4 To shoot in secret places the perfect, Suddenly they shoot him, and fear not.
God doth hear and afflict them, And He sitteth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, and fear not God,
and Saul casteth the javelin, and saith, `I smite through David, even through the wall;' and David turneth round out of his presence twice.
And David saith to all his servants who `are' with him in Jerusalem, `Rise, and we flee, for we have no escape from the face of Absalom; haste to go, lest he hasten, and have overtaken us, and forced on us evil, and smitten the city by the mouth of the sword.'
And our adversaries say, `They do not know, nor see, till that we come in to their midst, and have slain them, and caused the work to cease.'
He doth sit in an ambush of the villages, In secret places he doth slay the innocent. His eyes for the afflicted watch secretly, He lieth in wait in a secret place, as a lion in a covert. He lieth in wait to catch the poor, He catcheth the poor, drawing him into his net.
For lo, the wicked tread a bow, They have prepared their arrow on the string, To shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.
For, lo, they laid wait for my soul, Assembled against me are strong ones, Not my transgression nor my sin, O Jehovah. Without punishment they run and prepare themselves, Stir up to meet me, and see.
Thou hast pierced with his staves the head of his leaders, They are tempestuous to scatter me, Their exultation `is' as to consume the poor in secret.
When, therefore, the chief priests and the officers did see him, they cried out, saying, `Crucify, crucify;' Pilate saith to them, `Take ye him -- ye, and crucify; for I find no fault in him;'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 64
Commentary on Psalms 64 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 64
This whole psalm has reference to David's enemies, persecutors, and slanderers; many such there were, and a great deal of trouble they gave him, almost all his days, so that we need not guess at any particular occasion of penning this psalm.
In singing this psalm we must observe the effect of the old enmity that is in the seed of the woman against the seed of the serpent, and assure ourselves that the serpent's head will be broken, at last, to the honour and joy of the holy seed.
To the chief musician. A psalm of David.
Psa 64:1-6
David, in these verses, puts in before God a representation of his own danger and of his enemies' character, to enforce his petition that God would protect him and punish them.
Psa 64:7-10
We may observe here,