The Lord preserveth the simple
Such as have but a small degree of understanding, either in
things natural or spiritual, in comparison of others; babes, as
the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic
versions render it, so in the Talmud F9; see ( Matthew
11:25 ) . Such who are sensible of their lack of wisdom, and
what they have they do not lean unto or trust in, but being
sensible of their weakness commit themselves to the Lord; they
are sincere and upright, harmless and inoffensive, artless and
incautious, and so easily imposed upon by designing men; but the
Lord preserves them, as from sin, from a total and final falling
away by it, so from gross errors and heresies; he preserves them
from the snares and pollutions of the world, and from the
temptations of Satan, so as not to be overcome with them; he
preserves them by his Spirit, power, and grace, safe to his
kingdom and glory.
I was brought low and he helped me;
the psalmist returns to his own case, and gives an instance of
the divine goodness in himself; he had been brought low by
affliction of body, by distress of enemies, through want of the
necessaries and conveniences of life; he had been brought low as
to spiritual things, through the weakness of grace, the
prevalence of corruption, the temptations of Satan, and the
hidings of God's face; but the Lord helped him to bear up under
all this; he put underneath his everlasting arms, and upheld him
with the right hand of his righteousness; he helped him out of
his low estate, and delivered him out of all his troubles, when
none else could; when things were at the greatest extremity, and
he in the utmost distress, just ready to go down into silence and
dwell there, ( Psalms 94:17
) . The Targum is,
``he looked upon me to redeem me.''