Psalm 109

Psalms 109:1

“To the end, a psalm of David. When it says "to the end," let us understand that it is spoken not of the present, but of the future. And if it is spoken of the future, then the prophecy is about Christ. O God, do not keep silent about my praise. That is: Judas betrayed me, the Jews persecuted me and crucified me, and they thought that they would destroy me utterly, to the end. But you, O God, do not keep silent about my praise.”

Psalms 109:1

“Hold not thy peace,.... Or be not as a deaf or dumb man, or like one that turns a deaf ear and will give no answer; so the Lord seems to his people when he does not give an immediate answer to their prayers, and does not arise to help them; he seems to have forsaken them, and to stand at a distance from them; nor does he avenge them of their enemies; it is the Messiah, as man, that puts up this petition, and it agrees with Psa 22:”

Psalms 109:1

“Hold not thy peace. Mine enemies speak, be thou pleased to speak too. Break thy solemn silence, and silence those who slander me. It is the cry of a man whose confidence in God is deep, and whose communion with him is very close and bold. Note, that he only asks the Lord to speak: a word from God is all a believer needs. O God of my praise. Thou whom my whole soul praises, be pleased to protect my honour and guard my praise.”

Psalms 109:2

“For the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful man has been opened against me. Let us see how the mouth of Judas the betrayer was opened against the Lord. He comes to the Lord in order to betray him, and he says: Rabbi — that is, master. Behold, the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful man. I in my clemency wish to save him, and I offer him a kiss, and I wish to overcome his malice; yet he persists in doing evil, so as to betray me.”

Psalms 109:2

“For the mouth . . . opened--or, "They have opened a wicked mouth" against me--literally, "with me," that is, Their intercourse is lying, or, they slander me to my face (Mt 26:59).”

Psalms 109:3

“And they have surrounded me with words of hatred. Not that they might believe, but that they might war against me. And they have warred against me without cause. "Without cause" is understood in two ways. That is, without reason: for I had not sinned, and I did not deserve that they should make war upon me. And what worthy cause was there that they should war against me? Because I had healed their sick? because I had raised their dead? because I had done other signs? See therefore that they warred against him without cause.”

Psalms 109:3

“They compassed me about also with words of hatred,.... They surrounded him as he hung on the cross, and expressed their malice and hatred against him; then was he enclosed with these spiteful snarling dogs, and encompassed by them as with so many bees, who everyone left their sting in him, Psa 22:”

Psalms 109:3

“They were notorious liars; and lying comprehends two of the seven things which the Lord hates. "They are deceitful in their protestations and professions of kindness, while at the same time they speak against me behind my back, with a lying tongue. " They were equally false in their flatteries and in their calumnies.”

Psalms 109:4

“Instead of loving me, they disparaged me: but I kept praying. In return for the benefits which I had conferred upon them, they were doing me insults. But what was I doing? I kept praying. These are the weapons of the Lord: and these are our weapons too, prayer. So then, whenever anyone persecutes us, and hates us, let us say: Instead of loving me, they disparaged me. But what was I doing? I kept praying. That I might overcome them? Far from it: for whom did the Lord pray that he might overcome?”

Psalms 109:4

“For my love they are my adversaries,.... For the love that Christ showed to the Jews; to their bodies, in going about and healing all manner of diseases among them; to their souls, in preaching, the Gospel to them in each of their cities; and for the love he showed to mankind in coming into the world to save them, which should have commanded love again; but instead of this they became his implacable adversaries: they acted the part of Satan; they were as so many Satans to him, as the word signifies.”

Psalms 109:4

“For my love they are my adversaries. They hate me because I love them. One of our poets says of the Lord Jesus—"Found guilty of excess of love." Surely it was his only fault. Our Lord might have used all the language of this complaint most emphatically—they hated him without a cause and returned him hatred for love. What a smart this is to the soul, to be hated in proportion to the gratitude which it deserved, hated by those it loved, and hated because of its love.”

Psalms 109:5

“And they set against me evils in return for goods. And set upon the cross, I kept praying for those who were crucifying me, while they were saying: "Aha, you who destroy the temple, and in three days build it up. Let him save himself. Let the Father who loves you come now and set you free." I rose again from the dead for their sakes, and they say: "His disciples came by night, and stole him away." And hatred in return for my love.”

