34 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Psalms 109 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. This psalm was written by David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, concerning Judas the betrayer of Christ, as is certain from Acts 1:16 hence it is used to be called by the ancients the Iscariotic psalm. Whether the occasion of it was the rebellion of Absalom, as some, or...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Hold not thy peace,.... Or be not as a deaf or dumb man, or like one that turns a deaf ear and will give no answer; so the Lord seems to his people when he does not give an immediate answer to their prayers, and does not arise to help them; he seems to have forsaken them, and to stand at a distance from them; nor does he avenge them of their...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Whether David penned this psalm when he was persecuted by Saul, or when his son Absalom rebelled against him, or upon occasion of some other trouble that was given him, is uncertain; and whether the particular enemy he prays against was Saul, or Doeg, or Ahithophel, or some other not mentioned in the story, we cannot determine; but it is certain...
Spurgeon - Treasury of David - Charles H. Spurgeon
Ver. 1. Hold not thy peace. Mine enemies speak, be thou pleased to speak too. Break thy solemn silence, and silence those who slander me. It is the cry of a man whose confidence in God is deep, and whose communion with him is very close and bold. Note, that he only asks the Lord to speak: a word from God is all a believer needs. O God of my...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me,.... Or "of deceit" (x) itself; most wicked and very deceitful men, who sometimes flattered and pretended friendship, as the Jews did to Christ, when they designed ill against him; though at other times their mouths were opened, and they poured out their calumnies and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They compassed me about also with words of hatred,.... They surrounded him as he hung on the cross, and expressed their malice and hatred against him; then was he enclosed with these spiteful snarling dogs, and encompassed by them as with so many bees, who everyone left their sting in him, Psalms 22:16. And fought against me without a cause: they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For my love they are my adversaries,.... For the love that Christ showed to the Jews; to their bodies, in going about and healing all manner of diseases among them; to their souls, in preaching, the Gospel to them in each of their cities; and for the love he showed to mankind in coming into the world to save them, which should have commanded love...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they have rewarded me evil for good,.... For the good words and sound doctrine he delivered to them; for the good works and miracles he wrought among them, to the healing of them; see John 10:32. And hatred for my love; he came to seek and save that which was lost, and yet they hated him, and would not have him to rule over them, Lu 19:10.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Set thou a wicked man over him,.... Or "them", as the Syriac version; over everyone of his adversaries, and all of them: and which may be interpreted, as it is by Cocceius, of tyrannical princes and governors, set over the Jews, as Tiberius, Caius, Claudius, Nero, c. and their deputies, Pilate, Felix, Festus, Florus all wicked men, and which were...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When he shall be judged, let him be condemned,.... When he shall be arraigned at the bar of his own conscience, and be charged with the sin of which he is guilty, let conscience, which is as a thousand witnesses, rise up against him, and condemn him; so it did Judas, Matthew 26:1, or when he shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ at the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let his days be few,.... The days of men in common are but few at most: length of days, either beyond or according to the usual term of life, is reckoned a blessing; and to be cut off in the midst of a man's days a curse; when this is by the immediate hand of God, as a visible token of his displeasure; or by the hand of the civil magistrate, for...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. This sometimes is the case of good men, who leave widows and fatherless children, whom the Lord shows mercy to; being the Father of the fatherless, and the Judge of the widow, Psalms 68:5, but sometimes it is threatened and comes as a judgment, when the Lord shows no mercy and favour to them,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg,.... Wander from place to place, begging their bread: this is denied of the children of good men in David's time, Psalms 37:25 yet was threatened to the children of Eli, 1 Samuel 2:36 and was very likely literally true of the children of Judas; and was certainly the case of multitudes of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath,.... Or, "lay a snare for all" (c); as the Romans did, by bringing in their army, invading the land of Judea, and besieging the city of Jerusalem; who are "the extortioner or exacter that demanded tribute of them"; which they refused to pay, and therefore they seized on all they had for it. The Syriac and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let there be none to extend mercy unto him,.... No pity is ever expressed at hearing or reading the sad case of Judas; and though the Jews were pitied of those that carried them captive to Babylon, Psalms 106:46, yet, in their last destruction by the Romans, no mercy was shown them; the wrath of God and man came upon them to the uttermost, 1...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let his posterity be cut off,.... As the seed of the wicked are said to be, Psalms 37:28, or cut down, as a tree to the very root; as the Jewish nation was by the axe of God's judgment, which, John says, was laid to the root of the tree, and the blow just going to be given, as it was in a few years after, Matthew 3:10 or, as the Targum, "let his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord,.... Not of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; who, though they had their failings, they were not remembered, and much less punished in their posterity, but were forgiven: rather of the Amorites and Hittites; the one being said to be the father, and the other the mother, of the Jews, Ezekiel...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let them be before the Lord continually,.... And not cast behind his back, or into the depths of the sea, never to be seen more, as sins are when forgiven; but be always in sight, as loathsome and abominable, and causing those that committed them to be abhorred for them; and be before him, as a Judge, to examine them, the nature and kind of them,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Because that he remembered not to show mercy,.... As Judas did not; neither to the poor, whom he cared not for, John 12:6 nor to Christ, whom he betrayed with a kiss to his enemies: nor had these words of Christ any effect upon him, to move his pity and compassion, "Friend, wherefore art thou come?" Matthew 26:49 nor did the Jews show mercy to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him,.... Judas loved that which brought a curse upon him, sin; and so he may be said to love the curse; just as sinners are said to love death, Proverbs 8:36. He was desirous of and sought after it, to bring Christ to an accursed death; and which he accomplished and pleased himself with; and therefore it...