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Psalm 61

Assurance of God’s Protection

To the leader: with stringed instruments. Of David.

1

Hear my cry, O God;

listen to my prayer.

2

From the end of the earth I call to you,

when my heart is faint.

 

Lead me to the rock

that is higher than I;

3

for you are my refuge,

a strong tower against the enemy.

 

4

Let me abide in your tent forever,

find refuge under the shelter of your wings. Selah

5

For you, O God, have heard my vows;

you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

 

6

Prolong the life of the king;

may his years endure to all generations!

7

May he be enthroned forever before God;

appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!

 

8

So I will always sing praises to your name,

as I pay my vows day after day.


6. Thou shalt add days upon days to the king etc. 407407     In the Chaldee it is: “Thou shalt add days to the days of the King Messiah; his years shall be as the generation of this world, and of the world to come.” David cannot be considered as using these words of gratulation with an exclusive reference to himself. It is true that he lived to an extreme old age, and died full of days, leaving the kingdom in a settled condition, and in the hands of his son, who succeeded him; but he did not exceed the period of one man’s life, and the greater part of it was spent in continued dangers and anxieties. There can be no doubt, therefore, that the series of years, and even ages, of which he speaks, extends prospectively to the coming of Christ, it being the very condition of the kingdom, as I have often remarked, that God maintained them as one people under one head, or, when scattered, united them again. The same succession still subsists in reference to ourselves. Christ must be viewed as living in his members to the end of the world. To this Isaiah alludes, when he says, “Who shall declare his generation or age?” — words in which he predicts that the Church would survive through all ages, notwithstanding the incessant danger of destruction to which it is exposed through the attacks of its enemies, and the many storms assailing it. So here David foretells the uninterrupted succession of the kingdom down to the time of Christ.


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