_A.M. 2962. B.C. 1042._ This Psalm was undoubtedly composed by David; but whether when he was persecuted by Saul, and calumniated by Doeg, (see 1 Samuel 26:19,) or whether at the time of Absalom's rebellion, is uncertain. Aben Ezra and Kimchi, with several others of the Jewish interpreters, think i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hold not thy peace_ Do not neglect me, but take notice of my extreme danger and misery, and let my sentence come forth from thy presence, Psalms 17:2. Delay not to give judgment upon the appeal made to thee. _O God of my praise_ The author and matter of all my praises: in whom I glory, and not in a... [ Continue Reading ]
_The mouth of the wicked, and the mouth of the deceitful_ Of those who add hypocrisy and perfidiousness to their malice; _are opened against me_ They speak against me freely, boldly, and publicly, without any fear or shame. _They have spoken against me_ Hebrew, אתי, _itti, to_, or _with me_, as this... [ Continue Reading ]
_Set thou a wicked man over him_ Either over all his enemies, speaking of them collectively, or over some one particular enemy, who was worse than any of the rest, more implacable and inexcusable, whom he did not think proper to name. Set a wicked man over him to be as cruel and oppressive to him as... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let his days be few_ The days of his life. Let him die an untimely death. So did Ahithophel, and so did Judas; both hanging themselves. _And let another take his office_ Made void by his death. This is the clause which St. Peter has cited and applied to Judas, in his discourse to the disciples, at... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let his children be_ Hebrew, יהיו בניו _jihju banaiv, his children shall be fatherless_ Namely, while they are but children, and so are unable to provide for themselves; _and his wife a widow_ Made a widow by his death, and continuing a widow. _Let his children be vagabonds_ Hebrew, ונוע ינועו בניו... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let the extortioner catch_, &c. Hebrew, ינקשׁ נשׁה, _jenakkesh nosheh, the creditor_, or _usurer, shall insnare all that he hath:_ that is, take it away, not only by oppression and violence, but by cunning artifices and fraud, whereby such persons are wont to entangle, and so ruin their debtors. _L... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let his posterity_, &c. _His posterity shall be cut off_, &c: they suffered an _excision_ by the Roman sword, and _in the generation following, their name_, as a church, and civil polity, were _blotted out_ of the list of states and kingdoms. _Let the iniquity of his father be remembered_ Hebrew, י... [ Continue Reading ]
_Because he remembered not_ “The crime which brought upon its perpetrators all the above-mentioned judgments and calamities, is here pointed out too plainly to be mistaken. _They remembered not to show mercy_ To him who showed it to all the world; they _persecuted_ him who for our sakes became _poor... [ Continue Reading ]
_As he loved cursing_ To curse others, as appears from the blessing here opposed to it, and from the next verse; to wish and to procure mischief to others; _so let it come unto him_ Hebrew, תבואהו, _teboeehu, it shall come unto him;_ the mischief in which he delighted, and which he both wished and d... [ Continue Reading ]
_But do thou for me, O God_ Namely, what I desire, which he expresses in the next clause, saying, _Deliver thou me_ Or, he means, _Do thou act for me;_ be not silent or still, but stir up thyself to work on my behalf; _for thy name's sake_ For the glory of thy faithfulness, which is highly concerned... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am gone_, &c. Hebrew, נהלכתי, _neehlacheti, I am made to go_, either, 1st, From place to place; which was David's case when he was persecuted by Saul and by Absalom, and Christ's case upon earth when he had no certain place _where to lay his head._ Or, 2d, Into the grave, as this phrase frequentl... [ Continue Reading ]
_My knees are weak through fasting_ Either through forced fasting for want of food, when he was persecuted, or for want of appetite when he was sick, or through voluntary fasting, which the frequency and long continuance of his sufferings induced him to use. _I became also a reproach unto them_ Inst... [ Continue Reading ]
_Help me, O Lord my God_ But my hope is, that thou, my God, wilt seasonably interpose for my relief, and _save me_ Out of my troubles; _according to thy mercy_ That tender mercy which is wont to extend itself to those who have nothing else to depend upon. _That they may know that this is thy hand_ B... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will greatly praise the Lord_ For that deliverance which I confidently expect; _with my mouth_ Not only with my heart, in secret, but with my mouth, openly; _and among the multitude_ Or, _among the mighty_, or _the great men_, as בתוךְ רבים, _betoch rabbim_, may be properly translated; _for he sh... [ Continue Reading ]