Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 11:9
And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompense unto them:
9. And David saith ] Psa 69:22, (LXX. Psa 68:23.) The quotation is nearly (in Rom 11:10 verbatim) with the LXX.; which in the first of the two verses expands the Hebrew. The Heb. there may be rendered, “May their table before them become a trap, and let it be, when they are at peace, (in security,) a snare.” The idea of requital lies in the root of the Heb. word for “peace;” and thus the LXX. interpreted “unto requitals of them;” assuming another form of the word. The whole Psalm is full of Messiah. The point of the quotation is that the Psalm indicates a judicial turning of blessings into curses, and a judicial blindness and impotence of the soul, as the way in which retribution would come on Messiah’s enemies. “Seeing then that this imprecation remains for all the adversaries of Christ that their meat should be converted into poison, (as we see that the Gospel is to be the savour of death unto death,) let us embrace with humility and trembling the grace of God.” (Calvin.)
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And David saith … – This quotation is made from Psa 69:22-23. This Psalm is repeatedly quoted as having reference to the events recorded in the New Testament. (See the note at Act 1:2.) This quotation is introduced immediately after one that undoubtedly refers to the Lord Jesus. Psa 69:21, they gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. The passage here quoted immediately follows as an imprecation of vengeance for their sins. Let their table, etc. The quotation is not made, however, either literally from the Hebrew or from the Septuagint, but the sense only is retained. The Hebrew is, Let their table before them be for a snare, and for those at peace, let it be for a gin. The Septuagint is, Let their table before them be for a snare, and for a stumbling-block, and for an offence. The ancient Targum is, Let their table which they had prepared before me be for a snare, and their sacrifices be for an offence.
The meaning is this. The word table denotes food. In this they expected pleasure and support. David prays that even this, where they expected joy and refreshment, might prove to them the means of punishment and righteous retribution. A snare is that by which birds or wild beasts were taken. They are decoyed into it, or walk or fly carelessly into it, and it is sprung suddenly on them. So of the Jews. The petition is, that while they were seeking refreshment and joy, and anticipating at their table no danger, it might be made the means of their ruin. The only way in which this could be done would be, that their temporal enjoyments would lead them away from God, and produce stupidity and indifference to their spiritual interests. This is often the result of the pleasures of the table, or of seeking sensual gratifications. The apostle does not say whether this prayer was right or wrong. The use which he seems to make of it is this, that Davids imprecation was to be regarded in the light of a prophecy; that what he prayed for would come to pass; and that this had actually occurred in the time of the apostle; that their very enjoyments, their national and private privileges, had been the means of alienating them from God; had been a snare to them; and was the cause of their blindness and infidelity. This also is introduced in the psalm as a punishment for giving him vinegar to drink; and their treatment of the Messiah was the immediate cause why all this blindness had come upon the Jews.
A trap – This properly means anything by which wild beasts are taken in hunting. The word snare more properly refers to birds.
And a stumbling-block – Anything over which one stumbles or falls. Hence, anything which occasions us to sin, or to ruin ourselves.
And a recompense – The Hebrew word translated what should have been for their welfare, is capable of this meaning, and may denote their recompense, or what is appropriately rendered to them. It means here that their ordinary comforts and enjoyments, instead of promoting their permanent welfare, may be the occasion of their guilt and ruin. This is often the effect of earthly comforts. They might lead us to God, and should excite our gratitude and praise; but they are often abused to our spiritual slumber and guilt, and made the occasion of our ruin. The rich are thus often most forgetful of God; and the very abundance of their blessings made the means of darkness of mind, ingratitude, prayerlessness, and ruin. Satisfied with them, they forget the Giver; and while they enjoy many earthly blessings, God sends barrenness into their souls. This was the guilt of Sodom, pride, and fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness, Eze 16:49; and against this Moses solemnly warned the Jews; Deu 6:11-12; Deu 8:10-12. This same caution might be extended to the people of this land, and especially to those who are rich, and are blessed with all that their hearts have wished. From the use which the apostle makes of this passage in the Psalms, it is clear that he regarded it rather as a prophetic denunciation for their sins – a prediction of what would be – than as a prayer. In his time it had been fulfilled; and the very national privileges of the Jews, on which they so much prided themselves, and which might have been so great blessings, were the occasion of their greater sin in rejecting the Messiah, and of their greater condemnation. Thus, their table was made a trap, etc.
Rom 11:10
Let their eyes be darkened – This is taken literally from the psalm, and was evidently the main part of the passage which the apostle had in his eye. This was fulfilled in the insensibility and blindness of the Jews. And the apostle shows them that it was long ago predicted, or invoked, as a punishment on them for giving the Messiah vinegar to drink; Psa 69:21, Psa 69:23.
