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Psalms 109 — Commentary 4

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Benson Commentary Psalm 109:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; Psalm 109:1 . Hold not thy peace — Do not neglect me, but take notice of my extreme danger and misery, and let my sentence come forth from thy presence, Psalm 17:2 . Delay not to give judgment upon the appeal made to thee. O God of my praise — The author and matter of all my praises: in whom I glory, and not in any wisdom or strength of my own: who hast given me continual occasion to praise thee; whom I have praised, and will praise while I live, and hope to praise to all eternity. Psalm 109:2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. Psalm 109:2-4 . The mouth of the wicked, and the mouth of the deceitful — Of those who add hypocrisy and perfidiousness to their malice; are opened against me — They speak against me freely, boldly, and publicly, without any fear or shame. They have spoken against me — Hebrew, ??? , itti, to, or with me, as this particle commonly signifies; with a lying tongue — With deep dissimulation, and professions of friendship and kindness: or, against me, with calumnies, or false and malicious reports. They compassed me with 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 by me. For my love they are my adversaries — They requite my love and goodwill with enmity and mischief, Psalm 109:5 ; but I give myself unto prayer — Hebrew, ???? ???? , vaani tephillah, but I prayer, that is, I am a man of prayer. Thus, I peace, is put for, I am for peace, as we render it, Psalm 120:7 . The sense here is, While they reproach and curse me, I pray, either, 1st, For them, as Psalm 35:13 ; or, 2d, For himself: I do not render unto them evil for evil, but quietly commit myself and my cause to God by prayer, desiring him to plead my cause against them. Psalm 109:3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause. Psalm 109:4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. Psalm 109:5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love. Psalm 109:6 Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand. Psalm 109:6-7 . Set thou a wicked man over him — Either over all his enemies, speaking of them collectively, or over some one particular enemy, who was worse than any of the rest, more implacable and inexcusable, whom he did not think proper to name. Set a wicked man over him to be as cruel and oppressive to him as he hath been to others; for God often makes one wicked man a scourge to another. Hebrew, ???? , the wicked, or the wicked one; namely, Satan, who is mentioned in the next clause. Let him be, or he shall be, delivered into the power of Satan, to be influenced and ruled by him at his pleasure. Let Satan stand — Hebrew, ?????? ???? , and Satan, or the adversary, as the word means, shall stand at his right hand — To molest and vex him, and hinder him in all his affairs; or rather to accuse him, for this was the place and posture of accusers in the Jewish courts. When he shall be judged — When he shall be called to an account, and his cause be examined before thy tribunal; let his prayer become sin — That is, be turned into sin, or be as unavailable with thee for his relief as his sins. When he makes supplication to his judge, as Job speaks, Job 9:16 , for pity and pardon, let his judge be the more provoked and enraged by it. If David spoke thus in reference to Doeg or Ahithophel, (see the contents,) it was only as they were types of Judas: at least the Holy Ghost intended it of Judas, and the persecutors of our Lord, as we learn Acts 1:20 , of whom this whole paragraph, to the end of Psalm 109:19 , is a prophecy. Thus Dr. Horne on Psalm 109:6 : “A transition is here made to the adversaries of Messiah; primarily to Judas, who was guide to them that took Jesus, Acts 1:16 ; secondarily to the synagogue, of whom Judas may be considered as an epitome and representative. It is foretold, that by betraying and murdering the best of masters, they should subject themselves to the tyranny of the worst; that they should become slaves to the wicked one, who should justly be set over them, when they had delivered themselves into his hands; that Satan, who had stood by them to tempt them, should stand at their right hand, to accuse them at the tribunal of God; that, when tried, they would be convicted and condemned, and even their prayer would be an abomination in the sight of the Lord, as being offered without true contrition and repentance, without faith, hope, or charity. Such is the wretched state of the Jews, estranged from God, and in bondage to the devil; such the prayers which, from hardened and malignant hearts, they continually utter for the excision of all Christians, and for the extirpation of that blessed name on which Christians call.” Psalm 109:7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin. Psalm 109:8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Psalm 109:8 . Let his days be few — The days of his life. Let him die an untimely death. So did Ahithophel, and so did Judas; both hanging themselves. And let another take his office — Made void by his death. This is the clause which St. Peter has cited and applied to Judas, in his discourse to the disciples, at the election of Matthias into Judas’s place. He cites, at the same time, a clause from Psalm 69:25 ; Let their habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein. This latter sentence, though in the plural number in the Hebrew, yet is applied by St. Peter in the singular number to Judas. The passage in this Psalm is singular, “yet applicable,” says Dr. Horne, “not to Judas only, but to the whole nation of the Jews; whose days, after they had crucified the Lord of glory, were few; who were dispossessed of the place and office which they held as the church of God, and to which, with all its honours and privileges, the Gentile Christian Church succeeded in their stead, when the Aaronical priesthood was abolished, and that of the true Melchisedek established for ever.” Psalm 109:9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Psalm 109:9-10 . Let his children be — Hebrew, ???? ???? jihju banaiv, his children shall be fatherless — Namely, while they are but children, and so are unable to provide for themselves; and his wife a widow — Made a widow by