Psa 66:8-12 | TDavid | STEP | EXPOSITION Verse 8 . O bless our God, ye people. Ye chosen seed, peculiarly beloved, it is yours to bless your covenant God as other nations cannot. Ye should lead the strain, for he is peculiarly your God. First visited by his love, ye should be foremost in his praise. And make the voice of his praise to be heard. Whoever else may sing with bated breath, do you be sure to give full tongue and volume to the song. Compel unwilling ears to hear the praises of your covenant God. Make rocks, and hills, and earth, and sea, and heaven itself to echo with your joyful shouts. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS None. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 8 . (last clause). To get a hearing for the gospel -- difficult, necessary, and possible. Ways and means for so doing. Verse 8-9 . Praise to. As God. As our God. Praise for. Preservation. Of natural life. Of spiritual life. Praise by, ye people. On your own account. On account of others. Or, Individually. Unitedly. G. R.

Psalms 66:8-12

EXPOSITION Verse 8 . O bless our God, ye people. Ye chosen seed, peculiarly beloved, it is yours to bless your covenant God as other nations cannot. Ye should lead the strain, for he is peculiarly your God. First visited by his love, ye should be foremost in his praise. And make the voice of his praise to be heard. Whoever else may sing with bated breath, do you be sure to give full tongue and volume to the song. Compel unwilling ears to hear the praises of your covenant God. Make rocks, and hills, and earth, and sea, and heaven itself to echo with your joyful shouts. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS None. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 8 . (last clause). To get a hearing for the gospel -- difficult, necessary, and possible. Ways and means for so doing. Verse 8-9 . Praise to. As God. As our God. Praise for. Preservation. Of natural life. Of spiritual life. Praise by, ye people. On your own account. On account of others. Or, Individually. Unitedly. G. R. EXPOSITION Verse 9 . Which holdeth our soul in life. At any time the preservation of life, and especially the soul's life, is a great reason for gratitude but much more when we are called to undergo extreme trials, which of themselves would crush our being. Blessed be God, who, having put our souls into possession of life, has been pleased to preserve that heaven given life from the destroying power of the enemy. And suffereth not our feet to be moved. This is another and precious boon. If God has enabled us not only to keep our life, but our position, we are bound to give him double praise. Living and standing is the saint's condition through divine grace. Immortal and immoveable are those whom God preserves. Satan is put to shame, for instead of being able to slay the saints, as he hoped, he is not even able to trip them up. God is able to make the weakest to stand fast, and he will do so. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Verse 9 . Which holdeth our soul in life . As the works of creation at first, and upholding all by his power and providence, are yoked together as works of a like wonder, vouchsafed the creation in common, Hebrews 1:2-3 ; so just in the like manner we find regeneration and perseverance joined, as the sum of all other works in this life. Thus "begotten again," and "kept by the power of God to salvation," are joined by the Apostle, 1 Peter 1:3,5 , "Called and preserved in Christ Jesus;" so in Jude 1:1 ... "Blessed be God," says Peter, "who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again." And, O bless our God, ye people, which holdeth our souls in life, says the psalmist. Yea, if we do narrowly eye the words in either, both Peter and the psalmist do bless God for both at once. Blessed be God for "begetting us," who are also "kept by the power of God;" so it follows in Peter. In the psalmist both are comprehended in this one word: Which putteth our souls in life (so the margin, out of the Hebrew), that is, who puts life into your soul at the first, as he did into Adam when he made him a living soul; And then which holdeth, that is, continueth our souls in that life. So the translators render it also, according to the psalmist's scope, and O bless the Lord, saith the psalmist, for these and both these. Thomas Goodwin. Verse 9 . Which holdest our soul in life . It is truth, that all we have is in the hand of God; but God keeps our life in his hand last of all, and he hath that in his hand in a special manner. Though the soul continue, life may not continue; there is the soul when there is not life: life is that which is the union of soul and body. Thou holdest our soul in life; that is, thou holdest soul and body together. So Daniel describes God to Belshazzar, Daniel 5:23 , "The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified." The breath of princes is in the hand of God, and the same hand holds the breath of the meanest subject. This may be matter of comfort to us in times of danger, and times of death: