Psalms · Chapter 58
Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?
Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
John Wesley
V. 2. Heart-With free choice and consent. Hands-He intimates that they did great wrong under the pretence of justice, and while they seemed exactly to weigh the true proportion between the actions and the recompenses allotted to them, they turned the scale; and pronounced an unjust sentence. Land-Or, in this land, where God is present, and where you have righteous laws to govern you.
Adam Clarke
Verse 2. Yea, in heart ye work wickedness] With their tongues they had spoken maliciously, and given evil counsel. In their hearts they meditated nothing but wickedness. And though in their hands they held the scales of justice, yet in their use of them they were balances of injustice and violence. This is the fact to which the psalmist alludes, and the figure which he uses is that of justice with her scales or balances, which, though it might be the emblem of the court, yet it did not prevail in the practice of these magistrates and counsellors.
Joseph Benson
Verse 2. Yea, in heart ye work wickedness — Or, with your heart, that is, with free choice and consent; with premeditation and design, and with a strong inclination to it, and resolution in it, and not merely by constraint, and out of compliance with Saul, or through surprise and inadvertence. The more there is of the heart in any act of wickedness, the worse it is. Ye weigh the violence of your hands — Or, you weigh violence, or injustice, with your hands. The phrase of weighing hath respect to their office, which was to administer justice, which is usually expressed by a pair of balances. So he intimates that they did great wrong under the pretence and with the formalities of justice; and while they seemed exactly to weigh the true proportion between men’s actions and the recompenses allotted to them, they turned the scale, and pronounced an unjust sentence. In the earth — Or, in this land, where God is present, and where you have righteous laws to govern you, and you profess better things.
Daniel Whedon
2. Yea, in heart—Here is the seat of all iniquity. They sinned, not from ignorance, but from disposition and intention. Ye weigh—Ironically spoken. They professed to use equity and truth as weights in the scale of justice, but instead, they weighed violence. On “weigh” see note on Psalm 78:50. The “violence of” their hands, is “violence” which they themselves have wrought out by using, in their administration, tricks and devices instead of the forms of justice. In the earth—In the land; that is, publicly in all the kingdom. What the “heart” secretly devised, the hands fabricated into plans and written decrees, which become public law.
The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
John Wesley
V. 3. Estranged-From God, and from all goodness. Their very natures are corrupt, even from their birth: they are the wicked offspring of sinful parents. Astray-By actual sins, from their childhood, as soon as ever they were capable of the exercise of reason.
Adam Clarke
Verse 3. The wicked are estranged from the womb] “This,” says Dr. Kennicott, “and the next two verses, I take to be the answer of Jehovah to the question in the two first verses, as the 6th, 7th, and 8th, are the answer of the psalmist, and the remainder contains the decree of Jehovah.” He calls these wicked men, men who had been always wicked, originally and naturally bad, and brought up in falsehood, flattery, and lying. The part they acted now was quite in character.
Joseph Benson
Verse 3. The wicked are estranged — From God, and from all goodness; from the womb — From their tender years, or, rather, strictly and properly, from their birth: their very natures and principles are corrupt even from their infancy: they are the wicked offspring of sinful parents. They go astray by actual sins, the fruit of their original corruption; as soon as they are born — As soon as ever they are capable of the exercise of reason, and the practice of sinning.
Daniel Whedon
3. Estranged from the womb—Alienated from God and his righteousness from birth. The same doctrine of original or birth sinfulness is taught in the next member. Sin thus springs from the depth of our nature, and is the fruit of the unregenerate heart. See on Psalm 51:5; Isaiah 48:8. Speaking lies—Falsehood is here put down as the characteristic of all sin, as truth is for the genus of piety, Psalm 51:6.
Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;
John Wesley
V. 4. Poison-Their malicious disposition.
Adam Clarke
Verse 4. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent] When they bite, they convey poison into the wound, as the serpent does. They not only injure you by outward acts, but by their malevolence they poison your reputation. They do you as much evil as they can, and propagate the worst reports that others may have you in abhorrence, treat you as a bad and dangerous man; and thus, as the poison from the bite of the serpent is conveyed into the whole mass of blood, and circulates with it through all the system, carrying death every where; so they injurious speeches and vile insinuations circulate through society, and poison and blast your reputation in every place. Such is the slanderer, and such his influence in society. From such no reputation is safe; with such no character is sacred; and against such there is no defence. God alone can shield the innocent from the envenomed tongue and lying lips of such inward monsters in the shape of men.
