Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 57:6
They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen [themselves]. Selah.
6. The transposition of Psa 57:5-6, proposed by Cheyne and others, simply ruins the sense, Psa 57:6 is the fitting sequel of Psa 57:5. Just as in Psa 56:5 ff, he returns after the refrain to contemplate his present situation. But now Faith sees the prayer of Psa 57:5 answered, and with the manifestation of God’s supreme authority all opposition is subdued, nay, his foes’ own schemes prove their ruin.
my soul is bowed down ] Perhaps we should read with the LXX, they have bowed down my soul; i.e. (the perf. as in Psa 56:1) they have made sure of capturing me. But it is tempting to go further and read (with Ewald), their soul is bowed down, thereby securing a double parallelism in the verse. Lines 1 and 3 then describe their plots: lines 2 and 4 describe how they are caught in their own trap. The metaphors are taken from the nets and pitfalls used by hunters. Cp. Psa 7:15; Psa 9:15 f.; Psa 35:7; Eze 19:4; Ecc 10:8.
into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves] Better, they are fallen into the midst of It.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
6 11. Convinced that God will manifest His authority, the Psalmist sees the machinations of his enemies turning to their own defeat, and utters resolutions of joyous thanksgiving.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
They have prepared a net for my steps – A net for my goings; or, into which I may fall. See the notes at Psa 9:15.
My soul is bowed down – The Septuagint, the Vulgate, and Luther render this in the plural, and in the active form: They have bowed down my soul; that is, they have caused my soul to be bowed down. The Hebrew may be correctly rendered, he pressed down my soul, – referring to his enemies, and speaking of them in the singular number.
They have digged a pit before me … – See Psa 7:15-16, notes; Psa 9:15, note; Job 5:13, note.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. They have prepared a net for my steps] A gin or springe, such as huntsmen put in the places which they know the prey they seek frequents: such, also, as they place in passages in hedges, c., through which the game creeps.
They have digged a pit] Another method of catching game and wild beasts. They dig a pit, cover it over with weak sticks and turf. The beasts, not suspecting danger where none appears, in attempting to walk over it, fall through, and are taken. Saul digged a pit, laid snares for the life of David and fell into one of them himself, particularly at the cave of En-gedi; for he entered into the very pit or cave where David and his men were hidden, and his life lay at the generosity of the very man whose life he was seeking! The rabbins tell a curious and instructive tale concerning this: “God sent a spider to weave her web at the mouth of the cave in which David and his men lay hid. When Saul saw the spider’s web over the cave’s mouth, he very naturally conjectured that it could neither be the haunt of men nor wild beasts; and therefore went in with confidence to repose.” The spider here, a vile and contemptible animal, became the instrument in the hand of God of saving David’s life and of confounding Saul in his policy and malice. This may be a fable; but it shows by what apparently insignificant means God, the universal ruler, can accomplish the greatest and most beneficent ends. Saul continued to dig pits to entrap David; and at last fell a prey to his own obstinacy. We have a proverb to the same effect: Harm watch, harm catch. The Greeks have one also: , “An evil advice often becomes most ruinous to the adviser.” The Romans have one to the same effect: –
Neque enim lex justior ulla est
Quam necis artificem arte perire sua.
“There is no law more just than that which condemns a man to suffer death by the instrument which he has invented to take away the life of others.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Is bowed down; or, was bowed down: I was even ready to fall and perish. Or, mine heart was oppressed, and almost overwhelmed.
Before me, Heb. before my face; not in my sight, for that would have been in vain, Pro 1:17; but in my way, where they thought I would go. They are fallen themselves: this was fulfilled in Saul, who by pursuing fell into his hands, 1Sa 24:4.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. (Compare Psa 7:15;Psa 9:15; Psa 9:16).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They have prepared a net for my steps,…. They laid snares for him, as the fowler does for the bird, in order to take him. It denotes the insidious ways used by Saul and his men to get David into their hands; so the Pharisees consulted together how they might entangle Christ in his talk, Mt 22:15;
my soul is bowed down; dejected by reason of his numerous enemies, and the crafty methods they took to ensnare and ruin him; so the soul of Christ was bowed down with the sins of his people, and with a sense of divine wrath because of them; and so their souls are often bowed down; or they are dejected in their spirits, on account of sin, Satan’s temptations, various afflictions, and divine desertions. The Targum renders it,
“he bowed down my soul;”
that is, the enemy; Saul in particular. The Septuagint, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, “they bowed down my soul”; the same that prepared a net for his steps; everyone of his enemies; they all were the cause of the dejection of his soul: the Syriac version leaves out the clause;
they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen [themselves]; contriving and seeking to find out the places where David’s haunt was, Saul got into the very cave where he and his men were; and had his skirt cut off, when his life might as easily have been taken away, 1Sa 23:22. See Ps 7:15.
