Psalm 37:10

EXPOSITION

Verse 10. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be. When bad men reach to greatness, the judgments of God frequently sweep them away; their riches melt, their power decays, their happiness turns to wretchedness; they themselves cease any longer to be numbered with the living. The shortness of life makes us see that the glitter of the wicked great is not true gold. O wherefore, tried believer, dost thou envy one who in a little while will lie lower than the dust? Yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. His house shall be empty, his chair of office vacant, his estate without an owner; he shall be utterly blotted out, perhaps cut off by his own debauchery, or brought to a deathbed of penury by his own extravagance. Gone like a passing cloud -- forgotten as a dream -- where are his boastings and hectorings, and where the pomp which made poor mortals think the sinner blest?

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 10. Thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. To wit, because he shall be grubbed up by the roots. Arthur Jackson.

Verse 10. His place ... shall not be. The very land he occupied as a home, and the title to which was unimpeachable, is no longer his place. It has passed into other hands. Nothing of all he had on earth is his. He is as poor as the most miserable object that subsisted on alms. William S. Plumer.

Verse 10. The peacock, a glorious fowl, when he beholds that comely fan and circle which he maketh of the beautiful feathers of his tail, he rejoiceth, he setteth, and beholdeth every part thereof: but when he looketh on his feet, which he perceiveth to be black and foul, he by and by, with great misliking, vails his top gallant, and seemeth to sorrow. In like manner, a great many know by experience, that when they see themselves to abound in riches and honours, they glory and are deeply conceited of themselves; they praise their fortune, and admire themselves; they make plots, and appoint much for themselves to perform in many years to come. This year, they say, we will bear this office, and the next year that; afterward we shall have the rule of such a province; then we will build a palace in such a city, whereunto we will adjoin such gardens of pleasure, and such vineyards: and thus they make a very large reckoning aforehand, who if they did but once behold their feet, if they did but think upon the shortness of their life, so transitory and inconstant; how soon would they let fall their proud feathers, forsake their arrogancy, and change their purpose, their minds, their lives, and their manners. Thomas Tymme.

HINTS FOR THE VILLAGE PREACHER

Verse 10.

1. Consider what the departed sinner has left. Possessions, joys, honours, aims, hopes, etc.
2. Consider where he has gone.
3. Consider whether you will share the same lot.

Verse 10-11. Terror to the wicked: comfort for believers. A. Farindon.