Psalms 109:9

Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. LET HIS CHILDREN BE FATHERLESS, AND HIS WIFE A WIDOW. There is a regular progression. Having abused his office for wickedness, he has a wicked man set over him, ; he is condemned, ; sentence is executed against his life, and another takes his office, ; and now, in Psalms 109:9, the penalty descends upon his children, and, Psalms 109:11, his property and his memory are visited....

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 109:9. _LET HIS CHILDREN BE FATHERLESS, C._] It is said that Judas was a married man, against whom this verse, as well as the preceding is supposed to be spoken and that it was to support them that he stole from the bag in which the property of the apostles was put, and of which he was the treasurer....

LET HIS CHILDREN BE FATHERLESS - Hebrew, “his sons.” This is what “always” occurs when a criminal who is a father is executed. It is one of the consequences of crime; and if the officer of justice does his duty, of course, the sons of such a man “must” be made fatherless. The prayer is, simply, that justice may be done, and all this is but an enumeration of what must follow from the proper execution of the laws. AND HIS WIFE A WIDOW - This implies no malice against the wife, but may be consistent with the most tender compassion for her sufferings. It is simply one of the consequences which must follow from the punishment of a bad man. The enumeration of these things shows the enormity of the crime - just as the consequences which follow from the execution of a murderer are an illustration of the divine sense of the evil of the offence....

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

LET HIS CHILDREN BE FATHERLESS, AND HIS WIFE A WIDOW. This sometimes is the case of good men, who leave widows and fatherless children, whom the Lord shows mercy to; being the Father of the fatherless, and the Judge of the widow, Psalms 68:5, but sometimes it is threatened and comes as a judgment, when the Lord shows no mercy and favour to them, Exodus 22:24. And this is the case here, which very probably was literally fulfilled in Judas, who might have a wife and children; since it looks as if the other apostles had, and certain it is that one of them had a wife, even Peter, in the times of Christ; see 1 Corinthians 9:5. And this was verified in the people of the Jews; whom the Lord divorced from himself, and wrote a

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

CHILDREN. sons....

PSALMS 109 DESCRIPTIVE TITLE David, Rehearsing how His Enemies have Cursed him, Refers his Cause to Jehovah. ANALYSIS Stanza I., Psalms 109:1-5, The Psalmist Entreats Jehovah to speak up for him against his Accusers, of whose Groundless Hatred he Complains. Stanzas II.-VI., Psalms 109:6-15, He Records, at length, his Enemies-' Imprecations; and, Stanza VII., Psalms 109:16-19, Their False Accusations, regarding these as Permitted by Jehovah, In Stanzas VIII-XII., Psalms 109:21-31, the Psalmis