Like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear] It is a fact that cannot be disputed with any show of reason, that in ancient times there were persons that charmed, lulled to inactivity, or professed to charm, serpents, so as to prevent them from biting. See Ecclesiastes 10:11; Jeremiah 8:17. The prince of Roman poets states the fact, VIRG. Ecl. viii., ver. 71. Frigidus in prati cantando rumpitur anguis.
“In the meadows the cold snake is burst by incantation.” The same author, Æn. vii., ver. 750, gives us the following account of the skill of Umbro, a priest of the Marrubians:—
Quin et Marrubia venit de gente sacerdos,
Fronde super galeam, et felici comptus oliva,
Archippi regis missu, fortissimus Umbro;
Vipereo generi, et graviter spirantibus hydris,
Spargere qui somnos cantuque manuque solebat,
Mulcebatque iras, et morsus arte levabat.
“Umbro, the brave Marubian priest, was there,
Sent by the Marsian monarch to the war.
The smiling olive with her verdant boughs
Shades his bright helmet, and adorns his brows.
His charms in peace the furious serpent keep,
And lull the envenomed viper’s race to sleep:
His healing hand allayed the raging pain;
And at his touch the poisons fled again.”
PITT.
There is a particular sect of the Hindoos who profess to bring serpents into subjection, and deprive them of their poison, by incantation. See at the end of this Psalm. See Clarke “Psalm 58:11”.
Joseph Benson
Verses 4, 5. Their poison — Their malicious disposition; is like the poison of a serpent — Both in itself, being natural, inveterate, and incurable; and also in its effects, which are most pernicious. They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, &c. — They are like that particular species of serpents which suffer not themselves to be charmed from their mischief by any methods whatever: for no arguments, persuasions, or efforts that can be used, can mollify the envenomed malice, or change the disposition of these men. They are deaf to all my counsels, to the dictates of their own consciences, and to the voice of God’s law: nor will they hearken to any instructions, remonstrances, cautions, or advices, however reasonable and proper, excellent or necessary they may be. The psalmist here alludes to a prevailing notion in those countries, that all serpents, except one particular species, might be so influenced by some sort of music or verse as to be disarmed of their rage and power of doing mischief, and rendered gentle and innocent. As to what Dr. Hammond observes from Schindler, that the deaf adder, or viper, here mentioned, is so called, because, being deaf of one ear, it uses to stop the other with dust, or with its tail, to avoid the force of charms or incantations wherewith some species of them were wont to be caught; it seems so improbable as to be hardly worth noticing. For why should the God of nature give any species of creatures two ears, and yet design one of them to be always deaf? To say, as some have done, that it lays one ear upon the ground, and stops the other with dust, or with its tail, would appear more credible. But it seems much more reasonable to suppose, with Dr. Horne, that either a serpent deaf by accident is here intended by the deaf adder, or one of a species naturally deaf; for several such kinds are mentioned by Avicenne, as quoted by Bochart: and a modern writer on the Psalms, cited by Dr. Dodd, asserts that the common adder, or viper here in England, the bite of which is very venomous, is either wholly deaf, or has the sense of hearing very imperfectly; and gives good reasons for his assertion. But, “for my part,” adds Dr. Dodd, “I cannot help conceiving, that the psalmist does not allude to any natural deafness of the adder, (which appears to be a very disputable point,) but to an artificial deafness, arising from its fury; its unwillingness to hear, and to regard any of the usual methods of taming it, when irritated, and in a rage: and, indeed, this seems to be most applicable to the point in comparison.” Certainly, in any of these cases, “the adder might be said, in the language of poetry, to stop her ear from being proof to all the efforts of the charmer.” “Of the charming of serpents,” says Poole, “mention is made both in other places of Scripture, and in all sorts of authors, ancient and modern, Hebrew and Arabic, and Greek and Latin. And particularly the Arabic writers (to whom these creatures were best known) name some sorts of serpents, among which the adder is one which they call deaf, not because they are dull of hearing, but, as one of them expressly says, because they will not be charmed.” The version of the Seventy here is, which will not hear, fonhn epadontwn, the voice of those that sing. And certainly musical sounds were anciently supposed to have the effect of charming or disarming the rage of some kinds of serpents. Bochart quotes several authors to this purpose, and, among the rest, Virgil, (see Æneid, 7. 5:753,) and the elder Scaliger. And Mr. Boyle gives us the following passage from Sir H. Blunt’s Voyage to the Levant: “Many rarities of living creatures I saw in Grand Cairo; but the most ingenious was a nest of four-legged serpents, of two feet long, black and ugly, kept by a Frenchman, which, when he came to handle them, would not endure him, but ran and hid themselves in their hole; but, when he took out his cittern and played upon it, they, hearing his music, came all crawling to his feet, and began to climb up to him, till he gave over playing, then away they ran.”
