Psalms 25:15

25:15-22 The psalmist concludes, as he began, with expressing dependence upon God, and desire toward him. It is good thus to hope, and quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord. And if God turns to us, no matter who turns from us. He pleads his own integrity. Though guilty before God, yet, as to his enemies, he had the testimony of conscience that he had done them no wrong. God would, at length, give Israel rest from all their enemies round about. In heaven, God's Israel will be perfectly redeemed from all troubles. Blessed Saviour, thou hast graciously taught us that without thee we can do nothing. Do thou teach us how to pray, how to appear before thee in the way which thou shalt choose, and how to lift up our whole hearts and desires after thee, for thou art the Lord our righteousness.

Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord,.... Not only as the God of nature and providence, for his daily support and supply, in which sense the eyes of all creatures wait upon him; but as his covenant God and Father, having the eyes of his understanding opened to see and know him as such, and the eye of his faith directed to him, to believe in him, and make him his hope and trust; and his eye was single to him; it was to him, and him only, that he looked; and it was constant, it was ever to him, he set the Lord always before him; and such a look was well pleasing to God: it may also respect the lifting up of his eyes to God in prayer for all mercies temporal and spiritual, and his prayer was the prayer of faith; as follows: for he shall pluck my feet out of the net; of the corruption of nature, and the lusts of it, as Aben Ezra interprets it; by which the saints are sometimes ensnared and taken captive, and out of which they cannot make their escape of themselves; but there is a deliverance from it by Jesus Christ their Lord: or out of the temptations of Satan, called his devices, and wiles, and the snares of the devil; and as the Lord knows how to deliver his out of temptations, he does deliver them in his own time; or rather out of the nets and snares laid for him by wicked men; as by his son Absalom, Ahithophel, and others, in which his feet were as a bird in the snare of the fowler; but he believed the net, or snare, would be broken, and he should escape, as he did.

Psalm 25:15-16 . Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord — My trust is in him, and my expectation of relief is from him only. He shall pluck my feet out of the net — He will deliver me out of all my temptations and tribulations. Turn thee unto me — Turn thy face and favour to me; for I am desolate and afflicted — Destitute of all other hopes and succours, persecuted by mine enemies, and forsaken by most of my friends. Such was his condition during Absalom’s rebellion. “They who are ever looking unto the Lord will be heard when they beseech him to turn his face, and to look upon them.” — Horne.

Verse 15. - Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord . David is always looking to God ( Psalm 141:8 ), waiting for him ( Psalm 40:1 ; Psalm 62:1, 5 ; Psalm 69:3 , etc.), expecting his providences, anticipating his deliverances ( Psalm 3:7 ; Psalm 5:11 ; Psalm 7:1 ; Psalm 9:3 , etc.). He is now, apparently, in some danger or difficulty, and in need of the Divine succour (comp. ver. 2). For he shall pluck my feet out of the net (comp. Psalm 9:15 ; Psalm 10:10 ; Psalm 31:5 ; Psalm 35:7 , etc.). Psalm 25:15

15 . Mine eyes &c.] The attitude of expectant prayer. Cp. Psalm 141:8 ; Psalm 123:1 ff.; 1 Thessalonians 5:17 . Prof. Cheyne compares the proper name Elyôçnai or Elyehôçnai, ‘Unto Yahve are mine eyes,’ 1 Chronicles 3:23 , Ezra 8:4 . for he shall pluck &c.] Release me from the entanglements and perplexities of life, whether due to my own faults or to the hostility of enemies. Cp. Psalm 9:15 ; Psalm 31:4 . 15–21 . Renewed prayer, for deliverance and preservation.

Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord - This is an indication of the habitual state of mind of the psalmist. He had said that God would lead and guide those who were meek, gentle, teachable, humble; and he now says that this was his habitual state of mind. He constantly looked to God. He sought His direction. In perplexity, in doubt, in difficulty, in danger, in view of death and the future world, he looked to God as his guide. In other words, in reference to himself, he carried out the principles which he had stated as constituting true religion. It was a religion of dependence on God, for man's only hope is in him. For he shall pluck my feet out of the net - Margin, "bring forth." Compare Psalm 9:15-16, note; Psalm 10:9, note. The "net" here is that which had been laid for him by the wicked. He trusted in God alone to deliver him from it.

He who keeps his eyes constantly directed towards God ( Psalm 141:8 ; Psalm 123:1 ), is continually in a praying mood, which cannot remain unanswered. תּמיד corresponds to ἀδιαλείπτως in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 . The aim of this constant looking upwards to God, in this instance, is deliverance out of the enemy's net. He can and will pull him out ( Psalm 31:5 ) of the net of complicated circumstances into which he has been ensnared without any fault of his own.

## 1. The internal or inward form, with respect to which the allegation is made either according to the sense intended by the Holy Spirit; or its analogical accomrnodation. (1.) The sense intended by the Holy Spirit, is either literal, or typical and mystical. In an immediate literal sense, there are frequent quotations which concern Christ, of whom the prophets prophesied, kata to rhton , word for word, as Isaiah 7:14, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel;" which in the proper and proximate sense is cited with respect to Christ, Matthew 1:23 ,---compare also Deuteronomy 18:15 , with Acts 3:22; Psalms 2:7 , with Acts 13:33; Hebrews 1:5 , and Hebrews 5:5; Psalms 8:2 , with Matthew 21:16; Psalms 22:18 , with Matthew 27:35; John 19:24; Psalms 40:6-8 , with Hebrews 10:5 , (&c.;) and Psalms 45:6-7 , with Hebrews 1:8-9 ; and Psalms 68:18 , with Eph. 8; and Psalms 69:8 , with Romans 15:3 ; and Psalms 102:25 , with Hebrews 1:10 ; and Psalms 110:7 , with Matthew 22:24,45; Mr 12:36; Luke 20:42-44; Acts 2:34-35; 1 Corinthians 15:25; Hebrews 1:13; Psalms 110:4; Hebrews 5:6 , and Hebrews 7:17; Psalms 118:22 , with Matthew 21:44; Mr 12:10; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:7

1. It must be bonum—good. 2. It must be Futurum—future. 3. It must be Possibile—possible. 4. It must be Arduum—hard or difficult to obtain. (3.) I say hope is a grace of God, whereby we expect good to come, patiently waiting until it comes . Hope makes the soul quiet and patient until it comes to possess the good desired and hoped for: Romans 8:25, "But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." The Hebrew word, which is often translated hope, signifies a very vehement intention, both of body and mind, a stretching forth of the spirit or mind, in waiting for a desired good. 2. Secondly, That hope which accompanies salvation is always conversant about holy and heavenly objects, as about God and Christ . 2 Corinthians 4:18, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." Hope fares well; it is nourished at a prince's table; it lives upon honey and milk, oil and wine; it lives upon the sweetmeats, the delicacies of heaven—as God, Christ, and glory, Psalms 31:24; Psalms 33:22; Psalms 38:15; Psalms 42:5; Psalms 43:5; Psalms 39:7; Psalms 71:5, and Psalms 15:5.