Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_500_e.lzh/3_589.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-27 | 7KB | 137 lines

\*Ver. 12. \\Like as a lion [that] is greedy of his prey\\, &c.]
Or %the likeness of him is as a lion% {i}; meaning Saul, as
Kimchi interprets it; or every one of them that compassed
them about, as Aben Ezra observes; sometimes
wicked and persecuting princes are compared to lions,
for their strength and cruelty; see \\#Pr 28:15
2Ti 4:17\\; so the devil is called a roaring lion,
\\#1Pe 5:8\\; and the antichristian beast is said to have
the mouth of a lion, \\#Re 13:2\\;
\*\\and as it were a
young lion lurking in secret places\\; to leap upon its
prey, and seize it at once, as it has opportunity; this
denotes the secret and insidious method which the
enemies of Christ take to do mischief; see \\#Ps 10:9,10\\.

\*Ver. 13. \\Arise, O Lord\\, &c.] See \\#Ps 3:7 7:6 9:19 10:12\\;
\*\\disappoint him\\, or %prevent
his face% {k}; be beforehand with him, and so disappoint
him, when he is about to seize his prey; who is comparable
to the lion, or to the young lion; meaning the
chief of his enemies, it may be Saul;
\*\\cast him down\\;
every one of them that set themselves to cast down
others to the earth. Jarchi's note is,
\*"cut off
"his feet,"\*
\*that he may bow down and fall.
\*\\Deliver my soul from
the wicked, [which is] thy sword\\; so Jarchi, Aben Ezra,
Kimchi, and Ben Melech, render the words; that is,
from wicked men, whom God makes use of as instruments
to afflict and chastise his people: so the Assyrian
monarch is called the %rod% of his anger, with whom he
scourged his people Israel, \\#Isa 10:5\\. Compare with
this \\#Ps 22:20\\. The words are rendered by some,
%deliver my soul from the wicked by thy swords% {l}; meaning
not the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God by
which Christ was delivered from the wicked one, when
tempted by him in the wilderness; but the avenging
justice of God, the sword of the Lord, which, being
whetted and taken hold on, and used by him, brings
vengeance on his enemies, and salvation to his people;
see \\#De 32:41 Isa 27:1 Jer 47:6,7\\. The
Targum paraphrases the clause thus,
\*"deliver my soul
"from the wicked, who deserves to be slain by thy sword."\*

\*Ver. 14. \\From men [which are] thy hand, O Lord\\,
&c.] Some understand these words, with what follows,
as independent of the former, and of another set
of men, even of good men; so the Targum,
\*"and the
"righteous who deliver their souls for thy sake, O
"Lord, unto death in the earth, their portion is in eternal life;"\*
\*so Jarchi gives the like sense of them: but
the words are to be connected with the preceding, as
they are by Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech; and
the sense is, deliver my soul from men, which are instruments
in thine hand to chastise thy people: so
even Satan himself, and the Sabeans and Chaldeans,
whom he instigated to afflict Job, are called the %hand%
of the Lord that touched him, because he suffered
them to do what they did for the trial of him, \\#Job 19:21\\.
The words may be rendered, %the men of thy
hand% {m}; who are raised up by thine hand to the power
and dignity they have; and who can easily be pulled
down by it; and who are in thine hand, and at thy
beck and control, and whose wrath and fury thou
canst restrain. Or they may be rendered, %from men
by thy hand% {n}; that is, deliver me from them by thy
strong hand and mighty power; as Israel of old was
delivered from the Egyptians by the strong and mighty
hand of God;
\*\\from men of the world\\: who are, as
they were when they came into the world, in sin, in
darkness, and in a carnal and unregenerate state; who
are not only in the world, but of it, and belong to it, and
to it only; and are under the influence of the god of
the world, and are taken with the lusts and pleasures
of it, and live in them and serve them: and are of
worldly spirits, inordinately love the things of the
world, mind earth and earthly things, and are unconcerned
about the things of another world; see \\#Lu 16:8\\;
\*\\[which have] their portion in [this] life\\; and in
this only; have a large share of the good things of this
life; and which is all their portion, \\#Lu 16:25\\;
\*\\and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid [treasure]\\: earthly
treasure, as gold and silver, which is called hid treasure,
because it is first hid in the bowels of the earth,
out of which it is dug, and afterwards hid in the coffers
of worldly men; and oftentimes kept to the hurt of
the owners of it. Or the phrase may denote the value
and preciousness of it. And to have the belly filled
with this is to have a very great affluence and plenty
of it; though it is very rare, let it be ever so large,
that men are fully satisfied with it;
\*\\they are full of
children\\; which among the eastern nations was reckoned
a considerable part of outward prosperity and
happiness; see \\#Job 21:7,8,11 Ps 127:3-5\\;
or their %children are full%, or %filled% {o} with hidden treasure also;
\*\\and leave the rest of their [substance] to their
babes\\; their children's children; their grandchildren,
as Kimchi explains it; and which is said, not by way
of complaint, as an evil in them, since it is lawful and
right for parents to lay up for their children, and leave
it to them: unless the sense is, that they engross all to
themselves, and to their posterity, in life and death;
whilst they live, they indulge their sensual appetites
and lusts, and tilt themselves and theirs, but give
nothing to the poor and hungry; nor part with any
thing for the interest of God and true religion; and
when they die leave nothing for such use and service,
but all to their posterity: but rather the phrase is
expressive of their great plenty; that having lived in and
enjoyed great fulness themselves, and given large portions
to their children, yet have much left; which, at
death, they bequeath to the young generation. Now
from such men in power and dignity, and from being
hurt by them, as well as from communion and conversation
with them, the psalmist desires to be delivered;
and expresses his satisfaction in other and
better things than they enjoy, in the following words.

{i} \^hyrak wnwymd\^ %similitudo ejus, vel cujusque est tanquam leonis%,
Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius; so Musculus, Gejerus,
Michaelis.
{k} \^wynp hmdq\^ %praeveni faciem ejus%, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus,
Musculus, Gejerus; %anticipa faciem ejus%, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
{l} \^Kbrx evrm\^ %gladio tuo ab improbis%, Junius & Tremellius;
Gejerus; so Ainsworth.
{m} \^Kdy Mytmm\^ %ab inimieis manus tuae%, V. L. so Sept. %a viris manus
tuae%, Lutherus, Musculus.
{n} %Manu tua%, Montaus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius,
Gejerus.
{o} \^Mynb webvy\^ %saturantur vel satiantur filii%, Munster, Muis, Junius
& Tremellius, Piscator, Gejerus; so Targ. Ar. Ainsworth.