Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_500_e.lzh/3_550.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-25 | 7KB | 128 lines

\*Ver. 2. \\Lest he tear my soul like a lion\\, &c.] That
is, one of his persecutors, the chief of them; it may
be Saul, whom the psalmist compares to a lion for his
majesty and greatness, the lion being the king among
beasts; and for his authority, power, and might, and
for his wrath and cruelty, which he feared; and which,
should it be exerted on him, would tear his soul, or
himself, in pieces; would rend his soul from his body,
and dispatch his life; see \\#Pr 19:12\\. So the
Apostle Paul calls the Roman governor, before whom
he was, and from whose hands he was delivered, a lion,
for his power and fierceness, \\#2Ti 4:17\\. And so
our adversary the devil, the chief of all persecutors,
and who instigates others against the saints, is by Peter
said to go about like a roaring lion, \\#1Pe 5:8\\;
\*\\rending [it] in pieces\\, as the lion does his prey when hungry.
So Homer {s} compares Polyphemus to a mountain lion,
which devours and leaves nothing, neither the intestines,
nor flesh, nor bones; and represents {t} it first
taking hold of the creature with its strong teeth, and
breaking its neck, and drawing out its blood and all its
inwards; see \\#Isa 38:13\\;
\*\\while [there is] none to
deliver\\; no saviour, no deliverer: for if God does not
save and deliver his people out of the hands of their
persecutors, none can; especially out of the hands of
such an one as is here described tearing and rending
in pieces. As there is no God besides the Lord, there
is no saviour besides him: there is no temporal nor
spiritual saviour but he: salvation is not to be expected
from any other; and were it not for him,
saints must fall a prey to their enemies.

\*Ver. 3. \\O Lord my God, if I have done this\\.] The
crime which Saul and his courtiers charged him with,
and which was made so public that eVery body knew
it; and therefore it was needless particularly to mention
it; namely, that he lay in wait for Saul, and
sought his life to take it away, \\#1Sa 24:9\\. The
Targum interprets it of this psalm, paraphrasing it, %if
I have made this song with an evil intention%; to give an
ill character of any, and lead them with false charges.
%if there be iniquity in my hands%; not that he was without
sin, he had it in his heart; nor that he lived without
the actual commission of sin: but his sense is, that
there was no iniquity, as trot in his heart, purpose, and
design, so not in his hand, nor attempted by him, of
the kind he was accused of, \\#1Sa 24:11\\. Otherwise,
we often hear him complaining of the depravity
of his nature, and acknowledging his sins and transgressions,
\\#Ps 32:5 38:3,4 51:1-5\\.

\*Ver. 4. \\If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me\\,
&c.] That is, when Saul was at peace
with him; when he lived at his court, and ate at his
table his meaning is, that he did not conspire
against him, nor form schemes to deprive him of his
crown nor of his life: or, as it may be rendered, %if I
have rewarded to him that rewarded me evil% {u}; that is,
as Jarchi explains it, if I rewarded him as he rewarded
me, evil for evil. This David did not; and it is eminently
true of Christ his antitype, \\#1Pe 2:23\\; and in
it he ought to be imitated by every believer, \\#Ro 12:17\\;
\*\\yea, I have delivered him that without cause is
mine enemy\\; meaning Saul, who persecuted David
without any just reason, and whom David delivered
without any obligation to do it; not for any benefit
and kindness he had received from him; for the phrase
%without cause% may be read in connection either with
the word %delivered% {w}; for the deliverance was wrought
without any cause or merit on Saul's part, or profit to
David; or with the word %enemy%, for Saul was David's
enemy without any just cause on David's part: and
the deliverance referred to was when he cut off Saul's
skirt, in the cave at Engedi, and spared his life; and
when he took away his spear from him, as he was sleeping
in the trench, and did not destroy him, nor suffer
those that would to do it, \\#1Sa 24:4,5,7,10,17 26:8,11\\.
The words may be rendered, %only I
stripped him% {x}. The sense is, that he cut off the skirt
of his coat, and took away his spear, and so in part
stripped him both of his clothes and armour, at two
different times; not to do him any hurt, but to let him
know, as Jarchi observes, that he was delivered into
his hands, and he could have slain him, but did not.
The same Jewish writer interprets the word used %of
stripping of garments%; and Aben Ezra observes, from
R. Moses, that the %vau%, rendered %yea%, signifies %only%,
as in \\#Ge 42:10\\.

\*Ver. 5. \\Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take [it]\\,
&c.] That is, if the above things he was charged with
could be proved against him; then he was content
that Saul his enemy should pursue after him, and apprehend
him, and bring him to justice, by taking away
his life from him;
\*\\yea, let him tread down my life upon
the earth\\; with the utmost indignation and contempt,
without showing any mercy; as the lion treads down
his prey, and tears it to pieces, \\#Mic 5:8\\; or as the
potter treads his clay under foot, \\#Isa 41:25\\;
\*\\and lay mine honour in the dust\\; meaning either his
life and soul, as before; denominating himself from
his better part, and which he elsewhere calls his glory,
\\#Ps 16:9 30:12 57:8\\; see \\#Ge 49:6\\;
or else his body, as R. Judah Ben Balaam, who is
blamed for it by Jarchi; or rather his fame, credit, and
reputation, that he had gained, both by his courage
and valour in the field, and by his wise and prudent
behaviour at court, \\#1Sa 18:7,16\\. Should he appear
to be guilty of the cringes he was accused of, he
is willing to have his glorious name buried in  the dust
of oblivion, and his memory perish for ever. The words
are to be considered as a strong assertion of his innocence,
in an appeal to God, the searcher of hearts, and
the trier of the reins of men; and as imprecating on
himself the worst of evils, should it not appear; see
\\#Job 31:21,22\\.

\*\\Selah\\; Aben Ezra renders %selah%, %in truth%, %let it be so%; and
the Targum renders it, as usual, %for ever%; \\see Gill on "Ps 3:2"\\.

{s} Odyss. 9. v. 292, 293.
{t} Iliad. 11. v. 175, 176. & Iliad. 17. v. 63.
{u} %Si malum malo rependi%, Castalio.
{w} \^Mqyr\^ %absque emolumento ullo ad me inde redeunte%, Gussetius.
{x} Verbum \^Ulx\^ %proprie extrahere, &c. significat, & de vestibus quae
alieui exunntur & eripiuntur proprie dicitur%, De Dieu.