Psalms 109:5

“And they have rewarded me evil for good,.... For the good words and sound doctrine he delivered to them; for the good works and miracles he wrought among them, to the healing of them; see Joh 10:32. And hatred for my love; he came to seek and save that which was lost, and yet they hated him, and would not have him to rule over them, Luk 19:10.”

Psalms 109:6

“Set a sinner over him. Since I prayed for them upon the cross, and they saw my wounds — I gave them room for repentance and they do not repent, and they refuse to have me as king — let them have the devil as king. They will not have Jesus as king: let them have Barabbas as king, Barabbas, which is interpreted "son of the father," that is, of the devil. This Barabbas, who was he? A seditious man and a robber.”

Psalms 109:6

“Set thou a wicked man over him. What worse punishment could a man have? The proud man cannot endure the proud, nor the oppressor brook the rule of another like himself. The righteous in their patience find the rule of the wicked a sore bondage; but those who are full of resentful passions, and haughty aspirations, are slaves indeed when men of their own class have the whip hand of them. For Herod to be ruled by another Herod would be wretchedness enough, and yet what retribution could be more just?”

Psalms 109:7

“When he is judged, let him come forth condemned. Let him come not into judgment, but into condemnation. For where there is judgment, there is doubt: but where there is condemnation, the sentence is already plain. And let his prayer be turned into sin. The repentance of Judas was made a worse sin. How was the repentance of Judas made a worse sin? He went and perished by hanging; and he who became the betrayer of the Lord, this same man came to be his own slayer.”

Psalms 109:7

“When he shall be judged, let him be condemned. He judged and condemned others in the vilest manner, he suffered not the innocent to escape; and it would be a great shame if in his time of trial, being really guilty, he should be allowed to go free. Who would wish Judge Jeffries to be acquitted if he were tried for perverting justice? Who would desire Nero or Caligula to be cleared if set at the bar for cruelty? When Shylock goes into court, who wishes him to win his suit? And let his prayer become sin.”

Psalms 109:7

“Let his prayer become sin, as the clamours of a condemned malefactor not only find no acceptance, but are looked upon as an affront to the court. The prayers of the wicked now become sin, because soured with the leaven of hypocrisy and malice; and so they will in the great day, because then it will be too late to cry, Lord, Lord, open to us.”

Psalms 109:8

“Let his days be few. His days were made few, but his nights increased: for he was cut off in the middle of his days. The sun withdrew from him, and behold, darkness was multiplied for him. And let another receive his episcopate. This too is interpreted more plainly in the Acts of the Apostles. But it was not only spoken of Judas in that time, it is spoken even to this day. If Judas lost his apostleship, let priests and bishops guard themselves, lest they too lose their own priesthood.”

Psalms 109:8

“The last clause is quoted as to Judas by Peter (Ac 1:20). office--literally, "charge," Septuagint, and Peter, "oversight" [1Pe 5:2].”

Psalms 109:9

“Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. This sometimes is the case of good men, who leave widows and fatherless children, whom the Lord shows mercy to; being the Father of the fatherless, and the Judge of the widow, Psa 68:5, but sometimes it is threatened and comes as a judgment, when the Lord shows no mercy and favour to them, Exo 22:”

Psalms 109:9

“Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. This would inevitably be the case when the man died, but the psalmist uses the words in an emphatic sense, he would have his widow "a widow indeed", and his children so friendless as to be orphaned in the bitterest sense. He sees the result of the bad man's decease, and includes it in the punishment. The tyrant's sword makes many children fatherless, and who can lament when his barbarities come home to his own family, and they too, weep and lament.”

Psalms 109:10

“Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg. May they have neither house nor home, settlement nor substance; and while they thus wander and beg may it ever be on their memory that their father's house lies in ruins, —let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. It has often been so: a race of tyrants has become a generation of beggars. Misused power and abused wealth have earned the family name universal detestation, and secured to the family character an entail of baseness.”

Psalms 109:11

“Let the moneylender search out all his substance. You gave him money, O Lord, you gave to him as also to the others. But what did he do? He did not bind it up in a napkin, nor bury it in the earth, nor was he negligent: but when he had the Lord's talent and money, he took a price from the enemies of the Lord, and sold his own Lord. Therefore I say to you, O Lord, exact from him the interest of your money. And let strangers plunder his labors.”

