Salmi 140:5 Commento

This and the four following psalms are much of a piece, and the scope of them the same with many that we met with in the beginning and middle of the book of Psalms, though with but few of late. They were penned by David (as it should seem) when he was persecuted by Saul; one of them is said to be his "prayer when he was in the cave," and it is probable that all the rest were penned about the same time. In this psalm, I. David complains of the malice of his enemies, and prays to God to preserve him from them (Psa 140:1-5). II. He encourages himself in God as his God (Psa 140:6, Psa 140:7). III. He prays for, and prophesies, the destruction of his persecutors (Psa 140:8-11). IV. He assures all God's afflicted people that their troubles would in due time end well (Psa 140:12, Psa 140:13), with which assurance we must comfort ourselves, and one another, in singing this psalm. To the chief musician. A psalm of David.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 140 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. This psalm, A ben Ezra says, was composed by David before he was king; and Kimchi says, it is concerning Doeg and the Ziphites, who calumniated him to Saul; and, according to our English contents, it is a prayer of David to be delivered from Saul and Doeg. The Syriac inscription is, "said by David, when Saul threw a javelin at him to kill him, but it struck the wall; but, spiritually, the words of him that cleaves to God, and contends with his enemies.'' R. Obadiah says, it was made at the persecution of David by Saul, which was before the kingdom of David; as the persecution (of Gog) is before the coming of the Messiah. It is indeed before his spiritual coming, but not before his coming in the flesh; and David may be very well considered in the psalm as a type of Christ, for he was particularly so in his sufferings, as well as in other things.

The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords,.... These were the Ziphites, according to Arama; see Psa 119:85; the character well agrees with the Scribes and Pharisees, who were proud boasters, and despised others, and often laid snares for Christ to take away his life; and with the enemies of the church and people of God; who, through their pride, persecute them, and are insidious, and use artful methods to ensnare them; as the fowler lays his snare for the bird, and has his cords to draw it to him when it is taken in the snare, to which the allusion is; they have spread a net by the wayside: they waylaid him; knowing the way he would go, they lay in wait for him, to seize him at once as he went along; see Joh 18:1; the word "cords" in the preceding clause should be connected with this, and be read, "and with cords they have spread a net by the wayside": it being usual, as Jarchi observes, to fasten a long cord at the top of the net; and when the fowler sees the birds under the net, he draws the cord, and the net falls upon the fowls; they have set gins for me; all these expressions design the insidiousness, and the private, secret, artful methods, the enemies of David, of Christ and his people, took and do take to ensnare them. Arama interprets the "snare and cords" of the watching of David's house; the "net by the wayside" of posting themselves at the gates of the city, and surrounding it; and gins of spies; see Sa1 19:11. Selah; on this word; see Gill on Psa 3:2.

Now these demons, if they see all Christians—and especially monks—joyfully laboring and making progress, first attack by attempting to place stumbling blocks in their way. Their “stumbling blocks” are filthy thoughts. But there is no need for us to fear the things they throw at us; through prayer and fasting and faith in the Lord the demons immediately fall. Having fallen, however, they do not stop but advance once more with deceit and cunning. Since they have been unable to deceive the heart openly through filthy pleasure, they renew their attacks on it by other means. From this point on, fabricating apparitions, they pretend to frighten us by changing their shapes and taking on the appearance of women, wild beasts, reptiles and huge bodies and legions of soldiers.Nevertheless, we need have no fear at all of their apparitions, for they are nothing, and they disappear in a hurry, especially if each person protects himself with faith and the sign of the cross. But they are brazen and completely shameless, for even if they are defeated by these means they attack again by some other method. They act like soothsayers, saying they can predict the future, and they make themselves as tall as the roof and as wide as a house so that by illusions of this sort they can carry away those whom they have been unable to deceive by thoughts. But if they find that the soul has been secured with faith and hopeful resolve, then they bring in their leader. LIFE OF ST.

"The proud have hidden a trap for me" [Psalm 140:5]. He has briefly described the whole body of the devil, when he says, "the proud." Hence is it that for the most part they call themselves righteous when they are unrighteous. Hence is it that nothing is so grievous to them as to confess their sins. They are men who, being falsely righteous, must needs envy the truly righteous. For none envies another in that which he wishes not either to be or to seem....Hence come all allurings and trippings up of others. This the devil first wished, when falling himself he envied man who stood....

So let us walk serenely along this highway without a care in the world, but let us have a healthy fear of the traps set beside the road. The enemy does not dare lay his traps on the highway, because Christ is the way; but next to the road, on the wayside, he certainly never stops doing so. That is why it says in the psalm, “They set trip wires for me next to the path.” Another text of Scripture also says, “Remember that you are treading in the midst of snares.” These snares we are treading among are not on the highway, but they are by the wayside. Why be in dread, why feel frightened, if you are walking along the way? If you abandon the way, that is the time to be afraid. I mean, the reason the enemy is even permitted to set his snares beside the way is to make sure that in a mood of happy-go-lucky carelessness you do not abandon the way and fall into his traps.

A Psalm of praise to God for His mighty, righteous, and gracious government of all men, and of His humble and suffering people in particular. (Psa. 145:1-21) (Compare Psa 30:1). bless thy name--celebrate Thy perfections (Psa 5:11). God is addressed as king, alluding to His government of men.

snare [and] net--for threatening dangers (compare Psa 38:12; Psa 57:6).