Salmi 9:3 Commento

In this psalm, I. David praises God for pleading his cause, and giving him victory over his enemies and the enemies of his country (Psa 9:1-6), and calls upon others to join with him in his songs of praise (Psa 9:11, Psa 9:12). II. He prays to God that he might have still further occasion to praise him, for his own deliverances and the confusion of his enemies (Psa 9:13, Psa 9:14, Psa 9:19, Psa 9:20). III. He triumphs in the assurance he had of God's judging the world (Psa 9:7, Psa 9:8), protecting his oppressed people (Psa 9:9, Psa 9:10, Psa 9:18), and bringing his and their implacable enemies to ruin (Psa 9:15-17). This is very applicable to the kingdom of the Messiah, the enemies of which have been in part destroyed already, and shall be yet more and more till they all be made his footstool, which we are to assure ourselves of, that God may have the glory and we may take the comfort. To the chief musician upon Muth-labben. A psalm of David.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 9 To the chief Musician upon Muthlabben, a Psalm of David. Some, take "muthlabben" to be the name of the tune to which this psalm was sung, and to design the same note which we call the counter-tenor: others think, that "upon muth", or "almuth", are but one word, and the same as "alamoth", Psa 45:1, title; and that it is the name of a musical instrument; and that "Ben" in "labben", is the name of the chief musician, who was over that sort of instrument, to whom the psalm is inscribed (l); and indeed R. Sol Jarchi says, that he had seen in the great Masorah these words as one; and so it seems the Septuagint interpreters read them, who render them, "for the hidden things of the son"; and the Arabic version, "concerning the mysteries of the son": and Ben is a name, it is said, of one of the singers, whose kindred and companions were appointed with psalteries on "alamoth", Ch1 15:18. And so then the title runs thus; "to the chief musician on alamoth, [even to] Ben". But others are of opinion that the subject matter or occasion of the psalm is designed by this phrase; and that as "muth" signifies "death", the death of some person is intended, on account of which this psalm was composed; some say Nabal, seeing the word "Laban", inverted, or read backwards, is "Nabal" (m), whose death affected David; as appears from Sa1 25:38. Others, that it was one of the kings of the Gentiles, whose name was Labben, and is mentioned nowhere else, who fought with David, and whom he slew, and upon his death penned this psalm (n). Others, Goliath the Philistine (o), who is called, Sa1 17:4. , which we render "champion" and dueller, one of two that fight together. But rather the reason of the name is, as given by the Jewish commentators (p), because he went and stood between the two camps of the Philistines and the Israelites; and so the Chaldee paraphrase renders the title of this psalm, "to praise, concerning the death of the man who went out between the camps, a song of David.'' And so the psalm itself, in the Targum, and by other Jewish writers, is interpreted of Goliath and the Philistines, and of the victory over them; and which does not seem amiss. Arama interprets it of the death of Saul. Others interpret Almuth Labben "of the death of the son"; and understand it of the death of Absalom, the son of David (q): but David's passion moved in another way, not in joy, but in grief, Sa2 18:33; nor is there anything in the psalm that can be referred unto it. Others, of the death of the son of God; but of that there is not the least hint in the psalm. Theodoret interprets it of Christ's victory over death by dying, which was a mystery or hidden thing. Rather, I should think, it might be interpreted of the death of the son of perdition, the man of sin and his followers; who may be typified by Goliath, and the Philistines: and so, as Ainsworth observes, as the former psalm was concerning the propagation of Christ's kingdom, this is of the destruction of antichrist. And Jerom, long ago said, this whole psalm is sung by the prophet in the person of the church, concerning antichrist: and to this agrees the Syriac version; which makes the subject of the psalm to be, "concerning Christ, taking the throne and kingdom, and routing the enemy.'' And also the Arabic version, according to which the argument of the psalm is, "concerning the mysteries of the Son, with respect to the glory of Christ, and his resurrection and kingdom, and the destruction of all the children of disobedience.'' To which may be added, that this psalm, according to R. Sol Jarchi, belongs to the time to come, to the days of the Messiah, and the future redemption by him. (l) Kimchi & Abendana in Miclol Yophi in loc. (m) So some in Jarchi & Aben Ezra in loc. (n) Donesh Hallevi in ibid. (o) Kimchi & Ben Melech in loc. (p) Jarchi, Kimchi, Levi Ben Gersom, R. Isaiah, & Ben Melech in 1 Sam. xvii. 4. (q) So some in Jarchi in loc.