Joseph Sutcliffe
Verse 4. The deaf adder, which stops her ears by putting one ear to the ground, and forcing her tail into the other. Very many of the ancient Greek and Latin writers mention the practice of certain singers and musicians who could so charm a serpent as to draw him from his retreat. Plin. 8:16. They could also drive him away with affright. They could stop him in his flight, compose his fury, and stupify him to slumber. Tibullus, Elag. 9. They boasted of a power so to expel the poison, that the bite of the serpent should not hurt. Isiodor. Originum 9:2.—Vide Synop. Poli. I have read in a paper of the United States, that a man by his violin so charmed a rattlesnake before a company of people, as to draw from it signs of delight in the music. Virgil states that the serpent frozen in the field could be thus roused by the arts of the charmer.
Frigidus in pratis cantando rumpitur anguis.
ECLOG. 8:71.
Daniel Whedon
4. Their poison—All sin is of the nature of poison, but the sin of these men was like the poison of a serpent, active and deadly. The deaf adder— The ˆtp (pethen) is here described as being untamable by charming, and in Psalm 91:13, as dangerous to the traveller. See note on Psalm 140:3. The pethen is supposed to be the same as the asp of Scripture, or Egyptian cobra. As to the deafness, all serpents of the same species do not yield alike to the charmer. “Several of the serpent tribe [of Hindostan] are believed to be either quite deaf, or very dull of hearing. I have frequently come close up to these reptiles, but they did not make any effort to move out of the way. They lurk in the path, and the victim on whom they pounce will expire within a few minutes after he is bitten.”—Roberts. Serpents generally are comparatively dull of hearing, but it is the special temper of malignity in some more than others, not natural deafness, which resists the charmer, and this is the point of the metaphor.
Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
John Wesley
V. 5. Not hearken-As they commonly say of the adders, such really are these men: deaf to all my counsels, to their own consciences, and to God’s law. Of the charming or enchanting of serpents, mention is made both in other places of scripture, and in all sorts of authors, ancient and modern, Hebrew and Arabick, and Greek and Latin. And particularly the Arabick writers (to whom these creatures were best known) name some sorts of serpents, among which the adder is one, which they call deaf, not because they are dull of hearing, but, as one of them expressly faith, because they will not be charmed.
Adam Clarke
Verse 5. Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers] The old Psalter translates and paraphrases these two verses curiously:— Vulg. Furor illis secundum similitudinem serpentis; sicut aspidis surdæ et obturantis aures suas: Quæ non exaudiet vocem incantantium et venefici in cantantis sapienter.
Trans. Wodes (madness) til thaim aftir the liking of the neddir, as of the snake doumb and stoppand her eres.
Paraph. Right calles he tham wod, (mad,) for that hafe na witte to se whider that ga: for that louke thair eghen, and rennys till the are thaire wodness til clumsthed that wil noght be turned as of the snake that festis (fastens) the ta ere til the erth, and the tother ere stoppis with hir taile: Sua do thai that thai here not Godis word; that stope thair eris with luf of erthli thing that thai delite thaim in; and with thair taile, that es with all synnes, that that will noght amend.
Trans. The whitk salle noght here the voyce of charmand, and of the venim in akare of charmand wisli.
Paraph. This snake stopis hir eres that she be noght broth to light; for if she herd it, she come forth sone, he charmes swa wysli in his craft. Swa the wikkid men wit noght here the voyce of Crist and his lufers that are wys charmes; for thi wild (would) bring them till light of heven. Wyt ye well (know) that he (i.e., Christ) lufes noght charmars and venim makers but be (by) vices of bestes, he takes lickening of vices of men.
It seems as if there were a species of snake or adder that is nearly deaf; and as their instinct informs them that if they listen to the sounds which charmers use they shall become a prey; therefore they stop their ears to prevent the little hearing they have from being the means of their destruction. To this the Old Psalter refers. We have also an account of a species of snake, which, if it cast its eye on the charmer, feels itself obliged to come out of its hole; it therefore keeps close, and takes care neither to see nor be seen. To this also the Old Psalter alludes; and of this fact, if it be one, he makes a good use.
