Psalm 27

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 27

Some think David penned this psalm before his coming to the throne, when he was in the midst of his troubles, and perhaps upon occasion of the death of his parents; but the Jews think he penned it when he was old, upon occasion of the wonderful deliverance he had from the sword of the giant, when Abishai succoured him (2 Sam. 21:16, 17) and his people thereupon resolved he should never venture his life again in battle, lest he should quench the light of Israel. Perhaps it was not penned upon... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 27:1-6

We may observe here, I. With what a lively faith David triumphs in God, glories in his holy name, and in the interest he had in him. 1. The Lord is my light. David's subjects called him the light of Israel, 2 Sam. 21:17. And he was indeed a burning and a shining light: but he owns that he shone, as the moon does, with a borrows light; what light God darted upon him reflected upon them: The Lord is my light. God is a light to his people, to show them the way when they are in doubt, to comfort... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 27:7-14

David in these verses expresses, I. His desire towards God, in many petitions. If he cannot now go up to the house of the Lord, yet, wherever he is, he can find a way to the throne of grace by prayer. 1. He humbly bespeaks, because he firmly believes he shall have, a gracious audience: ?Hear, O Lord, when I cry, not only with my heart, but, as one in earnest, with my voice too.? He bespeaks also an answer of peace, which he expects, not from his own merit, but God's goodness: Have mercy upon... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 27

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 27 cf15I A Psalm of David. The Septuagint interpreters add to this title, "before he was anointed". David was anointed three times, first when a youth in his father's house; but this psalm could not be written before that time, because he had not had then any experience of war, nor could be in any immediate apprehension of it, as here suggested; he was anointed a second time, after the death of Saul at Hebron, by the men of Judah; before that time indeed he had been... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear ?.... The Targum in the king of Spain's Bible explains it, "the Word of the Lord is my light"; and so Ainsworth cites it; that is, Christ the eternal Word, in whom "was life, and that life was the light of men", John 1:4 ; and the psalmist is not to be understood of the light of nature and reason, with which the Logos, or Word, enlightens every man that comes into the world; nor merely in a temporal sense, of giving him the light... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 27:2

When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me ,.... They are wicked men, men of malignant spirits, and evildoers, who are the enemies and foes of the people of God, and who hate them with an implacable hatred, and do everything they can to distress and afflict them; and such enemies David had, who were many and mighty; and these "came upon" him, or "approached against" him F3 בקרב עלי "cum appropinquaverint adversum me", Pagninus; so Gejerus. , they drew near to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 27:3

Though an host should encamp against me ,.... An host of the ungodly, as the Targum; though ever so many of them, even ten thousands of them, as in Psalm 3:6 ; should beset him on every side; my heart shall not fear ; for not only the angels of the Lord encamped about him, as they do about all that fear the Lord; but salvation was appointed for walls and bulwarks about him; yea, the Lord himself was a wall of fire around him, and he was kept as in a garrison by the power of God; ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 27:4

One thing have I desired of the Lord ,.... Not to be returned to Saul's court; nor to his own house and family; nor to have an affluence of worldly riches and honours; but to have constant abode it, the house of the Lord; an opportunity of attending continually on the public worship of God; which is excused and neglected by many, and is a weariness to others, but was by the psalmist preferred to everything else; he being now deprived of it, as it seems; that will I seek after ; by... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 27:5

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion ,.... This, with what follows, is given as a reason why the psalmist desired to dwell in the house of the Lord; because he considered it as a pavilion or booth, as the word F8 בסכה "in tugurio suo", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis. signifies in which he should be hid by the Lord, in times of trouble and distress, either through the heat of persecution, or of inward anxiety of mind, caused by the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 27:6

And now shall mine head be lifted up ,.... That is, when brought into the house of the Lord, hid in the secret of his tabernacle, and set upon the rock Christ; by this phrase he means, either that he should be then restored to his former happy and comfortable condition, as it is used in Genesis 40:13 ; or that he should overcome all his enemies, and triumph over them, being exalted, as he adds, above mine enemies round about me ; so that not only they should not be able to come at him,... read more

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