2610 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The sorrows of death compassed me,.... These words and the following, in this verse and Psalms 18:5, as they respect David, show the snares that were laid for his life, the danger of death he was in, and the anxiety of mind he was possessed of on account of it; and as they refer to Christ, include all the sorrows of his life to the time of his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The sorrows of hell compassed me about,.... Or "the cords of the grave" (s), under the power of which he was detained for awhile; the allusion may be to the manner of burying among the Jews, who wound up their dead bodies in linen clothes; so that they were as persons bound hand and foot; and thus were they laid in the grave; see John 11:44; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
In my distress I called upon the Lord,.... The great Jehovah, the everlasting I AM, who is the most High in all the earth, and who is able to save, Hebrews 5:7; and cried unto my God; as Jesus did, Matthew 27:46; so the members of Christ, when in distress, as they often are, through sin and Satan, through the hidings of God's face, a variety of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the earth shook and trembled,.... As it did quickly after Christ called upon the Lord, and cried to his God upon the cross, Matthew 27:50; and so some time after, when his people were praying together, the place where they were assembled was shaken, Acts 4:31; as a token of God's presence being with them: and the shaking and trembling of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,.... This, with what follows, describes a storm of thunder; the "smoke" designs thick black clouds, gathered together; "fire" intends lightning; and "coals of fire", hot thunderbolts; and the whole is borrowed from, and is an allusion to what was at the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, Exodus 19:16; The...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He bowed the heavens also, and came down,.... To execute wrath and vengeance on wicked men; which is always the sense of these phrases when they go together; see Psalms 144:6; The Targum is, "he bowed the heavens, and his glory appeared"; that is, the glory of his power, and of his mighty hand of vengeance; for not his grace and mercy, but his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly,.... The Targum renders it in the plural number, "cherubim"; and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions; and by whom may be meant, either the angels, who are as horses and chariots, on whom Jehovah rides, and who art he makes use of as executioners of his wrath and vengeance, Zechariah 6:5; and to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He made darkness his secret place,.... Which, and the dark waters in the next clause, are the same with the thick clouds in the last, in which Jehovah is represented as wrapping himself, and in which he lies hid as in a secret place; not so as that he cannot see others, as wicked men imagine, Job 22:13; but as that he cannot be beheld by others;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
At the brightness [that was] before him, The lightning that came out of the thick clouds; which may denote, either the coming of Christ to take vengeance on the Jewish nation, which was swift and sudden, clear and manifest; or the spreading of the Gospel in the Gentile world, in which Christ, the brightness of his Father's glory, appeared to the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Lord also thundered in the heavens,.... By his apostles and ministers, some of which were Boanergeses, sons of thunder, whose ministry was useful to shake the consciences of men, and bring them to a sense of themselves, Mr 3:17; and the Highest gave his voice; the same with thunder; for thunder is often called the voice of the Lord, Job 37:5;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Yea, he sent out his arrows,.... By which thunderbolts, cracks of thunder, and flashes of lightning, seem to be meant; see Psalms 77:17; comparable to arrows shot, and sent out of a bow; and may denote, either the doctrines of the Gospel, which were sharp in the hearts of Christ's enemies, and are either the means of subduing them to him, or of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the channels of water were seen,.... Or, "of the sea"; as in 2 Samuel 22:16. There seems to be an allusion to the drying up of the sea when the Israelites passed through it. Aben Ezra interprets this of the discovery of the secrets of enemies, and of their deep schemes and counsels, which they seek to hide, but are made known by him who sees...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He sent from above,.... Either his hand, as in Psalms 144:7; he exerted and displayed his mighty power in raising Christ from the dead; or he sent help from his sanctuary; as in Psalms 20:2; and helped and strengthened him in a day of salvation; or when he wrought out the salvation of his people; or "he sent his word", as in Psalms 107:20; his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He delivered me from my strong enemy,.... Which, as it may respect David, may be understood of Goliath the Philistine champion, who was a man of war from his youth; or Saul, king of Israel; and, as it may respect David's antitype, may design either the chief priests, Scribes, and Pharisees, who were men of power and influence; or more especially...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They prevented me in the day of my calamity,.... Referring to the times of his distress in the garden and upon the cross; the time of his sufferings and death, which was a dark and cloudy day, as the word (x) used suggests, both in a literal and in a spiritual sense; and when the day and hour was come, fixed and determined by the will of God, then...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He brought me forth also into a large place,.... Into heaven, a place of the glorious liberty of Christ, after his captivity to death and the grave, whither he ascended leading captivity captive, and of the children of God; and a spacious place, where there is room enough for Christ and all his people; here he now is, and will remain till his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness,.... Which, if applied to David, cannot be understood of his own personal righteousness, or of works of righteousness done by him, for these merit nothing at the hand of God; no reward, in strict justice, is due to them, or given to them: a man's own righteousness is imperfect, and by the law of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For I have kept the ways of the Lord,.... Not those which the Lord himself walks in, his ways of providence, or of grace; though these are and should be taken notice of and observed by good men, as the word (y) used will bear to be rendered; but the ways which he has prescribed and directed men to walk in, the ways of his commandments, in which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For all his judgments [were] before me,.... That is, the precepts of the law of God, which David had a respect unto, loved, took delight and pleasure in, and so had them all in his sight, and made them the rule of his actions; and the law of God is delighted in by regenerate persons, after the inward man; and though it is abolished as a covenant...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I was also upright before him,.... In heart and conversation, being sincere and faithful; so David was in the sight of God; but this is much more true of Christ, in whom there was no unrighteousness nor guile, neither in his heart, nor in his lips; he was of perfect integrity, and faithful in all things to him that appointed him; and I kept myself...