Psalms 64:1-10

REFLECTIONS. This psalm describes at large the plots and insinuations of David's enemies for his destruction. They took secret counsel against him, and he cried and prayed, on the contrary, that God would hide and shelter him in his secret pavilion, a retreat the wicked cannot approach. There he saw the divine protector prepare his pointed arrows against them. He saw the Lord not only preparing his arrows, but shooting them with sure aim on the mountains of Gilboa. So is the law; ”It shall be done to him as he thought to do to his neighbour.”

As the prophets kept their eye on the Messiah, and ultimately referred their joys and sorrows to him, we may here be reminded of our Saviour's sufferings, and of the persecution of the church from the same wicked world. And as the psalm concludes with gladness and glory, so shall the contest conclude, which Christ and his saints have with their enemies.

This psalm is supposed to have been written by David when a year of great plenty had followed a time of drought and scarcity. The ascription of it to Jeremiah and Ezekiel, in some ancient copies, is not worthy of notice. It exhibits the true sublime of Hebrew poësy.