Joseph Benson
Verses 4, 5. Their poison — Their malicious disposition; is like the poison of a serpent — Both in itself, being natural, inveterate, and incurable; and also in its effects, which are most pernicious. They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, &c. — They are like that particular species of serpents which suffer not themselves to be charmed from their mischief by any methods whatever: for no arguments, persuasions, or efforts that can be used, can mollify the envenomed malice, or change the disposition of these men. They are deaf to all my counsels, to the dictates of their own consciences, and to the voice of God’s law: nor will they hearken to any instructions, remonstrances, cautions, or advices, however reasonable and proper, excellent or necessary they may be. The psalmist here alludes to a prevailing notion in those countries, that all serpents, except one particular species, might be so influenced by some sort of music or verse as to be disarmed of their rage and power of doing mischief, and rendered gentle and innocent. As to what Dr. Hammond observes from Schindler, that the deaf adder, or viper, here mentioned, is so called, because, being deaf of one ear, it uses to stop the other with dust, or with its tail, to avoid the force of charms or incantations wherewith some species of them were wont to be caught; it seems so improbable as to be hardly worth noticing. For why should the God of nature give any species of creatures two ears, and yet design one of them to be always deaf? To say, as some have done, that it lays one ear upon the ground, and stops the other with dust, or with its tail, would appear more credible. But it seems much more reasonable to suppose, with Dr. Horne, that either a serpent deaf by accident is here intended by the deaf adder, or one of a species naturally deaf; for several such kinds are mentioned by Avicenne, as quoted by Bochart: and a modern writer on the Psalms, cited by Dr. Dodd, asserts that the common adder, or viper here in England, the bite of which is very venomous, is either wholly deaf, or has the sense of hearing very imperfectly; and gives good reasons for his assertion. But, “for my part,” adds Dr. Dodd, “I cannot help conceiving, that the psalmist does not allude to any natural deafness of the adder, (which appears to be a very disputable point,) but to an artificial deafness, arising from its fury; its unwillingness to hear, and to regard any of the usual methods of taming it, when irritated, and in a rage: and, indeed, this seems to be most applicable to the point in comparison.” Certainly, in any of these cases, “the adder might be said, in the language of poetry, to stop her ear from being proof to all the efforts of the charmer.” “Of the charming of serpents,” says Poole, “mention is made both in other places of Scripture, and in all sorts of authors, ancient and modern, Hebrew and Arabic, and Greek and Latin. And particularly the Arabic writers (to whom these creatures were best known) name some sorts of serpents, among which the adder is one which they call deaf, not because they are dull of hearing, but, as one of them expressly says, because they will not be charmed.” The version of the Seventy here is, which will not hear, fonhn epadontwn, the voice of those that sing. And certainly musical sounds were anciently supposed to have the effect of charming or disarming the rage of some kinds of serpents. Bochart quotes several authors to this purpose, and, among the rest, Virgil, (see Æneid, 7. 5:753,) and the elder Scaliger. And Mr. Boyle gives us the following passage from Sir H. Blunt’s Voyage to the Levant: “Many rarities of living creatures I saw in Grand Cairo; but the most ingenious was a nest of four-legged serpents, of two feet long, black and ugly, kept by a Frenchman, which, when he came to handle them, would not endure him, but ran and hid themselves in their hole; but, when he took out his cittern and played upon it, they, hearing his music, came all crawling to his feet, and began to climb up to him, till he gave over playing, then away they ran.”
Daniel Whedon
5. Charmers—From which it appears that the art of serpent charming was known in David’s day. The object was to render them tractable and harmless. See Ecclesiastes 10:11; Jeremiah 8:17. The art is still practised in Egypt and the East as a profession, for amusement, and for dislodging serpents from houses.
Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
John Wesley
V. 6. Their teeth-Their powerful instruments of doing mischief.
Adam Clarke
Verse 6. Break their teeth] He still compares Saul, his captains, and his courtiers, to lions; and as a lion’s power of doing mischief is greatly lessened if all his teeth be broken, so he prays that God may take away their power and means of pursuing their bloody purpose. But he may probably have the serpents in view, of which he speaks in the preceding verse; break their teeth—destroy the fangs of these serpents, in which their poison is contained. This will amount to the same meaning as above. Save me from the adders—the sly and poisonous slanderers: save me also from the lions—the tyrannical and blood-thirsty men.
Joseph Benson
Verse 6. Break their teeth, O God — Their power and instruments of doing mischief. “The mention of teeth here, with the relative their, most probably first refers to those of the adder or serpent, immediately foregoing, whose poison and noxious power are in their teeth; and the way to disarm serpents is to deprive them of their teeth. They who keep serpents tame usually do this by putting to them a piece of red cloth, in which they love to fix their teeth, and so draw them out. This mention of teeth fairly introduces that which follows concerning the lions, whose power of doing mischief with them is more violent; and so signifies the open and riotous offender; as the serpent’s teeth may imply the more secret and indiscernible wounds of the whisperer or backbiter: which yet are as dangerous and destructive as the former; by the smallest prick killing him on whom they fasten.” — Dodd.
