PSALM CIX _The psalmist speaks against his inveterate enemies_, 1-5. _He prays against them, and denounces God's judgments_, 6-15. _The reason on which this is grounded_, 16-20. _He prays for his own safety and salvation, using many arguments_ _to induce God to have mercy upon him_, 21-31. NOT... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:2. _THE MOUTH OF THE WICKED AND - THE DECEITFUL ARE OPENED_ _AGAINST ME_] Many persons are continually uttering calumnies against me. Thou knowest my heart and its innocence; vindicate my uprightness against these calumniators.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:4. _FOR MY LOVE THEY ARE MY ADVERSARIES_] In their behalf I have performed many acts of kindness, and they are my adversaries notwithstanding; this shows principles the most vicious, and hearts the most corrupt. Many of the fathers and commentators have understood the principal par... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:6. _LET SATAN STAND AT HIS RIGHT HAND._] As the word שטן _satan_ means an _adversary_ simply, though sometimes it is used to express the evil spirit _Satan_, I think it best to preserve here its grammatical meaning: "Let an _adversary_ stand at his right hand:" i.e., Let him be _opp... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:7. _LET HIM BE CONDEMNED_] יצא רשע _yetse rasha_. "Let him come out a wicked man;" that is let his wickedness be made manifest. _LET HIS PRAYER BECOME SIN._] Thus paraphrased by Calmet: "Let him be accused, convicted, and condemned, and let the _defence_ which he brings for his jus... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:8. _LET ANOTHER TAKE HIS OFFICE._] The original is פקדתו _pekuddatho_, which the margin translates _charge_, and which literally means _superintendence, oversight, inspection_ from actual visitations. The translation in our common Version is too technical. _His bishopric_, followin... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:9. _LET HIS CHILDREN BE FATHERLESS, C._] It is said that Judas was a married man, against whom this verse, as well as the preceding is supposed to be spoken and that it was to support them that he stole from the bag in which the property of the apostles was put, and of which he was... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:10. _LET HIS CHILDREN - BEG_] The father having lost his _office_, the children must necessarily be destitute; and this is the hardest lot to which any can become subject, after having been born to the expectation of an ample fortune.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:11. _LET THE STRANGERS SPOIL HIS LABOUR._] Many of these execrations were literally fulfilled in the case of the miserable Jews, after the death of our Lord. They were not only expelled from their own country, after the destruction of Jerusalem, but they were prohibited from returni... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:13. _LET HIS POSTERITY BE CUT OFF_] It is a fact that the _distinction_ among the Jewish tribes in entirely lost. Not a Jew in the world knows from what tribe he is sprung; and as to the royal family, it remains nowhere but in the person of Jesus the Messiah. He _alone_ is the Lion... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:16. _PERSECUTED THE POOR AND NEEDY MAN_] In the case of Jesus Christ all the dictates of justice and mercy were destroyed, and they persecuted this poor man unto death. They acted from a diabolical malice. On common principles, their opposition to Christ cannot be accounted for.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:17. _AS HE LOVED CURSING, SO LET IT COME UNTO HIM_] The Jews said, when crucifying our Lord, _His blood be upon us and our_ _children_! Never was an imprecation more dreadfully fulfilled.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:18. _LET IT COME INTO HIS BOWELS LIKE WATER_] Houbigant thinks this is an allusion to the _waters of jealousy_; and he is probably right, - the bitter waters that produce the curse. See Numbers 5:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:19. _AND FOR A GIRDLE_] Let the curse _cleave_ to him throughout life: as the girdle binds all the clothes to the body, let the curse of God bind all mischiefs and maladies to his body and soul. The _Hindoos, Budhists_, and others often wear a _gold_ or _silver_ _chain_ about their... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:20. LET _THIS_ BE _THE REWARD OF MINE ADVERSARIES FROM THE_ _LORD, AND OF THEM THAT SPEAK EVIL AGAINST MY SOUL._] Following the mode of interpretation already adopted, this may mean: All these maledictions shall be fulfilled on my enemies; they shall have them for their reward. So a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:21. _BUT DO THOU FOR ME_] While they use horrible imprecations against me, and load me with their curses, _act thou_ _for me_, and _deliver me_ from their maledictions. While they _curse_, do thou _bless_. This verse is a farther proof of the correctness of the interpretation given... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:22. _I_ AM _POOR AND NEEDY_] I am _afflicted_ and _impoverished;_ and _my heart is wounded _- my very _life_ is sinking through distress.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:23. _I AM GONE LIKE THE SHADOW_] "I have walked like the declining shadow,"-I have passed my meridian of health and life; and as the sun is going below the horizon, so am I about to go under the earth. _I AM TOSSED UP AND DOWN AS THE LOCUST._] When swarms of locusts take wing, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:24. _MY KNEES ARE WEAK THROUGH FASTING_] That _hunger_ is as soon felt in _weakening the knees_, as in producing an _uneasy_ _sensation in the stomach_, is known by all who have ever felt it. Writers in all countries have referred to this effect of hunger. Thus _Tryphioderus_ Il. Ex... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:25. WHEN _THEY LOOKED UPON ME THEY SOAKED THEIR HEADS._] Thus was David treated by _Shimei_, 2 Samuel 16:5, and our blessed Lord by the _Jews_, Matthew 27:39.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:27. _THAT THEY MAY KNOW THAT THIS_ IS _THY HAND_] Let thy help be so manifest in my behalf, that they may see it is thy hand, and that thou hast undertaken for me. Or, if the words refer to the passion of our Lord, Let them see that I suffer not on my own account; "for the transgres... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:28. _LET THEM CURSE, BUT BLESS THOU_] See on Psalms 109:20: Of the mode of interpretation recommended there, this verse gives additional proof.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:29. _LET THEM COVER THEMSELVES_] He here retorts their own curse, Psalms 109:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:30. _I WILL GREATLY PRAISE THE LORD_] I have the fullest prospect of deliverance, and a plenary vindication of my innocence.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Psalms 109:31. _HE SHALL STAND AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE POOR_] Even if Satan himself be the accuser, God will vindicate the innocence of his servant. Pilate and the Jews condemned our Lord to death as a malefactor; God showed his immaculate innocence by his resurrection from the dead. The who... [ Continue Reading ]