Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 5:10
Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.
10. Destroy thou them, O God ] R.V., Hold them guilty; punish them; for it is by visible failure and disaster that their condemnation is to be made known.
let them fall by their own counsels ] Let their own machinations recoil on their heads and bring them to ruin. Cp. 2Sa 15:31. Better so than as margin, fall from, i.e. fail in, their counsels. Cp. Psa 64:8.
cast them out ] As no longer worthy to dwell in the land: or, thrust them down from the position which they occupy. Cp. Psa 62:4; Psa 36:12.
for they have rebelled against thee ] Rebellion against the king was in a special way rebellion against Jehovah, whose representative he was. But it may refer quite generally to their defiance of divine authority, and their persecution of God’s servant.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
10 12. As he calls to mind their malice he can no longer refrain, but breaks out into urgent prayer that sentence may be passed upon them as guilty of high treason against God; that so, in the triumph of the right, the godly may rejoice in God’s favour and protection. On such prayers see Introduction, p. lxxxviii ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Destroy thou them, O God – The word here rendered destroy is translated by Prof. Alexander condemn – condemn them; literally, make them guilty; that is, recognize and treat them as such. The Hebrew word ‘asham, means to fail in duty, to transgress, to be guilty; in the Hiphil, the form used here, according to Gesenius, to punish; and hence, to destroy, (Lexicon) The idea in the mind of the psalmist seems to have been that he desired, since they were undoubtedly guilty, that God would regard and treat them as such. It is not that he wished that God would make them guilty; or that, in itself considered, he desired that they should be found to be so, or that, in itself considered, he wished them to be punished or cut off; but it is that, as they were guilty, and as they were pursuing a course which tended to overthrow the government of the land, and as they were at war with God and with the best interests of the people, God would interpose and stay their progress – that he would show himself to be a righteous and just God. There is no evidence of any private malignity in this prayer, or of any spirit of private revenge. It is a prayer which corresponds with all the efforts, and consequently with all the wishes of every good person, that the violators of law may be arrested and punished. In this, assuredly, there is no wrong.
Let them fall by their own counsels – So as to show that they brought this judgment upon themselves. The wish is, that their plans, which were evil, might come to nought, and tend to their own overthrow. That is, the psalmist did not wish to imbrue his hands in their blood, or to be made the agent in their destruction; but he desired that God would himself interpose, so that their own plans might be made the means of quelling the rebellion. If men are so wicked that they must perish it is desirable that it should be seen that they perish by their own guilt and folly.
Cast them out – Expel them; drive them away; let them not be successful in taking possession of the throne, and in overturning the government.
In the multitude of their transgressions – In the abundance of their sins, or as a consequence of the number and the aggravation of their offences. The design of the psalmist is to fix the attention on the great number of their sins as a reason why they should not be successful. Such a prayer is not wrong, for it would not be right to pray that sinners in the abundance of their sins, or in consequence of the multitude of their sins, should be successful and prosperous. The fact that they are such sinners is, under a righteous administration, a reason why they should not be successful, not why they should be.
For they have rebelled against thee – This is given as a reason why the psalmist prayed that they should be cut off. It was not that they had wronged him; it was because they had rebelled against God; and it was right, therefore, to hope and to pray that he would interpose and vindicate his government and law. There is no spirit of private revenge manifested here, and nothing said that would encourage or foster such a spirit. All that is said here is but carrying out what every magistrate must feel who executes the laws, and is what he endeavors himself to do; for it is desirable that the wicked – the violators of the law – the enemies of their country – should be arrested and prosecuted. See the general introduction, 6.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. Destroy thou them, O God] All these apparently imprecatory declarations should be translated in the future tense, to which they belong; and which shows them to be prophetic. Thou WILT destroy them; thou WILT cast them out, &c.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Destroy thou them, Heb. Hold them guilty, i.e. condemn and punish them. Or, make them to offend, to wit, in their counsels, as it follows; so as they may either be given up to bad and foolish counsels, or fail in the execution of their wise or crafty counsels. Or, make them desolate, as the word is used, Eze 6:6; Joe 1:18.
Let them fall by their own counsels i.e. make their counsels not only unsuccessful against me, but also destructive to themselves. Or, from their &c., i.e. let them fall short of their aims and designs. Or, because of their counsels, which are ungodly and unjust, and so deserve destruction.
Cast them out; out of thy land, and from among thy people, whom they either infect or molest by their wicked courses. In, or for, or because of, as before.
