Text -- Psalms 109:1-27 (NET)

Psalm 109

109:1 For the music director, a psalm of David. O God whom I praise, do not ignore me! 109:2 For they say cruel and deceptive things to me; they lie to me. 109:3 They surround me and say hateful things; they attack me for no reason. 109:4 They repay my love with accusations, but I continue to pray. 109:5 They repay me evil for good, and hate for love. 109:6 Appoint an evil man to testify against him! May an accuser stand at his right side! 109:7 When he is judged, he will be found guilty! Then his prayer will be regarded as sinful. 109:8 May his days be few! May another take his job! 109:9 May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow! 109:10 May his children roam around begging, asking for handouts as they leave their ruined home! 109:11 May the creditor seize all he owns! May strangers loot his property! 109:12 May no one show him kindness! May no one have compassion on his fatherless children! 109:13 May his descendants be cut off! May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives! 109:14 May his ancestors’ sins be remembered by the Lord! May his mother’s sin not be forgotten! 109:15 May the Lord be constantly aware of them, and cut off the memory of his children from the earth! 109:16 For he never bothered to show kindness; he harassed the oppressed and needy, and killed the disheartened. 109:17 He loved to curse others, so those curses have come upon him. He had no desire to bless anyone, so he has experienced no blessings. 109:18 He made cursing a way of life, so curses poured into his stomach like water and seeped into his bones like oil. 109:19 May a curse attach itself to him, like a garment one puts on, or a belt one wears continually! 109:20 May the Lord repay my accusers in this way, those who say evil things about me! 109:21 O sovereign Lord, intervene on my behalf for the sake of your reputation! Because your loyal love is good, deliver me! 109:22 For I am oppressed and needy, and my heart beats violently within me. 109:23 I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day; I am shaken off like a locust. 109:24 I am so starved my knees shake; I have turned into skin and bones. 109:25 I am disdained by them. When they see me, they shake their heads. 109:26 Help me, O Lord my God! Because you are faithful to me, deliver me! 109:27 Then they will realize this is your work, and that you, Lord, have accomplished it.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Psa 109:1

The author and matter of all my praises.

Wesley: Psa 109:4

They requite my love with enmity, as it is explained Psa 109:5.

Wesley: Psa 109:6

Who will rule him with rigour and cruelty.

Wesley: Psa 109:6

To accuse him; for this was the place and posture of accusers in the Jewish courts.

Wesley: Psa 109:7

Because it is not from his heart.

Wesley: Psa 109:10

Into which they are fled for fear and shame.

Wesley: Psa 109:11

Heb. ensnare, take away not only by oppression but also by cunning artificers.

Wesley: Psa 109:11

Who hath no right to his goods.

Wesley: Psa 109:17

In desiring and promoting the welfare of others.

Wesley: Psa 109:18

Which a man wears constantly.

Wesley: Psa 109:18

Water in the cavity of the belly, between the bowels, is almost certain death. And oil soaking into any of the bones, will soon utterly destroy it.

Wesley: Psa 109:20

With design to take away my life.

Wesley: Psa 109:21

Above the mercy of all the creatures.

Wesley: Psa 109:23

Towards the evening, when the sun is setting.

Wesley: Psa 109:23

Which is easily driven away with every wind.

JFB: Psa 109:1

The writer complains of his virulent enemies, on whom he imprecates God's righteous punishment, and to a prayer for a divine interposition in his behalf appends the expression of his confidence and a promise of his praises. This Psalm is remarkable for the number and severity of its imprecations. Its evident typical character (compare Psa 109:8) justifies the explanation of these already given, that as the language of David respecting his own enemies, or those of Christ, it has respect not to the penitent, but to the impenitent and implacable foes of good men, and of God and His cause, whose inevitable fate is thus indicated by inspired authority. (Psa. 109:1-31)

JFB: Psa 109:1

Its object, thus recognizing God as a certain helper. Be not silent (compare Psa 17:13; Psa 28:1).

JFB: Psa 109:2

Or, "They have opened a wicked mouth"

JFB: Psa 109:2

Literally, "with me," that is, Their intercourse is lying, or, they slander me to my face (Mat 26:59).

JFB: Psa 109:3

(Compare Psa 35:7; Psa 69:4).

JFB: Psa 109:4-5

They return evil for good (compare Psa 27:12; Pro 17:13).

JFB: Psa 109:4-5

Or literally, "I (am) prayer," or, "as for me, prayer," that is, it is my resource for comfort in distress.

JFB: Psa 109:6

One of his enemies prominent in malignity (Psa 55:12).

JFB: Psa 109:6

As an accuser, whose place was the right hand of the accused (Zec 3:1-2).

JFB: Psa 109:7

The condemnation is aggravated when prayer for relief is treated as a sin.

JFB: Psa 109:8

The opposite blessing is long life (Psa 91:16; Pro 3:2). The last clause is quoted as to Judas by Peter (Act 1:20).

JFB: Psa 109:8

Literally, "charge," Septuagint, and Peter, "oversight" [1Pe 5:2].

JFB: Psa 109:9-10

Let his family share the punishment, his children be as wandering beggars to prowl in their desolate homes, a greedy and relentless creditor grasp his substance, his labor, or the fruit of it, enure to strangers and not his heirs, and his unprotected, fatherless children fall in want, so that his posterity shall utterly fail.

JFB: Psa 109:13

Literally, "end," as in Psa 37:38, or, what comes after; that is, reward, or success, or its expectation, of which posterity was to a Jew a prominent part.

JFB: Psa 109:14-15

Added to the terrible overthrow following his own sin, let there be the imputation of his parents' guilt, that it may now come before God, for His meting out its full consequences, in cutting off the memory of them (that is, the parents) from the earth (Psa 34:16).

JFB: Psa 109:16

Let God remember guilt, because he (the wicked) did not remember mercy.

JFB: Psa 109:16

That is, pious sufferer (Psa 34:18; Psa 35:10; Psa 40:17).

JFB: Psa 109:17-19

Let his loved sin, cursing, come upon him in punishment (Psa 35:8), thoroughly fill him as water and oil, permeating to every part of his system (compare Num 5:22-27), and become a garment and a girdle for a perpetual dress.

JFB: Psa 109:20

Or, "wages," pay for labor, the fruit of the enemy's wickedness.

JFB: Psa 109:20

As His judicial act.

JFB: Psa 109:21-22

That is, kindness.

JFB: Psa 109:21-22

Literally, "pierced" (Psa 69:16, Psa 69:29).

JFB: Psa 109:23

(Compare Psa 102:11).

JFB: Psa 109:23

Or, "driven" (Exo 10:19).

JFB: Psa 109:24-25

Taunts and reproaches aggravate his afflicted and feeble state (Psa 22:6-7).

JFB: Psa 109:26-27

Let my deliverance glorify Thee (compare Psa 59:13).

Clarke: Psa 109:1

Hold not thy peace - Be not silent; arise and defend my cause.

Clarke: Psa 109:2

The mouth of the wicked and - the deceitful are opened against me - Many persons are continually uttering calumnies against me. Thou knowest my heart and its innocence; vindicate my uprightness against these calumniators.

Clarke: Psa 109:4

For my love they are my adversaries - In their behalf I have performed many acts of kindness, and they are my adversaries notwithstanding; this shows principles the most vicious, and hearts the most corrupt. Many of the fathers and commentators have understood the principal part of the things spoken here as referring to our Lord, and the treatment he received from the Jews; and whatever the original intention was, they may safely be applied to this case, as the Psa 109:2, Psa 109:3, Psa 109:4, and Psa 109:5 are as highly illustrative of the conduct of the Jewish rulers towards our Lord as the following verses are of the conduct of Judas; but allowing these passages to be prophetic, it is the Jewish state rather than an individual, against which these awful denunciations are made, as it seems to be represented here under the person and character of an extremely hardened and wicked man; unless we consider the curses to be those of David’ s enemies. See the note on Psa 109:20 (note)

Clarke: Psa 109:4

But I give myself unto prayer - ואני תפלה vaani thephillah ; "And I prayer."The Chaldee: ואנא אצלי vaana atsalley , "but I pray."This gives a good sense, which is followed by the Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, Arabic, and Anglo-Saxon. The Syriac, "I will pray for them."This, not so correctly; as dreadful imprecations, not prayers, follow. But probably the whole ought to be interpreted according to the mode laid down, Psa 109:20. The translation and paraphrase in the old Psalter are very simple: -

Trans. For that thyng that thai sulde hafe lufed me, thai bakbited me; bot I prayed.

Par - That is, that sulde haf lufed me for I was godson, and thai bakbited me sayande, in Belzebub he castes oute fendes; bot I prayed for thaim.

Clarke: Psa 109:6

Let Satan stand at his right hand - As the word שטן satan means an adversary simply, though sometimes it is used to express the evil spirit Satan, I think it best to preserve here its grammatical meaning: "Let an adversary stand at his right hand:"i.e., Let him be opposed and thwarted in all his purposes

All the Versions have devil, or some equivocal word. The Arabic has eblees , the chief of the apostate spirits; but the name is probably corrupted from the Greek διαβολος diabolos ; from which the Latin diabolus . the Italian diavolo, the Spanish diablo , the French diable , the Irish or Celtic diabal , the Dutch duivel , the German teufel , the Anglo-Saxon deofal , and the English devil, are all derived. The original, διαβολος, comes from δια βαλλειν to shoot or pierce through.

Clarke: Psa 109:7

Let him be condemned - יצא רשע yetse rasha . "Let him come out a wicked man;"that is let his wickedness be made manifest

Clarke: Psa 109:7

Let his prayer become sin - Thus paraphrased by Calmet: "Let him be accused, convicted, and condemned, and let the defense which he brings for his justification only serve to deepen his guilt, and hasten his condemnation."I once more apprise the reader, that if these are not the words of David’ s enemies against himself, (see on Psa 109:20 (note)), they are prophetic denunciations against a rebellious and apostate person or people, hardened in crime, and refusing to return to God.

Clarke: Psa 109:8

Let another take his office - The original is פקדתו pekuddatho , which the margin translates charge, and which literally means superintendence, oversight, inspection from actual visitations. The translation in our common Version is too technical. His bishopric, following the Septuagint, επισκοπην, and Vulgate, episcopatum and has given cause to some light people to be witty, who have said, "The first bishop we read of was bishop Judas."But it would be easy to convict this witticism of blasphemy, as the word is used in many parts of the sacred writings, from Genesis downward, to signify offices and officers, appointed either by God immediately, or in the course of his providence, for the accomplishment of the most important purposes. It is applied to the patriarch Joseph, Gen 39:4, ויפקדהו vaiyaphkidehu , he made him bishop, alias overseer; therefore it might be as wisely said, and much more correctly, "The first bishop we read of was bishop Joseph;"and many such bishops there were of God’ s making long before Judas was born. After all, Judas was no traitor when he was appointed to what is called his bishopric, office, or charge in the apostolate. Such witticisms as these amount to no argument, and serve no cause that is worthy of defense

Our common Version, however, was not the first to use the word: it stands in the Anglo-Saxon "and his episcopacy let take other."The old Psalter is nearly the same; I shall give the whole verse: Fa be made his days, and his bysshopryk another take . "For Mathai was sett in stede of Judas; and his days was fa that hynged himself."

Clarke: Psa 109:9

Let his children be fatherless, etc. - 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.

Clarke: Psa 109:10

Set his children - beg - The father having lost his office, the children must necessarily be destitute; and this is the hardest lot to which any can become subject, after having been born to the expectation of an ample fortune.

Clarke: Psa 109:11

Let the strangers spoil his labor - Many of these execrations were literally fulfilled in the case of the miserable Jews, after the death of our Lord. They were not only expelled from their own country, after the destruction of Jerusalem, but they were prohibited from returning; and so taxed by the Roman government, that they were reduced to the lowest degree of poverty. Domitian expelled them from Rome; and they were obliged to take up their habitation without the gate Capena, in a wood contiguous to the city, for which they were obliged to pay a rent, and where the whole of their property was only a basket and a little hay. See Juvenal, Sat. ver. 11: -

Substitit ad veteres arcus, madidamque Capenam

Hic ubi nocturne Numa constituebat amicae

Nunc sacri fontis nemus, et delubra locantu

Judaes: quorum cophinus, foenumque supellex

Omnis enim populo mercedem pendere jussa es

Arbor, et ejectis mendicat silva Camoenis

He stopped a little at the conduit gate

Where Numa modelled once the Roman state

In nightly councils with his nymph retired

Though now the sacred shades and founts are hire

By banished Jews, who their whole wealth can la

In a small basket, on a wisp of hay

Yet such our avarice is, that every tre

Pays for his head; nor sleep itself is free

Nor place nor persons now are sacred held

From their own grove the Muses are expelled

Dryden

The same poet refers again to this wretched state of the Jews, Sat. vi., ver. 541; and shows to what vile extremities they were reduced in order to get a morsel of bread: -

Cum dedit ille locum, cophino foenoque relicto

Arcanam Judaea tremens mendicat in aurem

Interpres legum Solymarum, et magna sacerdo

Arboris, ac summi fida internuncia coeli

Implet et illa manum, sed parcius, aere minuto

Qualia cunque voles Judaei somnia vendunt

Here a Jewess is represented as coming from the wood mentioned above, to gain a few oboli by fortune-telling; and, trembling lest she should be discovered, she leaves her basket and hay, and whispers lowly in the ear of some female, from whom she hopes employment in her line. She is here called by the poet the interpretess of the laws of Solymae, or Jerusalem, and the priestess of a tree, because obliged, with the rest of her nation, to lodge in a wood; so that she and her countrymen might be said to seek their bread out of desolate places, the stranger having spoiled their labor. Perhaps the whole of the Psalm relates to their infidelities, rebellions, and the miseries inflicted on them from the crucifixion of our Lord till the present time. I should prefer this sense, if what is said on Psa 109:20 be not considered a better mode of interpretation.

Clarke: Psa 109:13

Let his posterity be cut off - It is a fact that the distinction among the Jewish tribes in entirely lost. Not a Jew in the world knows from what tribe he is sprung; and as to the royal family, it remains nowhere but in the person of Jesus the Messiah. He alone is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Except as it exists in him, the name is blotted out.

Clarke: Psa 109:16

Persecuted the poor and needy man - In the case of Jesus Christ all the dictates of justice and mercy were destroyed, and they persecuted this poor man unto death. They acted from a diabolical malice. On common principles, their opposition to Christ cannot be accounted for.

Clarke: Psa 109:17

As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him - The Jews said, when crucifying our Lord, His blood be upon us and our children! Never was an imprecation more dreadfully fulfilled.

Clarke: Psa 109:18

Let it come into his bowels like water - Houbigant thinks this is an allusion to the waters of jealousy; and he is probably right, - the bitter waters that produce the curse. See Num 5:18.

Clarke: Psa 109:19

And for a girdle - Let the curse cleave to him throughout life: as the girdle binds all the clothes to the body, let the curse of God bind all mischiefs and maladies to his body and soul

The Hindoos, Budhists, and others often wear a gold or silver chain about their waist. One of those chains, once the ornament of a Moudeliar in the island of Ceylon, lies now before me: it is silver, and curiously wrought.

Clarke: Psa 109:20

Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord, and of them that speak evil apainst my soul - Following the mode of interpretation already adopted, this may mean: All these maledictions shall be fulfilled on my enemies; they shall have them for their reward. So all the opposition made by the Jews against our Lord, and the obloquies and execrations wherewith they have loaded him and his religion, have fallen upon themselves; and they are awful examples of the wrath of God abiding on them that believe not

But is not this verse a key to all that preceded it? The original, fairly interpreted, will lead us to a somewhat different meaning: זאת פעלת שטני מאת יהוה והדברים רע על נפשי zoth peullath soteney meeth Yehovah , vehaddoberim ra al naphshi . "This is the work of my adversaries before the Lord, and of those who speak evil against my soul,"or life. That is, all that is said from the sixth to the twentieth verse consists of the evil words and imprecations of my enemies against my soul, laboring to set the Lord, by imprecations, against me, that their curses may take effect. This, which is a reasonable interpretation, frees the whole Psalm from every difficulty. Surely, the curses contained in it are more like those which proceed from the mouth of the wicked, than from one inspired by tne Spirit of the living God. Taking the words in this sense, which I am persuaded is the best, and which the original will well bear and several of the Versions countenance, then our translation may stand just as it is, only let the reader remember that at the sixth verse David begins to tell how his enemies cursed Him, while he prayed for Them.

Clarke: Psa 109:21

But do thou for me - While they use horrible imprecations against me, and load me with their curses, act thou for me, and deliver me from their maledictions. While they curse, do thou bless. This verse is a farther proof of the correctness of the interpretation given above.

Clarke: Psa 109:22

I am poor and needy - I am allicted and impoverished; and my heart is wounded - my very life is sinking through distress.

Clarke: Psa 109:23

I am gone like the shadow - " I have walked like the declining shadow,"- I have passed my meridian of health and life; and as the sun is going below the horizon, so am I about to go under the earth

Clarke: Psa 109:23

I am tossed up and down as the locust - When swarms of locusts take wing, and infest the countries in the east, if the wind happen to blow briskly, the swarms are agitated and driven upon each other, so as to appear to be heaved to and fro, or tossed up and down. Dr. Shaw, who has seen this, says it gives a lively idea of the comparisons of the psalmist.

Clarke: Psa 109:24

My knees are weak through fasting - That hunger is as soon felt in weakening the knees, as in producing an uneasy sensation in the stomach, is known by all who have ever felt it. Writers in all countries have referred to this effect of hunger. Thus Tryphioderus Il. Excid. ver 155

Τειρομενου βαρυθειεν ατερπεΐ γουνατα λιμῳ

"Their knees might fail, by hunger’ s force subdued

And sink, unable to sustain their load.

Merrick

So Plautus, Curcul, act. ii., scen. 3: -

Tenebrae oboriuntur, genua inedia succidunt

"My eyes grow dim; my knees are weak with hunger.

And Lucretius, lib. 4: ver. 950: -

Brachia, palpebraeque cadunt, poplitesque procumbunt

"The arms, the eyelids fall; the knees give way.

Both the knees and the sight are particularly affected by hunger.

Clarke: Psa 109:25

When they looked upon me they soaked their heads - Thus was David treated by Shimei, 2Sa 16:5, 2Sa 16:6, and our blessed Lord by the Jews, Mat 27:39.

Clarke: Psa 109:27

That they may know that this is thy hand - Let thy help be so manifest in my behalf, that they may see it is thy hand, and that thou hast undertaken for me. Or, if the words refer to the passion of our Lord, Let them see that I suffer not on my own account; "for the transgression of my people am I smitten."

Calvin: Psa 109:1

1.O God of my praise! be not silent In these words, which may be considered as an introduction to the psalm, David declares that he neither could find nor would desire any other than God to stand forward in vindication of the integrity of his heart. For in denominating him the God of his praise, he intrusts to him the vindication of his innocence, in the face of the calumnies by which he was all but universally assailed. Some are of opinion that this clause is to be understood as referring to David’s having actually declared that he himself was the publisher of God’s praises; but the scope of the passage is opposed to such an interpretation; for we find David appealing to the judgment of God against the unjust and cruel hatred to which he was subjected in the world. There is in the words an implied contrast, because, when calumny is rampant, innocence is duly and properly estimated by none but God only. The meaning of the passage is this: Lord, although I may be regarded as the vilest of the vile, and exposed to the reproach of the world, yet thou wilt maintain the uprightness of my character, and on this account thou wilt also set forth my praise. ²⁹⁵ This interpretation corresponds well with that which is immediately subjoined, be not silent For when we are overwhelmed by the aspersions of the wicked, it would surely be improper on the part of God, who is the witness of our innocence, to remain silent. At the same time, what I formerly stated must not be forgotten, that while David mourns over the injuries which he in particular was suffering, yet, in his own person, he represented Christ, and the whole body of his Church. From this we are taught, when we are subjected to every species of indignity by men, to repose with perfect confidence under the protection of God alone. No man, however, can, with sincerity of heart, surrender himself entirely into the hand of God, except he has first formed the resolution of treating with contempt the reproaches of the world, and is also fully persuaded that he has God as the defender of his cause.

Calvin: Psa 109:2

2.Because the mouth of the wicked David here very plainly declares, that he was the more solicitous to obtain help from God, in consequence of justice not being found among men. And though it is probable that he was rashly and furiously assailed, nevertheless, he complains that the mouth of deceit and fraud had been opened against him, and that he was surrounded with false tongues. Whence, to those who were ignorant of his real situation, there would appear to be some plausible pretext for his being loaded with reproaches, so much so indeed, that he would not be able to evade the charge of criminality.

Calvin: Psa 109:3

3.And they have encompassed me He complains, that from all quarters he was assailed with the most hostile and abusive epithets, and that, too, most undeservedly. And, under a beautiful similitude, he shows that the tongues of his enemies were so full of deadly poison, that it was harder for him to endure their attacks than that of a great army, and the more so that he merited no such treatment at their hands. This species of warfare, to the exercise of which God very frequently summons his children, must be carefully considered by us. For though Satan may assault them with open violence, yet as he is the father of lies, he endeavors, by the amazing dexterity which he possesses in heaping calumny upon them, to tarnish their reputation, as if they were the most abandoned of mankind. Now, as that which was prefigured by David was fulfilled in Christ, so we must remember, that that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ is daily filling up in believers, Col 1:24; because, he having once suffered in himself, calls them to be sharers and associates with him in his sufferings.

Calvin: Psa 109:4

4.On account of my love they have been opposed to me ²⁹⁶ The Psalmist had already solemnly declared, that his adversaries, unprovoked by any injury inflicted upon them by him, and without any just cause, became, through mere diabolical rage, his most implacable foes. Here he confirms the truth of that declaration by saying, that he had been their friend. For there is far more merit in showing kindness to an enemy than simply abstaining from doing that which is evil. And from this we may perceive, that the influence of Satan must be awfully powerful when he takes the hearts of men captive at his will. For nothing can be more unnatural than to hate and cruelly persecute those who love us. To love he also adds deeds of kindness, meaning, that it was his aim to secure their good will by outward acts of beneficence.

Calvin: Psa 109:5

5.But I gave myself to prayer ²⁹⁷ Some are of opinion, that these words refer to David’s pouring out a prayer for his enemies at the very moment when they were furiously assaulting him, and with this opinion corresponds that which we have stated in Psa 35:13. But the more plain, and, to me, the preferable interpretation, is, that when he was attacked in a cruel and hostile manner, he did not betake himself to such unlawful means as the rendering of evil for evil, but committed himself into the hand of God, fully satisfied that he alone could guard him from all ill. And it is assuredly a great and desirable attainment for a man so to restrain his passions as directly and immediately to make his appeal to God’s tribunal, at the very time when he is abused without a cause, and when the very injuries which he sustains are calculated to excite him to avenge them. For there are some persons who, while it is their aim to live in terms of friendship with the good, coming in contact with ill men, imagine that they are at perfect liberty to return injury for injury; and to this temptation all the godly feel that they are liable. The Holy Spirit, however, restrains us, so that though oftimes provoked by the cruelty of our enemies to seek revenge, we yet abandon all fraudulent and violent means, and betake ourselves by prayer to God alone. By this example, which David here sets before us, we are instructed that we must have recourse to the same means if we would wish to overcome our enemies through the power and protection of God. In Psa 69:13, we have a parallel passage: “They that sit in the gate spake against me; and I was the song of those who drink strong drink. But my prayer was made to thee, O Jehovah!” In that passage, as well as in the one under review, the mode of expression is elliptical. Besides, it is the design of David in these words to inform us, that although he was aware that the whole world was opposed to him, yet he could cast all his cares upon God, and this was enough to render his mind calm and composed. And as the Holy Spirit taught David and all the godly to offer up prayers like these, it must follow, that those who, in this respect, imitate them, will be promptly helped by God when he beholds them reproachfully and vilely persecuted.

Calvin: Psa 109:6

6.Set thou over him a wicked person ³⁰⁵ Hitherto he poured out his complaint against a vast number of persons; now he seems to direct it against a single individual. Probably he speaks of each of them individually. It is, however, equally probable that he refers in very marked terms to some one in particular among these wicked persons, the most notorious transgressor of any of them. Some conjecture, and not without reason, that Doeg is the person here aimed at, who, by his treason and revolt, sought to bring ruin, not only upon David, but also upon all the holy priests; and we know that this psalm is applied by Peter to Judas, (Act 1:20) But with equal propriety, and certainly not less forcibly, may this complaint be considered as applicable to some most intimate and particular friend of the Psalmist. Respecting the imprecations contained in this psalm, it will be proper to keep in mind what I have said elsewhere, that when David forms such maledictions, or expresses his desires for them, he is not instigated by any immoderate carnal propensity, nor is he actuated by zeal without knowledge, nor is he influenced by any private personal considerations. These three matters must be carefully weighed, for in proportion to the amount of self-esteem which a man possesses, is he so enamoured with his own interests as to rush headlong upon revenge. Hence it comes to pass, that the more a person is devoted to selfishness, he will be the more immoderately addicted to the advancement of his own individual interests. This desire for the promotion of personal interest gives birth to another species of vice. For no one wishes to be avenged upon his enemies because that such a thing would be right and equitable, but because it is the means of gratifying his own spiteful propensity. Some, indeed, make a pretext of righteousness and equity in the matter, but the spirit of malignity, by which they are inflamed, effaces every trace of justice, and blinds their minds.

When these two vices, selfishness and carnality, are corrected, there is still another thing demanding correction, the repressing the ardor of foolish zeal, in order that we may follow the Spirit of God as our guide. Should any one, under the influence of perverse zeal, produce David as an example of it, that would not be an example in point; for to such a person may be very aptly applied the answer which Christ returned to his disciples, “Ye know not what spirit ye are of,” Luk 9:55. How detestable a piece of sacrilege is it on the part of the monks, and especially the Franciscan friars, to pervert this psalm by employing it to countenance the most nefarious purposes! If a man harbour malice against a neighbor, it is quite a common thing for him to engage one of these wicked wretches to curse him, which he would do by daily repeating this psalm. I know a lady in France who hired a parcel of these friars to curse her own and only son in these words.

But I return to David, who, free from all inordinate passion, breathed forth his prayers under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Then, as to the ungodly, who live as the contemners of God, and who are constantly plotting the overthrow of the unsuspecting and the good, casting off all restraint, so that neither modesty nor honesty proves a check to them, surely they are deserving of the punishment of having a wicked person set over them And since, by means of intrigue and perfidy, they are constantly aiming at the extermination of the good, they are most justly punished by God, who raises up against them an adversary that should never depart from their side. Only let believers be on their guard, lest they should betray too much haste in their prayers, and let them rather leave room for the grace of God to manifest itself in their behalf; because it may turn out that the man, who to-day bears towards us a deadly enmity, may by to-morrow through that grace become our friend.

Calvin: Psa 109:7

7.When he is judged, let him depart guilty Another imprecation is, that, being summoned to judgment, he might be punished without mercy, and that, though he humbly crave forgiveness, the judge should remain inexorable. This might with propriety be understood to relate not merely to his being judged at the bar of men, but also at the tribunal of God. But as it accords very well with the decisions awarded by an earthly judge, and as this is the commonly received interpretation, I have no wish to depart from it. There are two things which must be noticed here; that the wickedness of the wicked may be so palpable as to leave no room to escape from the execution of justice, and that all their entreaties for pardon may be disregarded. Accordingly, the Psalmist represents him as a condemned criminal leaving the presence of the judge, bearing the ignominy of the condemnation which he righteously merited, having his nefarious deeds disclosed and detected. With respect to the other interpretation which places the ungodly before God’s judgment-seat, it by no means appears absurd to say that their prayers should be turned against them to sin, the more especially as we know that all their sacrifices are an abomination unto him. And by how much they themselves are filthy, by so much do all their plausible virtues become offensive and displeasing to God. But as the scope of the passage is in favor of that interpretation which applies it to earthly judges, I do not consider it necessary to insist farther upon this point.