his death, and continuing a widow. Let his children be vagabonds — Hebrew, ???? ????? ???? , in wandering, his children shall wander, that is, they shall certainly wander, and beg — Not knowing where to obtain the least sustenance. Let them seek, &c., out of their desolate places — Into which they have fled for fear and shame, as not daring to show their faces among men. “If, by the wretched death of Judas,” says the last-mentioned divine, “his wife became a widow, and his children orphans, vagabonds, and beggars, their fate was but a prelude to that of thousands and tens of thousands of the same nation, whose husbands and fathers came afterward to a miserable end at the destruction of Jerusalem. Their children and children’s children have since been continually vagabonds upon the earth, in the state of Cain, when he had murdered his righteous brother, not cut off, but marvellously preserved for punishment and wo.” Thus also Dr. Hammond on these verses: “By this is described, in a very lively manner, the condition of the Jewish posterity, ever since their ancestors fell under that signal vengeance for the crucifying of Christ. 1st, Their desolations and devastations in their own country, and being rejected thence. 2d, Their continual wanderings from place to place, scattered over the face of the earth: and, 3d, Their remarkable covetousness, keeping them always poor and beggarly, be they never so rich, and continually labouring and moiling for gain, as the poorest are wont to do; and this is continually the constant course attending this people, wheresoever they are scattered.” Psalm 109:10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Psalm 109:11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour. Psalm 109:11-12 . Let the extortioner catch, &c. — Hebrew, ????? ???? , jenakkesh nosheh, the creditor, or usurer, shall insnare all that he hath: that is, take it away, not only by oppression and violence, but by cunning artifices and fraud, whereby such persons are wont to entangle, and so ruin their debtors. Let the stranger — Who hath no right to his goods, and will use no pity in spoiling him; spoil his labour — All the fruits of his labour. Let there be — There shall be none to extend mercy to him, &c. — He and his offspring shall be unpitied and hated as the public enemies of mankind. “Since the destruction of Jerusalem how often hath this race been seized, pillaged, stripped, and empoverished by prince and people, in all the nations of the known world, none appearing, as in other cases, to favour and extend mercy to them:” see notes on Leviticus 26:21-39 ; Deuteronomy 28:29-68 . “They have had no nation, none,” says Dr. Jackson, “to avenge their grievous wrong, which the Lord God of their forefathers had ordained they should suffer at all times and in all places, wheresoever they have come, without redress. Nay, their general carriage hath been so odious and preposterous, that albeit Christian magistrates had conspired together for their good, they would themselves have certainly provoked their own misery.” Psalm 109:12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children. Psalm 109:13 Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. Psalm 109:13-15 . Let his posterity, &c. — His posterity shall be cut off, &c: they suffered an excision by the Roman sword, and in the generation following, their name, as a church, and civil polity, were blotted out of the list of states and kingdoms. Let the iniquity of his father be remembered — Hebrew, ???? , it shall be remembered against him, or punished in him, as God had threatened to deal with great delinquents, Exodus 20:5 . Let them be — ???? , they shall be, namely, the sins of his parents last mentioned; before the Lord — In God’s sight and memory, to provoke him to punish them: they shall not be covered nor pardoned. That upon them, as Christ foretold, might come all the righteous blood shed from the blood of righteous Abel; &c., Matthew 22:25 . For “the blood of the prophets cried for vengeance against those who crucified the Lord of the prophets.” Psalm 109:14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Psalm 109:15 Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth. Psalm 109:16 Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. Psalm 109:16 . Because he remembered not — “The crime which brought upon its perpetrators all the above-mentioned judgments and calamities, is here pointed out too plainly to be mistaken. They remembered not to show mercy — To him who showed it to all the world; they persecuted him who for our sakes became poor; they betrayed and murdered the lowly and afflicted Jesus, whose heart was broken with sorrow for their sins, and with a sense of the punishment due to them.” Psalm 109:17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. Psalm 109:17-20 . As he loved cursing — To curse others, as appears from the blessing here opposed to it, and from the next verse; to wish and to procure mischief to others; so let it come unto him — Hebrew, ?????? , teboeehu, it shall come unto him; the mischief in which he delighted, and which he both wished and designed to others, shall fall upon himself. As he delighted not in blessing — In desiring and promoting the welfare of others; so let it be, &c. — Hebrew, ???? , tirchak, it shall be far from him — He shall never meet with the blessing of those righteous courses which he always hated and avoided. As he clothed himself with cursing — As his very business was to slander others everywhere, taking a pride in the mischievous effects of his wretched lies; so let it come — Hebrew, ???? , vatabo, it shall come, into his bowels, like water — He shall feel the miserable fruit of his wickedness spreading itself, like the water he drinks, to every artery and vein; and sticking as close to him as oil unto the bones. As the garment which covereth him — It shall compass him on every side as a garment; he shall be involved in perpetual misfortunes and miseries, and never be able to shake them off. And as a girdle wherewith he is girded continually — He shall be surrounded with, and entangled in, straits and difficulties, without any possibility of being extricated from them. Observe, reader, “They who reject Christ, reject the fountain of blessing, and choose a curse for their portion; and this portion, when they have finally made their choice, will