Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 89:40
Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin.
40. Insensibly the king is identified with the nation whose head and representative he was. The first line is taken from the description of Israel as a vine in Psa 80:12.
hedges ] Or, as R.V. in Psa 80:12, fences.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thou hast broken down all his hedges – His walls or defenses; all that he relied on for safety.
Thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin – His towers, fortifications; defenses. The enemy has been suffered to destroy them. They are now heaps of ruins.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 40. Thou hast broken down all his hedges] Thou hart permitted the land to be stripped of all defence; there is not even one strong place in the hands of thy people.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
All his hedges; all the means of his protection and safety.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
40-45. The ruin is depictedunder several figuresa vineyard whose broken “hedges,”and “strongholds,” whose ruins invite spoilers andinvaders; a warrior, whose enemies are aided by God, and whosesword’s “edge”literally, “rock” or “strength”(Jos 5:2) is useless; and a youthprematurely old.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thou hast broken down all his hedges,…. Round about his vine, the church; see Ps 80:12. A famous church was raised at Jerusalem, quickly after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, which seemed to be well filled, fenced, and protected; but on a sudden a violent persecution arose, and the members of it were made havoc of, and the ministers of the word were scattered abroad, and which was the breaking down of the hedges; and what was done to the church was taken by Christ as done to himself, as it is here spoken of him; see Ac 8:1, and this might seem contrary to the word and oath of God, that his seed should endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven, Ps 89:29, when the first Christian church was used in this manner; but that providence was overruled, for the spread of the Gospel, and the interest of Christ, in other parts; see Ac 8:4, and so no objection to what is before said:
thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin; the same as before, the church of Christ, which seemed to be so well built and fortified; see
Isa 26:1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
40. Thou hast broken down all his walls. The prophet, although he might easily have found another cause to which to impute the breaking down and razing of the fortifications, yet under the influence of devout and sanctified feeling acknowledges God to be the author of this calamity; being fully convinced that men could not at their pleasure have destroyed the kingdom which God had set up had not the Divine anger been kindled. Afterwards speaking metaphorically, he complains that the kingdom was exposed as a prey to all passers-by, resembling a field or garden, of which the walls were broken down, and the ground laid open to depredation. As an aggravation of a calamity which in itself was sufficiently grievous, the additional indignity is brought forward, that the king was a reproach to his neighbors. The worldly and the profane, there can be no doubt, finding an opportunity so much according to their wishes, derided him, saying, Is this that king of God’s choice, a king more excellent than the angels, and whose throne was to continue as long as the sun and the moon should endure? As these railings recoiled upon God himself, the prophet justly complains of the reproachful derision with which God’s Anointed was treated, whose dignity and royal estate were ratified and confirmed by heavenly anointing.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
40. His hedges His defences, called his strongholds in the next member.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 89:40. Thou hast broken down all his hedges Thou hast broken all his fences or walls: thou hast made his strong-holds a ruin. Mudge and Green. See Psa 80:12.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 89:40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin.
Ver. 40. Thou hast broken down all his hedges ] Or, walls. The walls of Sparta were their militia, of England are their ships, of all lands their laws, Ecc 10:8 .
Thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin
Siqua manet gelida formidine concutis arcem
(Buchanan).
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
broken: Psa 80:12, Job 1:10, Isa 5:5, Isa 5:6
brought: 2Ch 12:2-5, 2Ch 15:5, Lam 2:2, Lam 2:5, Rev 13:1-7
Reciprocal: Psa 60:2 – broken Jer 14:21 – remember Lam 2:6 – he hath violently Eze 19:12 – she was Amo 9:11 – close