when the hand of man is lifted up to take thy life, remember thy life is held in the hand of God; and as God said to Satan ( Job 2:6 ): Afflict the body of Job, but save his life; so God saith still to bloody wretches, who are as the limbs of Satan: The bodies of such and such are in your hands, the estates of such and such are in your hands, but save their lives. Joseph Caryl. Verse 9 . Putteth our soul in life . An elegant and emphatic expression, only to be understood by observing the exact force of the words. The soul is the life, as is well known, the word ~yf is to place, to place upon, to press in, the word ~yyx signifies properly joinings, fastenings together, and hence those faculties and powers by which nature is held together and made firm. Hermann Venema. Verse 9 . Which holdeth our soul in life . He holdeth our soul in life, that it may not drop away of itself; for being continually in our hands, it is apt to slip through our fingers. Matthew Henry. Verse 9 . And suffereth not our feet to be moved . It is a great mercy to be kept from desperate courses in the time of sad calamities, to be supported under burdens, that we sink not; and to be prevented from denying God, or his truth, in time of persecution. David Dickson. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 8-9 . Praise to. As God. As our God. Praise for. Preservation. Of natural life. Of spiritual life. Praise by, ye people. On your own account. On account of others. Or, Individually. Unitedly. G. R. Verse 9 . Perseverance the subject of gratitude. The maintenance of the inner life. The integrity of the outward character. EXPOSITION Verse 10 . For thou, O God, hast proved us. He proved his Israel with sore trials. David had his temptations. All the saints must go to the proving house; God had one Son without sin, but he never had a son without trial. Why ought we to complain if we are subjected to the rule which is common to all the family, and from which so much benefit has flowed to them? The Lord himself proves us, who then shall raise a question as to the wisdom and the love which are displayed in the operation? The day may come when, as in this case, we shall make hymns out of our griefs, and sing all the more sweetly because our mouths have been purified with bitter draughts. Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Searching and repeated, severe and thorough, has been the test; the same result has followed us as in the case of precious metal, for the dross and tin have been consumed, and the pure ore has been discovered. Since trial is sanctified to so desirable an end, ought we not to submit to it with abounding resignation. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Verse 10 . Thou , O God, hast proved us. It is not known what corn will yield, till it come to the flail; nor what grapes, till they come to the press. Grace is hid in nature, as sweet water in rose leaves; the fire of affliction fetcheth it out. -- Thou hast tried us as silver. The wicked also are tried ( Revelation 3:10 ), but they prove reprobate silver ( Jeremiah 6:28 ), or at best, as alchemy gold, that will not bear the seventh fire, as Job did ( Job 23:10 ). John Trapp. Verse 10 . As silver is tried . Convinced from the frequent use of this illustration, that there was something more than usually instructive in the process of assaying and purifying silver, I have collected some few facts upon the subject. The hackneyed story of the refiner seeing his image in the molten silver while in the fire, has so charmed most of us, that we have not looked further; yet, with more careful study, much could be brought out. To assay silver requires great personal care in the operator. "The principle of assaying gold and silver is very simple theoretically, but in practice great experience is necessary to insure accuracy; and there is no branch of business which demands more personal and undivided attention. The result is liable to the influence of so many contingencies, that no assayer who regards his reputation will delegate the principal process to one not equally skilled with himself. Besides the result ascertainable by weight, there are allowances and compensations to be made, which are known only to an experienced assayer, and if these were disregarded, as might be the case with the mere novice, the report would be wide from the truth." (Encyclopaedia Britannica.) Pagnini's version reads: "Thou hast melted us by blowing upon us," and in the monuments of Egypt, artificers are seen with the blowpipe operating with small fire places, with cheeks to confine and reflect the heat; the worker evidently paying personal attention, which is evident also in Malachi 3:3 , "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." To assay silver requires a skilfully constructed furnace. The description of this furnace would only weary the reader, but it is evidently a work of art in itself. Even the trial of our faith is much more precious than that of gold which perisheth. He has refined us, but not with silver, he would not trust us