November 25 Daily Devotional

Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am a man of peace. The Psalmist now shows, without figure, and, so to speak, points with the finger to those whom he had before indirectly marked out by the terms Mesech and Kedar, namely, the perfidious Israelites, who had degenerated from the holy fathers, and who rather wore the mask of Israelites than were the true seed of Israel. He calls them haters of peace, because they wilfully, and with deliberate malice, set themselves to make war upon the good and unoffending. To the same purpose he adds immediately after, that his heart was strongly inclined to seek after peace, or rather, that he was wholly devoted to it, and had tried every means in order to win their favour, but that the implacable cruelty of their disposition invariably impelled them to do him mischief.

I am a man of peace. This is an expression implying that he had not done them any injury or wrong which could give occasion for their hatred: there having been always peace on his part. He even proceeds further, asserting, that when he saw them inflamed with resentment against him, he endeavoured to pacify them, and to bring them to a good understanding; for to speak, is here equivalent to offering conditions of peace in an amicable spirit, or to treating of reconciliation. From this it is still more apparent, how savage and brutal was the pride of David's enemies, since they disdained even to speak with him—to speak with a man who had deserved well at their hands, and who had never in any respect injured them. We are taught by his example, that it is not enough for the faithful to abstain from hurting others: they must, moreover, study to allure them by gentleness, and to bend them to good will. Should their moderation and kindness be rejected, let them wait in patience, until God at length show himself from heaven as their protector. Let us, however, remember, that if God does not immediately stretch forth his hand on our behalf, it is our duty to bear the wearisomeness occasioned by delay, like David, whom we find in this psalm giving thanks to God for his deliverance, while, at the same time, as if worn out by the weariness of waiting for it, he bewails the long oppression to which he had been subjected by his enemies.

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