Psalms 59
DOYLYPsalms 59:8
- As a snail which &c.] As a snail, which melts or spends itself the further it goes, so let every one of them that are my enemies pass away, or miscarry in their designs. Dr. Wells.
Psalms 59:9
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Before your pots &c.] Perhaps these words should rather be translated, “Before your pots can feel the thorns, the tempest shall bear them away.” Briars and thorns, when set on fire, are frequently applied in Scripture to represent the rage of the wicked: violent, yet impotent, and of no long continuance. They are applied also to the wicked themselves, as useless and unprofitable, proper objects of God’s wrath, to be burned up or driven away by the wind. Both these ideas seem to be joined in the above verse. Bp. Lowth.
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— the vengeance. The just judgment of God upon wicked men. Bp. Wilson.
— he shall wash &c.] This is an allusion to a great conqueror, who dips his feet in the blood of his enemies as he passes over their carcasses. Bp. Patrick.
In general, we see here that all those who harden themselves in their evil ways, without hearkening to the voice of God, are threatened with his vengeance. We learn also from this Psalm, that though the wicked prosper, and good men are afflicted for a while, yet they will always have reason to acknowledge, “that there is a reward for the righteous, and that there is a God who judgeth the earth.” Ostervald.
Psalm LIX. ver. 5. — awake to visit &c.] Awake to punish all those wretches, who, though they call themselves thy people, yet are as wicked as even the heathen: be not merciful in sparing longer any such notoriously wicked transgressors. Dr. Wells.