Psalms 64

Psalms 64. AFTER a prayer for protection against the wicked, the Psalm-ist takes occasion to paint their machinations for the destruction of the righteous, and then describes how, when they were just upon the very point. of accomplishing their purpose, through means of all the power which cunning and wickedness could command, God himself interposed, and turned the destruction upon their own head, to the terror of their friends and admirers, to the edification of the whole world, and to the joy of all the righteous. The Psalm consists of ten verses, which are divided into two fives. At first sight, the first strophe appears to consist of six, and the second of four verses. But the fut. with a vau conv. in ver. 7, can scarcely begin a strophe; and it appears to be suitable (and we are saved from tearing asunder what is intimately and inseparably connected together,) that at the beginning of the second strophe at ver. 6, it is intimated that the completion of the wickedness and cunning of the enemies is on the eve of deal-ing the deadly blow. The fundamental thought of the Psalm is, that the comple-tion of the wickedness and cunning of the enemies is no ground for despair, but rather for joyous hope:-the nearer they are to gaining their end, the nearer are they to destruction. To those who have to contend with such wickedness, the Psalmist calls, “lift up your hearts.” Although the events of Saul’s time form, in the first instance, the basis of the Psalm, as is shewn by the great prominence given throughout to slander, as a weapon of assault, employed by the wicked against the righteous, and although the Psalm is nearly allied to those other Psalms of an individual character which were composed by David at that time, especially to the vii. and the 52.

Psalm, yet we cannot assign to it any individual occasion. We are prevented from so doing, first, because all the allusions are of a general character, and second, because the “I” is exchanged in verse 4 for the innocent man. The authorship, which is asserted in the title to be David’s, is confirmed by the resemblance, as may be seen by the exposi-tion, which the Psalm bears to others which were composed by him. The great prominence given to slandering shews that the Psalm does not refer to heathen enemies.

Psalms 64:1-5

The first strophe is ver. 1-5: May God help the righteous against the wickedness and cunning of man.-Ver. 1. Hear, O God, my voice in my grief, protect my life against the terror of the enemy. Ver. 2. Conceal me from the intimacy of the wick-ed, from the tumult of evil-doers. Ver. 3. Who sharpen their tongues like the sword, and stretch as their arrow a bitter word. Ver. 4. To shoot in a lurking place at the innocent, suddenly they shoot at him without fear. Ver. 5. They strengthen for themselves an evil plan, they tell how they will lay snares, they say, who shall look at them.-The expression, “in my sorrow,” properly, “in my thought,” (compare at Psalms 55:2), shews that the prayer for help was not a superficial one, but proceeded from the deep ground of a sorely grieved heart. The “terror of the enemy,” is the terror which goes forth from him, the ter-rible danger which he threatens. “Protect my life,” shews that the Psalmist (contrary to Tholuck’s view) was exposed to personal danger, to danger of life.-The סור is to be taken in the sense of “intimacy,” not “secret assemblies,” and רגש, in that of “tumult,” and not “tumultuous crowds,” is evident from the parallel passage Psalms 55:3. The “intimacy” is found in the secret counsels for the destruction of the righteous, (see Psalms 83:3), and the tumult in the execution of these counsels,מרע is a standing word in Davidic Psalms. Calvin: “He re-commends his case on the ground of the wickedness of the enemy; for the more unreasonably and cruelly they act towards us the more sure may we be that God will be gracious tous."-The comparison of a slandering tongue to a sword, andof slander to an arrow, in verse 3, (comp. Ps. Ivii. 4, and 59:7,and the passages quoted there), shews that it is not ordinaryslanders that are referred to, but such as, in direct violation ofthe 6th commandment, aim at the destruction of a neighbour,-such slanders as David had to do with in the days, of Saul.“They stretch,” is “they lay stretched”: compare Psalms 58:7.“A bitter word,” i. e. a painful, destructive word, (compareDeu_32:24, 1 Samuel 15:32), is not in apposition: הצם is tobe explained, “as their bow,” and corresponds to “like thesword."-In verse 4, the slanderers, on account of their hiddencunning and dark efforts, are compared to thieving-murderers,who waylay the defenceless traveller, in a secret place, in orderto destroy him: compare Psalms 10:8; Psalms 10:9. “Suddenly,” is, “while heis thinking there is no harm.” It is evident from, “who fear notGod,” in Psalms 55:19, and “all men are afraid,” in verse 9, that"without fear” refers to the fear of God and of his punishment.-“They strengthen for themselves an evil word, or an evil plan,” in verse 5, by acute consideration and increased improvement, to which every one contributes his share. ספר stands, as in Psalms 59:12, in its usual sense, to “recount”; every one in their secret councils makes his speech, proposes his plan.

