INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 56 TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN UPON JONATHELEMRECHOKIM, MICHTAM OF DAVID WHEN THE PHILISTINES TOOK HIM IN GATH. The words "jonathelemrechokim" are by our translators left untranslated. Aben Ezra takes them to be the beginning of a song; and others think they are the name of a musica... [ Continue Reading ]
BE MERCIFUL UNTO ME, O GOD,.... For David could expect no mercy at the hands of men, among whom he was, whose tender mercies were cruel; he being at Gath, the city of Goliath, whom he had slain, and whose sword he had now with him; and among his brethren and friends, who he might justly fear would r... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE ENEMIES WOULD DAILY SWALLOW [ME] UP,.... For not one man only, but many, were his enemies; who observed and watched him, and were eagerly desirous of his ruin. The believer has many enemies, sin, Satan, and the world, seeking to devour and destroy him, though they cannot; FOR [THEY BE] MANY TH... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT TIME I AM AFRAID,.... It was a time of fear with him now; he was afraid of Achish king of Gath, 1 Samuel 21:12; so believers have their times of fear; about their interest in the love, and grace, and covenant of God; about their sins and corruptions, and the prevalence of them, fearing they sha... [ Continue Reading ]
IN GOD I WILL PRAISE HIS WORD,.... Or praise him for his words for the whole Scripture that was then in being; for those testimonies which were David's counsellors in times of difficulty and distress; and particularly for some word of promise made unto him, he was persuaded would be fulfilled, and i... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY DAY THEY WREST MY WORDS,.... Form, fashion, and shape them at their pleasure; construe them, and put what sense upon them they think fit. The word u is used of the formation of the human body, in Job 10:8; They put his words upon the rack, and made them speak what he never intended; as some me... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY GATHER THEMSELVES TOGETHER,.... And meet in some one place, to contrive ways and means to do hurt, and then assemble together again to put them in execution; as did the Jews with respect to Christ, Matthew 26:3. Aben Ezra supposes a various reading without any reason; and that, instead of יגורו... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL THEY ESCAPE BY INIQUITY?.... Shall such iniquity as this, or persons guilty of it, go unpunished, or escape righteous judgment, and the vengeance of God? No; and much less shall they escape by means of their iniquity; by their wicked subtlety, or by any evil arts and methods made use of, by ma... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU TELLEST MY WANDERINGS,.... Not his sins; though these are aberrations or wanderings from the ways of God's commandments; yet these are not told by the Lord: he takes no account of them; the number of them is not kept by him; they are blotted out, cast behind his back, and into the depths of the... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN I CRY [UNTO THEE],.... In prayer; THEN SHALL MINE ENEMIES TURN BACK; great is the strength of prayer; the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much against their enemies: when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel prevailed: the cases of Asa, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah, prove it; this D... [ Continue Reading ]
IN GOD WILL I PRAISE [HIS] WORD,.... These words are repeated from Psalms 56:4; and for the greater certainty of the thing, and to show his fixed resolution to do it, and his strong affection for the Lord and his word, they are doubled; IN THE LORD WILL I PRAISE [HIS] WORD: in the former clause the... [ Continue Reading ]
IN GOD HAVE I PUT MY TRUST,.... Psalms 56:4; I WILL NOT BE AFRAID WHAT MAN CAN DO UNTO ME; the same with flesh in Psalms 56:4, and is opposed to God, in whom he trusted; and it suggests that he was not, and would not, be afraid of the greatest of men, as well as of the meanest; Psalms 56:4; Arama... [ Continue Reading ]
THY VOWS [ARE] UPON ME, O GOD,.... Which he had made to him in the time of his distress and trouble, and which he looked upon himself under obligation to perform; they were debts upon him he ought to pay off; they were with him; they were fresh in his mind and memory; he had not forgot them, which i... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOU HAST DELIVERED MY SOUL FROM DEATH,.... From imminent danger of death, when in the hands of the Philistines; not that the soul can die; that is immortal; but he means his person, on which account he determines to render praise to God: moreover, this may include the deliverance of his soul fr... [ Continue Reading ]