VII.
Shiggaion of David, which he fang unto the Lord, concerning the words of Cufh the Benjamite.
HE name of this pfalm /Liggaion, either refpects the mufic or the matter of the pfalm. Some take it to be the name of the mufical inftrument, to which the pfalm was fet": fo Habakkuk’s prayer is faid to be upon shigionoth; which is the fame word with this, only of the plural number, Hab. iii. 1. Others fay it was the firft word of a fong, to the tune of which this was fung*®. And others underftand it of a certain kind of a fong?: and the Targum renders it, the interpretation of the ode of David; which Ainfworth renders, David's interpretation of the law; reading SPW inftead of NTN as does alfo the king of Spain’s Bible. And certain it is, that it is the name of a fong; fince it follows, which he fang unto the Lord; in his prefence, before him, and to the glory of his name. But the queftion is, of what fort it is? and
-h YPVING fupplices pro gratia preces meas, Michaelis; fo Ainfworth.
why it fhould be fo called? fince its root 729 fignifies 4o err or wander: it is more generally rendered, am erratic or wandering ode; a fong or pfalm, which confifted of various kind of metre: it was fung with various notes, and all kind of mufic, which made it very pleafant. Hence fome render it, David's delight, as R. Obadiah Gaon; and the verb from whence it is derived, is tranflated ravifoed in Prov.v. 19,20. and Ben Melech fays, the word fignifies MID WY ANNwW joy and pleafure; and Aben Ezra obterves that fome interpret it, yayrt delight. But others are of opinion, that this word regards the fubject-matter of the pfalm, and may be rendered, David’s ignorance or error; his fin of ignorance; and refpects his miftaken conduét with regard to his enemies, particularly Sav/, in making imprecations upon them, Pfalm vi. 10. in
., curfing! FVSPI eft propria oratio habita ad juris
- eurfing them, and efpecially king Sau/; when a king is not to be curfed, Eccle/. x. 20. and in cuting off the fkirt of his garment, for which his heart fmote him, 1 Sam. xxiv. 4, 5. Some render it, the care of David, as Cocceius; which he wrote in deep meditation, when he had forgot himfelf, and was as it were in an extafy; fetting forth the fum of bis cares, as Ainfworth exprefles it, when he was harafléd and greatly afflicted by his enemies. The occafion of it is, the words of Cufh the Benjamite; which fome underftand of Shimei the Benjamite, who came out and curfed David as he went along, when he fled from Ad/alom, 1 Sam. xvi. 5—11. Theodoret thinks Hu/hat is meant, who perfuaded Abjalom not to follow the cotnfel of Abitbophel; on which account David penned this pfalm. Others interpret it of one of Sau/’s courtiers, who was of the tribe of Benjamin, and whofe name was Cufb *; and which is very likely, fince it is evident that fome.of Sau/’s courtiers accufed David to him, and charged him with feeking his hurt, not only to take away his crown and kingdom, but his life, 1 Sam. xxiv. 9. and xxvi. 19. Though the generality of the Jewifh writers * interpret it of Saul himfelf, who is called Cu/d, in allufion to his father’s name Kio, who was a man of Benjamin, 1 Sam. ix. 1. or elfe becaufe Cu) fignifies an Ethiopian, to which he may be compared, as the children of J/rael in Amos ix. 7. For as the Ethiopian is various in his fkin, fo was Saul in his actions, as Farchi obferves: or rather becaufe, as Kimchi and Ben Melech exprefs it, as the E¢biopian does not change his fkin, Yer. xiii. 23. fo Saul did not change his hatred to David. Though the fame writers obferve, that he may be called fo by the rule of contraries, becaufe he was a very goodly and beautiful man; the words referred to, are fuppofed to be thofe in 1 Sam. xxii. 7, 8.
y¥.1. O Lord my God, in thee do I put my truft, &c.] The pfalmift expreffes his intereft in God as his covenant-God, and his truft and confidence in him; and with thefe he fets out as the ftay of his foul, and his bulwark againft the fears of his enemies: and he does not fay that he had trufted in God, or would for the future truft in him; but that he did truit in him, and continued to do fo, And God is to be trufted in at all times; in times of affliction, temptation, and defertion; and thefe the pfalmift premifes to his petition which follows, as an encouragement to him to hope for fuccefs, fince God was his God, and none that ever trufted in him were confounded. Save me from all them that perfecute me, and deliver me: perfecution is no new thing to the people of God; David had his perfecutors, and many of them; the church in Feremiab’s time had hers; the faints, in the times of the apoftles, and in all ages fince, have had theirs. Every one that will live godly in Chrift Jefus, muft expect perfecution in one fhape or another; and there is none can fave and deliver from it but God, and he can and will in his own time, 2 Cor, i. 10. David was fenfible of this, and therefore applies to him, and him only; and not to an arm of flefh, to his friends, or to neighbouring princes and powers.
