Bible Commentaries

« To the chief Musician upon Jonathelemrechokim, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath. » Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.

Upon Jonath-elem-rechokim — Meaning himself, who had wished before the wings of a dove, Psalms 55:6 , and was now the dove of dumbness among foreigners, Philistines, those ravenous hawks that were ready to seize and tear him, Fatua columba, Hosea 7:11 . Dumb he was fain to feign himself, and worse, among them (see Psalms 34:1 , the title; 1 Samuel 22:17 , …), and therein was more of the serpent than of the dove.

Michtam of David — Davidi insigne aureolum, David’s jewels, or golden ingot. See Psalms 16:1 , title. This Michtam he made likely (as also Psalms 34:1 ) when, gotten away from Gath, he came into the cave of Adullam, 1 Samuel 22:1 .

Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up — Sup me up (as the Hebrew word soundeth), make but one draught of me, or suck me in as a whirlpool, swallow me up as a ravenous wild beast. The devil is said to seek whom he may swallow down 1 Peter 5:8 at a gulp, as it were; and his imps are as greedy, but that they are gagged by God. The man here mentioned is Ishbibenob, the brother of Goliath, saith the Chaldee; but they do better who understand it to be Saul and his accomplices.

He fighting daily oppresseth me — Pliny saith of the scorpion, that there is not one minute wherein he doth not put forth the sting. The like do Satan and his instruments.

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Mine enemies would daily swallow [me] up: for [they be] many that fight against me, O thou most High.

Mine enemies (or observers) would daily swallow me up — Anhelant observatores mei. To set forth the indignity of the thing, he repeateth the same sentence again in the plural number; noting that there were not a few of them bitterly bent by might and main to mischief him, a poor forlorn, friendless man.

For they be many that fight against me, O thou most High — Or, though there be many that fight for me from on high, that is, the angels, as Aben Ezra rendereth and senseth the text.

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What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee — This was bravely resolved: Quid timet hominem homo in sinu Dei positus? Faith quelleth and killeth distrustful fear; but awful dread, it breedeth, feedeth, fostereth, and cherisheth.

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In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

In God I will praise his word — Having placed my confidence in God, I will take his bare word for my security. He hath promised to make me king, 1 Samuel 16:13 , and he will not suffer his faithfulness to fail, or alter the thing that is gone out of his mouth, Psalms 89:33 . The word of God cannot be broken, John 5:35 . David once doubted it, but he soon took himself up for halting, Psalms 116:11 .

I will not fear what flesh can do unto me — Flesh is terminus diminuens. What can proud flesh do against the God of the spirits of all flesh? Man is but despicable flesh at the best.

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Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts [are] against me for evil.

Every day they wrest my words — Or, my matters; they distort and pervert everything I say, or do, from the true intention, and all to make a traitor of me. That I carried myself wisely in the court, valiantly in the field, faithfully toward Jonathan, cautiously for the safeguard of mine own life, shifting as I could from one place to another; all this they say was done out of affectation for the kingdom, and as seeking Saul’s death. So they dealt by our Saviour in the Gospel, taking that with the left hand which he tendered with the right, and many times marring a good text by an ill gloss put upon it. So Simon the leper served that good woman, who made an ewer A servant who supplied guests, etc. at table with water to wash their hands. of her eyes and a towel of her hair, Luke 7:34 . Men should interpret everything the best way, and not as logicians do, Sequi partem deteriorem.

All their thoughts, … — See Trapp on " Psalms 56:1 "

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They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.

They gather themselves together — They convene and combine to do me mischief; and should not God’s people meet often together to counterplot such malignants, and to pray them down? Cum bent, cum probi coeunt, cum pii, cum casti congregantur, non est factio dicenda, sed curia: Et e contrario, illis nomen factionis accommodandum est, qui in odium bonorum et proborum conspirant, saith Tertullian (Apol. advers. Gentes, cap. 39, num 520).

They mark my steps — They spy and pry into my practices, that they may take any advantage; this calls for careful and exact walking, 1 Peter 2:21 Hebrews 12:13 .

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Shall they escape by iniquity? in [thine] anger cast down the people, O God.

Shall they escape by iniquity? — q.d. No, let them never think it, their sin will surely find them out, as cunning as they are; and since they are so foolhardy as to walk upon iniquity’s fireworks, let them look to be blown up; and they shall have my prayers to that purpose.

In thine anger cast down, … — It is prophetic as well as optative.

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Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: [are they] not in thy book?

Thou tellest my wanderings — Or, thou cipherest up my flittings, and hast them in numerato, ready told up; my vagaries while hunted up and down like a partridge, and hushed out of every bush, so that I have nowhere to settle. St Paul was at the same pass, αστατουμεν , saith he, we have no certain abode, 1 Corinthians 4:11 ; and so were sundry of the holy martyrs and confessors, who wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins, …, driven from post to pillar, from one country to another, God all the while noting and numbering all their flittings, yea, all their footings, bottling up their tears, booking down their sighs, as here, and Malachi 3:16 ; see Matthew 10:30 . The Septuagint, for my wanderings, or flittings, have my life, ζωην , to teach us, saith one, that our life is but a flitting.

Put thou my tears into thy bottle — Heb. my tear, that is, every tear of mine; let not one of them be lost, but kept safe with thee, as so much sweet water. It is a witty observation of one, that God is said in Scripture to have a bag and a bottle, a bag for our sins, a bottle for our tears; and that we should help to fill this as we have that. There is an allusion here in the original that cannot be translated into English.

Are they not in thy book? — sc. Of providence; where they cannot be blotted out by any time or tyrants.

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