Psalms 11:6

Upon the wicked,.... The wicked one, the man of sin, antichrist, and upon all that worship the beast and his image, on all persecutors, and upon all wicked men in general: he shall rain snares, fire,

Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

He shall rain; which notes their original to be extraordinary, and from God’ s hand; and withal, that they should come plentifully, swiftly, and suddenly, violently and unavoidably, as rain commonly doth fall from heaven. Snares, i.e. grievous plagues or judgments, which are called snares here, as also ,10 22:10 24:17,18; partly because wicked men are ofttimes surprised with them when they least expect them, ; and partly because they cannot escape them, nor get out of them, but are held fast and destroyed by them. Fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest, i.e. dreadful judgments, so called metaphorically, and by allusion to the destruction of Sodom and other places by these means. But this he seems to speak not so much of present and temporal calamities, as of their future and eternal punishments, because he manifestly speaks of those miseries which are peculiar to wicked men; whereas David knew very well, both by his own experience, and by the history of Job, and of Israel’ s bondage in Egypt, that all things here came alike to all men, good or bad, , and that wicked men had many times a greater share of worldly prosperity than God’ s own people; as David acknowledgeth and complaineth of it, Psalms 73$. This shall be the portion of their cup; this is their portion, and as it were the meat and drink appointed to them by God. This shall certainly and unavoidably be their state or condition; which is oft called a man’ s part or portion, as 63:10 75:8 . He alludes to the ancient custom of masters of families, or of feasts, who used to distribute the several portions of meat to their domestics or guests.

Psalms 11:6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: [this shall be] the portion of their cup.Ver. 6. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares] His soul hateth them; and as revenge is the next effect of hatred, he will exercise horrible judgmeuts upon them. Go on they may in their wicked ways for a time, and happily think to outrun wrath, but it shall easily overtake them, and inevitably: for the first thing that God shall rain upon them is snares, to catch and hold them fast, that they may surely suffer the rest that follow. "Take him, and lead him away safely," saith Judas concernmg Jesus to the soldiers, Mark 14:44. And the same in effect saith God to his judgments concerning the wicked, on whom for that purpose he raineth snares, i.e. he suddenly surpriseth them; as by unexpected foul weather. Fire and brimstone] Hell from heaven, as once upon Sodom and her sisters, figuring the vengeance of eternal fire, Judges 1:7 Revelation 20:10, where the sacrifice is salted with fire, Mark 9:49, that is, burneth, but consumeth not, fire being of a burning, but salt of a preserving nature, Perdit sed non disperdit, et cruciat ita ut nunquam perimat (Camero.). Tophet is of the most tormenting temper, the fuel thereof is fire, and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of fire, doth kindle it, Isaiah 30:33. Utinam ubique, de Gehenna dissereretur, saith a Father, Oh that men would think and talk much of hell! Oh that they would take a turn in it; and, taking a view of that formidable fire fed with a river of brimstone, and blown by the breath of the Almighty, they would hasten out of their natural condition, as Lot did out of Sodom; since there is the smell of the fire and brimstone already upon them! And an horrible tempest] Ventus procellosissimus, a most terrible blasting whirlwind, such as the Greeks call Prester; whereof see Plin. lib. 2, c. 48, and the Evangelist calleth Euroclydon, Acts 27:14, the mariner’ s mischief. This shall be the portion of their cup] Vel, portio partis eorum, id est, ipsissima eorum portio; duplicatur idem sensus duobus verbis, saith R. David. He seemeth to allude to the custom at feasts, where each had his cup, his demensum, or measure of meat and drink. Wicked ones shall drink up the cup of God’ s wrath (worse than that cup of boiling lead poured down the drunken Turk’ s throat by the command of the bashaw), though it be brimful, and have eternity to the bottom, Psalms 75:8.

