_A.M. 2983. B.C. 1021._ This Psalm was composed by David when he was in great trouble, but on what account it is not easy to determine. Bishop Patrick thinks it might be about the time when he concluded that he should one day perish by the hand of Saul; and that he revised it again when he was in t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Save me, O God_ O most mighty God, in whom alone I trust for safety, deliver me from these distresses; _for the waters_ Of tribulation; _are come unto my soul_ Have reached my vital parts, so that I am ready to expire, and my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. _I sink in deep mire_ Hebrew... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am weary of my crying_ I have prayed and cried to God long and fervently, and yet God seems to neglect and forsake me. _My throat is dried_ With loud and frequent cries. _Mine eyes fail_ With looking to God for that aid and deliverance which he hath promised, and which I confidently expected, but... [ Continue Reading ]
_O God, thou knowest my foolishness_ Hebrew, אולתי, _ivalti_, rendered in the Liturgy version, _my simpleness._ As if he had said, Thou knowest the simplicity and uprightness of my heart, that I have never intentionally injured those that thus cruelly hate and persecute me, but have always designed... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let not them that wait on thee_ The truly pious, who believe thy promises, and look to thee for the fulfilment of them; who are conscious of their own weakness, and of the insufficiency of all human aid, and therefore apply to thee, and trust in thee for the help they want; _be ashamed_ That is, fr... [ Continue Reading ]
_Because for thy sake_ For my trust in thy promises, obedience to thy commands, and zeal for thy glory; “because I adhere to thee, and will use no unlawful means to right myself;” _I have borne reproach_ For they turn all these things into matter of contempt and derision. _I am become a stranger to... [ Continue Reading ]
_When I wept_ For their impiety, and the reproaches they cast upon God and godliness; _and chastened my soul with fasting_ That is, either my body or myself; _that was my reproach_ They derided me for my piety and devotion, and for my faith in God's promises and hopes of assistance from him. _I made... [ Continue Reading ]
_But my prayer is unto thee_ While they scoff, I will pray, and not be driven from thee, nor from prayer and other duties, by all their reproaches, or any other discouragements. _In an acceptable time_ Hebrew, עת רצון, _gneet ratzon, in a time of grace, of good will_, or _good pleasure._ These words... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let me be delivered from them that hate me_ By thus speaking, he explains his meaning in the metaphors here used of _mire, waters, deep_, and _pit. For thy loving-kindness is good_ Is eminently and unspeakably good; is gracious, or bountiful; the positive degree being put for the superlative: it is... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou hast known my reproach_, &c. Thou seest how much of it I suffer, and that for thy sake. _Mine adversaries are all before thee_ Thou knowest them thoroughly, and all their injurious and wicked devices, and implacable malice against me. None of them, nor of their secret plots and subtle lies, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_They gave me gall for my meat_ Instead of affording me that pity and comfort which my condition required, they barbarously added to my affliction. These words were only metaphorically fulfilled in David, but were properly and literally accomplished in Christ; the description of whose sufferings, it... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let their table_, &c. Dr. Waterland renders the verse, _Their table shall be for a snare before them, and their peace-offerings for a trap._ “This and the following verses are to be read in the future tense, and considered as predictions rather than as imprecations. The meaning of the whole verse s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let their eyes_, &c. _Their eyes shall be darkened_ Not the eyes of their bodies, (for, in that sense, the prediction was neither accomplished in David's nor in Christ's enemies,) but of their minds, that they will not discern God's truth, nor their own duty, nor the way of peace and salvation. As... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pour out Thou wilt pour out thine indignation upon them,_ &c. Thou wilt, on a sudden, bring so many evils upon them, that they shall not be able to escape; but will feel that they suffer the most dismal effects of thy severest and lasting displeasure. How terribly and awfully has God fulfilled this... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let their habitation_ Hebrew, שׂירתם, _tiratham, their palace_, as the same word is rendered Song of Solomon 8:9, or _castle_, as Genesis 25:16, and Numbers 31:10. It is meant either of their temple, in which they placed their glory and their confidence for safety, or more generally of their strong... [ Continue Reading ]
_For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten_ Christ was he whom God had _smitten_, for it pleased the Lord to _bruise him_, and he was esteemed _stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, Isaiah 53:4_; and him the Jews persecuted with a rage which reached up to heaven, crying, _Away with him; cruci... [ Continue Reading ]
_Add iniquity to their iniquity_ Or, _give_ or _permit_, as תנה, _tenah_, may be properly rendered. The old version expresses the psalmist's meaning accurately, _Let_, or _permit, them to fall from one wickedness to another._ It is not unusual with God, as a punishment of some great sin or sins, tho... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let them be blotted out of the book of the living_ “Let them be cut off before their time, and enjoy none of the blessings which thou hast promised to the righteous.” Bishop Patrick. The psalmist is thought to allude to registers or catalogues, in which the names of living men used anciently to be... [ Continue Reading ]
_But I am poor_, &c. Bishop Hare reads it, _“But as for me, though I am low and full of pain,”_ (Hebrew, כואב, _choeeb;_ rendered, in the plural, _they were sore, Genesis 34:25_,) _“thy salvation, O God, shall protect me.” I will praise_, &c. I will not be unmindful of the benefit, but praise thy po... [ Continue Reading ]
_The humble shall see this_ Shall see, in my case, how ready God is to hear the poor and distressed when they cry to him, and to grant their petitions, and how far he is from _despising his prisoners_, namely, those who are in prison or affliction for his sake, though men despise them; _and be glad_... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let the heaven and earth praise him_ Let angels and men, the visible and invisible world, and all creatures contained therein, join together to celebrate him with their highest praises; for “the mercies of God in Christ are such, that they cannot worthily be praised by any thing less than a univers... [ Continue Reading ]