Calvin: Psa 109:8

8.Let his days be few Although this world is the scene of much toil and trouble, yet we know that these are pledges and proofs of God’s loving-kindness, inasmuch as he frequently, and as a token of his love, promises to prolong the lives of men; not that it is absolutely necessary for us to remain long here, but that we may have an opportunity of sharing of God’s fatherly love which he bears towards us, by which we may be led to cherish the hope of immortality. Now, in opposition to this, the brevity of human life is here introduced as a mark of God’s disapprobation; for when he cuts off the wicked after a violent manner, he thus testifies that they did not deserve to breathe the breath of life. And the same sentiment is inculcated when, denuding them of their honor and dignity, he hurls them from the place of power and authority. The same thing may also happen to the children of God, for temporal evils are common to the good and to the bad; at the same time, these are never so mingled and blended together, but that one may perceive occasionally the judgments of God in a very manifest and marked manner. Peter, quoting this verse, Act 1:20, says it behoved to be fulfilled in Judas, because it is written here, “let another take his bishopric.” And this, he does on the assumed principle of interpretation that David here spoke in the person of Christ. To this it cannot be objected, that the Hebrew term פקודה , pekudah, signifies generally superintendence, ³⁰⁶ because Peter very properly applies it to the apostleship of Judas. In expounding this passage, sometimes in reference to a wife, or to the soul, (which is a precious jewel in man,) or to wealth and property, there is good reason to believe that, in doing so, the Jewish interpreters are actuated by pure malice. What purpose can it serve to pervert the sense of a word, the meaning of which is so pointed and plain, unless that, under the influence of a malignant spirit, they endeavor so to obscure the passage, as to make it appear not to be properly quoted by Peter? From these words we learn, that there is no cause why the ungodly should be proud while their reputation is high in this world, seeing they cannot after all escape from that doom which the Holy Spirit here declares awaits them. Here too we are furnished with very valuable matter of comfort and patience, when we hear that, however elevated may be their rank and reputation now, their downfall is approaching, and that they will soon be stript of all their pomp and power. In the two succeeding verses the malediction is extended both to the wife and children; and the desire, that she may be left a widow and they become fatherless, depends upon the brevity of that life to which the prophet formerly adverted. Mention is likewise made of beggary, and the want of all the necessaries of life, which is a proof of the magnitude of their guilt; for assuredly the Holy Spirit would not denounce against them a punishment so grievous and heavy for a trivial offense. In delivering up his property ³⁰⁷ as booty to the extortioners, David must be understood as alluding to the poverty which was to overtake his children; for he is not speaking of a poor and mean person who at his death can leave nothing to his family, but of one who, regardless of right or wrong, has amassed wealth to enrich his children, but from whom God takes away the goods which he had unrighteously taken from others.

Calvin: Psa 109:12

12.Let there be none prolonging mercy to him To continue to show humanity and mercy is, according to the Hebrew idiom, equivalent to constant and successive acts of kindness; and it also sometimes denotes pity, or the being moved to sympathy, when, through the lapse of years, anger is appeased, and even one’s calamity melts the heart of the man who bore hatred towards him. ³⁰⁹ Accordingly, there are some who understand this clause to mean, that there will be none to show kindness to his offspring; which interpretation is in conformity with the next clause of the verse. David, however, includes also the wicked man himself along with his children; as if he should say, Though he visibly pine away under such calamities, and these descend to his children, yet let no one show pity towards them. We are aware it not unfrequently happens, that the long-continued misfortune of an enemy either excites the sympathy of men of savage dispositions, or else makes them forget all their hatred and malevolence. But in this part of the psalm, David expresses a desire that his enemy and all his posterity may be so hated and detested, that the people may never be wearied with beholding the calamities which they endure, but may become so familiarised with the spectacle, as if their hearts were of iron. At the same time, let it be remarked, that David is not rashly excited by any personal anguish to speak in this manner, but that it is as God’s messenger he declares the punishment which was impending over the ungodly. And verily the law accounts it as one of the judgments of God, his hardening men’s hearts, so that they who have been passionately and unmercifully cruel, should find no sympathy, Deu 2:30. It is just that the same measure which they have used towards others, should also be meted out to themselves.

Calvin: Psa 109:13

13.Let his posterity be cut off This is a continuation of the same subject, upon the consideration of which the prophet had just now entered, that God would visit the iniquities of the fathers upon their children. And as he had to deal with the whole court of Saul, and not with any single individual, he here employs the plural number. But as in deeds of wickedness, there are always some who are the prime movers, and act as the ringleaders of others, we need not be surprised that having spoken of one person, he next addresses the many, and then returns to the same person. The more natural and simple mode of explanation is to refer it to his offspring, for the Hebrew term which signifies posterity is collective, implying a multitude, and not a single individual only. This is a heavier imprecation than the former. It sometimes happens, that a family, overthrown by an unexpected disaster, rises up again at a subsequent period; here, however, it is the wish of the prophet, that the wicked may be so completely ruined, as never to be able to regain their former state; for thus much is implied in their name being effaced in the next generation, or after the lapse of ages.

Calvin: Psa 109:14

And as the destruction which he denounces against the houses and families of the wicked is so extensive, that God punishes them in the person of their posterity, so he desires that God may remember the iniquities of their fathers and mothers, in order that their condemnation may be complete; and this is a principle in perfect accordance with the commonly received doctrine of Scripture. God, out of regard to his covenant, which is in force to a thousand generations, extends and continues his mercy towards posterity; but he also punishes iniquity unto the third and fourth generation. In doing this he does not involve the guiltless with the wicked indiscriminately, but by withholding from the reprobate the grace and illumination of his Spirit, he prepares the vessels of wrath for destruction, even before they are born, Rom 9:21. To the common sense of mankind, the thought of such severity is horrifying: but then we must recollect, that if we attempt to measure the secret and inscrutable judgments of God by our finite minds, we do him wrong. Struck with horror at the severity of this threatening, let us improve it as the means of filling us with reverence and godly fear. In reference to the language of Ezekiel,

“The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, but the soul that sinneth, it shall die;” Eze 18:20

we know that in these words he disproves the groundless complaints of the people, who, boasting that they were guiltless, imagined that they were punished wrongfully. When, however, God continues his vengeance from the father to the children, he leaves them no room for palliation or complaint, because they are all equally guilty. We have already said, that vengeance commences when God in withdrawing his Spirit, both from the children and the fathers, delivers them over to Satan. Some may inquire how it comes to pass, that the prophet, in desiring that their sin may be continually before God’s eyes, does not likewise add, let their name be blotted out from heaven, but merely wishes them to be cut off, and to perish in the world? My reply is, that he spoke agreeably to the custom of the age in which he lived, when the nature of spiritual punishments was not so well understood as in our times, because the period had not yet arrived, when the revelation of God’s will was to be full and complete. Besides, it is the design of David, that the vengeance of God may be so manifest, that the whole world may acquiesce in his equity as a judge.

Calvin: Psa 109:16

16.Because he forgot to show mercy The prophet comes now to show that he had good reason for desiring such awful and direful calamities to be inflicted upon his enemies, whose thirst for cruelty was insatiable, and who were transported with rage, no less cruel than obstinate, against the afflicted and poor man, persecuting him with as little scruple as if they were attacking a dead dog. Even philosophers look upon cruelty, directed against the helpless and miserable, as an act worthy only of a cowardly and grovelling nature; for it is between equals that envy is cherished. For this reason the prophet represents the malignity of his enemies as being bitter in persecuting him when he was in affliction and poverty. The expression, the sorrowful in heart, is still more emphatic. For there are persons who, notwithstanding of their afflictions, are puffed up with pride; and as this conduct is unreasonable and unnatural, these individuals incur the displeasure of the powerful. On the other hand, it would be a sign of desperate cruelty to treat with contempt the lowly and dejected in heart. Would not this be to fight with a shadow? This insatiable cruelty is still farther pointed out by the phrase, forgetting to show mercy; the meaning of which is, that the calamities, with which he beheld this guiltless and miserable man struggling, fail to excite his pity, so that, out of regard to the common lot of humanity, he should lay aside his savage disposition. In this passage, therefore, the contrast is equally balanced on the one side between such obstinate pride, and on the other, the strict and irrevocable judgment of God. And as David spoke only as he was moved by the Holy Spirit, this imprecation must be received as if God himself should thunder from his celestial throne. Thus, in the one case, by denouncing vengeance against the ungodly, he subdues and restrains our perverse inclinations, which might lead us to injure a fellow-creature; and on the other, by imparting comfort to us, he mitigates and moderates our sorrow, so that we patiently endure the ills which they inflict upon us. The wicked may for a time revel with impunity in the gratification of their lusts; but this threatening shows that it is no vain protection which God vouchsafes to the afflicted. But let the faithful conduct themselves meekly, that their humility and contrition of spirit may come up before God with acceptance. And as we cannot distinguish between the elect and the reprobate, it is our duty to pray for all who trouble us; to desire the salvation of all men; and even to be careful for the welfare of every individual. At the same time, if our hearts are pure and peaceful, this will not prevent us from freely appealing to God’s judgment, that he may cut off the finally impenitent. ³¹⁰

Calvin: Psa 109:17

17.As he loved cursing David still continues to enumerate the sins of his adversaries, and is thus severe in his treatment of them, in order to render it more apparent, that he is strictly conforming to the judgment of God. For as often as we draw near to the tribunal of God, we must take care that the equity of our cause may be so sure and evident as to secure for it and us a favorable reception from him. Fortified by the testimony of an approving conscience, David here declares his readiness to commit the matter between him and his enemies to the judgment of God. The words, which are expressive of cursing and blessing, are in the past tense, cursing came upon him, and blessing was far from him, but it is necessary to translate them as expressive of a wish or desire; for David continues to pray that his enemy may be visited with the same unparalleled ills which he had inflicted upon others. A stranger to every act of kindness, and taking pleasure in doing evil, it is the wish of the Psalmist that he may now be subjected to every species of calamity. Some take malediction to mean cursing and imprecation, thereby intimating that this man was so addicted to execration, that mischief and malevolence were constantly in his heart, and proceeding from his lips. While I do not reject this opinion, I am yet disposed to take a more extended view of the passage, That by injury and abuse, he aimed at the suppression and abolition of every mark of kindness, and that he took delight in the calamities which he beheld coming upon the unsuspecting and the good.

Calvin: Psa 109:18

Not a few interpreters translate the next two verses in the past form, he clothed himself with cursing, etc., which would be tantamount to saying that the enemy was as fond of cursing as of costly apparel, or that he clothed himself with it as with a garment, and that, like an inveterate disease, it was deeply seated in the marrow of his bones. The other interpretation is more simple, That cursing should cleave to the wicked, that it should envelop him like a cloak, gird him about as his girdle, and should even penetrate to his bones. And that no one may rashly take for an example what David here spoke by the special influence of the Holy Spirit, let him keep in mind that the Psalmist is not pleading here in reference to any personal interest, and that it is no ordinary character to whom he refers. Belonging to the number of the faithful, he would not omit the law of charity, in desiring the salvation of all men. But in this instance God elevated his spirit above all earthly considerations, stript him of all malice, and delivered him from the influence of turbulent passion, so that he might, with holy calmness and spiritual wisdom, doom the reprobate and castaway to destruction. Others, would have the phrase, he loved cursing, to mean that he purposely drew down the vengeance of God upon himself, as it were procuring destruction for himself by his open hostility to him; but this is an unnatural construction of the passage. The interpretation which I have given is preferable, That he was so addicted to mischief and wrong, that no act of justice or kindness was to be expected from him. In the meantime, let it be observed, that all the machinations of the wicked will eventually recoil upon their own heads, and that when they are raging more violently against others, then it is that the mischief, which they so eagerly desire may come upon them, falls upon themselves, even as the wind called Cecias by blowing attracts the clouds unto him.

Calvin: Psa 109:20

20.Let this be the work from Jehovah That is, let the gain or reward of the work be from God. In pointing out the work as proceeding immediately from God, he intends to show that, though deprived of all human aid, he yet entertained the hope that God would grant him deliverance, and avenge the injuries of his servant. From this verse we learn that David did not rashly, or unadvisedly, utter curses against his enemies, but strictly adhered to what the Spirit dictated. I acknowledge, indeed, that not a few, while they pretend a similar confidence and hope, nevertheless, recklessly rush beyond the bounds of temperance and moderation. But that which David beheld by the unclouded eye of faith, he also uttered with a zeal becoming a sound mind; for having devoted himself to the cultivation of piety, and being protected by the hand of God, he was aware that the day was approaching when his enemies would meet with merited punishment. From which we also learn, that his trust was placed in God alone, and that he did not regard the persons of men so as to direct his course according as the world smiled or frowned upon him. And, assuredly, whosoever places his dependence on men, shall find that the most trifling incident will annoy him. Therefore, should the whole world abandon us, it becomes us, in imitation of this holy man, to lift up our heads to heaven, and thence look for our defender and deliverer. If it be his intention to employ human instrumentality for our deliverance, he will soon raise up those who will accomplish his purpose. Should he, for the trial of our faith, deprive us of all earthly assistance, instead of regarding that as any reflection upon the glory of his name, we ought to wait until the proper time arrive when he will fully display that decision in which we can calmly acquiesce.

Calvin: Psa 109:21

21.And thou, O Jehovah my Lord! From the pouring out of complaints and imprecations against his enemies, the Psalmist passes to prayers; or rather, after having betaken himself to God as his guardian and deliverer, he appears to take occasion, from this circumstance, to encourage himself in prayer; even as all the pious reflections by which the faithful exercise and strengthen their faith, stimulate them to call upon the name of God. At the same time, he does not pique himself upon any service which he has rendered to God, as deserving of his help, nor does he rely upon his own worthiness, but he places all his confidence in the free grace and mercy of God. That integrity of which he was conscious, he placed in opposition to his enemies, for the purpose of making their iniquity more manifest; but he does not aspire after any recompense from God, because he adopts the nobler principle, that of owing every thing to God’s voluntary choice, upon which also he acknowledges his safety depends. Were it lawful for any one to boast of his virtues and merits, certainly David was not the man who was least entitled to do so; and, moreover, he was the representative of Christ, and of the whole Church. Hence it follows, that all our prayers will vanish in smoke, unless they are grounded upon the mercy of God. The case of Christ was indeed a peculiar one, inasmuch as it was by his own righteousness that he appeased the wrath of his Father towards us. As, however, his human nature was entirely dependant on the good pleasure of God, so it was his will, by his own example, to direct us to the same source. What can we do, seeing that the most upright among us is constrained to acknowledge that he is chargeable with the commission of much sin; surely we never can make God our debtor? It follows, therefore, that God, on account of the benignity of his nature, takes us under his protection; and that, because of the goodness of his mercy, he desires his grace may shine forth in us. In coming to God, we must always remember that we must possess the testimony of a good conscience, and must beware of harbouring the thought that we have any inherent righteousness which would render God our debtor, or that we deserve any recompense at his hands. For if, in the preservation of this short and frail life, God manifests the glory of his name and of his goodness, how much more ought all confidence in good works to be laid aside, when the subject-matter referred to is life heavenly and eternal? If, in the prolonging of my life for a short time on earth, his name is thereby glorified, by manifesting of his own accord towards me his benignity and liberality; when, therefore, having delivered me from the tyranny of Satan, he adopts me into his family, washes away my impurity in the blood of Christ, regenerates me by his Holy Spirit, unites me to his Son, and conducts me to the life of heaven, — then, assuredly, the more bountifully he treats me, the less should I be disposed to arrogate to myself any portion of the praise. How different a part does David act, who, in order to procure favor for himself, publishes his own poverty and misery? And as outward affliction is of no avail, unless a man, at the same time, be humbled, and his proud and rebellious spirit be subdued, the Psalmist here repeats, that his heart was wounded within him. From which we may learn, that God will be a physician to none, except to such as in the spirit of genuine humility send up their sighs and groans to him, and do not become hardened under their afflictions.

Calvin: Psa 109:23

23.I walk about as a shadow These are two very appropriate similitudes: to the first of them I formerly adverted in Psa 102:12; namely, that the afflicted person, and he who is almost lifeless, is very fitly compared to the shadow of the evening. At sunrise, or when he is shining in noon-day brightness, the constant shifting of the shadow is not so perceptible; but, towards sunset, the shadow flits before us during every moment that passes. By the other similitude, the transitory nature of all sublunary things is pointed out. For as the locusts are constantly skipping from one place to another, so David complains of his life being ever rendered uneasy by incessant persecution, so that no space was allowed him for repose; and this is similar to what he says in Psa 11:1, that he was compelled to flee like a sparrow, for which the fowler lays snares in all directions. In short, he mourns over his forlorn situation, that he could find no place of safety, and that, even among men, he could get no habitation. And, as in this psalm, he presents us with a picture of the whole Church, we need not be surprised if God try us, and arouse us from our lethargy, by an innumerable variety of events. Accordingly, Paul, 1Co 4:11, speaking of himself and others, says, that they have no certain dwelling-place; a description which is more or less applicable to all the children of God.

Calvin: Psa 109:24

24.My knees are become feeble Though David had the necessaries of life, yet he emaciated himself by voluntary abstinence, to which, as well as to prayer, he gave himself, and therefore we may regard this verse as expressive of his sorrow and sadness. We may also understand it as expressive of his having no relish for meat or drink, knowing, as we do, that persons who are in sorrow and sadness have no appetite for food; even life itself is burdensome to them. Should any one prefer restricting the interpretation to David’s being in want of the necessaries of life, when he hid himself in the dens of wild beasts, to escape the fury of his enemies, and was then subjected to hunger and thirst, he may do so. It appears to me, however, that by this language he intends to point out the extreme anguish which he felt, because, with death staring him in the face, he loathed all food; and this is in accordance with the next clause, in which he says, my flesh faileth of fatness; because “a sorrowful spirit drieth up the bones,” (Pro 17:22) By the term, fatness, some understand delicacies; meaning that he was deprived of all that food which is pleasing to the palate. The more natural way is to consider it as denoting his becoming emaciated by reason of grief and fasting, inasmuch as the natural moisture was wasted. Another proof of his sad situation arises from this, that, according to what he states in Psa 22:7, he was held in scorn by all. It is, indeed, a sad and bitter thing which God’s children endure, when they are made to feel that the curse which he denounces against the transgressors of his law is directed against themselves; for the law says to the despisers of it,

“Thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and laughing-stock,” (Deu 28:37)

With this species of temptation David was assailed; and he declares that he was not only regarded as a condemned person, but also cruelly derided; God at the same time coming in for a share of it; for it is usual with the ungodly to conduct themselves with insolence and pride towards us when they see us oppressed under afflictions, and, at the same time, to rail at our faith and piety, because God renders us no help in our miseries.

Calvin: Psa 109:26

26.Help me, O Jehovah! The prophet repeats his prayer, because the more we are assailed by the subtilty and deceit of Satan, the more necessary is it for us to strive more ardently, and display the greater boldness. We may, indeed, have the full assurance of God being propitious towards us, yet when he delays to manifest it, and when the ungodly slander us, it must be that various doubts which keep intruding themselves upon us arise in our minds. Hence, it is not without reason that David, in order that he might withstand such attacks, places himself under the protection of that God who, according to his mercy and goodness, helps his people in their time of need. He implores that deliverance may be extended to him, not by ordinary means, but by the peculiar and special display of God’s power, so that his enemies may stand abashed, and not dare to open their mouths; and we know that God sometimes secretly grants succor to his servants, while, at other times, he stretches out his hand in such a visible manner, that the ungodly, though they shut their eyes, are constrained to acknowledge that there is divine agency connected with their deliverance. For as his enemies had exalted themselves against God, so it was his desire, after they shall have been subdued, to exult over them in the name of God. In cherishing this desire, he has no wish to procure for himself the renown of being valiant in war, but that God’s power may be displayed, that no flesh may glory in his sight. The words may also be viewed as referring both to his deliverance from his enemies, and to his affliction; his desire being to attribute his deliverance mainly to the grace of God; because, in opposing the hand of God to fortune and to all human means of deliverance, it is plainly his intention that God should be recognised as the alone author of it. This deserves to be carefully considered by us, for however anxious we are to be delivered by the hand of God, yet there is scarcely one among a hundred who makes the manifestation of God’s glory his chief end; that glory for which we ought to have a greater regard than for our own safety, because it is far more excellent. Whosoever then is desirous that the ungodly may be constrained to acknowledge the power of God, ought the more carefully to take heed to the help of God which in his own case he experiences; for it would be most absurd to point out the hand of God to others, if our minds have not recognised it.

Defender: Psa 109:1

Psalm 109 is an aggressive imprecatory psalm (see notes on Psa 5:1-12) with David praying earnestly for God's severe judgment on his enemies. This type of prayer should be viewed not in terms of desired vengeance on an enemy because of his treatment of the injured person, but rather in terms of the anti-God motivation leading to such enmity. Note Psa 109:4 : "For my love [that is, 'my love of God'] they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer." We should not take vengeance on our enemies, even those who are first of all God's enemies, but commit such vengeance to God in prayer. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (Rom 12:19). "For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul" (Psa 109:31)."

Defender: Psa 109:8

This particular imprecation was specifically carried out in the case of Judas (Act 1:20)."

TSK: Psa 109:1

am 2942, bc 1062 (Title), It is generally supposed that this Psalm was composed by David, when persecuted by Saul, who was rendered more implacable by the base and malicious calumnies of Doeg and others; though some are of opinion, that it was written when David fled from Absalom, and that Ahithophel, rather than Doeg, is the typical person against whom it is principally directed.

Hold : Psa 28:1, Psa 35:22, Psa 35:23, Psa 83:1; Isa 42:14

O God : Psa 118:28; Exo 15:2; Deu 10:21; Jer 17:14

TSK: Psa 109:2

the mouth : Psa 31:13, Psa 31:18, Psa 64:3, Psa 64:4, Psa 140:3; 2Sa 15:3-8, 2Sa 17:1; Pro 15:28; Mat 26:59-62

of the deceitful : Heb. of deceit

are opened : Heb. have opened themselves

with : Psa 120:3; Pro 6:17, Pro 12:19; Jer 9:3, Jer 9:5; Act 6:13

TSK: Psa 109:3

compassed : Psa 17:11, Psa 22:12, Psa 88:17; 2Sa 16:7, 2Sa 16:8; Hos 11:12

fought : Psa 35:7, Psa 35:20, Psa 59:3, Psa 59:4, Psa 69:4; 1Sa 19:4, 1Sa 19:5, 1Sa 26:18; 2Sa 15:12; Joh 15:24, Joh 15:25

TSK: Psa 109:4

For my : Psa 35:7, Psa 35:12, Psa 38:20; 2Sa 13:39; Joh 10:32; 2Co 12:15

but I : Psa 55:16, Psa 55:17, Psa 69:12, Psa 69:13; 2Sa 15:31, 2Sa 15:32; Dan 6:10; Luk 6:11, Luk 6:12, Luk 23:34

TSK: Psa 109:5

they : Psa 35:7-12; Gen 44:4; Pro 17:13

hatred : Psa 55:12-15; 2Sa 15:12, 2Sa 15:31; Mar 14:44, Mar 14:45; Luk 6:16, Luk 22:47, Luk 22:48; Joh 13:18

TSK: Psa 109:6

Set thou : Dr. Sykes, Michaelis, and others, contend that these imprecations are those of David’ s enemies against himself; and they would render, ""Set, say they, a wicked,""etc, but this is rendered highly improbable by the Psa 109:8 being applied by St. Peter to the traitor Judas, of whom David was certainly not a type. (See Psa 109:20.) Bp. Horsley and others, however, render the verbs in the future tense, the first verb alone being in the imperative; justly considering the Psalmist as merely uttering prophetic denunciations of God’ s displeasure against sinners. Mat 27:4

and let : Zec 3:1; Joh 13:2, Joh 13:27

Satan : or, an adversary, Mat 5:25

TSK: Psa 109:7

be condemned : Heb. go out guilty, or wicked, Rom 3:19; Gal 3:10

and let : 2Sa 15:7, 2Sa 15:8; Pro 15:8, Pro 21:27, Pro 28:9; Isa 1:15, Isa 66:3; Mat 23:14

TSK: Psa 109:8

his days : Psa 55:23; Mat 27:5

another : Act 1:16-26

office : or, charge

TSK: Psa 109:9

Exo 22:24; Jer 18:21; Lam 5:3

TSK: Psa 109:10

Psa 37:25; Gen 4:12-14; 2Sa 3:29; 2Ki 5:27; Job 24:8-12, Job 30:3-9; Isa 16:2

TSK: Psa 109:11

extortioner : Job 5:5, Job 18:9-19, Job 20:18

strangers : Deu 28:29, Deu 28:33, Deu 28:34, Deu 28:50, Deu 28:51; Jdg 6:3-6

TSK: Psa 109:12

none : Isa 27:11; Luk 6:38; Jam 2:13

favour : Psa 137:8, Psa 137:9; Isa 13:18; Mat 27:25; Luk 11:50, Luk 11:51

TSK: Psa 109:13

Let his : Psa 37:28; 1Sa 2:31-33, 1Sa 3:13; 2Ki 10:10, 2Ki 10:11; Job 18:19; Isa 14:20-22; Jer 22:30

their name : Deu 9:14, Deu 25:19, Deu 29:20; Pro 10:7

TSK: Psa 109:14

Let the : Exo 20:5; Lev 26:39; 2Sa 3:29, 2Sa 21:1, 2Sa 21:8, 2Sa 21:9; Mat 23:31-36

let not : 2Ki 8:27, 2Ki 9:27, 2Ki 10:13, 2Ki 10:14, 2Ki 11:1; 2Ch 22:3, 2Ch 22:4

blotted : Neh 4:5; Isa 43:25; Jer 18:23

TSK: Psa 109:15

before : Psa 51:9, Psa 90:8; Deu 32:34; Jer 2:22; Hos 7:2; Amo 8:7

cut off : Psa 109:13, Psa 34:16; Job 18:17; Isa 65:15

TSK: Psa 109:16

he remembered : 2Sa 17:1, 2Sa 17:2; Mat 5:7, Mat 18:33-35; Jam 2:13

persecuted : Psa 10:2, Psa 10:14; Gen 42:21; Job 19:2, Job 19:3, Job 19:21, Job 19:22; Mat 27:35-46

slay : Psa 34:18, Psa 69:20-29; 2Sa 16:11, 2Sa 16:12; Mar 14:34-36

TSK: Psa 109:17

Psa 52:4, Psa 52:5, Psa 59:12, Psa 59:13; Pro 14:14; Eze 35:6; Mat 7:2; 2Th 2:10, 2Th 2:11; Rev 16:6

TSK: Psa 109:18

As he : Psa 73:6; Job 29:14; Col 3:8, Col 3:12; 1Pe 5:5

so let : Num 5:22, Num 5:27; Job 20:12-16, Job 20:20-23; Mat 26:24, Mat 27:3-5; Act 1:18, Act 1:25

into his bowels : Heb. within him

TSK: Psa 109:19

as the garment : Psa 109:18, Psa 109:29, Psa 35:26, Psa 132:18

TSK: Psa 109:20

Let this : Psa 2:5, Psa 2:6, Psa 2:12, Psa 21:8-12, Psa 40:14, Psa 40:15, Psa 110:1, Psa 110:5, Psa 110:6; 2Sa 17:23, 2Sa 18:32; 1Ki 2:44; Luk 19:27; 1Th 2:15, 1Th 2:16

them : Mat 11:19, Mat 12:24, Mat 26:66, Mat 26:67; Mar 9:39; 1Co 12:3

TSK: Psa 109:21

But do : Psa 25:11, Psa 31:3, Psa 69:29, Psa 79:9, Psa 79:10, Psa 143:11, Psa 143:12; Joh 17:1; Phi 2:8-11

thy mercy : Psa 36:7-9, Psa 63:3, Psa 86:5, Psa 86:15

TSK: Psa 109:22

For I : Psa 22:6, Psa 40:17, Psa 86:1, Psa 102:17-20; Mat 8:20; 2Co 8:9

and my : Psa 109:16, Psa 88:15, Psa 88:16, Psa 102:4; 2Ki 4:27; Job 6:4; Isa 53:3; Luk 22:44; Joh 12:27

TSK: Psa 109:23

gone : Psa 102:11, Psa 144:4; 1Ch 29:15; Job 14:2; Ecc 6:12, Ecc 8:13; Jam 4:14

I am tossed : Psa 102:10; Exo 10:13, Exo 10:19

TSK: Psa 109:24

knees : Psa 22:14, Psa 35:13, Psa 35:14, Psa 69:10; Mat 4:2; 2Co 11:27; Heb 12:12

my flesh : Psa 32:3, Psa 32:4, Psa 38:5-8, Psa 102:4, Psa 102:5; Job 19:20

TSK: Psa 109:25

a reproach : Psa 31:11-13, Psa 35:15, Psa 35:16, Psa 69:9-12, Psa 69:19, Psa 69:20; Rom 15:3; Heb 12:2, Heb 13:13

when they : Psa 22:6, Psa 22:7; Job 16:4; Isa 37:22; Mat 27:39, Mat 27:40

TSK: Psa 109:26

Help : Psa 40:12, Psa 119:86; Heb 5:7

save me : Psa 57:1, Psa 69:13, Psa 69:16

TSK: Psa 109:27

Psa 17:13, Psa 17:14, Psa 64:8, Psa 64:9, Psa 126:2; Exo 8:19; Num 16:28-30; 1Sa 17:46, 1Sa 17:47; 1Ki 18:36, 1Ki 18:37; Job 37:7; Act 2:32-36, Act 4:16

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Psa 109:1

Hold not thy peace - That is, Speak for my defense - as if God had looked with unconcern on the wrongs which were done to him. See the notes at Psa 83:1.

