Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary

on the Whole Bible

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

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P S A L M S

PSALM LXIV.

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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.

I. He prays to God to preserve him from their malicious designs against

him,

ver. 1, 2.

II. He gives a very bad character of them, as men marked for ruin by

their own wickedness,

ver. 3-6.

III. By the spirit of prophecy he foretels their destruction, which

would redound to the glory of God and the encouragement of his people,

ver. 7-10.

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.

Malice of David’s Enemies.

To the chief musician. A psalm of David.

     

1 Hear my voice, O

God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.

  2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the

insurrection of the workers of iniquity:

  3 Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to

shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

  4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do

they shoot at him, and fear not.

  5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune

of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?

  6 They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent

search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the

heart, is deep.

     

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.

     

I. He earnestly begs of God to preserve him

(v. 1, 2):

Hear my voice, O God! in my prayer; that is, grant me the thing

I pray for, and this is it, Lord, preserve my life from fear of the

enemy, that is, fro the enemy that I am in fear of. He makes

request for his life, which is, in a particular manner, dear to him,

because he knows it is designed to be very serviceable to God and his

generation. When his life is struck at it cannot be thought he should

altogether hold his peace,

Esth. vii. 2, 4.

And, if he plead his fear of the enemy, it is no disparagement to his

courage; his father Jacob, that prince with God, did so before him.

Gen. xxii. 11,

Deliver me from the hand of Esau, for I fear him. Preserve my life

from fear, not only from the thing itself which I fear, but from

the disquieting fear of it; this is, in effect, the preservation of the

life, for fear has torment, particularly the fear of death, by reason

of which some are all their life-time subject to bondage. He prays,

“Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked, from the

mischief which they secretly consult among themselves to do against me,

and from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity, who join

forces, as they join counsels, to do me a mischief.” Observe, The

secret counsel ends in an insurrection; treasonable practices begin in

treasonable confederacies and conspiracies. “Hide me from them, that

they may not find me, that they may not reach me. Let me be safe under

thy protection.”

     

II. He complains of the great malice and wickedness of his enemies:

“Lord, hide me from them, for they are the worst of men, not fit to be

connived at; they are dangerous men, that will stick at nothing; so

that I am undone if thou do not take my part.”

     

1. They are very spiteful in their calumnies and reproaches,

v. 3, 4.

They are described as military men, with their sword and bow, archers

that take aim exactly, secretly, and suddenly, and shoot at the

harmless bird that apprehends not herself in any danger. But,

(1.) Their tongues are their swords, flaming swords, two-edged swords,

drawn swords, drawn in anger, with which they cut, and wound, and kill,

the good name of their neighbours. The tongue is a little member, but,

like the sword, it boasts great things,
Jam. iii. 5.

It is a dangerous weapon.

(2.) Bitter words are their arrows–scurrilous

reflections, opprobrious nicknames, false representations, slanders,

and calumnies, the fiery darts of the wicked one, set on fire to hell.

For these their malice bends their bows, to send out these

arrows with so much the more force.

(3.) The upright man is their mark; against him their spleen is, and

they cannot speak peaceably either of him or to him. The better any man

is the more he is envied by those that are themselves bad, and the more

ill is said of him.

(4.) They manage it with a great deal of art and subtlety. They

shoot in secret, that those they shoot at may not discover them

and avoid the danger, for in vain is the net spread in the sight of

any bird. And suddenly do they shoot, without giving a man

lawful warning or any opportunity to defend himself. Cursed be he

that thus smites his neighbour secretly in his reputation,

Deut. xxvii. 24.

There is no guard against a pass made by a false tongue.

(5.) Herein they fear not, that is, they are confident of their

success, and doubt not but by these methods they shall gain the point

which their malice aims at. Or, rather, they fear not the wrath of God,

which they will be the portion of a false tongue. They are impudent and

daring in the mischief they do to good people, as if they must never be

called to an account for it.

     

2. They are very close and very resolute in their malicious projects,

v. 5.

(1.) They strengthen and corroborate themselves and one another in this

evil matter, and by joining together in it they make one another the

more bitter and the more bold. Fortiter calumniari, aliquid

adhærebit–Lay on an abundance of reproach; part will be sure to

stick. It is bad to do a wrong thing, but worse to encourage

ourselves and one another in doing it; this is doing the devil’s work

for him. It is a sign that the heart is hardened to the highest degree

when it is thus fully set to do evil and fears no colours. It is the

office of conscience to discourage men in an evil matter, but, when

that is baffled, the case is desperate.

(2.) They consult with themselves and one another how to do the most

mischief and most effectually: They commune of laying snares

privily. All their communion is in sin and all their communication

is how to sin securely. They hold councils of war for finding out the

most effectual expedients to do mischief; every snare they lay was

talked of before, and was laid with all the contrivance of their wicked

wits combined.

(3.) They please themselves with an atheistical conceit that God

himself takes no notice of their wicked practices: They say, Who

shall see them? A practical disbelief of God’s omniscience is at

the bottom of all the wickedness of the wicked.