y.2. Left be tear my foul like a lion, 8cc.| That is, one of his perfecutors, the chief of them; it may be Sau/, whom the pfalmift compares to a lion, for his majefty and greatnefs, the lion being the king among beafts; and for his authority, power and might, and for his wrath and cruelty, which he feared; and which, fhould it be exerted on him, would tear his foul, or himéelf, in pieces; would rend his foul from his -body, and difpatch his life; fee Prov. xix. 12. So the apoftle Paul calls the Roman governor, before whom he was, and from whofe hands he was delivered, a lion, for his power and fiercenefs, 2 Zim. iv. 17. And fo our adverfary the devil, the chief of all perfecutors, and who inftigates others againft the faints, is by Peter faid to go about like a roaring lion, 1 Pet. v. 8. Rending it in pieces, as the lion does his prey when hungry. So Homer * compares Po~ lyphemus to a mountain-lion, -which devours and leaves nothing, neither the inteftines, nor flefh nor bones; and reprefents ‘ it firft taking hold of the creature with its ftrong teeth, and breaking its neck, and drawing out its blood and all its inwards; fee J/a, xxxviil. 13. /Vbile there is none to deliver; no faviour, no deliverer: for if God does not fave and deliver his people out of the hands of their perfecutors, none can; efpecially out of the hands of fuch an one as is here defcribed tearing and rending in pieces. As there is no God befides the Lord, there is no Saviour befides him there is no temporal nor {piritual Saviour but he: falvation is not to be expected from any other; and were it not for him, faints muft fall a prey to their enemies, ¥. 3. O Lord my God, if I bave done this, &c.J} The crime which Saud and his courtiers charged him with, and which was made fo public that every body knew it; and therefore it was needlefs particularly to mention it; namely, that he lay in wait for Sau/, and fought his life to take it away, 1 Sam, xxiv.g. |The Yargum interprets it of this pfalm, paraphrafing it, Jf I bave made this fong with an evil intention; to give an ill character of any, and load them with talfe charges. Jf there be iniquity in my hands; not that he was without fin, he had it in his heart; nor that he lived without the aétual commiffion of fin: but his fenfe is, that there-was no iniquity, as not in his heart, purpofe and defign, fo notin his hand, nor attempted by him, of the kind he was accufed of, 1 Samm. xxiv. 11. Otherwife, we often hear him complaining of the depravity of his nature, and acknowledging his fins and tranfgreffions, P/a/, xxxii. 5. and xxxviii. 3,4. ahd li. 1, 2, 35.45 5+ ¥.4. If I have rewarded evil unto bim that was at peace with me, &c.] That is, when Saul was ‘at peace with him; when he lived at his court, and eat at his table. His meaning is, that he did not confpire again{t him, nor form fchemes to deprive him of his crown nor of his life: or, as it may be rendered, Jf I have rewarded to him that rewarded me evil”; that is, as farchi explains it, If I rewarded him as he rewarded me, evil for evil. This David did not; and it is eminently true of Chrift his antitype, 1 Pet. il. 23. and in it he ought to be imitated by every believer, Rom. xii. 17. Yea, L have delivered him that without caufe is mine enemys meaning Sau/, who perfecuted David without any jutt reafon, and whom David delivered without any obligation to do it; not for any benefit and kindnefs he had received from him; for the phrafe with« out caufe, may be read in connexion either with the word delivered“; for the deliverance was wrought without any caufe or merit on Saz/’s part, or profit to David; or with the word enemy, for Saul was David’s enemy without any juft caufe on David's part: $ Odyf. « $i malum malo rependi, Cattalio.
* [9 ablque emolumento ullo ad me inde redeunte, Gufletius.