O God of my praise - The God whom I praise; whom I worship and adore. It implies that he was accustomed to praise him, and desired still to praise him. He sought that God would interpose now that he might have new occasion for praise.

Barnes: Psa 109:2

For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful - literally, "The mouth of wickedness, and the mouth of deceit."This acquaints us with the nature of the wrong which had been done him. It was slander; undeserved reproach.

Are opened against me - Margin, "have opened;"that is, have opened themselves.

They have spoken against me with a lying tongue - They have accused me of things which are not true; they have made false charges against me. David, as has not been uncommon with good people, was called repeatedly to this trial.

Barnes: Psa 109:3

They compassed me about also with words of hatred - They attacked me on every side; they assailed me, not merely in one form and direction, but in every form, and in every direction. I could turn no way - I could go nowhere - where I did not encounter these slanderous reports.

And fought against me without a cause - Contended against me, or fought against me, with "words."They sought to do me all the harm they could. The phrase "without a cause "means that he had given them no occasion for this conduct; he had not wronged them; it was mere malignity. See Psa 35:7; Psa 69:4. Compare Joh 15:25.

Barnes: Psa 109:4

For my love ... - As a recompence for my love; or, this is the return which I get for all the expressions of my love to them. The enemies referred to were those whom he had treated kindly; to whom he had done good. This is not uncommon in the world. It was illustrated in an eminent degree in the life of the Saviour.

But I give myself unto prayer - literally, "I - prayer;"that is, I am all prayer; I continually pray. This may mean, either, that he bore these trials with a meek spirit, and did not allow these things to disturb his devotions; or, more probably, that he prayed constantly "for them;"he desired their good, and sought it from above.

Barnes: Psa 109:5

And they have rewarded me evil for good - literally, "They have placed against me."They have put it in my way; it is what they had to set before me. See the notes at Psa 35:12, where the same expression occurs.

And hatred for my love - Instead of loving me in return for my love, they have met me with the expressions of hatred. This often occurred in the life of David; it was constant in the life of the Saviour; it is habitually manifested by people toward God; it is often experienced by good men now; it "may"occur in the life of any man - and if it "does"occur to us, we should not think that any strange thing has happened to us.

Barnes: Psa 109:6

Set thou a wicked man over him - This commences the imprecatory part of the psalm, extending to Psa 109:20. The first thing that the psalmist asks is, that his foe might be subjected to the evil of having a man placed over him like himself: a man regardless of justice, truth, and right; a man who would respect character and propriety no more than he had himself done. It is, in fact, a prayer that he might be punished "in the line of his offences."It cannot be wrong that a man should be treated as he treats others; and it cannot be in itself wrong to desire that a man should be treated according to his character and deserts, for this is the object of all law, and this is what all magistrates and legislators are endeavoring to secure.

And let Satan stand at his right hand - As his counselor and adviser. The language would be properly applicable to one who had been a counselor or adviser to a king in the administration of the government; and the prayer is, that he might know what it was to have such a one as his counselor and adviser. The language used would seem to make it not improbable that David here refers particularly to someone who had occupied this position in reference to himself, and who had betrayed his trust; who had given him crafty and malignant counsel; who had led him into bad measures; who had used his position to promote his own interests at the expense of his master’ s. David had such counselors, as anyone in authority may have. The prayer, then, would be, that such a man might be punished in his own line; that he might know what it was to have a bad and wicked adviser. The word rendered "Satan"- שׂטן śâṭân - is in the margin rendered "adversary."In the Septuagint it is διάβολος diabolos ; in the Vulgate, "diabolus." See the notes at Job 1:6, for its meaning. The prayer here seems not to be that the devil or Satan might stand near him as his counselor; but that a man - a real adversary - an accuser - one with a malignant heart - one who would make use of his position to accomplish his own purposes, and to betray the interests of his master, might give him counsel, as seems to have been done in the case of David.

Barnes: Psa 109:7

When he shall be judged ... - When for his offences he shall be arraigned. The psalmist supposes that he "might"be put on trial; he seems to suppose that this "would be."Such wickedness could not always escape detection, and sooner or later he would be arrested and brought to trial. "When"this should occur, the psalmist prays that justice might be done; that he might be condemned, as he "ought"to be. Such a prayer could not in itself be wrong, for assuredly it cannot be proper for magistrates to pray that the wicked man may escape, or that they may themselves fail in the very object for which they are appointed. See the General Introduction, 6 (5) e. f.

And let his prayer become sin - Evidently his prayer in reference to his "trial"for crime; his prayer that he might be acquitted and discharged. Let it be seen in the result that such a prayer was wrong; that it was, in fact, a prayer for the discharge of a bad man - a man who ought to be punished. Let it be seen to be what a prayer would be if offered for a murderer, or violator of the law - a prayer that he might escape or not be punished. All must see that such a prayer would be wrong, or would be a "sin;"and so, in his own case, it would be equally true that a prayer "for his own escape"would be "sin."The psalmist asks that, by the result of the trial, such a prayer might be "seen"to be in fact a prayer "for the"protection and escape of a "bad man."A just sentence in the case would demonstrate this; and this is what the psalmist prays for.

Barnes: Psa 109:8

Let his days be few - Let him be soon cut off; let his life be shortened. It cannot be wrong for an officer of justice to aim at this; to desire it; to pray for it. How strange it would be for a magistrate to pray "that a murderer or a traitor should be long lived!"

And let another take his office - So every man acts, and practically prays, who seeks to remove a bad and corrupt man from office. As such an office must be filled by someone, all the efforts which he puts forth to remove a wicked man tend to bring it about that "another should take his office;"and for this it is "right"to labor and pray. The act does not of itself imply malignity or bad feeling, but is consistent with the purest benevolence, the kindest feelings, the strictest integrity, the sternest patriotism, and the highest form of piety. The word rendered office here is in the margin "charge."It properly denotes a "mustering, an enumeration;"then, care, watch, oversight, charge, as in an army, or in a civil office. In Act 1:20, this passage is applied to Judas, and the word - the same word as in the Septuagint here - is rendered in the text "bishopric,"in the margin, "office."See the notes at that passage. It had no original reference to Judas, but the language was exactly adapted to him, and to the circumstances of the case, as it is used by the apostle in that passage.

Barnes: Psa 109:9

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.

Barnes: Psa 109:10

Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg - Let them continually wander about with no home - no fixed habitation. Let them be compelled to ask their daily food at the hand of charity. Here we enter on a part of the psalm which is more difficult to be reconciled with a proper feeling than the portions which have been considered. It is, indeed, a frequent consequence of crime that the children of those who are punished "are"vagabonds and beggars, but this is not a necessary consequence; and there "seems"here, therefore, to be a mixture of personal feeling, or a feeling of revenge. This runs through the remaining portion of the imprecatory part of the psalm. I confess that it is difficult to explain this without admitting that the expressions are a record only of what actually occurred in the mind of a man, truly pious, but not perfect - a man who thus, to illustrate the workings of the mind even when the general character was holy, was allowed to record his own feelings, though wrong, just as he would record the conduct of another, or his own conduct, though wrong, as a simple matter of fact - a record of what actually was felt. The "record"may be exactly correct; the sentiment recorded may have been wholly incapable of vindication. See the General Introduction, Section 6 (6).

Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places - In places uninhabited by man; in barren regions; in deserts: let them be compelled to live on the scanty food which they may pick up there - the roots, or the wild fruits, which will simply keep them alive. See the notes at Job 30:4.

Barnes: Psa 109:11

Let the extortioner catch all that he hath - literally, "Let the extortioner cast a snare over all that he hath;"that is, let him seize all his property. The word rendered "catch"- נקשׁ nâqash - is a word which means to lay a snare, as for birds and wild animals, and hence, it means to ensnare, to entrap, to catch. The word rendered "extortioner"means literally one who lends or borrows money; a money-loaner; in our times, a "broker."Here it refers to one who loaned money on interest; or who took advantage of the necessities of others to lend money at high rates - thus sooner or later seizing upon and securing the property of another. The prayer here is, that he might be in such circumstances as to make it necessary to fall into the hands of those who would thus come into possession of all his property.

And let the strangers spoil his labor - Let strangers "plunder"his labor; that is, the fruit of his labor. Let them seize and possess what he has earned and gained to enjoy it themselves. The remarks made on Psa 109:10, will apply to this verse and the following.

Barnes: Psa 109:12

Let there be none to extend mercy unto him - Let him find compassion and sympathy in no one. When he suffers, let him be left to bear it alone. Let there be none found to shed a tear of compassion over him, or to relieve him. Literally, "Let there be no one to draw out kindness to him."

Neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children - To show them mercy or kindness. See the notes at Psa 109:10.

Barnes: Psa 109:13

Let his posterity be cut off - To have a numerous posterity, to have the name and family perpetuated, was regarded among the Hebrews as one of the greatest and most desirable blessings. Hence, to pray that all one’ s family might be cut off was one of the severest forms of malediction which could be employed.

And in the generation following - The very next generation. Let not his family be perpetuated at all.

Let their name be blotted out - As a name is erased from a catalogue or muster-roll when one dies.

Barnes: Psa 109:14

Let the iniquity of his fathers - Of his ancestors.

Be remembered with the Lord - Or, by the Lord. The doctrine of the Bible is, that God "visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate"him Exo 20:5; the matter of fact is that children and children’ s children often suffer from the errors, the crimes, and the follies of their parents, as in the case of intemperance, murder, and treason (compare the notes at Rom 5:12 ff); and the prayer here is, that this regular effect of sin might follow in this instance; that these consequences might not be arrested by divine interposition.

And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out - This is probably added to complete the parallelism; the sin of his father and his mother. There may, however, if this is a composition of David, be a similar allusion to that which occurs in Psa 51:5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."The prayer is, that whatever effects might properly follow from the fact that his mother was a sinner - either in some special sense, or in the general sense that all are sinhers - might come upon him.

Barnes: Psa 109:15

Let them be before the Lord continually - Let their sins never pass from the mind of God. Let him never so forget them as not to inflict punishment for them.

That he may cut off the memory of them from the earth - That they may be wholly forgotten among people. Let their very name perish; and let the offender in this case be in the condition of those who have no ancestors to whom they can refer with pride and pleasure. The idea here is drawn from the honor which is felt in being able to refer to ancestors worthy of being remembered for their virtues.

Barnes: Psa 109:16

Because that he remembered not to show mercy - He had no compassion; he was severe, harsh, unjust, unfeeling.

But persecuted the poor and needy man - The man that was destitute of friends; that was a wanderer and a beggar. There were times in the life of David when this would be strictly and literally applicable to him.

That he might even slay the broken in heart - The man whose heart was crushed by sorrow - that he might put "the finishing stroke"to all, and send him to the grave. Whatever might have been the "feeling"which prompted to this prayer, or however difficult it may be to vindicate the psalmist’ s expression of feeling, there can be no doubt as to the propriety of inflicting punishment on such a man. The sufferings invoked are none too severe to be inflicted on a man who persecutes the poor and needy, and seeks so to multiply sorrows that the man already crushed and broken in heart shall sink to the grave.

Barnes: Psa 109:17

As he loved cursing ... - As he loved to curse others; as he seemed to have a pleasure alike in the act of cursing and in the feeling which prompts to cursing, let him see what it is; let it come upon him in its fullness. He has chosen this as his portion; let it be his. This, in the original, is in the indicative mood, and not, as in our version, in the optative form: "He loved cursing, and it has come upon him; he did not delight in blessing, and it is far from him."Still, the connection would rather seem to require that we should understand this as a prayer, and not as an affirmation, for the object of the whole seems not to be to state what had come upon him, but what the psalmist wished might come upon him.

As he delighted not in blessing ... - As he had no pleasure in wishing that others might be happy, or in any measures which would tend to promote their happiness, so let everything that could be regarded as a blessing be put far from him; let him know nothing of it.

Barnes: Psa 109:18

As he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment - Moral qualities are often compared with raiment - as that in which we "appear"to our fellow-men. See 1Pe 5:5; Job 29:14.

So let it come into his bowels like water - Margin, "within him."Hebrew, "In his midst."Let it penetrate him through and through. Let no part of him be unaffected by it.

And like oil into his bones - As if oil flowed through all his bones, so let the effects of cursing pervade his whole frame. The prayer is, that his entire nature might feel the effects of cursing; that he might know to the full what he was endeavoring to bring on others.

Barnes: Psa 109:19

Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him - He has chosen to put it on, to wear it, to appear in it; so let him constantly feel its consequences. As he is always obliged to wear clothing, so let this be as constantly with him and upon him as his mantle and his sash.

And for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually - The belt or girdle which he constantly wears. See the notes at Mat 5:38.

Barnes: Psa 109:20

Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord,... - The word rendered "reward"means usually work, labor, occupation, business; then, what one earns by his work - reward, recompence, Lev 19:13. The meaning here is, Let them constantly receive these things which I have prayed for Psa 109:6-19; let them be constantly treated in this manner. This is a summing up of his entire wish - his whole desire. It cannot be proved that they did "not deserve"all this; it cannot be shown that if all this came upon them at the hand of God, it would be unjust; it cannot be denied that such things as these, either singly, in groups, or in succession, do actually come upon wicked people; and the prayer in the case "may"have been merely that justice might be done. Still, as before remarked, it is not easy wholly to vindicate the expressed feelings of the psalmist. See the notes at Psa 109:10.

Barnes: Psa 109:21

But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name’ s sake - That is, Interpose for me; exert thy power in my behalf. The phrase "for thy name’ s sake"implies that the motive which prompted him was a desire that God might be honored. It was not primarily or mainly for his own happiness; it was that God might be glorified, that his character might be illustrated, that his plans might be accomplished. Compare the notes at Dan 9:18-19.

Because thy mercy is good - That is, It is the characteristic of mercy to do good; to show kindness.

Deliver thou me - He prays that God would "manifest"himself as he really was, as a God of mercy.

Barnes: Psa 109:22

For I am poor and needy - I am helpless and dependent. I am in a condition where I need thy gracious interposition.

And my heart is wounded within me - I am as one that is prostrated by a weapon - as if my heart had been pierced. I have no courage, no strength. I am like one who lies wounded on a battlefield.

Barnes: Psa 109:23

I am gone like the shadow when it declineth - See the notes at Psa 102:11.

I am tossed up and down as the locust - Agitated, moved, driven about, as a cloud of locusts is by the wind. The meaning of the whole is, that he was frail and weak, and needed strength from on high.

Barnes: Psa 109:24

My knees are weak through fasting - Hunger; want of food. Strength to stand is connected with firmness in the knee-joints, and hence, weakness and feebleness are denoted by the giving way of the knees. Compare Heb 12:12.

And my flesh faileth of fatness - I am lean and weak. There is not the proper supply for my strength. The idea seems to have been that fatness (Hebrew, oil) was necessary to strength.

Barnes: Psa 109:25

I became also a reproach unto them - They reproached or reviled me as a bad man. Compare the notes at Psa 22:6. The plural here - "unto them"- shows that there were more than one to whom the psalm had reference, though one of them was so prominent that a considerable part of the psalm might properly be spoken of him alone.

When they looked upon me, they shaked their heads - In contempt. See Psa 22:7. Compare Mat 27:39.

Barnes: Psa 109:26

Help me, O Lord my God ... - Stand by me; interpose.

Barnes: Psa 109:27

That they may know that this is thy hand - That this has been done by thee; that it has all occurred under thy direction, or has been ordered by thee. The reference seems to be particularly to God’ s interposition: "Let it be manifest to all that thou hast interposed in my behalf; that thou hast undertaken for me; that thou art my Friend."He desired an interposition from God that he might be vindicated before all his enemies.

That thou, Lord, hast done it - Let it be such an interposition that it will be manifest to all that no other one but God could have done this.

Poole: Psa 109:2

Of the deceitful of those who add hypocrisy and perfidiousness to their malice.

Are opened they speak freely, boldly, and publicly, without any fear or shame.

Against me or, to or with me , as this particle commonly signifies.

With a lying tongue either,

1. With calumnies, or false and malicious reports. Or,

2. With deep dissimulation and professions of friendship and kindness.

Poole: Psa 109:3

Words of hatred which, though covered with specious pretences, proceeded from deep malice and hatred, and were designed to work my destruction.

Without a cause without any just provocation given them by me.

Poole: Psa 109:4

For my love they are my adversaries they requite my love and good will with enmity and mischief, as it is explained, Psa 109:5 .

But I give myself unto prayer Heb. but I prayer , i.e. I am a man of prayer, or I betake myself to prayer. Thus I peace is put for I am for peace , as we render it, Psa 120:7 ; and thy bread for the men of thy bread, or that eat thy bread, Ob 7 . The sense is, Whilst they reproach and curse me, I pray either,

1. For them, as he did, Psa 35:13 ; or,

2. For myself: I did not render unto them evil for evil, but quietly committed myself and my cause to God by prayer, desiring him to plead my cause against them; and I had no other refuge.

Poole: Psa 109:6

A wicked man Heb. the wicked ; which may be understood either,

1. Of some wicked tyrant, which may rule him with rigour and cruelty. Or,

2. Of Satan, who is mentioned in the next clause. Let him be delivered over to Satan, to be acted and ruled by him at his pleasure. Over him ; either,

1. All mine enemies; for the singular number is sometimes used in like manner. Or rather,

2. One particular enemy, who was worse than any of the rest, more implacable and inexcusable, whom he thought not fit to express by name, nor was it in the least necessary to do so, because he was. speaking to God, who knew his thoughts, and whom he meant.

Stand at his right hand either,

1. To molest and vex him, and hinder him in all his affairs; for the right hand is the great instrument of action. Or rather,

2. To accuse him; for this was the place and posture of accusers in the Jewish courts. And as for his condemnation, which is the consequence of this accusation, that follows in the next verse.

Poole: Psa 109:7

When he shall be judged when he shall be called to an account, and his cause examined before thy tribunal.

Let his prayer become sin i.e. be turned into sin, or be imputed to him as his sin, or be as unavailable with God for his relief as his sins. When he makes supplication to his Judge, as Job speaks, Job 9:15 , for pity and pardon, let him be the more provoked and enraged by it.

Poole: Psa 109:8

Let his days be few the days of his life. Let him die an untimely death.

His office made void by his death. He also implies that his enemy was a man of power and reputation.

Poole: Psa 109:9

Fatherless whilst they are but children, and so unable to provide for themselves.

A widow either made a widow by his death; or constantly a widow; all persons abhorring her who was related to so vile a miscreant.

Poole: Psa 109:10

Vagabonds having no certain place of abode; which is a grievous curse in itself, Gen 4:12,14 Isa 16:2 .

And beg: this increaseth their misery.

Desolate places into which they are fled for fear and shame, as not daring to show their faces amongst men.

Poole: Psa 109:11

Extortioner or, usurer , or creditor . Catch , Heb. insnare , which is an emphatical expression, i.e. take away not only by oppression and violence, but also by cheats and cunning artifices, whereby such persons entangle, and so ruin their debtors.

The strangers who have no right to his goods, and will use no pity nor measure in spoiling him.

His labour all the fruits of his labours.

Poole: Psa 109:12

Let him and his be unpitied and hated as the public enemies of mankind.

Poole: Psa 109:13

In the generation following Heb. in another generation ; either in the third generation, or in the second, or that which next followed the generation of his fathers. So in this clause he limits the time of that destruction which he imprecates or foretells in the former.

Poole: Psa 109:14

Be remembered against him, or punished in him, as God hath threatened to deal with great delinquents, Exo 20:5 .

Poole: Psa 109:15

Let them the sins of his parents last mentioned, be before Lord; in God’ s sight and memory, to provoke God them: let them not be covered or pardoned.

Poole: Psa 109:16

Remembered not his duty to God, and his obligation to me my former kindness, expressed Psa 109:4,5 .

The poor and needy man myself, who was desolate and miserable, whose required pity, and not additions of cruelty.

The broken in heart whose spirit was grieved, and even broken the burden of his calamities.

Poole: Psa 109:17

Cursing either,

1. Cursed or sinful courses. Or rather,

2. To curse others, as appears from the blessing here opposed to it, and from the next verse; to wish and to procure to others, and especially to me.

In blessing in and promoting the welfare of others, which indeed an eye-sore and torment to him.

Poole: Psa 109:18

A garment which a man wears constantly, and that as

Like water which when a man drinks, goes bowels, and searcheth all the inwards of his belly.

Like oil which is more piercing than water, and being applied to outward parts, reacheth even to the bones and marrow

Poole: Psa 109:19

Which cleaves closer and faster to a man than a garment, than the Eastern garments did, which were large and loose.

Poole: Psa 109:20

Of mine adversaries of those who were confederate with that arch enemy in his wicked enterprise.

Against my soul with design to take away my life.

Poole: Psa 109:21

Do thou for me to wit, what I desire, which he expressing the next clause. Or, do thou act for me ; be not or still, but stir up thyself to work on my behalf.

For my name’ s sake for the glory of thy faithfulness, which highly concerned in giving me the deliverance which thou hast promised to me.

Thy mercy is good i.e. gracious, ready to do good to all, but especially to those that and fear thee. As sin is said to be sinful , Ro 7 , so God’ s mercy may be said to be merciful, to wit, in degree, and above the mercy of all the creatures

Poole: Psa 109:22

I am poor and needy and therefore a very proper object for thy pity and help. I am wounded not slightly, but to the very heart with soul-piercing sorrows.

Poole: Psa 109:23

I am gone Heb. I am made to go ; either,

1. From place to place; which was David’ s case, when he was persecuted by Saul and by Absalom; and Christ’ s case upon earth, where he had no certain place

where to lay his head: Mat 8:20 . Or,

2. Into the grave, as this phrase is used, 1Ch 17:11 Psa 58:8 , and oft elsewhere. Declineth; towards the evening, when, the sun setting, it vanisheth instantly, and irrecoverably, until the sun rise again, which it never will do to me in this world, when once I am gone out of it.

As the locust which of itself is unstable, continually skipping from place to place, and is easily driven away with every wind; so am I exposed to perpetual and successive changes within myself, and to a thousand violences and mischiefs from other persons and things.

Poole: Psa 109:24

Through fasting either with voluntary fasts, to which the frequency and long continuance of my calamities obliged me; or with forced fasts, sometimes through want of necessary provisions, but most commonly from that loathing of meat, which was occasioned by his excessive sorrows and terrors. See Poole "Psa 58:8" .

Of fatness or, for want of fatness. See the like Hebrew phrases Gen 18:26 Jer 48:45 Lam 4:9 .

Poole: Psa 109:25

Instead of that pity which either religion or humanity should have taught them to a man in extreme misery, they loaded me with reproaches and scorns.

Shaked their heads a gesture of contempt and derision; of which see Job 16:4 Psa 22:7 .

Poole: Psa 109:27

Know being convinced of the eminency, and singularity, and strangeness of the work.

Haydock: Psa 109:1

Christ's exultation, and everlasting priesthood.

Haydock: Psa 109:1

David. It is of faith that he wrote this psalm on the Messias. The Jews, in our Saviour's time, were convinced of it, (Matthew xxii. 42.) so that their posterity (Berthier) in vain attempts to explain it of Abraham, David, Solomon, Ezechias, Zorobabel. (St. Chrysostom) ---

Even some of the candidly own that it can relate to no other, (Thalmud) and Christians are universally of this belief. (Calmet) ---

Lord. Hebrew Jehova, (Haydock) the Father. (Menochius) ---

To my Lord. Hebrew Ladoni, (Haydock) the Son incarnate, (Menochius) Lord of all, though the son of David. (Worthington) ---

Who else could be David's superior? as Christ argues. (Haydock) ---

The title Adonoi is given to God, (ver. 5., &c.; Calmet) as my is never united with the ineffable name. ---

Hand. In equal power (Berthier) as God, and in the highest dignity as man, after the ascension. (Calmet) ---

This thought should encourage us to suffer patiently, (Colossians iii. 1.) as Christ was to suffer, and thus to enter into his glory. The saints did not strive to divide him. But we would suffer nothing, and yet be glorified at the hour of our death! (Berthier) ---

Until. This word does not always mark the term of a thing. When all shall be subdued, then Christ will continue to it with greater majesty, (1 Corinthians xv. 25.; Calmet) for ever. (Worthington) (Hebrews x. 13.) ---

Footstool. As was customary with conquerors, Josue x. 24.

