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All my bones shall say - My life being preserved, all the members of my body shall magnify thy saving mercy.

Deliverest the poor - This is a general maxim: God is peculiarly mindful of the poor. Where secular advantages are withheld, there is the more need for spiritual help. God considers this, and his kind providence works accordingly.

All my bones shall say - A similar expression occurs in Psalm 51:8: “That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.” The “bones” are here put for the frame; the whole man. See the notes at Psalm 32:3. The idea is, that he had been crushed and overborne with trouble and danger, so that his very frame - that which sustained him - had given way. He says now that if God would interpose in the manner which he prays for, he would be relieved of the insupportable burden, and his whole nature would rejoice.

Who is like unto thee - Who can bring deliverance like God. Compare the notes at Isaiah 40:18. “Which deliverest the poor,” etc. Who rescues the poor from the hand of the mighty. That is,

(a) Who is there that would interpose as God does in behalf of the poor and the downtrodden?

(b) Who is there that could save them as He does? In His power, and in His willingness to aid, there is no one like God. The word rendered poor here rather means one who is afflicted, or crushed by trial.

Yea, the poor and the needy - The word here rendered poor is the same as that which occurs in the former member of the sentence. The word rendered “needy” is that which is commonly used to denote the poor in the usual sense of the term - one who is in need. The reference is to David, who was afflicted by persecution, and at the same thee was in want of the comforts of life.

From him that spoileth him - From him that would plunder and rob him.

It is no new thing for the most righteous men, and the most righteous cause, to meet with enemies. This is a fruit of the old enmity in the seed of the serpent against the Seed of the woman. David in his afflictions, Christ in his sufferings, the church under persecution, and the Christian in the hour temptation, all beseech the Almighty to appear in their behalf, and to vindicate their cause. We are apt to justify uneasiness at the injuries men do us, by our never having given them cause to use us so ill; but this should make us easy, for then we may the more expect that God will plead our cause. David prayed to God to manifest himself in his trial. Let me have inward comfort under all outward troubles, to support my soul. If God, by his Spirit, witness to our spirits that he is our salvation, we need desire no more to make us happy. If God is our Friend, no matter who is our enemy. By the Spirit of prophecy, David foretells the just judgments of God that would come upon his enemies for their great wickedness. These are predictions, they look forward, and show the doom of the enemies of Christ and his kingdom. We must not desire or pray for the ruin of any enemies, except our lusts and the evil spirits that would compass our destruction. A traveller benighted in a bad road, is an expressive emblem of a sinner walking in the slippery and dangerous ways of temptation. But David having committed his cause to God, did not doubt of his own deliverance. The bones are the strongest parts of the body. The psalmist here proposes to serve and glorify God with all his strength. If such language may be applied to outward salvation, how much more will it apply to heavenly things in Christ Jesus!