. part: and the deliverance referred to, was when he cut off Saul’s fkirt, in the cave at Engedi, and {pared his life; and)when he took away his {pear from him, as he was fleeping’in the trench, and
- did not deftroy him, nor fuffer thofe that would to do it, 1 Sam. xxiv. 45 55 7» 10, 17. and xxvi. 8, 11. The words may be rendered, only I fripped him*. The fenfe is, that he cut off the fkirt of his coat, and took away his fpear, and fo in part {tripped him both of his clothes and armour, at two different times; not to do him any hurt, but to let him know, as Farchi cbferves, that he was delivered into his hands, and he could have flain him, but did not. The fame Jewifh writer interprets the word ufed, of tripping of garments, and Aben
Ezra obferves from R. Mofes that the vau, rendered yea, fignifies only, as in Gen. xlii. 10.
y¥. 5. Let the enemy perfecute my foul, and take it, €fc.] That is, if the above things he was charged with could be proved againft him, then he was content that Sa#/ his enemy fhould purfue after him, and apprehend him and bring him to juftice, by taking away his life from him. 2a, let kim tread down my life upon the earth; with the utmoft indignation and contempt, without fhewing any mercy; as the lion treads down his prey, and tears it to pieces, Micah v. 8. or as the potter treads his clay under foot, J/a. xli. 25. dud lay mine honour in the dust. Selab: meaning either his life and foul as before; denominating himfelf from his better part, and which he elfewhere calls his glory, Pfal. xvi. 9. and xxx. 12, and lvit. 8. fee Gen. xlix. 6. or elfe his body, as R. /udah Ben Balaam, who is blamed for it by farchi: or rather his fame, credit, and reputation that he had gained, both by his courage and valour in the field, and by his wife and prudent behaviour at court, 1 Sam, xviii. 7, 16. Should he appear to be guilty of the crimes he was accufed of, he is willing to have his glorious name buried in the duft of oblivion, and his memory perifh for ever. The words are to be confidered as a ftrong affertion of his innocence, in an appeal to God, the fearcher of hearts and the trier of the reins of men; and as imprecating on himfelf the worft of evils, fhould it not appear; fee Fob xxxi.-21, 22. Aben Ezra renders felab, in truth, let it be fo; and the Targum renders it as ufual, for ever; fee the note on P/alm iii. 2.
y. 6. Arife, O Lord, in thine anger, &c.| This and the following phrafe do not fuppofe local motion in God, to whom it cannot belong, being infinite and immenfe; but are fpoken of him after the manner of men, who feems fometimes as though he had laid himfelf down, and was unconcerned about, and took no notice of human affairs, of the infults of the wicked, and the oppreffions of the righteous; wherefore the pfalmift befeeches him to arife, which he may be faid to do when he comes forth in his power in the defence of his people, and againft their enemies; fee Pfal. xii. 5. I/a. xxvi. 21. and he alfo prays him to arife in anger, to thew himfelf difpleafed, and give fonre tokens of his refentment, by letting his enemies feel the lighting down of his arm with the indignation of his anger. Lift up toyfelf, because of the rage of mine enemies, af cend the throne of judgment, and there fit judging right; fhew thyfelf to be the judge of the earth, high and lifted up; let it appear that thou art above all mine
‘enemies, higher and more powerful than they; flop, ‘their rage, break the force of their fury, litt up a ftandard againft them, who like a mighty flood threaten to bear all before them or Ut up thyfelf in rage, or fierce wrath, becaufe of, or againft mine enemies”, and fo the fenfe is the fame as before 5. and this way go many of the Jewifh interpreters”. And awake for me to the judgmeat that thou bajt commanded; not that fleep falls upon God, for the’ keeper of J/rae! neither flumbers nor fleeps; nor does it fall on any but corporeal beings,.not upon angels, nor the fouls of men, much lefs on God; but he fometimes in his providence feems to lie’ dormant and inactive, as it he difregarded what is, done in this world; and therefore his people addrefs him as if he was afleep, and call upon him to arife to their help and affiftance; fee P/al. xliv. 23, 26._ and fo David here, awake for me, that is, haften to come to me and help me; fuggefting, that he, was in great diftrefs and danger by reafon of his enemies, fhould he delay coming to him. By judgment is either meant the vengeance which God had ordered him to execute upon his enemies, as archi interprets it, and therefore he intreats him to arife and put him in a capacity of doing it; or elfe his innocence, and the vindication of it, which God had,promifed him, and then the petition is much the fame with ¥. 