Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 25:15
Mine eyes [are] ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.
15. Mine eyes &c.] The attitude of expectant prayer. Cp. Psa 141:8; Psa 123:1 ff.; 1Th 5:17. Prof. Cheyne compares the proper name Elynai or Elyehnai, ‘Unto Yahve are mine eyes,’ 1Ch 3:23, Ezr 8:4.
for he shall pluck &c.] Release me from the entanglements and perplexities of life, whether due to my own faults or to the hostility of enemies. Cp. Psa 9:15; Psa 31:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
15 21. Renewed prayer, for deliverance and preservation.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord – This is an indication of the habitual state of mind of the psalmist. He had said that God would lead and guide those who were meek, gentle, teachable, humble; and he now says that this was his habitual state of mind. He constantly looked to God. He sought His direction. In perplexity, in doubt, in difficulty, in danger, in view of death and the future world, he looked to God as his guide. In other words, in reference to himself, he carried out the principles which he had stated as constituting true religion. It was a religion of dependence on God, for mans only hope is in him.
For he shall pluck my feet out of the net – Margin, bring forth. Compare Psa 9:15-16, note; Psa 10:9, note. The net here is that which had been laid for him by the wicked. He trusted in God alone to deliver him from it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord] All my expectation is from him alone. If I get at any time entangled, he will pluck my feet out of the net.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. My trust is in him, my expectation of relief is from him only, and he will deliver me out of all my temptations and tribulations.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. His trust in God is fixed.
netis frequently usedas a figure for dangers by enemies (Psa 9:15;Psa 10:9).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Mine eyes [are] ever towards the Lord,…. Not only as the God of nature and providence, for his daily support and supply, in which sense the eyes of all creatures wait upon him; but as his covenant God and Father, having the eyes of his understanding opened to see and know him as such, and the eye of his faith directed to him, to believe in him, and make him his hope and trust; and his eye was single to him; it was to him, and him only, that he looked; and it was constant, it was ever to him, he set the Lord always before him; and such a look was well pleasing to God: it may also respect the lifting up of his eyes to God in prayer for all mercies temporal and spiritual, and his prayer was the prayer of faith; as follows:
for he shall pluck my feet out of the net; of the corruption of nature, and the lusts of it, as Aben Ezra interprets it; by which the saints are sometimes ensnared and taken captive, and out of which they cannot make their escape of themselves; but there is a deliverance from it by Jesus Christ their Lord: or out of the temptations of Satan, called his devices, and wiles, and the snares of the devil; and as the Lord knows how to deliver his out of temptations, he does deliver them in his own time; or rather out of the nets and snares laid for him by wicked men; as by his son Absalom, Ahithophel, and others, in which his feet were as a bird in the snare of the fowler; but he believed the net, or snare, would be broken, and he should escape, as he did.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He who keeps his eyes constantly directed towards God (Psa 141:8; Psa 123:1), is continually in a praying mood, which cannot remain unanswered. corresponds to in 1Th 5:17. The aim of this constant looking upwards to God, in this instance, is deliverance out of the enemy’s net. He can and will pull him out (Psa 31:5) of the net of complicated circumstances into which he has been ensnared without any fault of his own.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Precious Promises; Petitions. | |
15 Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. 16 Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted. 17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses. 18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins. 19 Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred. 20 O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee. 21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee. 22 Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.
David, encouraged by the promises he had been meditating upon, here renews his addresses to God, and concludes the psalm, as he began, with professions of dependence upon God and desire towards him.
I. He lays open before God the calamitous condition he was in. His feet were in the net, held fast and entangled, so that he could not extricate himself out of his difficulties, v. 15. He was desolate and afflicted, v. 16. It is common for those that are afflicted to be desolate; their friends desert them then, and they are themselves disposed to sit alone and keep silence, Lam. iii. 28. David calls himself desolate and solitary because he depended not upon his servants and soldiers, but relied as entirely upon God as if he had no prospect at all of help and succour from any creature. Being in distress, in many distresses, the troubles of his heart were enlarged (v. 17), he grew more and more melancholy and troubled in mind. Sense of sin afflicted him more than any thing else: this it was that broke and wounded his spirit, and made his outward troubles lie heavily upon him. He was in affliction and pain, v. 18. His enemies that persecuted him were many and malicious (they hated him), and very barbarous; it was with a cruel hatred that they hated him, v. 19. Such were Christ’s enemies and the persecutors of his church.
