Psalms 109

Psalm 109

1

To the leader. Of David. A psalm.

1 God of my praise, don't keep quiet,

2 because the mouths of wicked liars have opened up against me, talking about me with lying tongues.

3 Hateful words surround me; they attack me for no reason.

4 Instead of returning my love, they accuse me— but I am at prayer.

5 They repay me evil for good, hatred in return for my love.

6 "Appoint a wicked person to be against this person," they say, "an accuser to stand right next to him.

7 When the sentence is passed, let him be found guilty— let his prayer be found sinful!

8 Let his days be few; let someone else assume his position.

9 Let his children become orphans; let his wife turn into a widow.

10 Let his children wander aimlessly, begging, driven out of their ruined homes.

11 Let a creditor seize everything he owns; let strangers plunder his wealth.

12 Let no one extend faithful love to him; let no one have mercy on his orphans.

13 Let his descendants be eliminated; let their names be wiped out in just one generation!

14 Let his father's wrongdoing be remembered before the LORD; let his mother's sin never be wiped out.

15 Let them be before the LORD always, and let God eliminate the very memory of them from the land.

16 All because this person didn't remember to demonstrate faithful love, but chased after the poor and needy— even the brokenhearted—with deadly intent!

17 Since he loved to curse, let it come back on him! Since he didn't care much for blessing, let it be far away from him!

18 Since he wore curses like a coat, let them seep inside him like water, seep into his bones like oil!

19 Let them be like the clothes he wears, like a belt that is always around him."

20 But let all that be the reward my accusers get from the LORD, the reward for those who speak evil against me!

21 But you, LORD, my Lord!— act on my behalf for the sake of your name; deliver me because your faithful love is so good;

22 because I am poor and needy, and my heart is broken.

23 Like a lengthening shadow, I'm passing away; I'm shaken off, like some locust.

24 My legs are weak from fasting; my body is skin and bones.

25 I've become a joke to my accusers; when they see me, they just shake their heads.

26 Help me, LORD my God! Save me according to your faithful love!

27 And let them know that this is by your hand— that you have done it, LORD!

28 Let them curse—but you, bless me! If they rise up, let them be disgraced, but let your servant celebrate!

29 Let my accusers be dressed in shame; let them wear their disgrace like a coat.

30 But I will give great thanks to the LORD with my mouth; among a great crowd I will praise God!

31 Because God stands right next to the needy, to save them from any who would condemn them.

Psalms 109 Commentary

Chapter 109

David complains of his enemies. (1-5) He prophesies their destruction. (6-20) Prayers and praises. (21-31)

1-5. It is the unspeakable comfort of all believers, that whoever is against them, God is for them; and to him they may apply as to one pleased to concern himself for them. David's enemies laughed at him for his devotion, but they could not laugh him out of it.

Verses 6-20 The Lord Jesus may speak here as a Judge, denouncing sentence on some of his enemies, to warn others. When men reject the salvation of Christ, even their prayers are numbered among their sins. See what hurries some to shameful deaths, and brings the families and estates of others to ruin; makes them and theirs despicable and hateful, and brings poverty, shame, and misery upon their posterity: it is sin, that mischievous, destructive thing. And what will be the effect of the sentence, "Go, ye cursed," upon the bodies and souls of the wicked! How it will affect the senses of the body, and the powers of the soul, with pain, anguish, horror, and despair! Think on these things, sinners, tremble and repent.

Verses 21-31 The psalmist takes God's comforts to himself, but in a very humble manner. He was troubled in mind. His body was wasted, and almost worn away. But it is better to have leanness in the body, while the soul prospers and is in health, than to have leanness in the soul, while the body is feasted. He was ridiculed and reproached by his enemies. But if God bless us, we need not care who curses us; for how can they curse whom God has not cursed; nay, whom he has blessed? He pleads God's glory, and the honour of his name. Save me, not according to my merit, for I pretend to none, but according to thy-mercy. He concludes with the joy of faith, in assurance that his present conflicts would end in triumphs. Let all that suffer according to the will of God, commit the keeping of their souls to him. Jesus, unjustly put to death, and now risen again, is an Advocate and Intercessor for his people, ever ready to appear on their behalf against a corrupt world, and the great accuser.

Chapter Summary

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. This psalm was written by David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, concerning Judas the betrayer of Christ, as is certain from Acts 1:16 hence it is used to be called by the ancients the Iscariotic psalm. Whether the occasion of it was the rebellion of Absalom, as some, or the persecution of Saul, as Kimchi; and whoever David might have in view particularly, whether Ahithophel, or Doeg the Edomite, as is most likely; yet it is evident that the Holy Ghost foresaw the sin of Judas, and prophesies of that, and of the ruin and misery that should come upon him; for the imprecations in this psalm are no other than predictions of future events, and so are not to be drawn into an example by men; nor do they breathe out anything contrary to the spirit of Christianity, but are proofs of it, since what is here predicted has been exactly accomplished. The title in the Syriac version is, "a psalm of David when they created Absalom king without his knowledge, and for this cause he was slain; but to us it expounds the sufferings of the Christ of God;" and indeed he is the person that is all along speaking in this psalm.