Psalms 21:3

For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness,....

Nothing indeed prevented Christ, but to mankind never was any favour more preventing than our redemption by Christ and all the blessed fruits of his mediation.

OUR text is one of many instances of the way in which words change their meanings. The word, "prevent," as we now use it, has a very different meaning from that which it had when our translators used it. It now signifies to get before one, to stop up his path, to prevent his going a certain way, just as the angel "prevented" Balaam, standing with his sword drawn in his hand that he might not pass that way.

"For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness." The word prevent formerly signified to precede or go before, and assuredly Jehovah preceded his Son with blessings. Before he died saints were saved by the anticipated merit of his death, before he came believers saw his day and were glad, and he himself had his delights with the sons of men. The Father is so willing to give blessings through his Son, that instead of his being constrained to bestow his grace, he outstrips the Mediatorial march of mercy.

preventest--literally, "to meet here in good sense," or "friendship" (Ps 59:10; compare opposite, Ps 17:13). blessings of goodness--which confer happiness. crown of pure gold--a figure for the highest royal prosperity.

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"For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness." The word prevent formerly signified to precede or go before, and assuredly Jehovah preceded his Son with blessings. Before he died saints were saved by the anticipated merit of his death, before he came believers saw his day and were glad, and he himself had his delights with the sons of men. The Father is so willing to give blessings through his Son, that instead of his being constrained to bestow his grace, he outstrips the Mediatorial march of mercy. "I say not that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you." Before Jesus calls the Father answers, and while he is yet speaking he hears. Mercies may be bought with blood, but they are also freely given. The love of Jehovah is not caused by the Redeemer's sacrifice, but that love, with its blessings of goodness, preceded the great atonement, and provided it for our salvation. Reader, it will be a happy thing for thee if, like thy Lord, thou canst see both providence and grace preceding thee, forestalling thy needs, and preparing thy path. Mercy, in the case of many of us, ran before our desires and prayers, and it ever outruns our endeavours and expectancies, and even our hopes are left to lag behind. Prevenient grace deserves a song; we may make one out of this sentence; let us try. All our mercies are to be viewed as "blessings;" gifts of a blessed God, meant to make us blessed; they are "blessings of goodness, "not of merit, but of free favour; and they come to us in a preventing way, a way of prudent foresight, such as only preventing love could have arranged. In this light the verse is itself a sonnet! "Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head." Jesus wore the thorn-crown, but now wears the glory-crown. It is a "crown, " indicating royal nature, imperial power, deserved honour, glorious conquest, and divine government.

OUR text is one of many instances of the way in which words change their meanings. The word, "prevent," as we now use it, has a very different meaning from that which it had when our translators used it. It now signifies to get before one, to stop up his path, to prevent his going a certain way, just as the angel "prevented" Balaam, standing with his sword drawn in his hand that he might not pass that way. This is only the modern use of the word, but the real and ancient use of it was simply, "to go before." "You go before Him with the blessings of goodness." That is the real meaning of the word—and when we speak of, "preventing Grace," we do not intend to describe the Grace that keeps us from sin, but the Grace which goes before our actually believing in Christ—"prevenient Grace," as we are accustomed to call it theologically—Grace which comes to us while as yet we are not conscious of its power, or have no desire towards it. The meaning of the text, then, is not that Christ was prevented, or hindered from doing anything that He wished to do, by God's goodness, but that God's goodness went before, preceded, heralded Him. That word, "preceded," has taken in our language in the present age the force and meaning which the word, "prevent," had at the time of the translation of our authorized version of the Bible, so that now we should say, instead, "You precede Him, got before Him with the blessings of Your goodness." I shall take the text on this occasion, then, in two ways. First, noticing its application to our Lord Jesus Christ, personally, and then its application to Him mystically—that is to say, to every believing soul that is truly in Him. First, then— I. ITS APPLICATION TO OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST PERSONALLY. It is quite certain that God did precede Him with the blessings of goodness.

Thou preventest him - To prevent, from prcevenio, literally signifies to go before. Hence that prayer in the communion service of our public Liturgy, “Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings, with thy most gracious favor!” That is, “Go before us in thy mercy, make our way plain, and enable us to perform what is right in thy sight!” And this sense of prevent is a literal version of the original word תקדמנו tekademennu. “For thou shalt go before him with the blessings of goodness.” Our ancestors used God before in this sense. So in Henry V.’s speech to the French herald previously to the battle of Agincourt: - “Go therefore; tell thy master, here I am. My ransom is this frail and worthless trunk; My army, but a weak and sickly guard: Yet, God before, tell him we will come on, Though France himself, and such another neighbor, Stand in our way.” A crown of pure gold - Probably alluding to the crown of the king of Rabbah, which, on the taking of the city, David took and put on his own head. See the history, 2Sa 12:26-30 (note).

For thou preventest him - Thou goest before him; thou dost anticipate him. See Psa 17:13, margin. Our word “prevent” is now most commonly used in the sense of “hinder, stop, or intercept.” This is not the original meaning of the English word; and the word is never used in this sense in the Bible. The English word, when our translation was made, meant to “go before,” to “anticipate,” and this is the uniform meaning of it in our English version, as it is the meaning of the original. See the notes at Job 3:12. Compare Psa 59:10; Psa 79:8; Psa 88:13; Psa 95:2; Psa 119:147-148; Amo 9:10; see the notes at 1Th 4:15. The meaning here is, that God had “anticipated” him, or his desires. He had gone before him. He had designed the blessing even before it was asked. With the blessings of goodness - Blessings “indicating” goodness on his part; blessings adapted to promote the “good” or the welfare of him on whom they were bestowed. Perhaps the meaning here is, not only that they were “good,” but they “seemed” to be good; they were not “blessings in disguise,” or blessings as the result of previous calamity and trial, but blessings where there was no trial - no shadow - no appearance of disappointment. Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head - This does not refer to the time of his coronation, or the period when he was crowned a king, but it refers to the victory which he had achieved, and by which he had been made truly a king. He was crowned with triumph; he was shown to be a king; the victory was like making him a king, or setting a crown of pure gold upon his head. He was now a conqueror, and was indeed a king.