Against thee; against thy authority and declared will concerning my advancement to the throne; which divers Israelites opposed against their own consciences. See 2Sa 3:8-10.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. Destroyor, “condemn”them to destruction as guilty.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Destroy thou them, O God,…. Or “make them guilty” q; that is, make them appear to be guilty, either to themselves, that they may acknowledge their offences, confess their guilt, and ask for pardon; or to others, pronounce them guilty, pass the sentence of condemnation on them: and the Chaldee paraphrase and the Syriac version render it by
, “condemn them”, or hold them guilty; and the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, “judge” them; treat them as guilty persons, punish them, destroy them, soul and body, with an everlasting destruction;
let them fall by their own counsels; into the pit they have dug for others; as Haman fell by his counsels, and was hanged on the gallows he prepared for Mordecai. And so sometimes a man’s own counsel casts him down, and is the cause of his ruin, Job 18:7. Or, “because of their own counsels” r; which they have taken against the Lord and his Anointed, against his cause and interest, and against his righteous ones, particularly David; meaning their wicked counsels, in which they walked; see Ho 11:6. Or “from their counsels” s; as the Targum and most versions render it: that is, let their counsels be turned into foolishness, become brutish, be carried headlong, and come to nought. Which had its accomplishment in Ahithophel;
cast them out; either out of their own country, and carry them into captivity; or from the presence of the Lord, from his tabernacle and worship; which David’s enemies now enjoyed, and gloried in: or into outer darkness, into a furnace of fire, where there is weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth;
in the multitude of their transgressions: when God deals with men in a way of grace, he turns away ungodliness from them, or them from their ungodliness; but when in a way of judgment he suffers them to die in their sins, and so perish: or “for the multitude of their transgressions” t. The sins of transgressors are many and because of them they are cast out of the sight o God, and will be bid to depart from him hereafter;
for they have rebelled against thee: all sin is a rebellion against God; hence sinners are called rebellious ones. The rebellion of David’s subjects against him was a rebellion against God; because it was an attempt to dethrone him, whom God had made king of Israel. The word u signifies to embitter, exasperate, and provoke: and such is the nature of sin, it is a bitter thing in itself, and it provokes the eyes of God’s glory. Now each of these expressions are to be considered, not so much petitions, as prophecies; and not as imprecations, but as predictions of what would be the portion of wicked men.
q “reos fac istos”, Junius Tremellius so Piscator, Cocceius, Schmidt, Michaelis, Kimchi, and Ainsworth. r “propter consilia sua”, Piscater; so Tigurine version and Michaelis. s “propter consilia sua”, Piscater; so Tigurine version and Michaelis. t “propter multitudinem”, Musculus, Pagninus, Piscator, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth. u “irritaverunt”, V. L. see Ainsworth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 5:11-13) The verb or unites in itself the three closely allied meanings of becoming guilty (e.g., Lev 5:19), of a feeling of guilt (Lev 5:4.), and of expiation (Psa 34:22.); just as the verbal adj. also signifies both liable to punishment and expiating, and the substantive both the guilt to be expiated and the expiation. The Hiph. signifies to cause any one to render the expiation due to his fault, to make him do penance. As an exception God is here, in the midst of the Jehovic Psalms, called , perhaps not altogether unintentionally as being God the Judge. The of (with Gaja by the and a transition of the counter-tone Metheg into Galgal, as in Hos 11:6 into Meajla, vid., Psalter ii. 526) is certainly that of the cause in Hos 11:6, but here it is to be explained with Olsh. and Hitz. according to Sir. 14:2, Judith 11:6 (cf. Hos 10:6): may they fall from their own counsels, i.e., founder in the execution of them. Therefore in the sense of “down from, away,” a sense which the parallel thrust them away (cf. from Ps 36:13), presupposes. The of is to be understood according to Joh 8:21, Joh 8:24 “ye shall die .” The multitude of their transgressions shall remain unforgiven and in this state God is to cast them into hades. The ground of this terrible prayer is set forth by . The tone of , for a well-known reason (cf. e.g., Psa 37:40; 64:11; Psa 72:17) has retreated to the penult. , root , prop. to be or hold one’s self stiff towards any one, compare Arab. marr , tmarr , to press and stiffen against one another in wrestling, Arab. mara , tmara , to struggle against anything, whether with outward or mental and moral opposition. Their obstinacy is not obstinacy against a man, but against God Himself; their sin is, therefore, Satanic and on that account unpardonable. All the prayers of this character are based upon the assumption expressed in Psa 7:13, that those against whom they are directed do not wish for mercy. Accordingly their removal is prayed for. Their removal will make the ecclesia pressa free and therefore joyous. From this point of view the prayer in Psa 5:12 is inspired by the prospect of the result of their