certainly be given to them in full measure.” We see here that “the curse which lighted on the Jewish nation is resembled, for its universality and adhesion, to a garment which covereth the whole man, and is girded close about his loins; for its diffusive and penetrating nature, to water, which, from the stomach passeth into the bowels, and is dispersed through all the vessels of the frame; and to oil, which imperceptibly insinuates itself into the very bones. When that unhappy people pronounced the words, His blood be on us, and on our children, then did they put on the envenomed garment which has stuck to and tormented the nation ever since; then did they eagerly swallow down that dreadful draught, the effects whereof have been the infatuation and misery of upward of seventeen hundred years! Now, if such, in this world, be the reward of Christ’s adversaries, and of those who speak evil against him, what will hereafter be the vengeance inflicted on those who crucify him afresh, and put him again to open shame? Hebrews 6:6 . And what will be the operation of the sentence, Go, ye cursed, upon the bodies and souls of the wicked? How will it at once affect all the senses of the former, and all the faculties of the latter, with pain, anguish, sorrow, and despair! Think on these things, O sinner! tremble and repent.” — Horne. Psalm 109:18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. Psalm 109:19 Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. Psalm 109:20 Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul. Psalm 109:21 But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name's sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. Psalm 109:21-22 . But do thou for me, O God — Namely, what I desire, which he expresses in the next clause, saying, Deliver thou me — Or, he means, Do thou act for me; be not silent or still, but stir up thyself to work on my behalf; for thy name’s sake — For the glory of thy faithfulness, which is highly concerned in giving me the deliverance which thou hast promised me; because thy mercy is good — That is, gracious, and ready to do good to all, but especially to those that love and fear thee. For I am poor and needy — And therefore a very proper object for thy pity and help. And my heart is wounded within me — I am wounded not slightly, but even to the very heart, with soul-piercing sorrows. Psalm 109:22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. Psalm 109:23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust. Psalm 109:23 . I am gone, &c. — Hebrew, ?????? , neehlacheti, I am made to go, either, 1st, From place to place; which was David’s case when he was persecuted by Saul and by Absalom, and Christ’s case upon earth when he had no certain place where to lay his head. Or, 2d, Into the grave, as this phrase frequently signifies; like the shadow when it declineth — Toward the evening, when, the sun setting, it vanisheth instantly and irrecoverably. I am tossed up and down as a locust — Which of itself is unstable, continually leaping and moving 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. Psalm 109:24 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness. Psalm 109:24-25 . My knees are weak through fasting — Either through forced fasting for want of food, when he was persecuted, or for want of appetite when he was sick, or through voluntary fasting, which the frequency and long continuance of his sufferings induced him to use. I became also a reproach unto them — Instead of that pity, which either religion or humanity should have taught them to exercise toward a person in extreme misery, they loaded me with reproaches and scorns. They shaked their heads — By way of contempt and derision. In all this David was a type of Christ, who, in his humiliation, was thus wounded, thus weakened, thus reproached, and at whom they thus shook their heads, saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. He was also a type of the church, which is often afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted. Psalm 109:25 I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads. Psalm 109:26 Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy: Psalm 109:26-29 . Help me, O Lord my God — But my hope is, that thou, my God, wilt seasonably interpose for my relief, and save me — Out of my troubles; according to thy mercy — That tender mercy which is wont to extend itself to those who have nothing else to depend upon. That they may know that this is thy hand — Being convinced of the eminence, singularity, and strangeness of the work. Let them curse, but bless thou — I can patiently bear their curses, as being causeless, and fully compensated by thy blessing. Or, rather, as the Hebrew, ????? ??? , jekalelu hemma, is literally rendered, They will curse; I expect nothing else from them; ???? ????? , veatta tebareck, but thou wilt bless me, and all those that trust in thee; for, blessed is the man who trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. When they arise let them be ashamed — Hebrew, ??? ?????? , kamu vajeboshu, they have arisen, namely, have taken active measures against me; they shall be ashamed — Disappointed of their wicked hopes and designs against me, and covered with their own confusion as with a mantle — For that unexpected destruction which they have brought upon themselves. Observe, reader, if God bless us, we need not care who curseth us; for how can they curse whom God hath not cursed? Nay, whom he hath blessed? Numbers 23:28 . Men’s curses are impotent, God’s blessings are omnipotent. And those whom men unjustly curse, may in faith expect and pray for God’s blessing, his special blessing. When the Pharisees cast out the poor man for confessing Christ, Christ found him, John 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 hearts to God in this petition: Let them curse, but bless thou. Psalm 109:27 That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it. Psalm 109:28 Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice. Psalm 109:29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle. Psalm 109:30 I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude. Psalm 109:30-31 . I will greatly praise the Lord — For that deliverance which I confidently expect; with my mouth — Not only with my heart, in secret, but with my mouth, openly; and among the multitude — Or, among the mighty, or the great men, as ????? ???? , betoch rabbim, may be properly translated; for he shall stand at the right hand of the poor — Nigh to him, as a present help; as his patron and advocate, to plead his cause against, and defend him from, his adversary, who stood in that place to accuse him, and procure his condemnation and destruction; to save him from those that condemn his soul — That pass a sentence of death upon him. 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, Psalm 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, in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator, 1 Peter 4:19 . Psalm 109:31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositors

Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 109:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; Psalm 109:1-31 THIS is the last and the most terrible of the imprecatory psalms. Its central portion ( Psalm 109:6-20 ) consists of a series of wishes, addressed to God, for the heaping of all miseries on the heads of one "adversary" and of all his kith and kin. These maledictions are enclosed in prayers, which make the most striking contrast to them; Psalm 109:1-5 being the plaint of a loving soul, shrinkingly conscious of an atmosphere of hatred, and appealing gently to God; while Psalm 109:21-31 expatiate in the presentation to Him of the suppliant’s feebleness and cries for deliverance, but barely touch on the wished for requital of enemies. The combination of devout meekness and trust with the fiery imprecations in the core of the psalm is startling to Christian consciousness, and calls for an effort of "historical imagination" to deal with it fairly. The attempts to attenuate the difficulty, either by making out that the wishes are not wishes, but prophecies of the fate of evildoers, or that Psalm 109:6-20 are the psalmist’s quotation of his enemies’ wishes about him, or that the whole is Messianic prediction of the fate of Judas or of the enemies of the Christ, are too obviously makeshifts. It is far better to recognise the discordance between the temper of the psalmist and that enjoined by Christ than to try to cover it over. Our Lord Himself has signalised the difference between His teaching and that addressed to "them of old time" on the very point of forgiveness of enemies, and we are but following His guidance when we recognise that the psalmist’s mood is distinctly inferior to that which has now become the law for devout men. Divine retribution for evil was the truth of the Old Testament, as forgiveness is that of the New. The conflict between God’s kingdom and its enemies was being keenly and perpetually waged, in most literal fashion. Devout men could not but long for the triumph of that with which all good was associated, and therefore for the defeat and destruction of its opposite. For no private injuries, or for these only in so far as the suffering singer is a member of the community which represents God’s cause, does he ask the descent of God’s vengeance, but for the insults and hurts inflicted on righteousness. The form of these maledictions belongs to a lower stage of revelation; the substance of them, considered as passionate desires for the destruction of evil, burning zeal for the triumph of Truth, which is God’s cause, and unquenchable faith that He is just, is a part of Christian perfection. The usual variety of conjectures as to authorship exists. Delitzsch hesitatingly accepts the superscription as correct in assigning the psalm to David. Olshausen, as is his custom, says, "Maccabean"; Cheyne inclines to "the time of Nehemiah (in which case the enemy might be Sanballat), or even perhaps the close of the Persian age" (" Orig. of Psalt. ," 65). He thinks that the "magnanimous David" could not have uttered "these laboured imprecations," and that the speaker is "not a brave and bold warrior, but a sensitive poet." Might he not be both? To address God as the "God of my praise," even at such a moment of dejection, is a triumph of faith. The name recalls to the psalmist past mercies, and expresses his confidence that he will still have cause to extol his Deliverer, while it also pleads with God what He has done as a reason for doing the like in new circumstances of need. The suppliant speaks in praise and prayer; he asks God to speak in acts of rescuing power. A praying man cannot have a dumb God. And His mighty Voice, which hushes all others and sets His suppliants free from fears and foes, is all the more longed for and required, because of those cruel voices that yelp and snarl round the psalmist. The contrast between the three utterances-his, God’s, and his enemies’-is most vivid. The foes have come at him with open mouths. "A wicked man’s mouth" would read, by a slight alteration, "a mouth of wickedness": but the recurrence of the word "wicked man" in Psalm 109:6 seems to look back to this verse, and to make the rendering above probable. Lies and hatred ring the psalmist round, but his conscience is clear. "They have hated me without a cause" is the experience of this ancient sufferer for righteousness’ sake, as of the Prince of all such. This singer, who is charged with pouring out a flood of "unpurified passion," had, at any rate, striven to win over hatred by meekness; and if he is bitter, it is the pain and bitterness of love flung back with contumely, and only serving to exacerbate enmity. Nor had he met with evil the first returns of evil for good, but, as he says, "I was [all] prayer". {compare Psalm 120:7 , "I am-peace"} Repelled, his whole being turned to God, and in calm communion with Him found defence and repose. But his patient meekness availed nothing, for his foes still "laid evil" on him in return for good. The prayer is a short record of a long martyrdom. Many a foiled attempt of patient love preceded the psalm. Not till the other way had been tried tong enough to show that malignity was beyond the reach of conciliation did the psalmist appeal to the God of recompenses. Let that be remembered in judging the next part of the psalm. The terrible maledictions ( Psalm 109:6-20 ) need little commentary. They may be left in all their awfulness, which is neither to be extenuated nor degraded into an outburst of fierce personal vindictiveness. It is something far more noble than that. These terrible verses are prophecy, but they are prayers too; and