The Treasury of David
by C.H. Spurgeon

EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS
(Psalms 44 Verse 04)

Verse 4. Thou art my King, O God. Knowing right well thy power and grace my heart is glad to own thee for her sovereign prince. Who among the mighty are so illustrious as thou art? To whom, then, should I yield my homage or turn for aid? God of my fathers in the olden time, thou art my soul's monarch and liege Lord. Command deliverances for Jacob. To whom should a people look but to their king? he it is who, by virtue of his office, fights their battles for them. In the case of our King, how easy it is for him to scatter all our foes! O Lord, the King of kings, with what ease canst thou rescue thy people; a word of thine can do it, give but the command and thy persecuted people shall be free. Jacob's long life was crowded with trials and deliverances, and his descendants are here called by his name, as if to typify the similarity of their experience to that of their great forefather. He who would win the blessings of Israel must share the sorrows of Jacob. This verse contains a personal declaration and an intercessory prayer; those can pray best who make most sure of their personal interest in God, and those who have the fullest assurance that the Lord is their God should be the foremost to plead for the rest of the tried family of the faithful.

 

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 4. My King; apparently with a personal application to himself, the poet individually claiming his own place in the covenant between God and his people. J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Verse 4. Thou art my king, O God; command deliverances for Jacob. If there were no creature, no instrument in the world to help, yet would you not be at a loss in time of need, for he that is on the throne could do it alone. He can do all that ever you need, without any means or instruments. His bare word is sufficient, all sufficient, for it, whatever it be, how great, how difficult, how impossible soever it seems. Such a power there is even in the word of the great King. There needs no more to deliver you, to deliver his people anywhere, how deep soever plunged, but only the command of him that sits on the throne. If the gospel, the interests of Christ, in these parts of the world, and the dear concerns of our souls, and the souls of posterity, were all as dry bones, in a more forlorn and hopeless condition than they are, he could make all live with a word. He that is our King, that sits upon the throne, can command life into that which seems as far from living as a dry bone. While he keeps the throne, it is a senseless heart that fails through distrust of his power, even when all visible power and help fail. David Clarkson.

 

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 4.

  1. Divine royalty acknowledged.
  2. Royal interposition entreated.
  3. Divine covenant hinted at, Jacob; or, the loyal subject seeking royal aid for the royal seed.

Verse 4. Personal allegiance and pleading intercession.

Verse 4. My King. This intends --

  1. My Ruler.
  2. My Honour.
  3. My Leader.
  4. My Defender.

Verse 4. The deliverances of Jacob, illustrated by his eventful life.


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