Psalms 109:18

Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour. -God's visitation on the wicked man's property (Psalms 109:11); on his name and memorial (Psalms 109:13). The inspired prophetic prayer rests on the principle that divine justice is an all-consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29), which does not rest until it has utterly extirpated the hardened transgressor. Verse 11. AND LET THE STRANGER SPOIL HIS LABOUR - the fruit of "his labour:" instead of his own family and kindred enjoying it. Verse 12. LET THERE BE NONE TO EXTEND MERCY UNTO HIM - as a creditor does to a debtor; or an almsgiver does to the...

Not a few interpreters translate the next two verses in the past form, _he clothed himself with cursing, etc., _which would be tantamount to saying that the enemy was as fond of cursing as of costly apparel, or that he clothed himself with it as with a garment, and that, like an inveterate disease, it was deeply seated in the marrow of his bones. The other interpretation is more simple, That cursing should cleave to the wicked, that it should envelop him like a cloak, gird him about as his girdle, and should even penetrate to his bones. And that no one may rashly take for an example what David here spoke by the special influence of the Holy Spirit, let him keep in mind that the Psalmist is not pleading here in reference to any personal interest, and that it is no ordinary character to whom he refers. Belonging to the number of the faithful, he would not omit the law of charity, in desiri...

21-31 The psalmist takes God's comforts to himself, but in a very humble manner. He was troubled in mind. His body was wasted, and almost worn away. But it is better to have leanness in the body, while the soul prospers and is in health, than to have leanness in the soul, while the body is feasted. He was ridiculed and reproached by his enemies. But if God bless us, we need not care who curses us; for how can they curse whom God has not cursed; nay, whom he has blessed? He pleads God's glory, and the honour of his name. Save me, not according to my merit, for I pretend to none, but according to thy-mercy. He concludes with the joy of faith, in assurance that his present conflicts would end in triumphs. Let all that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him. Jesus, unjustly put to death, and now risen again, is an Advocate and Intercessor for his people...

Verse Psalms 109:18. _LET IT COME INTO HIS BOWELS LIKE WATER_] Houbigant thinks this is an allusion to the _waters of jealousy_; and he is probably right, - the bitter waters that produce the curse. See Numbers 5:18....

AS HE CLOTHED HIMSELF WITH CURSING LIKE AS WITH A GARMENT - Moral qualities are often compared with raiment - as that in which we “appear” to our fellow-men. See 1 Peter 5:5; Job 29:14. SO LET IT COME INTO HIS BOWELS LIKE WATER - Margin, “within him.” Hebrew, “In his midst.” Let it penetrate him through and through. Let no part of him be unaffected by it. AND LIKE OIL INTO HIS BONES - As if oil flowed through all his bones, so let the effects of cursing pervade his whole frame. The prayer is, that his entire nature might feel the effects of cursing; that he might know to the full what he was endeavoring to bring on others....

EXPOSITION THE title of this psalm—"To the chief musician, a psalm of David"—is thought to be not inappropriate. We may have here David's own appeal to God against his persecutors, and especially against a chief persecutor, who may be Saul, or Doeg, or Ahithophel, or Shimei. The psalm opens with mingled complaint and prayer. The adversaries are spoken of in the plural (Psalms 109:2). They have abused and maligned the writer, have returned evil for the good that he has sought to do them, and given him hatred for his love (Psalms 109:5). The psalmist, in return, utters against them, or rather against his chief persecutor, a series of male dictions (Psalms 109:6) which constitute a stand

AS HE CLOTHED HIMSELF WITH CURSING LIKE AS WITH HIS GARMENT,.... He was full of it; his mouth was full of cursing and bitterness; it was visible in him, easy to be discerned; he took pride as well as pleasure in it, it was in his esteem an ornament to him, as his clothes were. The Syriac version renders it, "as armour"; as if it was a protection to him, or he thought it to be so. SO LET IT COME INTO HIS BOWELS LIKE WATER; the meaning is, let the wrath of God and the curse of the law come into his conscience, and make sad work there, and fill him with dread and terror, and that in great abundance, and with great force; like a flood of waters that carry all before it; or like the waters of jealousy which made the belly to swell and the thigh to rot; or the flying roll of the curse, which entering into the house of the sinner destroyed it, and all in it, Numbers 5:22....

PSALM 109-113 Psalms 109 Christ in Humiliation _ 1. Despised and rejected (Psalms 109:1)_ 2. The rejectors and their fate (Psalms 109:6) 3. The Christ in His sorrow (Psalms 109:21) The five Psalms which are next grouped together belong to the most interesting in the whole collection. They give a marvellous prophecy concerning Christ, His rejection, exaltation and coming glory. In Psalms 109:1 we see Him rejected. In Psalms 110:

CIX. A PSALM OF CURSING. This Ps. is further than anything else in the whole Psalter from the spirit of Christianity. It falls into three parts: Psalms 109:1. The Psalmist's distress in persecution; Psalms 109:6. Bitter curses against his foes; in Psalms 109:21 he recurs to his suffering but is confident of final deliverance. Note that in Psalms 109:6 he does not merely assert that God will punish. Had he done so, he would have felt his pain of body and soul much softened. As it is, he is in utter wretchedness, and curses his foes in the anguish of his spirit. No doubt he regards his enemies as utterly wicked. But we do not

LIKE OIL INTO HIS BONES— These expressions admirably mark out an adhering rooted curse, which penetrated the body, as the water which one drinks, and as the oil with which one is rubbed: They have swallowed cursing like water; they are penetrated by it, as by the oil wherewith they have been anointed. Calmet. Houbigant thinks that the waters of jealousy are here meant. See Numbers 5:18. And Green renders it, with much seeming propriety, _like marrow into his bones._...