there, the furnace of affliction is far more skilfully arranged than that. To assay silver the heat must be nicely regulated. "During the operation, the assayer's attention should be directed to the heat of the furnace, which must be neither too hot nor too cold: if too hot, minute portions of silver will be carried off with the lead, and so vitiate the assay; moreover, the pores of the cupel being more open, greater absorption will ensue, and there is liability to loss from that cause. One indication of an excess of heat in the furnace, is the rapid and perpendicular rising of the fumes to the ceiling of the muffle, the mode of checking and controlling which has been pointed out in the description of the improved furnace. When the fumes are observed to fall to the bottom of the muffle, the furnace is then too cold; and if left unaltered, it will be found that the cupellation has been imperfectly performed, and the silver will not have entirely freed itself from the base metals. (Encyclopaedia Britannica.) The assayer repeats his trying process. Usually two or more trials of the same piece are made, so that great accuracy may be secured. Seven times silver is said to be purified, and the saints through varied trials reach the promised rest." C. H. S. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 10 . The assaying of the saints. Verse 10 . The design of the afflictions. To prove them. To reprove them. The illustration of that design. As silver, etc. The issue of the trial. EXPOSITION Verse 11 . Thou broughtest us into the net. The people of God in the olden time were often enclosed by the power of their enemies, like fishes or birds entangled in a net; there seemed no way of escape for them. The only comfort was that God himself had brought them there, but even this was not readily available, since they knew that he had led them there in anger as a punishment for their transgressions; Israel in Egypt was much like a bird in the fowler's net. Thou laidest affliction upon our loins. They were pressed even to anguish by their burdens and pains. Not on their backs alone was the load, but their loins were pressed and squeezed with the straits and weights of adversity. God's people and affliction are intimate companions. As in Egypt every Israelite was a burden bearer, so is every believer while he is in this foreign land. As Israel cried to God by reason of their sore bondage, so also do the saints. We too often forget that God lays our afflictions upon us; if we remembered this fact, we should more patiently submit to the pressure which now pains us. The time will come when, for every ounce of present burden, we shall receive a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Verse 11 . Thou broughtest us into the net , etc. Our enemies have pursued us (like to wild beasts taken by the hunter) into most grievous straits ( 1 Samuel 13:6 ). They have used us like beasts of burden, and laid sore loads upon us, which they have fast bound upon our backs. Thou laidest affliction upon our loins. Coarctationenem in lumbis; we are not only hampered, as in a net, but fettered, as with chains; as if we had been in the jailor's or hangman's hands. John Trapp. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 11-12 . The hand of God should be acknowledged. In our temptations: Thou broughtest us. In our bodily afflictions: Thou laidest, etc. In our persecutions: Thou hast caused, etc. In our deliverances: Thou broughtest us out, etc. G. R. EXPOSITION Verse 12 . Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads. They stormed, and hectored, and treated us like the mire of the street. Riding the high horse, in their arrogance, they, who were in themselves mean men, treated the Lord's people as if they were the meanest of mankind. They even turned their captives into beasts of burden, and rode upon their heads, as some read the Hebrew. Nothing is too bad for the servants of God when they fall into the hands of proud persecutors. We went through fire and through water. Trials many and varied were endured by Israel in Egypt, and are still the portion of the saints. The fires of the brick kiln and the waters of the Nile did their worst to destroy the chosen race; hard labour and child murder were both tried by the tyrant, but Israel went through both ordeals unharmed, and even thus the church of God has outlived, and will outlive, all the artifices and cruelties of man. Fire and water are pitiless and devouring, but a divine fiat stays their fury, and forbids these or any other agents from utterly destroying the chosen seed. Many an heir of heaven has had a dire experience of tribulation; the fire through which he has passed has been more terrible than that which chars the bones, for it has fed upon the marrow of his spirit, and burned into the core of his heart; while the waterfloods of affliction have been even more to be feared than the remorseless sea, for they have gone in even unto the soul, and carried the inner nature down into deeps horrible, and not to be imagined without trembling. Yet