Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 69:23
Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
23. Let the eyes which gloated over another’s misfortunes be blinded: let the limbs which are the seat of the strength they have abused be palsied.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Their eyes; not the eyes of their bodies, (for so this was not accomplished in Davids nor in Christs enemies,) but of their minds, that they may not discern Gods truth, nor their own duty, nor the way of peace and salvation. Punish them in their own kind; as they shut their eyes and would not see, so do thou judicially blind them. This was threatened and inflicted upon the Jews, Isa 6:10; Joh 12:39,40.
Their loins: this also belongs to the loins of their minds or souls; of which we read Luk 12:35; 1Pe 1:13. The loins of the body are the seat of strength, and the great instrument of bodily motions and actions; which being applied to the mind, the sense may be, either,
1. Take away their courage and alacrity, and give them up to pusillanimity, and terror, and despair; or rather,
2. Take away their strength and ability for spiritual actions. In the former branch, he wisheth that they may not be able to see or choose their way; and here, that they may not be able to walk in it, nor to execute the good counsels which others may give them. As, on the other side, when God gives men strength, they are able not only to walk, but to run in the ways of God, Psa 119:32; Son 1:4; Isa 40:31.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. continually to shakeliterally,”to swerve” or bend in weakness.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not,…. Not literally, the eyes of their bodies; but figuratively, the eyes of their understanding; which were so darkened, and they given up to such judicial blindness, that they could not discern the signs of the times that the Messiah must be come, Daniel’s weeks being up; could not see any glory, excellency, and comeliness in Christ; could not see the evidence of the Messiahship of Jesus in the miracles he wrought; nor in the prophecies of the Old Testament fulfilled in him: that book was a sealed book unto them; the Gospel, and the doctrines of it, were hid from them, even from the wise and prudent among them; yea, also those things which belonged to their temporal peace; they were so blinded and infatuated, they could not see what was for their outward good and happiness: and, in proof of this their blindness, the words are cited by the apostle in Ro 11:7; see Mt 16:3;
and make their loins continually to shake; weaken their loins, in which a man’s strength lies, that they may not be able to rise up against their enemies; and that they might not be able to flee and escape from them; see De 33:11; or fill them with horror, dread, and trembling, as they will be when Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven; and they shall see him whom they have pierced, Re 1:7. The apostle renders the words “bow down their back alway”; [See comments on Ro 11:10].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
23. Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. The Psalmist here refers chiefly to two powers of the body, those of the eyes and of the loins; and I have no hesitation in considering his language as a prayer that God would deprive his enemies of reason and understanding, and at the same time enfeeble their strength, that they might be altogether unfitted for exerting themselves in any way. We know how indispensable it is, in order to the doing of any thing aright, that counsel go before to give light, and that there should also be added the power of putting what is purposed into execution. The curse here expressed impends over the heads of all the enemies of the Church; and, therefore, we have no reason to be terrified at the malice or fury of the wicked. God, whenever he pleases, can strike them suddenly with blindness, that they may see nothing, and by breaking their loins, (89) lay them prostrate in shame and confusion.
(89) The loins are the seat of strength in every animal; and hence the prayer, “Make their loins continually to tremble,” is just a prayer that their strength might be impaired, or entirely taken away.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(23) Their eyes.The darkened eyes and trembling limbs (comp. Nah. 2:10; Dan. 5:6) are expressive of terror and dismay.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. Let their eyes be darkened The Hebrew verb is simply in Kal, future, as in the preceding verse, and should be rendered, Their eyes shall be darkened; the darkness being that of the mind, and the fruit of perversity. Men become blinded by evil desire, passion, and prejudice, and in this state rush madly on to ruin, God, meanwhile, withdrawing his Spirit in judgment. See Rom 1:21-26; 2Th 2:9-12.
Their loins shake That is, through fear and apprehension, as not knowing whom to trust. See Psa 69:22. “Loins” are here mentioned as the foundation of a man’s strength. Paul quotes it: “Bow down their back alway,” which would be only the effect of weakness and trembling of the “loins” and limbs. Rom 11:10
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 69:23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
Ver. 23. Let their eyes be darkened ] Let them be infatuated and besotted, that they may go hoodwinked to hell.
