, and very unruly and ungovernable, in the multitude of my sorrowful, solicitous, timorous thoughts, thy comforts delight my soul; and they are never more delightful than when they come in so seasonably to silence my unquiet thoughts and keep my mind easy." The world's comforts give but little delight to the soul when it is hurried with melancholy thoughts; they are songs to a heavy heart. But God's comforts will reach the soul, and not the fancy only, and will bring with them that peace and that pleasure which the smiles of the world cannot give and which the frowns of the world cannot take away.
5.God is, and will be, as a righteous Judge, the patron and protector of right and the punisher and avenger of wrong; this the psalmist had both the assurance of and the experience of. (1.) He will give redress to the injured (Psa 94:22): "When none else will, nor can, nor dare, shelter me, the Lord is my defence, to preserve me from the evil of my troubles, from sinking under them and being ruined by them; and he is the rock of my refuge, in the clefts of which I may take shelter, and on the top of which I may set my feet, to be out of the reach of danger." God is his people's refuge, to whom they may flee, in whom they are safe and may be secure; he is the rock of their refuge, so strong, so firm, impregnable, immovable, as a rock: natural fastnesses sometimes exceed artificial fortifications. (2.) He will reckon with the injurious (Psa 94:23): He shall render to them their own iniquity; he shall deal with them according to their deserts, and that very mischief which they did and designed against God's people shall be brought upon themselves: it follows, He shall cut them off in their wickedness. A man cannot be more miserable than his own wickedness will make him if God visit it upon him: it will cut him in the remembrance of it; it will cut him off in the recompence of it. This the psalm concludes with the triumphant assurance of: Yea, the Lord our God, who takes our part and owns us for his, shall cut them off from any fellowship with him, and so shall make them completely miserable and their pomp and power shall stand them in no stead.
But why is there no fear of uttering an indirect lie? We do not deny that free will is healed by the grace of God, but we believe that we make progress through the daily grace of God, and we trust in its help. And people say, "It is in my own power to do good." If only people did do good! O empty boasting of wretchedness! Every day they disclaim sin, and in their boasting they attribute to themselves unaided free will, not scrutinizing their conscience, which cannot be healed but by grace, so as to say, "Be merciful to me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you." What would those do who boast of their own free will—which is not denied so long as it is helped by the grace of God—if death had now been swallowed up in victory, if our mortal were putting on immortality and our corruptible were putting on incorruption? Behold, their wounds fester, and they seek a remedy in pride. They do not say with the just person, "Unless the Lord had been my helper, my soul had almost dwelled in hell." They do not say with the saint, "Except the Lord guards the city, he watches in vain that guards it."
"If the Lord," he says, "had not helped me: within a little my soul had dwelt in hell" [Psalm 94:17]. I had almost plunged into that pit which is preparing for sinners: that is, my soul had dwelt in hell. Because he already began to waver, and nearly to consent, he looked back unto the Lord. Suppose, for example's sake, he was insulted to tempt him to iniquity. For sometimes the wicked flock together, and insult the good; especially if they are more in number, and if they have taken him alone, as there is often much chaff about one grain of wheat (though there will not be when the heap has been fanned); he is then taken among many wicked ones, is insulted, and surrounded; they wish to place themselves over him, they torment him and insult him for his very righteousness. A great Apostle! say they; You have flown into heaven, as Elias did! Men do these things, so that sometime, when he listens to the tongue of men, he is ashamed to be good among the wicked. Let him therefore resist the evil; but not of his own strength, lest he become proud, and when he wishes to escape the proud, himself increase their number....
