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Selected Verse: Psalms 16:9 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Ps 16:9 |
King James |
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
glory--as heart (Psa 7:5), for self. In Act 2:26, after the Septuagint, "my tongue" as "the glory of the frame"--the instrument for praising God.
flesh--If taken as opposed to soul (Psa 16:10), it may mean the body; otherwise, the whole person (compare Psa 63:1; Psa 84:2).
rest in hope--(compare Margin). |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Therefore my heart is glad - In view of this fact, that my confidence is in God alone, and my belief that he is my Protector and Friend. See the notes at Act 2:26.
And my glory rejoiceth - The Septuagint translate this, "my tongue," and this translation is followed by Peter in his quotation of the passage in Act 2:26. See the notes at that passage. The meaning here is, that whatever there was in him that was honorable, dignified, or glorious - all the faculties of his soul, as well as his heart - had occasion to rejoice in God. His whole nature - his undying soul - his exalted powers as he was made by God - all - all, found cause of exultation in the favor and friendship of God. The heart - the uuderstanding - the imagination - the whole immortal soul, found occasion for joy in God.
My flesh also - My body. Or, it may mean, his whole person, he himself, though the direct allusion is to the body considered as lying in the grave, Psa 16:10. The language is such as one would use of himself when he reflected on his own death, and it is equivalent to saying, "I myself, when I am dead, shall rest in hope; my soul will not be left to abide in the gloomy place of the dead; nor will my body remain permanently in the grave under the power of corruption. In reference to my soul and my body - my whole nature - I shall descend to the grave in the hope of a future life."
Shall rest - Margin, "dwell confidently." The Hebrew is literally "shall dwell in confidence" or hope. The word here rendered "shall rest" means properly to let oneself down; to lie down, Num 9:17; Exo 24:16; then, to lay oneself down, to lie down, as, for example, a lion lying down, Deu 33:20; or a people in tents, Num 24:2; and hence, to rest, to take rest, Jdg 5:17; and then to abide, to dwell. Gesenius, Lexicon. Perhaps the sense here is that of "lying down," considered as lying in the grave, and the expression is equivalent to saying, "When I die I shall lie down in the grave in hope or confidence, not in despair. I shall expect to rise and live again."
In hope - The word used here means "trust, confidence, security." It is the opposite of despair. As used here, it would refer to a state of mind in which there was an expectation of living again, as distinguished from that state of mind in which it was felt that the grave was the end of man. What is particularly to be remarked here is, that this trust or confidence extended to the "flesh" as well as to the "soul;" and the language is such as would be naturally used by one who believed in the resurrection of the body. Language of this kind occurs elsewhere in the Old Testament, showing that the doctrine of the resurrection of the body was one to which the sacred writers were not strangers, and that although the doctrine was not as explicitly and formally stated in the Old Testament as in the New, yet that it was a doctrine which had been at some time communicated to man. See Isa 26:19, note; Dan 12:2, note. As applicable to David, the language used here is expressive of his belief that "he" would rise again, or would not perish in the grave when his body died; as applicable to the Messiah, as applied by Peter Act 2:26, it means that when "he" should die it would be with the hope and expectation of being raised again without seeing corruption. The language is such as to be applicable to both cases; and, in regard to the interpretation of the "language," it makes no difference whether it was supposed that the resurrection would occur before the body should moulder back to dust, or whether it would occur at a much more remote period, and long after it had gone to decay. In either case it would be true that it was laid in the grave "in hope." |
The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917] |
thy flesh
The 16th Psalm is a prediction of the resurrection of the King. As a prophet David understood that, not at His first advent, but at some time subsequent to His death and resurrection Messiah would assume the Davidic throne. See (Act 2:25-31); (Luk 1:32); (Luk 1:33); (Act 15:13-17). See "Davidic Covenant,"
(See Scofield) - (Sa2 7:14);
"Kingdom (Old Testament),"
(See Scofield) - (Zac 12:8).
