Psalms 55:5

_FEARFULNESS AND TREMBLING ARE COME UPON ME, AND HORROR HATH OVERWHELMED ME._ Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me ... And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Referred to by Jeremiah 9:2. The "dove" is specified not so much for its swiftness, as on account of its defenseless innocence. See note on title of Psalms 56:1. The wings of the eagle are given to the Church of God, wherewith to flee from her foe (Exodus 19:4; Revelation 12:14). "Be at rest" (_ 'ESHKONAAH _ (H7931)); 'dwell secure.'...

1-8 In these verses we have, 1. David praying. Prayer is a salve for every sore, and a relief to the spirit under every burden. 2. David weeping. Griefs are thus, in some measure, lessened, while those increase that have no vent given them. David in great alarm. We may well suppose him to be so, upon the breaking out of Absalom's conspiracy, and the falling away of the people. Horror overwhelmed him. Probably the remembrance of his sin in the matter of Uriah added much to the terror. When under a guilty conscience we must mourn in our complaint, and even strong believers have for a time been filled with horror. But none ever was so overwhelmed as the holy Jesus, when it pleased the Lord to put him to grief, and to make his soul an offering for our sins. In his agony he prayed more earnestly, and was heard and delivered; trusting in him, and following him, we shall be supported under, an...

Verse Psalms 55:5. _FEARFULNESS_] How natural is this description! He is in _distress_; - he _mourns_; - _makes a noise_; - _sobs_ and _sighs_; - his _heart is wounded _- he expects nothing but _death_; - this produces _fear_; - this produces _tremor_, which terminates in that _deep_ _apprehension_ of _approaching_ and _inevitable ruin_ that _overwhelms_ him with _horror_. No man ever described a wounded heart like David....

FEARFULNESS AND TREMBLING - Fear so great as to produce trembling. Compare the notes at Job 4:14. He knew not when these things would end. How far the spirit of rebellion had spread he knew not, and he had no means of ascertaining. It seemed as if he would be wholly overthrown; as if his power was wholly at an end; as if even his life was in the greatest peril. AND HORROR HATH OVERWHELMED ME - Margin, as in Hebrew, “covered me.” That is; it had come upon him so as to cover or envelop him entirely. The shades of horror and despair spread all around and above him, and all things were filled with gloom. The word rendered “horror” occurs only in three other places; - Ezekiel 7:18, rendered (as here) “horror;”...

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

FEARFULNESS AND TREMBLING ARE COME UPON ME,.... Fear and dread of mind, and trembling of body; AND HORROR HATH OVERWHELMED ME; or "covered me"; he was in the utmost consternation and surprise at what he apprehended would be the issue of things; so Christ in the garden is said to be "sore amazed", Mark 14:33; all which terror, fearfulness, trembling, and horror, arose from a sense of sin imputed to him, even of all the sins of his people, the faith of which must be nauseous to him, and the guilt thereof pressing upon him; and from a feeling of the wrath of God, and the curse of the law, which he endured in the room and stead of his people; and this shows the truth of his human nature, and the weakness and insufficiency of that, without his divine nature, to have performed the great work of redemption; also the evil of sin, the exceeding sinfulness of it, and the strictness of

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

_horror hath overwhelmed me_ The same phrase as in Ezekiel 7:18, "horror shall cover them." The word occurs besides only in Job 21:6; Isaiah 21:4....