prayers which can only be accounted for by remembering the spirit of the old dispensation. They are the more intense, because they are launched against an individual, probably the chief among the foes. In Psalm 109:6-15 we have imprecations pure and simple, and it is noteworthy that so large a part of these verses refers to the family of the evildoer. In Psalm 109:16-20 the grounds of the wished for destruction are laid in the sinner’s perverted choice, and the automatic action of sin working its own punishment is vividly set forth. Psalm 109:6-8 are best taken in close connection, as representing the trial and condemnation of the object of the psalmist’s imprecations, before a tribunal. He prays that the man may be haled before a wicked judge. The word rendered "set" is the root from which that rendered "office" in Psalm 109:8 comes, and here means to set in a position of authority -i.e., in a judicial one. His judge is to be "a wicked man" like himself, for such have no mercy on each other. An accuser is to stand at his right hand. The word rendered adversary (the verb cognate with which is used in Psalm 109:4 ) is "Satan"; but the general meaning of hostile accuser is to be preferred here. With such a judge and prosecutor the issue of the cause is certain-"May he go out [from the judgment hall] guilty." A more terrible petition follows, which is best taken in its most terrible sense. The condemned man cries for mercy, not to his earthly judge, but to God, and the psalmist can ask that the last despairing cry to Heaven may be unanswered, and even counted sin. It could only be so, if the heart that framed it was still an evil heart, despairing, indeed, but obdurate. Then comes the end: the sentence is executed. The criminal dies and his office fails to another: his wife is a widow, and his children fatherless. This view of the connection gives unity to what is otherwise a mere heap of unconnected maledictions. It also brings out more clearly that the psalmist is seeking not merely the gratification of private animosity, but the vindication of public justice, even if ministered by an unjust judge. Peter’s quotation of Psalm 109:8 b in reference to Acts 1:20 does not involve the Messianic character of the psalm. Psalm 109:10-15 extend the maledictions to the enemy’s children and parents, in accordance with the ancient strong sense of family solidarity, which was often expressed in practice by visiting the kindred of a convicted criminal with ruin, and levelling his house with the ground. The psalmist wishes these consequences to fall in all their cruel severity, and pictures the children as vagabonds, driven from the desolation which had, in happier days, been their home, and seeking a scanty subsistence among strangers. The imprecations of Psalm 109:11 at first sight seem to hark back to an earlier stage in the wicked man’s career, contemplating him as still in life. But the wish that his wealth may be "ensnared" by creditors and stolen by strangers is quite appropriate as a consequence of his sentence and execution; and the prayer in Psalm 109:12 , that there may be no one to "draw out lovingkindness" to him, is probably best explained by the parallel clause. A dead man lives a quasi-life in his children, and what is done to them is a prolongation of what was done to him. Thus helpless, beggars, homeless, and plundered, "the seed of evildoers" would naturally be short-lived, and the psalmist desires that they may be cut off, and the world freed from an evil race. His wishes go backwards too, and reach to the previous as well as the subsequent generation. The foe had come of a bad stock-parents, son, and son’s sons are to be involved in a common doom, because partakers of a common sin. The special reason for the terrible desire that the iniquity of his father and mother may never be blotted out seems to be, the desire that the accumulated consequences of hereditary sin may fall on the heads of the third generation-a dread wish, which experience shows is often tragically fulfilled, even when the sufferers are far less guilty than their ancestors. "Father, forgive them" is the strongest conceivable contrast to these awful prayers. But the psalmist’s petition implies that the sins in question were unrepented sins, and is, in fact, a cry that, as such, they should be requited in the "cutting off the memory" of such a brood of evildoers "from the earth." In Psalm 109:16 a new turn of thought begins, which is pursued till Psalm 109:20 -namely, that of the self-retributive action of a perverted choice of evil. "He remembered not" to be gracious to him who needed compassion; therefore it is just that he should not be remembered on earth, and that his sin should be remembered in heaven. He deliberately chose cursing rather than blessing as his attitude and act towards others; therefore cursing comes to him and blessing remains far from him. as others’ attitude and act to him. The world is a mirror which, on the whole, gives back the smile or the frown which we present to it. Though the psalmist has complained that he had loved and been hated in return, he does not doubt that, in general, the curser is cursed back again and the blesser blessed. Outwardly and inwardly, the man is wrapped in and saturated with "cursing." Like a robe or a girdle, it encompasses him; like a draught of water, it passes into his inmost nature; like anointing oil oozing into the bones, it steals into every corner of his soul. His own doings come back to poison him. The kick of the gun which he fires is sure to hurt his own shoulder, and it is better to be in front of the muzzle than behind the trigger. The last word of these maledictions is not only a wish. but a declaration of the Law of Divine Retribution. The psalmist could not have found it in his heart to pray such a prayer unless he had been sure that Jehovah paid men’s wages punctually in full. and that conviction is the kernel of his awful words. He is equally sure that his cause is God’s-because he is sure that God’s cause is his, and that he suffers for righteousness and for the righteous Jehovah. The final part ( Psalm 109:21-31 ) returns to lowly, sad petitions for deliverance, of the kind common to many psalms. Very pathetically, and as with a tightening of his grasp, does the singer call on his helper by the double name "Jehovah, Lord," and plead all the