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Psalms 63:1-11

The Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:1-11

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

EXPOSITION

A PSALM of one absent from the sanctuary, and longing to return to it (, ), pursued by enemies who seek his life (), but confident in God's protection (, ), and, indeed, full of joy and praise and thankfulness ( and ). Near the close he lets fall a word, which shows him to be a king; and there is some reason to think that he is passing through a "dry and thirsty land," literally as well as figuratively (). All these indications agree exactly with the statements in the "title," that the poem was composed by David as he fled through the wilderness of Judea towards the Jordan on the revolt of Absalom (; ).

The psalm is made up of five short stanzas—the first four consisting of two verses each, and the last of three.

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Matthew Henry on Psalms 63:1-2Psalms 63:1-2 · Matthew Henry Concise CommentaryEarly will I seek thee. The true Christian devotes to God the morning hour. He opens the eyes of his understanding with those of his body, and awakes each morning to righteousness. He arises with a thirst after those co…The Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:1Psalms 63:1 · The Pulpit CommentaryO God, thou art my God; or, my strong God (Eli)—my Tower of strength. Early will I seek thee. The song was, perhaps, composed in the night watches, and poured forth at early dawn, when the king woke "refreshed" (comp. P…The Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:1Psalms 63:1 · The Pulpit CommentaryAn invocation and a vow. "O God … seek thee." Rightly understood, these are the sublimest words human lips can utter. "My God!" To claim God as his own with joyful, adoring intelligence and absolute faith, is the highes…The Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:1-11Psalms 63:1-11 · The Pulpit CommentarySoul thirst. We may imagine the psalmist in the wilderness. It is night. He stands at his tent door. The light of moon and stars falls on a sandy waste stretching into dimness and mystery. He is lonely and sad. The empt…The Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:1-8Psalms 63:1-8 · The Pulpit CommentarySublime things. Chrysostom says, "That it was decreed and ordained by the primitive Fathers that no day should pass without the public singing of this psalm." I. THE GRANDEST CONVICTION THE CREATURE CAN HAVE. (Psalms 63…
commentaryMatthew Henry on Psalms 63:1-2Early will I seek thee. The true Christian devotes to God the morning hour. He opens the eyes of his understanding with those of his body, and awakes each morning to righteousness. He arises with a thirst after those co…Matthew HenrycommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:1-8Sublime things. Chrysostom says, "That it was decreed and ordained by the primitive Fathers that no day should pass without the public singing of this psalm." I. THE GRANDEST CONVICTION THE CREATURE CAN HAVE. (Psalms 63…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:1O God, thou art my God; or, my strong God (Eli)—my Tower of strength. Early will I seek thee. The song was, perhaps, composed in the night watches, and poured forth at early dawn, when the king woke "refreshed" (comp. P…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:1An invocation and a vow. "O God … seek thee." Rightly understood, these are the sublimest words human lips can utter. "My God!" To claim God as his own with joyful, adoring intelligence and absolute faith, is the highes…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:1-11Soul thirst. We may imagine the psalmist in the wilderness. It is night. He stands at his tent door. The light of moon and stars falls on a sandy waste stretching into dimness and mystery. He is lonely and sad. The empt…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:2To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. This is the form which the longing takes—to see God once more worshipped in the sanctuary in all the "beauty of holiness," as he had so often seen…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryMatthew Henry on Psalms 63:3-6Even in affliction we need not want matter for praise. When this is the regular frame of a believer's mind, he values the loving-kindness of God more than life. God's loving-kindness is our spiritual life, and that is b…Matthew HenrycommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 63:3Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. The complete resignation of the psalmist, his sense of God's "loving kindness," and his desire to "praise," not to complain, are, under the cir…Joseph S. Exell and contributors