removal. The futt. do not express a wish, but a consequence. The division of the verse is, however, incorrect. The rise of the first half of the verse closes with (the pausal form by Pazer), its fall is ; then the rise begins anew in the second half, extending to which ought likewise to be pointed , and is its fall. (from Hiph. of Psa 91:4) is awkward in this sequence of thoughts. Hupfeld and Hitzig render it: “they shall rejoice for ever whom Thou defendest;” but then it ought not only to be pointed , but the must also be removed, and yet there is nothing to characterise as being virtually a subject. On the other hand it does not harmonise with the other consecutive futures. It must therefore, like , be the optative: “And do Thou defend them, then shall those who love Thy name rejoice in Thee.” And then upon this this joy of those who love the name of Jahve (i.e., God in His revelation of Himself in redemption) Ps 69:37; Psa 119:132, is based by from a fact of universal experience which is the sum of all His historical self-attestations. is used instead of as a graver form of expression, just like for as an indignant one. The form (Ges. 63, 3) is chosen instead of the found in Psa 25:2; Psa 68:4, in order to assist the rhythm. The futt. are continuative. , cinges eum , is not a contracted Hiph. according to 1Sa 17:25, but Kal as in 1Sa 23:26; here it is used like the Piel in Psa 8:6 with a double accusative. The (from Arab. tsan , med. Waw, Aethiop. to hedge round, guard) is a shield of a largest dimensions; larger than 1Ki 10:16. (cf. 1Sa 17:7, where Goliath has his borne by a shield-bearer). “like a shield” is equivalent to: as with a shield (Ges. 118, 3, rem.). The name of God, , is correctly drawn to the second member of the verse by the accentuation, in order to balance it with the first; and for this reason the first clause does not begin with here as it does elsewhere (Ps 4:9; Psa 12:8). delight, goodwill, is also a synonym for the divine blessing in Deu 33:23.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
10. Cause them to err. As the Hebrew word אשם asam, signifies to cut up or to destroy, as well as to sin, and is taken metaphorically for to err, or be deceived, either of these senses is suitable in this passage; but, as David immediately after subjoins, Let them fall from their counsels, I have no doubt but this first prayer is allied and similar to the second. I therefore join these two clauses together, as the cause and the effect. In the first, he prays that God would deprive them of their understanding, and drive them into error; and in the second, he prays that, as the effect of this, their counsels might come to nought, in other words, that their undertakings might prove unsuccessful. (77) For how is it that the ungodly take counsel in vain, and are carried hither and thither without consideration or judgment, and become so basely obstinate, if it is not because the Lord takes them unawares in their own craftiness, breaks their artful schemes, intoxicates them with the spirit of phrenzy and giddiness, so that they act foolishly even in the smallest matters? If, therefore, we are afraid of the snares and deceits of men, and if we find those who desire to do us mischief to be clear-headed and sharp-witted persons, let us remember, that it is the continual office of God to strike with stupidity and madness those who are wise to commit iniquity. Thus it will come to pass, that although we may be asleep the Lord will dissipate with the breath of his mouth their devices, be they never so subtle, and, in the end, expose them to the mockery of the whole world. In short, David wishes God to lay his hand upon his enemies, and to put a stop to their wicked deliberations. And in fact it is necessary that God bring to nothing the schemes which the wicked cunningly devise, since it is Satan, the contriver of all deceits, who suggests to them all their methods of doing mischief. By praying Let them fall from their counsels he means that they may not obtain or accomplish what they had determined. Again, he prays to God to punish them as they deserved, because, in wrongfully and wickedly making war against an innocent person, they rebelled against God. The proud, indeed, never think of this, that the poor, whom they afflict and despise, are of such estimation in the sight of God, that he feels himself insulted and injured in their persons: for they do not imagine that the blows aimed at them are struck against heaven, any more than if they trampled a little dust or clay under their feet. But God bestows upon his servants the inestimable reward of taking their cause into his own hand. Whoever, therefore, has an approving conscience, and does not turn aside from his uprightness, although troubled wrongfully, has no reason to doubt of his warrant to improve God as a buckler against his enemies.
(77) “ C’est a dire, ne vienent a bout de leurs enterprises.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) Destroy.Literally, make or count guilty.
Transgressions.Literally, revolts, thus being in close synonymous parallelism with the next clause. Or else, as in margin and in ancient versions, LXX., Vulg., and Syriac, Let them fall from their counsels: i.e., let their plots fail.
On the imprecations in the Psalms see General Introduction, 6.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Destroy thou them Literally, charge them with guilt; that is, visit upon them the consequences of their sin. And so the next line: “Let them fall by [or through] their own counsels.”
