"The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord." Jesus is a Royal Personage. The question, "Art thou a King then?" received a full answer from the Saviour's lips: "Thou sayest that I am a King.

"Thou hast given him his heart's desire." That desire he ardently pursued when he was on earth, both by his prayer, his actions, and his suffering; he manifested that his heart longed to redeem his people, and now in heaven he has his desire granted him, for he sees his beloved coming to be with…

"For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness." The word prevent formerly signified to precede or go before, and assuredly Jehovah preceded his Son with blessings.

"He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever." The first words may suit King David, but the length of days for ever and ever can only refer to the King Messiah. Jesus, as man, prayed for resurrection and he received it, and now possesses it in immortality.

"His glory is great in thy salvation." Immanuel bears the palm; he once bore the cross. The Father has glorified the Son, so that there is no glory like unto that which surroundeth him.

"For thou hast made him most blessed for ever." He is most blessed in himself, for he is God over all, blessed for ever; but this relates to him as our Mediator, in which capacity blessedness is given to him as a reward.

"For the king trusteth in the Lord." Our Lord, like a true King and leader, was a master in the use of the weapons, and could handle well the shield of faith, for he has set us a brilliant example of unwavering confidence in God.

"Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee." The destruction of the wicked is a fitting subject for joy to the friends of righteousness; hence here, and in most scriptural songs, it is noted with calm thanksgiving.

"Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger." They themselves shall be an oven to themselves, and so their own tormentors. Those who burned with anger against thee shall be burned by thine anger. The fire of sin will be followed by the fire of wrath.

"Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth." Their life's work shall be a failure, and the result of their toil shall be disappointment. That in which they prided themselves shall be forgotten; their very names shall be wiped out as abominable, "and their seed from among the children of men."…

"For they intended evil against thee." God takes notice of intentions. He who would but could not is as guilty as he who did. Christ's church and cause are not only attacked by those who do not understand it, but there are many who have the light and yet hate it.

"Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them." For a time the foes of God may make bold advances, and threaten to overthrow everything, but a few ticks of the clock will alter the face of their affairs.

"Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength." A sweet concluding verse. Our hearts shall join in it. It is always right to praise the Lord when we call to remembrance his goodness to his Son, and the overthrow of his foes.

"Thy strength. . . . thy salvation." So you have two words, "virtus and salus," strength and salvation. Note them well; for not virtus without salus, not salus without virtus, neither without the other is full, nor both without Tua Domine. In virtute is well, so it have in salute after it.

"Thou hast given him the desire of his soul." He desired to eat the passover, and to lay down his life when he would, and again when he would to take it; and thou hast given it to him.

"For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head." The Son of God could not be more ready to ask for the blessings of the divine goodness, than the Father was to give them; and his disposition is the same towards all his adopted sons.

"He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever." The glory of God is concerned in Christ's living for ever—1. The glory of his faithfulness: for eternal life and blessedness were pledged to Immanuel in covenant as the reward of his work (Psalm 110:1-4; Isaiah…

"His glory is great in thy salvation." I remember one dying, and hearing some discourse of Jesus Christ; "Oh," said she, "speak more of this—let me hear more of this—be not weary of telling his praise; I long to see him, how should I but long to hear of him?" Surely I cannot say too much of Jesus…

"Thou hast made him exceeding glad:" literally, "brightened him," possibly in allusion to the brightness of Moses' face. Dalman Hapstone, M.A., in "The Ancient Psalms. . . . A Literal—Translation and Notes," etc., 1867.

"Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee." By a kind of climax in the form of expression, "hand," is followed by "right hand," a still more emphatic sign of active strength.

"Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them." How then shall it fare with sinners, when, after all, shall come that general fire so often foretold, which shall either fall from heaven, or ascend out of…

"Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men." A day is coming when all the "fruits" of sin, brought forth by sinners in their words, their writings, and their actions shall be "destroyed;" yea, the tree itself, which had produced them, shall be…

"They intended," or warped. Hebrew, have bent or stretched. A similitude taken from weavers, who warp their yarn before they weave: or from archers, who, when they have bent their bow and put in their arrow, do take their aim.—John Diodati.

"Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back," or thou shalt set them as a butt, "when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them." The judgments of God are called his "arrows," being sharp, swift, sure and deadly.