สดุดี 140:9 วิจารณ์

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.

As for the head of those that compass me about, let the, mischief of their own lips cover them. Meaning either their natural head, put for their whole persons; and the sense is, let the mischief they have contrived for others fall upon themselves; see Eze 9:10, Psa 7:16; or some principal person, the head and leader of them, as the word is sometimes used, Isa 9:14; and designs either Saul, who at the head of three thousand men surrounded the hill where David and his men were; or Doeg the Edomite, who was over the servants of Saul, and accused David to him; so Kimchi: or Ahithophel, who was at the head of the conspirators against him; so the Targum paraphrases it, "Ahithophel, the head of the sanhedrim of the disciples of wickedness.'' If we understand this clause of Christ, the antitype of David, it may design Judas; who was the guide to them that sought Jesus, and, at the head of a band of men, enclosed and took him: or if of the church and people of God, the man of sin may be intended, the pope of Rome; the head over many countries, the antichristian nations, Psa 110:6. The word is used of the gall and poison of asps, Job 20:14; and if so taken here, as Arama interprets it, it will make the sense agree with Psa 140:3; and may be read in connection with the following clause, thus: "let the poison of those that compass me about, even the mischief of their lips, cover them" (o); or the labour of them (p): let the lies and calumnies they have so industriously spread, and took so much pains to propagate to the hurt of others, like deadly poison, cover them with shame and confusion; and the mischief they have boasted of, and gave out that they would do, let it come upon them on all sides, and utterly ruin and destroy them. (o) So Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (p) "labor labiorum eorum", Montanus, Gejerus, Michaelis.

"The head of their going about, the toil of their own lips shall cover them" [Psalm 140:9]. Me, he says, the shadow of Your wings shall cover: for, "You have covered me in the day of battle." Them what shall cover? "The head of their going about;" that is, pride. What is, "their going about"? How they go about and stand not, how they go in the circle of error, where is journeying without end. He who goes in a straight line, begins from some point, ends at some point: he who goes in a circle, never ends. That is the toil of the wicked, which is set forth yet more plainly in another Psalm, "The wicked walk in a circle." But "the head of their going about" is pride, for pride is the beginning of every sin. But whence is pride "the toil of their own lips"? Every proud man is false, and every false man is a liar. Men toil in speaking falsehood; for truth they could speak with entire facility. For he toils, who makes what he says: he who wishes to speak the truth, toils not, for truth herself speaks without toil....

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.

Contrasts his head covered by God (Psa 140:7) with theirs, or (as "head" may be used for "persons") with them, covered with the results of their wicked deeds (Psa 7:16).

The strophic symmetry is now at an end. The longer the poet lingers over the contemplation of the rebels the more lofty and dignified does his language become, the more particular the choice of the expressions, and the more difficult and unmanageable the construction. The Hiph. הסב signifies, causatively, to cause to go round about (Exo 13:18), and to raise round about (Ch2 14:6); here, after Jos 6:11, where with an accusative following it signifies to go round about: to make the circuit of anything, as enemies who surround a city on all sides and seek the most favourable point for assault; מסבּי from the participle מסב. Even when derived from the substantive מסב (Hupfeld), "my surroundings" is equivalent to איבי סביבותי in Psa 27:6. Hitzig, on the other hand, renders it: the head of my slanderers, from סבב, to go round about, Arabic to tell tales of any one, defame; but the Arabic sbb, fut. u, to abuse, the IV form (Hiphil) of which moreover is not used either in the ancient or in the modern language, has nothing to do with the Hebrew סבב, but signifies originally to cut off round about, then to clip (injure) any one's honour and good name. (Note: The lexicographer Neshwn says, i. 279b: Arab. 'l-sbb 'l - šatm w-qı̂l an aṣl 'l-sbb 'l - qaṭ‛ ṯm ṣâr 'l - štm, "sebb is to abuse; still, the more original signification of cutting off is said to lie at the foundation of this signification." That Arab. qṭ‛ is synonymous with it, e.g., Arab. lı̂štqt‛fı̂nâ, why dost thou cut into us? i.e., why dost thou insult our honour? - Wetzstein.) The fact that the enemies who surround the psalmist on every side are just such calumniators, is intimated here in the word שׂפתימו. He wishes that the trouble which the enemies' slanderous lips occasion him may fall back upon their own head. ראשׁ is head in the first and literal sense according to Psa 7:17; and יכסּימו (with the Jod of the groundform kcy, as in Deu 32:26; Kg1 20:35; Chethb יכסּוּמו, (Note: Which is favoured by Exo 15:5, jechasjûmû with mû instead of mô, which is otherwise without example.) after the attractional schema, Sa2 2:4; Isa 2:11, and frequently; cf. on the masculine form, Pro 5:2; Pro 10:21) refers back to ראשׁ, which is meant of the heads of all persons individually. In Psa 140:11 ימיטוּ (with an indefinite subject of the higher punitive powers, Ges. 137, note), in the signification to cause to descend, has a support in Psa 55:4, whereas the Niph. נמוט, fut. ימּט, which is preferred by the Ker, in the signification to be made to descend, is contrary to the usage of the language. The ἅπ. λεγ. מהמרות has been combined by Parchon and others with the Arabic hmr, which, together with other significations (to strike, stamp, cast down, and the like), also has the signification to flow (whence e.g., in the Koran, mâ' munhamir, flowing water). "Fire" and "water" are emblems of perils that cannot be escaped, Psa 66:12, and the mention of fire is therefore appropriately succeeded by places of flowing water, pits of water. The signification "pits" is attested by the Targum, Symmachus, Jerome, and the quotation in Kimchi: "first of all they buried them in מהמורות; when the flesh was consumed they collected the bones and buried them in coffins." On בּל־יקוּמוּ cf. Isa 26:14. Like Psa 140:10-11, Psa 140:12 is also not to be taken as a general maxim, but as expressing a wish in accordance with the excited tone of this strophe. אישׁ לשׁון is not a great talker, i.e., boaster, but an idle talker, i.e., slanderer (lxx ἀνὴρ γλωσσώδης, cf. Sir. 8:4). According to the accents, אישׁ חמס רע is the parallel; but what would be the object of this designation of violence as worse or more malignant? With Sommer, Olshausen, and others, we take רע as the subject to יצוּדנּוּ: let evil, i.e., the punishment which arises out of evil, hunt him; cf. Pro 13:21, חטּאים תּרדּף רעה, and the opposite in Psa 23:6. It would have to be accented, according to this our construction of the words, אישׁ חמס רע יצודני למדחפת. The ἅπ. λεγ. למדחפת we do not render, with Hengstenberg, Olshausen, and others: push upon push, with repeated pushes, which, to say nothing more, is not suited to the figure of hunting, but, since דּחף always has the signification of precipitate hastening: by hastenings, that is to say, forced marches.