1._The king will rejoice in thy strength, O Jehovah! _David could have given thanks to God in private for the victories and other signal favors which he had received from him; but it was his intention to testify not only that it was God who elevated him to the throne, but also that whatever blessing... [ Continue Reading ]
3._For thou wilt prevent him. _The change of the tense in the verbs does not break the connection of the discourse; and, therefore, I have, without hesitation, translated this sentence into the future tense, as we know that the changing of one tense into another is quite common in Hebrew. Those who... [ Continue Reading ]
4._He asked life from thee. _This verse confirms what I have formerly said, that this psalm is not to be limited to the person of any one man. David’s life, it is true, was prolonged to an advanced period, so that, when he departed from this world, he was an old man, and full of days; but the course... [ Continue Reading ]
5._His glory is great. _By these words the people intimate that their king, through the protection which God afforded him, and the deliverances which he wrought for him, would become more renowned than if he had reigned in peace with the applause of all men, or had been defended by human wealth and... [ Continue Reading ]
6._For thou hast set him to be blessings for ever. _Some explain these words simply thus, That God had chosen David to be king, in order to pour upon him his blessings in rich abundance. But it is evident that something more is intended by this manner of speaking. It implies, that the king had such... [ Continue Reading ]
7._For the king trusteth. _Here again the pious Israelites glory that their king shall be established, because he relies upon God; and they express at the same time how he relies upon him, namely, by hope or trust. I read the whole verse as one sentence, so that there is but one principal verb, and... [ Continue Reading ]
8._Thy hand shall find. _Hitherto the internal happiness of the kingdom has been described. Now there follows, as it was necessary there should, the celebration of its invincible strength against its enemies. What is said in this verse is of the same import as if the king had been pronounced victori... [ Continue Reading ]
9._Thou shalt put them as it were into a furnace of fire. _(486) The Psalmist here describes a dreadful kind of vengeance, from which we gather, that he does not speak of every kind of enemies in general, but of the malicious and frantic despisers of God, who, after the manner of the giants (487) of... [ Continue Reading ]
10._Thou shalt destroy their fruit from the earth. _David amplifies the greatness of God’s wrath, from the circumstance that it shall extend even to the children of the wicked. It is a doctrine common enough in Scripture, that God not only inflicts punishment upon the first originators of wickedness... [ Continue Reading ]
11._For they have spread out. _In this verse David shows that the ungodly had deserved the awful ruin which he predicted would befall them, since they had not only molested mortal man, but had also rushed forth in the fury of their pride to make war against God himself. No man, as has been stated in... [ Continue Reading ]
12._For thou wilt set them as a butt. _As the Hebrew word שכם,_shekem, _which we have rendered _a butt, _properly signifies _a shoulder, _some understand it in that sense here, and explain the sentence thus: Their heads shall be smitten with heavy blows, so that having their bodies bended, their sho... [ Continue Reading ]
13._Raise thyself, O Jehovah! _The psalm is at length concluded with a prayer, which again confirms that the kingdom which is spoken of is so connected with the glory of God, that his power is reflected from it. This was no doubt true with respect to the kingdom of David; for God in old time display... [ Continue Reading ]