II. He expresses the dependence he had upon God in these distresses (v. 15): My eyes are ever towards the Lord. Idolaters were for gods that they could see with their bodily eyes, and they had their eyes ever towards their idols, Isa 17:7; Isa 17:8. But it is an eye of faith that we must have towards God, who is a Spirit, Zech. ix. 1. Our meditation of him must be sweet, and we must always set him before us: in all our ways we must acknowledge him and do all to his glory. Thus we must live a life of communion with God, not only in ordinances, but in providences, not only in acts of devotion, but in the whole course of our conversation. David had the comfort of this in his affliction; for, because his eyes were ever towards the Lord, he doubted not but he would pluck his feet out of the net, that he would deliver him from the corruptions of his own heart (so some), from the designs of his enemies against him, so others. Those that have their eye ever towards God shall not have their feet long in the net. He repeats his profession of dependence upon God (v. 20) —Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in thee; and of expectation from him–I wait on thee, v. 21. It is good thus to hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.
III. He prays earnestly to God for relief and succour,
1. For himself.
(1.) See how he begs, [1.] For the remission of sin (v. 18): Forgive all my sins. Those were his heaviest burdens, and which brought upon him all other burdens. He had begged (v. 7) for the pardon of the sins of his youth, and (v. 11) for the pardon of some one particular iniquity that was remarkably great, which some think, was his sin in the matter of Uriah. But her he prays, Lord, forgive all, take away all iniquity. It is observable that, as to his affliction, he asks for no more than God’s regard to it: “Look upon my affliction and my pain, and do with it as thou pleasest.” But, as to his sin, he asks for no less than a full pardon: Forgive all my sins. When at any time we are in trouble we should be more concerned about our sins, to get them pardoned, than about our afflictions, to get them removed. Yet he prays, [2.] For the redress of his grievances. His mind was troubled for God’s withdrawings from him and under the sense he had of his displeasure against him for his sins; and therefore he prays (v. 16), Turn thou unto me. And, if God turn to us, no matter who turns from us. His condition was troubled, and, in reference to that, he prays, “O bring thou me out of my distresses. I see no way of deliverance open; but thou canst either find one or make one.” His enemies were spiteful; and in reference to that, he prays, “O keep my soul from falling into their hands, or else deliver me out of their hands.”
(2.) Four things he mentions by way of plea to enforce these petitions, and refers himself and them to God’s consideration:– [1.] He pleads God’s mercy: Have mercy upon me. Men of the greatest merits would be undone if they had not to do with a God of infinite mercies. [2.] He pleads his own misery, the distress he was in, his affliction and pain, especially the troubles of his heart, all which made him the proper object of divine mercy. [3.] He pleads the iniquity of his enemies: “Lord, consider them, how cruel they are, and deliver me out of their hands.” [4.] He pleads his own integrity, v. 12. Though he had owned himself guilty before God, and had confessed his sins against him, yet, as to his enemies, he had the testimony of his conscience that he had done them no wrong, which was his comfort when they hated him with cruel hatred; and he prays that this might preserve him, This intimates that he did not expect to be safe any longer than he continued in his integrity and uprightness, and that, while he did continue in it, he did not doubt of being safe. Sincerity will be our best security in the worst of times. Integrity and uprightness will be a man’s preservation more than the wealth and honour of the world can be. These will preserve us to the heavenly kingdom. We should therefore pray to God to preserve us in our integrity and then be assured that that will preserve us.
