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« A Song [or] Psalm of Asaph. » Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.

Keep not thou silence, O God — Ter idem dicit ad vehementiam. He saith the same thing thrice, to show his earnestness. The Hebrew is, Be not silent to thee, that is, in thine own cause, as Psalms 83:5 . The Septuagint and Vulgate have it, O God, who is like unto thee?

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For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult — Concurrunt magno impetu, conatu, et ardore, Thine, because ours; for there is a league offensive and defensive between God and his people; the Church must, therefore, needs be invincible, because God is so.

Have lifted up the head — Being insolent and confident, they bear their noses high in the air, uttering loud and lofty language; as did Rabshakeh, sent by Sennacherib, 2 Kings 18:17 , to which times some refer this psalm, as others to those of Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 20:1-2 (Kimchi).

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They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

They have taken crafty counsel, … — They have negotiated this league with much subtilty and solicitation, conferunt et captant consilia, they are cruel crafties. Malignaverunt consilium, saith the Vulgate.

And consulted against thy hidden ones — Hidden under the hollow of thy hand, under the shadow of thy wing; and therefore safe from strife of tongues or force of hands, Psalms 27:5 ; Psalms 31:21 , Commodum instituto epithetum. The Greek rendereth it, Thy saints, such as whose life is hid with Christ in God, Colossians 3:3 1 John 3:2 . The same Hebrew word is used for the inward oracle of the temple, Ezekiel 7:22 , a type of heaven, the saints’ country.

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They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from [being] a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

They have said, Come, … — The wicked have their Come, Proverbs 1:11 , as well as the saints, Isaiah 2:3 ; Isaiah 2:5 Zechariah 8:21 , but for a worse purpose.

Let us cut them off — "Them," by way of contempt, as not worth naming, they were so base. The devil and his imps would utterly root out the Church; but that cannot be, Jeremiah 31:36 Matthew 16:18 .

That the name of Israel, … — But Israel hath still a name, when Moab, Ammon, Edom, …, live but by fame only. See Jeremiah 48:2 .

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For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:

They have consulted together with one consent — Heb. with one heart, concorditer, as if they had all but one heart. This was not unity, but conspiracy; such as is that of Papists, Revelation 17:13-14 .

They are confederate against thee — Heb. They have stricken a covenant, viz. with oaths and solemn ceremonies, cutting the sacrifice in twain, and passing between the parts thereof, as Jeremiah 34:18 . - caesa iungebant foedera porca (Virg. Æneid. 8).

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The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;

The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites, … — Exercitu ex variis gentibus conflato, at odds among themselves, and yet well agreed for a mischief to the Church, who might ever well say, as the hare in Martial,

Forsitan et coeli, si canis astra tenet.

As dogs, fighting and intertearing one another, can give over and join together to follow the harmless hare that passeth by them; so here. If Manasseh be against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh, yet they will be both against Judah.

And the Hagarenes — Who came also of Hagar, as well as the Ishmaelites; but were a distinct people, and would be called Saracens, from Sarah, the freewoman, for honour’ sake, as if the promises made to Abraham and Sarah had belonged to them (Saracens, in Arabic, is thieves). Ptolemy maketh mention of the Saracens, and placeth in Arabia, the seat of the Hagarenes, where there is also a city called Agra, of Hagar, likely. Aben Ezra saith they came of Hagar, by another husband. The Chaldee calleth them Hungarians.

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Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;

Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek — Sic enarrat et enumerat inimicos decem conglobatos, Ezekiel 27:9 . Answerable whereunto were the ten kings of Christendom, who gave their power to the beast. Gebal might be the inhabitants of Gabel, a city of Phoenicia, saith Stephanus; or of Syria, saith Strabo, which Volateran saith was called Gibel in his time, but anciently Biblus. See Joshua 13:5 .

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Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.

Assur also is joined with them — The Chaldee paraphraseth, Sennacherib, also the king of Asshur, … So doth the Turk, with the Church’s enemies; howbeit, Italy is the mark he shooteth at; and the Protestants have the happiness (as also America) to be farther out of his way, and no part of his present aim, for the greatest part of them.

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