Daniel Whedon
6. Break their teeth—The allusion is to the custom of extracting the poisonous fangs of the serpent in order to render it harmless and abate the malignity of its nature. This is still practised, though not in every case, according to the writers quoted by Hengstenberg, (Egypt and the Books of Moses.) Great teeth of the young lions—The allusion changes from the fangs of serpents to the great teeth of lions, by which they tear their prey. The imagery is startling. “Young lions” (µyrypk, kephereem) are those in full vigour of youth, and hence more active to destroy; distinguished from rwg, (goor,) a sucking lion, Ezekiel 19:2, 3; and from aybl, (lahbee,) the great or stout lion, stronger but less active, Genesis 49:9; Numbers 23:24; and from vyl, (layeesh,) an old lion enfeebled by age and perishing for lack of prey, Job 4:11; Isaiah 30:6. The sense of the apparently harsh language of this verse is, according to the known import of the metaphors, that as his enemies could not be diverted or appeased, God would disarm them,—break their power to envenom or destroy. See the allusions explained Job 29:17; Proverbs 30:14; Joel 1:6. It was not against them personally that the plea was entered, but against their power as officers of government and organized conspirators and persecutors.
Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
John Wesley
V. 7. Melt away-As waters arising from melted snow, which at first run with great force, but are suddenly gone.
Adam Clarke
Verse 7. Let them melt away as waters] Let them be minished away like the waters which sometimes run in the desert, but are soon evaporated by the sun, or absorbed by the sand.
When he bendeth his bow] When my adversaries aim their envenomed shafts against me, let their arrows not only fall short of the mark, but he broken to pieces in the flight. Some apply this to GOD. When he bends his bow against them, they shall all be exterminated.
Joseph Benson
Verse 7. Let them melt away as waters, &c. — As waters arising from melted snow, or great showers, or some other extraordinary cause, which at first run with great force and noise, and throw down all that stands in their way, but are suddenly gone, and run away, and vanish, and return no more. When he — Saul, or any, or every one of mine enemies, as appears from the foregoing or following words; bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows — Taking his aim at the upright in heart; let them — That is, his arrows, be cut in pieces — Let them be like arrows broken, while a man is shooting them. Let them fall at his feet, and never come near the mark.
Daniel Whedon
7. Melt away as waters—The allusion is to winter torrents, and the momentary streams occasioned by showers, which suddenly and totally disappear, having no permanent source of supply, so deceiving the expectation of the traveller and the shepherd as a reliance for animal use. Comp. Job 6:15-20. So deceitful and transient is the prosperity of the wicked! He bendeth his bow—Literally, he treadeth his arrows, as Psalm 64:4, that is, he bends his bow by placing his foot upon it, with the arrow placed upon the string. A description of a mighty bow. Cut in pieces—Cut in two, or the head of the arrow cut off to render it powerless of effect. Thus futile as a broken arrow from the bow of the mighty shall be the plans and purposes of the haters of God.
As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
John Wesley
V. 8. Melteth-Which is quickly dissolved.
Adam Clarke
Verse 8. As a snail which melteth] The Chaldee reads the verse thus: “They shall melt away in their sins as water flows off; as the creeping snail that smears its track; as the untimely birth and the blind mole, which do not see the sun.”
The original word lwlbv shablul, a snail, is either from lybv shebil, a path, because it leaves a shining path after it by emitting a portion of slime, and thus glaring the ground; and therefore might be emphatically called the pathmaker; or from bvy yashab to dwell, b be, in, lwl lul, a winding or spiral shell, which is well known to be its house, and which it always inhabits; for when it is not coiled up within this shell, it carries it with it wheresoever it goes. See Bochart. These figures need no farther explanation.
Joseph Benson
Verse 8. As a snail melteth — Which thrusts forth itself, and seems to threaten with its horns, but is quickly dissolved. For it wastes by its own motions, in every stretch it makes, leaving some of its moisture behind, which, by degrees, must needs consume it, though it makes a path to shine after it. Like the untimely birth of a woman — Which dies as soon as it begins to live, and never sees the sun.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 8. As the snail which melteth. The LXX read, as the wax melteth, so let every one of them melt away.
