1David complaineth and prayeth as one sorely distressed: 22he promiseth public thanksgiving and praise for mercy shewn him.
0To the chief 1Musician 2upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David.
1 See the first annotation at Psalm 4 in the title.
2 Or, according to, of the hind of the day-break. Some hold it to have been a musical instrument, upon which this psalm was to be played; others, that they were the first words of a certain song, well known in those days among the Jews, to which this psalm is sung. There are some likewise who render it in or against the power of the day-break, being of the opinion that this glorious prophesy of Christ’s suffering, death, resurrection, etc. was given to the Priests and Levites to be sung every morning in the house of God by break of day. Others apply it to Christ, Who is compared to an hart, Cant. 2:9, 17; 8:14 and rose up out of the grave very early in the morning; according as the resurrection is called the morning, Psalm 49:14, whereof the judicious reader may judge.
1MY3 God,a my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my 4roaring?
3 Though there be some passages in this psalm which may conveniently be applied unto the person of David, as he was the type of Christ, yet it plainly appears by the four Evangelists that most all of them are principally and peculiarly fulfilled in the Person of the Lord Christ Himself, our only Messiah, and that consequently David, through the spirit of prophesy, has introduced our Lord Christ as Himself speaking here to His Father.
a Mat. 27:46; Mark 15:34.
4 This implies a most terrible trouble and grief of heart, causing strong and mighty outcries. Compare Job 3:24; Psalm 32:3; 38:8, and see Mat. 27:46; Heb. 5:7. All this our Lord Christ has suffered as our Surety, carrying the wrath of God for our sins, and perfectly satisfying for them.
2O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and 5am not silent.
5 Hebr. there is no silence to me, that is, I do not cease, do not rest from lamentations; or, yet I do not obtain any silence, that is, rest; although I call, my suffering ceases not.
3But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the 6praises of Israel.
6 That is, in Thy house, which is the place where Thy people do praise Thy Name, for the gracious help and deliverances which Thou usually dost prove to them. Other, Nevertheless art thou holy, sitting (that is, always abiding), O ye songs of praise (the manifold or perfect praise) of Israel. Compare Deut. 10:21; Jer. 17:14.
4Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted inb thee, and were not confounded.
b Psalm 25:3; 31:2; Isa. 49:23; Rom. 9:33.
6But I am a 7worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised 8of the people.
7 That is, like unto a poor worm, that is, very weak and void of strength, not regarded at all and as trodden under foot, as follows. Compare Job 25:6; Isa. 41:14.
8 Hebr. a despised one of the people.
7All they that see me laughc me to scorn: they 9shoot out the lip, they 10shake the head, saying,
c Mat. 27:39.
9 Other, they draw the lip. Hebr. properly, they open with the lip.
10 See 2 Kings 19 on verse 21.
8Hed11trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, 12seeing he delighted in him.
d Mat. 27:43.
11 Hebr. revolving or rolling upon the LORD, that is, He has committed, dedicated, resigned Himself, or His way (as Psalm 37:5), or His cause, the issue of His sufferings unto the LORD, (as we commonly phrase it) confidently relying on Him; as when one rolls a thing to such a place where it shall remain there, or place something on someone who is truly able to undertake it upon himself and to bear it out or to deliver it. Compare Psalm 55:22; Prov. 16:3; 1 Peter 5:7, where the same sweet and elegant expressions are to be found.
12 He priding Himself for whatever reason; such they speak ironically.
9But 13thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou 14didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.
13 This is a reply upon the preceding mockery of the wicked, being full of confidence.
14 Other, put me in safety or preservation.
10I was 15cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.
15 That is, commended to Thy care and keeping; a similitude taken from a midwife or nurse, who receives the newborn child upon her knees or in her lap to cherish it.
11Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
1216Many bulls have compassed me: strong 17bulls of 18Bashan have 19beset me round.
