The strongest of the imprecatory Pss. (see Intro.). Probably it is just to regard the Psalmist as speaking in the name of the whole nation, vexed and harried by foreign enemies, e.g. Antiochus Epiphanes. The theory that the Psalmist recounts the curses used against him by his enemies is untenable. C... [ Continue Reading ]
SATAN] RV 'an adversary.' The word has both meanings in Hebrew. Satan was the accuser who blamed men before God: cp. Job 1:2; Zechariah 3.... [ Continue Reading ]
LET HIS PRAYER BECOME SIN] truly a horrible curse: cp. Proverbs 15:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
LET ANOTHER TAKE HIS OFFICE] cp. the reference to Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:20). Hence this was known to the early Fathers as 'Psalmus Iscarioticus.'... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THEM SEEK, etc.] better, 'let them be driven out far from their desolate homes.'... [ Continue Reading ]
SPOIL] better, 'make spoil of.'... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM TOSSED UP AND DOWN] better, 'I am shaken off like a locust.'... [ Continue Reading ]