Psalms 109:11

“Let the extortioner catch all that he hath,.... Or, "lay a snare for all" (c); as the Romans did, by bringing in their army, invading the land of Judea, and besieging the city of Jerusalem; who are "the extortioner or exacter that demanded tribute of them"; which they refused to pay, and therefore they seized on all they had for it. The Syriac and Arabic versions render it, "the creditor"; who sometimes for a debt would take wife and children, and all that a man had; see 2Ki 4:”

Psalms 109:12

“Let there be none to extend mercy unto him. He had no mercy, but on the contrary, he crushed down all who appealed to him. Loath to smite him with his own weapon, stern justice can do no otherwise, she lifts her scales and sees that this, too, must be in the sentence. Neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.”

Psalms 109:12

“The children of wicked parents often fare the worse for their parents' wickedness in this way that the bowels of men's compassion are shut up from them, which yet ought not to be, for why should children suffer for that which was not their fault, but their infelicity?”

Psalms 109:13

“Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. Both from existence and from memory let them pass away till none shall know that such a vile brood ever existed. Who wishes to see the family of Domitian or Julian continued upon earth? Who would mourn if the race of Tom Paine or of Voltaire should come to an utter end? It would be undesirable that the sons of the utterly villainous and bloodthirsty should rise to honour, and if they did they would only revive the memory of their father's sins.”

Psalms 109:14

“This verse is, perhaps, the most terrible of all, but yet as a matter of fact children do procure punishment upon their parents' sins, and are often themselves the means of such punishment. A bad son brings to mind his father's bad points of character; people say, "Ah, he is like the old man. He takes after his father." A mother's sins also will be sure to be called to mind if her daughter becomes grossly wicked. "Ah", they will say, "there is little wonder, when you consider what her mother was." These are matters of everyday occurrence.”

Psalms 109:15

“Let them be before the Lord continually,.... And not cast behind his back, or into the depths of the sea, never to be seen more, as sins are when forgiven; but be always in sight, as loathsome and abominable, and causing those that committed them to be abhorred for them; and be before him, as a Judge, to examine them, the nature and kind of them, and to condemn and punish for them; see Exo 20:5. The Targum is, "let them be before the Word of the Lord always;'' see Heb 4:”

Psalms 109:15

“Again, he wishes that his father's sins may follow up the transgressor and assist to fill the measure of his own iniquities, so that for the whole accumulated load the family may be smitten with utter extinction. A king might justly wish for such an end to fall upon an incorrigible brood of rebels; and of persecutors, continuing in the same mind, the saints might well pray for their extinction; but the passage is dark; and we must leave it so. It must be right or it would not be here, but how we cannot see.”

Psalms 109:16

“Because he did not remember to show mercy. See how great the clemency of the Lord is. He sees him coming with the officers, he sees him coming with clubs, and he offers him a kiss. That man comes to betray, and the Lord gives a kiss; so that he who did not fear his master might at least be overcome by clemency.”

Psalms 109:16

Because that he remembered not to show mercy,.... As Judas did not; neither to the poor, whom he cared not for, Joh 12:6 nor to Christ, whom he betrayed with a kiss to his enemies: nor had these words of Christ any effect upon him, to move his pity and compassion, "Friend, wherefore art thou come?"

Psalms 109:17

“Behold, He sets before us curse and blessing; let us leave to Judas the traitor the curse and the snares, of whom it is said that he "did not will blessing, and it shall be far from him"; and let us with blessed Matthias receive …”

Psalms 109:17

“As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him. Deep down in every man's soul the justice of the lex talionis is established. Retaliation, not for private revenge, but as a measure of public justice, is demanded by the psalmist and deserved by the crime. Surely the malicious man cannot complain if he is judged by his own rule, and has his corn measured with his own bushel. Let him have what he loved. They are his own chickens, and they ought to come home to roost. He made the bed, let him lie on it himself.”

Psalms 109:18

“Garment - Which a man wears constantly. Like water - Water in the cavity of the belly, between the bowels, is almost certain death. And oil soaking into any of the bones, will soon utterly destroy it.”

Psalms 109:19

“Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him,.... Let him be surrounded on all sides with the wrath of God; and let it be visible to all, as a man's garment on him is: see Isa 66:”

Psalms 109:19

“Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him - He has chosen to put it on, to wear it, to appear in it; so let him constantly feel its consequences. As he is always obliged to wear clothing, so let this be as constantly with him and upon him as his mantle and his sash. And for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually - The belt or girdle which he constantly wears. See the notes at Mat 5:38.”

