To the chief musician, a psalm of David
109
📚Do not remain silent,O God of my praise.
109:1 This is the last of the Psalms which contain curses against enemies and it has the most terrible of these curses. For a note on this subject see Ps 35:8. We should always remember when reading such Psalms that they were written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and are not the writers’ desires for personal vengeance. They set forth perfect justice under the law. For when the law was broken it brought a curse (see Gal 3:10, 13; Deut 27:14-26). These curses speak of offended righteousness that demands just punishment for evil doers who will not repent.
Believers now are under the reign of grace and are not to make such prayers against enemies, but should imitate their Saviour and His disciples (Matt 5:43-45; Luke 23:34; Acts 7:59-60).
This psalm has been called the Psalm of Iscariot because the apostle Peter applied some of the words of v 8 to Judas (Acts 1:20). No doubt this psalm perfectly describes the character of that wicked betrayer of the Lord Jesus.⚜
2 📚For the mouth of the wicked
and the mouth of the deceitful
have opened against me.
They have spoken against me with
a lying tongue.
3 📚They also surrounded me
with words of hatred,
and fought against me without
a cause.
4 📚In return for my love they are
my accusers 📖;
but I give myself to prayer 📖.
5 📚And they have repaid me evil
for good,
and hatred for my love.
109:2-5 In these verses David speaks of enemies in the plural. From v 6 he singles out an extremely wicked enemy and speaks of him alone up to v 20. In these opening verses the chief sins he charges against his enemies are slander and hatred. He showed them love; they responded with deadly malice. He lived a righteous life; they eagerly poured out lies about him. How much more true all this was in the case of the Lord Jesus than in David’s. Slander is one of the worst of sins. Violence may destroy a man’s property or his life; slander is an attempt to destroy his name, reputation, and ministry.⚜
6 📚Set a wicked man over him,
and let Satan 📖 stand at his
right hand.
109:6 Wicked men deserve wicked opponents. “Wicked man” could be translated “the wicked one”.⚜
7 📚When he is judged, let him be condemned 📖,
and let his prayer 📖 become sin.
8 📚Let his days be few 📖, and
let another take
his position 📖.
9 📚Let his children be fatherless,
and his wife a widow.
109:9 Ex 22:24; Jer 18:21. This evil man cared nothing for widows and orphans (compare John 12:4-6). Now he must reap the fruit of his loveless and selfish behavior.⚜
10 📚Let his children continually be
vagabonds and beg;
let them seek their bread also
out of their desolate places.
11 📚Let a creditor seize all that
he has,
and let strangers plunder his labour.
12 📚Let there be no one to extend
mercy to him,
no one to show favour to his fatherless
children.
109:12 He did not show mercy to others (v 16); now let him be judged in accordance with his own behavior.⚜
13 📚Let his offspring be cut off,
and in the following
generation let their name be
blotted out.
14 📚Let the wickedness of his fathers
be remembered before the LORD,
and let not the sin of his mother be
blotted out.
15 📚Let them continually be before
the LORD,
that he may cut off the memory
of them from the earth,
16 📚Because he did not remember
to show mercy,
but persecuted the poor and
needy man,
that he might even kill the heartbroken.
109:16 Justice cries out against such evil persons and justice will eventually overtake them and bring them down.⚜
17 📚Since he loved cursing,
so let it come to him;
since he did not delight in blessing,
so let it be far from him.
18 📚Since he clothed himself
with cursing as with his garment,
so let it enter into his bowels
like water,
and like oil into his bones.
19 📚Let it be to him like the garment
which covers him,
and like a belt tied around him
continually.
109:17-19 This evil man loved to heap curses on others; now this righteous man by God’s Holy Spirit calls down curses on him. He made cursing a continual part of his life; now let curses cleave to him.⚜
20 📚Let this be the
payment to my accusers,
and to those who speak evil against
my soul.
109:6-20 This is a cry for exact justice to fall on a man who has abandoned himself to wickedness; a prayer in accordance with principles revealed in such verses as Ps 18:26; Ex 21:23-25; Lev 26:23-24; Prov 24:12.⚜
109:20 See Ps 54:5; 94:23; Isa 3:11; 2 Tim 4:14. No punishment will overtake the wicked man which he does not fully deserve.⚜
21 📚But you, O God the Lord,
deal well with
me for your name’s sake.
Rescue me, because your mercy
is good.
22 📚For I am poor
and needy 📖,
and my heart is wounded 📖
within me.
23 📚I am gone like the shadow 📖
when it lengthens.
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 📚My knees are weak through
fasting,
and my flesh is thin and feeble.
25 📚And I became an object
of scorn to them.
When they looked at me
they shook their heads.
26 📚Help me, O LORD my God!
Oh, save me according to your mercy,
27 📚That they may know that
this is your hand,
that you, LORD, have done it.
109:26-27 He wants God to be known in the help He gives.⚜
28 📚Let them curse, but you bless.
When they arise, let them be
ashamed,
but let your servant rejoice.
109:21-28 In these verses David speaks to God of his own sad condition and appeals for help.⚜
109:28 If God blesses us, let men curse us if they will. Their curses will come to nothing.⚜
29 📚Let my accusers be clothed
with shame,
and let them cover themselves with
their own disgrace,
as with a cloak.
30 📚I will greatly praise the LORD
with my mouth;
yes, I will praise him among
the great crowd.
31 📚For he stands at the right hand
of the poor,
to save him from those
who condemn him.
109:31 Contrast this with v 6. Satan stands at a man’s right hand to accuse; the Lord stands there to save.⚜