Daniel Whedon
8. As a snail which melteth— “Referring to the well-known habits of the snail, which boldly comes forth from its shell, blind to all danger, and runs out its feelers to the utmost length, but quickly withdraws them at the slightest touch, and rapidly and timidly retreats within its fortress. The snail, moreover, is so frail that it may be crushed by its most insignificant enemy, and aptly illustrates the utter impotency of the proudest and mightiest of the wicked.”—VAN LENNEP, Bible Lands, p. 322.
Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
John Wesley
V. 9. Before-Before your pots can be heated. Take them-Violently and irresistibly. Living-Alive, as he did Korah.
Adam Clarke
Verse 9. Before your pots can feel the thorns] Ye shall be destroyed with a sudden destruction. From the time that the fire of God’s wrath is kindled about you, it will be but as a moment before ye be entirely consumed by it: so very short will be the time, that it may be likened to the heat of the first blaze of dry thorns under a pot, that has not as yet been able to penetrate the metal, and warm what is contained in it. A whirlwind] Or the suffocating simoon that destroys life in an instant, without previous warning: so, without pining sickness—while ye are living—lively and active, the whirlwind of God’s wrath shall sweep you away.
Joseph Benson
Verse 9. Before your pots can feel the thorns — That is, the heat of a fire of thorns made under them, which they soon do, as it is a quick fire, and burns violently while it lasts; he shall take them away — Namely, mine enemies; so speedily, with such a hasty and destructive flame; as with a whirlwind — That is, violently and irresistibly; both living, and in his wrath — Hebrew, ˆwrj wmk yj wmk, chemo chi, chemo charon, as living, as wrath, or, as it were alive, as it were with fury. “The intention of the psalmist is to express both the quickness and terribleness of the destruction of the wicked. They were to be taken away suddenly, or rapidly, before the pots could feel the soon kindling and vehement fire of thorns. They were to be taken off by some terrible catastrophe, like the furious burning of thorns, to which the wrath of God is frequently compared.”
Daniel Whedon
9. Thorns—The atad, or southern buckthorn, (the Rhamnus paliurus of Linnaeus,) noted, like the retem or broom shrub of the desert for its crackling flame and hot fire, and much used as fuel. See Ecclesiastes 7:6. Called also “Christ’s thorn,” from a tradition that it was the same that furnished the mock crown for our Saviour. The figure of the text supposes a robber-feast over recent success, where all are abandoned to wild, delirious merriment, such as is narrated in 1 Samuel 30:16. In the preparations for the feast the catastrophe comes. The sense is given by Perowne: “As a sudden whirlwind in the desert sweeps away the thorns which have been gathered for cooking before the caldron has grown hot, so shall the wicked and all their incomplete designs be swept away by the wrath of God.” On the whirlwind of the desert, see note on Psalm 83:13. Living—This is the usual signification of yj, (hhah’y,) but as applied to meat, it may signify raw meat in opposition to that which is cooked, as in 1 Samuel 2:15, which develops the point of the metaphor, namely, that though the fire was built in a calm atmosphere, the whirlwind should be so sudden as to sweep away the meat while yet raw in the pot, together with the fire of thorns and the entire “cooking apparatus.”
The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
John Wesley
V. 10. Rejoice-For the blessed effects of it; the vindication of God’s honour, and the deliverance of himself and of all good men. Wash-There shall be so great a slaughter of his enemies that he might, if he pleased, wash his feet in their blood.
Adam Clarke
Verse 10. The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance] He shall have a strong proof of the Divine providence, of God’s hatred against sinners, and his continual care of his followers.
He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.] This can only mean that the slaughter would be so great, and at the same time so very nigh to the dwelling of the righteous, that he could not go out without dipping his feet in the blood of the wicked. The Syriac, Vulgate, Septuagint, Æthiopic, Arabic, and Anglo-Saxon, read hands instead of feet. Every thing that is vindictive in the Psalms must be considered as totally alien from the spirit of the Gospel, and not at all, under our dispensation, to be imitated. If the passage above be really vindictive, and it certainly will admit of the interpretation given above, it is to be considered as not belonging to that state in which the Son of man is come, not to destroy men’s lives, but to save.
