32 The humble have seen it, and are glad. You who seek after God, let your heart live.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The afflicted have seen it. He here shows that the blessed effects of his deliverance will extend to others as well as to himself, a point which he frequently insists on in the Psalms, as we have seen in Psalm 22:23, 26, and in many other places. And his object in doing this is, partly to commend the goodness and grace of God to true believers, and partly that by this as an argument he may prevail with God to succor him. Besides, he does not mean that God's people would rejoice at this spectacle merely on the ground of brotherly friendship, but because, in the deliverance of one man, a pledge would be given to others, affording them also assurance of salvation. For this very reason he terms them the afflicted. Whoever seek God, (says he,) although they may be subjected to afflictions, will nevertheless take courage from my example. The first and the second clauses of the verse must be read together; for a connected sense would not be preserved were we not to understand the meaning to be this, That the example of David would afford a ground of rejoicing to all the faithful servants of God when they should seek a remedy for their afflictions. He very properly conjoins the desire of seeking God with affliction; for all men do not so profit under the chastening hand of God as to seek salvation from him in the exercise of a sincere and ardent faith. In the concluding part of this verse there is a change of person: And your heart shall live. But this apostrophe is so far from rendering the sense obscure, that, on the contrary, it expresses it the more forcibly, as if a thing present were described. In addressing those who were so much under the pressure of affliction as to be laid prostrate like dead men, he exhibits to their view a kind of image of the resurrection; as if he had said, O ye who are dead! unto you new vigor shall be restored. It is not meant that faith perishes in the children of God, and remains entirely dead until it is quickened into life again by the example of the deliverance of others; but that the light which was quenched is rekindled, and thus, so to speak, recovers life anew. The Psalmist immediately after (verse 33) describes the means by which this will be brought about in the children of God, which is, that believing the deliverance of David to be a common token or pledge of the grace of God presented before them, they will confidently come to the conclusion, that God regards the needy, and does not despise the prisoners. We thus see that he considers what was done to one man, as a clear indication on the part of God that he will be ready to succor all who are in adversity.
The humble shall see this, and be glad - Margin, "The meek." That is, Others who are thus afflicted - the poor, the needy, the oppressed, the sad - shall be made acquainted with what has been done in my behalf, and shall take courage, or be strengthened. They will learn to trust that God will also interpose in "their" troubles, and bring them out of "their" distresses.
And your heart shall live that seek God - Shall be revived; shall be encouraged, strengthened, animated.
The humble shall see this, and be glad - Those who are low, pressed down by misfortune or cruelty, shall see this and take courage; expecting that thou wilt lift them up also; and thus the heart of those who seek the Lord shall be revived.
The humble shall see this, and be glad,.... The resurrection and exaltation of Christ, Psalm 69:29; the meek and humble followers of Christ, as his disciples were, saw him risen from the dead, saw him alive, to whom he showed himself forty days after his resurrection; they saw his hands, and feet, and side, and the prints of the nails and spear in them; they saw him go up to heaven, to be set on high at the right hand of God; and humble believers now see him by faith, crowned with glory and honour; and as the disciples were glad, and rejoiced when they saw him again, and when he was parted from them, and went up to heaven, John 20:20; so true believers in Christ, who have a spiritual sight of a risen, ascended, and exalted Saviour, are glad, and rejoice in him with joy unspeakable, and full of glory, 1-Peter 1:8; they rejoice in the righteousness he has brought in, in the atonement that he has made, and in the salvation he has wrought out, which is so suitable for them; and because they do or will share in all the blessings of his resurrection, ascension, and exaltation; such as regeneration, justification, every supply of grace, and perseverance in it, the resurrection of their bodies, and eternal glorification: and "humble" ones are such as are humbled under a sense of sin, and the exceeding sinfulness of it, in a view of their own righteousness, and its insufficiency to justify them before God: they ascribe all they have and are to the free grace of God; and all boasting is excluded from them, save in Christ; they are such that learn of him, who is meek and lowly; and behave humbly before men, esteem others better than themselves; and are in their own account the chief of sinners, and the least of saints: and as they are, for the most part, "afflicted", and so some render the word (p) here; they are humble under the mighty hand of God, and patiently bear it;
and your heart shall live that seek God; that seek his face and favour, his gracious presence, and communion with him; that seek, by prayer and supplications, blessings from him; that seek him in Christ, where he is to be found; that seek Christ, and righteousness and salvation by him, and that early, earnestly, and diligently; that seek the things of Christ, the honour of his name, and the good of his interest; and who, in a word, are the true and spiritual worshippers of God; these seek him, and he seeks them. The Targum is,
"that seek doctrine from before God;''
and the hearts of those revived, who were as dead men before, as were the two disciples travelling to Emmaus, when they found that Christ was risen, Luke 24:17; just as the spirit of old Jacob revived, when he understood that his son Joseph was alive, Genesis 45:27; see Psalm 22:26.
(p) "afflicti", Vatablus, Musculus; "miseri", Gejerus; "mansueti ac miseri", Michaelis.
Others shall rejoice. "Humble" and poor, as in Psalm 69:29.
your heart, &c.--address to such (compare Psalm 22:26).
The humble - Those pious persons who are grieved for their calamities, will heartily rejoice in my deliverance. Live - Or, be revived, which were dejected, and in a manner dead with sorrow.
*More commentary available at chapter level.