8. But the generality of Jewith * writers underftand it of the kingdom which God had appointed for him, and for which he was anointed by Samuels and who had told Saal that God had found a man after his own heart, whom he had commanded to be captain over his people, t Sam. xiii. 14. wherefore the pfalmift prays that God would haften the fulfilment of his purpofe and promife, and fet him on the throne, that fo he melt adminifter juftice and judgment to the people. ¥. 7. So shall the congregation of the people compas thee about, &cc.] By the congregation of the people are meant the nation of the Jews, the twelve tribes of J/rael, called an affembly of people, and a company of nations, Gen, xxviii. 3, and xxxv. 11. and this is to be underftood not of their gathering together in an hoftile manner about David to take him, which might be interpreted compaffing God himfelf about, David being as dear to him as the apple of his eye, which is the fenfe of feveral Jewifh commentators ®; but rather of their encompafsing and furrounding the altar of God with fongs of — deliverance, upon David’s being rid of his enemies, and advanced to the throne of the kingdom; fee Pfal. xxvi. 6, 7. unlefs it fhould have regard to the pure worfhip of God by David, which was greatly neglected in Sau/’s time; and then the fenfe is, that the pfalmift prays that he might be eftablifhed in his kingdom, as God had appointed and commanded, when he would fetch up the ark of God, and encourage the worfhip of God, and retify all diforders in it; that fo the feveral tribes might come up to Ferufalem and encompafs the ark, the fymbol of the divine prefence, and worfhip in bib iely mountain. for their /akes therefore return thou on high, take the throne of juftice, high and lifted up, vindicate the caufe of the oppreffed, deliver me from all my troubles, put-me into the peaceable pofleffion of my kingdom; if not for my fake, yer for the fake of thy church and ee the ote ao. - f ae ’.. Pfvit.¥.8—12. Cee 46 MS. S17 fake of thy worfhip and thy glory; the Targum paraphrafes it, return thou to the boufe of thy fhekinab,
¥. 8. The Lord fhall judge the people, &c.] The inhabitants of the world in general; for God is the judge of all the earth, and he judges the world in righteoufnefs daily, and minifters judgment in uprightnefs, though it is not always manifeft; or his own people in particular, whofe caufe he pleads, whofe injuries and wrongs he avenges, whofe perfons he proteéts and defends; this the pfalmift expreffes with confidence, and therefore, fuitable to his character as a judge, he intreats him as follows; Fudge me, O Lord, according to my righteou/ne/s; he fpeaks not of his juftification before God, in whofe fight he well knew no flefh living could be juftified by their own righteoufnefs, P/a/. cxliii. 2. nor of the righteoufnefs of his perfon, either imputed or inherent, but of the righteoufnefs of his caufe, Pfal. xxxv, 27. not of his righteoufnefs Godward, for he knew that he was a finner with refpeét to him; but of his righteoufnefs towards Sau, againft whom he had not finned, but had acted towards him in the moft righteous and faithful manner, 1 Sam, xxiv. 11. and therefore defired to be judged, and was content to ftand or fall according to his conduct and behaviour towards him. ud according to mine integrity that is in me; who had always acted the fincere and upright part towards Saul, though ke had purfued him with fo much fury and violence; the pfalmift’s prayer was heard and anfwered, P/al. xviil. 20, 24.