Joseph Benson
Verse 10. The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance — The vengeance of God upon the enemies of his church. That is, he shall rejoice when he sees the blessed effects of it; the vindication of God’s honour, and the deliverance of himself, and all good men. The pomp and power, the prosperity and success of the wicked, are often a discouragement to the righteous. It weakens their hands, and is sometimes a strong temptation to them to call in question the wisdom and equity of the dispensations of divine providence; but when they see the judgments of God taking away the wicked, and just vengeance taken on them, although but in part, for the mischief they have done to the people and cause of God, they rejoice in the satisfaction thereby given to their faith in God’s providence, and in his justice and righteousness in governing the world. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked — There shall be so great a slaughter of his enemies, that he might, if he pleased, wash his feet in their blood. It is an allusion to a great conqueror, who, upon “returning with a complete victory from the slaughter of his enemies, dips his feet in their blood as he passes over their carcasses.” — Bishop Patrick.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 10. Wash his feet in blood. This alludes to horrible scenes on the field of battle when the contest has been severe, and the slain lie in heaps.—God has generally, and always in the issue, showed favour to princes who sought him with true and unfeigned repentance.
Daniel Whedon
10, 11. These verses present the acquiescence of the righteous in the just judgment of the wicked, and the happy deliverance of the godly. Vengeance—Judicial justice. Wash his feet in the blood—The figure of a battle field is supposed, where the wicked are wholly defeated, and in the pursuit the righteous, in passing over the ground occupied by the routed foe, and all along the pursuit, wet their feet in their blood. The language is harsh, suited to primitive times, but simply denotes the total discomfiture of the wicked. So also such passages as Deuteronomy 32:42, 43; Psalm 68:23; Jeremiah 46:10. A reward… a God that judgeth— The moral end of all the language and figures of the psalm must be qualified by, and is realized in, these words: There is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
Adam Clarke
Verse 11. So that a man shall say] That is, people, seeing these just judgments of God, shall say, There is a reward (yrp peri, fruit) to the righteous man. He has not sown his seed in vain; he has not planted and watered in vain: he has the fruit of his labours, he eats the fruit of his doings. But wo to the wicked, it is ill with him; for the reward of his hands has been given him.
He is a God that judgeth in the earth] There is a God who does not entirely defer judgment till the judgment-day; but executes judgment now, even in this earth; and thus continues to give such a proof of his hatred to sin and love to his followers that every considerate mind is convinced of it. And hence arise the indisputable maxims: “There is, even here, a reward for the righteous;” “There is a God who, even now, judgeth in the earth.” I have seen Indian priests who professed to charm, not only serpents, but the most ferocious wild beasts; even the enraged elephant, and the royal tiger! Two priests of Budhoo, educated under my own care, repeated the Sanscrit incantations to me, and solemnly asserted that they had seen the power of them repeatedly and successfully put to the test. I have mislaid these incantations, else I should insert them as a curiosity; for to charms of the same nature the psalmist most undoubtedly alludes.
The term rbwj chober, which we translate charmer, comes from dbj to join, or put together; i.e., certain unintelligible words or sentences, which formed the spell.
I once met with a man who professed to remove diseases by pronouncing an unintelligible jingling jargon of words oddly tacked together. I met with him one morning proceeding to the cure of a horse affected with the farcin. With a very grave countenance he stood before the diseased animal, and, taking off his hat, devoutly muttered the following words; which, as a matter of peculiar favour, he afterwards taught me, well knowing that I could never use them successfully, because not taught me by a woman; “for,” said he, “to use them with success, a man must be taught them by a woman, and a woman by a man.” What the genuine orthography may be I cannot pretend to say, as I am entirely ignorant of the language, if the words belong to any language: but the following words exactly express his sounds:—
Murry fin a liff cree
Murry fin a liss cree
Ard fin deriv dhoo
Murry fin firey fu
Murry fin elph yew.
When he had repeated these words nine times, he put on his hat and walked off, but he was to return the next morning, and so on for nine mornings successively, always before he had broken his fast. The mother of the above person, a very old woman, and by many reputed a witch, professed to do miracles by pronouncing, or rather muttering, certain words or sounds, and by measuring with a cord the diseased parts of the sick person. I saw her practice twice: 1st, on a person afflicted with a violent headache, or rather the effects of a coup de soleil; and, 2ndly, on one who had got a dangerous mote or splinter in his eye. In the first case she began to measure the head, round the temples, marking the length; then from the vertex, under the chin, and so up to the vertex again, marking that length. Then, by observing the dimensions, passed judgment on the want of proportion in the two admeasurements, and said the brain was compressed by the sinking down of the skull. She then began her incantations, muttering under her breath a supplication to certain divine and angelic beings, to come and lift up the bones, that they might no longer compress the brain. She then repeated her admeasurements, and showed how much was gained towards a restoration of the proportions from the spell already muttered. The spell was again muttered, the measurements repeated, and at each time a comparison of the first measurement was made with the succeeding, till at last she said she had the due proportions; that the disease, or rather the cause of it, was removed; and that the operations were no longer necessary.