each saint has been more than conqueror hitherto, and, as it has been, so it shall be. The fire is not kindled which can burn the woman's seed, neither does the dragon know how to vomit a flood which shall suffice to drown it. But thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. A blessed issue to a mournful story. Canaan was indeed a broad and royal domain for the once enslaved tribes: God, who took them into Egypt, also brought them into the land which flowed with milk and honey, and Egypt was in his purposes en route to Canaan. The way to heaven is via tribulation. "The path of sorrow and that path alone, Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown." How wealthy is the place of every believer, and how doubly does he feel it to be so in contrast with his former slavery: what songs shall suffice to set forth our joy and gratitude for such a glorious deliverance and such a bountiful heritage. More awaits us. The depth of our griefs bears no proportion to the height of our bliss. For our shame we have double, and more than double. Like Joseph we shall rise from the prison to the palace, like Mordecai we shall escape the gallows prepared by malignity, and ride the white horse and wear the royal robe appointed by benignity. Instead of the net, liberty; instead of a burden on the loins, a crown on our heads; instead of men riding over us, we shall rule over the nations: fire shall no more try us, for we shall stand in glory on the sea of glass mingled with fire; and water shall not harm us, for there shall be no more sea. O the splendour of this brilliant conclusion to a gloomy history. Glory be unto him who saw in the apparent evil the true way to the real good. With patience we will endure the present gloom, for the morning cometh. Over the hills faith sees the daybreak, in whose light we shall enter into the wealthy place. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Verse 12 . Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads . The agents are men. Man is a sociable living creature, and should converse with man in love and tranquillity. Man should be a supporter of man; is he become an overthrower? He should help and keep him up; doth he ride over him and tread him under foot? O apostasy, not only from religion, but even from humanity! Quid homini inimicissimum? Homo. (Seneca.) The greatest danger that befalls man comes whence it should least come, from man himself. Caetera animantia, says Pliny, in suo genere, probe degunt, &c. Lions fight not with lions; serpents spend not their venom on serpents; but man is the main suborner of mischief to his own kind... They ride. What need they mount themselves upon beasts, that have feet malicious enough to trample on us? They have a "foot of pride," Psalms 36:11 , from which David prayed to be delivered; a presumptuous heel, which they dare lift up against God; and, therefore, a tyrannous toe, to spurn dejected men. They need not horses and mules, that can kick with the foot of a revengeful malice, Psalms 32:9 . Over us. The way is broad enough wherein they travel, for it is the devil's road. They might well miss the poor, there is room enough besides; they need not ride over us. It were more brave for them to justle with champions that will not give them the way. We never contend for their path; they have it without our envy, not without our pity. Why should they ride over us? Over our heads. Is it not contentment enough to their pride to ride, to their malice to ride over us, but must they delight in bloodiness to ride over our heads? Will not the breaking of our arms and legs, and such inferior limbs, satisfy their indignation? Is it not enough to rack our strength, to mock our innocence, to prey on our estates, but must they thirst after our bloods and lives? Quo tendit saeva libido? Whither will their madness run? But we must not tie ourselves to the letter. Here is a mystical or metamorphical gradation of their cruelty. Their riding is proud; their riding over us is malicious; and their riding over our heads is bloody oppression. Thomas Adams. Verse 12 . (first clause) . The time was when the Bonners and butchers rode over the faces of God's saints, and madefied (Madefy, to moisten, to make wet) the earth with their bloods, every drop whereof begot a new believer. Thomas Adams. Verse 12 . Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads . This verse is like that sea (Mt 8:24) so tempestuous at first, that the vessel was covered with waves; but Christ's rebuke quieted all, and there followed a great calm. Here are cruel Nimrods riding over innocent heads, as they would over fallow lands; and dangerous passages through fire and water; but the storm is soon ended, or rather the passengers are landed. Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. So that this strain of David's music, or psalmody, consists of two notes -- one mournful, the other mirthful; the one a touch of distress, the other of redress: which directs our course to an observation of misery and of mercy; of grievous misery, of gracious mercy. There is desolation and consolation in one verse: a deep dejection, as laid under the feet of beasts; a happy deliverance, broughtest us out into a wealthy place. In both these strains God hath his stroke; he is a principal in this concert. He is brought in for an actor, and for an author; and actor in the persecution, and author in the deliverance. Thou causest, etc; Thou broughtest, etc. In the one he is a causing worker; in the other a sole working cause. In the one he is joined with company: in the other he works alone. He hath a finger in the former; his whole hand is in the latter. We must begin with misery before we come to mercy. If there were no trouble, we should not know the worth of a deliverance. The passion of the saints is given, by the hearty and ponderous description, for very grievous; yet it is written in the forehead of the text, "The Lord caused it." Thou causest men to ride, etc. Hereupon, some wicked libertine may offer to rub his filthiness upon God's purity, and to plead an authentic derivation of all his villainy against the saints from the Lord's warrant: He caused it. We answer, to the justification of truth itself, that God doth ordain and order every persecution that striketh his children, without any allowance to the instrument that gives the blow. God works in the same action with others, not after the same manner. In the affliction of Job were three agents -- God, Satan, and the Sabeans. The devil works on his body, the Sabeans on his goods; yet Job confessed a third party: "The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away." Here oppressors trample on the godly, and God is said to cause it. He causeth affliction for trial (so Psalms 66:10-11 : Thou hast tried us, etc.); they work it for malice; neither can God be accused nor they excused. Thomas Adams. Verse 12 . Thou hast placed men over our heads . Thus Jerome renders, although the Hebrew noun fwga, is in the singular, the word itself denotes an obscure, mean man, who is mentioned with indignity, but ought to be buried in oblivion. The singular noun is taken collectively, and so also is wgfar, with the affix. Such were the Egyptian and Babylonish idolaters, whom the Hebrew served. To place any one over the head of another, or, as the Hebrew word tbkrh means, to ride, to be superior to, to subdue to oneself and subject, and to sit upon and insult, just as the horseman rules with the rein, and spur, and whip the beast which he rides. Lorinus. Verse 12 . To ride over our heads . This is an allusion to beasts of burden, and particularly to camels, whose heads the rider almost sits over, and so domineers over them as he pleases. Thomas Fenton, in "Annotations on the Book of Job, and the Psalms." 1732. Verse 12 . We went through fire and through water . The children of Israel when they had escaped the Red Sea, and seen their enemies the Egyptians dead, they thought all was cocksure, and therefore sang Epicinia, songs of rejoicing for the victory. But what followed within a while? The Lord stirred up another enemy against them from out their bowels, as it were, which was hunger, and this pinched them sorer, they thought, than the Egyptian. But was this the last? No; after the hunger came thirst, and this made them to murmur as much as the former; and after the thirst came fiery serpents, and fire and pestilence, and Amalekites, and Midianites, and what not? Thus hath it been with the church not only under the law, but also under Christ, as it might be easily declared unto you. Neither hath it been better with the several members thereof; they likewise have been made conformable to the body and to the Head. What a sight of temptations did Abraham endure? So Jacob, so Joseph, so the patriarchs, so the prophets? Yea, and all they that would live godly in Christ Jesus, though their sorrow in the end were turned to joy, yet they wept and lamented first. Though they were brought at the length to a wealthy place, yet they passed through fire and water first. Miles Smith, 1624. Verse 12 . We went through fire and through water . There was a great variety of such perils; and not only of several, but of contrary sorts: We went through fire and through water, either of which singly and alone denotes an extremity of evils. Thus, through water ( Psalms 69:1-2 ): "Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me." Or, through fire ( Ezekiel 15:7 ): "And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them." But when through both successively, one after the other, this denotes an accumulation of miseries, or trials, indeed: as we read Isa 43:2, with God's promise to his people in such conditions: "When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." Which promise is here, you see, acknowledged by the psalmist to have been performed: God was with the three children when they walked through the fire, in the very letter of Isaiah's speech; and with the children of Israel when they went through the water of the Red Sea. Thomas Goodwin. Verse 12 . We went through fire and through water . In