Psalm 94:14

For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 94:14-15. The Lord will not cast off his people — Though he may for a time correct, yet he will not utterly destroy, his true and obedient people, as he will their enemies, but will, in due time, put an end to all their calamities. But judgment shall return unto righteousness — Although the world is now full of unrighteous judgments, and even God himself seems not to judge and administer things justly, because he suffers his people to be oppressed, and the wicked to triumph over them, yet the state of things will, at the proper season, be otherwise ordered; God will show himself to be a righteous judge, and will advance and establish justice in the earth, and especially among his people. And all the upright in heart shall follow it — Namely, just judgment restored; they will all approve of and imitate this justice of God in all their actions, whereas the wicked shall still do wickedly, as is said Daniel 12:10, and in a land and state of uprightness will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord, Isaiah 26:10. Or, as אחריו, acharaiv, may be rendered, shall go after, or follow HIM, namely, the Lord, whose act it is to bring judgment to justice. While the wicked forsake God, these will cleave to him, as being confident that, how much soever he may suffer them to be oppressed for a season, yet he will, in due time, plead their cause, and bring forth their righteousness.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

94:12-23 That man is blessed, who, under the chastening of the Lord, is taught his will and his truths, from his holy word, and by the Holy Spirit. He should see mercy through his sufferings. There is a rest remaining for the people of God after the days of their adversity, which shall not last always. He that sends the trouble, will send the rest. The psalmist found succour and relief only in the Lord, when all earthly friends failed. We are beholden, not only to God's power, but to his pity, for spiritual supports; and if we have been kept from falling into sin, or shrinking from our duty, we should give him the glory, and encourage our brethren. The psalmist had many troubled thoughts concerning the case he was in, concerning the course he should take, and what was likely to be the end of it. The indulgence of such contrivances and fears, adds to care and distrust, and renders our views more gloomy and confused. Good men sometimes have perplexed and distressed thoughts concerning God. But let them look to the great and precious promises of the gospel. The world's comforts give little delight to the soul, when hurried with melancholy thoughts; but God's comforts bring that peace and pleasure which the smiles of the world cannot give, and which the frowns of the world cannot take away. God is his people's Refuge, to whom they may flee, in whom they are safe, and may be secure. And he will reckon with the wicked. A man cannot be more miserable than his own wickedness will make him, if the Lord visit it upon him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For the Lord will not cast off his people ... - He will interpose in their behalf though the wicked seem now to triumph. The certainty of this would give consolation; this would make the mind calm in the days of trouble. Compare 1 Samuel 12:22; 1 Kings 6:13; Deuteronomy 31:6. See the notes at Romans 11:1-2.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14, 15. This results from His abiding love (De 32:15), which is further evinced by His restoring order in His government, whose right administration will be approved by the good.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Though God may for a time correct his, people, yet he will not utterly destroy them, as he will their enemies, but will in his time put an end to all their calamities.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For the Lord will not cast off his people,.... The people whom he has foreknown, his chosen people, whether among Jews or Gentiles, Romans 11:1, his covenant people, whom he has given to Christ, and who are redeemed by his blood, and called by his Spirit and grace: these, though he may not arise immediately for their help; though he may withdraw his presence from them for a time, may afflict them, and suffer them to be afflicted by others, Psalm 94:5, he will not cast them off, at least for ever, so as to be removed out of his sight, or off of his heart, or from his covenant, or out of the hands of his Son, or from being a part of his family, or so as to perish eternally; they are a people near and dear unto him; he takes pleasure in them, and will not eternally reject them; whoever casts them off, he will not:

neither will he forsake his inheritance; which he has chosen, and values and esteems as a goodly one; he will not give up his title to it, nor drop his claim upon it, nor relinquish his hold and use of it; he will not forsake his people for this reason, because they are his inheritance, as well as because he has promised that he will not: he may seem to forsake them, and they may think they are forsaken by him; but he will not forsake neither their persons in youth nor in old age, nor his work upon their hearts: the church, in the wilderness, and under the persecution of antichrist, might seem to be cast off and forsaken; yet is not, being nourished there for a time and times, and half a time, Revelation 12:14, the note of Arama is,

"at the coming of the Messiah all this good shall be.''

Geneva Study Bible

For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. That day will come, for Jehovah cannot finally abandon His persecuted people (Psalm 94:5). Cp. 1 Samuel 12:22; Jeremiah 12:7; Romans 11:1-2.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance (comp. Deuteronomy 4:31; 1 Samuel 12:22; 1 Kings 6:13; Isaiah 41:17). However long God's chastisements continue (see ver. 3), the faithful may be sure that God has not forsaken, and never will forsake, them, since "he forsaketh not his saints, but they are preserved forever" (Psalm 37:28). The promise is made equally to the faithful individuals ("his saints") and to faithful Churches ("his people," "his inheritance"). Psalm 94:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The fourth strophe praises the pious sufferer, whose good cause God will at length aid in obtaining its right. The "blessed" reminds one of Psalm 34:9; Psalm 40:5, and more especially of Job 5:17, cf. Proverbs 3:11. Here what are meant are sufferings like those bewailed in Psalm 94:5., which are however, after all, the well-meant dispensations of God. Concerning the aim and fruit of purifying and testing afflictions God teaches the sufferer out of His Law (cf. e.g., Deuteronomy 8:5.), in order to procure him rest, viz., inward rest (cf. Jeremiah 49:23 with Isaiah 30:15), i.e., not to suffer him to be disheartened and tempted by days of wickedness, i.e., wicked, calamitous days (Ew. 287, b), until (and it will inevitably come to pass) the pit is finished being dug into which the ungodly falls headlong (cf. Psalm 112:7.). יּהּ has the emphatic Dagesh, which properly does not double, and still less unite, but requires an emphatic pronunciation of the letter, which might easily become inaudible. The initial Jod of the divine name might easily lose it consonantal value here in connection with the preceding toneless û,

(Note: If it is correct that, as Aben-Ezra and Parchon testify, the וּ, as being compounded of o (u) + i, was pronounced like the u in the French word pur by the inhabitants of Palestine, then this Dagesh, in accordance with its orthophonic function, is the more intelligible in cases like תיסרנו יּה and קראתי יּה, cf. Pinsker, Einleitung, S. 153, and Geiger, Urschrift, S. 277. In קומו צּאו, Genesis 19:14; Exodus 12:31, קומו סּעו, Deuteronomy 2:24, Tsade and Samech have this Dagesh for the same reason as the Sin in תשׁביתו שּׁאור, Exodus 12:15 (vid., Heidenheim on that passage), viz., because there is a danger in all these cases of slurring over the sharp sibilant. Even Chajug' (vid., Ewald and Dukes' Beitrge, iii. 23) confuses this Dag. orthophonicum with the Dag. forte conjunctivum.)

and the Dag. guards against this: cf. Psalm 118:5, Psalm 118:18. The certainty of the issue that is set in prospect by עד is then confirmed with כּי. It is impossible that God can desert His church - He cannot do this, because in general right must finally come to His right, or, as it is here expressed, משׁפּט must turn to צדק, i.e., the right that is now subdued must at length be again strictly maintained and justly administered, and "after it then all who are upright in heart," i.e., all such will side with it, joyously greeting that which has been long missed and yearned after. משׁפּט is fundamental right, which is at all times consistent with itself and raised above the casual circumstances of the time, and צדק, like אמת in Isaiah 42:3, is righteousness (justice), which converts this right into a practical truth and reality.