Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 91:13
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet
13. Thou shalt triumphantly overcome all obstacles and dangers, whether of fierce and open violence, or of secret and insidious treachery. Cp. Luk 10:19; Rom 16:20.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder – Thou shalt be safe among dangers, as if the rage of the lion were restrained, and he became like a lamb, and as if the poisonous tooth of the serpent were extracted. Compare Mar 16:18. The word used here to denote the lion is a poetic term, not employed in prose. The word rendered adder is, in the margin, asp. The Hebrew word – pethen – commonly means viper, asp, or adder. See Job 20:14, note; Job 20:16, note; compare Psa 58:4; Isa 11:8. It may be applied to any venomous serpent.
The young lion – The young lion is mentioned as particularly fierce and violent. See Psa 17:12.
And the dragon … – Hebrew, tannyn. See Psa 74:13, note; Job 7:12, note; Isa 27:1, note. In Exo 7:9-10, Exo 7:12, the word is rendered serpent (and serpents); in Gen 1:21; and Job 7:12; whale (and whales); in Deu 32:33; Neh 2:13; Psa 74:13; Psa 148:7; Isa 27:1; Isa 51:9; Jer 51:34, as here, dragon (and dragons); in Lam 4:3, sea monsters. The word does not occur elsewhere. It would perhaps properly denote a sea monster; yet it may be applied to a serpent. Thus applied, it would denote a serpent of the largest and most dangerous kind; and the idea is, that he who trusted in God would be safe amidst the most fearful dangers, as if he should walk safely amidst venomous serpents.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 91:13
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder.
Spiritual victory
This promise refers not only to the reptiles and wild beasts of outwards evil, but also to evils in which the deadliness of sin is concentrated against our individual hearts–the evil thoughts and deeds and words and habits that assault and hurt the soul. The lion is that inward sin, that special impulse and temptation which has most power against you. It is the favourite vice against which you are weakest. Oh! let none of us shirk the momentous question. Are you, or are you not, wrestling with; have you, or have you not, conquered the sin which doth most easily beset you? Let a man but once give himself over to a besetting and unrepented sin, and all else becomes in vain. Therefore, as you love your lives, enter alone, and with awful resolution, the dark caverns of your own hearts, face once for all the lion who lies lurking there, lay aside utterly the fancy that he can remain there without destroying you, give up the idle notion that you can fence yourself round against him by reason, or by philosophy, or by prudential reserves, or by vague procrastinations of the struggle. Nothing will save you but desperate wrestling with all the gathered forces of your life intensified by grace and prayer. But notice that the more early this battle is undertaken the more surely is it won. Hercules in the legend, while yet an infant in the cradle, strangles the serpent sent to slay him. He who strangles serpents in his youth will slay monsters in his manhood; he of whom the grace of God has taken early hold, and who has early strength to conquer temptation is not likely later on to lose his self-reverence and his self-control; if in the flush of youth he has stood at the feet of the law he will be little likely to revolt afterwards. Victory is won more easily at fifteen than at twenty, and more easily at twenty than at thirty, and a hundredfold more easily at thirty than at sixty. And alas! which of us has not been in one way or another defeated? Which of us can encounter that poison-breathing lion in the dark cavern of his heart, and strangle it fearlessly as once he might have done? But, lastly, lest such thoughts should tempt any one to despair, let me add at once that it is never too late to fight, never too late to mend, never impossible to slay the lion within you, and to tread the young lion and the dragon under foot. Was not King David a murderer and an adulterer, and yet God gave him back the clean heart and the free spirit? Was not King Manasseh an apostate and a worshipper of Moloch; and yet did he not learn to know that the Lord was God? And was not John Bunyan once a godless tinker; and did not he grow up to write the Pilgrims Progress? If you have sinned with these, cannot you with these repent? (Dean Farrar.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder] Even the king of the forest shall not be able to injure thee; should one of these attack thee, the angels whom God sends will give thee an easy victory over him. And even the asp, ( pethen,) one of the most venomous of serpents, shall not be able to injure thee.
