17. I shall not die, but live. His enemies hoped that he would die, and perhaps he himself feared he would perish at their hand; the news of his death may have been spread among his people, for the tongue of rumor is ever ready with ill news, the false intelligence would naturally cause great sorrow and despondency, but he proclaims himself as yet alive and as confident that he will not fall by the hand of the destroyer. Perhaps he had been sick, and brought to death’s door, but he had a presentiment that the sickness was not unto death, but to the glory of God. At any rate, he knew that he would not so die as to give victory to the enemies of God; for the honor of God and the good of his people were both wrapped up in his continued success. Feeling that he would live, he devoted himself to the noblest of purposes: he resolved to bear witness to the divine faithfulness, and declare the works of the Lord. He determined to recount the works of Jah; and he does so in this psalm, wherein he dwells with love and admiration upon the splendor of Jehovah’s prowess in the midst of the fight. While there is a testimony for God to be borne by us to anyone, it is certain that we shall not be hurried from the land of the living. The Lord’s prophets will live on in the midst of famine, and war, and plague, and persecution, till they have uttered all the words of their prophecy; his priests will stand at the altar unharmed till their last sacrifice has been presented.
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