This psalm is entitled merely “A Song of Degrees.” Its author, and the occasion on which it was composed, are unknown. The contents of the psalm accord well with the supposition that it may have been written after the return from the Babylonian captivity, and may have been designed to strengthen and... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THAT TRUST IN THE LORD - His people; his friends. It is, and has been always, a characteristic of the people of God that they trust or confide in him. SHALL BE AS MOUNT ZION - The mountain which David fortified, and on which the city was at first built, 2 Samuel 5:6. The name Zion became also... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE MOUNTAINS ARE ROUND ABOUT JERUSALEM - Hebrew, “Jerusalem - the mountains are round about her.” Jerusalem, except on the north, is encompassed with hills or mountains, so that although the city was built on hills - Zion, Moriah, Bezethah, Acra - it was itself surrounded by hills higher than an... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE ROD OF THE WICKED - Margin, as in Hebrew, “wickedness.” The word “rod” - the staff, the scepter, the instrument of inflicting punishment - here means dominion, power, that condition in which the wicked are commonly found, as one of prosperity or power. God will not deal with the righteous as... [ Continue Reading ]
DO GOOD, O LORD, UNTO THOSE THAT BE GOOD ... - To the good; to the pious. Let them be under the divine protection. Possibly this is not merely a prayer, but is expressive of the belief of the psalmist as to what would occur under the divine administration - that the favor of God would rest upon his... [ Continue Reading ]
AS FOR SUCH AS TURN ASIDE UNTO THEIR CROOKED WAYS - The wicked. Those who leave the right or straight path, and wander in forbidden ways. The word here rendered “crooked ways” occurs nowhere else except in Judges 5:6, where it is rendered “by-ways,” meaning unfrequented paths or roads; narrow and cr... [ Continue Reading ]