Despair, sorrow, indignation, faith, find expression by turns in this pathetic record of persecution embittered by the treachery of an intimate friend, which is a companion to Psalms 41, and should be carefully compared with it. The title ascribes it to David, and its occasion has generally been sup... [ Continue Reading ]
1 3 _A_. The Psalmist's passionate appeal to God for a hearing in his distress. 1. _Give ear_&c. Cp. Psalms 54:2. _hide not thyself_ As the unmerciful man turns away from misfortune and suffering which he does not want to relieve (Deuteronomy 22:1; Deuteronomy 22:3-4; Isaiah 58:7); or as though my... [ Continue Reading ]
_hear me_ Answer me. _I mourn_&c. Render, I am restless in my complaint, and am distracted (R.V. moan). A word used in Genesis 27:40 of a roving life, in Jeremiah 2:31 of impatience of restraint (R.V. _break loose_), is here applied to the restlessness of a distracted mind.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the voice of the enemy_ Insulting, calumniating, threatening. _oppression_ A peculiar word, found here only, meaning that his enemies hem him in or crush him down. Cp. the cognate verb in Amos 2:13. 3 _B_ 5. He describes the nature of the persecution from which he is suffering, and its effect upo... [ Continue Reading ]
_terrors of death_ Such terrors as the presence of Death, "the king of terrors," inspires.... [ Continue Reading ]
_horror hath overwhelmed me_ The same phrase as in Ezekiel 7:18, "horror shall cover them." The word occurs besides only in Job 21:6; Isaiah 21:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
Weary of his life in the cruel city, he wishes he could be like the dove which he watches winging its flight swiftly to its nest in the clefts of some inaccessible precipice, far from the haunts of men (Song of Solomon 2:14). The dove may be meant too as an emblem of his own timidity and innocence.... [ Continue Reading ]
He would fain escape to some solitary refuge. Cp. Jeremiah 9:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
and _remain_&c. R.V., I would lodge in the wilderness. _Selah_seems to be misplaced here, and also in Psalms 55:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
Or as R.V., I would haste me to a shelter From the stormy wind and tempest, the storms of faction and party spirit raging in the city.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Destroy_ Lit., _swallow up_these malicious plotters, as the earth swallowed up Korah and his crew (Numbers 16:32). From several passages however it has been inferred that this verb also means _to confound_; and if so, _their tongue_may be the object of both verbs, and there may be a reminiscence of... [ Continue Reading ]
He prays for the confusion of his enemies" counsels, and describes the miserable condition of the city.... [ Continue Reading ]
The plaintive pleading of the opening verses suddenly gives way to a fierce outburst of indignation.... [ Continue Reading ]
_they go about it upon the walls thereof_ A metaphor from watchmen going their rounds on the city walls. But who are meant by _they?_Perhaps the party hostile to the Psalmist, who are ever patrolling the city, on the alert for mischief. Cp. Isaiah 29:20. But perhaps rather Violence and Strife person... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wickedness_ The same word as in Psalms 52:2; _very wickedness_or _destruction. deceit_ R.V. oppression, or, marg., _fraud_. _her streets_ Lit., _broad place_: the open space inside the gates, where justice was administered and business transacted. Everywhere throughout the city, in the most public... [ Continue Reading ]
Render: For it is not an enemy that reproacheth me, then I could bear it: Neither is it one that hated me that hath magnified himself against me, then I would hide myself from him: But it is thou, a man mine equal, Mine associate and my familiar friend. _For_connects this stanza somewhat loosely... [ Continue Reading ]
Foremost among the Psalmist's enemies is one who had formerly been one of his most intimate and trusted friends. He interrupts the denunciation, which he resumes at Psalms 55:15, to relate what is the bitterest ingredient in his cup of suffering. The burning indignation of the preceding and followin... [ Continue Reading ]
_Mine equal_in rank and position; _my associate_or _companion_(as in Proverbs 16:28, _chief friends;_Micah 7:5, where R.V. marg. _familiar friend_is right); my close acquaintance or familiar friend (Psalms 31:11). Cp. Jeremiah 9:4 f.... [ Continue Reading ]
We were wont to take sweet counsel together, To walk in the house of God with the throng. Ours was an habitual intimacy of the closest and most sacred kind, in confidential intercourse in private, in companionship in the worship of God in public. _The throng_is the festal procession or assembly of... [ Continue Reading ]
The mournful recollections of past friendships so cruelly outraged give way to a fierce invocation of vengeance, and the individual disappears behind the whole body of the Psalmist's enemies. It will be noted that he avoids any personal execration of his old friend. _Let death_&c. The consonants of... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Lord_ Here and in Psalms 55:22 the name Jehovah is significant. It is the covenant-God of revelation to Whom he can appeal, and under Whose protection he can rest.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Psalmist's assurance that his prayer will be answered.... [ Continue Reading ]
In this division of the Psalm the storm of indignation dies away, and the Psalmist's trustful confidence revives.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Evening, and morning, and at noon Evening_stands first because the day began at sunset. A reference to stated hours of prayer (cp. Daniel 6:10; Acts 10:9; Acts 10:30) is hardly to be found in so natural an expression for "continuing stedfastly in prayer." _will I pray, and cry aloud_ R.V., will I... [ Continue Reading ]
The judgement of his enemies. _God shall hear, and afflict them_ Or, _humble them_. This, which is the rendering of the Ancient Versions, is probably right. But it requires a change of the vocalisation. The text as it stands must be rendered with R.V., _God shall hear, and answer them_, meaning app... [ Continue Reading ]
_He hath put forth his hands_ The arch-traitor is certainly meant, not (though the Heb. idiom would allow of this explanation) each of the evildoers mentioned in Psalms 55:19. For the phrase cp. 1 Samuel 26:9, R.V. _against such as be at peace with him_ R.V., against such as were at peace with him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Once more the Psalmist reverts to the treachery of his former friend. It is quite natural that he should do so again, abrupt as is the transition from the great mass of his enemies to the one individual who to his mind stands in the forefront of them as the typical traitor. It is unnecessary to tran... [ Continue Reading ]
The words of _his mouth were smoother than butter_ This rendering, though supported by some of the Ancient Versions and commended by the parallelism (_smoother than buttersofter than oil_), cannot be got out of the text as it stands. This means literally, Smooth were the buttery words of his mouth.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Cast thy burden_ The word rendered _burden_is of uncertain meaning. The LXX, from which St Peter borrows (1 Peter 5:7), renders _thy care_. But for this explanation there is no philological ground, and the word seems rather to mean _that which he hath given thee_, the burden of care or suffering wh... [ Continue Reading ]
Conclusion. The Psalmist's exhortation to himself and everyone in like case, assuring himself and them that God will uphold the righteous and judge the wicked. It has been suggested that in the liturgical use of the Psalm these verses may have been sung by a different voice, as an answer of encourag... [ Continue Reading ]
_shalt bring them down_ Namely, the foes, who are still in the Psalmist's mind: their end is the pit of the grave: a premature death awaits bloodthirsty and deceitful men, whom God abhors (Psalms 5:6). Cp. Psalms 37:35 f; Psalms 109:8, and many passages which speak of the penal death of the wicked.... [ Continue Reading ]