When mine enemies are turned back,.... As the Philistines were, when Goliath their champion was dead; and as the men that came to apprehend Christ, David's antitype, went backwards and fell to the ground, through the superior power of Christ; and as sin, Satan, and the world, and at last antichrist, are made to retreat from the Lord's people, who are more than conquerors over them through Christ that has loved them. "They shall fall and perish at thy presence"; they shall stumble at one thing or another which divine Providence will throw in their way to hinder them from executing their designs, and so fall before them they meant to destroy, and perish at the presence of God as wax melteth before the fire; see Psa 27:2; so antichrist shall be consumed with the breath of Christ's mouth, and the brightness of his coming, Th2 2:8; and this is the ground and foundation of the psalmist's joy, and rejoicing, and singing praise to God as it will be the reason of the joy of saints in the latter day, Rev 18:22. . Psalms 9:4 psa 9:4 psa 9:4 psa 9:4For thou hast maintained my right and my cause,.... Or vindicated and established his righteous cause; God had pleaded and defended it, and by the flight, fall, and ruin of his enemies, had clearly made it appear that his cause was just and good; thou sittest in the throne judging right; God has not only a throne of grace on which he sits, and from whence he distributes grace and mercy to his people, but he has a throne of judgment, and which is prepared for it, as in Psa 9:7; where he sits as the Judge of all the earth, and will do right; nor can he do otherwise, though his judgments are not always manifest in the present state of things; and the vindication of the psalmist's innocence and uprightness is another reason of his joy and gladness.

These things, he said, I will assuredly do “when my enemies are turned back.” But who is such an enemy unless it is death, the enemy of life about which it is said, “You knew the enemy death will be destroyed.” Destruction will be Death’s end when he is turned back. But “back” where, unless the return into the pristine condition when he did not exist? “For God did not make death, but through the envy of the devil, death entered into the world.” When, therefore, as death is turned back, it will no longer be, then all the rest of the enemies will be enfeebled and the enemies of your Word will be destroyed before your face.

Now, notice how he proclaims God’s strength: “They will lose heart and perish before your face.” Once more, on hearing “face,” do not form an impression of anything bodily. At this point, in fact, he is suggesting God’s power, his manifestation, the facility of his strength. Just as he says elsewhere, “He gazes on the earth and makes it tremble,” so here too he says the same thing. His gaze, you see, is sufficient to destroy his enemies.

"They will be weakened, and perish from Your face" [Psalm 9:3]. Who will be weakened and perish, but the unrighteous and ungodly? "They will be weakened," while they shall avail nothing; "and they shall perish," because the ungodly will not be; "from the face" of God, that is, from the knowledge of God, as he perished who said, "But now I live not, but Christ lives in me." [Galatians 2:20] But why will the ungodly "be weakened and perish from your face?" "Because," he says, "You have made my judgment, and my cause:" that is, the judgment in which I seemed to be judged, You have made mine; and the cause in which men condemned me just and innocent, You have made mine. For such things served Him for our deliverance: as sailors too call the wind theirs, which they take advantage of for prosperous sailing.

