Psalm 21:12 Kommentar

As the foregoing psalm was a prayer for the king that God would protect and prosper him, so this is a thanksgiving for the success God had blessed him with. Those whom we have prayed for we ought to give thanks for, and particularly for kings, in whose prosperity we share. They are here taught, I. To congratulate him on his victories, and the honour he had achieved (Psa 21:1-6). II. To confide in the power of God for the completing of the ruin of the enemies of his kingdom (Psa 21:7-13). In this there is an eye to Messiah the Prince, and the glory of his kingdom; for to him divers passages in this psalm are more applicable than to David himself. To the chief musician. A psalm of David.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 21 To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. This psalm was either written by David; and therefore called a "psalm of David"; or it was written, as it may be rendered, "for David", by some other person, on account of his victories and triumphs; or rather "concerning David" (s); that is, concerning the Messiah, the son of David, as Kimchi says some expound it; or concerning the Messiah, who is called David, Eze 37:24; and Jarchi observes, that their Rabbins interpret it of the Messiah; but, says he, it is right to explain it, moreover, of David himself, for an answer to the heretics (Christians) who err in it; and various passages in this psalm are by the Jewish writers understood of the Messiah; as "the King", in Psa 20:1 is in the Targum called the King Messiah; Psa 21:4 is in the Talmud applied (t) to him; Psa 21:3 are in Zohar (u), and in the Midrashes (w), interpreted of him; and many Christian writers understand the whole of him; which is right: though Theodoret thinks it was penned on the account of the health of King Hezekiah, and his restoration from his disease; which is not likely. (s) "pro Davide, vel de Davide", Vatablus. (t) T. Bab. Succah, fol. 52. 1. Vid. Nachman. disput. "cum fratre Paulo", p. 36. Ed. Wagenseil. (u) In Numb. fol. 68. 3. 4. (w) Midrash Tillim apud Viccars. in loc. & in Galatin. l. 3. c. 9. Bemidbar Rabba, fol. 212. 4. & 218. 1.

Therefore shall thou make them turn their back,.... Or flee and run away to private places, to hide themselves from the wrath of God and of the Lamb, though to no purpose; or "make them turn behind thy back": God will turn his back upon them, and be negligent and careless of them, and not regard them when they cry in their misery and destruction. Some Jewish interpreters (e) understand it of their being put together on one side, in one corner, and be separate from the people of God; to which sense the Targum inclines, rendering the word for "back" the "shoulder", which sometimes signifies unanimity and union, Zep 3:9; and thus, being all together by themselves, the wrath of God shall be poured forth upon them, and they shall be destroyed at once: so the Christians were, by the providence of God, brought out of Jerusalem before its destruction; and the saints will be called out of Babylon before its fall; and the goats, the wicked, will be separated from the righteous, and set together at Christ's left hand; for they shall not stand in the congregation of the righteous: but the best sense of the words is, "thou shalt set them for a butt" or (f) "heap"; or, as it is in the Hebrew text, a shoulder; a butt to shoot at being so called, because it is earth heaped up like a shoulder; see Job 16:12; and to this agrees what follows: when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them; that is, direct the arrows of his wrath and vengeance right against them; see Psa 7:11. (e) Kimchi & Ben Melech in loc. (f) "ponis eos metam", Cocceius; "humerum", Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus; "velut tumulum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

“Turned away” [is] an expression properly applied to the sinner, for “Cain went out from the face of the Lord,” and the psalmist says, “You will make them turn their back.” One who is righteous does not turn away from the Lord but runs to meet him and says, “My eyes are ever toward the Lord.” And when the Lord said, “Whom shall I send?” Isaiah offered himself of his own accord and said, “Behold, here I am.”

"For You shall set them low." For You shall rank them among those from whom in degradation and contempt You will turn away. "In Your leavings You shall make ready their countenance" [Psalm 21:12]. And in these things that Thou leavest, that is, in the desires of an earthly kingdom, You shall make ready their shamelessness for Your passion.

And he assigns the reason for this statement, why they did not establish their counsel, saying "their back." Jerome's text is clearer: "For you shall set them as a shoulder, your boundaries firm against their face." It can happen in two ways that enemies do not establish their plans against someone. In one way, if they are conquered by him. In another way, if the boundaries of the one attacked are made firm; and therefore he says, they could not establish their plan: "For you shall set them as a back," that is, they shall flee before you. Likewise, "you shall make firm your boundaries against their face." This is understood spiritually of Christ, whose boundaries no one could breach. Jn. 10: "No one shall snatch them out of my hand." And in our text it reads, "In your remnants you shall prepare their countenance," that is, against their countenance, according to the Gloss. Above the Psalmist set forth the future punishment of the wicked; here he sets forth their present punishment. And there is a twofold spiritual punishment, which is in the soul: namely, according to aversion from God, and according to conversion to evil. As to the first he says, "You, according to your providence, shall set them as a back." As to the second he says, "In your remnants you shall prepare their countenance." And this is explained in many ways, according to the Gloss. In one way, concerning those things which Christ left behind, namely the temporal things he scorned. Jn. 18: "My kingdom is not of this world"; because in the desire for temporal things you shall leave their countenance, that is, you shall prepare their intention, so that on account of this they kill Christ, as when they said, Jn. 11: "Lest perhaps the Romans come," etc. Or "in their remnants," that is, in the nations which you leave to be converted. Rom. 15: "In him the nations shall hope." "You shall prepare their countenance," that is, the knowledge of you, which is "theirs," that is, of the Jews, that is, promised to them. Or the remnants of Christ are called the last things of his life, that is, his passion and death; and in these their evil intention toward his passion was prepared. Or the preparation of the countenance is for good, that is, "in the remnants" of the Jews who will be converted. Rom. 9: "The remnant shall be saved." And although they are set as a back for now, yet the remnant will be converted and will know.

The pious are led by the Psalmist to celebrate God's favor to the king in the already conferred and in prospective victories. The doxology added may relate to both Psalms; the preceding of petition, chiefly this of thanksgiving, ascribing honor to God for His display of grace and power to His Church in all ages, not only under David, but also under his last greatest successor, "the King of the Jews." (Psa 21:1-13) thy strength . . . thy salvation--as supplied by Thee.

turn their back--literally, "place them [as to the] shoulder." against the face of them--The shooting against their faces would cause them to turn their backs in flight.