whereunto others, that make no use of the word for their defence, are
carried by Satan the destroyer. Can we go against sin and Satan with a
better weapon than Christ used to vanquish the tempter with? And,
certainly, Christ did it to set us an example how we should come armed into
the field against them; for Christ could with one beam shot from his Deity
(if he had pleased to exert it), have as easily laid the bold fiend at his
foot, as afterward he did them that came to attack him; but he chose rather
to conceal the majesty of his Divinity, and let Satan come up closer to him,
that so he might confound him with the word, and thereby give him a proof of
that sword of his saints, which he was to leave them for their defence
against the same enemy. The devil is set out by the leviathan (Isaiah
27:1), him God threatens to punish with his strong sword; alluding to that
great fish, the whale, which fears no fish like the sword-fish, by whom this
great devourer of all other fish is so often killed; for, receiving one
prick from his sword, he hasteneth to the shore, and beats himself against
it till he dies. Thus the devil, the great devourer of souls, who sports
himself in the sea of this world, as the leviathan in the waters, and
swallows the greatest part of mankind without any power to make resistance
against him, is himself vanquished by the word. When he has to do with a
saint armed with this sword, and instructed how to use this weapon, he then,
and not till then, meets his match.— William Gurnall.
Verse 4. "By the word of thy lips," etc. It is a great relief against
temptations to have the word ready. The word is called, "The sword of the
Spirit." Ephesians 6:17. In spiritual conflicts there is none like to
that. Those that ride abroad in time of danger, will not be without a
sword. We are in danger, and had need handle the sword of the Spirit. The
more ready the Scripture is with us, the greater advantage in our conflicts
and temptations. When the devil came to assault Christ, he had Scripture
ready for him, whereby he overcame the tempter. The door is barred upon
Satan, and he cannot find such easy entrance when the word is hid in our
hearts, and made use of pertinently. "I write unto you, young men, because
ye are strong." Where lies their strength? "And the word of God abideth in
you, and ye have overcome the wicked one." 1 John 2:14. Oh, it is a great
advantage when we have the word, not only by us, but in us, engrafted in the
heart; when it is present with us, we are more able to resist the assaults
of Satan. Either a man forgets the word, or hath lost his affection to it,
before he can be drawn to sin.— Thomas Manton.
Verse 5. "Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not."
Lord, whatsoever the wrath of Saul be against me, yet let neither that, nor
any other thing put me out of thy way, but keep my heart close unto thee,
and keep my paths in thy way; let not my footsteps so much as slide from
thee, for, Lord, they watch for my halting; if they can find but the least
slip from me, they take advantage of it to the utmost; and I am a poor and a
weak creature, therefore Lord help me, that my footsteps may not slide.— Jeremiah Burroughs.
Verse 5. "Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not."
As a stone cast into the air cannot go any higher, neither yet there abide
when the power of the hurler ceaseth to drive it; even so, seeing our
corrupt nature can go downward only, and the devil, the world, and the
flesh, driveth to the same way; how can we proceed further in virtue, or
stand therein, when we are tempted, if our merciful and good God do not by
his Holy Spirit, from time to time, guide and govern us?— Robert Cawdray.
Verse 5. "Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not."
Lord, hold me up, that I may hold out. Thou hast set the crown at the end
of the race; let me run the race, that I may wear the crown. It was Beza's
prayer, and let it be ours, "Lord, perfect what thou hast begun in me, that
I may not suffer shipwreck when I am almost at the haven."— Thomas Watson.
Verse 5. In fierce assaults and strong temptations, when Satan layeth
siege to the soul, shooting his fiery darts, and using stratagems of policy,
joining his endeavours with our corruptions, as wind with tide, then we have
cause to pray as David, "Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps
slip not." The apostle also found he had need of help from heaven when he
was assaulted, and therefore he prayed "thrice," that the thing that he
feared might depart from him. 2 Corinthians 12. Christ hath taught us to
pray daily, "Lead us not into temptation," for it is dangerous; and then
temptations are most dangerous, when, 1. Most suitable —when Satan
joins with our disposition or constitution; 2. Continual; 3. When
opportunity and power is greatest.— Joseph Symonds.
Verse 6. "I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me." I have
cried, says the Psalmist, because thou hast heard me. One would think he
should have said contrariwise; thou hast heard me because I have cried; yet,
he says, I have cried because thou hast heard me; to show that crying doth
not always go before hearing with God, as it doth with us; but that God will
not only hear our cry, but also hear us before we cry, and will help us.— T. Playfere.
Verse 6. "I have called upon thee," etc. Prayer is the best remedy in
a calamity. This is indeed a true catholicon, a general remedy for every
malady. Not like the empiric's catholicon, which sometimes may work, but
for the most part fails, but that which upon assured evidence and constant
experience hath its probatum est; being that which the most wise, learned,
honest, and skilful Physician that ever was, or can be, hath prescribed,
even he that teacheth us how to bear what is to be borne, or how to heal and
help what hath been borne.— William Gough, 1575-1653.
Verse 6. I have called upon thee formerly, therefore, Lord, hear me now.
It will be a great comfort to us if trouble, when it comes, finds the wheels
of prayer a-going, for then may we come with the more boldness to the throne
of grace. Tradesmen are willing to oblige those that have been long their
customers.— Matthew Henry.