Selah; on this word, [See comments on Ps 3:2].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In this second half of the Psalm the poet refreshes himself with the thought of seeing that for which he longs and prays realized even with the dawning of the morning after this night of wretchedness. The perfect in Psa 57:7 is the perfect of certainty; the other perfects state what preceded and is now changed into the destruction of the crafty ones themselves. If the clause is rendered: my soul was bowed down (cf. , Psa 109:22), it forms no appropriate corollary to the crafty laying of snares. Hence kpp must be taken as transitive: he had bowed down my soul; the change of number in the mention of the enemies is very common in the Psalms relating to these trials, whether it be that the poet has one enemy before his mind or comprehends them all in one. Even the lxx renders , it is true, as though it were , but can scarcely have read it thus. This line is still remarkable; one would expect for Psa 57:7 a thought parallel with Psa 57:7, and perhaps the poet wrote , his (the net-layer’s) own soul bends (viz., in order to fall into the net). Then like would be praet. confidentiae. In this certainty, to express which the music here becomes triumphantly forte, David’s heart is confident, cheerful (Symmachus ), and a powerful inward impulse urges him to song and harp. Although may signify ready, equipped (Exo 34:2; Job 12:5), yet this meaning is to be rejected here in view of Psa 51:12, Psa 78:37, Psa 112:7: it is not appropriate to the emphatic repetition of the word. His evening mood which found expression in Psa 57:4, was hope of victory; the morning mood into which David here transports himself, is certainty of victory. He calls upon his soul to awake ( as in Psa 16:9; 30:13), he calls upon harp and cithern to awake ( with one article that avails for both words, as in Jer 29:3; Neh 1:5; and with the accent on the ultima on account of the coming together of two aspirates), from which he has not parted even though a fugitive; with the music of stringed instruments and with song he will awake the not yet risen dawn, the sun still slumbering in its chamber: , expergefaciam (not expergiscar ), as e.g., in Son 2:7, and as Ovid ( Metam. xi. 597) says of the cock, evocat auroram .
(Note: With reference to the above passage in the Psalms, the Talmud, B. Berachoth 3 b, says, “A cithern used to hang above David’s bed; and when midnight came, the north wind blew among the strings, so that they sounded of themselves; and forthwith he arose and busied himself with the Tra until the pillar of the dawn ( ) ascended.” Rashi observes, “The dawn awakes the other kings; but I, said David, will awake the dawn ( ).”)
His song of praise, however, shall not resound in a narrow space where it is scarcely heard; he will step forth as the evangelist of his deliverance and of his Deliverer in the world of nations ( ; and the parallel word, as also in Psa 108:4; Psa 149:7, is to be written with Lamed raphatum and Metheg before it); his vocation extends beyond Israel, and the events of his life are to be for the benefit of mankind. Here we perceive the self-consciousness of a comprehensive mission, which accompanied David from the beginning to the end of his royal career (vid., Psa 18:50). What is expressed in v. 11 is both motive and theme of the discourse among the peoples, viz., God’s mercy and truth which soar high as the heavens (Psa 36:6). That they extend even to the heavens is only an earthly conception of their infinity (cf. Eph 3:18). In the refrain, v. 12, which only differs in one letter from Psa 57:6, the Psalm comes back to the language of prayer. Heaven and earth have a mutually involved history, and the blessed, glorious end of this history is the sunrise of the divine doxa over both, here prayed for.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(6) A net.For this image, so common in Hebrew hymns, see Psa. 9:15, &c, and for that of the pit, Psa. 7:15, &c
My soul is bowed down.The verb so rendered is everywhere else transitive. So LXX. and Vulg. here, And have pressed down my soul. Despite the grammar, Ewald alters my soul into their soul. But no conjecture of the kind restores the parallelism, which is here hopelessly lost. We expect,
They have prepared a net for my steps;
They are caught in it themselves.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. They have prepared a net He returns to the artful designs of his enemies, which he illustrates by an eastern method of catching wild animals by snares and pitfalls. See Isa 24:17-18.
Into the midst whereof they are fallen By faith David sees the retributive justice of God meeting out to them the evil they had plotted against himself. Saul had fallen into David’s hands, not David into Saul’s. Comp. 1Sa 24:2 ; 1Sa 24:8. The selah, or pause, which to the reader is a call to meditation on the import of what is said, and is nearly equal to the amen, closes this first division of the psalm, which otherwise might be ended with the refrain of Psa 57:5
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 57:6. They have prepared a net for my steps The syntax here is thought to be irregular; but the literal rendering is, They have prepared a net for their steps: he boweth down my soul; referring to Saul, at the head of his troops, pursuing David to his ruin. This makes the construction regular; and the sense in connection will be, “They have prepared a net for me, that he (namely, Saul) may bow down my soul: may cause me to fall into the snare which is laid for me.” Chandler.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
How is this verified in all the church’s history! Not only in this instance of Saul and David, but also in those of Haman and Mordecai, Pharaoh and Israel, and above all, Judas and the Jews and Christ. Est 7:10 ; Exo 15:9-10 ; Act 2:36-37Act 2:36-37 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 57:6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen [themselves]. Selah.