     

3. They are very industrious in putting their projects in execution

(v. 6):

“They search out iniquity; they take a great deal of pains to

find out some iniquity or other to lay to my charge; they dig deep, and

look far back, and put things to the utmost stretch, that they may have

something to accuse me of;” or, “They are industrious to find out new

arts of doing mischief to me; in this they accomplish a diligent

search; they go through with it, and spare neither cost nor labour.”

Evil men dig up mischief. Half the pains that many take to damn

their souls would serve to save them. They are masters of all the arts

of mischief and destruction, for the inward thought of every one of

them, and the heart, are keep, deep as hell, desperately wicked,

who can know it? By the unaccountable wickedness of their wit and of

their will, they show themselves to be, both in subtlety and malignity,

the genuine offspring of the old serpent.

God’s Judgments on Persecutors.

     

7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall

they be wounded.

  8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves:

all that see them shall flee away.

  9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God;

for they shall wisely consider of his doing.

  10 The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in

him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

     

We may observe here,

     

I. The judgments of God which should certainly come upon these

malicious persecutors of David. Though they encouraged themselves in

their wickedness, here is that which, if they would believe and

consider it, was enough to discourage them. And it is observable how

the punishment answers the sin.

1. They shot at David secretly and suddenly, to wound him; but God

shall shoot at them, for the ordains his arrows against the

persecutors

(Ps. vii. 13),

against the face of them,
Ps. xxi. 12.

And God’s arrows will hit surer, and fly swifter, and pierce deeper,

than theirs do or can. They have many arrows, but they are only bitter

words, and words are but wind: the curse causeless shall not come. But

God has one arrow that will be their death, his curse which is never

causeless, and therefore shall come; with it they shall be suddenly

wounded, that is, their wound by it will be a surprise upon them,

because they were secure and not apprehensive of any danger.

2. Their tongues fell upon him, but God shall make their tongues to

fall upon themselves. They do it by the desert of their sin; God

does it by the justice of his wrath,

v. 8.

When God deals with men according to the desert of their tongue-sins,

and brings those mischiefs upon them which they have passionately and

maliciously imprecated upon others, then he makes their own tongues to

fall upon them; and it is weight enough to sink a man to the lowest

hell, like a talent of lead. Many have cut their own throats, and many

more have damned their own souls, with their tongues, and it will be an

aggravation of their condemnation. O Israel! thou hast destroyed

thyself, art snared in the words of thy mouth. If thou scornest,

thou alone shalt bear it. Those that love cursing, it shall come

unto them. Sometimes men’s secret wickedness is brought to light by

their own confession, and then their own tongue falls upon them.

     

II. The influence which these judgments should have upon others; for it

is done in the open sight of all,
Job xxxiv. 26.

     

1. Their neighbours shall shun them and shift for their own safety.

They shall flee away, as the men of Israel did from the tents of

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram,

Num. xvi. 27.

Some think this was fulfilled in the death of Saul, when not only his

army was dispersed, but the inhabitants of the neighbouring country

were so terrified with the fall, not only of their king but of his

three sons, that they quitted their cities and fled,

1 Sam. xxxi. 7.

     

2. Spectators shall reverence the providence of God therein,

v. 9.

(1.) They shall understand and observe God’s hand in all (and, unless

we do so, we are not likely to profit by the dispensations of

Providence,

Hos. xiv. 9):

They shall wisely consider his doing. There is need of

consideration and serious thought rightly to apprehend the matter of

fact, and need of wisdom to put a true interpretation upon it. God’s

doing is well worth our considering

(Eccl. vii. 13),

but it must be considered wisely, that we put not a corrupt gloss upon

a pure text.

(2.) They shall be affected with a holy awe of God upon the

consideration of it. All men (all that have any thing of the reason of

a man in them) shall fear and tremble because of God’s judgments,

Ps. cxix. 120.

They shall fear to do the like, fear being found persecutors of God’s

people. Smite the scorner and the simple shall beware.

(3.) They shall declare the work of God. They shall speak to one

another and to all about them of the justice of God in punishing

persecutors. What we wisely consider ourselves we should wisely declare

to others, for their edification and the glory of God. This is the

finger of God.

     

3. Good people shall in a special manner take notice of it, and it

shall affect them with a holy pleasure,

v. 10.

(1.) It shall increase their joy: The righteous shall be glad in the

Lord, not glad of the misery and ruin of their fellow-creatures,

but glad that God is glorified, and his word fulfilled, and the cause

of injured innocency pleaded effectually.

(2.) It shall encourage their faith. They shall commit themselves to

him in the way of duty and be willing to venture for him with an entire

confidence in him.

(3.) Their joy and faith shall both express themselves in a holy

boasting: All the upright in heart, that keep a good conscience

and approve themselves to God, shall glory, not in themselves,

but in the favour of God, in his righteousness and goodness, their

relation to him and interest in him. Let him that glories glory in

the Lord.

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

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