Psalm 18:27

EXPOSITION

Verse 27. For thou wilt save the afflicted people. This is a comforting assurance for the poor in spirit whose spiritual griefs admit of no sufficient solace from any other than a divine hand. They cannot save themselves nor can others do it, but God will save them.

But will bring down high looks. Those who look down on others with scorn shall be looked down upon with contempt ere long. The Lord abhors a proud look. What a reason for repentance and humiliation! How much better to be humble than to provoke God to humble us in his wrath! A considerable number of clauses occur in this passage in the future tense; how forcibly are we thus brought to remember that our present joy or sorrow is not to have so much weight with us as the great and eternal future!

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 27. The afflicted people. The word rendered "afflicted," properly signifies "poor," or "needy." The persons spoken of are obviously afflicted ones, for they need to be saved or delivered; but it is not their affliction, so much as their poverty, that is indicated by the epithet here given them; and, from the poor being contrasted, not with the wealthy, but with the proud -- for that is the meaning of the figurative expression, "the man of high looks" -- it seems plain that, though the great body of the class referred to have always been found among the comparatively "poor in this world," the reference is to those poor ones whom our Lord represents as "poor in spirit." John Brown.

Verse 27. High looks: namely, the proud; the raising up of the eyebrows being a natural sign of that vice. Psalms 101:5 Proverbs 6:17 . John Diodati.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 27. Consolation for the humble, and desolation for the proud.

Verse 27. (second clause). The bringing down of high looks. In a way of grace and justice. Among saints and sinner, etc. A wide theme.