¥. 9. Ob, let the wickednefs of the wicked come to an end, &c.] Which will not be till the meafure of it is fully up, and that will not be till the wicked are no more; for as long as they are in the world they will be committing wickednefs, and like the troubled fea continually caft up the mire and dirt of fin; and they will remain to the end of the world, till the new Feru/alem-church-ftate fhall take place, when all the Lord’s people will be righteous, and there will not be a Canaanite in the houfe of the Lord of hofts, nor a pricking brier or grieving thorn in all the land; for in the new earth will no finner be, but righteous perfons only; and for this ftate the pfalmift may be thought to pray; however by this petition and the following he exprefles his hatred of fin and love of righteoufnefs: fome choofe to render the words ‘, /et wickedne/s now confume the wicked; as in the iffue it will, unlefs the grace of God takes place; fome fins confume the bodies, others the eftates of wicked men, and fome both; and all are the means of deftroying both body and foul in hell, if grace prevent not; this may be confidered as a declaration of what will be, being a prophetic petition*. But eftablifh the juft; or righteous one; meaning himfelf, and every other who is made righteous,. not by his own righteoufnefs, but by the righteoufnefs of Chrift imputed to him; and who needs not to have his righteoufnefs eftablifhed, which is in itfelf ftable, firm, and fure, and cannot be more fo; it is an everlafting one, and cannot be abolifhed, but abides for ever, and will anfwer for him in a time to come; but his faith to be eftablifhed more and more in its exercife on this righteoufnefs: nor do the perfons of the juft need eftablifhing, or can they be more ftable than they are, as confidered in Chrift, as they are the objects of God’s everlafting love, fecured in the covenant of grace, and built on Chrift the foundation; but the graces of faith, hope; and love, need daily eftablifhing on their proper object, they being weak, fickle, and inconftant in their acts; and the faints need more and more eftablifhing in the doctrines of the gofpel, and in their adherence to the caufe of God and Chrift and true religion; and it is God’s work to eftablifh them, to whom the pfalmift applies; fee 1 Pet. v.10, For the righteous God trieth the bearts and reins; lie is righteous himfelf in his nature, and in all -his works, and he knows who are righteous and who are wicked; he knows the hearts, thoughts, affections, and inward principles of all men, and the fprings of all their actions; he looks not at outward appearances, but at the heart; and as he can diftinguifh between the one and the other, he is capable of punifhing the wicked and of confirming the righteous, confittent with the truth of his pertections.
y. 10. My defence isiof God, &c.| Or my fhield is 72 or of God*; God was his fhield, his protector and defender; fee Pfal. iii. 3. or my fhield is with God; that is, Chrift, who was the fhield his faith made ufe of againft every fpiritual enemy; was with God; he was with him as the Word and Son of God from all eternity, and as the living Redeemer of his people before his incarnation; and he is now with him as their interceflor and advocate, who pleads in defence of them, and oppofes himfelf, his blood and righteoufnefs to all the charges and accufations of Satan. Which faveth the upright in heart; who have the truth of grace in them, wifdom in the hidden part; who are fincere in their affections, purpofes and defigns, in their faith, hope, and love; and act from real principles of truth and love, in the integrity of their fouls; for thefe light and gladnefs are fown, to them grace and glory are given, and no good thing is withheld from them; they are faved by God from fin, Satan, the world, death and hell, and every enemy, with a fpiritual and everlafting falvation.
y. 11. God judgeth the righteous, &c.] Not all that are thought to be righteous, or think themfelves to be fo, are fuch; nor is any man naturally righteous, or of himfelf, nor by virtue of his obedience to the law of works; but fuch only are righteous who are made fo by the obedience of Chrift; thefe God governs and protects, avenges their injuries and defends their perfons: fome render the words, God is a righteous judge*; he is fo now in the adminiftrations of his government of the univerfe, and he will be fo hereafter in the general judgment of the world. 4nd God is angry with the wicked every day; wicked men are daily finning, and God is always the fame in his nature, and has the fame averfion to fin continually; and though he is not always making men examples of his wrath, yet his wrath is revealed from heaven againft all unrighteoufnefs of men; and there are frequent inftances of it; and when he is filent he is ftill angry, and in his own time will ftir up all his wrath, and rebuke in his hot difpleafure.