Haydock: Psa 109:2

Sion. Whence the empire of Christ extended over all the earth, Isaias ii. 3., and Luke xxiv. 47. (Calmet) ---

In spite of opposition, he reigns in the Church, and will one day make all submit. (Berthier) ---

On Whitsunday the new law was promulgated, to continue unto the end of time. (Worthington)

Haydock: Psa 109:3

Principality. Christ says, All power is given to me, Matthew xxviii., and this he will display (Haydock) in the day of judgment. (St. Chrysostom) ---

Greek: Arche is used in this sense by Xenophon, &c., (Calmet) as principium is by Suetonius, (in Aug.) yet it may also signify, This is the "origin," or source of thy authority, from the womb," &c. (St. Chrysostom) (Berthier) ---

The consubstantiality of the Son is hence manifest, and this ensures every perfection. (Haydock) ---

The Father and the Son are both principals. (St. Jerome) ---

Christ was in the beginning, (John i.) and the very beginning. His eternal birth is here mentioned, though some have explained it of his temporal nativity, which took place before the rising of the day-star. (Calmet) ---

This, however, would seem a trivial circumstance, (Berthier) whereas the birth of Christ before the whole creation is of great consequence. ---

Saints. Or "holy places," sanctorum. Hebrew, "In the beauties ( behadre. ; Haydock) St. Jerome has read berri, in the mountains, (Calmet) of holiness, (Montanus) or of the sanctuary." Christ will come to judge surrounded by his angels, (Calmet) and saints. (Haydock) (St. Augustine) ---

I begot thee. This expresses the sense more clearly (Haydock) than the Hebrew tibi ros emissio (Hebrew tal. ) nativitatis tuז. St. Jerome's version must be deemed inaccurate, and the Hebrew points, (Berthier) which render the modern versions so very different from ours, may be safely rejected. (Haydock) See Muis. (Genebrard) (Calmet) ---

Robertson mentions fourteen different translations of this text, and many more might be given. (Haydock) ---

But ours is clear, and beautiful. (Calmet) ---

Protestants, "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness, from (Marginal note, more than) the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth." (Haydock) ---

Thy offspring shall be very numerous, (Isaias xlviii. 1., and xiv. 8.) and people shall willingly join thy banners, or rather come to offer victims in the sanctuary. (Calmet) ---

The eternal birth of Christ, (Micheas v. 2.) from his father's substance, establishes his principality, so that he rises triumphant, &c. (Worthington) ---

The present Hebrew text seems to be purposely rendered obscure, or unintelligible by the Jews, both in this verse, and in the following. (Du Hamel)

Haydock: Psa 109:4

Repent. Not that He can ever do so, or give way to error: but the sacred writer expresses himself thus, to give us the greatest security. (Calmet) ---

The order. Hebrew dibrathi, "my order," Melchisedech. The i has been perhaps designedly inserted, to render the argumentation in the epistle to the Hebrews of no weight, "as the force of the text sinks into just nothing." (Kennicott) ---

Protestants and Pagnin here abandon the Hebrew. But Montanus corrects the latter, and substitutes "upon my word," which is more honest, as he deemed the Hebrew text unerring, though here it be not so unquestionably, as the Almighty would thus address Melchisedech, unless that title be here given to Christ. St. Jerome takes no notice of my, no more than the apostle, &c. (Haydock) ---

This instance "may perhaps put all serious Christians upon deliberating---whether they should any longer maintain the absolute integrity of the present Hebrew text." See Psalm xv. 10. (Kennicott, Dis. i. p. 219.) ---

Melchisedech. Christ is declared king and priest for ever, (Worthington) like Melchisedech, who united in his person both dignities, and presided not over a particular people, nor stood in need of any stated place. His succession is not recorded, and his sacrifice consisted of bread and wine; in all which respects he differed from the Levitical priest, and prefigured Christ, who is immolated under the same species throughout the world, Malachias i. 11. (Menochius) ---

We read in Scripture of three orders of priesthood: 1st , of kings, 2d , of the first-born, and 3d , of Aaron. Melchisedech, in quality of king, exercised the priestly office, as both functions were formerly united: and hence the word Cohen signifies both a temporal and spiritual prince. This light of nations ensured to his order a perpetual duration, whilst that of Aaron was to have an end. Thus Christ offered to his Father from all eternity the sacrifice of his obedience, and future sufferings; and in time, he presented that of his own life, which he continues to offer in the Catholic Church, (Calmet) by priests who are only his ministers, 1 Corinthians vi. (Worthington) ---

The apostle does not specify the oblation of bread and wine, as it was unnecessary, the sacrifice of Christ on the cross having put an end to the sacrifices of the old law, which could only be offered by the children of Aaron, from whom he did not spring. This was enough for his purpose. But as Menchisedech offered bread and wine, Christ must also have done the same, to be of his order. St. Cyprian, and the other Fathers, with great unanimity observe, that the sacrifice of Melchisedech was a figure of that of Jesus Christ, in bread and wine; and of course (Berthier) our sacred mysteries must contain the substance. (Haydock) ---

By their application, Christ still pacifies his Father in behalf of sinners: so that the effects of his priesthood do not cease, as those of all the priests in the Old Testament did by their death. (Worthington)

Haydock: Psa 109:5

The Lord. He speaks to God the Father concerning the Messias, (Menochius) or God assisted the sacred humanity. (St. Chrysostom) ---

In the Godhead the persons are equal. The Father is at the right of the Son, as He is at his Father's, ver. i. (St. Augustine) (Calmet) ---

Yet it seems more probable, that the discourse is addressed to the first person. (Berthier)

Haydock: Psa 109:6

Ruins. Hebrew and Septuagint, "with dead bodies," (Calmet) or he will fill up the places of the fallen angels. (Jansenius) ---

Implevit valles. (St. Jerome) ---

Christ was placed for the fall and for the resurrection of many. ---

Of many. Hebrew, "the head in an extensive territory." We might render the Vulgate, "he shall crush the heads of many in the land." (Haydock) ---

Rebellious kings, with their populous kingdoms shall be destroyed. (Worthington) ---

The power of the devil, and of all his agents, shall be crushed, though they may fill the greater part of the world, (Haydock) in terra quam multi occupant. (Berthier)

Haydock: Psa 109:7

Way. By the torrent Cedron, the passion of Christ is insinuated. (Houbigant) ---

During life, he and his faithful servants shall be exposed to many sufferings, for which they will be amply rewarded. (Worthington) (Philippians ii. 9.) ---

A torrent often denotes affliction, Psalm xvii. 5., and Isaias xxx. 28. Yet here it may signify, that Christ will supply every thing requisite to establish his Church. To find water for an army was of the greatest consequence, Jeremias xxxi. 9., Psalm lxxvii. 20., and 4 Kings iii. 9. (Calmet) ---

Like a valiant conqueror, Christ seeks for no delicacies. (Muis) (Calmet) ---

Those who come nearest to this divine pattern, will obtain the highest place in heaven. (Berthier)

Gill: Psa 109:1

Hold not thy peace,.... Or be not as a deaf or dumb man, or like one that turns a deaf ear and will give no answer; so the Lord seems to his people when he does not give an immediate answer to their prayers, and does not arise to help them; he seems to have forsaken them, and to stand at a distance from them; nor does he avenge them of their enemies; it is the Messiah, as man, that puts up this petition, and it agrees with Psa 22:2.

O God of my praise; worthy of all praise, because of the perfections of his nature, and for the mercies he bestows; and is and ought to be the constant object of the praise of his people, and was the object of the praise of Christ; see Psa 22:22, who praised him for his wonderful formation as man, having such a holy human nature, so suitable to his divine Person, and so fit for the service of his people; for his preservation from his enemies, and the deliverance of him from death and the grave, by his resurrection; for hearing his petitions, and for the special grace bestowed on his people; see Psa 139:14. Or, "O God of my glorying ^w"; in whom he gloried, of whom he boasted; as he often with exultation spoke of him as his God and Father: or, "the God that praises me"; for his praise was not of men, but of God, who by a voice from heaven declared him his beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased, Mat 3:17.

Gill: Psa 109:2

For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me,.... Or "of deceit" ^x itself; most wicked and very deceitful men, who sometimes flattered and pretended friendship, as the Jews did to Christ, when they designed ill against him; though at other times their mouths were opened, and they poured out their calumnies and reproaches very freely and largely; traducing his person, and aspersing his character as a wicked man; blaspheming his miracles, as if done by the help of the devil; charging his doctrine with novelty, falsehood, and blasphemy; loading him with invidious names, as Samaritan, madman, &c; representing him as an enemy to the state, as a seditious person, and a disturber of the nation's peace; particularly their mouths were opened against him when they called for his crucifixion, and would have no denial; and especially when he was on the cross, where they gaped upon him with their mouths, and poured out their scoffs and jeers at him; see Psa 22:14.

They have spoken against me with a lying tongue, false witnesses rose up against him, and laid things to his charge he knew nothing of, and which they could not prove, Mat 26:59.

Gill: Psa 109:3

They compassed me about also with words of hatred,.... They surrounded him as he hung on the cross, and expressed their malice and hatred against him; then was he enclosed with these spiteful snarling dogs, and encompassed by them as with so many bees, who everyone left their sting in him, Psa 22:16.

And fought against me without a cause: they were of an hostile spirit, enemies and enmity itself against him; fought against him both with words and blows, with their tongues and with their fists; sought his life, and at length took it away; he was attacked by the body of the Jewish nation, and by the whole posse of devils; and all this without any cause or just reason: he gave them no occasion for this enmity and malice, and opposition to him; and it was in the issue without effect, it was in vain and to no purpose; for though they gained their point in putting him to death, yet he rose again a triumphant Conqueror over them all.

Gill: Psa 109:4

For my love they are my adversaries,.... For the love that Christ showed to the Jews; to their bodies, in going about and healing all manner of diseases among them; to their souls, in preaching, the Gospel to them in each of their cities; and for the love he showed to mankind in coming into the world to save them, which should have commanded love again; but instead of this they became his implacable adversaries: they acted the part of Satan; they were as so many Satans to him, as the word signifies.

But I give myself unto prayer; or "I am a man of prayer" ^y; as Aben Ezra and Kimchi supply it; so he was in the days of his flesh, Heb 5:7, he was constant at it, and fervent in it; sometimes a whole night together at it: his usual method was, when at Jerusalem, to teach in the temple in the daytime, and at night to go to the mount of Olives, and there abide and pray, Luk 6:12. This was the armour he alone made use of against his enemies, when they fought against him, and acted the part of an adversary to him; he betook himself to nothing else but prayer; he did not return railing for railing, but committed himself in prayer to God, who judgeth righteously, 1Pe 2:23, yea, he prayed for those his adversaries: and so Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret it, that he was a man of prayer for them, and prayed for them; as it is certain Christ did, when he was encompassed by his enemies, and they were venting all their spite and malice against him, Luk 23:34.

Gill: Psa 109:5

And they have rewarded me evil for good,.... For the good words and sound doctrine he delivered to them; for the good works and miracles he wrought among them, to the healing of them; see Joh 10:32.

And hatred for my love; he came to seek and save that which was lost, and yet they hated him, and would not have him to rule over them, Luk 19:10.

Gill: Psa 109:6

Set thou a wicked man over him,.... Or "them", as the Syriac version; over everyone of his adversaries, and all of them: and which may be interpreted, as it is by Cocceius, of tyrannical princes and governors, set over the Jews, as Tiberius, Caius, Claudius, Nero, &c. and their deputies, Pilate, Felix, Festus, Florus; all wicked men, and which were a judgment on them for their usage of Christ. Though here some single person is designed, even Judas, notorious for his enmity and ingratitude to Christ; and by the wicked one set over him may be meant Satan, as in the next clause, as he is sometimes called, Mat 13:38, into whose hands and power Judas was put, under whose influence he was; who entered into him, took possession of him, and put it into his heart to betray his Master, Joh 13:2.

And let Satan stand at his right hand; to direct and influence him, to solicit and tempt him to do the evil he did, and to accuse him for it when done; see Zec 3:1.

Gill: Psa 109:7

When he shall be judged, let him be condemned,.... When he shall be arraigned at the bar of his own conscience, and be charged with the sin of which he is guilty, let conscience, which is as a thousand witnesses, rise up against him, and condemn him; so it did Judas, Mat 26:1, or when he shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ at the last day,

let him go out a wicked, or a guilty or condemned man ^z; let him hear the awful sentence, "go, thou cursed, into everlasting fire": and let him go out immediately from the presence of the Judge into eternal punishment, the condemnation of the devil: so Judas is said to go to his own place, Act 1:25.

And let his prayer become sin, let it be fruitless and in vain; and so far from being heard, let it he treated as an abomination; let it be considered as an aggravation of his crime, as Haman's was, Est 7:7, let his prayer being without faith in the blood of Christ, be reckoned sinful, as it was; let his cries, and tears, and repentance issue in desperation, and that in sin, as it did in destroying himself, Mat 27:5.

Gill: Psa 109:8

Let his days be few,.... The days of men in common are but few at most: length of days, either beyond or according to the usual term of life, is reckoned a blessing; and to be cut off in the midst of a man's days a curse; when this is by the immediate hand of God, as a visible token of his displeasure; or by the hand of the civil magistrate, for some capital offence; or by a man's own hands, which was the case of Judas; whose days were but few, in comparison of the other apostles, who outlived him many years; especially the Apostle John, who lived sixty years after, at least. The Syriac version renders it, "let their days be few"; and so it reads the whole context in the plural number, both in the verses preceding and following; and the whole may be interpreted of the Jews, as it is by Theodoret, as well as of Judas; since they were concerned in the same sin, and are equally charged as the betrayers and murderers of Christ, Act 7:52, and their days as a nation and church after the death of Christ were very few; within forty years, or thereabout, their city and temple were destroyed.

And let another take his office; or bishopric, as the Septuagint version and the Apostle Peter call it; who cites this passage, and applies it to Judas, in Act 1:20. His office was the office of an apostle, an high and honourable one, the chief office in the church: it was a charge, as the word signifies; a charge of souls, an oversight of the flock; which is to be taken not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre's sake, but of a ready mind. Judas took it for filthy lucre's sake, and it was taken away from him, and given to another; to Matthias, on whom the lot fell, and who was numbered with the apostles in his room, Act 1:21. This is true also of the priests, Scribes, and Pharisees, who were divested of their offices in a very little time; three shepherds were cut off in one month, Zec 11:8. There being a change of the priesthood, law, and ordinances, there was a change of offices and officers; new ordinances were appointed by Christ, and new officers created, on whom gifts were bestowed suitable to their work.

Gill: Psa 109:9

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, Psa 68:5, but sometimes it is threatened and comes as a judgment, when the Lord shows no mercy and favour to them, Exo 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 1Co 9:5. And this was verified in the people of the Jews; whom the Lord divorced from himself, and wrote a "loammi" upon them, and left them as orphans and fatherless, Hos 1:9. This will never be the case of Christ's people, or the Christian church, Joh 14:18, though it will be of the antichristian one, Rev 18:7.

Gill: Psa 109:10

Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg,.... Wander from place to place, begging their bread: this is denied of the children of good men in David's time, Psa 37:25 yet was threatened to the children of Eli, 1Sa 2:36 and was very likely literally true of the children of Judas; and was certainly the case of multitudes of the children of the Jews, the posterity of them that crucified Christ, at the time of their destruction by the Romans; when great numbers were dispersed, and wandered about in various countries, as vagabonds, begging their bread from door to door; which is reckoned ^a by them a great affliction, and very distressing.

Let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places; either describing, as Kimchi thinks, the miserable cottages, forlorn and desolate houses, in which they lived, and from whence they went out to everyone that passed by, to ask relief of them; or it may be rendered,

because of their desolate places ^b; or, "after them"; so the Targum, "after their desolation was made"; when their grand house was left desolate, their temple, as our Lord said it should, and was, Mat 23:38, and all their other houses in Jerusalem and in Judea; then were they obliged to seek their bread of others elsewhere, and by begging. The Syriac version wants this verse.

Gill: Psa 109:11

Let the extortioner catch all that he hath,.... Or, "lay a snare for all" ^c; as the Romans did, by bringing in their army, invading the land of Judea, and besieging the city of Jerusalem; who are "the extortioner or exacter that demanded tribute of them"; which they refused to pay, and therefore they seized on all they had for it. The Syriac and Arabic versions render it, "the creditor"; who sometimes for a debt would take wife and children, and all that a man had; see 2Ki 4:1. It might be literally true of Judas; who dying in debt, his wife and children, and all he had, might be laid hold on for payment.

And let the stranger spoil his labour; plunder his house of all his goods and substance he had been labouring for: which was true of the Romans, who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel; who came into the land, and spoiled their houses, fields, and vineyards, they had been labouring in; they took away their place and nation, and all they had, Joh 11:48.

Gill: Psa 109:12

Let there be none to extend mercy unto him,.... No pity is ever expressed at hearing or reading the sad case of Judas; and though the Jews were pitied of those that carried them captive to Babylon, Psa 106:46, yet, in their last destruction by the Romans, no mercy was shown them; the wrath of God and man came upon them to the uttermost, 1Th 2:16.

Neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children: to bestow any benefit upon them; to relieve their wants, nor to protect their persons; no more respect shown them than to their father, being shunned and hated for their father's sake.

Gill: Psa 109:13

Let his posterity be cut off,.... As the seed of the wicked are said to be, Psa 37:28, or cut down, as a tree to the very root; as the Jewish nation was by the axe of God's judgment, which, John says, was laid to the root of the tree, and the blow just going to be given, as it was in a few years after, Mat 3:10 or, as the Targum,

"let his end be for destruction;''

and so the Syriac version, "let their end be for destruction"; their last end, which it is said shall be cut off, and issue in death, eternal death; when the end of a good man is peace and eternal life, see Psa 37:37.

And in the generation following let their name be blotted out: or, in another age ^d; the next age, the third generation; meaning the name of the posterity of Judas, and the name of the people of the Jews, so as to be spoken of with honour and reputation; but, instead of that, they are for a taunt, a proverb, and a curse, in all places.

Gill: Psa 109:14

Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord,.... Not of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; who, though they had their failings, they were not remembered, and much less punished in their posterity, but were forgiven: rather of the Amorites and Hittites; the one being said to be the father, and the other the mother, of the Jews, Eze 16:3, they succeeding them in their land, and imitating their example, and committing the same sins they did: or rather of their wicked ancestors, who killed the prophets; and the measure of whose sins Judas and the Jews filled up in crucifying Christ, see Mat 23:31. The iniquity of these may be said to be remembered, it not being forgiven, when it was brought to account, and punished in their posterity, doing the same wicked actions; compare with this Rev 16:19.

And let not the sin of his mother be blotted out: or forgiven; but stand as a debt to be accounted for: meaning not the sin of his mother Eve, nor of his immediate parent; but either of the Hittite as before, or of the synagogue of the Jews, or Jerusalem, which killed the prophets of the Lord.

Gill: Psa 109:15

Let them be before the Lord continually,.... And not cast behind his back, or into the depths of the sea, never to be seen more, as sins are when forgiven; but be always in sight, as loathsome and abominable, and causing those that committed them to be abhorred for them; and be before him, as a Judge, to examine them, the nature and kind of them, and to condemn and punish for them; see Exo 20:5. The Targum is,

"let them be before the Word of the Lord always;''

see Heb 4:13.

That he may cut off the memory of them from the earth; so that they may not be remembered with any applause, or their name spoken of with any commendation; see Job 18:17.

Gill: Psa 109:16

Because that he remembered not to show mercy,.... As Judas did not; neither to the poor, whom he cared not for, Joh 12:6 nor to Christ, whom he betrayed with a kiss to his enemies: nor had these words of Christ any effect upon him, to move his pity and compassion, "Friend, wherefore art thou come?" Mat 26:49 nor did the Jews show mercy to him: they were a merciless and hardhearted people; though mercy was one of the weightier matters of the law, this they omitted, Mat 23:23, their want of compassion may be observed in the priest and Levite passing by the man wounded by thieves, Luk 10:30. Nor did they show any mercy to Christ, when they smote and buffeted him; nor did it move their pity when Pilate brought him forth with a crown of thorns on his head, and in a miserable condition, saying, "Behold the man"; but they cried out, "Crucify him, crucify him"; and gave him gall for his meat, and vinegar to drink; and mocked him when in all his miseries and agonies.

But persecuted the poor and needy man; Christ, who became poor for our sakes, and stood in need of the ministration of others to him, 2Co 8:9 and was poor in spirit, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs; him Judas and the Jews persecuted to death, as follows:

that he might even slay the broken in heart; Christ, whose heart was broken with the reproach and cruel usage of men, Psa 69:20, whose life the Jews sought to take away, and by means of Judas did.

Gill: Psa 109:17

As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him,.... Judas loved that which brought a curse upon him, sin; and so he may be said to love the curse; just as sinners are said to love death, Pro 8:36. He was desirous of and sought after it, to bring Christ to an accursed death; and which he accomplished and pleased himself with; and therefore it was a just retaliation upon him that the curse should light on him, and he himself come to a shameful and ignominious death. The Jews loved the cursing law, the flying roll, called the curse in Zec 5:2, which curses every transgressor of it: they boasted of it, rested in it, and sought for righteousness by it; and submitted not unto, but despised, the righteousness of Christ; and therefore it was but just they should come under the curse of the law: they imprecated the curse on them and their children, saying, "His blood be upon us and them", Mat 27:25 and which accordingly came upon them, and remains to this day.

As he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him; Judas delighted not in the good will and good wishes of any to Christ, as appears from his dislike of the ointment being poured on his head by the poor woman, in Joh 12:4, and so the Jews were displeased at the children, and at the disciples in the temple, blessing Christ, pronouncing him blessed, and wishing blessings to him, Mat 21:15, yea, they delighted not in their own blessedness, or in that which only could give it to them; they delighted not in Christ, who was sent to bless them, but despised and rejected him; nor in the Gospel, which is full of blessings; and particularly not in the doctrine of justification by Christ's righteousness, which commonly makes a man blessed: yea, in a sense, they judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life; and therefore it was but a righteous thing that blessing should be far from Judas and the Jews, as it was; even temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings: yet there have been a sort of heretics ^e, that have highly praised and commended Judas, as doing a brave and noble action in betraying Christ, whereby the work of salvation was hastened.

Gill: Psa 109:18

As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment,.... He was full of it; his mouth was full of cursing and bitterness; it was visible in him, easy to be discerned; he took pride as well as pleasure in it, it was in his esteem an ornament to him, as his clothes were. The Syriac version renders it, "as armour"; as if it was a protection to him, or he thought it to be so.

So let it come into his bowels like water; the meaning is, let the wrath of God and the curse of the law come into his conscience, and make sad work there, and fill him with dread and terror, and that in great abundance, and with great force; like a flood of waters that carry all before it; or like the waters of jealousy which made the belly to swell and the thigh to rot; or the flying roll of the curse, which entering into the house of the sinner destroyed it, and all in it, Num 5:22.

And like oil into his bones; which is more piercing and penetrating than water; and signifies the inward and quick sense he should have of his sins, and of the wrath of God for them; see Job 20:11.

Gill: Psa 109:19

Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him,.... Let him be surrounded on all sides with the wrath of God; and let it be visible to all, as a man's garment on him is: see Isa 66:24.

And for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually; let him be in the utmost straits and distress, being encompassed about with the curse and wrath of God; and let that stick close unto him as a man's belt does; and let him not be able to get clear of it, or extricate himself out of it, as no man can on whom it is.

Gill: Psa 109:20

Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord,.... Who were so many Satans, as the word used signifies; and Judas particularly is called a devil; and of the same malevolent and diabolical disposition were the Jews in general, Joh 6:70 and what is before imprecated upon them is the just recompence of reward for their hatred to Christ and ill usage of him.

And of them that speak evil against my soul; or "life" ^f; in order to take it away, as did the false witnesses that rose up against him, and the Jews who charged him with sedition and blasphemy.

Gill: Psa 109:21

But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake,.... The sense of the petition is, and which is a prayer of Christ as man, that the Lord God would take his part, be on his side, be present with him, work with him, help and assist him, and that for his own honour and glory, for his truth and faithfulness sake, who had promised him help and assistance, Psa 89:21.

Because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me; or "thy kindness" ^g; meaning the lovingkindness of God to Christ, which he always bore to him, and was eminently and superlatively good; which he makes use of as an argument for his deliverance out of all his troubles, and from death itself; see Psa 69:14.

Gill: Psa 109:22

For I am poor and needy,.... As he was in human nature, being born of poor parents, brought up in a mean manner, had not where to lay his head, and was ministered to by others; though he was Lord of all, and immensely rich in the perfections of his nature, and in his vast empire and dominion, and the revenues arising from thence; see 2Co 8:9. It may here chiefly respect his helpless and forlorn estate as man, at the time of his sufferings and death; see Psa 40:17.

And my heart is wounded within me; with the sins of his people on him, with a sense of divine wrath, and when under divine desertions, especially when his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, Mat 26:38.

Gill: Psa 109:23

I am gone like the shadow when it declineth,.... When the sun is setting, and the shadow is going off; man's life is often compared to a shadow, because fleeting, momentary, and soon gone, 1Ch 29:15 and death is expressed by going the way of all flesh; and by going to the grave, the house for all living, a man's long home, Jos 23:14 and so is the death of Christ, Luk 22:22, it may be rendered, "I am made to go" ^h, denoting the violent death of Christ, who was cut off out of the land of the living, and whose life was taken away from the earth, Isa 53:8.

I am tossed up and down as the locust; or "shaken out" ⁱ by the wind, as the locust is by the east wind, and carried from place to place, Exo 10:13, or when a swarm of them by a strong wind are crowded together and thrown upon one another; or like the grasshopper, which leaps from hedge to hedge, and has no certain abode: and such was the case of Christ here on earth; and especially it may have respect not only to his being sometimes in Judea and sometimes in Galilee, sometimes in the temple and sometimes in the mount of Olives; but to his being tossed about after his apprehension, when he was led to Annas, and then to Caiaphas, then to Pilate, then to Herod, then delivered to the soldiers, and by them led to Calvary, and crucified.

Gill: Psa 109:24

My knees are weak through fasting,..... Either voluntary or forced, through want of food or refreshment; this was verified in Christ, when he kneeled and prayed, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground; see Psa 69:10.

And my flesh faileth of fatness; or "for want of oil" ^k; the radical moisture of his flesh being dried up like a potsherd, Psa 22:15.

Gill: Psa 109:25

I became also a reproach unto them,.... Or they reproached him; not only in life, traducing his conversation, blaspheming his miracles, calling him a Samaritan, saying he had a devil, and charging him with sedition; but at the time of his death they reviled him, and treated him in the most opprobrious manner.

When they looked upon me, they shaked their heads; which was verified in the Jews as they passed by the cross of Christ, whither they came to stare upon him and scoff at him, Mat 27:39.

Gill: Psa 109:26

Help me, O Lord my God,.... Jehovah the Father is here addressed, who is the God of Christ, as Christ is man; who formed him, supported him, and glorified him; and whom Christ loved, believed in, obeyed and prayed unto; nor did he pray to a God that could not hear, but to one that was able to save him from death: as a divine Person he needed no help, being the mighty God, the most Mighty, the Almighty: but as man he did, being encompassed about with infirmities; and as Mediator help was promised him, he expected it, and he had it, Psa 89:21.

O save me according to thy mercy; or "kindness"; as before in Psa 109:21 from sufferings, and out of them; from death and the grave, as he was; or his people by him, who are saved not by works of righteousness, but according to the mercy of God, Tit 3:5.

Gill: Psa 109:27

That they may know that this is thy hand,.... Which inflicted vengeance, and executed judgments on Judas and the Jews, as before imprecated: so the Targum,

"that they may know that this is thy stroke;''

or which was concerned in all the sorrows and sufferings of the Messiah, which could never have come upon him had it not been the will of God; it was his hand and council that determined it, or men could never have effected it; see Act 4:28, or which wrought deliverance and salvation as before prayed for; see Psa 118:21.

That thou, Lord, hast done it: one or other, or all the above things; the finger of God was to be seen in them; particularly in the sufferings of Christ, and in his exaltation; see Act 2:23.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 109:1

¹ sn Psalm 109. Appealing to God’s justice, the psalmist asks God to vindicate him and to bring severe judgment down upon his enemies.

² tn Heb “do not be deaf.”

NET Notes: Psa 109:2

¹ tn Heb “for a mouth of evil and a mouth of deceit against me they open, they speak with me [with] a tongue of falsehood.”

NET Notes: Psa 109:3

¹ tn Heb “and [with] words of hatred they surround me.”

NET Notes: Psa 109:4

¹ tn Heb “in place of my love they oppose me.”

² tn Heb “and I, prayer.”

NET Notes: Psa 109:5

¹ tn Heb “and they set upon me evil in place of good.”

NET Notes: Psa 109:6

¹ sn In vv. 6-19 the psalmist calls on God to judge his enemies severely. Some attribute this curse-list to the psalmist’s enemies rather than the psalmist. In this case one should paraphrase v. 6: “They say about me, ‘Appoint an evil man, etc.’” Those supporting this line of interpretation point out that vv. 2-5 and 20 refer to the enemies’ attack on the psalmist being a verbal one. Furthermore in vv. 1-5, 20 the psalmist speaks of his enemies in the plural, while vv. 6-19 refer to an individual. This use of the singular in vv. 6-19 could be readily explained if this is the psalmist’s enemies’ curse on him. However, it is much more natural to understand vv. 6-19 as the psalmist’s prayer against his enemies. There is no introductory quotation formula in v. 6 to indicate that the psalmist is quoting anyone, and the statement “may the Lord repay my accusers in this way” in v. 20 most naturally appears to be a fitting conclusion to the prayer in vv. 6-19. But what about the use of the singular in vv. 6-19? Often in the psalms the psalmist will describe his enemies as a group, but then speak of them as an individual as well, as if viewing his adversaries collectively as one powerful foe. See, for example, Ps 7, where the psalmist uses both the plural (vv. 1, 6) and the singular (vv. 2, 4-5) in referring to enemies. Perhaps by using the singular in such cases, the psalmist wants to single out each enemy for individual attention, or perhaps he has one especially hostile enemy in mind who epitomizes the opposition of the whole group. This may well be the case in Ps 109. Perhaps we should understand the singular throughout vv. 6-19 in the sense of “each and every one.” For a lengthy and well-reasoned defense of the opposite view – that vv. 6-19 are a quotation of what the enemies said about the psalmist – see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 72-73.

