INTRODUCTION TO PSALMS 9 TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN UPON MUTHLABBEN, A PSALM OF DAVID. Some, take "muthlabben" to be the name of the tune to which this psalm was sung, and to design the same note which we call the counter-tenor: others think, that "upon muth", or "almuth", are but one word, and the same... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL PRAISE [THEE], O LORD, WITH MY WHOLE, HEART,.... This is what is called in the New Testament making melody in the heart, or singing with grace in the heart, Ephesians 5:19; and yet does not signify mere mental singing, but vocal singing, the heart joining therein; for the word here used for p... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL BE GLAD AND REJOICE IN THEE,.... Not in himself, in any attainments or works of his; not in his wisdom, riches, and strength, nor in his warlike exploits, but in the Lord; not in second causes, in horses and chariots, in armies, and in the courage and valour of men, but in God, as the author... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN MINE ENEMIES ARE TURNED BACK,.... As the Philistines were, when Goliath their champion was dead; and as the men that came to apprehend Christ, David's antitype, went backwards and fell to the ground, through the superior power of Christ; and as sin, Satan, and the world, and at last antichrist,... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOU HAST MAINTAINED MY RIGHT AND MY CAUSE,.... Or vindicated and established his righteous cause; God had pleaded and defended it, and by the flight, fall, and ruin of his enemies, had clearly made it appear that his cause was just and good; THOU SITTEST IN THE THRONE JUDGING RIGHT; God has no... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST REBUKED THE HEATHEN,.... The people of the Philistines, as the Targum and Kimchi explain it, though some Jewish writers a understand it of Amalek the chief of the Heathen nations; but it rather refers to Gospel times, and to the rebukes of the Heathen, by the preaching of the Gospel, for t... [ Continue Reading ]
O THOU ENEMY,.... Which some understand of Goliath, though we do not read of any desolations made by him, nor of any cities destroyed by him; nor by the Israelites upon his death, and the flight of the Philistines on that account; Jarchi interprets it of Esau and his posterity, who shall be destroye... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE LORD SHALL ENDURE FOR EVER,.... When antichrist is entirely ruined, his cities destroyed, and the memorial of them perished, then "shall the Lord sit for ever" g, as the words may be rendered; that is, as a Jewish writer h paraphrases them, in rest and quiet. The words may be expressive of t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SHALL JUDGE THE WORLD IN RIGHTEOUSNESS,.... The word תבל, rendered "world", is, as Ben Melech well observes, a general name for all the countries of the habitable world; and so shows that it is the universal judgment that is here spoken of; and which will be carried on and finished with the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD ALSO WILL BE A REFUGE FOR THE OPPRESSED,.... The poor and weak, such as have no might nor power, and are thrown down and trampled upon, as the word i signifies; and such are the people of God. They are oppressed with the burden of sin; they are bowed down with Satan and his temptations; and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY THAT KNOW THY NAME,.... As proclaimed in the Gospel, a God gracious and merciful, and forgiving sin; and as in Christ, in whom his name is, and in whom he is the God of love, grace, and mercy, though out of him a consuming fire; or the name of Christ himself, the Word of the Lord, who is th... [ Continue Reading ]
SING PRAISES TO THE LORD, WHICH DWELLETH IN ZION,.... The psalmist having determined in the strength of grace to praise the Lord himself, and show forth all his marvellous works, and given his reasons for it, both with respect to himself in particular, and with respect to the people of God in genera... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE MAKETH INQUISITION FOR BLOOD,.... The Arabic version renders it, "he remembers him that seeks their blood"; that is, the wicked man, that lies in wait for innocent blood, and whose feet are swift to shed it; the man of sin, who is bloodthirsty; who drinks up the blood of the saints like wate... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE MERCY UPON ME, O LORD,.... The psalmist proceeds to petitions on his own account in this verse: the ends he proposes by the fulfilling of them are mentioned in the next. A good man, a man called by the grace of God, though he has obtained mercy of the Lord, yet still stands in need of more, of... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT I MAY SHOW FORTH ALL THY PRAISE,.... That is, all thy bounties and acts of goodness, deserving of praise; even as many of them as he had an experience of, and which came within his knowledge; and as much of them as he was capable of observing: for otherwise the instances of divine grace and goo... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HEATHEN ARE SUNK INTO THE PIT [THAT] THEY MADE,.... The psalmist having determined to praise the Lord, and called upon others to join with him in it, here enters upon it: for, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra observe, this is תהלה "the praise" he was desirous to show forth, which is occasioned by the des... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD IS KNOWN [BY] THE JUDGMENT [WHICH] HE EXECUTETH,.... The judgment which God will execute upon antichrist, and the antichristian powers, will be a means of making known his name, his glory, his perfections, in all the earth; as his wisdom, power, justice, and goodness; see Exodus 9:16. The d... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WICKED SHALL BE TURNED INTO HELL,.... Some render it, "shall return to the grave" p, to the earth, the original dust from whence they came; but this is common to all men, to the righteous as well as the wicked; rather שאול here signifies the place of torment, commonly called hell, where devils a... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE NEEDY SHALL NOT ALWAYS BE FORGOTTEN,.... The people of God are poor and needy for the most part; they are so in things temporal, and they are poor in spirit, or in things spiritual, of which they are sensible; their needs are many, and frequently return; but God has provided a throne of grac... [ Continue Reading ]
ARISE, O LORD,.... To the destruction of thine enemies, and the salvation of thy people; Psalms 7:6; LET NOT MAN PREVAIL; the man of sin, antichrist, that is, let him not always prevail; he is the little horn that was to prevail against the saints, and has prevailed, Daniel 7:21; but he shall not a... [ Continue Reading ]
PUT THEM IN FEAR, O LORD,.... Who are, a bold, impudent, fearless generation of men; who, like the unjust judge, neither fear God nor regard men, therefore the psalmist prays that God would inject fear into them, who only can do it; and this will be done at Babylon's destruction, when the antichrist... [ Continue Reading ]