Psalms 55:10

_DAY AND NIGHT THEY GO ABOUT IT UPON THE WALLS THEREOF: MISCHIEF ALSO AND SORROW ARE IN THE MIDST OF IT._ Day and night they go about it - at all times. UPON THE WALLS THEREOF ... IN THE MIDST OF IT - in all the space of the city, alike in the exterior circumference and in the interior area. "They" - namely, violence and strife - "go about it" (Psalms 55:9), as warriors stalking round its ramparts....

9-15 No wickedness so distresses the believer, as that which he witnesses in those who profess to be of the church of God. Let us not be surprised at the corruptions and disorders of the church on earth, but long to see the New Jerusalem. He complains of one that had been very industrious against him. God often destroys the enemies of the church by dividing them. And an interest divided against itself cannot long stand. The true Christian must expect trials from professed friends, from those with whom he has been united; this will be very painful; but by looking unto Jesus we shall be enabled to bear it. Christ was betrayed by a companion, a disciple, an apostle, who resembled Ahithophel in his crimes and doom. Both were speedily overtaken by Divine vengeance. And this prayer is a prophecy of the utter, the everlasting ruin, of all who oppose and rebel against the Messiah....

Verse Psalms 55:10. _DAY AND NIGHT THEY GO ABOUT_] This and the following verse show the state of Jerusalem at this time. Indeed, they exhibit a fair view of the state of any city in the beginning of an _insurrection_. The leaders are plotting continually; going about to strengthen their party, and to sow new dissensions by misrepresentation, hypocrisy, calumny, and lies....

DAY AND NIGHT THEY GO ABOUT IT, UPON THE WALLS THEREOF - That is, continually. The word “they” in this place probably refers to the violence and strife mentioned in the preceding verse. They are here personified, and they seem to surround the city; to be everywhere moving, even on the very walls. They are like a besieging army. Inside and outside; in the midst of the city and on the walls, there was nothing but violence and strife - conspiracy, rebellion, and crime. MISCHIEF ALSO AND SORROW ARE IN THE MIDST OF IT - Crime abounded, and the result was anguish or sorrow. This language would well describe the scenes when Absalom rebelled; when the city was filled with conspirators and rebels; and when crime and anguish seemed to prevail in every part of it....

EXPOSITION THIS psalm has been assigned to Jeremiah by Hitzig, and by others to an unknown writer of the seventh century B.C. But no solid grounds have been shown for setting aside the traditionary evidence of the "title," which ascribes it to David. It is Davidic in its depth of feeling, in its abrupt transitions (verses 9, 15, 20), and in its reference to a faithless friend, who is the chief cause of the writer's sufferings (verses 12-14, 20, 21; comp. Psalms 41:9). The Davidic authorship is accepted by Hengstenberg, Dr. Kay, and Canon Cook. The probable date of the psalm is the time of Absalom's rebellion. David, still a dweller at Jerusalem (verses 9-11), has become aware of the conspiracy which has been formed against him (verses 3-8), and of the participation in it of his "familiar friend," Ahithophel (verses 12-14). He is already contempl

DAY AND NIGHT THEY GO ABOUT IT, UPON THE WALLS THEREOF,.... That is, "violence" and "strife" go about the walls of it continually; men of violence and contention are the only watchmen of it: a city must be sadly guarded that has no better watch than this; MISCHIEF ALSO AND SORROW [ARE] IN THE MIDST OF IT; it was full of wickedness within and without; the city, as Aben Ezra observes, was like a circle; violence and strife were as a line round about it, and mischief and sorrow the centre of it: and these two commonly go together; where mischief is, sorrow follows....

To the chief Musician on Neginoth, Maschil, A Psalm of David. It needed the chief musician to sing such a Psalm as this; it is so full of sorrow, and yet so full of confidence in God. It is a Psalm upon the stringed instruments, and it sings not of man only, but of that Son of man that greatest of men, who was also greatest in grief as greatest in faith. Maschil: that is, «instructive,» «full of teaching.» The experience of one child of God is instructive to another, and especially the experience of the great First-born among many brethren. A Psalm of David David, that many-sided man, who seemed not one, but «all mankind's epitome.» Who has not found his own experience when he has read the Psalms of David? It is a looking-glass this Book of Psalms which reflects us all. See how he begins. Psalms 55:1. _Give ear to my prayer, O God;_ All the saints pray. There is no excep

Psalms 55 In the Throes of the Great Tribulation _ 1. Prayer for help (Psalms 55:1)_ 2. Longings to escape (Psalms 55:4) 3. The great tribulation (Psalms 55:9) 4. The comfort of hope (Psalms 55:22) The man of sin, the Antichrist, stands out prominently in this Psalm. Because of him and his oppression, the godly remnant calls for help. They are overwhelmed with horror and beholding the abomination, they wish for wings like a dove and escape from the storm and the tempest of the great tribulation. This is in accordance

LV. A PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE FROM TREACHEROUS FOES. Psalms 55:1. The Psalmist tells God of his disquiet and terror. His desire to flee from Jerusalem to the wilderness. Psalms 55:12. A description of the treacherous friend, ending with an imprecation: let them go down suddenly to the pit. Psalms 55:16. The Psalmist's continuous prayer and his trust that God will defeat his enemies. Psalms 55:20 f. The treachery of his foes described. Psalms 55:22 f. God's care for the godly: His vengeance on

MISCHIEF. Hebrew. _'aven._ App-44....