² tn Heb “appoint against him an evil [man].”

³ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive here (note the imperative in the preceding line).

NET Notes: Psa 109:7

¹ tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as a jussive, but the use of the imperfect form in the following line suggests that v. 7 anticipates the outcome of the accusation envisioned in v. 6.

² tn Heb “he will go out [as] a criminal” (that is, guilty).

NET Notes: Psa 109:8

¹ tn The prefixed verbal forms (except those with vav [ו] consecutive) in vv. 8-20 are taken as jussives of prayer. Note the distinct jussive forms used in vv. 12-13, 15, 19.

² tn The Hebrew noun פְּקֻדָּה (pÿquddah) can mean “charge” or “office,” though BDB 824 s.v. suggests that here it refers to his possessions.

NET Notes: Psa 109:9

¹ tn Or “sons.”

NET Notes: Psa 109:10

¹ tn Or “sons.”

² tn Heb “and roaming, may his children roam and beg, and seek from their ruins.” Some, following the LXX, emend the term וְדָרְשׁוּ (vÿdoreshu, “and seek”) to יְגֹרְשׁוּ (yÿgoreshu; a Pual jussive, “may they be driven away” [see Job 30:5; cf. NIV, NRSV]), but דָּרַשׁ (darash) nicely parallels שִׁאֵלוּ (shi’elu, “and beg”) in the preceding line.

NET Notes: Psa 109:11

¹ tn Heb “lay snares for” (see Ps 38:12).

² tn Heb “the product of his labor.”

NET Notes: Psa 109:12

¹ tn Heb “may there not be for him one who extends loyal love.”

² tn Perhaps this refers to being generous (see Ps 37:21).

NET Notes: Psa 109:13

¹ tn Or “offspring.”

² sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.

³ tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”

NET Notes: Psa 109:14

¹ tn Or “fathers’ sins.”

² tn Heb “not be wiped out.”

sn According to ancient Israelite theology and its doctrine of corporate solidarity and responsibility, children could be and often were punished for the sins of their parents. For a discussion of this issue see J. Kaminsky, Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible (JSOTSup). (Kaminsky, however, does not deal with Ps 109.)

NET Notes: Psa 109:15

¹ tn Heb “may they [that is, the sins mentioned in v. 14] be before the Lord continually.”

² tn Heb “their memory.” The plural pronominal suffix probably refers back to the children mentioned in v. 13, and for clarity this has been specified in the translation.

NET Notes: Psa 109:16

¹ tn Heb “he did not remember to do loyal love.”

² tn Heb “and he chased an oppressed and needy man, and one timid of heart to put [him] to death.”

NET Notes: Psa 109:17

¹ sn A curse in OT times consists of a formal appeal to God to bring judgment down upon another. Curses were sometimes justified (such as the one spoken by the psalmist here in vv. 6-19), but when they were not, the one pronouncing the curse was in danger of bringing the anticipated judgment down upon himself.

² tn Heb “and he loved a curse and it came [upon] him.” A reference to the evil man experiencing a curse seems premature here, for the psalmist is asking God to bring judgment on his enemies. For this reason some (cf. NIV, NRSV) prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” as conjunctive and translate the verb as a jussive of prayer (“may it come upon him!”). The prefixed form with vav consecutive in the next line is emended in the same way and translated, “may it be far from him.” However, the psalmist may be indicating that the evil man’s lifestyle has already begun to yield its destructive fruit.

³ tn Heb “and he did not delight in a blessing and it is far from him.”

NET Notes: Psa 109:18

¹ tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”

² tn Heb “and it came like water into his inner being, and like oil into his bones.” This may refer to this individual’s appetite for cursing. For him cursing was as refreshing as drinking water or massaging oneself with oil. Another option is that the destructive effects of a curse are in view. In this case a destructive curse invades his very being, like water or oil. Some who interpret the verse this way prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” to a conjunctive vav and interpret the prefixed verb as a jussive, “may it come!”

NET Notes: Psa 109:19

¹ tn Heb “may it be for him like a garment one puts on.”

² tn The Hebrew noun מֵזַח (mezakh, “belt; waistband”) occurs only here in the OT. The form apparently occurs in Isa 23:10 as well, but an emendation is necessary there.

NET Notes: Psa 109:20

¹ tn Heb “[may] this [be] the repayment to my accusers from the Lord.”

² tn Or “against.”

³ tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being; soul”) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

NET Notes: Psa 109:21

¹ tn Heb “but you, Lord, Master, do with me for the sake of your name.” Here “name” stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

NET Notes: Psa 109:22

¹ tc The verb in the Hebrew text (חָלַל, khalal) appears to be a Qal form from the root חלל meaning “pierced; wounded.” However, the Qal of this root is otherwise unattested. The translation assumes an emendation to יָחִיל (yakhil), a Qal imperfect from חוּל (khul, “tremble”) or to חֹלַל (kholal), a polal perfect from חוּל (khul). See Ps 55:4, which reads לִבִּי יָחִיל בְּקִרְבִּי (libbiy yakhil bÿqirbbiy, “my heart trembles [i.e., “beats violently”] within me”).

NET Notes: Psa 109:23

¹ tn Heb “like a shadow when it is extended I go.” He is like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.

NET Notes: Psa 109:24

¹ tn Heb “my knees stagger from fasting.”

² tn Heb “and my flesh is lean away from fatness [i.e., “lean so as not to be fat”].”

NET Notes: Psa 109:25

¹ tn Heb “as for me, I am a reproach to them.”

² sn They shake their heads. Apparently shaking the head was a taunting gesture. See also Job 16:4; Ps 22:7; Lam 2:15.

NET Notes: Psa 109:26

¹ tn Heb “deliver me according to your faithfulness.”

NET Notes: Psa 109:27

¹ tn After the preceding imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose or result.

² tn Heb “that your hand [is] this.”

Geneva Bible: Psa 109:1

"To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David." Hold not thy peace, O God of my ^{( a )} praise;

^{( a )} Though all the world condemn me, yet you will approve my innocence and that is sufficient praise to me.

Geneva Bible: Psa 109:4

For my love they are my adversaries: ^{( b )} but I [give myself unto] prayer.

^{( b )} To declare that I had no other refuge, but you, in whom my conscience was at rest.

Geneva Bible: Psa 109:6

^{( c )} Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.

^{( c )} Whether it was Doeg or Saul, or some familiar friend that had betrayed him, he prays not for private affection, but moved by God's Spirit, that God would take vengeance on him.

Geneva Bible: Psa 109:7

When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his ^{( d )} prayer become sin.

^{( d )} As to the elect all things turn to their profit, so to the reprobate, even those things that are good, turn to their damnation.

Geneva Bible: Psa 109:8

Let his days be few; [and] let another take his ^{( e )} office.

^{( e )} This was chiefly accomplished in Judas, (Act 1:20).

Geneva Bible: Psa 109:11

Let ^{( f )} the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.

^{( f )} He declares that the curse of God lies on the extortioners, who thinking to enrich their children by their unlawfully gotten goods, are by God's just judgment deprived of all.

Geneva Bible: Psa 109:14

^{( g )} Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.

^{( g )} Thus the Lord punishes to the third and fourth generation the wickedness of the parents in their wicked children.

Geneva Bible: Psa 109:16

Because that ^{( h )} he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.

^{( h )} He shows that God plagues them in a strange way who show themselves cruel toward others.

Geneva Bible: Psa 109:17

As he loved cursing, ^{( i )} so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.

^{( i )} Thus the Lord gives to every man the thing in which he delights so that the reprobate cannot accuse God of wrong, when they are given up to their lusts and reprobate minds.

Geneva Bible: Psa 109:20

[Let] this [be] the reward of mine adversaries ^{( k )} from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.

^{( k )} For being destitute of man's help, he fully trusted in the Lord, that he would deliver him.

Geneva Bible: Psa 109:21

But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy ^{( l )} name's sake: because thy mercy [is] good, deliver thou me.

^{( l )} As you are named merciful, gracious and long suffering, so show yourself in effect.

Geneva Bible: Psa 109:23

I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the ^{( m )} locust.

^{( m )} Meaning that he has no stay or assurance in this world.

Geneva Bible: Psa 109:24

My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh ^{( n )} faileth of fatness.

^{( n )} For hunger that came from sorrow, he was lean and his natural moisture failed him.

Geneva Bible: Psa 109:26

Help me, O LORD my God: O ^{( o )} save me according to thy mercy:

^{( o )} The more grievously Satan assailed him, the more earnest and instant was he in prayer.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Psa 109:1-31

1 David, complaining of his slanderous enemies, under the person of Judas devotes them.

16 He shews their sin.

21 Complaining of his own misery, he prays for help.

29 He promises thankfulness.

MHCC: Psa 109:1-5

It is the unspeakable comfort of all believers, that whoever is against them, God is for them; and to him they may apply as to one pleased to concern himself for them. David's enemies laughed at him for his devotion, but they could not laugh him out of it.

MHCC: Psa 109:6-20

The Lord Jesus may speak here as a Judge, denouncing sentence on some of his enemies, to warn others. When men reject the salvation of Christ, even their prayers are numbered among their sins. See what hurries some to shameful deaths, and brings the families and estates of others to ruin; makes them and theirs despicable and hateful, and brings poverty, shame, and misery upon their posterity: it is sin, that mischievous, destructive thing. And what will be the effect of the sentence, " Go, ye cursed," upon the bodies and souls of the wicked! How it will affect the senses of the body, and the powers of the soul, with pain, anguish, horror, and despair! Think on these things, sinners, tremble and repent.

MHCC: Psa 109:21-31

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, ever ready to appear on their behalf against a corrupt world, and the great accuser.

Matthew Henry: Psa 109:1-5

It is the unspeakable comfort of all good people that, whoever is against them, God is for them, and to him they may apply as to one that is pleased to concern himself for them. Thus David here.

I. He refers himself to God's judgment (Psa 109:1): " Hold not thy peace, but let my sentence come forth from thy presence, Psa 17:2. Delay not to give judgment upon the appeal made to thee."God saw what his enemies did against him, but seemed to connive at it, and to keep silence: "Lord,"says he, "do not always do so."The title he gives to God is observable: " O God of my praise! the God in whom I glory, and not in any wisdom or strength of my own, from whom I have every thing that is my praise, or the God whom I have praised, and will praise, and hope to be for ever praising."He had before called God the God of his mercy (Psa 59:10), here he calls him the God of his praise. Forasmuch as God is the God of our mercies we must make him the God of our praises; if all is of him and from him, all must be to him and for him.

II. He complains of his enemies, showing that they were such as it was fit for the righteous God to appear against. 1. They were very spiteful and malicious: They are wicked; they delight in doing mischief (Psa 109:2); their words are words of hatred, Psa 109:3. They had an implacable enmity to a good man because of his goodness. "They open their mouths against me to swallow me up, and fight against me to cut me off if they could."2. They were notorious liars; and lying comprehends two of the seven things which the Lord hates. "They are deceitful in their protestations and professions of kindness, while at the same time they speak against me behind my back, with a lying tongue. "They were equally false in their flatteries and in their calumnies. 3. They were both public and restless in their designs; "They compassed me about on all sides, so that, which way soever I looked, I could see nothing but what made against me."4. They were unjust; their accusations of him, and sentence against him, were all groundless: " They have fought against me without a cause; I never gave them any provocation."Nay, which was worst of all, 5. They were very ungrateful, and rewarded him evil for good, Psa 109:5. Many a kindness he had done them, and was upon all occasions ready to do them, and yet he could not work upon them to abate their malice against him, but, on the contrary, they were the more exasperated because they could not provoke him to give them some occasion against him (Psa 109:4): For my love they are my adversaries. The more he endeavoured to gratify them the more they hated him. We may wonder that it is possible that any should be so wicked; and yet, since there have been so many instances of it, we should not wonder if any be so wicked against us.

III. He resolves to keep close to his duty and take the comfort of that: But I give myself unto prayer (Psa 109:4), I prayer (so it is in the original); "I am for prayer, I am a man of prayer, I love prayer, and prize prayer, and practise prayer, and make a business of prayer, and am in my element when I am at prayer."A good man is made up of prayer, gives himself to prayer, as the apostles, Act 6:4. When David's enemies falsely accused him, and misrepresented him, he applied to God and by prayer committed his cause to him. Though they were his adversaries for his love, yet he continued to pray for them; if others are abusive and injurious to us, yet let not us fail to do our duty to them, nor sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for them, 1Sa 12:23. Though they hated and persecuted him for his religion, yet he kept close to it; they laughed at him for his devotion, but they could not laugh him out of it. "Let them say what they will, I give myself unto prayer. "Now herein David was a type of Christ, who was compassed about with words of hatred and lying words, whose enemies not only persecuted him without cause, but for his love and his good works (Joh 10:32); and yet he gave himself to prayer, to pray for them. Father, forgive them.

Matthew Henry: Psa 109:6-20

David here fastens upon some one particular person that was worse than the rest of his enemies, and the ringleader of them, and in a devout and pious manner, not from a principle of malice and revenge, but in a holy zeal for God and against sin and with an eye to the enemies of Christ, particularly Judas who betrayed him, whose sin was greater than Pilate's that condemned him (Joh 19:11), he imprecates and predicts his destruction, foresees and pronounces him completely miserable, and such a one as our Saviour calls him, A son of perdition. Calvin speaks of it as a detestable piece of sacrilege, common in his time among Franciscan friars and other monks, that if any one had malice against a neighbour he might hire some of them to curse him every day, which he would do in the words of these verses; and particularly he tells of a lady in France who, being at variance with her own and only son, hired a parcel of friars to curse him in these words. Greater impiety can scarcely be imagined than to vent a devilish passion in the language of sacred writ, to kindle strife with coals snatched from God's altar, and to call for fire from heaven with a tongue set on fire of hell.

I. The imprecations here are very terrible - woe, and a thousand woes, to that man against whom God says Amen to them; and they are all in full force against the implacable enemies and persecutors of God's church and people, that will not repent, to give him glory. It is here foretold concerning this bad man,

1. That he should be cast and sentenced as a criminal, with all the dreadful pomp of a trial, conviction, and condemnation (Psa 109:6, Psa 109:7): Set thou a wicked man over him, to be as cruel and oppressive to him as he has been to others; for God often makes one wicked man a scourge to another, to spoil the spoilers and to deal treacherously with those that have dealt treacherously. Set the wicked one over him (so some), that is, Satan, as it follows; and then it was fulfilled in Judas, into whom Satan entered, to hurry him into sin first and then into despair. Set his own wicked heart over him, set his own conscience against him; let that fly in his face. Let Satan stand on his right hand, and be let loose against him to deceive him, as he did Ahab to his destruction, and then to accuse him and resist him, and then he is certainly cast, having no interest in that advocate who alone can say, The Lord rebuke thee, Satan (Zec 3:1, Zec 3:2); when he shall be judged at men's bar let not his usual arts to evade justice do him any service, but let his sin find him out and let him be condemned; nor shall he escape before God's tribunal, but be condemned there when the day of inquisition and recompence shall come. Let his prayer become sin, as the clamours of a condemned malefactor not only find no acceptance, but are looked upon as an affront to the court. The prayers of the wicked now become sin, because soured with the leaven of hypocrisy and malice; and so they will in the great day, because then it will be too late to cry, Lord, Lord, open to us. Let every thing be turned against him and improved to his disadvantage, even his prayers.

2. That, being condemned, he should be executed as a most notorious malefactor. (1.) That he should lose his life, and the number of his months be cut off in the midst, by the sword of justice: Let his days be few, or shortened, as a condemned criminal has but a few days to live (Psa 109:8); such bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days. (2.) That consequently all his places should be disposed of to others, and they should enjoy his preferments and employments: Let another take his office. This Peter applies to the filling up of Judas's place in the truly sacred college of the apostles, by the choice of Matthias, Act 1:20. Those that mismanage their trusts will justly have their office taken from them and given to those that will approve themselves faithful. (3.) That his family should be beheaded and beggared, that his wife should be made a widow and his children fatherless, by his untimely death, Psa 109:9. Wicked men, by their wicked courses, bring ruin upon their wives and children, whom they ought to take care of and provide for. Yet his children, if, when they lost their father, they had a competency to live upon, might still subsist in comfort; but they shall be vagabonds and shall beg; they shall not have a house of their own to live in, nor any certain dwelling-place, nor know where to have a meal's-meat, but shall creep out of their desolate places with fear and trembling, like beasts out of their dens, to seek their bread (Psa 109:10), because they are conscious to themselves that all mankind have reason to hate them for their father's sake. (4.) That his estate should be ruined, as the estates of malefactors are confiscated (Psa 109:11): Let the extortioner, the officer, seize all that he has and let the stranger, who was nothing akin to his estate, spoil his labour, either for his crimes or for his debts, Job 5:4, Job 5:5. (5.) That his posterity should be miserable. Fatherless children, though they have nothing of their own, yet sometimes are well provided for by the kindness of those whom God inclines to pity them; but this wicked man having never shown mercy there shall be none to extend mercy to him, by favouring his fatherless children when he is gone, Psa 109:12. The children of wicked parents often fare the worse for their parents' wickedness in this way that the bowels of men's compassion are shut up from them, which yet ought not to be, for why should children suffer for that which was not their fault, but their infelicity? (6.) That his memory should be infamous, and buried in oblivion and disgrace (Psa 109:13): Let his posterity be cut off; let his end be to destruction (so Dr. Hammond); and in the next generation let their name be blotted out, or remembered with contempt and indignation, and (Psa 109:15) let an indelible mark of disgrace be left upon it. See here what hurries some to shameful deaths, and brings the families and estates of others to ruin, makes them and their despicable and odious, and entails poverty, and shame, and misery, upon their posterity; it is sin, that mischievous destructive thing. The learned Dr. Hammond applies this to the final dispersion and desolation of the Jewish nation for their crucifying Christ; their princes and people were cut off, their country was laid waste, and their posterity were made fugitives and vagabonds.

II. The ground of these imprecations bespeaks them very just, though they sound very severe. 1. To justify the imprecations of vengeance upon the sinner's posterity, the sin of his ancestors is here brought into the account (Psa 109:14, Psa 109:15), the iniquity of his fathers and the sin of his mother. These God often visits even upon the children's children, and is not unrighteous therein: when wickedness has long run in the blood justly does the curse run along with it. Thus all the innocent blood that had been shed upon the earth, from that of righteous Abel, was required from that persecuting generation, who, by putting Christ to death, filled up the measure of their fathers, and left as long a train of vengeance to follow them as the train of guilt was that went before them, which they themselves agreed to by saying, His blood be upon us and on our children. 2. To justify the imprecations of vengeance upon the sinner himself, his own sin is here charged upon him, which called aloud for it. (1.) He had loved cruelty, and therefore give him blood to drink (Psa 109:16): He remembered not to show mercy, remembered not those considerations which should have induced him to show mercy, remembered not the objects of compassion that had been presented to him, but persecuted the poor, whom he should have protected and relieved, and slew the broken in heart, whom he should have comforted and healed. Here is a barbarous man indeed, not it to live. (2.) He had loved cursing, and therefore let the curse come upon his head, Psa 109:17-19. Those that were out of the reach of his cruelty he let fly at with his curses, which were impotent and ridiculous; but they shall return upon him. He delighted not in blessing; he took no pleasure in wishing well to others, nor in seeing others do well; he would give nobody a good word or a good wish, much less would he do any body a good turn; and so let all good be far from him. He clothed himself with cursing; he was proud of it as an ornament that he could frighten all about him with the curses he was liberal of; he confided in it as armour, which would secure him from the insults of those he feared. And let him have enough of it. Was he fond of cursing? Let God's curse come into his bowels like water and swell him as with a dropsy, and let it soak like oil into his bones. The word of the curse is quick and powerful, and divides between the joints and the marrow; it works powerfully and effectually; it fastens on the soul; it is a piercing thing, and there is no antidote against it. Let is compass him on every side as a garment, Psa 109:19. Let God's cursing him be his shame, as his cursing his neighbour was his pride; let it cleave to him as a girdle, and let him never be able to get clear of it. Let it be to him like the waters of jealousy, which caused the belly to swell and the thigh to rot. This points at the utter ruin of Judas, and the spiritual judgments which fell on the Jews for crucifying Christ. The psalmist concludes his imprecations with a terrible Amen, which signifies not only, "I wish it may be so,"but "I know it shall be so." Let this be the reward of my adversaries from the Lord, Psa 109:20. And this will be the reward of all the adversaries of the Lord Jesus; his enemies that will not have him to reign over them shall be brought forth and slain before him. And he will one day recompense tribulation to those that trouble his people.

Matthew Henry: Psa 109:21-31

David, having denounced God's wrath against his enemies, here takes God's comforts to himself, but in a very humble manner, and without boasting.

I. He pours out his complaint before God concerning the low condition he was in, which, probably, gave advantage to his enemies to insult over him: " I am poor and needy, and therefore a proper object of pity, and one that needs and craves thy help."1. He was troubled in mind (Psa 109:22): My heart is wounded within me, not only broken with outward troubles, which sometimes prostrate and sink the spirits, but wounded with a sense of guilt; and a wounded spirit who can bear? who can heal? 2. He apprehended himself drawing near to his end: I am gone like the shadow when it declines, as good as gone already. Man's life, at best, is like a shadow; sometimes it is like the evening shadow, the presage of night approaching, like the shadow when it declines. 3. He was unsettled, tossed up and down like the locust, his mind fluctuating and unsteady, still putting him upon new counsels, his outward condition far from any fixation, but still upon the remove, hunted like a partridge on the mountains. 4. His body was wasted, and almost worn away (Psa 109:24): My knees are weak through fasting, either forced fasting (for want of food when he was persecuted, or for want of appetite when he was sick) or voluntary fasting, when he chastened his soul either for sin or affliction, his own or other's, Psa 35:13; Psa 69:10. " My flesh fails of fatness; that is, it has lost the fatness it had, so that I have become a skeleton, nothing but skin and bones."But it is better to have this leanness in the body, while the soul prospers and is in health, than, like Israel, to have leanness sent into the soul, while the body is feasted. 5. He was ridiculed and reproached by his enemies (Psa 109:25); his devotions and his afflictions they made the matter of their laughter, and, upon both those accounts, God's people have been exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that were at ease. In all this David was a type of Christ, who in his humiliation was thus wounded, thus weakened, thus reproached; he was also a type of the church, which is often afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted.

II. He prays for mercy for himself. In general (Psa 109:21): " Do thou for me, O God the Lord! appear for me, act for me."If God be for us, he will do for us, will do more abundantly for us than we are able either to ask or think. He does not prescribe to God what he should do for him, but refers himself to his wisdom: "Lord, do for me what seems good in thy eyes. Do that which thou knowest will be for me, really for me, in the issue for me, though for the present it may seem to make against me."More particularly, he prays (Psa 109:26): " Help me, O Lord my God! O save me! Help me under my trouble, save me out of my trouble; save me from sin, help me to do my duty."He prays (Psa 109:28), Though they curse, bless thou. Here (1.) He despises the causeless curses of his enemies: Let them curse. He said of Shimei, So let him curse. They can but show their malice; they can do him no more mischief than the bird by wandering or the swallow by flying, Pro 26:2. He values the blessing of God as sufficient to counterbalance their curses: Bless thou, and then it is no matter though they curse. If God bless us, we need not care who curses us; for how can they curse those whom God has not cursed, nay, whom he has blessed? Num 23:8. Men's curses are impotent; God's blessings are omnipotent; and those whom we unjustly curse may in faith expect and pray for God's blessing, his special blessing. When the Pharisees cast out the poor man for his confessing Christ, Christ found him, Joh 9:35. When men without cause say all the ill they can of us, and wish all the ills they can to us, we may with comfort lift up our heart to God in this petition: Let them curse, but bless thou. He prays (Psa 109:28), Let thy servant rejoice. Those that know how to value God's blessing, let them but be sure of it, and they will be glad of it.

III. He prays that his enemies might be ashamed (Psa 109:28), clothed with shame (Psa 109:29), that they might cover themselves with their own confusion, that they might be left to themselves, to do that which would expose them and manifest their folly before all men, or rather that they might be disappointed in their designs and enterprises against David, and thereby might be filled with shame, as the adversaries of the Jews were, Neh 6:16. Nay, in this he prays that they might be brought to repentance, which is the chief thing we should beg of God for our enemies. Sinners indeed bring shame upon themselves, but they are true penitents that take shame to themselves and cover themselves with their own confusion.

IV. He pleads God's glory, the honour of his name: - Do for me, for thy name's sake (Psa 109:21), especially the honour of his goodness, by which he has proclaimed his name: " Deliver me, because thy mercy is good; it is what thou thyself dost delight in, and it is what I do depend upon. Save me, not according to my merit, for I have none to pretend to, but according to thy mercy; let that be the fountain, the reason, the measure, of my salvation."

Lastly, He concludes the psalm with joy, the joy of faith, joy in assurance that his present conflicts would end in triumphs. 1. He promises God that he will praise him (Psa 109:30): " I will greatly praise the Lord, not only with my heart, but with my mouth; I will praise him, not in secret only, but among the multitude. "2. He promises himself that he shall have cause to praise God (Psa 109:31): He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, night to him, a present help; he shall stand at his right hand as his patron and advocate to plead his cause against his accusers and to bring him off, to save him from those that condemn his soul and would execute their sentence if they could. God was David's protector in his sufferings, and was present also with the Lord Jesus in his, stood at his right hand, so that he was not moved (Psa 16:8), saved his soul from those that pretended to be the judges of it, and received it into his own hands. Let all those that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him.

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 109:1-5

A sign for help and complaints of ungrateful persecutors form the beginning of the Psalm. "God of my praise"is equivalent to God, who art my praise, Jer 17:14, cf. Deu 10:21. The God whom the Psalmist has hitherto had reason to praise will also now show Himself to him as worthy to be praised. Upon this faith he bases the prayer: be not silent (Psa 28:1; Psa 35:22)! A mouth such as belongs to the "wicked,"a mouth out of which comes "deceit,"have they opened against him; they have spoken with him a tongue (accusative, vid., on Psa 64:6), i.e., a language, of falsehood. דּברי of things and utterances as in Psa 35:20. It would be capricious to take the suffix of אהבתי in Psa 109:4 as genit. object. (love which they owe me), and in Psa 109:5 as genit. subject .; from Psa 38:21 it may be seen that the love which he has shown to them is also meant in Psa 109:4. The assertion that he is "prayer"is intended to say that he, repudiating all revenges of himself, takes refuge in God in prayer and commits his cause into His hands. They have loaded him with evil for good, and hatred for the love he has shown to them. Twice he lays emphasis on the fact that it is love which they have requited to him with its opposite. Perfects alternate with aorists: it is no enmity of yesterday; the imprecations that follow presuppose an inflexible obduracy on the side of the enemies.

