Psalms 56:2

_MINE ENEMIES WOULD DAILY SWALLOW ME UP: FOR THEY BE MANY THAT FIGHT AGAINST ME, O THOU MOST HIGH._ Mine enemies - literally, 'my watchers;' 'those who lie in wait for me' (Psalms 5:8). FOR THEY BE MANY THAT FIGHT AGAINST ME. The same Hebrew as in Psalms 56:1: '(they be) many that would eat me.' O THOU MOST HIGH. So the Chaldaic and Muis, 'O thou who from heaven dost behold all things, and art all-powerful on high'-literally, height. Most versions, and Hengstenberg, etc., take it concerning the enemy, adverbially: they ... fight against me Loftily.' So the Hebrew in Psalms 73:8 (cf. Micah 2:3, 'haughtily'). DeBu

1-7 Be merciful unto me, O God. This petition includes all the good for which we come to throne of grace. If we obtain mercy there, we need no more to make us happy. It implies likewise our best plea, not our merit, but God's mercy, his free, rich mercy. We may flee to, and trust the mercy of God, when surrounded on all sides by difficulties and dangers. His enemies were too hard for him, if God did not help him. He resolves to make God's promises the matter of his praises, and so we have reason to make them. As we must not trust an arm of flesh when engaged for us, so we must not be afraid of an arm of flesh when stretched out against us. The sin of sinners will never be their security. Who knows the power of God's anger; how high it can reach, how forcibly it can strike?...

Verse Psalms 56:2. _O THOU MOST HIGH._] מרום _marom_. I do not think that this word expresses any attribute of God, or indeed is at all addressed to him. It signifies, literally, _from on high_, or _from a_ _high_ or _elevated place_: "For the multitudes fight against me from the high or elevated place;" the place of _authority _- the court and cabinet of Saul. Most of the _Versions_ begin the next verse with this word: "From the light of the day, though I fear, yet will I trust in thee." From the time that _persecution waxes hot against me_, though I often am seized with fear, yet I am enabled to maintain my trust in thee. Dr. _Kennicott_ thinks there is a corruption here, and proposes to read: "I look upwards all the day long....

MINE ENEMIES - Margin, “mine observers.” The Hebrew word here used means properly to twist, to twist totogether; then, to be firm, hard, tough; then, “to press together,” as a rope that is twisted - and hence, the idea of oppressing, or pressing hard on one, as an enemy. See Psalms 27:11; Psalms 54:5. In the former verse the psalmist spoke of an enemy, or of “one” that would swallow him up (in the singular number), or of “man” as an enemy to him anywhere. Here he uses the plural number, implying that there were “many” who were enlisted against him. He was surrounded by enemies. He met them wherever he went. He had an enemy in Saul; he had enemies in the followers of Saul; he had enemies among the Philistines, and now when he had fled to Achish, king of Gath, and had hoped to find

EXPOSITION THIS and the following have been called "twin psalms." They begin with the same words, are nearly of the same length, and have each a refrain which divides them into two portions. Formally, the chief difference between the two is that Psalms 56:1. has an epilogue, or appendix (Psalms 56:12, Psalms 56:13), after the second refrain, to which there is nothing correspondent in Psalms 57:1. Both psalms were written under circumstances of great distress, and the tone of thought in them is very similar. Each begins with complaint, and earnest prayer for deliverance, while each ends with praise and triu

MINE ENEMIES WOULD DAILY SWALLOW [ME] UP,.... For not one man only, but many, were his enemies; who observed and watched him, and were eagerly desirous of his ruin. The believer has many enemies, sin, Satan, and the world, seeking to devour and destroy him, though they cannot; FOR [THEY BE] MANY THAT FIGHT AGAINST ME, O THOU MOST HIGH; he appeals to God, who dwells on high, and sees all things, for the truth of this, that he had many enemies both at Gath and in Israel; as well as applies to him for help, he being higher than they. Some render the words, "for [they] be many that fight against me from on high" q, or "highly" r, proudly and haughtily. Aben Ezra gives a very different sense, "I have many angels on high that fight for me.'' But מרום, "marom", is an epithet of God, as in Psalms 92:8; and so it is interpreted by Jarchi and Kimchi; and also

Psalms 56:1. _Be merciful unto me, O God for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me._ «Man has no mercy upon me, but, O God, be thou merciful unto me! If thy justice doth for a while let loose mine enemies upon me, let thy mercy diminish their power over me, for they are very cruel. They would make a complete end of me if they could, devouring me utterly.» Psalms 56:2. _Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High. What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee._ In God I will praise his word, David means, «Through his grace, I will praise his word,» for we cannot rightly praise God unless he gives us the grace to do it. To receive from God, is more easy for us; but to return gratitude to Go

Psalms 56 The Faithfulness of God, the Comfort of His People _ 1. Trust and Comfort (Psalms 56:1)_ 2. Praise for anticipated deliverance (Psalms 56:10) These five Psalms which are grouped together are Michtam Psalms. This one was written by David when the Philistines took him at Gath. The inscription Jonathelem-rechokim has been rendered by the Septuagint translators as “upon the people driven afar from the holy place,” the literal rendering is, “The dove of silence in far off places.” On account of the great tribulation, the abomination in Jerusalem, seen in the previous Psalm, the godly have left the city and here we have the expressions of their trust in the faithfulness of their God. Whatever th

LVI. A PRAYER AGAINST STRONG, NUMEROUS, AND CRAFTY FOES. Psalms 56:2. For enemies read they that lie in wait for me (_mg.),_ PROUDLY: read bitterly. Psalms 56:4. Will praise his word, _i.e._ the fulfilment of His promise. The fulfilment comes, of course, through God. The verse recurs in Psalms 56:10 f., which is probably its original place since it cannot be a refrain. It has been anticipated here by a mistake of the scribe. Psalms 56:6_ b_, _c_, PSALMS 56:7_ a_. Read, with slight change in text,

ENEMIES. watchers, or observers. O THOU MOST HIGH. Hebrew. _marom,_ lofty, or exalted (not _Elyon)_....