Verse 8. "Keep me as the apple of the eye." He prays for deliverance
(verse 7), " "Show thy marvellous lovingkindness" to me; Lord, my straits
they are marvellous, I know not what to do, whither to turn me, but my eyes
are toward thee; as straits are marvellous, so let the lovingkindness of God
be marvellous towards me, and "Keep me as the apple of thy eye." O Lord,
unto them I am but a dog, a vile creature in the eyes of Saul and those
about him; but blessed be thy name, I can look up to thee, and know that I
am dear unto thee as the apple of thy eye. All the saints of God are dear
to God at all times, but the persecuted saints, they are the apple of God's
eye; if at any time they are dear to God, then especially when they are most
persecuted; now they are the apple of his eye, and the apple of an eye is
weak, and little able to resist any hurt, but so much the more is the man
tender of the apple of his eye. The saints are weak and shiftless for
themselves, but the Lord is so much the more tender over them.— Jeremiah Burroughs.
Verse 8. Does it not appear to thee to be a work of providence, that
considering the weakness of the eye, he has protected it with eyelids, as
with doors, which whenever there is occasion to use it are opened, and are
again closed in sleep? And that it may not receive injury from the winds,
he has planted on it eyelashes like a strainer; and over the eyes has
disposed the eyebrows like a penthouse, so that the sweat from the head may
do no mischief.— Socrates, in Xenophon.
Verse 9. "From the wicked:" as though he had said, "They are equally
enemies to thee and me; not more opposite to me by their cruelty, than by
their wickedness they are to thee. Vindicate then, at once, thyself, and
deliver me."— John Howe.
Verse 10. "They are inclosed in their own fat," or their fat has
inclosed them; either their eyes, that they can hardly see out of them, or
their hearts, so that they are stupid and senseless, and devoid of the fear
of God; the phrase is expressive of the multitude of their wealth, and
increase of power, by which they were swelled with pride and vanity, and
neither feared God nor regarded man; so the Targum paraphrases it, "their
riches are multiplied, their fat covers them."— John Gill.
Verse 10. "They are inclosed in their own fat." Their worldly
prosperity puffeth them up, and makes them insensible and obdurate against
all reason and just fear; and the Scripture doth use this term of a fattened
heart in this sense, because that the fat of man hath no feeling in it, and
those that are very fat are less subject to the passion of fear.— John Diodati.
Verse 10. "They are inclosed in their own fat." To say a man is fat,
often means he is very proud. Of one who speaks pompously it is said, "What
can we do? tassi kullap inal," that is, "from the fat of his flesh he
declares himself." "Oh, the fat of his mouth! how largely he talks!" "Take
care, fellow! or I will restrain the fat of thy mouth."— J. Roberts, in "Oriental Illustrations," 1844.
Verse 11. "They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their
eyes bowing down to the earth." A man who has people watching him to find
out a cause for accusation against him to the king, or to great men, says,
"Yes, they are around my legs and my feet; their eyes are always open; they
are ever watching my 'suvadu,' 'steps;'" that is, they are looking for the
impress or footsteps in the earth. For this purpose the eyes of the enemies
of David were "bowing down to the earth." — Joseph Roberts.
Verse 11. "They have now compassed us in our steps." Like those who
destroy game by battue, and so make a ring around their prey from which
their victims cannot escape.— C. H. S.
Verse 11. "They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth." The
allusion probably is to the huntsman tracing the footmarks of the animal he
pursues.— Religious Tract Society's Commentary.
Verse 11. "They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth." It is
an allusion, as I conceive, to hunters, who go poring upon the ground to
prick the hare, or to find the print of the hare's claw, when the hounds are
at a loss, and can make nothing of it by the scent.— Joseph Caryl.
Verse 12. "Like a lion," etc. In "Paradise Lost," we have a fine
poetical conception of the arch enemy prowling around our first parents when
he first beheld their happiness, and resolved to ruin them.
—About them round
A lion now, he stalks with fiery glare;
Then, as a tiger, who by chance hath spied
In some purlieu, two gentle fawns at play,
Straight crouches close, then rising, changes oft
His couchant watch, as one who chose his ground,
Whence rushing he might surest seize them both,
Grip'd in each paw.
John Milton.
Verse 12. We were consulting as to the best means of getting at a
rhinoceros cow which we saw standing at some distance under a tree, when a
troop of impalas came charging down, with a fine old lioness after them. We
went and saw her lying down, but so flat to the ground, head and all, that
no man could shoot with any certainty; and she never for a moment took her
eyes from us. When we got up to her, she was lying down flat as a plate to
the ground; but her head might have been on a pivot, as her watchful eye
glared on us all round, without appearing to move her body, as we decreased
the circle, in the hopes she would stand up and give us a fair chance of a
shot behind the shoulder. . . I looked for a tree to climb up, near enough
to make tolerably sure of my shot, and was just getting up one, when the
lioness made off.— William Charles Baldwin, F.R.G.S., in "African Hunting," 1863.
Verse 13. "The wicked, which is thy sword." The devil and his
instruments both are God's instruments, therefore "the wicked" are called
his "sword," his "axe" (Psalm 17:13; Isaiah 10:15); now let God alone to
wield the one, and handle the other. He is but a bungler that hurts and
hackles his own legs with his own axe; which God should do if his children
should be the worse for Satan's temptations. Let the devil choose his way,
God is a match for him at every weapon. If he will try it by force of arms,
and assaults the saints by persecution, as the "Lord of hosts" he will
oppose him. If by policy and subtlety, he is ready there also. The devil
and his whole council are but fools to God; nay, their wisdom foolishness.— William Gurnall.
Verses 13, 14. " Thy sword . . . thy hand. " Thou canst as easily