1_O Jehovah! God of vengeances _We know that the Jews were surrounded by many neighbors who were not well affected towards them, and were thus incessantly subject to the assaults and oppression of bitter enemies. As this intestine persecution was even more afflictive than the rampant and unrestraine... [ Continue Reading ]
3_O Jehovah! how long shall the wicked? _The Psalmist justifies himself in this verse for the fervent importunity which he showed in prayer. There was need of immediate help, when the wicked had proceeded to such an extent of audacity. The necessity of our case may justly embolden us in our requests... [ Continue Reading ]
4_They pour forth, they speak hard things _(15) He shows in still clearer terms, how their fierceness in persecution was such that they did not scruple to glory in their guilt. The Hebrew verb נבע, _nabang, _means more than _to speak. _Literally it signifies _to rush _or _boil forth, _and comes to d... [ Continue Reading ]
5_They break in pieces thy people, O Jehovah! _Having spoken of their discourse or language as vain-glorious and shameless, he proceeds to speak of their deeds, in cruelly persecuting the Church. It is hard that even the subjects of heathen princes should be subjected to unjust persecution, but a mo... [ Continue Reading ]
7._And they have said, God shall not see _When the Psalmist speaks of the wicked as taunting God with blindness and ignorance, we are not to conceive of them as just exactly entertaining this imagination of him in their hearts, but they despise his judgments as much as if he took no cognisance of hu... [ Continue Reading ]
8_Understand, ye stupid among the people _As it was execrable impiety to deny God to be Judge of the earth, the Psalmist severely reprimands their folly in thinking to elude his government, and even succeed by artifices in escaping his view. The expression, _stupid among the people, _is stronger tha... [ Continue Reading ]
10._He that chastiseth the nations, shall not he correct? _He would have them argue from the greater to the less, that if God did not spare even whole nations, but visits their iniquity with punishment, they could not imagine that he would suffer a mere handful of individuals to escape with impunity... [ Continue Reading ]
11._Jehovah knoweth the thoughts of men, etc_. He again insists upon the folly of men in seeking to wrap themselves up in darkness, and hide themselves from the view of God. To prevent them from flattering themselves with vain pretexts, he reminds them that the mists of delusion will be scattered at... [ Continue Reading ]
12_Blessed is the man whom thou hast instructed, O God! _The Psalmist now passes from the language of censure to that of consolation, comforting himself and others of the Lord’s people with the truth, that though God might afflict them for a time, he consulted their true interests and safety. At no... [ Continue Reading ]
By_evil days, _or _days of evil, _the Psalmist might thus mean the everlasting destruction which awaits the ungodly, whom God has spared for a certain interval. Or his words may be expounded as signifying, that the man is blessed who has learned to be composed and tranquil under trials. The rest int... [ Continue Reading ]
14_Surely Jehovah will not cast off his people _He enforces the same truth which he had stated above in still clearer terms, denying it to be possible that God should cast off his people, whom he had chosen in a manner to be his inheritance. When assailed by afflictions, we should fly to this consid... [ Continue Reading ]
15._But judgment will return unto righteousness _In the dark season of affliction, it is not easy to recognize the secret love which God even then bears to his own children, and the Psalmist adduces another ground of comfort, in the consideration that God will eventually put an end to the confusions... [ Continue Reading ]
16._Who will rise up for me against my adversaries? _Here the Psalmist points out, in a lively and graphic manner, how destitute he was of all human aid. As if at the moment in danger, he cries out — _Who will stand up for me? _Who will oppose himself to my enemies? And immediately afterwards he rep... [ Continue Reading ]
18._If I said, My foot has fallen _What is said in this verse confirms the preceding statement. The more to commend God’s kindness and power, he declares that it was no common danger from which he had been rescued, but in a manner from present death. The import of the language is, that death stared... [ Continue Reading ]
20_Shall the throne of iniquities have fellowship with thee? _He again derives an argument for confidence from the nature of God, it being impossible that he should show favor to the wicked, or sanction their evil devices. With God for their enemy, how could they escape being destroyed? The words ha... [ Continue Reading ]
21._They will gather together against the soul of the righteous _As the Hebrew word גדד _, gadad, _or גוד _, gud, _(39) signifies to collect forces or a band of men, the Psalmist evidently intimates that he had to do with leading persons of influence, and not with those merely in private station. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
22_But Jehovah has been my fortress _The Psalmist declares, that great as were the extremities to which he had been reduced, he had found sufficient help in the single protection of God; thus passing a new commendation upon his power, which had been such as alone, and unaided, to put down the mighti... [ Continue Reading ]