Psalms 69:22

Let their table become a snare before them,.... This and the following imprecations were not the effects of a spirit of private revenge; of which there was no appearance in Christ, but all the

Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their table become a snare before them.

These and the following words, which are expressed in the form of imprecations, are thought by divers to be and that the imperatives are put for the as sometimes they are. And accordingly they translate the words thus, Their table shall become a snare, But if they be imprecations, here was sufficient cause for them. And besides, it is apparent that they were not the dictates of human passion, but of Divine inspiration, from a just zeal for God’ s glory, as hath been before. Their table, i.e. their food, and all their for necessity or delight, either for body or soul; curses here following are spiritual and eternal as temporal. And so this may comprehend their sacrifices and other legal ordinances, and the word of God; all to the Jews through their own default a great occasion of stumbling at Christ. And this punishment in their table exactly answers to their sin in giving Christ gall for his meat, . Become a snare before them, Heb. before them (i.e. their table or meat, which is set before them, which is the usual expression in this case, as ) become a snare, i.e. the occasion or instrument of their destruction. It is a metaphor taken from birds or fishes, that are commonly ensnared and taken with their baits. And that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap; Heb. and as for their great peace, (which the plural number seems to import, all that tranquillity and prosperity which they do or may enjoy,) let it be a trap; or, and their peace offerings (which sacrifices may be here mentioned, because the offerers did partake of them, and feast upon them; and so this agrees with the table expressed in the former clause) a trap. And so they were to the unbelieving Jews, whose false conceit of the everlastingness of the Mosaical dispensation was one cause of their rejection of Christ. Or thus, and for recompences, (i.e. an abundant compensation of all their injuries,) and for a trap. For thus it is rendered by divers, both ancient and modern, interpreters, and, which is more considerable, by the apostle, .

Psalms 69:22 Let their table become a snare before them: and [that which should have been] for [their] welfare, [let it become] a trap.Ver. 22. Let their table become a snare before them] Let them eat their bane, and drink their poison; while all their cares are sauced with the wrath of God: Quoniam hoe mode cibarunt me, saith Kimchi, because they have served me on this sort. By "table," saith another interpreter, we are to understand all means of comfort and refreshing, both of body and soul, which turn to the ruin of the wicked, even an odour of death unto death, 2 Corinthians 2:15-16. And that which should have been, &c.] Tremellius rendereth it, Pro retributionibus, pro tendicula ipsis, for recompenses, for a trap to them Romans 11:9; others, Pacifiea in rete! others again, Et ubi pacem sperant, illic impingant, Where they hope for peace let them fall.

(22) Let their table.—The form of this imprecation is, of course, suggested by the figurative language immediately preceding. Life had been made bitter by rancour and enmity, and the psalmist hurls back his curses, couched in the terms which had arisen to his lips to express his own misery. And that which.—Rather, and to them in peace a noose. Seated at the banquet, amid every sign of peace, and every means of enjoyment, let their surroundings of security and pleasure become their snare and ruin. (Comp. 1 Thessalonians 5:3. See St. Paul’s citation, Romans 11:9, New Testament Commentary.)

Verse 22. Let their table become a snare] The execrations here and in the following verses should be read in the future tense, because they are predictive; and not in the imperative mood, as if they were the offspring of the psalmist's resentment: "Their table SHALL become a snare; - their eyes SHALL be darkened; - thou WILT pour out thine indignation upon them;-thy wrathful anger SHALL take hold of them; - their habitation SHALL be desolate, - and none SHALL dwell in their tents." The psalmist prophesies that the evils which they had inflicted on the Israelites should be visited on themselves; that as they had made them eat, drink, labour, and suffer, so God should in his judgment treat them.

22–28. At the thought of the intolerable inhumanity of his enemies he can no longer restrain himself, and breaks out into fierce imprecation. Some commentators, feeling the difficulty of such imprecations proceeding from the Psalmist, have regarded these verses as the utterance of the Psalmist’s enemies, invoking destruction upon him and his companions. But such an interpretation is unnatural: the pronouns ‘their’ and ‘they’ in Psalms 69:22 ff. cannot have a different reference from ‘they’ in Psalms 69:21.

Let their table become a snare before them - These verses are quoted by Paul Romans 11:9-10 as descriptive of the character of persons in his time, or as “language” which would express what he desired to say.

22. From this to Psalms 69:28 the strain turns to solemn imprecation. On the grammatical and moral sense of these so-called imprecations see notes on Psalms 109.