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 109:6-10

The writer now turns to one among the many, and in the angry zealous fervour of despised love calls down God's judgment upon him. To call down a higher power, more particularly for punishment, upon any one is expressed by על ( הפקיד ) פּקד , Jer 15:3; Lev 26:16. The tormentor of innocence shall find a superior executor who will bring him before the tribunal (which is expressed in Latin by legis actio per manus injectionem ). The judgment scene in Psa 109:6 , Psa 109:7 shows that this is what is intended in Psa 109:6 : At the right hand is the place of the accuser, who in this instance will not rest before the damnatus es has been pronounced. He is called שׂטן , which is not to be understood here after 1Sa 29:4; 2Sa 19:22, but after Zec 3:1; 1Ch 21:1, if not directly of Satan, still of a superhuman (cf. Num 22:22) being which opposes him, by appearing before God as his κατήγωρ ; for according to Psa 109:7 the שׂטן is to be thought of as accuser, and according to Psa 109:7 God as Judge. רשׁע has the sense of reus , and יצא refers to the publication of the sentence. Psa 109:7 wishes that his prayer, viz., that by which he would wish to avert the divine sentence of condemnation, may become לחטאה , not: a missing of the mark, i.e., ineffectual (Thenius), but, according to the usual signification of the word: a sin, viz., because it proceeds from despair, not from true penitence. In Psa 109:8 the incorrigible one is wished an untimely death ( מעטּים as in one other instance, only, Ecc 5:1) and the loss of his office. The lxx renders: τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν αὐτοῦ λάβοι ἕτερος . פּקדּה really signifies the office of overseer, oversight, office, and the one individual must have held a prominent position among the enemies of the psalmist. Having died off from this position before his time, he shall leave behind him a family deeply reduced in circumstances, whose former dwelling - place-he was therefore wealthy - becomes "ruins."His children wander up and down far from these ruins ( מן as e.g., in Jdg 5:11; Job 28:4) and beg ( דּרשׁ , like προσαιτεῖν ἐπαιτεῖν , Sir. 40:28 = לחם בּקּשׁ , Psa 37:25). Instead of ודרשׁוּ the reading ודרשׁוּ is also found. A Poel is now and then formed from the strong verbs also,

(Note: In connection with the strong verb it frequently represents the Piel which does not occur, as with דּרשׁ , לשׁן , שׁפט , or even represents the Piel which, as in the case of שׁרשׁ , is already made use of in another signification ( Piel , to root out; Poel , to take root).)

in the inflexion of which the Cholem is sometimes shortened to Kametz chatuph ; vid., the forms of לשׁן , to slander, in Psa 101:5, תּאר , to sketch, mark out in outline, Isa 44:13, cf. also Job 20:26 ( תּאכלהוּ ) and Isa 62:9 (according to the reading מאספיו ). To read the Kametz in these instances as ā , and to regard these forms as resolved Piels , is, in connection with the absence of the Metheg , contrary to the meaning of the pointing; on purpose to guard against this way of reading it, correct codices have ודרשׁוּ (cf. Psa 69:19), which Baer has adopted.

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 109:11-15

The Piel נקּשׁ properly signifies to catch in snares; here, like the Arabic Arab. nqš , II, IV, corresponding to the Latin obligare (as referring to the creditor's right of claim); nosheh is the name of the creditor as he who gives time for payment, gives credit (vid., Isa 24:2). In Psa 109:12 משׁך חסד , to draw out mercy, is equivalent to causing it to continue and last, Psa 36:11, cf. Jer 31:3. אחריתו , Psa 109:13 , does not signify his future, but as Psa 109:13 (cf. Psa 37:38) shows: his posterity. יהי להכרית is not merely exscindatur , but exscindenda sit (Eze 30:16, cf. Jos 2:6), just as in other instances חיה ל corresponds to the active fut. periphrasticum , e.g., Gen 15:12; Isa 37:26. With reference to ימּח instead of ימּח (contracted from ימּחה ), vid., Ges. §75, rem. 8. A Jewish acrostic interpretation of the name ישׁוּ runs: ימּח שׁמו וזכרו . This curse shall overtake the family of the υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας . All the sins of his parents and ancestors shall remain indelible above before God the Judge, and here below the race, equally guilty, shall be rooted out even to its memory, i.e., to the last trace of it.

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 109:16-20

He whom he persecuted with a thirst for blood, was, apart from this, a great sufferer, bowed down and poor and נכאה לבב , of terrified, confounded heart. lxx κατανενυγμένον (Jerome, compunctum ); but the stem-word is not נכא ( נכה ), root נך , but כּאה , Syriac bā'ā' , cogn. כּהה , to cause to come near, to meet. The verb, and more especially in Niph ., is proved to be Hebrew by Dan 11:30. Such an one who without anything else is of a terrified heart, inasmuch as he has been made to feel the wrath of God most keenly, this man has persecuted with a deadly hatred. He had experienced kindness ( חסד ) in a high degree, but he blotted out of his memory that which he had experienced, not for an instant imagining that he too on his part had to exercise חסד . The Poel מותת instead of המית points to the agonizing death (Isa 53:9, cf. Eze 28:10 מותי ) to which he exposes God's anointed. The fate of the shedder of blood is not expressed after the manner of a wish in Psa 109:16-18, but in the historical form, as being the result that followed of inward necessity from the matter of fact of the course which he had himself determined upon. The verb בּוא seq. acc . signifies to surprise, suddenly attack any one, as in Isa 41:25. The three figures in Psa 109:18 are climactic: he has clothed himself in cursing, he has drunk it in like water (Job 15:16; Job 34:7), it has penetrated even to the marrow of his bones, like the oily preparations which are rubbed in and penetrate to the bones.n In Psa 109:19 the emphasis rests upon יעטּה and upon תּמיד . The summarizing Psa 109:20 is the close of a strophe. פּעלּה , an earned reward, here punishment incurred, is especially frequent in Isa 40:1, e.g., Psa 49:4; Psa 40:10; it also occurs once even in the Tôra, Lev 19:13. Those who answer the loving acts of the righteous with such malevolence in word and in deed commit a satanic sin for which there is no forgiveness. The curse is the fruit of their own choice and deed. Arnobius: Nota ex arbitrio evenisse ut nollet, propter haeresim, quae dicit Deum alios praedestinasse ad benedictionem, alios ad maledictionem .

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 109:21-25

The thunder and lightning are now as it were followed by a shower of tears of deep sorrowful complaint. Ps 109 here just as strikingly accords with Ps 69, as Ps 69 does with Ps 22 in the last strophe but one. The twofold name Jahve Adonaj (vid., Symbolae , p. 16) corresponds to the deep-breathed complaint. עשׂה אתּי , deal with me, i.e., succouring me, does not greatly differ from לי in 1Sa 14:6. The confirmation, Psa 109:21 , runs like Psa 69:17 : Thy loving-kindness is טּוב , absolutely good, the ground of everything that is good and the end of all evil. Hitzig conjectures, as in Psa 69:17, חסדך כּטוב , "according to the goodness of Thy loving-kindness;"but this formula is without example: "for Thy loving-kindness is good"is a statement of the motive placed first and corresponding to the "for thy Name's sake." In Psa 109:22 (a variation of Psa 55:5) חלל , not חלל , is traditional; this חלל , as being verb. denom. from חלל , signifies to be pierced, and is therefore equivalent to חולל (cf. Luk 2:35). The metaphor of the shadow in Psa 109:23 is as in Psa 102:12. When the day declines, the shadow lengthens, it becomes longer and longer (Virgil, majoresque cadunt altis de montibus umbrae ), till it vanishes in the universal darkness. Thus does the life of the sufferer pass away. The poet intentionally uses the Niph . נהלכתּי (another reading is נהלכתּי ); it is a power rushing upon him from without that drives him away thus after the manner of a shadow into the night. The locust or grasshopper (apart from the plague of the locusts) is proverbial as being a defenceless, inoffensive little creature that is soon driven away, Job 39:20. ננער , to be shaken out or off (cf. Arabic na‛ûra , a water-wheel that fills its clay-vessels in the river and empties them out above, and הנּער , Zec 11:16, where Hitzig wishes to read הנּער , dispulsio = dispulsi ). The fasting in Psa 109:24 is the result of the loathing of all food which sets in with deep grief. כּחשׁ משּׁמן signifies to waste away so that there is no more fat left.

(Note: The verbal group כחשׁ , כחד , Arab. ḥajda , kaḥuṭa , etc. has the primary signification of withdrawal and taking away or decrease; to deny is the same as to withdraw from agreement, and he becomes thin from whom the fat withdraws, goes away. Saadia compares on this passage ( פרה ) בהמה כחושׁה , a lean cow, Berachoth 32 a . In like manner Targum II renders Gen 41:27 תּורתא כהישׁתא , the lean kine.)

In Psa 109:25 אני is designedly rendered prominent: in this the form of his affliction he is the butt of their reproaching, and they shake their heads doubtfully, looking upon him as one who is punished of God beyond all hope, and giving him up for lost. It is to be interpreted thus after Psa 69:11.

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 109:26-31

The cry for help is renewed in the closing strophe, and the Psalm draws to a close very similarly to Ps 69 and Ps 22, with a joyful prospect of the end of the affliction. In Psa 109:27 the hand of God stands in contrast to accident, the work of men, and his own efforts. All and each one will undeniably perceive, when God at length interposes, that it is His hand which here does that which was impossible in the eyes of men, and that it is His work which has been accomplished in this affliction and in the issue of it. He blesses him whom men curse: they arise without attaining their object, whereas His servant can rejoice in the end of his affliction. The futures in Psa 109:29 are not now again imprecations, but an expression of believingly confident hope. In correct texts כּמעיל has Mem raphatum . The "many"are the "congregation"(vid., Psa 22:23). In the case of the marvellous deliverance of this sufferer the congregation or church has the pledge of its own deliverance, and a bright mirror of the loving-kindness of its God. The sum of the praise and thanksgiving follows in Psa 109:31, where כּי signifies quod , and is therefore allied to the ὅτι recitativum (cf. Psa 22:25). The three Good Friday Psalms all sum up the comfort that springs from David's affliction for all suffering ones in just such a pithy sentence (Psa 22:25; Psa 69:34). Jahve comes forward at the right hand of the poor, contending for him (cf. Psa 110:5), to save (him) from those who judge (Psa 37:33), i.e., condemn, his soul. The contrast between this closing thought and Psa 109:6. is unmistakeable. At the right hand of the tormentor stands Satan as an accuser, at the right hand of the tormented one stands God as his vindicator; he who delivered him over to human judges is condemned, and he who was delivered up is "taken away out of distress and from judgment"(Isa 53:8) by the Judge of the judges, in order that, as we now hear in the following Psalm, he may sit at the right hand of the heavenly King. Ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι ... ἀνελήμφθη ἐν δόξῃ ! (1Ti 3:16).

Constable: Psa 107:1--150:6

V. Book 5: chs. 107--150

There are 44 psalms in this section of the Psalter. David composed 15 of these (108-110; 122; 124; 131; 133; 138-145), Solomon wrote one (127), and the remaining 28 are anonymous. Psalms 113-118 compose the so-called Egyptian Hallel, which the Jews used in their Passover (cf. Mark 14:26). Fifteen are Songs of Ascent (120-134), and five are Hallel or Hallelujah psalms (146-150).

Constable: Psa 109:1-31

Psalm 109

This is one of the imprecatory psalms in which the writer called on God to avenge his enemies.

Constable: Psa 109:1-5

1. Lament over enemies 109:1-5

David asked God to respond to his prayer for vindication. He had shown love to an unidentified group of people, but they had returned hatred, lying, and evil. He did not avenge their injustice but pleaded with God to do so.

Constable: Psa 109:6-20

2. Imprecations on foes 109:6-20

109:6-15 The psalmist prayed that God would do several specific things to avenge him. He asked God to return what his enemy was doing to him back on himself. He wanted a wicked man to oppose and accuse him. He wanted God to judge his enemy guilty and to put him to death. He also asked that God punish his wife and children for his wickedness. In the future he hoped no one would remember him and that he would have no descendents.

It seems inappropriate for David to ask God to execute children for the sins of their fathers since God specifically forbade this in the Mosaic Law (Deut. 26:14). Perhaps David prayed contrary to God's will allowing his hatred to get the better of him. This seems unlikely since God preserved his prayer in the Psalter. Even though the Bible records many things that it does not condone there is nothing in this text that would suggest that David was not praying in the will of God. Another explanation is that he was praying in hyperbole. In other words, he did not really mean what he was saying but used extreme language to communicate his strong feelings. However, he did not just make one statement about his enemy's wife and children but developed this desire in considerable detail. This seems to indicate that he meant what he said. I think the best explanation is that David's concern in these requests was his enemy rather than his enemy's wife and children. He said what he did as a punishment on his enemy, not because his hatred of his enemy extended to his wife and children. David seems to have been anticipating various consequences that his enemy would experience because of God's judgment.¹⁷⁴

"One might think the punishment should be confined to the individual and that his family should not have to suffer for his crimes. However, in ancient Semitic thought a man and his offspring were inseparably bound together so that the actions of the former could influence the destiny of the latter. Of course, one sees this principle at work in the world every day and, not surprisingly, it permeates the Bible as well."¹⁷⁵

109:16-20 Here David gave reasons for his preceding requests. His enemy had practiced all the things David had asked God to do to him. He mercilessly persecuted the needy and the afflicted. He loved to curse other people rather than blessing them. Therefore the psalmist asked God to clothe him with cursing as with a garment and to make it as a belt that surrounded him always.

Sometimes David spoke of his enemy and sometimes of his enemies in this psalm. Evidently more than one person was in his mind. He may have spoken of an enemy in the singular when he thought of one of his enemies, perhaps the most hostile one. On the other hand he may have used the singular to personify all his enemies.

Constable: Psa 109:21-31

3. Request for help 109:21-31

109:21-25 David asked the Lord to deal with him in harmony with His loyal love for the sake of God's reputation. David had sought to follow the Lord faithfully, and God had promised to bless people who did that. However, David was not experiencing God's blessing. This made other people question God's justice and faithfulness. If God would again bless David and curse his enemy, this would show onlookers that God's promises are trustworthy. In these verses David described how he felt in his downtrodden condition.

The Israelites usually practiced fasting (v. 24) for spiritual reasons rather than for physical reasons such as losing weight. They went without food and sometimes drink temporarily to spend that time in more important activity, specifically seeking God in prayer. Therefore we should probably understand David's reference to fasting as a reference to prayer. He had prayed earnestly about the situation this psalm reflects. His extended prayer and fasting had made him physically weak.

The people who reproached David (v. 25) were evidently his enemies. These are the other people in view throughout the psalm.

109:26-31 David called on Yahweh to save him from the distress in which he found himself in a way that would teach his enemies that God had delivered him. This would vindicate David and all he stood for in their sight. Again he asked God to shame his accusers and thereby signal divine disapproval of their opposition to God's righteous servant. David concluded with a confident assertion that God would indeed vindicate him. This would result in the psalmist thanking and praising the Lord.

Believers can pray for the vindication of righteousness with good precedent in the psalms. With the light of later revelation we understand better than David did that God will not always vindicate the godly in this life, but He will do so eventually (Deut. 32:35; Rom. 12:19; et al.; cf. Acts 17:30-31; Rev. 7:17; 21:4). In David's day and in ours God normally vindicates the righteous before they die, but His decision to postpone vindication often makes it appear that He is unjust (cf. Job). David's "bottom line" concern in this psalm was the vindication of God Himself (v. 31), but he also wanted relief from his oppressors.¹⁷⁶

Commentary -- Other

Critics Ask: Psa 109:1

PSALM 109:1 ff—How can the God of love in the NT be reconciled with the vengeful God of these cursing Psalms?

PROBLEM: This psalm, like many others in the OT (e.g., Pss. 35 ; 69 ), pronounces curses on one’s enemies. Thus they are called imprecatory (cursing) psalms. David says, “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow” ( 109:9 ). By contrast, Jesus said, “Love your enemies … and pray for those who … persecute you” ( Matt. 5:44 ). How can the God of vengeance of the OT be the same as the God of love of the NT ( 1 John 4:16 )?

SOLUTION: Several important factors must be kept in mind in understanding these imprecatory or so-called cursing psalms.

First, the judgment called for is based on divine justice and not on human grudges. David said clearly of his enemies in this psalm, “they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love” (v. 5 ). While David did pray this imprecation (curse) on his enemies, he nonetheless loved them and committed them to the justice of God for a due reward for their wicked deeds. David’s action in sparing Saul’s life is vivid proof that revenge was not a motivation behind this psalm. In spite of the fact that Saul stalked David’s life, David forgave Saul and even spared his life (cf. 1 Sam. 24 ; 26 ).

Second, judgment in these psalms is expressed in terms of the culture of the day. Since being fatherless or a widow was considered a tragedy, the curse is expressed in these commonly understood categories.

Third, since the Hebrew culture made no sharp distinction between the sinner and his sin, the judgment is expressed in personal terms rather than abstractly. Furthermore, since the Hebrew family was a solidarity, the whole family was saved (cf. Noah, Gen. 7-8 ) or judged together (cf. Achan, Josh. 7:24 ).

Fourth, the phenomenon of imprecation is not unique to the OT. Jesus urged His disciples to curse cities that did not receive the Gospel ( Matt. 10:14 ). Jesus Himself called down judgment on Bethsaida and Capernaum in Matthew 11:21-24 . Paul declared anathema any who did not love the Lord Jesus ( 1 Cor. 16:22 ). Even the saints in heaven cried out to God for vengeance on those who martyred believers ( Rev. 6:9-10 ).

Fifth, imprecations are not a primitive or purely OT phenomenon. Justice executed on evil is just as much a part of God, as is blessing on the righteous. Both are true of God in the OT as well as in the NT. In fact, God is mentioned as being loving more often in the OT than in the NT.

Sixth, because the OT emphasis was on earthly reward, connected with family, prosperity, and the land, the OT curses were expressed in these terms. With the NT revelation expressed more in terms of eternal destiny, there was less need to express imprecations in these earthly terms.

Even in these OT imprecations one can see an anticipation of Christ. God has committed all judgment to the Son ( John 5:22 ). So those who long for justice are not only aspiring to His righteous kingdom, but can wait patiently for Him who comes quickly to execute it justly ( Rev. 22:12 ).   

Evidence: Psa 109:1-4

When the world turns against you because of your faith, and you find yourself in the valley of discouragement, climb up onto the high place of prayer.

Evidence: Psa 109:8

This is a direct reference to Judas Iscariot. See Act 1:20 .

Evidence: Psa 109:15

QUESTIONS & OBJECTIONS

" God said He would blot out all remembrance of Amalek. The Bible itself disproves this statement by mentioning Amalek to this day."

In Exo 17:14 ; God told Moses to " write this for a memorial in a book ..." Moses did that and God preserved the Book for 5,000 years, so skeptics would know that God keeps every promise He makes. The phrase " I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven" means that he will blot them out as a nation from the earth. There are no descendants of the Amalekites on the earth. They don’t exist.

Introduction / Outline

JFB: Psalms (Book Introduction)

The Hebrew title of this book is Tehilim ("praises" or "hymns"), for a leading feature in its contents is praise, though the word occurs in the title of only one Psalm (the hundred forty-fifth). The Greek title (in the Septuagint, a translation made two hundred years before Christ) is psalmoi, whence our word "Psalms." This corresponds to the Hebrew word mizmoi by which sixty-five Psalms are designated in their inscriptions, and which the Syriac, a language like the Hebrew, uses for the whole book. It means, as does also the Greek name, an ode, or song, whose singing is accompanied by an instrument, particularly the harp (compare 1Ch 16:4-8; 2Ch 5:12-13). To some Psalms, the Hebrew word (shir) "a song," is prefixed. Paul seems to allude to all these terms in Eph 5:19, "singing . . . in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs."

TITLES.--To more than a hundred Psalms are prefixed inscriptions, which give one or more (and in one case, [Psalm 60], all) of these particulars: the direction to the musician, the name of the author or the instrument, the style of the music or of the poetry, the subject or occasion. The authority of these inscriptions has been disputed by some writers. They say that the earliest translators, as the Greek and Syriac, evince a disregard for their authority, by variations from a proper translation of some, altering others, and, in several instances, supplying titles to Psalms which, in Hebrew, had none. It is also alleged that the subject of a Psalm, as given in the title, is often inconsistent with its contents. But those translators have also varied from a right translation of many passages in the Bible, which all agree to be of good authority; and the alleged inconsistency may be shown, on more accurate investigation, not to exist. The admitted antiquity of these inscriptions, on the other hand, and even their obscurity, raise a presumption in their favor, while such prefaces to a composition accord with the usages of that age and part of the world (compare Isa 38:9).

"The Chief Musician" was the superintendent of the music (compare "to oversee," 1Ch 15:21, Margin). "To" prefixed to this, means, "pertaining to" in his official character. This inscription is found in fifty-three Psalms and is attached to Habakkuk's prayer (Hab. 3:1-19). The same Hebrew preposition is prefixed to the name of the author and translated "of," as "a Psalm of David," "of Asaph," except that to "the sons of Korah," it is translated "for," which is evidently wrong, as the usual direction, "to the chief musician," is given, and no other authorship intimated. On the apparent exception to this last remark, see below, and see on Psa 88:1, title. The explanations of other particulars in the titles will be given as they occur.

AUTHORS.--This book is often called "The Psalms of David," he being the only author mentioned in the New Testament (Luk 20:42) and his name appearing in more titles than that of any other writer. Besides about one-half of the Psalms in which it thus appears, Psalms 2 and 95 are ascribed to him (Act 4:25 and Heb 4:7). He was probably the author of many others which appear without a name. He used great efforts to beautify the worship of the sanctuary. Among the two hundred eighty-eight Levites he appointed for singing and performing instrumental music, we find mentioned the "sons of Korah" (1Ch 9:19); including Heman (1Ch 6:33-38); and also Asaph (1Ch 6:39-44); and Ethan (1Ch 15:17-19). God was doubtless pleased to endow these men with the inspiration of His Spirit, so that they used those poetic talents which their connection with the kindred art of music had led them to cultivate, in the production of compositions like those of their king and patron. To Asaph are ascribed twelve Psalms; to the sons of Korah, eleven, including the eighty-eighth, which is also ascribed to Heman, that being the only instance in which the name of the "son" (or descendant) is mentioned; and to Ethan, one. Solomon's name appears before the seventy-second and hundred twenty-seventh; and that of Moses before the ninetieth. Special questions respecting authorship will be explained as they arise.

CONTENTS.--As the book contains one hundred fifty independent compositions, it is not susceptible of any logical analysis. The Jews having divided it into five books, corresponding to the Five Books of Moses (First, Psalms 1-42; Second, Psalms 43-72; Third, Psalms 73-89; Fourth, Psalms 90-106; Fifth, Psalms 107-150), many attempts have been made to discover, in this division, some critical or practical value, but in vain. Sundry efforts have been made to classify the Psalms by subject. Angus' Bible Hand Book is perhaps the most useful, and is appended.

Still the Psalms have a form and character peculiar to themselves; and with individual diversities of style and subject, they all assimilate to that form, and together constitute a consistent system of moral truth. They are all poetical, and of that peculiar parallelism (see Introduction to the Poetical Books,) which distinguished Hebrew poetry. They are all lyrical, or songs adapted to musical instruments, and all religious lyrics, or such as were designed to be used in the sanctuary worship.

The distinguishing feature of the Psalms is their devotional character. Whether their matter be didactic, historical, prophetical, or practical, it is made the ground or subject of prayer, or praise, or both. The doctrines of theology and precepts of pure morality are here inculcated. God's nature, attributes, perfections, and works of creation, providence, and grace, are unfolded. In the sublimest conceptions of the most exalted verse, His glorious supremacy over the principalities of heaven, earth, and hell, and His holy, wise, and powerful control of all material and immaterial agencies, are celebrated. The great covenant of grace resting on the fundamental promise of a Redeemer, both alike the provisions of God's exhaustless mercy, is set forth in respect of the doctrines of regeneration by the Spirit, forgiveness of sins, repentance toward God, and faith toward Jesus Christ, while its glorious results, involving the salvation of men "from the ends of the earth" [Act 13:47], are proclaimed in believing, prophetic prayer and thankful praise. The personal history of the authors, and especially David's in its spiritual aspects, is that of God's people generally. Christian biography is edifying only as it is truth illustrated in experience, such as God's Word and Spirit produce. It may be factitious in origin and of doubtful authenticity. But here the experience of the truly pious is detailed, under divine influence, and "in words which the Holy Ghost" taught [1Co 2:13]. The whole inner life of the pious man is laid open, and Christians of all ages have here the temptations, conflicts, perplexities, doubts, fears, penitent moanings, and overwhelming griefs on the one hand, and the joy and hope of pardoning mercy, the victory over the seductions of false-hearted flatterers, and deliverance from the power of Satan on the other, with which to compare their own spiritual exercises. Here, too, are the fruits of that sovereign mercy, so often sought in earnest prayer, and when found, so often sung in rapturous joy, exhibited by patience in adversity, moderation in prosperity, zeal for God's glory, love for man, justice to the oppressed, holy contempt for the proud, magnanimity towards enemies, faithfulness towards friends, delight in the prosperity of Zion, and believing prayer for her enlargement and perpetuity.

The historical summaries of the Psalms are richly instructive. God's choice of the patriarchs, the sufferings of the Israelites in Egypt, their exodus, temptations of God, rebellions and calamities in the wilderness, settlement in Canaan, backslidings and reformations, furnish illustrations of God's providential government of His people, individually and collectively, tending to exalt His adorable grace and abase human pride. But the promises and prophecies connected with these summaries, and elsewhere presented in the Psalms, have a far wider reach, exhibiting the relations of the book to the great theme of promise and prophecy:

THE MESSIAH AND HIS KINGDOM.--David was God's chosen servant to rule His people, as the head at once of the State and the Church, the lineal ancestor, "according to the flesh" [Act 2:30; Rom 1:3], of His adorable Son, and His type, in His official relations, both in suffering and in triumph. Generally, David's trials by the ungodly depicted the trials of Christ, and his final success the success of Christ's kingdom. Typically, he uses language describing his feelings, which only finds its full meaning in the feelings of Christ. As such it is quoted and applied in the New Testament. And further, in view of the great promise (2Sa 7:12-16) to him and his seed, to which such frequent reference is made in the Psalms, David was inspired to know, that though his earthly kingdom should perish, his spiritual would ever endure, in the power, beneficence, and glory of Christ's. In repeating and amplifying that promise, he speaks not only as a type, but "being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne," he "foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. His incarnation, humiliating sorrows, persecution, and cruel death are disclosed in the plaintive cries of a despairing sufferer; and His resurrection and ascension, His eternal priesthood, His royal dignity, His prophetical office, the purchase and bestowal of the gifts of the Spirit, the conversion of the nations, the establishment, increase, and perpetuity of the Church, the end of time, and the blessedness of the righteous who acknowledge, and the ruin of the wicked who reject this King in Zion, are predicted in the language of assured confidence and joy." While these great themes have supplied the people of God with a popular theology and a guide in religious experience and Christian morality, clothed in the language of devotion, they have provided an inspired liturgy in which the pious, of all creeds and sects, have, for nearly three thousand years, poured out their prayers and praises. The pious Jew, before the coming of Christ, mourned over the adversity, or celebrated the future glories, of Zion, in the words of her ancient king. Our Saviour, with His disciples, sang one of these hymns on the night on which He was betrayed [Mat 26:30]; He took from one the words in which He uttered the dreadful sorrows of His soul [Mat 27:46], and died with those of another on His lips [Luk 23:46]. Paul and Silas in the dungeon [Act 16:25], primitive Christians in their covert places of worship, or the costly churches of a later day, and the scattered and feeble Christian flocks in the prevalence of darkness and error through the Middle Ages, fed their faith and warmed their love with these consoling songs. Now, throughout the Christian world, in untold forms of version, paraphrase, and imitation, by Papists and Protestants, Prelatists and Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, Methodists--men of all lands and all creeds, in public and private worship, God is still adored in the sentiments expressed in these venerable Psalms. From the tone of sorrow and suffering which pervade their earlier portions we are gradually borne on amid alternate conflicts and triumphs, mournful complaints and awakening confidence; as we approach the close the tones of sorrow grow feebler, and those of praise wax louder and stronger--till, in the exulting strains of the last Psalm, the chorus of earth mingles with the hallelujahs of the multitude, which no man can number, in the sanctuary above.

