The king's heart [is] in the hand of the Lord, [as] the
rivers
of water
The heart of every king, and all that is in it, his thoughts,
counsels, purposes, and designs; the hearts of bad kings, as
Pharaoh, whom the Lord hardened and softened at pleasure; the
antichristian kings, into whose hearts he put it to give their
kingdoms to the beast, ( Revelation
17:17 ) ; the hearts of good kings, as David, Solomon, Cyrus,
and others: and if the hearts of kings are in the hands of the
Lord, which are full of things of the greatest importance with
respect to the government of the world; and which are generally
more untractable and unmanageable; and who are more resolute and
positive, and will have their own wills and ways, especially
arbitrary princes; then much more the hearts of other persons.
And which are as "rivers of water"; for so the words may be
rendered, as rivers of water is "the heart of a king", which is
"in the hand of the Lord"; unstable, fluid, and fluctuating; and
yet the Lord can stay and settle, and fix them, and keep them
steady and within bounds: or which, like a torrent of water,
comes with force and impetus; and so the Septuagint render it,
"the force of waters"; and bears all before it, as do the wills
of despotic kings; and yet these the Lord can stop and bound, and
rule and overrule: or like rivers of water, reviving and
refreshing, so is the heart of a good king, full of wisdom and
prudence, of integrity and faithfulness, of clemency and
goodness; the streams of whose bounty and kindness flow among his
subjects, to their great pleasure and profit; so Christ, the King
of kings, is said to be as "rivers of water", ( Isaiah 32:2 ) . The
allusion is to gardeners, that make channels for the water to run
in, to water their gardens; or to husbandmen, that cut aqueducts
from rivers, to water their fields; or to the turning of the
course of rivers, as Euphrates was by Cyrus, when he took
Babylon. The heart of a king is as much at the dispose of the
Lord, and can be turned by him as easily as such canals may be
made, or the course of a river turned; for it follows: he
turneth it whithersoever he will;
contrary to their first designs, and to answer another purpose;
oftentimes towards his people, and for the good of his cause and
interest, which they never designed; and to bring about such
things as were out of their view. And so, in conversion, the Lord
can turn the hearts of men as he pleases; their understanding,
will, and affections, are in his hands: he can make the
understanding light which was darkness, and so turn it from
darkness to light; he can take off the stiffness of the will, and
turn it from its bias and bent, and make it willing to that which
is good in the day of his power: he can turn the channel and
course of the affections from sinful lusts and pleasures, to
himself, his son, his truths, word, worship, ordinances, and
people; he can take out of the heart what he pleases, its
ignorance, hardness, enmity, unbelief, pride, and vanity; and he
can put in what he pleases, his fear, his laws, his Spirit, and
the gifts and graces of if; he can change and turn it just as he
will; he that made the heart can operate upon it, and do with it
as seems good in his sight. The Heathens very wrongly call one of
their deities Verticordia F15, from the power of turning
the heart they ascribe to it; however, this shows their sense,
that to turn the heart is the property of deity.