Psalms 141:6

You say to me, What am I doing? I am beset with flatterers; they cease not to besiege me; they praise in me what I would not, that praise in me what I hold in little esteem; what I hold dear they blame in me; flatterers, treacherous, deceivers. For instance, "Gaiuseius is a great man, great, learned, wise; but why is he a Christian? For great is his learning, great his reading, great his wisdom." If great is his wisdom, approve of his being a Christian; if great his learning, learnedly has he chosen. In fine, what you revile, that pleases him whom you praise. But what? That praise sweetens not: it is "the oil of a sinner." Yet ceases he not to speak so. Let him not therewith "fatten your head;" that is, rejoice not in such things; agree not to such things; consent not to such things; rejoice not in such things; and then, if he have applied to you the oil of flattery, yet has your head remained as it was, it has not been puffed up, it has not swollen...."For still shall My word be well-pleasing to them." Wait awhile: now they revile Me, says Christ. In the early times of the Christians, the Christians were blamed on all sides. Wait as yet; and "My word shall be well-pleasing to them." The time shall come when they shall conquer thousands of men, who shall beat their breasts, and say, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Even now, how many remain who blush to beat their breasts? Let them then blame us: let us bear it. Let them blame; let them hate, accuse, detract; "still shall My word be well-pleasing to them;" the time shall come when My word shall please them....O wordy defence of iniquity! Verily now whole nations say this, and the thunder of nations beating their breasts ceases not. Rightly do the clouds thunder, wherein now God dwells. Where is now that wordiness, where that boasting, "I am righteous; nought of ill have I done"? […]

Their judges have been swallowed up, joined to the rock. As elsewhere he says: 'Blessed is he who shall take hold of and dash your little ones against the rock.' 'And the rock was Christ.' Now the little ones are the lesser and small thoughts before they grow up. And now these very heretics, although through Aristotle and Plato they seem to despise the simplicity of the Church, yet when they have come to the Scriptures they are at once swallowed up by the rock, that is, by Christ, and are converted to him.

Those that make the greatest figure in this world do not always meet with level smooth ways through it. And those that slighted the word of God before will relish it, and be glad of it, when they are in affliction, for that opens the ear to instruction. When the world is bitter the word is sweet.

This is a verse of which the meaning seems far to seek. Does it refer to the righteous among the Israelites? We think so. David surely means that when their leaders fell never to rise again, they would then turn to him and take delight in listening to his voice. When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet. And so they did: the death of Saul made all the best of the nation look to the son of Jesse as the Lord's anointed; his words became sweet to them.

This is a verse of which the meaning seems far to seek. Does it refer to the righteous among the Israelites? We think so. David surely means that when their leaders fell never to rise again, they would then turn to him and take delight in listening to his voice. When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet. And so they did: the death of Saul made all the best of the nation look to the son of Jesse as the Lord's anointed; his words became sweet to them. Many of those good men who had spoken severely of David's quitting his country, and going over to the Philistines, were nevertheless dear to his heart for their fidelity, and to them he returned nothing but good will, loving prayers, and sweet speeches, knowing that by and by they would overlook his faults, and select him to be their leader. They smote him when he erred, but they recognized his excellences. He, on his part, bore no resentment, but loved them for their honesty. He would pray for them when their land lay bleeding at the feet of their foreign enemies; he would come to their rescue when their former leaders were slain; and his words of courageous hopefulness would be sweet in their ears. This seems to me to be a good sense, consistent with the context. At the same time, other and more laboured interpretations have their learned admirers, and to these we will refer in our notes from other authors.