y. 12. Uf he turn not, &c.] Not God, but the enemy, or the wicked man, fpoken of y. 5, 9, 11. if he turn not from his wicked courfe of life, to the Lord to live to him, and according to his will;
unlefs he is converted and repents of his fin, and there is a change wrought in him, in his heart and life; the Sepiwagint, Vulgate Latin, Arabic and Ethiopic verlions read, if ye turn not, or are not converted, an apoftrophe to the wicked. He will whet his fword; God is a man of war, and he is fometimes reprefented as accoutred with military weapons; fee //a. lix, 7, 18. and among the reft with the fword of judgment, which he may be faid to whet, when he prepares fharp and fore judgments for his enemies, J/a. xxvii. 1. Deut. xxxii. 41. He bath bent bis bow, and made it ready; drawn his bow of vengeance, and put it on the full ftretch, and made it ready with the arrows of his wrath, levelled againft the wicked, with whom he is angry; which is expreffive of their fpeedy and inevitable ruin, in cafe of impenitence; fee Lam. ji. 4. and ili, 12, 13. Or trod bis bow, as is the ufual phrafe elfewhere; fee Pfal. xi. 2. Lam, ii. 4. and iii, 12. which was done by the feet, and was neceffary when the bow was a ftrong one, as Farchi on Pfal. xi. 2. obferves; and fo the Arabs, as Suidas * relates, ufing arrows the length of a man, put their feet on the {tring of the bow inftead of their hands. y. 13. He hath alfo prepared for bim the injtruments of death, &c.| The weapons of his indignation, J/a. xiii. 5. which will iffue both in the firft and fecond death, corporal and eternal; the inftruments of the former are difeafes of various kinds, and judgments, as famine, peftilence, &c. and of the latter not only the law is an inftrument of it, that being the letter which kills, and is the miniftration of condemnation and death, but even the gofpel itfelf to wicked men is the favour of death unto death; and devils will be the executioners of it. He ordaineth bis arrows againjt the perfecutors, the word for perfecutors fignifies hot or burning *, and defigns fuch perfons who burn in malice and wrath, in rage and fury againft the faints, and hotly purfue’after them, as Laban did after Facob, Gen. xxxi. 36. for thefe more efpecially God has determined in his eternal purpofes and decrees, and for for thefe he has provided in his quiver, arrows of wrath and vengeance, fiery ones; and againft thefe will he bring them forth, direét them, and fhoot them at them, P/a/. Ixiv. 7. Some‘ underftand all this not of God, but of the wicked man, and read if be turn not, but on the contrary inftead of that, will whet bis fword, bend bis bow, &c. againft the righteous; yet he fhall be difappointed, he fhall not accomplifh his defigns, as appears by the following verfes; thefe phrafes are ufed of wicked men, Pfal. xi, 2. and xxxvii. 14, 15. and Ixiv. 2, 3, 4. but the former fenfe feems beft.
¥. 14. Behold, be travaileth with iniquity, &c.] Is full of it, and big with it, as_a woman with child, and eagerly defires to bring it forth, and is
Pfivil. ¥.13—I7, in pain till he commits it. And hath conceived michief; that which is injurious to God and the perfections of his nature, a tranfgreffion of his laws and an affront to his juftice and holinefs; is doing wrong to fellow creatures, and hurt to themfelves, either to their name and credit, or to their fubftance and eftates, or to their bodies and fouls, and it may be to them all; and yet this they conceive, they de-. vife it in their hearts, and form fchemes how to bring it to pafs, and which they do with great freedom, deliberation, and pleafure. And brought forth fal/hood, or vanity*, or a-vain thing, as the fame word is rendered in Fob xv. 35. no fruit at all, but wind, or ftubble, //z. xxvi. 17, and xxxiii. 14, that which deceives does not anfwer the expectation, but the contrary to it; the fenfe is, that wicked men having devifed mifchievous things againft the faints, they are big with expectations of fuccefs, and ftrive to bring their purpofes to bear, but are miferably difappointed, for it all ends in yanity and vexation of {pirit to themfelves..
¥. 15. He made a pit and digged it, &c.} That is, he digged a pit, and made it very large and capacious to anfwer his purpofes. dnd is fallen into the ditch which be made fo it is faid of the heathen, P/al. ix. 15. and is exemplified in the cafe of Haman, who was hanged upon the gallows he had built for Mordecai. Kimchi explains this of Saul’s falling upon his own {word, and dying by it, which he drew againft David; the phrafe is proverbial, Prov. xxvi. 27, Eecl. x. 8. and the fenfe, of this and the above figurative expreffions is literally and properly given in the next verfe,
¥. 16. His mifchief fhall return upon bis own head, &c.] That which he conceived and devifed in his mind, and attempted to bring upon others, fhall fall upon himfelf, as a juft judgment from heaven upon him. And bis violent dealing fall come down, upon bis own pate; referring to the violence with which Saul purfued David, which would be requited to him, and of which he prophefied, 1 Samuel XXVi. 10.
v.17. I will praife the Lord according to his righteoufnefs, &c.| Or on account of it, as it was difplayed in vindicating the innocent, and punifhing the wicked; fo Pharaoh having ordered the male infants of the Hebrews to be drowned, and he himfelf and his hoft in righteous judement being drowned in the Red fea, Mo/es and the children of J/rael fung a fong as the pfalmift here. And will jing praife to the name of the Lord moft highs whofe name 1s Fehovah, and is the moft high over all the earth; and who had now, according to the pfalmift’s requeft, y. 6, 7. arofe and lift up himfelf, and returned on high, and had fhewn himfelf to be above all David’s enemies, and had fat on the throne judging right.:
To the chief mufician upon Gittith, a pfalm of David.