Ver. 6. They have prepared a net for my steps ] So that I can hardly keep foot out of snare. I dare not lift up one foot till I find sure footing for the other; and that is hard to do. See Saul’s charge to the Ziphites, 1Sa 23:22 .
My soul is bowed down
They have digged a pit, &c.
O , .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
They have digged, &c. Compare Psa 7:15.
Selah. Connecting the bitterness of his enemies with his assured confidence in God. (App-66.)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 57:6-10
Psa 57:6-10
“They have prepared a net for my steps;
My soul is bowed down:
They have digged a pit before me;
They are fallen into the midst thereof themselves. (Selah)
My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed.
I will sing, yea, I will sing praises.
Awake, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp:
I myself will awake quite early.
I will give thanks unto the Lord, among the peoples:
I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.
For thy lovingkindness is great unto the heavens,
And thy truth unto the skies.”
“They … prepared … a net … and digged a pit. They are fallen into the midst thereof” (Psa 57:6). The sight so commonly witnessed in history was granted to the psalmist. The wickedness of the enemies fell back upon themselves; they fell into the pit of their own making, a common Biblical thought.
It may be remembered that Haman was hanged on the very gallows that he had constructed for the purpose of hanging Mordecai (Est 7:9).
“Awake … awake … I will awake right early.” (Psa 57:8). The meaning here is that, “I will awaken the Dawn (personified) instead of letting the Dawn wake me.
“Among the peoples … among the nations” (Psa 57:9). What a wonderful vision was that of David! Here he was hiding from enemies in a cave; but his mind encompasses the entire world; and he promises to sing the praises of God among the `nations,’ that is, `the Gentiles,’ or `the peoples’ of the whole world. And indeed, is it not true? Has it not come to pass? These Psalms of David are surely sung all over the inhabited earth; and this has been true for centuries and millenniums of time! (See our comment on Psa 56:7).
“Great unto the heavens … unto the skies” (Psa 57:10). That the lovingkindness and truth of God should extend to the heavens, or the skies, “Is only an earthly conception of their infinity.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 57:6. A net is a device of a general nature. It can be spread out in some expected path of the victim, and can be hidden from his view. Another means of capturing a victim is a pit, dug in the route to be traveled so that he will not see it until it is too late. It often occurs that the evil designer has laid his plot so long before that he has forgotten about it, and then he will become the victim of his own plot. In every place where Selah is used, the reader should see the comments at Psa 3:2 whether I mention it or not.
Psa 57:7. Fixed means prepared or settled. It denotes that David was ready for whatever might be in store for him in the divine providence. It is a thought similar to the one in 1Pe 4:1.
Psa 57:8. David was summoning his various resources to express praise for God.
Psa 57:9. David was inclined to praise God from personal sentiments. He also was not ashamed for others besides his own people to know of his devotion to God; he would praise him among the nations which means the heathen. It recalls our minds to the teaching of Jesus in Mar 8:38.
Psa 57:10. Heavens and clouds are used as things for comparing the greatness of God’s mercy. That is, the mercy of the Lord is not only extensive but it is of a high and holy or worthy kind.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
a net: Psa 7:15, Psa 7:16, Psa 9:15, Psa 9:16, Psa 35:7, Psa 35:8, Psa 140:5, 1Sa 23:22-26, Pro 29:5, Mic 7:2
my soul: Psa 42:6, Psa 142:3, Psa 143:4, Mat 26:37, Mat 26:38
Reciprocal: Job 6:27 – ye dig Psa 31:4 – Pull Psa 38:6 – bowed Psa 56:6 – mark Psa 148:13 – glory Pro 11:27 – he that seeketh Pro 26:27 – diggeth Jer 18:20 – digged Mat 22:15 – how
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 57:6. They have prepared a net for my steps In which to take me, that I might not again escape out of their hands. My soul is bowed down Hebrew, , he hath bowed down my soul; referring to Saul at the head of his troops, pursuing David to his ruin. They have digged a pit before me Hebrew, before my face: not in my sight, for that would have been in vain, Pro 1:17, but in my way, where they thought I would go; into the midst whereof they are fallen This was fulfilled in Saul, who, by pursuing David, fell into his hands, 1Sa 24:3.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
57:6 They have prepared a net for my steps; {g} my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen [themselves]. Selah.
(g) For fear, seeing the great dangers on all sides.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. The psalmist’s confidence that God would help 57:6-11
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Now David spoke of himself as a wild animal that hunters were trying to snare. However, he believed that his hunters would fall into their own trap (cf. Psa 7:15; Psa 9:15; Psa 35:8).