The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity
The spirit of a mighty man, as Jarchi; a man of spirit, that has
a spirit of fortitude, even of natural fortitude, and especially
of Christian fortitude; that has a spirit of might upon him, of
power, and sound mind; a man of a Christian spirit, that is
renewed in the spirit of his mind; who is a spiritual man, and
has the Spirit of God in him, as well as a rational soul, an
immaterial, immortal, and never dying substance. Such a man will
bear up under many trials and exercises of life; will support
under bodily infirmities; will take patiently the loss Of friends
and of substance; endure reproach, and the loss of a good name,
credit, and reputation, cheerfully, for righteousness's sake; and
suffer persecution for the sake of Christ, and his Gospel, with
an undaunted and unbroken spirit: the peace of conscience he
feels within; the presence of God with him; the love of God shed
abroad in his heart; seeing all his afflictions flowing from
love, and working for his good; and having in view the glories of
another world; he bears up under and goes through all afflictions
with ease and pleasure; his conscience is clear, his heart is
whole, his mind is easy; his wounds being healed, his sins
pardoned, and his soul saved in Chris; but a wounded spirit
who can bear?
or a "smitten" F23 one, smitten by the Lord; by the
word of the Lord, which he uses as a hammer to break rocky hearts
in pieces; by the law of God, which produces wrath, and a looking
for of fiery indignation; by the Spirit of God, awakening the
conscience, and convicting it of sin, righteousness, and
judgment; which smitings are very grievous, though they tend to
bring to repentance; are in order to healing, and are in love.
Or, "a broken spirit" F24, as in ( Proverbs
17:22 ) ; broken with a sense of sin, and with an excess of
sorrow for it; when a man becomes lifeless and hopeless, has no
hope of life and salvation, and is in the utmost confusion; all
his measures and purposes are broken, as well as his heart; he
knows not what to do, nor what way to take; he is disconsolate,
and refuses to be comforted; and which for the present is
intolerable: though the Lord has a regard to such, is nigh unto
them; has sent his son to bind up their broken hearts; yea, has
himself been broken for them; and happy it is for them that they
fall on him and are broken, and not he on them. Or, "a wounded
spirit"; with a view of sin, as committed against the omniscient
and omnipotent Being, a pure and holy God; a righteous one, whose
nature is infinite; and so sin committed against him requires an
infinite satisfaction, which a creature cannot give; and a God
also, who is the author of their beings, and the Father of their
mercies; all which makes sin against him the more cutting and
wounding: likewise they are wounded with a view of the evil
nature of sin, and the aggravated circumstances that attend it;
and with the terrors of the law, that are set in array against
them. And such a spirit "who can bear?" not without the sight of
a wounded Saviour; or without a view of atonement by his
sacrifice; or without the discoveries and applications of
pardoning grace; or without a sense of peace and reconciliation
made by the blood of Christ; or without some hope of salvation by
him; and unless the good Samaritan pours in oil and wine into the
wounds, and binds them up.