OME think this pfalm was compofed when’ S the ark was brought to the houfe of Obed Edom the Gittite, and that it was delivered to him and his fons, as others were to Afaph, to Feduthun,.to the fons of Korab, &c.' But againft this lies a ftrong objection, that Oded-Edom and
& In voce Apalss. Brentius & Glaffius in Gejerus. in loc. ™ R, Mofes apud ibid,.
his fons were porters, and not fingers, 1 Chroz. xxvi. 4,15. and for the fame reafon, Gittith cannot be the name of a mufical inftrument which was kept in his family, and prefided over bythem™. - Some are of -opinion, this word had its name from when
Gath; and that this pfalm was wrote by when he was there’; or that it is the name of a mufical inftrument invented and made there, and which was brought from thence *. And fo the Targum paraphrafes it; ‘* upon the harp which “was brought from Gath.” A word like this fignifies wine-preffes: and hence the Sep/wagint, Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic verfions, render it for the wine-preffes; which Theodoret interprets of churches, where Chrift the true vine is gathered by believers, and they prepare the myftic wine. Some think * the pfalms which bear this name were compofed for the feaft-of tabernacles; when, having got in their vintage, they filled their prefles, and fqueezed their grapes, and therefore gave thanks; it was ufual, even with the heathens ’, to make ufe of the harp, and other inftruments of mufic, at the gathering of the grapes to be queez- ed and preffed. Some of the Jewith writers * apply it to the times of Edom’s deftruction, who was to be trodden down as ina wine-prefs, foretold in J/a. Ixiii. 1,2, 3. and others interpret it of the times of Gog and Magog, when the prophecy in Foel iii. 13. fhall be fulfilled °; and fome have thought this pfalm to bea fong of praife, like one of thofe fung by them that tread in the wine-prefs; the time of vintage being a time of joy. The ancient Chriftian writers explain it of the fufferings of Chrift, when he trod the wine-prefs of his father’s wrath. But the word Gittith, is either the firft word of fome fong, as 4ben Ezra thinks; or the name of the tune, as Kimchi; or rather of the mufical inftrument to which this pfalm was fet and fung. Though the author of the Epiftle to the Hebrews, chap. ii. 6. citing fome pafiages from this pfalm, only fays, ove in a certain place teStified; without mentioning either the number of the pfalm, or the name of the writer; yet it is certain that David was the penman of it: and both from the teftimony of the writer, and from a citation of Chrift himfelf, it is evident that the fubject of this pfalm is the Meffiah, and that it belongs to his times; fee Heb. ii. 6, 7,8,9. Matt.xxi. 15,16. So the Syriac Scholiaft, ** the eighth pfalm is concerning Chrift our redeemer.”
y.1. O Lord our God, &c.] Febovah, the one God, who is Lord of all angels and men, and in an efpecial manner Lord and King of faints, How excellent is thy name in all the earth! by the name of God, is not meant any particular name of his, by which he is called; but either himfelf, his nature and perfections; orrather, that by which he is made known, and particularly his gofpel; fee Fobn xvii. 6. Ads 1x.15. this is excellent in its nature, it being good news, and glad tidings of good things, which difplay the love, grace, mercy and kindnefs of God to men, as well as his wifdom, power, truth and faithfulnefs; and in the fubjectmatter of it, Chrift and his righteoufnefs, and life and falvation by him, the fpiritual bleffings of grace it publifhes, and the exceeding great and precious promifes it contains; and in its ufefulnefs for the enlightning, quickning, and converting finners, and for the comforting and reviving of drooping faints. It is the glorious gofpel of the blefsed God, and excels the law in glory. It cannot well be faid how glorious it is; it is marveloufly excellent; and that i ail the earth, being carried by the apoftles, who were fent by Chrift with it, into all the world; where it has fhone out, and ap- y Ben Melech in loc. vide Kimchi ibid. on > Phurnutus de Natura Deorum, p. 84. Tillim apud Viccarf. in loc..