13 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Psalms 64 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. This psalm is applied by R. Obadiah to Haman and Mordecai. The enemy is Haman, the perfect man shot at is Mordecai; about whom Haman communed with his friends to lay snares for him, and searched diligently for occasions against him and his people, which issued in his own...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer,.... The prayer of the psalmist was vocal and expressed in a mournful manner, with groans and cries, as the word (z) used signifies, and with great ardour and fervency; his condition, by reason of his enemies, being very distressing, and therefore he is very eager and earnest that he might be heard; preserve my...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
This whole psalm has reference to David's enemies, persecutors, and slanderers; many such there were, and a great deal of trouble they gave him, almost all his days, so that we need not guess at any particular occasion of penning this psalm. I. He prays to God to preserve him from their malicious designs against him, ver. 1, 2. II. He gives a very...
Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon
Ver. 1. Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer. It often helps devotion if we are able to use the voice and speak audibly; but even mental prayer has a voice with God which he will hear. We do not read that Moses had spoken with his lips at the Red Sea, and yet the Lord said to him, "Why criest thou unto me?" Prayers which are unheard on earth may be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked,.... The word used denotes both the place where wicked men meet together for consultation; see Genesis 49:6; and the counsel itself they there take; from the bad effects of which the psalmist desired to be hid and preserved. So Saul and his courtiers secretly took counsel against David, and the Jews...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Who whet their tongue like a sword,.... Use cutting, wounding, killing, and devouring words; on which they set an edge, and make them keener and keener to hurt and ruin the characters and reputations of good men, and grieve and distress their minds; [and] bend [their bows to shoot] their arrows, [even] bitter words; such are the these doctrines of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
That they may shoot in secret at the perfect,.... Meaning himself, who though not without sin, and far from perfection in himself, in the sight of God and with respect to his righteous law, which was exceeding broad; and therefore he saw an end of all perfection, and desired that God would not enter into judgment with him; but yet, in the case of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They encourage themselves [in] an evil matter,.... Or "strengthen him" (c); that is, Saul, by making use of arguments and reasonings to induce him to go on in his wicked persecution of David; or they strengthened and hardened themselves in their wickedness, as Saul's courtiers and the enemies of Christ did, and as all wicked men do, when they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They search out iniquities,.... The Targum adds, "to destroy the just.'' Either occasions against them, by charging them with sin and hiring false witnesses against them, as did the enemies both of David and Christ; they sought for proper time and opportunity of committing the iniquities they were bent upon, and even searched for new sins, being...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But God shall shoot at them [with] an arrow,.... With one or other of his four judgments; famine, pestilence, sword, and wild beasts, Ezekiel 14:21; which he brings upon wicked men; and may be compared to arrows, as they are, Ezekiel 5:16; because they move swiftly. The judgment of wicked men lingereth not, though it may seem to do so; and because...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So shall they make their own tongue to fall upon themselves,.... The evil things they have wished for, threatened unto, and imprecated on others, shall come upon themselves; the curses they have cursed others with shall come upon themselves; the pit they have dug for others, they fall into. So Haman, to whom some apply the psalm, was hanged on the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all men shall fear,.... Either God himself, or his judgments: they shall be frightened at them, learn righteousness by them, worship God, and give glory to him; they shall fear him as King of saints, his judgments being made manifest; not with a slavish fear, but with reverence and godly fear; see Revelation 11:13; and shall declare the work...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The righteous shall be glad in the Lord,.... They rejoice at the vengeance executed on the wicked; but then their joy centres in the Lord: it is not at the ruin of the wicked, simply considered, but because of the glory of God's justice displayed therein, and of his grace and mercy to them. They rejoice in the Lord, because of what he is unto...