Against thee The enemies of David were the enemies of God, and it was against his purposes that the rebellion was aimed.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Hold them guilty, O God,
Let them fall by their own counsels,
Thrust them out (or ‘down’) in the multitude of their transgressions,
For they have rebelled against you.’
What upsets him is that these people have rebelled against God Himself, and so He calls for God to deal with them because they have rebelled against Him. Let Him recognise their guilt, he pleads, and hold them to it. Let Him bring their own clever schemes down on their own head, let the heavy load of their transgressions thrust them down. For they are unrepentant rebels against His Instruction (Law), and cause great problems for His people. Let them therefore reap what they sow.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 5:10. Destroy thou them We have heretofore observed, that imprecatory passages of this kind may all be rendered in the future; which would obviate many objections: Thou wilt destroy them, O God; they shall fall, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
This is a prayer delivered in the spirit of prophecy. And let the Reader, once for all, observe, that whenever we meet with imprecations of this nature, they are all in reference to the sworn enemies of God and his Christ. There can be no concord between Christ and Belial. The seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent are sworn foes from generation to generation, through time and to all eternity. Exo 17:14-16 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 5:10 Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.
Ver. 10. Destroy thou them, O God ] Heb. Condemn them as guilty. They were God’s enemies no less than David’s, and implacable, incorrigible; and hence he so prayeth against them. Est prophetia, non maledictio, saith Austin, Tom. 8, in Enarr. huius precationis.
Let them fall by their own counsels
Cast them out, &c.
For they have rebelled against thee
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Destroy Thou them = Deal with them as guilty.
by their own counsels. Answered in Ahithophel (2Sa 15:31; 2Sa 17:14, 2Sa 17:23). A prayer suited for the dispensation in which David lived. See App-63.
transgressions. Hebrew. pasha’. App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Destroy: or, Make them guilty, Rom 3:19, Rom 3:20
let: Psa 7:9-15, Psa 9:15, Psa 9:16, Psa 10:15, Psa 17:13, Psa 21:8-10, Psa 28:3, Psa 28:4, Psa 31:18, Psa 35:1-8, Psa 35:26, Psa 55:15, Psa 59:12, Psa 59:13, Psa 64:6-8, Psa 66:7, Psa 68:1, Psa 68:2, Psa 69:22-25, Psa 71:13, Psa 79:12, Psa 83:9-18, Psa 109:6-20, Psa 137:7-9, Psa 140:9, Psa 140:10, Psa 144:6, Psa 144:7, Deu 2:30, 1Sa 25:29, 1Sa 25:39, 2Sa 15:31, 2Sa 17:14, 2Sa 17:23, 2Ch 25:16, Est 7:10, Job 5:12-14, 1Co 3:19
by: or, from
the: Lam 1:5, Hos 9:7
they: Isa 1:2, Isa 1:20, Isa 63:10, Dan 9:5, Dan 9:9
Reciprocal: Gen 49:6 – come 1Ki 12:15 – the cause Ezr 6:12 – destroy Job 36:9 – their Psa 6:10 – Let all
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 5:10. Destroy thou them, O God Hebrew, , haashimem, hold them guilty, that is, condemn and punish them; or, make them desolate, as the word is used Eze 6:6; Joe 1:18. Let them fall by their own counsels That is, make their counsels, not only unsuccessful against me, but also destructive to themselves. Or, from their counsels, that is, let them fall short of their aims and designs. Or, because of their counsels, which are ungodly and unjust, and so deserve destruction. Cast them out Of thy land and from among the people, whom they either infect or molest by their wicked courses. For they have rebelled against thee Against thy authority and declared will, concerning my advancement to the throne, and that of my seed the Messiah, and concerning the enlargement of thy church. It is justly observed by Dr. Horne, Dr. Dodd, and others, concerning these imprecatory passages of the Psalms, that they may all be rendered in the future tense, as indeed they ought to be to obviate objections, and cut off all occasion of offence from those who desire and seek it. The verse before us would then run thus: Thou wilt destroy them, O God; they shall perish by their own counsels: thou wilt cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee. Thus rendered, the words contain a prophecy of the infatuation, rejection, and destruction of such as should obstinately persevere in their opposition to the counsels of Heaven, whether relating to David, to Christ, or to the church. The fate of Ahithophel and Absalom, of Judas and the Jews, should warn others not to offend after the same example.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
5:10 Destroy thou them, O God; let them {g} fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.
(g) Let their devices come to nothing.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The king asked God to hold the wicked guilty rather than let them escape the consequences of their sins. He asked that they be snared in their own traps, and that they be thrust out, probably from their positions of influence and even ultimately from God’s presence. This was a legitimate request because they had rebelled against the King in heaven by behaving contrary to His will.