pleas with God which are hived n these names. The prayer in Psalm 109:21 b resembles that in Psalm 69:16 , another of the psalms of imprecation. The image of the long, drawn out shadow recurs in Psalm 102:11 . The word rendered "am I gone" occurs here only, and implies compulsory departure. The same idea of external force hurrying one out of life is picturesquely presented in the parallel clause. "I am shaken out," as a thing which a man wishes to get rid of is shaken out of the folds of a garment. The psalmist thinks of himself as being whirled away, helpless, as a swarm of locusts blown into the sea. The physical feebleness in Psalm 109:24 is probably to be taken literally, as descriptive of the havoc wrought on him by his persecutions and trouble of soul, but may be, as often, metaphor for that trouble itself. The expression in Psalm 109:24 b rendered above "falls away from fatness" is literally "has become a liar," or faithless, which is probably a picturesque way of saying that the psalmist’s flesh had, as it were, become a renegade from its former well-nourished condition, and was emaciated by his sorrow. Others would keep the literal meaning of the word rendered "fatness"- i.e. oil-and translate "My flesh has shrunk up for lack of oil" (so Baethgen and Kay). One more glance at the enemies, now again regarded as many, and one more flash of confidence that his prayer is heard, close the psalm. Once again God is invoked by His name Jehovah, and the suppliant presses close to him as "my God"; once again he casts himself on that lovingkindness, whose measure is wider than his thoughts and will ensure him larger answers than his desires; once again he builds all his hope on it, and pleads no claims of his own. He longs for personal deliverance: but not only for personal ends, but rather that it may be an undeniable manifestation of Jehovah’s power. That is a high range of feeling which subordinates self to God even while longing for deliverance, and wishes more that He should be glorified than that self should be blessed. There is almost a smile on the psalmist’s face as he contrasts his enemies’ curses with God’s blessing, and thinks how ineffectual are these and how omnipotent is that. He takes the issue of the strife between cursing men and a blessing God to be as good as already decided. So he can look with new equanimity on the energetic preparations of his foes; for he sees in faith their confusion and defeat, and already feels some springing in his heart of the joy of victory, and is sure of already clothing themselves with shame. It is the prerogative of Faith to behold things that are not as though they were, and to live as in the hour of triumph even while in the thick of the fight. The psalm began with addressing "the God of my praise"; it ends with the confidence and the vow that the singer will yet praise Him. It painted an adversary standing at the right hand of the wicked to condemn him; it ends with the assurance that Jehovah stands at the right hand of His afflicted servant, as his advocate to protect him. The wicked man was to "go out guilty"; he whom God defends shall come forth from all that would judge his soul. "If God be for us, who can be against us? It is God that justifieth: who is he that condemneth?" The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Illustrator

Hold not Thy peace, O God of my praise. Psalm 109 A song of imprecation T. W. Chambers, D. D. I. THE MISDEEDS OF THE WICKED (vers. 1-5). II. THE IMPRECATION OF WRATH (vers. 6-20). III. THE CRY FOR MERCY (vers. 21-25). "The thunder and lightning are now followed by deep, sorrowful complaint like a flood of tears." IV. THE DISPLAY OF THE DIVINE RIGHTEOUSNESS (vers. 26-31). In this concluding strophe the cry for help is renewed, together with a confident assurance of being answered. The suppliant asks relief in such way as to show that it came from God's own hand. God's blessing is set in sharp contrast with men's cursing. The efforts of the ungodly shall end in disappointment and shame, but the Lord's servant will only rejoice. This deliverance will call forth his thanks, which will not be private, but expressed in the presence of a multitude. ( T. W. Chambers, D. D. ) But I give myself unto prayer. Psalm 109:4 The universal suitability of prayer T. E. Hankinson, M.A. This is the great resource of God's children. Observe the disjunctive particle "but" with which the text begins. Let others do this or that (he would say), "but I give myself unto prayer," or, as it stands in the original, But I — prayer; as though he meant to imply that prayer was everything to him; — I have no other resource, and I need none. What shall we do, asks the pious parent, to secure our children, who will soon be beyond the control of parental authority, and will have to encounter the snares of a world which "lieth in wickedness"? Give yourselves unto prayer. Let us take another case; namely, the feelings and anxieties of the junior touching the senior members of the household. Here I desire to speak a word in favour of family prayer. Give yourselves unto prayer, as Abraham did, who wherever he went, "there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord." The opening of the new year calls for a review of the past, and that review is fraught with matter for humiliation. Be humbled: yet let not humiliation take the gloomy and unbelieving character of despondency. And in order to prevent this, give yourself unto prayer. ( T. E. Hankinson, M.A. ) Constancy in prayer Felix Neff. When a pump is frequently used, but little pains are necessary to have water; the water pours out at the first stroke, because it is high. But if the pump has not been used for a long time, the water gets low, and when you want it you must pump a long while, and the water comes only after great effort. It is so with prayer; if we are instant in prayer, every little circumstance awakens the disposition to pray, and desires and words are always ready. But if we neglect prayer it is difficult for us to pray, for the water in the well gets low. ( Felix Neff. ) They have rewarded me evil for good. Psalm 109:5 Evil for good Hugh Black. Florence, when dominated by the preaching of Savonarola, became transformed; high-born ladies threw aside their jewels and finery, men turned from evil ways into sobriety, the churches were crowded with all classes