Psalms 109:20

“This is the summing up of the entire imprecation, and fixes it upon the persons who had so maliciously assailed the inoffensive man of God. David was a man of gentle mould, and remarkably free from the spirit of revenge, and therefore we may here conceive him to be speaking as a judge or as a representative man, in whose person great principles needed to be vindicated and great injuries redressed.”

Psalms 109:20

“Let this . . . reward--or, "wages," pay for labor, the fruit of the enemy's wickedness. from the Lord--as His judicial act. 21, 22. do . . . for me--that is, kindness. wounded--literally, "pierced" (Ps 69:16, 29).”

Psalms 109:21

“But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake,.... The sense of the petition is, and which is a prayer of Christ as man, that the Lord God would take his part, be on his side, be present with him, work with him, help and assist him, and that for his own honour and glory, for his truth and faithfulness sake, who had promised him help and assistance, Psa 89:”

Psalms 109:21

“But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake. How eagerly he turns from his enemies to his God! He sets the great thou in opposition to all his adversaries, and you see at once that his heart is at rest. The words are very indistinct and though our version may not precisely translate them, yet it in a remarkable manner hits upon the sense and upon the obscurity which hangs over it. "Do thou for me"—what shall he do? Why, do whatever he thinks fit.”

Psalms 109:22

“For I am poor and needy,.... As he was in human nature, being born of poor parents, brought up in a mean manner, had not where to lay his head, and was ministered to by others; though he was Lord of all, and immensely rich in the perfections of his nature, and in his vast empire and dominion, and the revenues arising from thence; see 2Co 8:9. It may here chiefly respect his helpless and forlorn estate as man, at the time of his sufferings and death; see Psa 40:”

Psalms 109:22

“For I am poor and needy. When he does plead anything about himself he urges not his riches or his merits, but his poverty and his necessities: this is gospel supplication, such as only the Spirit of God can indite upon the heart. This lowliness does not comport with the supposed vengeful spirit of the preceding verses: there must therefore be some interpretation of them which would make them suitable in the lips of a lowly minded man of God. And my heart is wounded within me.”

Psalms 109:23

“I am shaken off like locusts. I indeed had come to protect my people, and I said: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you, how often did I wish to gather your children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings." I had come like a hen to protect them: but they received me with a most hostile mind. I had come as a mother: and they slew me as if I were their murderer. I am shaken off. What is this? They persecuted me, they cast me out.”

Psalms 109:23

“I am gone like the shadow when it declineth. I am a mere shadow, a shadow at the vanishing point, when it stretches far, but is almost lost in the universal gloom of evening which settles over all, and so obliterates the shadows cast by the setting sun. Lord, there is next to nothing left of me, wilt thou not come in before I am quite gone? I am tossed up and down as the locust, which is the sport of the winds, and must go up or down as the breeze carries it.”

Psalms 109:24

“My knees are weak through fasting,..... Either voluntary or forced, through want of food or refreshment; this was verified in Christ, when he kneeled and prayed, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground; see Psa 69:10. And my flesh faileth of fatness; or "for want of oil" (k); the radical moisture of his flesh being dried up like a potsherd, Psa 22:15. (k) משמן δι' ελαιον, Sept. "propter oleum", V. L. "propter defectum olei", Eth. Arab.”

Psalms 109:24

My knees are weak through fasting; either religious fasting, to which he resorted in the dire extremity of his grief, or else through loss of appetite occasioned by distress of mind. Who can eat when every morsel is soured by envy? This is the advantage of the slanderer, that he feels nothing himself, while his sensitive victim can scarcely eat a morsel of bread because of his sensitiveness. However, the good God knoweth all this, and will succour his afflicted. The Lord who bids us confirm the feeble knees will assuredly do it himself. "And my flesh faileth of fatness."

Psalms 109:25

“I became also a reproach unto them,.... Or they reproached him; not only in life, traducing his conversation, blaspheming his miracles, calling him a Samaritan, saying he had a devil, and charging him with sedition; but at the time of his death they reviled him, and treated him in the most opprobrious manner. When they looked upon me, they shaked their heads; which was verified in the Jews as they passed by the cross of Christ, whither they came to stare upon him and scoff at him, Mat 27:39.”