The asp is a very small serpent, and peculiar to Egypt and Libya. Its poison kills without the possibility of a remedy. Those who are bitten by it die in about from three to eight hours; and it is said they die by sleep, without any kind of pain. Lord Bacon says the asp is less painful than all the other instruments of death. He supposes it to have an affinity to opium, but to be less disagreeable in its operation. It was probably an this account that Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, chose to die by the asp, as she was determined to prevent the designs of Augustus, who intended to have carried her captive to Rome to grace his triumph.
The dragon shalt thou trample] The tannin, which we translate dragon, means often any large aquatic animal; and perhaps here the crocodile or alligator.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The lion shall lie prostrate at thy feet, and thou shalt securely put thy feet upon his neck, as the Israelites did upon the necks of the Canaanitish kings, Jos 10:24.
The dragon; by which he synecdochically understands all pernicious creatures, though never so strong, and fierce, and subtle, and all sorts of enemies.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. Even the fiercest,strongest, and most insidious animals may be trampled on withimpunity.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder,…. Or be unhurt by such savage and poisonous creatures; as the Israelites, when they travelled through the wilderness, in which were serpents and scorpions; and many of the servants of God have been delivered from them, or have slain them, as Samson, David, and Daniel; and so Christ was among the wild beasts in the wilderness, and yet not touched or hurt by them; and his disciples had power given them by him to tread on serpents and scorpions, and to take up serpents, without receiving any damage from them; and when a viper fastened on the hand of the Apostle Paul, he shook it off, without being hurt by it; see Mr 1:13
Ac 28:5, it may be understood figuratively of Satan, who, for his voraciousness and cruelty, is compared to a lion; and, for his craft and subtlety, to a serpent, 1Pe 5:8,
the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample underfoot; which also may be understood of the great dragon, the old serpent, called the devil and Satan; whom Christ trampled under his feet when he hung on the cross, and spoiled him and his principalities and powers; and who, in a short time, will be bruised under the feet of his people, as he has been already by the seed of the woman, Ge 3:15.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
13. Thou shalt walk over the lion and asp. The same truth is here expressed in different words. He had already spoken of the obstacles which Satan throws in our course under the figure of a stone. Now he speaks of the formidable troubles to which we are exposed in the world under the figures of the asp, lion, young lion, and dragon So long as we are here we may be truly said to walk amongst wild beasts, and such as threaten us with destruction. And in this case what would become of us did not God promise to make us victorious over the manifold evils which everywhere impend us? None who seriously considers the temptations to which he is liable will wonder that the Psalmist, with the view of removing apprehension from the minds of the Lord’s people, should have adopted the language of hyperbole; nor indeed will he say that it is the language of hyperbole, but a true and exact representation of their case. We boast much of our courage so long as we remain at a distance from the scene of danger; but no sooner are we brought into action, than in the smallest matters we conjure up to ourselves lions, and dragons, and a host of frightful dangers. The Psalmist accommodates his language to this infirmity of our carnal apprehension. The Hebrew word שחל, shachal, which in the Septuagint is rendered asp, (581) signifies a lion, and such repetition in the second member of the sentence is usual in the Hebrew. There is therefore no occasion for seeking any nice distinction which may have been intended in specifying these four different kinds of animals; only by the lion and young lion we are evidently to understand more open dangers, where we are assailed by force and violence, and by the serpent and dragon hidden mischiefs, where the enemy springs upon us insidiously and unexpectedly, as the serpent from its lurking place. (582)
(581) Calvin’s reading of this verse is different from that of our English Bible. According to it, thou, in the first clause, refers to the Psalmist; while, according to him, it is to be understood of God. Hammond gives a similar version. “Because thou, O Lord! art my hope; thou hast made the Most High thy help or refuge.” All the ancient versions understand the first clause as spoken of God. In the Septuagint it is σὺ Κύριε ἡ ἔλπις μου, “thou, O Lord! art my hope.” Similar is the reading of the Chaldee, the Syriac, and Vulgate. But the last member of the verse, “thou hast made the Most High thy refuge,” is generally referred to the Psalmist, and regarded as a part of a soliloquy to which, when alone, his soul gave utterance.
