Psalms 17:8

Keep me&c. Or, Preserve me (the same word as in Psalms 16:1) as the appleor pupil of the eye, an emblem of that which is tenderest and dearest, and therefore guarded with the most jealous care. Cp. Deuteronomy 32:10; Proverbs 7:2; Zechariah 2:8.

Hide me&c. A favourite figure, taken from the care of the mother-bird for her young, not however specially from the hen (Matthew 23:37), for there is no trace in the O.T. of the practice of keeping domestic fowls. Cp. Psalms 36:7; Psalms 57:1; Psalms 61:4; Psalms 63:7; Psalms 91:4. As the first half of the verse may refer to Deuteronomy 32:10, the figure may have been suggested by the reference to the eagle in Psalms 17:11; but the figure there is quite different. God's leading of His people is compared with the eagle teaching its young to fly.