And make their loins continually to shake
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Their eyes: Isa 6:9, Isa 6:10, Isa 29:9, Isa 29:10, Mat 13:14, Mat 13:15, Joh 12:39, Joh 12:40, Act 28:26, Act 28:27, Rom 11:25, 2Co 3:14
make their: Deu 28:65-67, Isa 21:3, Isa 21:4, Jer 30:6, Dan 5:6, Rom 11:10
Reciprocal: Deu 28:29 – grope Psa 102:17 – not despise Mar 8:18 – see Rom 11:9 – David saith
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
MISUSED PRIVILEGES AN OCCASION OF FALLING
Let their table be made a snare to take themselves withal: and let the things that should have been for their wealth be unto them an occasion of falling.
Psa 69:23 (Prayer Book Version)
We are familiar with the comments that are often made on inspired words like these. What a spirit, men say, is here! How unlike the mild, tender, charitable spirit of our Master, Christ! How unfit to be repeated by Christians who have been taught in the school of Christ! This, and the like of this, is what is said, and it proceeds upon two leading mistakes. (1) The first is that the New Testament was meant somehow to abrogate the Old. (2) The second is that Gods love is in some kind of way the antagonist of His justice; that He cannot be really just without ceasing to love; that He cannot love without trifling with His instinct of justice. Let us remember that, in the verse before us, we are listening, not to David, but to the perfectly righteous Being in whose person David sings. Here we have a sentence which has nothing to do with human passion, which is based on the most certain laws which govern the moral world. The sentence is a penal judgment uttered against those who have been sinners against the light vouchsafed to them.
I. God does under certain circumstances make the very blessings which He bestows instruments of punishment.A time comes when long unfaithfulness provokes this sentence on a nation, a Church, a soul. By the figure of a table is meant a supply of necessary nourishment, whether of soul or body. The table which God prepared before David in the presence of his enemies was the food which sustained his physical life, the grace which sustained the life of his spirit. The table which is spread out before associations of menbefore nations, before Churchesis the sum total of material, moral, mental, and spiritual nourishment which God sets before them in the course of their history. The table becomes a snare when the blessings which God gives become sources of corruption and of demoralisation, when that which was intended to raise and to invigorate does really, through the faithlessness or perverseness of the man or the society, serve only to weaken or depress.
II. This is exactly what happened to the great majority of the Jewish people in the days of our Lord and His Apostles.One by one the spiritual senses which should have led Israel to recognise the Christ were numbed or destroyed. A perverse insensibility to the voice of God made Gods best gifts the instruments of Israels ruin.
III. This verse applies to the religious life of the individual Christian.Every Christian has a certain endowment of blessings, what the Psalmist calls a table. Every Christian has to fulfil a certain predestined course. He has a work to doa work which Gods gifts enable him to dobefore he dies. Resistance to truth, to duty, may bring upon us this penal judgment. In the life of the soul, not to go forward is to go back. Unknown to ourselves, our religious life may be tainted with half-heartedness and insincerity. The dread sentence may have gone forth in heaven, Let the things that should have been for his wealth be made to him an occasion of falling. It need not be so with any for whom Jesus Christ has died.
Canon Liddon.
Illustration
The imprecations in this verse and those following it are revolting only when considered as the expression of malignant selfishness. If uttered by God they shock no readers sensibilities, nor should they when considered as the language of an ideal person, representing the whole class of righteous sufferers, and particularly Him who, though He prayed for His murderers while dying (St. Luk 23:34), had before applied the words of this very passage to the unbelieving Jews (St. Mat 23:38), as Paul did afterwards (Rom 11:9-10). The general doctrine of providential retribution, far from being confined to the Old Testament, is distinctly taught in many of our Saviours parables. (See St. Mat 21:41; Mat 22:7; Mat 24:51.)
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Psa 69:23. Let their eyes, &c. Their eyes shall be darkened Not the eyes of their bodies, (for, in that sense, the prediction was neither accomplished in Davids nor in Christs enemies,) but of their minds, that they will not discern Gods truth, nor their own duty, nor the way of peace and salvation. As they shut their eyes and will not see, so they shall be judicially blinded. This was most solemnly threatened, or rather foretold, Isa 6:9-12, and most awfully fulfilled: see the margin. They who loved darkness rather than light, says Dr. Horne, were permitted by the righteous judgment of God to go on in darkness, while the blind led the blind. And such still continues to be the state of the Jews, notwithstanding that intolerable weight of wo which made their loins to shake, and bowed down their backs to the earth. The veil remaineth yet upon their hearts, in the reading of the Old Testament, nor can they see therein the things which belong to their peace.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
69:23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their {s} loins continually to shake.
(s) Take both judgment and power from them, Act 1:20.