16 Or, large, mighty bulls. Understand the chief rulers of the Jews, being as strong, well fed, fat oxen and fierce pushing bulls.
17 The Hebrew word properly signifies strong ones, mighty ones, but is likewise used for oxen, steers or bulls, as is to be gathered from Isa. 34:7. See also Psalm 50:13; 68:30; Jer. 47:3 (where it is taken for strong horses); Jer. 50:11.
18 See Deut. 32 on verse 14; Ezek. 39:18; Hosea 4:16; Amos 4:1.
19 Hebr. as if one would say: crown or beset me round.
13They 20gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
20 Compare Job 16:10; Lam. 2:16; 3:46.
14I am 21poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is 22melted in the midst of my bowels.
21 That is, my strength flows away as water which is poured out.
22 See Deut. 1 on verse 28; 20:8; Joshua 7:5; 14:8; Psalm 68:2, etc.
15My strength is dried up like a potsherd;e and my tongue 23cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust 24of death.
e piece of broken pottery*
23 So that I speak poorly. See Job 29:10; Psalm 137:6; Ezek. 3:26; or, by reason of drought and great thirst. See John 19:28.
24 That is, in such condition, that I am as a dead man, ready to be carried to the grave. Some hold it to be a comparison taken from wrestlers, who, having wrestled long and having become entirely powerless, do faint at last and fall down on the ground into the dust like dead men.
16For 25dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: theyf26pierced my hands and my feet.
25 Understand the high priests and scribes, together with the vile mob of the Jews and soldiers, whom the Lord Christ compares unto dogs, by reason of their vileness, pollution and raging madness against Him. Compare Job 30:1; Psalm 59:6, 14; Prov. 26:11; Mat. 7:6; Philip. 3:2; Rev. 22:15. See also 2 Sam. 3 on verse 8.
f Mat. 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:33; John 19:23, 37; 20:25.
26 That is, My hands and feet they have nailed through.
17I may 27tellg all my bones: they look and stare 28upon me.
27 Being so stretched out upon the cross, that they (projecting out as it were) could have been counted.
g count*
28 Or, at me, namely, their desire; that is, they take therein their pleasure and amusement which they, with their own eyes, may see My suffering. Compare Psalm 35:21; 37:34; 54:7; 59:10; 92:11; 118:7.
18Theyh part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
h Luke 23:34; John 19:24.
19But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
20Deliver my 29soul from the 30sword; my 31darling from the 32power of the dog.
29 That is, my person or life, and so in the sequel. See Gen. 12 on verse 5; Gen. 19 on verse 17.
30 That is, from this sharp and bitter encounter, this hostile and mortal violence, this fierce and cruel persecution, this piercing and wounding and murdering, and death itself; as the word sword is sometimes taken for such consequences of the sword and of war. See Jer. 25:16, 27, 29; Ezek. 38:21, etc.
31 Or, my one, my only one, that is, my soul, which, as an only child (whereof this word is elsewhere taken as Gen. 22:2; Judges 11:34, etc.) is all alone and destitute of all help. So the Hebrew word is likewise used, Psalm 35:17. Compare also Psalm 25:16; 68:6.
32 Hebr. from the hand. See Job 5 on verse 20; of the dog, that is, of the dogs, see on verse 16. One may here and in the next verse likewise understand the devil, who is called a prince of this world and compared to a fierce and roaring lion, John 14:30; Eph. 6:12; 1 Peter 5:8. See the next verse.
21Save me from the lion’s mouth: 33for thou hast heard me from the horns of the 34unicorns.
33 That is, answer and deliver me from the horns, etc. There are with the Hebrews often two words understood by one. Compare Gen. 12 on verse 15; Num. 17 on verse 5. Other, Save me … and hear me from the horns, etc., or, yea, thou hast heard me.
34 Which are very strong, wild, fierce and untamable beasts, Num. 23:22; Job 39:9, etc.
22I willi declare thy 35name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
i Heb. 2:12.