(582) ἀσπιδα. The most ancient versions correspond in this respect with the Septuagint, as the Vulgate, St Jerome’s, Apollinaris’, the Syriac, Arabic, and Æthiopic versions, rendering שחל, shachal, not by the lion but by the asp, though they are not agreed as to the particular kind of asp which is intended. This opinion is adopted by the learned Bochart, (Hieroz. volume 3, lib. 3, cap. 3,) who thinks it probable that throughout the verse serpents only are spoken of, and other interpreters have concurred in the same view. He thinks שחל, shachal, rendered “the lion,” is the black serpent, or hoemorhous; and כפיר, kepher, rendered “young lion,” has been supposed to be the cenchris, which Nicander ( Theriac, 5, 463) calls λέων ἄιολος, the spotted lion, because he is speckled, and, like the lion, raises his tail when about to fight, and bites and gluts himself with blood. Bochart objects to the lion and young lion being meant, on the ground of the incongruity of animals of so very different a nature as lions and serpents being joined together; and observes, that to walk upon the lion seems not a very proper expression, as men do not in walking tread on lions as they do on serpents. But the lion and the young lion, the rendering of later interpreters, correspond to each other, and preserve the parallelism for which the Hebrew poetry is distinguished, and the reasons assigned by Bochart for setting it aside seem insufficient. The lion and the serpent are formidable animals to contend with; and Satan, one of the enemies to be “put in subjection under the feet of Christ,” is, in the New Testament, compared both to the lion and the dragon, (1Pe 5:8; Rev 12:9.) “Let it be added,” says Merrick, “that the Hebrew text says nothing of walking upon the lion, but has the word תדרך, which strictly signifies calcabis, thou shalt tread; and as to trample on the nations, and to make his enemies his footstool, are expressions used to signify the subduing and triumphing over them; to tread on the lion and the serpent may be understood in the same sense.”
Cresswell thinks it probable that the language of this verse is proverbial. “The course of human life,” he remarks, “is in Scripture compared to a journey; and the dangers described in this verse were common to the wayfaring man in the Psalmist’s time and country.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) Lion . . . adder . . . young lion.These are used no doubt, emblematically for the various obstacles, difficulties, and danger which threatens life. (For adder, see Note, Psa. 58:4; dragon, Psa. 74:13.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Lion adder Two deadly enemies, the one representing open violence, the other secret cunning; both formerly, and the adder (Hebrew, pethen, see note on Psa 58:4,) still, infesting the Arabian desert. To “tread upon the lion,” may be understood in the sense of triumphing over a vanquished enemy, as Jdg 5:21; Isa 63:3; or, in the sense of an accidental treading upon, from being too near the monster as he lies concealed in the path. This danger is the common terror of the natives where this animal abounds. Wood says: “In the dark there is no animal so invisible as the lion. Almost every hunter has told a similar story of the utter inability to see him, though he was so close that they could hear his breathing. Sometimes, when he has crept near an encampment, he crouches closely to the ground, and in the semi-darkness looks so like a large stone, or a little hillock, that one might pass close to it without perceiving its real nature. This gives the opportunity for which the lion has been watching, and in a moment he strikes down the careless straggler.” This is especially true of the “old lion,” , layish, who is too feeble to roam at large for prey. See Job 4:11.
Tread upon the adder This allusion to a common danger arising from the serpent lying concealed in the path though here spoken of the pethen, (see note on Psalms 58,) applies well to the , ( shephiphon,) the cerastes, or horned adder. See on Gen 49:17.
Young lion Proverbially bloodthirsty and ferocious in its youthful strength. See Eze 19:3.
Dragon The Hebrew may denote a monster either of the serpent or crocodile family, whether inhabiting the land or water, but here denotes some formidable land serpent.
