23. Princes also did sit and speak against me. They saw in David a greatness which they envied, and therefore they abused him. On their thrones they might have found something better to consider and speak about, but they turned the seat of judgment into the seat of the scorner. To be spoken ill of by a great man is a great discouragement to most people, but the psalmist bore it with holy calmness. Many of the lordly ones were his enemies, and made it their business to speak ill of him; yet he survived all their attempts upon him.
But thy servant did meditate in thy statutes. This was brave indeed. He was God’s servant, and therefore he attended to his Master’s business and felt sure his Master would defend him. The rabble of princes were not worth five minutes’ thought, if those five minutes had to be taken from holy meditation. It is very beautiful to see the two sittings: the princes sitting to reproach David, and David sitting with his God and his Bible, answering his traducers by never answering them at all. Those who feed upon the Word grow strong and peaceful, and are by God’s grace hidden from the strife of tongues.
Note that in the close of the former octave he had said, “I will meditate,” and here he shows how he had redeemed his promise, even under great provocation to forget it. It is a praiseworthy thing when the resolve of our happy hours is duly carried out in our seasons of affliction.
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