Psalms 109:4

For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. FOR MY LOVE THEY ARE MY ADVERSARIES, BUT I (GIVE MYSELF UNTO) PRAYER - `but I (am wholly engrossed in) prayer.' This is my sole resource against them, the one thing which is my being-my life-breath, Compare John 7:32; . After His enemies had plotted His destruction, as He knew by His omniscience, He retired to the mount of Olives for prayer. So His type, David, on the sine mount, when he went weeping and with his head covered, was wholly prayer (). On the phrase, see , "I (am for) peace" - I peace; i:e., I am wholly engaged in seeking peace. Peace is my very being and el...

4_On account of my love they have been opposed to me _(296) The Psalmist had already solemnly declared, that his adversaries, unprovoked by any injury inflicted upon them by him, and without any just cause, became, through mere diabolical rage, his most implacable foes. Here he confirms the truth of that declaration by saying, that he had been their friend. For there is far more merit in showing kindness to an enemy than simply abstaining from doing that which is evil. And from this we may perceive, that the influence of Satan must be awfully powerful when he takes the hearts of men captive at his will. For nothing can be more unnatural than to hate and cruelly persecute those who love us. To _love _he also adds deeds of kindness, meaning, that it was his aim to secure their good will by outward acts of beneficence....

6-20 The Lord Jesus may speak here as a Judge, denouncing sentence on some of his enemies, to warn others. When men reject the salvation of Christ, even their prayers are numbered among their sins. See what hurries some to shameful deaths, and brings the families and estates of others to ruin; makes them and theirs despicable and hateful, and brings poverty, shame, and misery upon their posterity: it is sin, that mischievous, destructive thing. And what will be the effect of the sentence, "Go, ye cursed," upon the bodies and souls of the wicked! How it will affect the senses of the body, and the powers of the soul, with pain, anguish, horror, and despair! Think on these things, sinners, tremble and repent....

Verse Psalms 109:4. _FOR MY LOVE THEY ARE MY ADVERSARIES_] In their behalf I have performed many acts of kindness, and they are my adversaries notwithstanding; this shows principles the most vicious, and hearts the most corrupt. Many of the fathers and commentators have understood the principal part of the things spoken here as referring to our Lord, and the treatment he received from the Jews; and whatever the original intention was, they may safely be applied to this case, as the Psalms 109:2, Psalms 109:3, Psalms 109:4, and Psalms 109:5 verses a...

FOR MY LOVE ... - As a recompence for my love; or, this is the return which I get for all the expressions of my love to them. The enemies referred to were those whom he had treated kindly; to whom he had done good. This is not uncommon in the world. It was illustrated in an eminent degree in the life of the Saviour. BUT I GIVE MYSELF UNTO PRAYER - literally, “I - prayer;” that is, I am all prayer; I continually pray. This may mean, either, that he bore these trials with a meek spirit, and did not allow these things to disturb his devotions; or, more probably, that he prayed constantly “for them;” he desired their good, and sought it from above....

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

FOR MY LOVE THEY ARE MY ADVERSARIES,.... For the love that Christ showed to the Jews; to their bodies, in going about and healing all manner of diseases among them; to their souls, in preaching, the Gospel to them in each of their cities; and for the love he showed to mankind in coming into the world to save them, which should have commanded love again; but instead of this they became his implacable adversaries: they acted the part of Satan; they were as so many Satans to him, as the word signifies. BUT I GIVE MYSELF UNTO PRAYER; or "I am a man of prayer" y; as Aben Ezra and Kimchi supply it; so he was in the days of his flesh, Hebrews 5:7, he was constant at it, and fervent in it; sometimes a whole night together at it: his usual method was, when at Jerusalem, to teach in the temple in the daytime, and at night to go to the mount of Olives, and there abide and pray,...

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

I GIVE MYSELF UNTO PRAYER. I [am all] prayer. Compare Psalms 120:7 "I [am all] peace". As here in verses: Psalms 109:1 and verses: Psalms 109:21....