In the case of the diseased eye, her manner was different. She took a cup of clean pure water, and washed her mouth well. Having done so, she filled her mouth with the same water, and walked to and fro in the apartment (the patient sitting in the midst of the floor) muttering her spell, of which nothing could be heard but a grumbling noise. She then emptied her mouth into a clean white bason, and showed the motes which had been conveyed out of the patient’s eye into the water in her mouth, while engaged in muttering the incantation! She proffered to teach me her wonder-working words; but the sounds were so very uncouth, if not barbarous, that I know no combination of letters by which I could convey the pronunciation. Ridiculous as all this may appear, it shows that this incantation work is conducted in the present day, both in Asia and Europe, where it is professed, in precisely the same manner in which it was conducted formerly, by pronouncing, or rather muttering certain words or sounds, to which they attach supernatural power and efficiency. And from this came the term spell: Anglo-Saxon [A.S.], a word, a charm, composed of such supposed powerful words; and [A.S.] wyrkan spell signified among our ancestors to use enchantments.
Joseph Benson
Verse 11. So that a man shall say, &c. — These administrations of Divine Providence shall be so evident and convincing, that not only good men shall be sensible thereof, but any man that sees them; yea, even such as were apt to doubt of God’s providence shall, upon this eminent occasion, be ready to exclaim, Now I see that religion is not a vain and unprofitable thing, and that there is a God who at present observes and governs, and, when he sees fit judges the inhabitants of the earth; and will hereafter judge the whole world in righteousness, and recompense every man according to his works.
Daniel Whedon
10, 11. These verses present the acquiescence of the righteous in the just judgment of the wicked, and the happy deliverance of the godly. Vengeance—Judicial justice. Wash his feet in the blood—The figure of a battle field is supposed, where the wicked are wholly defeated, and in the pursuit the righteous, in passing over the ground occupied by the routed foe, and all along the pursuit, wet their feet in their blood. The language is harsh, suited to primitive times, but simply denotes the total discomfiture of the wicked. So also such passages as Deuteronomy 32:42, 43; Psalm 68:23; Jeremiah 46:10. A reward… a God that judgeth— The moral end of all the language and figures of the psalm must be qualified by, and is realized in, these words: There is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
John Wesley
V. 1. O congregation-The word seems to point at Saul’s judges and counsellors; who met together to consult what they should do against David. Sons of men-So he calls them; to mind them that they were men, and must give an account to God for all their hard speeches.
Adam Clarke
Verse 1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness] Or, O cabinet seeing ye profess to act according to the principles of justice, why do ye not give righteous counsels and just decisions, ye sons of men? Or, it may be an irony: What excellent judges you are! well do ye judge according to law and justice, when ye give decisions not founded on any law, nor supported by any principle of justice! To please your master, ye pervert judgment; and take part against the innocent, in order to retain your places and their emoluments. Saul’s counsellors appear to have done so, though in their consciences they must have been satisfied of David’s innocence.
Joseph Benson
Verse 1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness? — No: you are far from it. You censure me freely without any regard to truth or justice; O congregation — The word µla, eelem, thus rendered, signifies a band, or company of men; and seems to point at Saul’s judges and counsellors, who met together to consult what they should do against David; and probably passed a sentence upon him as guilty of treason and rebellion. O ye sons of men — So he calls them, to remind them that they also were men, and must give an account to God for all their hard speeches and unrighteous decrees against him.
Daniel Whedon
1. Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation—Much perplexity and doubt attend the rendering of this clause. The difficulty lies in the µla, translated in the vocative, “O congregation.” Its verbal root signifies, to bind, to grow dumb, as if tongue-tied; and the noun signifies dumbness, silence, and so it is used in Psalm lvi, title, the only other place of its occurrence. Our English Version derives the idea of “congregation” from the signification to bind, which is not satisfactory. The address is not to the “congregation,” but to the judges. No light of criticism has hitherto given a smooth sense to the passage. If we retain the word in question, and not, as many, throw it out as an interpolation, we may retain the radical sense to bind, and consider the judges or leaders of the nation addressed as binders of the people by their oppressive decrees, or as confederates arrayed against justice; or, rejecting the wordas an interpolation, read, “Do ye indeed decree justice?” (Delitzsch;) or, “Are ye indeed dumb [when] ye [should] speak righteousness [and] judge equitably?”—Alexander. It would seem safer to just criticism to retain the word in the text.