(6) Rain snares.—Or nooses. (Comp. 1 Corinthians 7:35.) This is certainly an extraordinary figure, and various emendations have been suggested. Ewald’s “coals of fire” (pecham for pachîm) is the best (comp. Psalms 18:13, where the Hebrew word, however, is gechalîm, “live, or red coals”; while pecham is used in Proverbs 26:21 as fuel for fire, in contrast with live coals: but in Isaiah 44:12; Isaiah 54:16 it is itself plainly burning coal.) He arranges the clauses thus: “Causeth to rain upon wicked men coals of fire with brimstone; a glowing blast is the portion of their cup.” “Put we our quarrel to the will of Heaven, Who, when he sees the hours ripe on earth, Will rain hot vengeance on offenders’ heads.” —: Rich. II., i. 2. Horrible tempest.—Literally, wind of heats; “Vulg., spiritus procellarum; Targum, storm and whirlwind; as in Latin, aestus combines the ideas of heat and violent motion; so the Hebrew word here. Probably, therefore, we must think of a hot, poisonous wind—the simoom.Or may we see one more reminiscence of the fate of Sodom and Gomorrha stamped indelibly on the Hebrew mind?

Verse 6. Upon the wicked he shall rain] This is a manifest allusion to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Snares] Judgments shall fall upon them suddenly and unawares. Fire] Such as shall come immediately from God, and be inextinguishable. Brimstone] Melted by the fire, for their drink! This shall be the portion of their cup. A horrible tempest] רוח זלעפות ruach zilaphoth, "the spirit of terrors." Suffering much, and being threatened with more, they shall be filled with confusion and dismay. My old MS. has gost of stormis. See at the end. See Clarke on Psalms 11:7. Or, the blast of destructions. This may refer to the horribly suffocating Arabian wind, called [Arabic] Smum. Mohammed, in describing his hell, says, "The wicked shall drink nothing there but hot stinking water; breathe nothing but burning winds; and eat nothing but the fruit of the tree zakon, which shall be in their bellies like burning pitch." Hell enough! The portion of their cup.] Cup is sometimes put for plenty, for abundance; but here it seems to be used to express the quantum of sorrow and misery which the wicked shall have on the earth. See Psalms 75:8; Isaiah 51:17, Isaiah 51:21-23; Jeremiah 25:15; Jeremiah 49:12; Lamentations 4:21-22. It is also used in reference to the afflictions of the righteous, Matthew 20:22; Matthew 26:39, Matthew 26:42; John 18:11. We find a similar metaphor among the heathens. The following, from Homer, Il. xxiv., ver. 525, is in point: - Ὡςγαρεπεκλωσαντοθεοιδειλοισιβροτοισι, Ζωειναχνυμενους·αυτοιδετ' ακηδεεςεισι, ΔοιοιγαρτεπιθοικατακειαταιενΔιοςουδει Δωρων, οιαδιδωσι, κακων·ἑτεροςδεεαων· ὩμενκαμμιξαςδῳηΖευςτερπικεραυνος, αλλοτεμεντεκακῳὁγεκυρεται, Αλλοτεδ' εσθλῳ. Such is, alas! the god's severe decree, They, only they are bless'd, and only free. Two urns by Jove's high throne have ever stood, The source of evil one, and one of good. From thence the CUP of mortal man he fills: Blessings to these; to those distributes ills. To most he mingles both: the wretch decreed To taste the bad unmixed, is curs'd indeed. - POPE.

6. Literally: Let him rain snares upon the wicked! Fire and brimstone and scorching blast be the portion of their cup! A wish takes the place of the simple statement (he shall rain) which might have been expected. Cp. Psalms 12:3. May the wicked meet the fate of Sodom, so often alluded to as the typical example of signal judgment upon gross and defiant sin. The language is borrowed from Genesis 19:24. Cp. Deuteronomy 29:23; Ezekiel 38:22. The ‘snares’ are to entangle them so that they cannot escape from the fire which consumes, and the fatal simoom which suffocates. But possibly we should follow the version of Symmachus in reading coals of fire for snares. So Cheyne and others. Cp. Psalms 18:12; and Psalms 140:10 (a psalm containing other allusions to this psalm).

Upon the wicked - Upon all the wicked. He shall rain - He shall pour down as in a furious tempest.

6. Rain snares, fire and brim-stone—A plain allusion to the overthrow of Sodom, Genesis 19:24-25. The overthrow of the wicked shall, like that of Sodom, be sudden, manifestly the judgment of God, and terrible.