JFB: Psalms (Outline)

• ALEPH. (Psa 119:1-8). This celebrated Psalm has several peculiarities. It is divided into twenty-two parts or stanzas, denoted by the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each stanza contains eight verses, and the first letter of each verse is that which gives name to the stanza. Its contents are mainly praises of God's Word, exhortations to its perusal, and reverence for it, prayers for its proper influence, and complaints of the wicked for despising it. There are but two verses (Psa 119:122, Psa 119:132) which do not contain some term or description of God's Word. These terms are of various derivations, but here used, for the most part, synonymously, though the use of a variety of terms seems designed, in order to express better the several aspects in which our relations to the revealed word of God are presented. The Psalm does not appear to have any relation to any special occasion or interest of the Jewish Church or nation, but was evidently "intended as a manual of pious thoughts, especially for instructing the young, and its peculiar artificial structure was probably adopted to aid the memory in retaining the language." (Psa. 119:1-176)
• BETH. (Psa 119:9-16). The whole verse may be read as a question; for,
• GIMEL. (Psa 119:17-24). Life is desirable in order to serve God; that we may do so aright, we should seek to have our eyes opened to behold His truth, and earnestly desire fully to understand it.
• DALETH. (Psa 119:25-32). Submitting ourselves in depression to God, He will revive us by His promises, and lead us to declare His mercy to others.
• HE. (Psa 119:33-40). To encourage us in prayer for divine aid in adhering to His truth, we are permitted to believe that by His help we shall succeed.
• VAU. (Psa 119:41-48). The sentiment more fully carried out. God's mercies and salvation, as revealed in His Word, provide hope of forgiveness for the past and security in a righteous course for the future.
• ZAIN. (Psa 119:49-56). Resting on the promises consoles under affliction and the tauntings of the insolent.
• CHETH. (Psa 119:57-64). Sincere desires for God's favor, penitence, and activity in a new obedience, truly evince the sincerity of those who profess to find God a portion (Num 18:20; Psa 16:5; Lam 3:24).
• TETH. (Psa 119:65-72). The reliance on promises (Psa 119:49) is strengthened by experience of past dealings according with promises, and a prayer for guidance, encouraged by sanctified affliction.
• JOD. (Psa 119:73-80). As God made, so He can best control, us. So as to Israel, he owed to God his whole internal and external existence (Deu 32:6).
• CAPH. (Psa 119:81-88). In sorrow the pious heart yearns for the comforts of God's promises (Psa 73:26; Psa 84:2).
• LAMED. (Psa 119:89-96). In all changes God's Word remains firm (1Pe 1:25). Like the heavens, it continually attests God's unfailing power and unchanging care (Psa 89:2).
• MEM. (Psa 119:97-104). This characteristic love for God's law (compare Psa 1:2) ensures increase.
• NUN. (Psa 119:105-112). Not only does the Word of God inform us of His will, but, as a light on a path in darkness, it shows us how to follow the right and avoid the wrong way. The lamp of the Word is not the sun. He would blind our eyes in our present fallen state; but we may bless God for the light shining as in a dark place, to guide us until the Sun of Righteousness shall come, and we shall be made capable of seeing Him (2Pe 1:19; Rev 22:4). The lamp is fed with the oil of the Spirit. The allusion is to the lamps and torches carried at night before an Eastern caravan.
• SAMECH. (Psa 119:113-120).
• AIN. (Psa 119:121-128). On the grounds of his integrity, desire for God's word, and covenant relation to Him, the servant of God may plead for His protecting care against the wicked, gracious guidance to the knowledge of truth, and His effective vindication of the righteous and their cause, which is also His own.
• PE. (Psa 119:129-136).
• TZADDI. (Psa 119:137-144). God's justice and faithfulness in His government aggravate the neglect of the wicked, and more excite the lively zeal of His people.
• KOPH. (Psa 119:145-152). An intelligent devotion is led by divine promises and is directed to an increase of gracious affections, arising from a contemplation of revealed truth.
• RESH. (Psa 119:153-160). Though the remembering of God's law is not meritorious, yet it evinces a filial temper and provides the pious with promises to plead, while the wicked in neglecting His law, reject God and despise His promises (compare Psa 9:13; Psa 43:1; Psa 69:18).
• SCHIN. (Psa 119:161-168). (Compare Psa 119:46, Psa 119:86).
• TAU. (Psa 119:169-176). The prayer for understanding of the truth precedes that for deliverance. The fulfilment of the first is the basis of the fulfilment of the second (Psa 90:11-17). On the terms "cry" and "supplication" (compare Psa 6:9; Psa 17:1).
• LIVING VOICES SHALL TAKE UP THE FAILING SOUNDS OF DEAD INSTRUMENTS, AND AS THEY CEASE ON EARTH, THOSE OF INTELLIGENT RANSOMED SPIRITS AND HOLY ANGELS, AS WITH THE SOUND OF MIGHTY THUNDERS, WILL PROLONG ETERNALLY THE PRAISE, SAYING: "ALLELUIA! SALVATION, AND GLORY, AND HONOR, AND POWER, UNTO THE LORD OUR GOD;" "ALLELUIA! FOR THE LORD GOD OMNIPOTENT REIGNETH." AMEN!.

TSK: Psalms (Book Introduction)

The Psalms have been the general song of the universal Church; and in their praise, all the Fathers have been unanimously eloquent. Men of all nations find in these compositions a language at once suitable to their feelings, and expressive of their highest joys and deepest sorrows, as well as of all the endlessly varied wishes and desires of their hearts. Whether the pious believer is disposed to indulge the exalted sentiments of praise and thanksgiving towards the ALMIGHTY FATHER of his being; to pour out his soul in penitence or prayer; to bewail, with tears of contrition, past offences; to magnify the goodness and mercy of GOD; to dwell with ecstacy on the divine attributes of wisdom and omnipotence; or to rejoice in the coming of the MESSIAH, the Psalms afford him the most perfect models for expressing all his feelings.

TSK: Psalms 109 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Psa 109:1, David, complaining of his slanderous enemies, under the person of Judas devotes them; Psa 109:16, He shews their sin; Psa 109:21, Complaining of his own misery, he prays for help; Psa 109:29, He promises thankfulness.

Poole: Psalms (Book Introduction)

OF PSALMS

THE ARGUMENT

The divine authority of this Book of PSALMS is so certain and evident, that it was never questioned in the church; which being fixed, it is of small moment that the penman of some of them is not now known; nor doth this any more lessen its authority, than it invalidates the decree of a prince, or an act of parliament, that it is not certain by whose pen it was drawn up. Most of them were composed by David, as is evident, both from the title of them, and from the express testimony of the New Testament concerning some of them; and that by the inspiration of God’ s Spirit, as appears both from the Divine matter and frame of them, and from 2Sa 23:1 Mat 22:43 Act 1:16 2:25 . But some of them were composed by other persons; by Moses, as Ps 90 , by Heman, and Ethan, and Asaph, as the title of the Psalms show; and by others after their times, whose names are not mentioned, as is manifest from Ps 126 Ps 127 . It is apparent that the Psalms were not written in the order in which they now lie; and they were put into this order either by Ezra, as the Hebrew doctors affirm, or by some other holy prophet or prophets. It is sufficient for us that the whole book is owned as canonical by our blessed Saviour, Luk 24:44 .

PSALM 1

Poole: Psalms 109 (Chapter Introduction)

THE ARGUMENT

It is sufficiently evident from the body of this Psalm, that it was composed by David when he was in a state of persecution, either by Saul or by Absalom; and that amongst and above all the rest of his enemies he takes very particular notice of, and breaks forth into vehement expressions of anger against one particular person which whether it were Doeg or Ahithophel is not certain, nor at all necessary to know. But as David was, and very well knew himself to be, a type of Christ, and consequently his enemies did typify or represent the enemies of Christ, and this particular adversary of his did represent some singular and eminent enemy of Christ, which though David might not, yet the Spirit of God which indited this Psalm did, know to be Judas, and accordingly directed all these bitter invectives and imprecations against him, who deserved and received far worse punishments for his monstrous wickedness than all which are here mentioned. And that he was the person principally aimed at in this Psalm, will seem very probable to him who considers David’ s mild and merciful temper even towards his enemies, which he both professed in words in this very book, as Psa 35:12,14 , and practised in deeds, as 2Sa 16:10,11 19:22,23 , and withal the severity of these imprecations, reaching not only to the persons of his enemies but to their children, who yet by the law of God were not to suffer for their parents’ sins, Deu 24:16 .

David, complaining of his false accusers, who requited him evil for good, devoteth them and their children to all misery and oblivion, Psa 109:1-15 , because of their unmercifulness and cruelty, Psa 109:16-20 ; showeth his great affliction, prayeth for deliverance, and promiseth thankfulness, Psa 109:21-31 .

Hold not thy peace do not neglect me, but take notice of my extreme danger and misery, and deliver me, which thou canst do by the speaking of one word. O God of my praise ; the author and matter of all my praises; who hast given me continual occasion to praise thee, whom I have used to praise, and will praise whilst I live; do not therefore now give me occasion to turn my praises into lamentations.

MHCC: Psalms (Book Introduction)

David was the penman of most of the psalms, but some evidently were composed by other writers, and the writers of some are doubtful. But all were written by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost; and no part of the Old Testament is more frequently quoted or referred to in the New. Every psalm either points directly to Christ, in his person, his character, and offices; or may lead the believer's thoughts to Him. And the psalms are the language of the believer's heart, whether mourning for sin, thirsting after God, or rejoicing in Him. Whether burdened with affliction, struggling with temptation, or triumphing in the hope or enjoyment of deliverance; whether admiring the Divine perfections, thanking God for his mercies, mediating on his truths, or delighting in his service; they form a Divinely appointed standard of experience, by which we may judge ourselves. Their value, in this view, is very great, and the use of them will increase with the growth of the power of true religion in the heart. By the psalmist's expressions, the Spirit helps us to pray. If we make the psalms familiar to us, whatever we have to ask at the throne of grace, by way of confession, petition, or thanksgiving, we may be assisted from thence. Whatever devout affection is working in us, holy desire or hope, sorrow or joy, we may here find words to clothe it; sound speech which cannot be condemned. In the language of this Divine book, the prayers and praises of the church have been offered up to the throne of grace from age to age.

MHCC: Psalms 109 (Chapter Introduction)

(Psa 109:1-5) David complains of his enemies.

(Psa 109:6-20) He prophesies their destruction.

(Psa 109:21-31) Prayers and praises.

Matthew Henry: Psalms (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Book of Psalms

We have now before us one of the choicest and most excellent parts of all the Old Testament; nay, so much is there in it of Christ and his gospel, as well as of God and his law, that it had been called the abstract, or summary, of both Testaments. The History of Israel, which we were long upon, let us to camps and council-boards, and there entertained and instructed us in the knowledge of God. The book of Job brought us into the schools, and treated us with profitable disputations concerning God and his providence. But this book brings us into the sanctuary, draws us off from converse with men, with the politicians, philosophers, or disputers of this world, and directs us into communion with God, by solacing and reposing our souls in him, lifting up and letting out our hearts towards him. Thus may we be in the mount with God; and we understand not our interests if we say not, It is good to be here. Let us consider,

I. The title of this book. It is called, 1. The Psalms; under that title it is referred to, Luk 24:44. The Hebrew calls it Tehillim , which properly signifies Psalms of praise, because many of them are such; but Psalms is a more general word, meaning all metrical compositions fitted to be sung, which may as well be historical, doctrinal, or supplicatory, as laudatory. Though singing be properly the voice of joy, yet the intention of songs is of a much greater latitude, to assist the memory, and both to express and to excite all the other affections as well as this of joy. The priests had a mournful muse as well as joyful ones; and the divine institution of singing psalms is thus largely intended; for we are directed not only to praise God, but to teach and admonish ourselves and one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, Col 3:16. 2. It is called the Book of Psalms; so it is quoted by St. Peter, Act 1:20. It is a collection of psalms, of all the psalms that were divinely inspired, which, though composed at several times and upon several occasions, are here put together without any reference to or dependence upon one another; thus they were preserved from being scattered and lost, and were in so much greater readiness for the service of the church. See what a good master we serve, and what pleasantness there is in wisdom's ways, when we are not only commanded to sing at our work, and have cause enough given us to do so, but have words also put in our mouths and songs prepared to our hands.

II. The author of this book. It is, no doubt, derived originally from the blessed Spirit. They are spiritual songs, words which the Holy Ghost taught. The penman of most of them was David the son of Jesse, who is therefore called the sweet psalmist of Israel, 2Sa 23:1. Some that have not his name in their titles yet are expressly ascribed to him elsewhere, as Psa 2:1-12 (Act 4:25) and Psa 96:1-13 and 105 (1 Chr. 16). One psalm is expressly said to be the prayer of Moses (Ps. 90); and that some of the psalms were penned by Asaph is intimated, 2Ch 29:30, where they are said to praise the Lord in the words of David and Asaph , who is there called a seer or prophet. Some of the psalms seem to have been penned long after, as Psa 137:1-9, at the time of the captivity in Babylon; but the far greater part of them were certainly penned by David himself, whose genius lay towards poetry and music, and who was raised up, qualified, and animated, for the establishing of the ordinance of singing psalms in the church of God, as Moses and Aaron were, in their day, for the settling of the ordinances of sacrifice; theirs is superseded, but his remains, and will to the end of time, when it shall be swallowed up in the songs of eternity. Herein David was a type of Christ, who descended from him, not from Moses, because he came to take away sacrifice (the family of Moses was soon lost and extinct), but to establish and perpetuate joy and praise; for of the family of David in Christ there shall be no end.

III. The scope of it. It is manifestly intended, 1. To assist the exercises of natural religion, and to kindle in the souls of men those devout affections which we owe to God as our Creator, owner, ruler, and benefactor. The book of Job helps to prove our first principles of the divine perfections and providence; but this helps to improve them in prayers and praises, and professions of desire towards him, dependence on him, and an entire devotedness and resignation to him. Other parts of scripture show that God is infinitely above man, and his sovereign Lord; but this shows us that he may, notwithstanding, be conversed with by us sinful worms of the earth; and there are ways in which, if it be not our own fault, we may keep up communion with him in all the various conditions of human life. 2. To advance the excellencies of revealed religion, and in the most pleasing powerful manner to recommend it to the world. There is indeed little or nothing of the ceremonial law in all the book of Psalms. Though sacrifice and offering were yet to continue many ages, yet they are here represented as things which God did not desire (Psa 40:6, Psa 51:16), as things comparatively little, and which in time were to vanish away. But the word and law of God, those parts of it which are moral and of perpetual obligation are here all along magnified and made honourable, nowhere more. And Christ, the crown and centre of revealed religion, the foundation, corner, and top-stone, of that blessed building, is here clearly spoken of in type and prophecy, his sufferings and the glory that should follow, and the kingdom that he should set up in the world, in which God's covenant with David, concerning his kingdom, was to have its accomplishment. What a high value does this book put upon the word of God, his statutes and judgments, his covenant and the great and precious promises of it; and how does it recommend them to us as our guide and stay, and our heritage for ever!

IV. The use of it. All scripture, being given by inspiration of God, is profitable to convey divine light into our understandings; but this book is of singular use with that to convey divine life and power, and a holy warmth, into our affections. There is no one book of scripture that is more helpful to the devotions of the saints than this, and it has been so in all ages of the church, ever since it was written and the several parts of it were delivered to the chief musician for the service of the church. 1. It is of use to be sung. Further than David's psalms we may go, but we need not, for hymns and spiritual songs. What the rules of the Hebrew metre were even the learned are not certain. But these psalms ought to be rendered according to the metre of every language, at least so as that they may be sung for the edification of the church. And methinks it is a great comfort to us, when we are singing David's psalms, that we are offering the very same praises to God that were offered to him in the days of David and the other godly kings of Judah. So rich, so well made, are these divine poems, that they can never be exhausted, can never be worn thread-bare. 2. It is of use to be read and opened by the ministers of Christ, as containing great and excellent truths, and rules concerning good and evil. Our Lord Jesus expounded the psalms to his disciples, the gospel psalms, and opened their understandings (for he had the key of David) to understand them, Luk 24:44. 3. It is of use to be read and meditated upon by all good people. It is a full fountain, out of which we may all be drawing water with joy. (1.) The Psalmist's experiences are of great use for our direction, caution, and encouragement. In telling us, as he often does, what passed between God and his soul, he lets us know what we may expect from God, and what he will expect, and require, and graciously accept, from us. David was a man after God's own heart, and therefore those who find themselves in some measure according to his heart have reason to hope that they are renewed by the grace of God, after the image of God, and many have much comfort in the testimony of their consciences for them that they can heartily say Amen to David's prayers and praises. (2.) Even the Psalmist's expressions too are of great use; and by them the Spirit helps our praying infirmities, because we know not what to pray for as we ought. In all our approaches to God, as well as in our first returns to God, we are directed to take with us words (Hos 14:2), these word, words which the Holy Ghost teaches. If we make David's psalms familiar to us, as we ought to do, whatever errand we have at the throne of grace, by way of confession, petition, or thanksgiving, we may thence be assisted in the delivery of it; whatever devout affection is working in us, holy desire or hope, sorrow or joy, we may there find apt words wherewith to clothe it, sound speech which cannot be condemned. It will be good to collect the most proper and lively expressions of devotion which we find here, and to methodize them, and reduce them to the several heads of prayer, that they may be the more ready to us. Or we may take sometimes one choice psalm and sometimes another, and pray it over, that is, enlarge upon each verse in our own thoughts, and offer up our meditations to God as they arise from the expressions we find there. The learned Dr. Hammond, in his preface to his paraphrase on the Psalms (sect. 29), says, " That going over a few psalms with these interpunctions of mental devotion, suggested, animated, and maintained, by the native life and vigour which is in the psalms, is much to be preferred before the saying over the whole Psalter, since nothing is more fit to be averted in religious offices than their degenerating into heartless dispirited recitations." If, as St. Austin advises, we form our spirit by the affection of the psalm, we may then be sure of acceptance with God in using the language of it. Nor is it only our devotion, and the affections of our mind, that the book of Psalms assists, teaching us how to offer praise so as to glorify God, but, it is also a directory to the actions of our lives, and teaches us how to order our conversation aright, so as that, in the end, we may see the salvation of God, Psa 50:23. The Psalms were thus serviceable to the Old Testament church, but to us Christians they may be of more use than they could be to those who lived before the coming of Christ; for, as Moses's sacrifices, so David's songs, are expounded and made more intelligible by the gospel of Christ, which lets us within the veil; so that if to David's prayers and praises we all St. Paul's prayers in his epistles, and the new songs in the Revelation, we shall be thoroughly furnished for this good work; for the scripture, perfected, makes the man of God perfect.

As to the division of this book, we need not be solicitous; there is no connexion (or very seldom) between one psalm and another, nor any reason discernable for the placing of them in the order wherein we here find them; but it seems to be ancient, for that which is now the second psalm was so in the apostles' time, Act 13:33. The vulgar Latin joins the 9th and 10th together; all popish authors quote by that, so that, thenceforward, throughout the book, their number is one short of ours; our 11 is their 10, our 119 is their 118. But they divide the 147th into two, and so make up the number of 150. Some have endeavoured to reduce the psalms to proper heads, according to the matter of them, but there is often such a variety of matter in one and the same psalm that this cannot be done with any certainty. But the seven penitential Psalms have been in a particular manner singled out by the devotions of many. They are reckoned to be Psa 6:1-10, Psa 32:1-11, 38, 51,102, Psa 130:1-8, and Psa 143:1-12. The Psalms were divided into five books, each concluding with Amen, Amen, or Hallelujah; the first ending with Psa 41:1-13, the second with Ps. 72, the third with Ps. 89, the fourth with Ps. 106, the fifth with Psa 150:1-6. Others divide them into three fifties; others into sixty parts, two for every day of the month, one for the morning, the other for the evening. Let good Christians divide them for themselves, so as may best increase their acquaintance with them, that they may have them at hand upon all occasions and may sing them in the spirit and with the understanding.

Matthew Henry: Psalms 109 (Chapter Introduction)

Whether David penned this psalm when he was persecuted by Saul, or when his son Absalom rebelled against him, or upon occasion of some other trouble that was given him, is uncertain; and whether the particular enemy he prays against was Saul, or Doeg, or Ahithophel, or some other not mentioned in the story, we cannot determine; but it is certain that in penning it he had an eye to Christ, his sufferings and his persecutors, for that imprecation (Psa 109:8) is applied to Judas, Act 1:20. The rest of the prayers here against his enemies were the expressions, not of passion, but of the Spirit of prophecy. I. He lodges a complaint in the court of heaven of the malice and base ingratitude of his enemies and with it an appeal to the righteous God (Psa 109:1-5). II. He prays against his enemies, and devotes them to destruction (Psa 109:6-20). III. He prays for himself, that God would help and succour him in his low condition (Psa 109:21-29). IV. He concludes with a joyful expectation that God would appear for him (Psa 109:30, Psa 109:31). In singing this psalm we must comfort ourselves with the believing foresight of the certain destruction of all the enemies of Christ and his church, and the certain salvation of all those that trust in God and keep close to him.

To the chief Musician. A psalm of David.

Constable: Psalms (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title

The title of this book in the Hebrew Bible is Tehillim, which means "praise songs." The title adopted by the Septuagint translators for their Greek version was Psalmoi meaning "songs to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument." This Greek word comes from the Hebrew word mizmor that occurs in the titles of 57 of the psalms. In time the Greek word psalmoi came to mean "songs of praise" without reference to stringed accompaniment. The English translators transliterated the Greek title resulting in the title "Psalms" in English Bibles.

Date and Writers

The texts of the individual psalms do not usually indicate who wrote them.¹ However some of the titles of the individual psalms do contain information about the writers.² This is the only really reliable information we have as to who composed these psalms, though the commentators have their theories.

Not all the titles contain information about authorship.³ The ones that do refer to the following writers. Moses wrote Psalm 90.⁴ David composed 73 psalms, mostly in the first two books of the Psalter (i.e., Pss. 1-72). Asaph wrote 12 (Pss. 50, 73-83). Korah's descendents were responsible for 10 (Pss. 42, 44-49, 84, 87-88). Solomon wrote one or two (127 and perhaps 72). Heman the Ezrahite wrote one (Ps. 88). Ethan the Ezrahite composed one (Ps. 89).

Of these the earliest would have been the one Moses wrote (Ps. 90) and it probably dates from about 1405 B.C. Those David composed would have originated between about 1020 and 975 B.C. Asaph was a contemporary of David so we can date his in approximately the same period. Solomon's psalm(s) seem to have been produced about 950 B.C. Korah's descendents as well as Heman and Ethan probably lived after Solomon, but exactly when we cannot identify. Since Heman and Ethan are connected with Ezra as Ezrahites it is probable that they lived and wrote after the Babylonian exile as he did.

We can date some of the psalms that do not contain information about their writers in the title, if they have a title, by their subject matter. For example, David seems to have written Psalms 2 and 33 even though his name does not occur in the superscriptions (cf. Acts 4:25). Likewise Psalms 126 and 137 must have been late compositions dating from the time the Jews returned from Babylonian exile or shortly after that.

Most of the Psalms, then, were written between 1000 and 450 B.C. The one by Moses was composed considerably earlier and a few may have been written later, but probably not much later, than 450 B.C.

There is some internal evidence in the Book of Psalms that the Jews collected the individual psalms and compiled them into groups in various stages and that this process took some time.⁵ We would expect this because some psalms date hundreds of years after others. Psalm 72:20, for example, seems to mark the end of a collection of David's psalms that antedated the Psalter we now have, but which editors incorporated into the larger work. Psalm 1 appears intended to introduce this collection and, probably later, the entire Psalter. The writer of most of the first 72 psalms (Books 1 and 2 of our modern editions) was David.⁶ Solomon (2 Chron. 5:11-14; 7:6; 9:11; Eccles. 2:8), Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20:21-22), and Jehoiada (2 Chron. 23:18) all organized temple singing and may have had a hand in compiling some of the psalms. Hezekiah (715-686 B.C.; 2 Kings 18-20; 2 Chron. 29-32), one of Judah's best kings and one who led his people in returning to Scripture, may have added to and organized part of the Psalter (cf. 2 Chron. 29:25-28, 30; 30:21; 31:2; Prov. 25:1). So may Josiah, another reforming king of Judah (640-609 B.C.; 2 Kings 22:1-23:30; 2 Chron. 34-35; cf. 2 Chron. 35:15, 25). The last two books (sections) of Psalms (chs. 90-106 and 107-150) contain more miscellaneous psalms dating from Moses to the return from exile. It seems likely that Ezra, the great renovator of postexilic Judaism, may have been responsible for adding these and perhaps putting the whole collection in its final form.

"The picture that emerges is a mixture of order and informality of arrangement, which invites but also defeats the attempt to account for every detail of its final form. There is some chronological progression, with David most in evidence in the first half, and a clear allusion to the captivity towards the close of Book V (Ps. 137). But David reappears in the next psalm (138), and by contrast, the fall of Jerusalem had been lamented as far back as Psalm 74."⁷

Each of the five books or major sections of the Psalter ends with a doxology, and Psalm 150 is a grand doxology for the whole collection. The earliest evidence of the five-fold division of the Book of Psalms comes from the Qumran scrolls, which scribes copied early in the first century A.D. Undoubtedly the Psalter was in its final form by the close of the Old Testament canon, namely by 400 B.C.

Scope

Historically the psalms cover a period of about 1000 years, from the time of Moses (c. 1400 B.C.) to the Isrealites' return from exile (c. 450 B.C.).

In terms of subject matter they deal with selected events of that millennium. They provide us with the thoughts and feelings of those who went through the experiences recorded, especially their God-directed thoughts and feelings.

"Of all the books in the Old Testament the Book of Psalms most vividly represents the faith of individuals in the Lord. The Psalms are the inspired responses of human hearts to God's revelation of Himself in law, history, and prophecy. Saints of all ages have appropriated this collection of prayers and praises in their public worship and private meditations."⁸

Genre

"One should think of this aspect of interpretation as being like the Olympics, a grand occasion made up of a variety of sports. Though it is all sport, each game is played by its own rules and has its own expectations about how to play the game. The variety of literature is the same way. It all has a message, but it conveys that message in a variety of ways and with a variety of expectations. To try to play basketball with soccer's rules will never work, though both use a ball and require foot speed. Or think of musical instruments, they all make music, but in different ways with different sounds. One cannot play the violin like a piano or drums; nor should one expect a violin to sound like either a piano or the kettledrum! In the same way, to read the poetry of the Psalms like a historical book is to miss the emotional and pictorial impact of the message, though both genres convey reality about people's experience with God. To transform the imagery and setting of the Psalter into mere theological proposition is also to take the passion and lifeblood out of its veins."⁹

Types

The messianic psalms are perhaps the most commonly known type. They predict the coming of a messiah. Franz Delitzsch broke these psalms down into five kinds. The first is the purely prophetic, which predicts that a future Davidic king would be the Lord (Ps. 110). Second, the eschatological psalms predict the coming of Messiah and the consummation of His kingdom (Pss. 96-99, et al.). Third, we have the typological-prophetic in which the writer describes his own experience but goes beyond that to describe what became true of the Messiah (e.g., Ps. 22). Fourth, there are the indirectly messianic psalms composed for a contemporary king but having ultimate fulfillment in Messiah (Pss. 2: 45; 72). Fifth, we have the typically messianic in which the writer was in some way typical of Messiah, but all he wrote in the psalm did not describe Him (e.g., Ps. 34:20; 109:8 as used in Acts 1:20).¹⁰ The following seem to be messianic psalms in whole or in part: 2 (cf. Matt. 3:17; Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5; 5:5; 7:28; 2 Pet. 1:17); 8 (Matt. 21:15-16; Heb. 2:6-9); 16 (Acts 2:25-28; 13:55); 22 (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34); 34; 40; 41; 45 (Heb. 1:8-9); 68; 69 (John 2:17; 15:25); 72; 96-99; 102; 109; 110; and 118 (Matt. 21:42).¹¹

The imprecatory psalms are thought of as a distinct type by some interpreters on the basis of their subject matter.¹² These psalms contain imprecations, or curses, on God's enemies. They have created a problem for some Christians since Jesus Christ taught His disciples to bless their enemies and not to curse them (Matt. 5:43-44; Luke 6:27-28; cf. Rom. 12:14). In the progress of revelation it was not easy for the writers of the psalms to see the details of the future distinctly. They could not feel the peace about God's ultimate establishment of justice that modern believers who know their Bibles do. Consequently when they witnessed injustice and oppression they did not usually know how God would deal with it so they called on Him to vindicate Himself immediately. With the coming of Jesus Christ and the added revelation He provided believers now have a fuller picture of how God will balance the scales of justice. It is therefore inappropriate for us to pray imprecations of the sort we find in the Old Testament. God has recorded them for our benefit, not as examples to follow in their wording but in their spirit of zeal for God's glory.¹³

What is now the most common way of classifying the psalms originated with the German scholar Hermann Gunkel at the beginning of the twentieth century.¹⁴ He was one of the founders of the form critical school of scholarship that sought to understand a given portion of Scripture by analyzing the form in which the writer composed it. Scholars then compared that form with other biblical and contemporary literature from the ancient Near Eastern countries that were Israel's neighbors, particularly Egypt and Mesopotamia. Gunkel classified the psalms into various categories or types (Germ. gattungen) by trying to identify the general situation in life (Germ. sitz im leben) that brought them into existence rather than by their content. He concluded that most of the psalms were postexilic. Many scholars have followed this form critical approach in their study of the Psalms as well as in other portions of the Old Testament.¹⁵

Most form critical scholars speculated about the origins of the various psalms and concluded that priests wrote most of them late in Israel's history. This has led many conservatives to reject form criticism completely. Nonetheless this school of interpreters has given us some helpful information, namely the various literary types of psalms that appear in the book.