As the ראה is never used with ל, of the object, we cannot translate, “them,“meaning thereby, either the snares, or the wicked: למו, signifies, as at the beginning of the verse, “to them,” i. e. to hurt them. Who?-will God?-he does not trouble himself about human affairs, and therefore no man need trouble himself about him: compare Psalms 59:7; Psalms 10:11-13.

Psalms 64:6-10

The second strophe is from verse 6-10. Every thing is fully prepared, when God brings vengeance upon the wicked. Ver. 6. They examine thoroughly into wickednesses “we are ready, a well matured plan,” and the inside of a man and his heart is deep. Ver. 7. There God shoots at them with a sudden arrow; there are THEIR wounds! Ver. 8. And they are confound-ed, their tongue comes upon themselves, all their admirers flee away. Ver. 9. And all men are afraid and make known the deed of God, and understand his work. Ver. 10. The righteousshall rejoice in the Lord, and shall trust in him, and all the up- right shall glory.-“They examine thoroughly into iniquities,” in verse 6, (the plural עלות) is used only here, and in Psalms 58:2), they allow no corner of these to be unexamined, that is, they make it their study to bring their wicked plans to as great perfection as possible. In the words, “we are ready, a tho-roughly matured plan,” (properly a thoroughly searched search), the Psalmist introduces the wicked telling that, as the result of their zealous studies in wickedness, they had brought their vil-lanous plans to perfection, and expressing joy on that account. As the תמם is always intransitive, and in particular תמנו, in-stead of תמונו, is so, in all the three passages in which it else-where occurs, we cannot translate, “we have completed a tho-roughly matured plan.” In the last words, “the inside,” &c. reference is made to the greatness of the danger to which the righteous man is exposed. Human wickedness is unfathomable, it is impossible to know it, and all its wicked plans, much less then to be on our guard against them. How then will it go with the poor righteous man. “Deep” is often used in the sense of what is difficult to be searched out or known. Thus, Ez. 3: 5, 7 “ deep of speech,” is, “difficult to be understood,” Job 11:8, Prov. 25:3. Jeremiah 17:9, is exactly parallel, “The heart is steep before all and, diseased, who can know it,” where “steep” occupies the place of “deep.” Both are equally inac-cessible. The “inside,” compare at Psalms 5:9, denotes the op- posite of what may easily be seen on the outside, and therefore there is no room for the tautology at which Clauss stumbles.-The “There” in verse 7, is when they are in the midst of their joy over their completed plan, and when they are just on theeve of carrying it into execution. Stich picturesque represen-tations of vengeance suddenly breaking out are characteristic of David’s Psalms; compare for example, Psalms 7:11:53:5; Psalms 57:6. The arrow of God here corresponds to the arrow of the wicked at verses 3 and 4; compare at Psalms 7:13. It is evident from verse 4 that פתאם, agreeably to the accusative, belongs to the first clause. The second clause gives in an abbreviated form the substance of what we have at length in Psalms 7:14-16.

The emphasis is on the suffix: there are THEIR wounds! They were thinking of wounding the upright, but behold they are wounded themselves.-The beginning of the 8th ver. is literal-ly, “and there they bring them to fall,” the plural being usedas at Psalms 63:10. “Their tongue comes upon them,” inasmuch as it brings upon them the punishment and the judgment of God. From the second half of the verse to the end the Psalm-ist describes the salutary effects of this judgment, first upon the companions of the wicked; second, upon all men; and, finally, upon the righteous. The first, (ראה with ב, as in Psalms 59:10) flee, that they may not be involved in the punishment; compare Numbers 16:34, “And all Israel who were around them (the sons of Korah) fled, for they said, lest the earth swallow us up also.” -In the 9th verse, men in general, occupy the middle position, between the two opposite extremes. On “they are afraid,” comp. Psalms 52:6.

On the second and third clause, comp. Psalms 58:11, “and men shall say, verily there is a reward for the righteous, verily God judgeth on the earth.” השכיל is not “to give con-sideration,” but “to understand:” the great mass of people ob-tain insight into the works and government of God, when they see the destruction of the wicked with their own eyes. On ver. 10, compare Psalms 63:11.