A Commentary on the Book of Psalms: Psalm 44 — The Excellence of Christ’s Kingdom and the Endowments of His Church
Psalm 44
The Excellence of Christ’s Kingdom and the Endowments of His Church
Explanation Of The Psalm
1 This verse forms a preface to the rest of the Psalm. In it the prophet tells us that the whole proceeded from the mere inspiration of the Holy Ghost, without any cooperation on his part. For, though the whole of the holy Scripture is the word of God, and dictated by the Holy Spirit, there is, however, a great difference between the prophecies therein and the historical part, or the epistles. In the prophecies, the holy writers exercised neither their reflection, nor their memory, nor their reasoning powers; but they, simply, either wrote or spoke what God dictated to them, as Baruch testifies of Jeremias, when he said, “With his mouth he pronounced all these words, as if he were reading to me.” But when the sacred writers undertook a history, or an epistle, God inspired them with the desire to write, and so directed them, that they should write correctly, and without any errors, but yet in such manner as to oblige them, at the same time, to exercise their own memory and genius, in recording such transactions, and in digesting the order and the manner of so writing, as the author of the Machabees testifies in chap. 2 of the Second Book, worth reading, but too long to quote here. David, then, when he chanted God’s praises in the Psalms, or deplored his own calamities, or that of his people, drew upon his memory and his talents, and did not compose without some trouble; but when he comes to prophesy, as he does in this Psalm, he claims no part whatever therein beyond the mere service of his pen or of his tongue. Such is the essence of this preface, which was more clearly put by him in 2 Kings 23, where he says, “The Spirit of the Lord hath spoken by me, and his word by my tongue.” He, therefore, says, “my heart hath uttered a good word;” that is, my mind, from the fullness and abundance of the divine light and heavenly revelations, has given to men this Psalm, containing “a good word;” that is, a most grateful and saving word to all mankind. To understand the passage fully, we must go into details. First, observe the word the prophet uses, “hath uttered,” which, if translated literally, would have been, “belched up,” to show that this Psalm was not composed by him, nor left to his discretion; but, like wind that is involuntarily cast off the stomach, that he was obliged to give it out whether he would or not. Secondly, the prophet wished to express that he was not giving out all that God had revealed to him, but only a part;
for, though belching is a sign of repletion, it is small in itself; for the prophets see many things, “of which it is not lawful for man to speak;” and, therefore, Isaias said, “My secret to myself;” and those who have had revelations from God, confess that they could not find words to express what they saw; and hence, perhaps, the prophet says, “my heart hath uttered a good word;” not good words, in the plural number. Thirdly, the Psalm is called a “good word,” because it does not predict any misfortune, such as the sacking of the city, or the captivity of the people, as the other prophecies do; but, on the contrary, all that is favorable and pleasant, and likely to bring great joy and gladness. Fourthly, in describing the emanation of this “good word” from the heart of David, he has regard to the production of the word eternal, and seeks to take us by the hand to lead us to understand the generation of the divine word, produced, not as sons are ordinarily produced, by generation, nor by election, nor chosen from a number of sons; but born of his father, the word of his mind, his only word, and, therefore, supremely excellent and good; so that the expression, “good word,” may be peculiarly applied to him. “I speak my works to the king.” Some will have these words to mean, I confess my sins to God; or, I speak those verses of the king; or, I dedicate my work to the king; or, I address the king; which explanations I won’t condemn; but the one I offer will agree better, I think, with what went before and what follows; for, in my opinion, this second sentence of the verse is only an explanation of the first part, and assigns a reason for his having said, “My heart hath uttered a good word;” just as if he said, I simply attribute all my acts to my king, who is God, and claim nothing for myself; therefore, I have not said, I have written this Psalm; but, “my heart hath uttered a good word;” because the thing did not proceed from me, but from the fullness of my illumination; which he explains more clearly in the next sentence, where he says, “My tongue is the pen of a scrivener that writeth swiftly;” that means, my tongue has certainly produced this Psalm, but not as my tongue, nor as a member of my body that is moved at my pleasure; but as the pen of the Holy Ghost, as if of a “scrivener that writeth swiftly.” He says, (observe)
that his tongue is the pen of a scrivener that writeth swiftly, and not the tongue of a spirit that speaketh swiftly; because he means to show that his tongue was like a pen, a mere instrument in announcing the prophecy, and not part of a whole, like the members of the body; “that writeth swiftly,” to give us to understand that the Holy Ghost needs no time to consider what, how, and when matters are to be written; for they only write slowly who require to consider what they are to write, and how they will give expression to their ideas.
2 He now commences the praises of Christ, praising him, first, for his beauty; secondly, for his eloquence; as well as for his strength and vigor; thirdly, for the qualities of his mind; lastly, for his royal dignity and power, to which he adds his external beauties, such as the grandeur of his palaces and robes. He begins with beauty, for he is describing a spouse; and, as regards a spouse, eloquence takes precedence of beauty, strength of eloquence, virtue of strength, and divinity of virtues; and, therefore, he says, “Thou art beautiful above the sons of men.” The sentence, though, seems abrupt and obscure, when he does not say who is that beautiful person; but, as we remarked before, his reason for beginning with, “my heart hath uttered a good word,” to let us see that he only uttered some of what he saw, and not the entire; and thus the meaning is, No wonder, Christ, thou shouldst be called beloved, for “thou art beautiful above the sons of men.” Observe, he says, “above the sons of men;” not above the Angels, because God the Son did not become an Angel, but man; as if he said, You, my beloved, art man, but “beautiful above the sons of men;” and so he was; for, as regards his divinity, his beauty was boundless; as regards the qualities of his soul, he was more beautiful than any created spirit; and as regards the beauty of his glorified body, “it is more beautiful than the sun;” and “the sun and moon admire his beauty.” Next comes, “grace is poured abroad in thy lips,” an encomium derived from the graces of his language, thereby adding to that derived from his beauty; and he says, “it is poured abroad in thy lips,” to show that the beauty of Christ’s language was natural and permanent, and not acquired by study or practice; for we read in the Gospel, Luke 4, “And they wondered at the words of grace that proceeded from his mouth;” and, in John 7, “never did man speak like this man.” Saints Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, and especially Saint Matthew, felt the force of his words, the secret power in them that caused them, by a simple call, to abandon their all, and follow him. What is more wonderful! the sea, the winds, fevers and diseases, nay, even the very dead, felt the power of his voice; which, after all, must appear no great wonder, when we consider that it was the divine and substantial word that spoke in his sweetest and most effective accents, in the flesh he had assumed; “therefore hath God blessed thee forever.”
No wonder you should “be beautiful,” and that “grace should be on thy lips,” because “God hath blessed thee forever.”
3 From the praise of his beauty and his eloquence, he now comes to extol his bravery; and, by a figure of speech, instead of telling us in what his bravery consists, he calls upon him to “Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most mighty;” as much as to say, Come, beloved of God, who art not only most beautiful and graceful, but also most valiant and brave; come, put on thy armor; come, and deliver your people; and he tells us in the following verse what sort of armor he means, saying: