Many of the Jews are of opinion that in this psalm there is given forth a prediction concerning the future oppression of their nation: as if David, by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, bewailed the afflicted condition of the Church of God under the tyranny of the Gentiles. They therefore refer what... [ Continue Reading ]
2._Jehovah looked down from heaven. _God himself is here introduced as speaking on the subject of human depravity, and this renders the discourse of David more emphatic than if he had pronounced the sentence in his own person. When God is exhibited to us as sitting on his throne to take cognisance o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Every one of them has gone aside. _Some translate the word סר, _sar, _which is here used, _to stink_, (282) as if the reading were, _Every one of them emits an offensive odour, _that it may correspond in meaning with the verb in the next clause, which in Hebrew signifies _to become putrid _or _rott... [ Continue Reading ]
This question is added to give a more amplified illustration of the preceding doctrine. The prophet had said that God observed from heaven the doings of men, and had found all of them gone out of the way; and now he introduces him exclaiming with astonishment, What madness is this, that they who oug... [ Continue Reading ]
5._There did they tremble with fear, _The prophet now encourages himself and all the faithful with the best of all consolations, namely, that God will not forsake his people even to the end, but will at length show himself to be their defender. Some explain the adverb of place _there, _as meaning th... [ Continue Reading ]
6._Ye deride the counsel of the poor. _He inveighs against those giants who mock at the faithful for their simplicity, in calmly expecting, in their distresses, that God will show himself to be their deliverer. And, certainly, nothing seems more irrational to the flesh than to betake ourselves to Go... [ Continue Reading ]
David, after having laid down the doctrine of consolation, again returns to prayers and groanings. By this he teaches us, that although God may leave us for a long time to languish, yet we ought not to weary, or lose courage, but should always glory in him; and, again, that while our troubles contin... [ Continue Reading ]