The Treasury of David
by C.H. Spurgeon
EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS
(Psalms 145 Verse 20)
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 20. The LORD preserveth all them that love him. They keep him in their love, and he keeps them by his love. See how these favoured ones have advanced from fearing the Lord and crying to him, even to loving him, and in that love they are secure from all danger. Mark the number of "alls" in these later verses of the Psalm. In each of these God is all in all. But all the wicked will he destroy. Wickedness is an offence to all holy beings, and therefore those who are determined to continue in it must be weeded out. As good sanitary laws remove all creators of pest and plague, so does the moral government of God mark every evil thing for destruction; it cannot be tolerated in the presence of a perfectly holy God. What ruins wicked men frequently become in this life! What monuments of wrath will they be in the world to come! Like Nineveh and Babylon, and other destroyed places, they shall only exist to declare how thoroughly God fulfils his threatenings.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Verse 20. The Lord preserveth, etc. God's mercy and God's justice; he preserves and he destroys. Philip IV of France, surnamed the Beautiful, on his escutcheon emblazoned a sword and an olive branch, with the motto, Utrumque, i.e. "one or the other." A truly great king is master of either art -- war and peace. --Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse 20. Those who were called "them that fear him" are now denominated "them that love him." --Simon de Muis.
Verse 20. All the wicked will he destroy. God has so many different, unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world, and sending them to hell, that there is nothing to make it appear that God had need to be at the expense of a miracle, or go out of the ordinary course of his providence, to destroy any wicked man at any moment. -- Jonathan Edwards.
Verse 20. All the wicked will he destroy. It must not be overlooked that this declaration occurs in a song of praise. The whole of the context is utterly inconsistent with the expression of emotions of anger or revenge. --Speaker's Commentary.
Verse 20. All the wicked will he destroy. Prayer Book Version, "scattereth abroad."] Like the ruins of a demolished building; or rather, like an army, which the enemy has completely routed. -- William Keatinge Clay.
Verse 20. Preserveth ... destroy. Notice this recurrent the guardianship of the good implies the destruction of the wicked. --A. S. Aglen.
HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS
Verse 20. Those who love God are preserved from excessive temptation, falling into sin, despair, apostasy, remorse, famishing; preserved in trial, persecution, depression, death; preserved to activity, holiness, victory, glory.
Verse 20. Solemn Contrasts.
- Between human characters. "Them that love him." "The wicked."
- Between human destinies. "Preserveth." "Destroy." --C. A. D.
Verse 20. How the love of God is the opposite of wickedness, and wickedness inconsistent with the love of God.