Trample under feet A stronger expression than “tread,” in preceding verse, denoting the most perfect triumph over them. On this power over beasts and reptiles see Dan 6:22; Mar 16:18; Luk 10:19; Act 28:3-5. It is difficult to imagine how the Israelites, with their flocks, herds and families, could pass through the desert safely without superhuman protection from the evils enumerated in this psalm.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 91:13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
Ver. 13. Thou shalt tread upon the lion, &c. ] No creature shall harm thee, so as to hinder thine eternal happiness. See Isa 11:6-8 Hos 2:18 Job 5:23 Mar 16:18 . This text was shamefully abused by Pope Alexander, A.D. 1159, when at Venice he trod upon the neck of the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, and said, as here, super leonem et aspidem ambulabis, &c.
adder: or asp.
tread: Jdg 14:5, Jdg 14:6, Job 5:23, 1Sa 17:37, Dan 6:22, 2Ti 4:17
adder: or, asp, Psa 58:4, Mar 16:18, Act 28:3-6, Rom 3:13, Rom 16:20
the dragon: Isa 27:1, Rev 12:9, Rev 20:1, Rev 20:2
Reciprocal: Exo 4:4 – put forth Jos 10:24 – put your feet 1Sa 17:35 – smote him Psa 44:5 – tread Psa 58:6 – young Mal 4:3 – tread down Luk 10:19 – I give Act 28:5 – felt Eph 1:22 – put Heb 10:29 – trodden Heb 11:33 – stopped
VICTOR IN LIFES BATTLE
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
Psa 91:13
The definite promise, Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the dragon, was a reference not only to reptiles and wild beasts of outward evil, but to evils in which the deadliness of vice is concentrated in our individual hearts: evil thoughts, and deeds, and habits which assail and hurt the soul. The fitness of the metaphor is shown by the fact that we find it also in the heathen mythology. The Greek type of a deliverer of the world was the hero Hercules. They saw, as we see, that he who would indeed conquer evil in the world must first conquer it in his own heart. The moral is finely conveyed in the legend of his conquest of the Neman lion. Every mans Neman lion lies in the way for him somewhere. All future victories depend upon that. Kill it, and through all the rest of your lives what was once terrible becomes your armour; you are clothed with the virtue of that conquest.
I. In the first place, this lion is to be fought in the darkness, and in the cavern, and with no earthly weapons.The lion is that inward sin, that special impulse and temptation to evil, which is most directed against your individual heart.
II. Observe the infinite superiority which Christ has granted to us in these days.The Greeks had noble ideals, but their conduct fell as far short of these ideals as ours does. But often these ideals were grievously corrupt. Human strength and knowledge are at the best but perfect weakness. But it is the mercy of God that He has given us in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ an ideal not human, but Divine.
III. Notice that the more early this battle is undertaken, the more surely it is won.He who strangles serpents in his youth slays monsters in his manhood. He who has early had strength to conquer temptations will not be so likely later to lose his self-reverence and his self-control.
Dean Farrar.
Illustration
Suppose one says that this psalm is not literally true, because many of Gods children have suffered from various ills! The answer is simple enough. Before any one of these could be quoted as proving the failure of these promises it would have to be shown that the suffering child of God had definitely appropriated the protecting care of the Father. Also the question would be whether apparent evil were not really good. Nothing can be evil which knits me more closely to God. If the water which I have to drink, says one, is bitter, it is at least filtered water, out of which God has strained all the poison, though He may have left the bitterness, for bitterness is a tonic, and all things work together for good to them that love God.
Psa 91:13. Thou shalt tread upon the lion The lion shall lie prostrate at thy feet, and thou shalt securely put thy feet upon his neck, as the Israelites did upon the necks of the Canaanitish kings, Jos 10:24. The young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample, &c. By which he figuratively understands all pernicious creatures, though never so strong, and fierce, and subtle, and all sorts of enemies. The fury and venom of our spiritual enemies, especially, are often portrayed by the natural qualities of lions and serpents. And it is observable, that when the seventy disciples returned to Christ with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject to us through thy name, he answered them in the metaphorical language of this Psalm, Behold I give unto you power to tread on scorpions and serpents, &c. A promise this, which, in part, at least, belongs to all his faithful servants, whom through grace, he makes more than conquerors in all their conflicts with the same adversaries; enabling them to resist the devil, as St. Peter exhorts, steadfast in the faith; or bruising Satan under their feet, as St. Paul expresses it. We have need, however, to pray for courage to resist the lions rage, and wisdom to elude the serpents wiles.
91:13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the {h} young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
(h) You will not only be preserved from all evil, but overcome it whether it is secret or open.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes