A manual of the book of Psalms · Martin Luther
PSALM XVI.
_David, in distrust of merits, and hatred of idolatry, fleeth to God for preservation.—He sheweth the hope of his calling, of the resurrection, and life everlasting._ Michtam of David. Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. _O my soul_, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou _art_ my Lord: my goodness _extendeth_ not to thee; _But_ to the saints that _are_ in the earth, and _to_ the excellent, in whom _is_ all my delight. Their sorrows shall be multiplied _that_ hasten _after_ another _god_; their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips. The LORD _is_ the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant _places_; yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night-seasons. I have set the LORD always before me: because _he is_ at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence _is_ fulness of joy; at thy right hand _there are_ pleasures for evermore.
This is a prophecy concerning the passion and resurrection of Christ; and the apostles quote it, Acts ii. and xiii. as having a striking reference to Christ. This is a glorious Psalm and a precious jewel among all the Psalms on this account,—because it shows forth in clear words that all that splendid and magnificent worship of the law of Moses, its sacrifices, its sabbath worship, its circumcision, in all which the Jews so unceasingly boasted, is done away with by the gospel; for in the fourth verse, David plainly says, that those who follow works and the righteousness of the law, follow strange gods and idols: and he shows that the Jews, although a sacred people, should be rejected, and another people chosen, even a people who should believe in Christ, who were the true elect, inheritance, and peculiar people of God. This Psalm also has reference to the First, Second, and Third Commandments; for it foretels a new glory of God, a new work and word, and that new kind of worship which was to be revealed to the world: and it refers also to the first and second petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.