Psalms 109:25

“In all this David was a type of Christ, who in his humiliation was thus wounded, thus weakened, thus reproached; he was also a type of the church, which is often afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted. He prays for mercy for himself.”

Psalms 109:26

“Save me according to your mercy. He says also in the Gospel: "I have power to lay down my soul and to take it up again." And again: "No one takes it from me." And how does he ask for mercy? He himself asks for mercy, and he himself bestows it; he himself as man asks, and as God bestows.”

Psalms 109:26

“Help me, O Lord my God. Laying hold of Jehovah by the appropriating word my, he implores his aid both to help him to bear his heavy load and to enable him to rise superior to it. He has described his own weakness, and the strength and fury of his foes, and by these two arguments he urges his appeal with double force. This is a very rich, short, and suitable prayer for believers in any situation of peril, difficulty, or sorrow. O save me according to thy mercy. As thy mercy is, so let thy salvation be.”

Psalms 109:27

“And let them know that this is your hand, and you, O Lord, have made it. What is it that he says, And let them know that this is your hand, and you, O Lord, have made it? Let the Jews understand that they did not prevail against me by their own strength: but my will and your will was done, that I should suffer. And I willed to suffer; therefore I say, according to what I am as man: "My God, I willed to do your will." And your will was also mine, that I should suffer.”

Psalms 109:27

“That they may know that this is thy hand,.... Which inflicted vengeance, and executed judgments on Judas and the Jews, as before imprecated: so the Targum, "that they may know that this is thy stroke;'' or which was concerned in all the sorrows and sufferings of the Messiah, which could never have come upon him had it not been the will of God; it was his hand and council that determined it, or men could never have effected it; see Act 4:28, or which wrought deliverance and salvation as before prayed for; see Psa 118:”

Psalms 109:28

“Let them curse, but bless thou,.... Let them curse me, as Shimei did David, the type of Christ; let them curse themselves, as they did; or my people: or "let them be cursed", as the Syriac version; cursed in life and at death, and to all eternity: but "bless thou me", the Messiah; as he did, when he raised him front the dead, set him at his right hand, and gave him a name above everyone, and made him most blessed for evermore; and bless my people with all spiritual blessings of grace, and with eternal glory and happiness.”

Psalms 109:28

“Men's curses are impotent; God's blessings are omnipotent; and those whom we unjustly curse may in faith expect and pray for God's blessing, his special blessing. When the Pharisees cast out the poor man for his confessing Christ, Christ found him, John ix.”

Psalms 109:29

“Let those who disparage me be clothed with shame. It profits us greatly to understand what we say. The clemency of God appears in this, in his saying "let them be clothed." He does not say, let them perish; he does not say, let them be blotted out forever: but what does he say? let them be confounded, that is, let them understand their error, and be confounded, and stand in repentance. He who is clothed with shame is near to salvation: for if anyone is truly confounded, he begins to repent.”

Psalms 109:29

“Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame,.... This is only explanative of what is said before, And let them cover themselves with their own confusion as with a mantle: the Arabic version is, "as with a breastplate." Some understand it as a petition of Christ, that they might be brought to repentance for their sins, and so to shame for them; which is an instance of his wondrous grace and goodness; and it is certain he prayed for the forgiveness of his enemies when on the cross, Luk 23:34.”

Psalms 109:30

“I will confess to the Lord exceedingly with my mouth. This is said after the resurrection, and it is sung of the future church. And in the midst of many I will praise him. For not in Judea alone, but in the whole world, in the church I will praise you.”

Psalms 109:30-31

“In singing this psalm we must comfort ourselves with the believing foresight of the certain destruction of all the enemies of Christ and his church, and the certain salvation of all those that trust in God and keep close to him.”

Psalms 109:31

“For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor,.... Of the Messiah, as in Psa 109:22 at whose right hand the Lord was, to guide and direct, help and assist, protect and defend, Psa 16:8, or of his people, who are poor in every sense; but the Lord is on their side, and is a present help in time of trouble, Psa 46:”

Psalms 109:31

“For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor. God will not be absent when his people are on their trial; he will hold a brief for them and stand in court as their advocate, prepared to plead on their behalf. How different is this from the doom of the ungodly who has Satan at his right hand (Ps 109:6). To save him from those that condemn his soul.”