PSALM 58 THE ARGUMENT This Psalm was composed, as very many others were, upon the occasion of those wicked calumnies, and unjust censures and sentences, which were passed upon him by Saul and his courtiers. David, reproving wicked judges, describeth their nature, PSALMS 58:1; and prayeth God to puni... [ Continue Reading ]
IN HEART; or, _with your heart_; with free choice and consent, and not only by constraint, and out of compliance with Saul. YE WEIGH THE VIOLENCE OF YOUR HANDS; or, you weigh violence or injustice with your hands. The phrase of _weighing_ hath respect to their office, which was to administer justice... [ Continue Reading ]
ESTRANGED, to wit, from God, EPHESIANS 4:18, and from all goodness. FROM THE WOMB; either, 1. Hyperbolically; even from their tender years. Or, 2. Strictly and properly. So the sense is, No wonder they act so unrighteously, for their very natures and principles are corrupt, even from their birth; t... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR POISON, their virulent and malicious disposition, is like the poison of a serpent; partly in itself, being natural, and inveterate, and incurable; and partly in its most pernicious effects.... [ Continue Reading ]
This similitude doth neither justify the practice of charming, which, in the very word here used, is condemned, DEUTERONOMY 18:11, no more than those which are drawn from the unjust steward, LUKE 16:1, &c.; LUKE 18:2, &c., and from _a thief_, REVELATION 16:15; nor yet affirm the truth of what is rep... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR TEETH; their power and instruments of doing mischief. He mentions teeth, partly because the adder's poison lies in its teeth; and partly to make way for the following metaphor. THE GREAT TEETH, called _the grinders_; which are more sharp and strong than the rest, and more used in breaking and... [ Continue Reading ]
AS WATERS WHICH RUN CONTINUALLY; as waters arising from melted snow, or great showers, or some other extraordinary cause, which at first run with great force and noise, and throw down all that stands in their way, but are suddenly gone, and run away and vanish, and return no more. WHEN HE BENDETH HI... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH MELTETH; Which thrusts forth, and seems to threaten with its horns, but is quickly dissolved; for when it goes out of its shell, it spends its vital moisture, until by degrees it waste away and perish. THE UNTIMELY BIRTH OF A WOMAN; which endeavouring violently and unseasonably to break forth... [ Continue Reading ]
FEEL THE THORNS, i.e. the heat of the fire kindled by the thorns put under them for that purpose; before your pots can be thoroughly heated. TAKE THEM AWAY, to wit, mine enemies; whose sudden destruction he describes under this similitude. AS WITH A WHIRLWIND, i.e. violently and irresistibly. BOTH L... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VENGEANCE, i.e. the vengeance of God upon his implacable enemies; not simply for himself, but for the blessed effects of it, the vindication of God's honour, and the deliverance of himself and of all good men. HE SHALL WASH HIS FEET IN THE BLOOD OF THE WICKED, i.e. there shall be so great a slau... [ Continue Reading ]
And these administrations of God's providence shall be so evident and convincing, that not only good men shall be sensible thereof, but any man that sees them, yea, even such as were apt to dispute or doubt of God's providence, shall upon this eminent occasion break forth into such exclamations as t... [ Continue Reading ]