Some of the more important types of psalms by literary form are the following. Individual laments are psalms by individuals calling on God for help from distress. National laments are similar but voice a corporate cry for help in view of some national situation.

"Laments outnumber every other kind of psalm in the Psalter; almost a third of the psalms belong to this category."¹⁶

Thanksgiving psalms--also called psalms of declarative praise--center on some act of deliverance God granted His people. Descriptive praise psalms offer praise to God for Himself or for His general working rather than for a specific instance of His working. The poets wrote the pilgrim psalms, also called songs of ascent, for singing by the Israelites as they made their thrice-yearly pilgrimages up to Jerusalem for the required festival observances there. Royal psalms are those in which the king of Israel is the chief character. Some event in his reign is being described such as his coronation, wedding, or going out to battle. The enthronement psalms speak of the Lord as the great king fulfilling His role in some way such as reigning or coming to judge.

Another type of psalm, based on the form in which the writer set it rather than on the subject matter, is the acrostic. In these each verse, or group of verses in the case of Psalm 119, begins with the succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The psalmists adopted this style so the Israelites could memorize and remember the psalm easily. The acrostic psalms are these: 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, and 145.¹⁷

Message¹⁸

The Book of Psalms is an inspired collection of Hebrew poems intended for use in worship. Spirit directed compilers put them in their present order for several reasons including authorship and affinity of ideas. The compilers did not organize them in the order in which the psalmist wrote them. Each psalm is the expression of one writer who responded to God in the light of his particular circumstances when he wrote. Consequently there is no argument or progression of thought as the reader makes his or her way through the book.

The subject of the Book of Psalms is worship. Worship is the act of offering to God what is due Him because of who He is. The Hebrew word translated "worship" (shachah) means to bow oneself down or to do obeisance. The psalmists used it to describe prostration before God or some angel or another human being. It pictures an attitude of submission to a superior person. This word occurs only 15 times in Psalms with God as the object, but the idea of worshipping God is present in every psalm.

In these 15 passages the psalmists referred to God as Yahweh, Elohim, or Adonai. Those worshipping Him are individuals, kings, nations, and all the earth. His temple (Israel's central sanctuary) and His holy hill (Mt. Zion) were the central places of worship. Fear, holiness, and joy are the primary attitudes prominent in this worship.

God's people throughout history have loved the Psalter. There are a number of reasons for its popularity. First, it is a collection of songs that arise out of experiences with which we can all identify. It is very difficult to find any circumstance in life that does not find expression in some psalm or another. Some arose out of prosperity, others out of adversity. Some psalms deal with holiness, and others with sinfulness. Some are laments that bewail the worst of situations whereas others are triumphant hymns of joy and thanksgiving. Some look back to the past while others look forward to the future.

The psalms are great because their writers composed them out of their most profound experiences. Great poetry arises out of great living. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt. 12:34). They are also great because the writers brought these profound experiences into God's presence. They show how people behave when they are conscious of God, the only truly realistic way to live. Therefore the permanent value of the psalms lies in their revelation of worship.

First, the Psalter reveals the person of God who is the object of worship. The primary revelation of God's character in the psalms is His names. The writers employed dozens of titles and figures of speech to describe God, but the three names of God that they used most are Yahweh, Elohim, and Adonai. When we understand these names alone we will want to worship God.

The name Yahweh captures the essential being of God. He is who He is (Exod. 3:14). This name occurs more often than any other in the psalms. Essentially it means that God is the eternally self-existent Person who becomes all that His people need. God's being is never the subject of debate in the psalms. The writers assumed His existence. As Yahweh God is always an adequate resource for whatever His people need whenever they have needs. That is because the Name Yahweh describes God in covenant relationship with His people. Translators normally render it LORD in English translations. Psalm 139 is perhaps the greatest exposition of the essential being of God, and Psalm 23 the chief revelation of His becoming all His people need.

The second great name of God in the Psalter is Elohim. Normally this Hebrew word translates as "God" in our English Bibles. It is a plural word in the Hebrew, which does not necessarily signify number but immensity. God as He reveals Himself is so infinite that no singular word can express Him adequately. "Elohim" suggests God's essential might and the fact that He is extremely powerful. God's strength is not just potential, but kinetic (i.e., in motion). It is latent, but also active. Such power elicited the awe of the psalmists. Psalm 68 is perhaps the greatest revelation of God's essential might in the Psalter, and Psalm 46 sets forth His great power at work most impressively.

The title "Adonai" (Lord in the sense of Master) does not occur frequently in the psalms, but the idea it expresses is present constantly. This title expresses the sovereignty of God, the fact that there is no one higher in authority than He. He is the King over the whole universe and the ultimate ruler over Israel. Perhaps Psalm 86 sets forth the sovereignty of God more magnificently than any other psalm.

Whenever a person, king, nation, or race conceives of God as Yahweh, Elohim, or Adonai the result is worship. We can do nothing else but prostrate ourselves before such an One. That is what the writers of these psalms did as they reflected on their experiences in the light of who God is.

The second great revelation of the Psalter is man's attitude in worship. Briefly we see man responding to the revelation of God joyfully, trustfully, and submissively. When we understand that God Himself is an adequate resource for us regardless of our needs, we worship by rejoicing. When we appreciate God's mighty power we worship Him by trusting Him. When we learn that God is sovereign we respond in worship by submitting to Him.

When we appreciate God's grace in providing all we need we rejoice. In the psalms we see joy manifesting itself in penitence and adoration. Penitence manifests joy in the following way. We have God's promises of forgiveness if we confess when we sin. Forgiveness for sin is one of God's greatest gifts to humankind. It is not something we can earn or deserve. It is a gift of God based ultimately on a work God has done for us through His Son. The penitential root attitude blossoms into adoration for God's grace. The sweetest music comes out of hearts broken by sin, hearts aware of their total bankruptcy before God. The most glorious praises spring from the lips of those who most sense the great gifts God has given them.

Trust in God's almighty power expresses itself in honesty and courage. Honesty is the internal fruit of trust and courage its external manifestation. The person who really trusts God's power will be open and honest because he believes God will exercise His power to defend him. He will be willing to take risks because he is relying on God's supernatural power to sustain and uphold him. The psalmists expressed themselves and behaved honestly before God and people because they believed in His sovereignty. They also faced danger courageously because they believed God could and would provide adequate help for His own.

Submission to the sovereignty of God expresses itself in reverence and obedience in the psalms. Reverence is the external evidence of submission to God, and obedience the core proof of it. The person who really believes God is the ultimate authority will respect Him. He will also yield to God's superior authority submissively. We see the psalmists expressing their reverence for God and bowing humbly to His will throughout the Psalter.

The third major revelation concerning worship in the psalms is the activities of worship. As we have seen, one's conception of God leads to worship, and one's attitudes shape worship. One's activities also demonstrate worship.

The psalms reveal that worship grows out of something God has done for man. Man does not worship because there is something intrinsic within him that must come out. Worship is always a response to something God has done. God elicits worship. Man does not initiate it on his own. Throughout the psalms the psalmists responded to God's dealings with them. God is always the initiator and man the responder. This fact helps us see that God is worthy of worship.

Human response in worship involves opening the soul to God. David's confession in Psalm 32 is a good example of this. He rejoiced in his open relationship with God when he acknowledged his sin. He also received God's gift of pardon. Then he offered praise to God. These are the essential human activities of worship: confession, reception, and praise.

After God initiates worship and man responds by worshipping, God becomes to the worshipper all he or she needs. God is true and faithful in His dealings with worshippers. He becomes for us all we need when we worship Him. Thus the activities of worship begin and end with God. They begin with His initiating situations in life. They end with His drawing us to Himself. In between we bare our souls, receive His gifts, and offer our praise.

The message of the Psalter then is, "Worship God!" Turn every situation into an occasion for worship. If we are sad we should worship. If we are glad we should worship. If we are in the dark we should worship. If we are in the light we should worship. The Apostle Paul expressed it this way in Philippians 4:4 and 7: "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice. . . . And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. You praise the Lord" (Ps. 150:6).

Constable: Psalms (Outline)

Outline

I. Book 1: chs. 1-41

II. Book 2: chs. 42-72

III. Book 3: chs. 73-89

IV. Book 4: chs. 90-106

V. Book 5: chs. 107-150

Constable: Psalms

Psalms

Bibliography

Allen, Ronald B. "Evidence from Psalm 89." In A Case for Premillennialism: A New Consensus, pp. 55-77. Edited by Donald K. Campbell and Jeffrey L. Townsend. Chicago: Moody Press, 1992.

_____. Lord of Song. Portland: Multnomah Press, 1985.

_____. The Majesty of Man: The Dignity of Being Human. Portland: Multnomah Press, 1984.

_____. "Psalm 87, A Song Rarely Sung." Bibliotheca Sacra 153:610 (April-June 1996):131-40.

_____. Rediscovering Prophecy: A New Song for a New Kingdom. Portland: Multnomah Press, 1983.

Archer, Gleason, L., Jr. A Survey of Old Testament Introduction. Revised ed. Chicago: Moody Press, 1974.

Barker, David G. "The Lord Watches over You': A Pilgrimage Reading of Psalm 121." Bibliotheca Sacra 152:606 (April-June 1995):163-81.

Bateman, Herbert W., IV. "Psalm 110:1 and the New Testament." Bibliotheca Sacra 149:596 (October-December 1992):438-53.

Beisner, E. Calvin. Psalms of Promise. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1988.

Bentzen, Aage. "The Cultic Use of the Story of the Ark in Samuel." Journal of Biblical Literature 67 (1948):37-53.

_____. Fortolkning til de Gemmeltestamentlige Salmer. Kobenhavn: G. E. C. Gad, 1939.

Bock, Darrell L. "Interpreting the Bible--How Texts Speak to Us." In Progressive Dispensationalism, pp. 76-105. By Craig A. Blaising and Darrell L. Bock. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1993.

Bratcher, Robert G., ed. Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament. 3rd rev. ed. London: United Bible Societies, 1987.

Cansdale, G. S. Animals of Bible Lands. London: Paternoster Press, 1970.

Chafer, Lewis Sperry. Systematic Theology. 8 vols. Dallas: Dallas Seminary Press, 1948.

Childs, Brevard S. Memory and Tradition in Israel. Studies in Biblical Theology series, no. 37. London: SCM, 1962.

Chisholm, Robert B., Jr. "Does God Change His Mind'?" Bibliotheca Sacra 152:608 (October-December 1995):387-99.

_____. "Does God Deceive?" Bibliotheca Sacra 155:617 (January-March 1998):11-28.

_____. "A Theology of the Psalms." In A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, pp. 257-304. Edited by Roy B. Zuck. Chicago: Moody Press, 1991.

Christensen, Duane L. "The Book of Psalms within the Canonical Process in Ancient Israel." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 39:3 (September 1996):421-32.

Cohen, A. The Psalms. London: Soncino Press, 1945.

Constable, Thomas L. "The Doctrine of Prayer." Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1969.

_____. "What Prayer Will and Will Not Change." In Essays in Honor of J. Dwight Pentecost, pp. 99-113. Edited by Stanley D. Toussaint and Charles H. Dyer. Chicago: Moody Press, 1986.

Cooke, Gerald. "The Israelite King as Son of God." Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 73:2 (June 1961):202-25.

Curtis, Edward M. "Ancient Psalms and Modern Worship." Bibliotheca Sacra 153:615 (July-September 1997):285-96.

Delitzsch, Franz. Biblical Commentary on the Psalms. 3 vols. Translated by Francis Bolton. Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. N.p.; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., n.d.

Eissfeldt, Otto. Einleitung in das Alte Testament unter Einschluss der Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen. Tubingen: Mohr, 1934.

Engnell, Ivan. Gamla Testamentet. Stockholm: Svenska Kyrkans Diakonistyrelses Bokforlag, 1945.

Glenn, Donald R. "Psalm 8 and Hebrews 2: A Case Study in Biblical Hermeneutics and Biblical Theology." In Walvoord: A Tribute, pp. 39-51. Edited by Donald K. Campbell. Chicago: Moody Press, 1982.

Gunkel, Hermann. Ausgewahlte Psalmen. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1904.

Heinemann, Mark H. "An Exposition of Psalm 22." Bibliotheca Sacra 147:587 (July-September 1990):286-308.

Ho, Chun Leung. "God Will Repay: An Exegetical Exposition of Psalm Sixty-four." Exegesis and Exposition 3:1 (Fall 1988):34-44.

Hoehner, Harold W. "Ephesians." In Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament, pp. 613-45. Edited by John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck. Wheaton: Scripture Press Publications, Victor Books, 1983.

Johnson, Elliott E. "Hermeneutical Principles and the Interpretation of Psalm 110." Bibliotheca Sacra 149:596 (October-December 1992):428-37.

Kidner, Derek. Psalms 1-72. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries series. Leicester and Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1973.

_____. Psalms 73-150. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries series. Leicester and Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1975.

Kirkpatrick, A. F. Psalms. Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1891-1901.

Laney, J. Carl "A Fresh Look at the Imprecatory Psalms." Bibliotheca Sacra 138:549 (January-March 1981):35-45.

Leslie, Elmer A. The Psalms. New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1949.

Leupold, H. C. Exposition of the Psalms. 1959. Reprint ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1969.

Lewis, Clive Staples. The Screwtape Letters. Reprint ed. New York: Macmillan, 1959.

Luc, Alex. "Interpreting the Curses in the Psalms." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 42:3 (September 1999):395-410.

Martin, Chalmers. "Imprecations in the Psalms." In Classical Evangelical Essays in Old Testament Interpretation, pp. 113-32. Edited by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1972.

Merrill, Eugene H. "The Book of Ruth: Narration and Shared Themes." Bibliotheca Sacra 142:566 (April-June 1985):130-41.

Mowinckel, Signund O. P. Psalmen Studien. Kristiania (Oslo): J. Dybwad, 1921-24.

Oesterley, William O. E. The Psalms. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1939.

Parsons, Greg W. "Guidelines for Understanding and Proclaiming the Psalms." Bibliotheca Sacra 147:586 (April-June 1990):169-87.

Perowne, J. J. Stewart. The Book of Psalms. 2 vols. 4th ed. London: George Bell and Sons, 1878. Reprint ed. 2 vols. in 1. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.

Pope, Marvin H. Job. Anchor Bible series. Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Co., 1973.

Robinson, Haddon W. Psalm Twenty-Three. Chicago: Moody Press, 1968.

Robinson, Theodore H. An Introduction to the Old Testament. London: E. Arnold, 1948.

Ross, Allen P. "Psalms." In Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, pp. 779-899. Edited by John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck. Wheaton: Scripture Press Publications, Victor Books, 1985.

Smith, Charles R. "The Book of Life." Grace Theological Journal 6:2 (Fall 1985):219-30.

Soden, John Mark. "Whom Shall I Fear? Psalm 27." Exegesis and Exposition 3:1 (Fall 1988):1-24.

Swindoll, Charles R. Living Beyond the Daily Grind, Book I. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1988.

Thirtle, James W. The Titles of the Psalms. 2nd ed. London: H. Frowde, 1905.

Torcszyner, Harry. "The Riddle in the Bible." Hebrew Union College Annual 1 (1924):125-49.

van Rensburg, J. F. J. "History as Poetry: A Study of Psalm 136." OTWSA 29 (1986):80-89.

Walvoord, John F. The Holy Spirit. Findlay, Oh.: Dunham Publishing Co., 1958.

_____. Israel in Prophecy. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1962.

Weinfeld, Moshe. "The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East," Journal of the American Oriental Society 90 (1970):184-203.

White, John. Daring To Draw Near. Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1978.

Wood, Leon. The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.

Yee, Russell. "The Divine Imperative to Sing." Exegesis and Exposition 2:1 (Summer 1987):28-44.

Zemek, George J., Jr. "The Word of God in the Child of God: Psalm 119." Spire 10:2 (1982):8-9.

Zuck, Roy B. Job. Everyman's Bible Commentary series. Chicago: Moody Press, 1978.

_____. "The Problem of the Imprecatory Psalms." ThM thesis. Dallas Theological Seminary, 1957.

Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Psalms (Book Introduction)

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

INTRODUCTION.

The Psalms are called by the Hebrew, Tehillim; that is, hymns of praise. The author, of a great part of them at least, was king David; but many are of opinion, that some of them were made by Asaph and others, whose names are prefixed in the titles. (Challoner) --- These, however, are not unquestionably of divine authority, though they deserve to be respected. (Calmet) --- St. Jerome (ad Cyprian) says: "Let us be convinced that those labour under a mistake, who suppose that David was the author of all the Psalms, and not those whose names appear in the titles." Paine is not, therefore, the first who has made this discovery. (Watson) (2 Paralipomenon xxix. 30.) --- Psalm lxxvi., compared with Psalms xxxviii., lxiv., lxx., cxi., cxxv., cxxxvi., and cxlv., seems favourable of this opinion, (Calmet; Tirinus; &c.) which is contrary to St. Ambrose, &c. The matter is not of great moment, as all confess that the 150 Psalms were dedicated by the Holy Ghost. (Du Hamel) --- St. Augustine (City of God xvii. 14.) attributes all the Psalms to David; and it seems best to adhere to this opinion, as it is most generally received. (Menochius) --- Our Saviour cites the cix. Psalm as belonging to David, (Matthew xxii. 44.) agreeably to the title; and the 2d Psalm is also attributed to him, by the apostles, (Acts iv. 25.) though it have no title at all, no more than the first. (Haydock) --- It has generally been asserted, that when a Psalm is in this position, it must be referred to the author who was mentioned last. But Bellarmine calls this in question: and the titles of themselves afford but a precarious argument, either to know the author or the real import of the Psalm. (Calmet) --- St. Jerome himself (ad Paulin.) seems to suppose that David was the writer of all the Psalms, (Worthington) and that he has left us compositions which may vie with those of the most celebrated pagan bards. In effect, nothing could excel the harmony of these divine hymns, to judge even from a translation. (Fleury.) --- What then would they be in the original? The difficulty of coming to a perfect knowledge of the author's meaning, arises chiefly from the variety of translations and commentaries, which have been more numerous on this work than any other. To examine all minutely, would require more volumes than our present limits will allow. The version which we have to explain, is not that which St. Jerome made from the Hebrew and which possesses the same intrinsic merit as the rest of his works: but the Church has declared authentic the holy doctor's corrected (Haydock) version from St. Lucian, (Bellarmine; Tirinus) or from the Septuagint as the people had been accustomed to sing the psalter in that manner; and it would have been difficult for them to learn another. (Calmet) --- A critical examination would show, that the Septuagint have not so often deviated from the original [Hebrew] as some would pretend. See Berthier, &c. Pellican extols the fidelity of our version on the Psalms, though he was a Protestant. (Ward. Err. p. 6.) --- When therefore we offer a different version, we would not insinuate that the Vulgate is therefore to be rejected. The copiousness of the Hebrew language, (Haydock) and on some occasions the uncertainty of its roots, or precise import, (Somon. Crit.) ought to make every one diffident in pronouncing peremptorily on such subjects. Let us rather adhere to the decision of the Church, when it is given on any particular text; and when she is silent, let us endeavour to draw the streams of life from our Saviour's fountains, and read for our improvement in virtue. (Haydock) --- No exhortations could be more cogent, than those which we may find in the Psalms. They contain the sum of all the other sacred books, as the Fathers agree. (St. Augustine; St. Basil; &c.) To understand them better, we must reflect upon what key or string they each play. Expositors discover ten such stings on this mysterious harp: 1. God; 2. his works; 3. Providence; 4. the peculiar people of the Jews; 5. Christ; 6. his Church; 7. true worship; 8. David; 9. the end of the world; 10. a future life. On some of these subjects the Psalm principally turns. The titles, composed by Esdras, or the Septuagint, (Worthington) or by some other, (Calmet) will often point out the subject; and if that be not the case, the context and other parts of Scripture will (Worthington) commonly (Haydock) do it. (Worthington) --- The greatest stress must be laid on these. (Calmet) --- An intimate acquaintance with the history of David, and with the Jewish and Christian religion, will also be of essential service to enable us to penetrate the hidden treasures contained in these most heavenly canticles. (Haydock) --- David excels all the pagans in point of antiquity, as he lived 100 years before Homer. His natural genius led him to follow the pursuits of poetry and music; (1 Kings xvi. 23.) and God inspired him to compose these poems, as works in metre are more easily remembered, and make a more pleasing impression upon the heart. Hence Moses and other prophets adopted the same plan, both in the Old and the New Testament. The pious king [David] not being permitted to build the temple, made nevertheless all necessary preparations for it; and among the rest, procured 288 masters of music to train up 4000 singers, 1 Paralipomenon xxiii. 25. He foresaw that these Psalms would be of service, not only on the Jewish festivals, but also in the Christian Church, (Psalm lvi., 10., &c.) gathered from all nations, (Worthington) among whom he sings by the mouths (Haydock) of the clergy, who are commanded daily to sing or recite some of these Psalms. (Worthington) --- The psalter takes its name from an instrument of ten strings, resembling the Greek [letter] Lamda, (Ven. Bede) and sounding from above, to insinuate that we may (Worthington) here learn to observe (Haydock) all the decalogue, and to aim at heaven. If difficulties present themselves in the perusal of these sacred writings, we must remember not to trust private interpretation, (2 Peter i.) but to the doctrine of the Church, (John xiv. 16., and 1 Corinthians xii.) which we may find in the works of the holy Fathers, (St. Augustine, Doct.[On Christian Doctrine?]) and exercise ourselves in humility, when any thing occurs above our comprehension. (St. Gregory xvii. in Ezechiel) (Worthington) --- We must pray with all earnestness to the Father of Lights, and surely no prayers can be more efficacious to obtain what we want, than those which he has here delivered. Whether just or sinners, whether in joy or sorrow, we may here find what may be suitable for us. (Haydock) --- In hoc libro spiritualis Bibliotheca instructa est. (Cassiodorus)

Gill: Psalms (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO PSALMS

The title of this book may be rendered "the Book of Praises", or "Hymns"; the psalm which our Lord sung at the passover is called an "hymn", Mat 26:30; and the one hundred forty fifth Psalm is entitled תהלה, "an Hymn of David"; and the psalms in general are called "hymns" by Philo the Jew ^a, and songs and hymns by Josephus ^b; and to these several names of this book the apostle manifestly refers in Eph 5:19, Col 3:16. The Jews divided the writings of the Old Testament into three parts: the first division is the Law, or five books of Moses; the second is the Prophets, former and latter; and the third, the "Hagiographa", or holy writings; to which division Christ has a regard in Luk 24:44; and because the book of Psalms stand first in the last division, the whole goes by its name. This book by the Apostle Peter is entitled as here, Act 1:20; the title in the Syriac version is,

"the Book of the Psalms of David, King and Prophet,''

with which agrees the Arabic version. As to the divine authority of it, that it was written by inspiration of God, we have not only the testimony of David, who says, "the Spirit of God spake by me", 2Sa 23:2; but the testimonies of Christ and his apostles, Mat 22:43; and, as Aben Ezra ^c observes the whole of it was spoken ברוח הקודש, "by the Holy Ghost". Concerning the penman or amanuensis, employed by the Spirit of God in writing it, there are different opinions. The Jews make mention of ten, which are differently reckoned by them. According to Jarchi ^d, they were Adam, Melchizedek, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Asaph, and the three sons of Korah. According to Kimchi ^e, they were Adam, the first, Melchizedek, Abraham, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, Moses, and the three sons of Korah; Asir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. Some ascribe all the Psalms to David ^f, and think that those which are said to be a psalm of Asaph, or of Heman, &c. should be rendered "a psalm to Asaph", &c. and only signify that they were psalms delivered to them, to be sung in a public manner. But the truest opinion seems to be, that the greater part of them were written by David, and for the most part those that have no title; and the rest by those whose names they bear. Some were written at and after the Babylonish captivity, as Psa 126:1 and Psa 137:1. The manner or form in which they were written was metre ^g, though some deny it that the Jews had metre: as appears by the different accentuation of them from other writings, and from their being sung vocally and on musical instruments. Josephus ^h, the Jewish historian, says, that

"David being free from war, and enjoying a profound peace, composed songs and hymns to God, of various metre; some trimeter, and some pentameter;''

that is, some of three feet, and others of five feet: for the Psalms of David are thought to be of the "lyric" kind; and Gomarus, in his Lyra, has given many instances out of them, which are of the "iambic", "trochaic" kind, &c. though the Jews for many years have lost the knowledge of the sacred poetry. R. Benjamin ⁱ indeed says, that in his time there were at Bagdad R. Eleazar and his brethren, who knew how to sing the songs, as the singers did when the temple was standing. The subject matter of this book is exceeding great and excellent; many of the psalms respect the person, offices, and grace of Christ; his sufferings and death, resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of God; and so are exceeding suitable to the Gospel dispensation. The whole book is a rich mine of grace and evangelical truths, and a large fund of spiritual experience; and is abundantly suited to every case, state, and condition, that the church of Christ, or particular believers, are in at any time.

Gill: Psalms 109 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 109

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. This psalm was written by David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, concerning Judas the betrayer of Christ, as is certain from Act 1:16 hence it is used to be called by the ancients the Iscariotic psalm. Whether the occasion of it was the rebellion of Absalom, as some, or the persecution of Saul, as Kimchi; and whoever David might have in view particularly, whether Ahithophel, or Doeg the Edomite, as is most likely; yet it is evident that the Holy Ghost foresaw the sin of Judas, and prophesies of that, and of the ruin and misery that should come upon him; for the imprecations in this psalm are no other than predictions of future events, and so are not to be drawn into an example by men; nor do they breathe out anything contrary to the spirit of Christianity, but are proofs of it, since what is here predicted has been exactly accomplished. The title in the Syriac version is,

"a psalm of David when they created Absalom king without his knowledge, and for this cause he was slain; but to us it expounds the sufferings of the Christ of God;''

and indeed he is the person that is all along speaking in this psalm.