Psalms 17:10

_THEY ARE INCLOSED IN THEIR OWN FAT: WITH THEIR MOUTH THEY SPEAK PROUDLY._ They are enclosed in their own fat - literally, 'their fat they have closed up;' they have wholly covered themselves with fat - i:e., with spiritual callousness. Compare Judges 3:22; metaphorically of spiritual obesity and proud revolt against God, the result of external posperity (Deuteronomy 32:15; Job 15:27; Psalms 73:7; Psalms 119:70)....

10._They have inclosed themselves in their own fat _If the translation which is given by others is considered preferable, _They have inclosed their own fat, _the meaning will be quite the same. Some Jewish interpreters explain the words thus: that being stuffed with fat, and their throat being, as it were, choked with it, they were unable to speak freely; but this is a very meagre and unsatisfactory exposition. By the word _fat, _I think, is denoted the pride with which they were filled and swollen, as it were, with fatness. It is a very appropriate and expressive metaphor to represent them as having their hearts choked up with pride, in the manner in which corpulent persons are affected from the fat within them. (365) David complains of their being puffed up with their wealth and pleasures, and accordingly we see the ungodly, the more luxuriously they are pampered, conducting themselves...

8-15 Being compassed with enemies, David prays to God to keep him in safety. This prayer is a prediction that Christ would be preserved, through all the hardships and difficulties of his humiliation, to the glories and joys of his exalted state, and is a pattern to Christians to commit the keeping of their souls to God, trusting him to preserve them to his heavenly kingdom. Those are our worst enemies, that are enemies to our souls. They are God's sword, which cannot move without him, and which he will sheathe when he has done his work with it. They are his hand, by which he chastises his people. There is no fleeing from God's hand, but by fleeing to it. It is very comfortable, when we are in fear of the power of man, to see it dependent upon, and in subjection to the power of God. Most men look on the things of this world as the best things; and they look no further, nor show any care...

Verse Psalms 17:10. _THEY ARE ENCLOSED IN THEIR OWN FAT_] Dr. _Kennicott_, Bishop _Horsley, Houbigant_, and others, read the passage thus: עלי חבלמו סגרו _alai chablamo sageru_, "They have closed their net upon me." This continues the metaphor which was introduced in the preceding verse, and which is continued in the two following: and requires only that עלי _ali_, "upon me," should began this verse instead of _end_ the preceding; and that חלב _cheleb_, which signifies _fat_, should be read חבל _chebel_, which signifies _rope,_ _cable_, or _net_. This important reading requires only the _interchange_ of _two letters_. The _Syriac_ translates it, _shut_ _their mouth_: but the above emendation is most likely to be true. _THEY SPEAK PROUDLY._] Having compassed the mountain on which

THEY ARE ENCLOSED IN THEIR OWN FAT - The meaning here is, that they were prosperous, and that they were consequently self-confident and proud, and were regardless of others. The phrase occurs several times as descriptive of the wicked in a state of prosperity, and as, therefore, insensible to the rights, the wants, and the sufferings of others. Compare Deuteronomy 32:15, “But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked: thou art waxed fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him,” etc. Job 15:27, “because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.” Psalms 73:7, “their eyes stand out with fatness.”...

EXPOSITION THIS psalm is termed "a prayer"—"a Prayer of David." It consists, no doubt, mainly of a series of petitions (Psalms 17:1, Psalms 17:2, Psalms 17:6, Psalms 17:7, Psalms 17:8, Psalms 17:9, Psalms 17:13, Psalms 17:14); but contains also a number of verses which have no precatory

THEY ARE ENCLOSED IN THEIR OWN FAT,.... Or "their fat has enclosed them"; either their eyes, that they can hardly see out of them, or their hearts, so that they are stupid and senseless, and devoid of the fear of God; the phrase is expressive of the multitude of their wealth and increase of power, by which they were swelled with pride and vanity, and neither feared God nor regarded man; so the Targum paraphrases it, "their riches are multiplied, their fat covers them;'' see Deuteronomy 32:15; some read it, "their fat shuts their mouths", so Aben Ezra and Kimchi; or "with their fat they shut them" h; but the accent "athnach" will not admit of this reading; the last word belongs to the next clause; WITH THEIR MOUTH THEY SPEAK PROUDLY; against God and his people, belching out blasphemies against the one, and severe menaces and threatenings

Psalms 17:1. _Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips._ Good men are often slandered and misunderstood; and, at such times, the first verse of this Psalm will well fit their lips: «Hear the right, O Lord.» And, at all times, it is a great blessing when a supplicant can say to God, «Give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.» It must be a dreadful thing to pray with lips that do not speak the truth. When men's thoughts are far away from their prayers, and they are muttering pious words but their heart is absent, what a mockery it must be in the sight of God! A dead prayer, who will own it? It is like the child that was overlaid in the days of Solomon, which neither of the two mothers would own to be hers, Beware of dead prayers. You may dress them up as finely as you like; but, if there is no life in the

Psalms 17 The Prayer of Christ Against the Enemy _ 1. The Righteous Intercessor (Psalms 17:1)_ 2. Prayer for deliverance (Psalms 17:6) 3. The deliverance (Psalms 17:13) Psalms 17:1. This Psalm is blessedly linked with the foregoing one. We hear Christ interceding for the saints in whom is His delight (16:3). He pleads His own perfection. He is righteous; His prayer does not come from feigned lips. Not David, but Christ alone could truly say, “Thou hast proved my heart; Thou hast visited me in the night; Thou hast tried me. T

XVII. THE PRAYER OF A GODLY MAN FOR DELIVERANCE FROM HIS FOES. These foes are not foreign enemies but worldly Jews who persecute their pious and innocent neighbours. The cry for Divine help is made in Psalms 17:1 and is repeated in Psalms 17:6; Psalms 17:13. PSALMS 17:1. In Psalms 17:2 follow _mg._ Psalms 17:3_ b_. With slight alteration of the text translate Thou shalt find no evil thought in me; my mouth shalt not transgress. Such self-complace