35 Declare Thy faithfulness, truth and goodness among My disciples, and those who, through their word, shall believe in Me. See Heb. 2:10, 11, 12 and compare John 20:19, 26; Acts 1:4, 6; 1 Cor. 15:6.
23Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24For he hath 36not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
36 Notwithstanding that my affliction was such that men despised me because of it and had a dislike to me, nevertheless God has not cast away nor abhorred me for that reason.
25My praise shall be 37of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my 38vows 39before them that fear him.
37 Hebr. out of thee, that is, Thou shalt be the matter and subject of my praise.
38 Of thankfulness unto God.
39 Hebr. over against them, etc.
26The 40meek shall 41eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: 42your heart shall 43live for ever.
40 See above Psalm 10 on verse 17.
41 They shall have communion with Christ and His merits through faith. Compare Psalm 132:15; Cant. 5:1; Luke 1:53; John 6:54, etc.
42 That is, ye meek ones, ye that seek the LORD.
43 Being filled with spiritual joys. See Psalm 69:32; John 16:22.
2744All the endsj of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
44 This is a prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles, where the word all must not be understood as all the inhabitants of the earth, rich and poor, each person, but of the spreading of the church and the great multitude of God’s people under the New Testament, out of all kinds of nations, without distinction, as the matter demonstrates itself. Compare John 10:16; 11:52; Acts 2:39, etc.
jPsalm 2:8; 72:11; 86:9.
28For the kingdom 45is the LORD's: and he is the governor among the nations.
45 Or, belongeth to the LORD.
29All they that be 46fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down 47to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own 48soul.
46 That is, the rich and mighty ones, as Psalm 78:31; Isa. 10:16; Ezek. 34:20. The meaning is, that there shall be of both, rich and mighty ones (as Psalm 45:12; 72:10; Isa. 49:23, etc.), but likewise poor and needy ones among the Gentiles who shall convert themselves unto Christ. See 1 Cor. 1:26, etc.
47 That is, those who are of low rank and condition, or those that are brought exceeding low, or in great need and distress. Compare Job 30:19; Psalm 44:25; 113:7; Isa. 29:4; 47:1; Lam. 3:29.
48 He, who is in danger of his life, whether by famine, sickness, persecution, or otherwise. Likewise, he, who has deserved in himself nothing less than death on account of his sinful state and who has no means nor power to save his own soul, shall seek in humility his comfort in Christ by faith and cleave to Him as being the only Refuge in all bodily and spiritual needs.
30 A 49seed shall serve him; it shall be 50accounted to the Lord 51for a generation.
49 That is, the children and descendants of the believers; or, a seed, the seed of Christ; so that there shall be always such as shall embrace and serve the Lord Christ, who are likewise called children, whom God gives to Christ, Heb. 2:13 out of Isa. 8:18, and his seed, Isa. 53:10.
50 Or, attributed, imputed, that is, that seed shall be enrolled and accounted among Christ’s church and people. Compare Psalm 87:4, 5, 6.
51 Other, to a generation, that is, to or for a people of the Lord. Compare Psalm 14:5. God is in the generation of the righteous, or, righteous generation, that is, people. See also Psalm 24:6; 73:15. Compare Mat. 12:39; Acts 2:40.
31They shall come, and shall declare 52his righteousness unto a people 53that shall be born, thatk he hath done 54this.
52 Revealed through the Gospel. See Rom. 3:21, 22, etc.; Philip. 3:9. Or, his righteousness, that is, his faithfulness and truth, in keeping and making good His promises of the calling of the Gentiles.
53 Or, that is born, that is, unto their children and descendants, who, after their death, shall make up and constitute the people of God and be born again by the Spirit of God.
kPsalm 52:9.
54 This wonderful work of grace, this righteousness and salvation, (He) only (has) prepared, wrought and executed. Other, that he hath made [it (the people namely)] as Psalm 100:3: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.