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SUMMARY
Psalms 94:17 powerfully articulates the psalmist's profound realization that divine intervention was the sole safeguard against utter ruin. It stands as a fervent testimony to the Lord's indispensable "help," which alone prevented his descent into the "silence" of death or overwhelming despair. This verse underscores an absolute and unwavering dependence on God for preservation, continued existence, and the very breath of life, affirming His sovereign hand as the ultimate bulwark against peril.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The psalmist employs several potent literary devices to convey the depth of his peril and the magnitude of God's deliverance. The opening phrase, Hypothetical Condition ("Unless the LORD [had been] my help"), immediately establishes a counterfactual scenario, underscoring the absolute necessity of divine intervention. This grammatical structure powerfully highlights that the psalmist's survival was entirely contingent upon God's active presence and immediate aid. Furthermore, the phrase "my soul had almost dwelt in silence" utilizes a vivid Idiom or Metaphor. "Dwelling in silence" serves as a poetic expression for death, the grave, or the state of oblivion in Sheol, where life and praise cease. This imagery starkly contrasts the vibrant life of the living with the inertness and speechlessness of the dead, intensifying the sense of near-catastrophe and magnifying the Lord's preserving power. The use of "almost" creates a powerful sense of Suspense and Relief, emphasizing the narrowness of the escape and the miraculous nature of God's timely intervention.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
This verse profoundly articulates the theological truth of God's active and indispensable providence in the lives of His people. It reveals that human existence, particularly in moments of extreme vulnerability and despair, is utterly dependent on divine sustenance and intervention. The psalmist's testimony moves beyond a mere request for help to a declaration of God's sovereign preservation, asserting that God's presence is the sole barrier against total collapse. It underscores the biblical theme that God is not a distant deity but an ever-present, personal deliverer who upholds the righteous and prevents them from falling into utter ruin, even when they stand at the precipice of death or spiritual oblivion. This recognition cultivates a deep sense of gratitude and absolute trust in God's unfailing faithfulness. This truth resonates throughout Scripture, affirming God as the ultimate source of help and deliverance:
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalms 94:17 offers profound encouragement and a vital reminder for believers navigating life's inevitable trials. It speaks directly to moments of overwhelming challenge, deep despair, or when we feel utterly helpless and on the brink of giving up. The psalmist's testimony assures us that even when we are at our weakest, God is our ever-present and indispensable help, capable of snatching us back from the precipice of physical or spiritual oblivion. This verse calls us to cultivate a posture of profound gratitude, recognizing that our continued existence, resilience, and hope are often the direct result of God's unseen hand sustaining us. It fosters a deeper trust in His divine providence, reminding us that our ultimate well-being and preservation, both in this life and eternally, are secured by His unfailing grace and power. In a world that often champions self-reliance, this psalm humbly redirects our gaze to the One who is truly our strength and salvation.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does "my soul had almost dwelt in silence" truly mean?
Answer: This phrase is a powerful poetic idiom for death, the grave, or the realm of the dead (Sheol). In ancient Israelite thought, the grave was understood as a place of inactivity, where praise and remembrance of God ceased. Therefore, for the psalmist's "soul" (his entire being, his life, his nephesh) to "dwell in silence" means to cease to exist in the land of the living, to be utterly without voice, vitality, or purpose. It can also imply a state of profound despair or spiritual oblivion, where hope and connection to God are nearly lost. The word "almost" (כִּמְעַט, kim‘aṭ) signifies the narrow escape from this dire fate, highlighting the immediacy and necessity of God's intervention.
Is the "help" mentioned in this verse primarily physical or spiritual?
Answer: The "help" in Psalms 94:17 encompasses both physical and spiritual dimensions. While the immediate context of oppression and near-death suggests a physical threat, the psalmist's "soul" (נֶפֶשׁ, nephesh) refers to his entire being—his life, vitality, and inner self. Therefore, God's help prevented not only physical demise but also a descent into utter despair, hopelessness, or spiritual oblivion, where the ability to praise God would cease. It speaks to God's holistic preservation of His people, addressing both their bodily safety and their spiritual well-being.
How does this verse fit into the overall message of Psalm 94?
Answer: Psalms 94:17 serves as a crucial personal testimony within a broader communal lament and imprecatory psalm. The psalm begins with a fervent cry for God's justice against wicked oppressors who believe God does not see or care, as highlighted in Psalms 94:7. Amidst this plea for divine retribution and a call for God to judge the arrogant, the psalmist reflects on his own vulnerability and near-catastrophe. Verse 17 acts as a pivot, shifting from the general appeal for justice to a personal declaration of God's saving grace. It reinforces the psalm's core message that the Lord is indeed the righteous judge and protector, not only for the community as a whole but for each individual who trusts in Him, proving that He is a present help in times of trouble and prevents His people from utter ruin.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalms 94:17, with its poignant declaration of divine rescue from the brink of silence, finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The psalmist's experience of being preserved from the grave foreshadows Christ's victory over death itself. While the psalmist was saved from "almost" dwelling in silence, Jesus fully entered the silence of the tomb, experiencing death in its most profound sense, only to shatter its power through His glorious resurrection, as Peter powerfully preached in Acts 2:24. He is the ultimate "help" for humanity, delivering us not merely from temporal perils but from the eternal "silence" of sin and spiritual death, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). Through His atoning sacrifice on the cross and His triumphant resurrection, Christ has conquered the very realm of silence, offering eternal life and a voice of perpetual praise to all who believe in Him, declaring "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live" (John 11:25-26). As our ascended Lord, He continues to be our ever-present help, interceding for us before the Father and sustaining us by His Spirit, ensuring that our souls will never ultimately dwell in silence but will live to declare His praises forever, for He lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25).