For this God [is] our God for ever and ever
Who is spoken of throughout the whole psalm as greatly to be
praised, as well as is known in Zion, as the stability, security,
and protection of her. This is said as pointing unto him as if
visible, as Christ is God manifest in the flesh, now in Gospel
times, to which this psalm belongs; as distinguishing him from
all others, from the gods of the Gentiles, rejected by the people
of God; as claiming an interest in him as their covenant God; as
exulting in the view of such relation to him; as suggesting how
happy they were on this account; and especially since this
relation will always continue, being founded in an everlasting
covenant, and arising from the unchangeable love of God;
he will be our guide, [even] unto death;
the Lord orders the steps of the righteous, holds them by the
right hand, and guides them with his counsel and in judgment:
Christ, the great Shepherd of the flock, feeds them, as the
antitype of David, according to the integrity of his heart, and
guides them by the skilfulness of his hands; he guides their feet
in the ways of peace, life, and salvation, by himself; he leads
them into green pastures, beside the still waters, and unto
fountains of living waters: the Spirit of the Lord leads them to
the fulness of Christ; guides them into all truth, as it is in
him; directs them into his and his Father's love, and leads them
on to the land of uprightness. And this guide is an everlasting
one; "even unto death", or "in death", or "above death"
F11; so as not to be hurt of the second
death. He guides not only to the brink of Jordan's river, but
through the deep waters of it, and never leaves till he has
landed them safe on the shores of eternity: and some, as Aben
Ezra, render the word as if it was (tymlwe) , "for ever"; and others, as Abendana
observes, render it "secretly"; the Lord sometimes leading his
people in ways dark and hidden to them: and others give the sense
of it, "as in the days of youth"; that is, God is the guide of
his people in old age as in youth; he is always their guide, and
ever will be: to which sense incline R. Moses in Aben Ezra,
others in Kimchi and Abendana, and as also Jarchi and the Chaldee
paraphrase; but Kimchi and Ben Melech render it as we do, "unto
death", or "unto our death".