Call to Worship April 30, 2023
“Psalm 146:3. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help This verse inclines Clarke to think that the Psalm refers to the change which came over Cyrus, who at first was a warm and decided friend to the Jews, but afterwards was disinclined to aid them. His paraphrase is: ‘Cyrus may change: but God will not: trust therefore in Him.’ But in comparison with God all princes are unworthy of confidence. The best of them may die at the very time when we most build upon their aid. The best of them are limited in resources, and often cannot help those to whom they have the strongest attachment. The best of them are fickle and liable to change from friendship to aversion. If this is not caused by constitutional instability, it is often brought about by slander and misrepresentation. By princes we are not to understand merely those on the throne, or nobles, but persons of large heartedness, and of liberal views and feelings, as the word indicates, Ex. 35:5, 22; Isa. 32:5, 8. Neither do we find unfailing virtue and resources in any rank of life—in any son of Adam, as the Hebrew has it, Help, salvation.”[1]
[1] William S. Plumer, Studies in the Book of Psalms: Being a Critical and Expository Commentary, with Doctrinal and Practical Remarks on the Entire Psalter (Philadelphia; Edinburgh: J. B. Lippincott Company; A & C Black, 1872), 1193.