2. For the church of God (v. 22): Redeem Israel, O God! out of all his troubles. David was now in trouble himself, but he thinks it not strange, since trouble is the lot of all God’s Israel. Why should any one member fare better than the whole body? David’s troubles were enlarged, and very earnest he was with God to deliver him, yet he forgets not the distresses of God’s church; for, when we have ever so much business of our own at the throne of grace, we must still remember to pray for the public. Good men have little comfort in their own safety while the church is in distress and danger. This prayer is a prophecy that God would, at length, give David rest, and therewith give Israel rest from all their enemies round about. It is a prophecy of the sending of the Messiah in due time to redeem Israel from his iniquities (Ps. cxxx. 8) and so to redeem them from their troubles. It refers also to the happiness of the future state. In heaven, and in heaven only, will God’s Israel be perfectly redeemed from all troubles.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
15. Mine eyes are continually towards Jehovah. David here speaks of his own faith, and of its perseverance, not in the way of boasting, but to encourage himself in the hope of obtaining his requests, so that he might give himself the more readily and cheerfully to prayer. As the promise is made to all who trust in God, that they shall not be disappointed of their hope, and that they shall never be put to shame, the saints often make this their shield of defense. Meanwhile, David shows to others, by his own example, the right manner of prayer, telling them that they should endeavor to keep their thoughts fixed upon God. As the sense of sight is very quick, and exercises an entire influence over the whole frame, it is no uncommon thing to find all the affections denoted by the term eyes. The reason which immediately follows shows still more plainly, that in the mind of David hope was associated with desire; as if he had said, That in resting his confidence in the help of God, he did so, not in doubt or uncertainty, but because he was persuaded that he would be his deliverer. The pronoun He, it ought to be observed, is also emphatic. It shows that David did not gaze around him in every direction, after the manner of those who, being in uncertainty, devise for themselves various methods of deliverance and salvation, but that he was contented with God alone.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
15-21. The psalmist returns to agonizing prayer, mingled with confession of sin, a special reference to the cruel hatred and violence of his enemies, the depth of his distress, and his sole reliance on God that his hope shall not be disappointed nor his integrity be unavailing for his righteous judgment. Psa 25:22 appears as if it might have been added by a later hand. It sounds like an echo from the captivity, and is a summing up of the petitions of the psalm. Psa 130:8.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 25:15. For he shall pluck my feet, &c. As the Hebrew grammarians found or made no rule to distinguish the optative, potential, and subjunctive moods, the sense of which is very necessary to be frequently expressed; by a careful attention we may easily discover the characteristics of these moods comprehended in and expressed by the future tense. Thus, instead of for he shall, we may read in this verse, that he may, or because he can, &c. Pilkington, sect. 21.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 25:15 Mine eyes [are] ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.
Ver. 15. Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord ] I look him full in the face, and confidently expect deliverance. This he speaketh, saith one, in reference to the army that he had sent out to meet Absalom, 2Sa 18:1 , nothing doubting of getting the day.
For he shall pluck my feet out of the net
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
ever toward. Supply Figure of speech Ellipsis (App-6), “ever [looking] toward”. It is salutary suspense which keeps us thus looking.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mine: Psa 121:1, Psa 121:2, Psa 123:2, Psa 141:8
pluck: Heb. bring forth
out: Psa 31:4, Psa 124:7, Psa 124:8, Jer 5:26, 2Ti 2:25, 2Ti 2:26
Reciprocal: 1Ki 1:20 – the eyes 2Ch 20:12 – our eyes Psa 123:1 – lift I Lam 1:11 – see Zec 9:1 – when
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 25:15-16. Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord My trust is in him, and my expectation of relief is from him only. He shall pluck my feet out of the net He will deliver me out of all my temptations and tribulations. Turn thee unto me Turn thy face and favour to me; for I am desolate and afflicted Destitute of all other hopes and succours, persecuted by mine enemies, and forsaken by most of my friends. Such was his condition during Absaloms rebellion. They who are ever looking unto the Lord will be heard when they beseech him to turn his face, and to look upon them. Horne.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The psalmist proceeded to ask the Lord to deliver him out of his distress. He was trusting in God’s deliverance (Psa 25:15). Evidently David regarded his present sufferings and the affliction of the nation he led, whatever those troubles may have been, as due to his own sins in some measure.
To experience God’s guidance and deliverance, God’s people must confess their sins and appeal to Him to be faithful to His promises to forgive. They will find direction in His revealed Word, and will experience deliverance in His appointed time. Therefore, we who are believers can take courage while repenting.
"This whole approach to divine guidance is personal and mature, unlike the basically pagan search for irrational pointers and omens (cf. Isa 47:13)." [Note: Kidner, p. 116.]