Tortured by pain of body and anguish of mind, deserted by his friends, mocked and menaced by his enemies, the Psalmist lays his cause before God. In his sufferings he recognises the merited punishment of his sins: he submits to the insults of his enemies with a meek resignation which is a distinguis... [ Continue Reading ]
In words almost identical with Psalms 6:1 the Psalmist deprecates the severity of a chastisement which seems to proceed from an angry Judge rather than from a loving Father. The emphasis is on _in thy wrath … in thy hot displeasure_. Cp. Jeremiah 10:24. For similar expressions of a sense of guilt un... [ Continue Reading ]
The chastisement of sin.... [ Continue Reading ]
God's -arrows" are His judgements in general (Psalms 7:12: Deuteronomy 32:23); here in particular pain and sickness (Job 6:4; Job 16:12-13; Lamentations 3:12-13). Blow after blow from God's -hand" (Psalms 32:4; Psalms 39:10) has lighted upon him. _Stick fast_and _presseth sore_are renderings of diff... [ Continue Reading ]
His own sin is the cause of the divine indignation which inflicts the chastisement; and while God's wrath assaults him from without, the fever of sin consumes him from within. With this verse and Psalms 38:5, comp. Isaiah's description of the deep-seated disease of Israel's body corporate (Isaiah 1:... [ Continue Reading ]
His sins are like a flood which overwhelms (Psalms 124:4-5); like a burden which crushes (Genesis 4:13; Isaiah 53:4; Job 7:20).... [ Continue Reading ]
_My wounds_ Or _stripes_(_bruises_, Isaiah 1:6, A.V.): for he has been as it were scourged by God. _my foolishness_ Sin is essentially foolishness. Cp. Psalms 107:17. The word occurs only once again in the Psalter (Psalms 69:5), and elsewhere only in Proverbs, where it is common (e.g. Proverbs 5:23... [ Continue Reading ]
I am bent, I am bowed down exceedingly, as one whose frame is contracted and drawn together by pain, or whose gestures indicate mental anguish. Cp. Psalms 35:14; Isaiah 21:3. Notice the vigorous archaism _wried_in A.V. margin, i.e. _twisted_. _mourning_ In the guise of a mourner. See note on Psalms... [ Continue Reading ]
with _a loathsome_disease] R.V. with burning; fever and inflammation. Cp. Job 30:27; Job 30:30.... [ Continue Reading ]
I am faint and sore bruised (R.V.). Cp. Psalms 51:8; Isaiah 53:5; Isaiah 53:10. _I have roared_&c. Lit. _I have roared_(Psalms 22:1; Psalms 32:3; Job 3:24) _from the moaning of my heart_. The inward moaning of his heart must needs find utterance in loud cries of distress.... [ Continue Reading ]
God knows what he needs (Psalms 10:17; Matthew 6:8).... [ Continue Reading ]
The neglect of friends and the scorn of enemies augment his sufferings.... [ Continue Reading ]
_panteth_ R.V. excellently, throbbeth. _as for the light of mine eyes_&c. His eyes are dim and dull with weakness and weeping. Cp. Psalms 6:7; Psalms 13:3, note; Psalms 31:9; Job 17:7; Lamentations 2:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
_from my sore_ R.V. from my plague. The word is specially used of the plague of leprosy (Leviticus 13:3, &c.). His friends treat him as a leper, standing _over against him_, within sight but at a distance. Even his _near kinsmen_falsify their name by standing _afar off._(LXX. οἱ ἔγγιστά μου μακρόθεν... [ Continue Reading ]
Pitiless enemies beset him. Comp. Psalms 35:4; Psalms 35:26. _mischievous things_ Lit. _destructions_. See note on Psalms 5:9. _imagine_ Lit. _meditate_. Contrast Psalms 37:26; Psalms 37:30.... [ Continue Reading ]
Conscious of guilt he must keep silence and commit his cause to God, resigned and patient as though he did not hear the insults, or had no power to answer them. Cp. Psalms 39:9; Isaiah 53:7; 1 Peter 2:23. _But I_&c. R.V. But I, as a deaf man, hear not; and I am as a dumb man, &c. He is describing h... [ Continue Reading ]
Yea, I am become like a man that hath no hearing; And in whose mouth are no arguments. No arguments for his own defence. Cp. Job 23:4, where Job desires to argue with God.... [ Continue Reading ]
The motive of silence and resignation. _in thee … do I hope_ Or, _for thee do I wait_. Patience and hope are inseparable. Cp. Psalms 39:7; Micah 7:7. _thou wilt hear_ Thou, thou wilt answer. The pronoun is emphatically expressed. It is possible to complete the sense by supplying _me_, with referen... [ Continue Reading ]
Fresh pleadings with God.... [ Continue Reading ]
For I said, Lest they rejoice over me (R.V.). This was the plea which he urged in his prayer (Psalms 25:2; Psalms 35:19). The enemies of the godly man rejoice at his calamities, for they see in them a proof of God's disfavour (Psalms 41:11). _when my foot slippeth_ Lit. _is moved_, a metaphor for m... [ Continue Reading ]
_For_&c. A further argument for a speedy hearing. For the metaphor cp. Psalms 35:15. _my sorrow_&c. I.e. my suffering is unceasingly present with me. Cp. Psalms 51:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
_For_&c. Sin, he confesses, is the cause of that suffering. _I will be sorry_ Or, _I will be troubled_. Jer. _sollicitus ero:_Psalms 5:1. _contristabor_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_mine enemies_are _lively_ He contrasts their vigour with his own weakness. But the expression is somewhat strange; and a comparison of Psalms 35:19 suggests that we should read without cause, corresponding to _wrongfully_in the next line, in place of _are lively_. The Hebrew words are very similar... [ Continue Reading ]
Yea, and rewarding evil for good They are adversaries unto me, for my following of good. Not, in return for my pursuit of good in general, but, in return for the good I have striven to do for them. The point is their base ingratitude. Cp. Psalms 35:12-13, note.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Psalms 22:1; Psalms 10:1. "The light has not yet dawned upon the darkness of God's wrath. _Fides supplex_is not yet transformed into _fides triumphans_. But the difference between Cain's repentance and David's repentance is shewn in the concluding words. True repentance includes faith: it despa... [ Continue Reading ]
Concluding prayer.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Make haste_&c. Cp. Psalms 22:19; Psalms 40:13. _O Lord my salvation_ Cp. Psalms 62:2; Psalms 51:14.... [ Continue Reading ]