of the people, from nobles to peasants; the very children were turned into instruments of the good work, going through the streets in procession, singing hymns and collecting money for the poor — and then the tide turned, and, when Savonarola was in the crisis of his struggle with the pope, almost the whole city was against him; a mob attacked his convent of San Marco; and the great friar went to his martyrdom, with the sorer martyrdom of his heart at the thought that all his work was overturned. ( Hugh Black. ) Let his days be few; and let another take his office . Psalm 109:8 The outcast's place filled Plain Sermons by contributors to the "Tracts for the Times." (for St. Matthias' Day): — The words in themselves sound simple enough; they might seem to speak of no more than all human beings must undergo, by the necessity of their mortal nature. All our days are few: they are but as grass, they are gone almost before we can count them. All our places, stations, and offices, whatever they may be, must soon pass away from us, and another take them in our place. But this, the common lot of all, is here turned into a fearful and peculiar curse, for those who slight high privileges, and betray sacred trusts. The instance of Judas is a very plain one, for showing forth the dealings of God's providence in this respect. His short life as an apostle would have been a blessing, had he been such as St. James, the first of the twelve who came to his great reward: he would have departed, and been with Christ so much the sooner. But as it was, what judgment could be more fearful? Thus his days were signally cut short; and as to another taking his office, St. Peter reminded the disciples that the Scriptures concerning him were of course to be fulfilled, especially two which he specified: "Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein;" and, "His bishopric let another take." Now, it is a serious thought for us all, If Judas Iscariot, who, favoured as he was, had never received the Holy Ghost; if the Jewish people, whose highest privileges were but a shadow of what we receive in Baptism, — if they had their days cut off by so dreadful a sentence, and their place in God's world given over to others: what are Christians, what are Christian pastors to expect, should they prove, after all, unclean and unworthy? The nearer Christ has called us to Himself, the more dangerous surely are the first beginnings and whispers of sin; and the nearer we have ventured to approach, the greater advantage have we given to Satan, except we tried in earnest to purify our hearts and desires. No doubt, St. Matthias himself may have had trembling thoughts like these, wherewith to keep himself lowly and humble, when he was called to so great an honour, so high a place in the Church. What must have been the new apostle's thoughts, when he was thus put in mind of Judas's place! How earnestly must he have prayed in his secret heart, that such place, or a worse, might never be his own! I say a worse; for must it not be worse for those who, besides Judas's other privileges, have also that which is above all, union with Christ by His Holy Spirit, and yet fall away as Judas did? That privilege Matthias received within a few days, when the Holy Ghost came down upon the assembled apostles, and he never forfeited its; he went on glorifying God as an apostle, until he was permitted to glorify Him as a martyr. Or how can a sinner ever be thankful enough that it is not yet over with him; that he has still time, he knows not how much, to humble and punish himself heartily for his great imperfection and unworthiness; to watch and break himself of all beginnings of sin; to subdue the flesh to the Spirit; in all things; to acquaint himself with God in all the ways of His Church; to fear always; and to be more faithful and true in every part of his calling towards God and man? ( Plain Sermons by contributors to the "Tracts for the Times." ) The Apostleship of St. Matthias Bishop Wood ford. There is a fearful light, as it were, around the Apostleship of Matthias. We cannot think of him without recalling his memory who went before. Surely, we imagine, he must have gone about the work of an apostle With a fear and trembling which even Peter never knew. 1. It is remarkable that the sin of Judas was amongst those particulars of the life and sorrows of the Saviour of the world which were not obscurely predicted in the Old Testament. He was placed upon his trial; a certain position given him, a position of vast privileges. These Scriptures were amongst the means vouchsafed to enable him to maintain his station in the spiritual world, and finish the work given him to do. Now, the state of Judas thus viewed is a very correct type of our own. Consider for a moment the Christian Church itself. It stands indeed to the Jewish race, as Matthias to Iscariot. The Israelites were the first called to be God's special servants; to them was the commission given to keep alive the remembrance of His name, to make His praise to be glorious. They betrayed the trust; they adhered not to His worship; they gave His honour to another; they stoned His prophets; they rejected His Son! And then went forth the decree, "Let their days be few, and let another take their office." There is a voice from the past to the present, from the old Israel to the new, which bids us not be high minded, but fear, as those who fill a traitor's place. And when we extend our thoughts from the Christian Church to the whole human race, we find the same to hold good. There is much to confirm the idea, that the creation of man had its origin in the fall of Satan and his angels. Before us is now placed the choice which ages ago was given to Satan and his legions — the choice whether in sincerity and truth we will be the servants of the Son of God. We are on our trial now, as they were before the pillars of the earth were set up; but with this advantage, that like Judas, who sinned after their manner, we have warnings against the consequences of rebellion. He with the example of their sin and punishment, fell into the same sin, viz. the disowning the Only Begotten. We, with his example also, are called to stand where they stood, and exhibit the obedience which they withheld. 2. But there are deducible from the foregoing remarks, certain truths touching our relation to God.