allusion, probably, to the ordeal by fire and water, which is of great antiquity. On the question who had interred the body of Polynices: "All denied: Offering, in proof of innocence, to grasp The burning steel, to walk through fire, and take Their solemn oath they knew not of the deed." Sophocles. From T. S. Millington's "Testimony of the Heathen to the Truths of Holy Writ." 1863. Verse 12 . Fire and water . The Jewish law required both these for purification of spoil in war, where they could be borne. Numbers 31:23 : "Everything that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified through the water of separation." God's saints are, therefore, subject to both ordeals. C. H. S. Verse 12 . But thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place . Every word is sweetly significant, and amplifies God's mercy to us. Four especially are remarkable: -- The deliverer; The deliverance; The delivered; and, Their felicity or blessed advancement. So there is the deliverer, aliquid celsitudinis, Thou; in the delivery, certitudinis, broughtest out, in the delivered, solitudinis, us; in the happiness, plenitudinis, into a wealthy place. There is highness and lowness, sureness and fulness. The deliverer is great, the deliverance is certain, the distress grievous, the exaltation glorious. There is yet a first word, that like a key unlocks this golden gate of mercy, a veruntamen: -- BUT. This is vox respirationis, a gasp that fetcheth back again the very life of comfort. But thou broughtest, etc. We were fearfully endangered into the hands of our enemies; they rode and trod upon us, and drove us through hard perplexities. But thou, etc. If there had been a full point or period at our misery, if those gulfs of persecution had quite swallowed us, and all our light of comfort had been thus smothered and extinguished we might have cried, Periit spes nostra, yea, periit salus nostra. -- Our hope, our help is quite gone. He had mocked us that would have spoken, Be of good cheer. This same but is like a happy oar, that turns our vessel from the rocks of despair, and lands it at the haven of comfort. Thomas Adams. Verse 12 . (second and third clause) . The outlet of the trouble is happy. They are in fire and water, yet they get through them; we went through fire and water, and did not perish in the flames or floods. Whatever the troubles of the saints are, blessed be God there is a way through them. The inlet to a better state is much more happy. Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place, into a well watered place; for the word is, like the gardens of the Lord, and therefore fruitful. Matthew Henry. Verse 12 . (last clause) . Thou, O God, with the temptation hast given the issue. Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. Thou hast proved, and thou hast brought. Thou laidest the trouble, and thou tookest it off; yea, and hast made us an ample recompense, for thou hast brought us to a moist, pleasant, lovely, fertile, rich place, a happy condition, a flourishing condition of things, so that thou hast made us to forget all our trouble. William Nicholson, in "David's Harp strung and tuned." Verse 12 . A wealthy place . The hand of God led them in that fire and water of affliction through which they went; but who led them out? The psalmist tells us in the next words: Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place; the margin saith, into a moist place. They were in fire and water before. Fire is the extremity of heat and dryness; water is the extremity of moistness and coldness. A moist place notes a due temperament of heat and cold, of dryness and moistness, and therefore elegantly shadows that comfortable and contented condition into which the good hand of God had brought them, which is significantly expressed in our translation by a wealthy place; those places flourishing most in fruitfulness, and so in wealth, which are neither over hot nor over cold, neither over dry not over moist. Joseph Caryl. HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS Verse 11-12 . The hand of God should be acknowledged. In our temptations: Thou broughtest us. In our bodily afflictions: Thou laidest, etc. In our persecutions: Thou hast caused, etc. In our deliverances: Thou broughtest us out, etc. G. R. Verse 12 . Fire and water. Varied trials. Discover different evils. Test all parts of manhood. Educate varied graces. Endear many promises. Illustrate divine attributes. Afford extensive knowledge. Create capacity for the varied joys of heaven. Verse 12 . (first clause). The rage of oppression. Thomas Adam's Sermon. Verse 12 . (last clause). A plentiful place, free from penury; a pleasant place, void of sorrow; a safe place, free from dangers and distresses. Daniel Wilcocks. Verse 12 . (last clause). The victory of patience, with the expiration of malice. Thomas Adams' Sermon. Verse 12 . (last clause). The wealth of a soul whom God has tried and delivered. Among other riches he has the wealth of experience, of strengthened graces, of confirmed faith, and of sympathy for others.