See Psalm 22, next in order of the Messianic Psalms. |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
Thus then, as this concluding strophe, as it were like seven rays of light, affirms, he has the most blessed prospect before him, without any need to fear death. Because Jahve is thus near at hand to help him, his heart becomes joyful (שׂמח) and his glory, i.e., his soul (vid., on Psa 7:6) rejoices, the joy breaking forth in rejoicing, as the fut. consec. affirms. There is no passage of Scripture that so closely resembles this as Th1 5:23. לב is πνεῦμα (νοῦς), כבוד, ψυχή (vid., Psychol. S. 98; tr. p. 119), בּשׂר (according to its primary meaning, attrectabile, that which is frail), σῶμα. The ἀμέμπτως τηρηθῆναι which the apostle in the above passage desires for his readers in respect of all three parts of their being, David here expresses as a confident expectation; for אף implies that he also hopes for his body that which he hopes for his spirit-life centred in the heart, and for his soul raised to dignity both by the work of creation and of grace. He looks death calmly and triumphantly in the face, even his flesh shall dwell or lie securely, viz., without being seized with trembling at its approaching corruption. David's hope rests on this conclusion: it is impossible for the man, who, in appropriating faith and actual experience, calls God his own, to fall into the hands of death. For Psa 16:10 shows, that what is here thought of in connection with שׁכן לבטח, dwelling in safety under the divine protection (Deu 33:12, Deu 33:28, cf. Pro 3:24), is preservation from death. שׁחת is rendered by the lxx διαφθορά, as though it came from שׁחת διαφθείρειν, as perhaps it may do in Job 17:14. But in Psa 7:16 the lxx has βόθρος, which is the more correct: prop. a sinking in, from שׁוּח to sink, to be sunk, like נחת from נוּח, רחת from רוּח. To leave to the unseen world (עזב prop. to loosen, let go) is equivalent to abandoning one to it, so that he becomes its prey. Psa 16:10 - where to see the grave (Psa 49:10), equivalent to, to succumb to the state of the grave, i.e., death (Psa 89:49; Luk 2:26; Joh 8:51) is the opposite of "seeing life," i.e., experiencing and enjoying it (Ecc 9:9, Joh 3:36), the sense of sight being used as the noblest of the senses to denote the sensus communis, i.e., the common sense lying at the basis of all feeling and perception, and figuratively of all active and passive experience (Psychol. S. 234; tr. p. 276) - shows, that what is said here is not intended of an abandonment by which, having once come under the power of death, there is no coming forth again (Bttcher). It is therefore the hope of not dying, that is expressed by David in Psa 16:10. for by חסידך David means himself. According to Norzi, the Spanish MSS have חסידיך with the Masoretic note יתיר יוד, and the lxx, Targ., and Syriac translate, and the Talmud and Midrash interpret it, in accordance with this Ker. There is no ground for the reading חסידיך, and it is also opposed by the personal form of expression surrounding it.
(Note: Most MSS and the best, which have no distinction of Ker and Chethb here, read חסידך, as also the Biblia Ven. 1521, the Spanish Polyglott and other older printed copies. Those MSS which give חסידיך (without any Ker), on the other hand, scarcely come under consideration.)
The positive expression of hope in Psa 16:11 comes as a companion to the negative just expressed: Thou wilt grant me to experience (הודיע, is used, as usual, of the presentation of a knowledge, which concerns the whole man and not his understanding merely) ארח חיּים, the path of life, i.e., the path to life (cf. Pro 5:6; Pro 2:19 with ib. Psa 10:17; Mat 7:14); but not so that it is conceived of as at the final goal, but as leading slowly and gradually onwards to life; חיּים in the most manifold sense, as, e.g., in Psa 36:10; Deu 30:15 : life from God, with God, and in God, the living God; the opposite of death, as the manifestation of God's wrath and banishment from Him. That his body shall not die is only the external and visible phase of that which David hopes for himself; on its inward, unseen side it is a living, inwrought of God in the whole man, which in its continuance is a walking in the divine life. The second part of Psa 16:11, which consists of two members, describes this life with which he solaces himself. According to the accentuation, - which marks חיים with Olewejored not with Rebia magnum or Pazer, - שׂבע שׂמחות is not a second object dependent upon תּודיעני, but the subject of a substantival clause: a satisfying fulness of joy is את־פּניך, with Thy countenance, i.e., connected with and naturally produced by beholding Thy face (את preposition of fellowship, as in Psa 21:7; 140:14); for joy is light, and God's countenance, or doxa, is the light of lights. And every kind of pleasurable things, נעמות, He holds in His right hand, extending them to His saints - a gift which lasts for ever; נצח equivalent to לנצח. נצח, from the primary notion of conspicuous brightness, is duration extending beyond all else - an expression for לעולם, which David has probably coined, for it appears for the first time in the Davidic Psalms. Pleasures are in Thy right hand continually - God's right hand is never empty, His fulness is inexhaustible.