"When." Here is set forth the matter of the thanksgiving. First, specifically for himself; second, in general, "let them be turned back." Concerning the first, he does three things. First, he sets forth the deed; second, he praises the authority of the doer, at "the Lord endures forever." Third, he adds the fruit, at "let them hope in you." He sets forth two things: the deed and the justice of the deed. The second, at "because you have done." The deed is the destruction of the enemy, in which he says three things: because if someone is destroyed, first he fails in his purpose; and as to this he says, "when my enemy is turned back," supply "in this, I will confess," that is, I will give thanks to God. Then the enemy is turned back when he fails in what he purposes. Ps. 69: "Let them be turned back and put to shame, who devise evil against me." Second, his strength is weakened; and as to this he says, "they shall be weakened," namely in their power. Jer. 20: "The Lord is with me as a mighty warrior; therefore those who persecute me shall fall and shall be weak." Third, they perish; therefore he says, "they shall perish," either by ceasing from impiety; and this "from your face," that is, from your knowledge or your condemnation. Or, "they shall perish" by your avenging and passing sentence on their wickedness. Or, "they shall perish from your face," because they shall not be able to see you. Is. 26, according to another translation: "Let the wicked one be taken away, lest he see the glory of God."

Upon Muthlabben, or, after the manner according to "death to the Son," by which some song was known, to whose air or melody the musician is directed to perform this Psalm. This mode of denoting a song by some prominent word or words is still common (compare Psa 22:1). The Psalmist praises God for deliverance from his enemies and celebrates the divine government, for providing security to God's people and punishment to the wicked. Thus encouraging himself, he prays for new occasions to recount God's mercies, and confident of His continued judgment on the wicked and vindication of the oppressed, he implores a prompt and efficient manifestation of the divine sovereignty. (Psa. 9:1-20) Heartfelt gratitude will find utterance.

When . . . are turned back--It is the result of God's power alone. He, as a righteous Judge (Psa 7:11), vindicates His people. He rebukes by acts as well as words (Psa 6:1; Psa 18:15), and so effectually as to destroy the names of nations as well as persons.

(Heb.: 9:4-5) The call upon himself to thanksgiving sounds forth, and the ב-strophe continues it by expressing the ground of it. The preposition בּ in this instance expresses both the time and the reason together (as in Psa 76:10; Ch2 28:6); in Latin it is recedentibus hostibus meis retro. אחור serves to strengthen the notion of being driven back, as in Psa 56:10, cf. Psa 44:11; and just as, in Latin, verbs compounded of re are strengthened by retro. In Psa 9:4 finite verbs take the place of the infinitive construct; here we have futt. with a present signification, just as in Ch2 16:7 we find a praet. intended as perfect. For the rendering which Hitzig adopts: When mine enemies retreat backwards, they stumble... is opposed both by the absence of any syntactic indication in Psa 9:4 of an apodosis (cf. Psa 27:2); and also by the fact that יכּשׁלוּ is well adapted to be a continuation of the description of שׁוּב אחור (cf. Joh 18:6), but is tame as a principal clause to the definitive clause בשוב אויבי אחור. Moreover, אחור does not signify backwards (which would rather be אחרנּית Gen 9:23; Sa1 4:18), but back, or into the rear. The מן of מפּניך is the מן of the cause, whence the action proceeds. What is intended is God's angry countenance, the look of which sets his enemies on fire as if they were fuel (Psa 21:10), in antithesis to God's countenance as beaming with the light of His love. Now, while this is taking place, and because of its taking place, will be sing praise to God. From Psa 9:2 we see that the Psalm is composed directly after the victory and while the destructive consequences of it to the vanquished are still in operation. David sees in it all an act of Jahve's judicial power. To execute any one's right, משׁפּט (Mic 7:9), to bring to an issue any one's suit or lawful demand, דּין (Psa 140:13), is equivalent to: to assist him and his good cause in securing their right. The phrases are also used in a judicial sense without the suffix. The genitive object after these principal words never denotes the person against whom, but the person on whose behalf, the third party steps forward with his judicial authority. Jahve has seated Himself upon His judgment-seat as a judge of righteousness (as in Jer 11:20), i.e., as a judge whose judicial mode of procedure is righteousness, justice, (Note: Also Pro 8:16 is probably to be read צדק כּל־שׁכּטי, with Norzi, according to the Targum, Syriac version, and old Codices; at any rate this is an old various reading, and one in accordance with the sense, side by side with כל־שׁפטי ארץ.) and has decided in his favour. In ישׁב ל (as in Psa 132:11), which is distinguished in this respect from ישׁב על (Psa 47:9), the idea of motion, considere, comes prominently forward.