_A.M. 2946. B.C. 1058._ This Psalm was composed, as very many others were, upon the occasion of those wicked calumnies, and unjust censures and sentences, which were passed upon him by Saul and his courtiers. David describes his enemies, Psalms 58:1. Foretels their ruin, Psalms 58:6. Which would be... [ Continue Reading ]
_Do ye indeed speak righteousness?_ No: you are far from it. You censure me freely without any regard to truth or justice; _O congregation_ The word אלם, _eelem_, thus rendered, signifies _a band_, or _company_ of men; and seems to point at Saul's judges and counsellors, who met together to consult... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yea, in heart ye work wickedness_ Or, _with your heart_, that is, with free choice and consent; with premeditation and design, and with a strong inclination to it, and resolution in it, and not merely by constraint, and out of compliance with Saul, or through surprise and inadvertence. The more the... [ Continue Reading ]
_The wicked are estranged_ From God, and from all goodness; _from the womb_ From their tender years, or, rather, strictly and properly, from their birth: their very natures and principles are corrupt even from their infancy: they are the wicked offspring of sinful parents. They go astray by actual s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Their poison_ Their malicious disposition; _is like the poison of a serpent_ Both in itself, being natural, inveterate, and incurable; and also in its effects, which are most pernicious. _They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear_, &c. They are like that particular species of serpents whic... [ Continue Reading ]
_Break their teeth, O God_ Their power and instruments of doing mischief. “The mention of _teeth_ here, with the relative _their_, most probably first refers to those of the adder or serpent, immediately foregoing, whose poison and noxious power are in their teeth; and the way to disarm serpents is... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let them melt away as waters_, &c. As waters arising from melted snow, or great showers, or some other extraordinary cause, which at first run with great force and noise, and throw down all that stands in their way, but are suddenly gone, and run away, and vanish, and return no more. _When he_ Saul... [ Continue Reading ]
_As a snail melteth_ Which thrusts forth itself, and seems to threaten with its horns, but is quickly dissolved. For it wastes by its own motions, in every stretch it makes, leaving some of its moisture behind, which, by degrees, must needs consume it, though it makes a path to shine after it. _Like... [ Continue Reading ]
_Before your pots can feel the thorns_ That is, the heat of a fire of thorns made under them, which they soon do, as it is a quick fire, and burns violently while it lasts; _he shall take them away_ Namely, mine enemies; so speedily, with such a hasty and destructive flame; _as with a whirlwind_ Tha... [ Continue Reading ]
_The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance_ The vengeance of God upon the enemies of his church. That is, he shall rejoice when he sees the blessed effects of it; the vindication of God's honour, and the deliverance of himself, and all good men. The pomp and power, the prosperity and s... [ Continue Reading ]
_So that a man shall say_, &c. These administrations of Divine Providence shall be so evident and convincing, that not only good men shall be sensible thereof, but any man that sees them; yea, even such as were apt to doubt of God's providence shall, upon this eminent occasion, be ready to exclaim,... [ Continue Reading ]