The apostolic application of this Psalm (Act 2:29-32; Act 13:35-37) is based on the considerations that David's hope of not coming under the power of death was not realised in David himself, as is at once clear, to the unlimited extent in which it is expressed in the Psalm; but that it is fulfilled in Jesus, who has not been left to Hades and whose flesh did not see corruption; and that consequently the words of the Psalm are a prophecy of David concerning Jesus, the Christ, who was promised as the heir to his throne, and whom, by reason of the promise, he had prophetically before his mind. If we look into the Psalm, we see that David, in his mode of expression, bases that hope simply upon his relation to Jahve, the ever-living One. That it has been granted to him in particular, to express this hope which is based upon the mystic relation of the חסיד to Jahve in such language, - a hope which the issue of Jesus' life has sealed by an historical fulfilment, - is to be explained from the relation, according to the promise, in which David stands to his seed, the Christ and Holy One of God, who appeared in the person of Jesus. David, the anointed of God, looking upon himself as in Jahve, the God who has given the promise, becomes the prophet of Christ; but this is only indirectly, for he speaks of himself, and what he says has also been fulfilled in his own person. But this fulfilment is not limited to the condition, that he did not succumb to any peril that threatened his life so long as the kingship would have perished with him, and that, when he died, the kingship nevertheless remained (Hofmann); nor, that he was secured against all danger of death until he had accomplished his life's mission, until he had fulfilled the vocation assigned to him in the history of the plan of redemption (Kurtz) - the hope which he cherishes for himself personally has found a fulfilment which far exceeds this. After his hope has found in Christ its full realisation in accordance with the history of the plan of redemption, it receives through Christ its personal realisation for himself also. For what he says, extends on the one hand far beyond himself, and therefore refers prophetically to Christ: in decachordo Psalterio - as Jerome boldly expresses it - ab inferis suscitat resurgentem. But on the other hand that which is predicted comes back upon himself, to raise him also from death and Hades to the beholding of God. Verus justitiae sol - says Sontag in his Tituli Psalmorum, 1687 - e sepulcro resurrexit, στήλη seu lapis sepulcralis a monumento devolutus, arcus triumphalis erectus, victoria ab hominibus reportata. En vobis Michtam! En Evangelium! - |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
My glory - My tongue, which is a man's glory and privilege, above all other living creatures. Rejoiceth - Declares my inward joy. For this word signifies not so much eternal joy, as the outward demonstrations of it. My flesh - My body shall quietly rest in the grave. Shall rest - in confident assurance of its incorruption there, and of its resurrection to an immortal life: the flesh or body is in itself, but a dead lump of clay; yet hope is here ascribed to it figuratively, as it is to the brute creatures, Rom 8:19. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Therefore my heart is glad - Unutterably happy in God; always full of the Divine presence; because whatsoever I do pleaseth him. The man Christ Jesus must be constantly in communion with God, because he was without spot and blemish.
My glory rejoiceth - My tongue, so called by the Hebrews, (see Psa 57:8; Psa 30:12), because it was bestowed on us to glorify God, and because it is our glory, being the instrument of expressing our thoughts by words. See Dodd. But soul bids as fair to be the meaning. See the notes on Act 2:25, etc.
My flesh also shall rest in hope - There is no sense in which these and the following words can be spoken of David. Jesus, even on the cross, and breathing out his soul with his life, saw that his rest in the grave would be very short: just a sufficiency of time to prove the reality of his death, but not long enough to produce corruption; and this is well argued by St. Peter, Act 2:31. |
2 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.
1 A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
5 Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah.
26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
17 Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.
2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and the spirit of God came upon him.
20 And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of the head.
16 And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
17 And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents.
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
8 In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them.
14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
13 And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:
14 Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.
15 And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,
16 After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
17 That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
27 Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
35 Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
36 For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
37 But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.
29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
7 For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.
11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
10 O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
17 LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.
51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
49 Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?
10 For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
16 His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.
14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
24 When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.
28 Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.
12 And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him; and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.
10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
6 Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
25 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.
8 Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.