(1) For example, we learn in a most striking manner from what has been advanced, the sureness with which God's will is accomplished, sooner or later. God has no need of our services; He requires not our obedience; our very sins help on His designs. If we are obedient, He will work through us; if disobedient, He equally bends us to His purpose; or it may be, blots us out of the book of the living, and calls others into existence to do that which we refused; and all without the least pause in the majestic march of His providence. If we resist, it costs Him nothing to say, "Let another take His office."(2) Again, we cannot but press upon you the wonderful uniformity of the test to which God has subjected all His creatures; the test is simply, loyalty to the Only Begotten Son. There are but two kingdoms, the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness; but two monarchs, the Lord Jesus, upon the right hand of the Father, and the outcast archangel, in the fiery abyss. And all choice between good and evil, right and wrong, is a choice between these. ( Bishop Wood ford. ) But do Thou for me, O God the Lord, for Thy name's sake. Psalm 109:21 An exemplary prayer W. Jones. I. IT IS TRUE IN ITS DIRECTION. It is addressed to "God the Lord." There is but One all-suffering Being to whom we can address our prayers. Think what is requisite to be able to answer prayer at all times — infinite intelligence, unlimited goodness, universal sovereignty, etc. The petition of the psalmist indicates his belief that he was approaching such a Being. If he could but secure the help of God he would leave everything else to Him. II. IT IS PERSONAL IN ITS AIM. "Do Thou for me." Man's first business is to secure the blessing of God for himself. We should not keep the vineyard of another and neglect our own. We should not attempt to lead ethers unto Jesus Christ until we know Him as our own Saviour. This is not selfish, but benevolent. III. IT IS SUBMISSIVE IN ITS SPIRIT. The wise and good man leaves the means and the manner of blessing to God. He leaves the time also to God. This submission is both wise and pious. IV. IT IS POWERFUL IN ITS PLEA. "For Thy name's sake." The name represents the character of God. The honour of the Divine name is bound up with His treatment of His people. If any one trusting in God were to perish, the glory of His name would be sullied. Such a plea — 1. Implies great faith in God on the part of Him who urges it. 2. Honours God by the exalted conception of His character which it implies. 3. Prevails with God. The man who honours God by believing greatly in Him is mighty with God in prayer. ( W. Jones. ) The Christian's prayer B. Beddome, M.A. I. GENERAL REMARKS. 1. The petition may be considered as addressed with equal propriety to each of the Persons in the Godhead, who are the joint objects of religious worship, possessed of the same adorable perfections, and equally concerned in carrying on the work, and conveying the blessings of salvation. 2. Though the good man may and should pray for others, yet he is and ought to be principally concerned for himself. "Do Thou for me"; for my body, for my soul, especially the latter. Begin Thy work there in conviction and conversion, carry it on in progressive sanctification, and perfect it in eternal glory. "Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation." 3. The good man desires that what God does may be for him, and not against him; that He would deal by him as a friend, and not as an enemy. 4. When we desire that God should "do for us," it is proper that we should leave the way and manner entirely to Him. II. WHAT IS IMPLIED. 1. Do that for me which I cannot do for myself. Reduce my wandering heart, direct my feeble steps, teach me both the way in which Thou walkest towards me, and the way in which I ought to walk toward Thee, the way of duty and of peace. 2. Do that for me which no one else either can or will do. They cannot restore case to a distempered body, nor comfort to a discontented mind; cannot reprieve one moment from the demands of death, nor disarm it of its terrors. 3. Do that for me which Thou knowest to be necessary, and without which I must be undone for ever. 4. Do all that for me which Thou hast appointed and promised, and whereby Thou mayest be glorified. In all our prayers it becomes us to have an eye to (1) The Divine appointments: for if our petitions do not refer to them, and are not regulated by them, they are not likely to meet with acceptance, nor to procure a blessing. (2) The Divine promises. (3) The Divine glory. III. IMPROVEMENT. 1. The prayer of the psalmist will apply not only to a state of prosperity, but adversity; not only to God's merciful dispensations, but also to those which are afflictive. "Do Thou for me," in wounding as well as healing, in casting down as well as lifting up. 2. The petition is suitable for those who have most to do for God, or their fellow-creatures; such as magistrates, ministers, masters of families and others. There are also peculiar seasons to which it is especially suited; when our path is intricate, and our work difficult, either in the morning of the Sabbath, or in the near approach of death. 3. It is likewise necessary at all seasons, and for all sorts of persons. ( B. Beddome, M.A. ) All of grace H. O. Mackey. Sir James Simpson, the doctor-saint, was waiting for a train at a station, and when it drew up he saw a poor lad, looking very ill, being conveyed by his mother home. He went in beside them into the carriage, and asked all about the boy. By and by he said to the mother, "Your boy might be made quite well; why don't you take him to Dr. So-and-So? Because," said the mother, "I haven't money enough to pay the fees." "Well," said the stranger, "I am a doctor;" and then he told his name, to the poor woman's great surprise. "Will you put him in my hands, and I will do what I can for him, and it shall cost you nothing?" The mother thankfully consented; her boy was carefully treated, and in a few weeks' time returned home quite cured. The great Physician does all His cures, bestows all His blessings, and gives all His salvation, for love's sake. And His healing is perfect. ( H. O. Mackey. ).

Matthew Henry

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. 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. 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.