And bow down their back alway – The Hebrew Psa 69:23 is, Let their loins totter or shake, that is, as one does when he has on him a heavy burden. The apostle has retained this sense. It means, let them be called to bear heavy and oppressive burdens; let them be subjected to toil or servitude, as a reward for their sins. That this had come upon the Jews in the time of Paul is clear; and it is further clear that it came upon them, as it was implied in the psalm, in consequence of their treatment of the Messiah. Much difficulty has been felt in reconciling the petitions in the psalms for calamities on enemies, with the spirit of the New Testament. Perhaps they cannot all be thus reconciled; and it is not at all improbable that many of those imprecations were wrong. David was not a perfect man; and the Spirit of inspiration is not responsible for his imperfections. Every doctrine delivered by the sacred writers is true; every fact recorded is recorded as it was.
But it does not follow that all the men who wrote, or about whom a narrative was given, were perfect. The reverse is the fact. And it does not militate against the inspiration of the Scriptures that we have a record of the failings and imperfections of those men. When they uttered improper sentiments, when they manifested improper feelings, when they performed wicked actions, it is no argument against the inspiration of the Scriptures that they were recorded. All that is done in such a case, and all that inspiration demands, is that they be recorded as they are. We wish to see human nature as it is; and one design of making the record of such failings is to show what man is, even under the influence of religion; not as a perfect being, for that would not be true; but as he actually exists mingled with imperfection. Thus, many of the wishes of the ancient saints, imperfect as they were, are condemned as sinful by the spirit of the Christian religion.
They were never commended or approved, but they are recorded just to show us what was in fact the character of man, even partially under the influence of religion. Of this nature probably, were many of the petitions in the Psalms; and the Spirit of God is no more answerable for the feeling because it is recorded, than he is for the feelings of the Edomites when they said, Rase it, rase it to the foundation Psa 137:7. Many of those prayers, however, were imprecations on his enemies as a public man, as the magistrate of the land. As it is right and desirable that the robber and the pirate should be detected and punished; as all good people seek it, and it is indispensable for the welfare of the community, where is the impropriety of praying that it may be done? Is it not right to pray that the laws may be executed; that justice may be maintained; and that restraint should be imposed on the guilty? Assuredly this may be done with a very different spirit from that of revenge. It may be the prayer of the magistrate that God will help him in what he is appointed to do, and in what ought to be done. Besides, many of these imprecations were regarded as simply predictions of what would be the effect of sin; or of what God would do to the guilty. Such was the case we are now considering, as understood by the apostle. But in a prediction there can be nothing wrong.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. And David saith, Let their table, c.] And from their present disposition it is reasonable to conclude that the same evils will fall upon them as fell upon the disobedient in former times, as predicted by David, Ps 69:22, Ps 69:23,that their very blessings should become curses to them, and their temporal mercies be their only recompense and yet even these earthly blessings, by not being enjoyed in the Lord, should be a stumbling block over which they should fall, and, instead of being a blessing, should be the means of their punishment. They would have a worldly Messiah, and therefore they rejected him whose kingdom was not of this world.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
David saith; viz. in Psa 69:22,23. The apostle tieth not himself to the very words of the psalmist, but being guided by the same Spirit by which David wrote, he adds and alters some words, without diminishing the sense.
Let their table be made a snare, &c.: some take these words for a prayer; others, a prophecy. David, in the person of Christ, (of whom he was a type), doth complain and prophesy of the extreme injuries and oppressions wherewith the Jews (his own people) should vex him; as that they should give him gall for meat, and in his thirst, give him vinegar to drink, Rom 11:21. Therefore, by way of imprecation, he prayeth down the wrath of God upon them: particularly, he prophesies or prays, that all their most pleasant things might be turned to their destruction; that their understandings might be darkened, so as they shall discern nothing of heavenly things; that they might savour nothing but earthly things, and be unable to lift up their heads and hearts to God, and to his gospel. Now David having, by the Spirit of prophecy, prayed down such miseries upon the Jews, they must be fulfilled; therefore the general unbelief and hardness of heart that is amongst that people is not to be wondered at.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. And David saith (Ps69:23), which in such a Messianic psalm must be meant of therejecters of Christ.
Let their table, &c.thatis, Let their very blessings prove a curse to them, and theirenjoyments only sting and take vengeance on them.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And David saith,…. That is, Christ by the mouth of David, or David in the person of Christ; for the psalm out of which the following words are taken is a prophecy of the Messiah, as appears from some passages cited out of it in the New Testament, and applied to Christ; compare Ro 11:4 with Joh 15:25, and Ro 11:9 with Joh 2:17, and Ro 11:21 with Joh 19:28; and what are here cited are not so much imprecations, as predictions of what should befall the Jews, by way of recompense for their ill usage of the Messiah, in giving him gall for meat, and vinegar for drink,
Mt 27:34:
let their table be made a snare, and a trap and a stumbling block. By their “table” may be meant, the altar; see Mal 1:7; and the sacrifices offered up upon it, their meat offerings and drink offerings, and all others; likewise the laws concerning the difference of meats, and indeed the whole ceremonial law may be intended, which lay in meats and drinks, and such like things: now the Jews placing their justifying righteousness before God, in the observance of these rites and ceremonies, and imagining that by these sacrifices their sins were really expiated and atoned for, they neglected and submitted not to the righteousness of Christ, but went about to establish their own; so that that which should have led them to Christ, became an handwriting of ordinances against them, and rendered Christ of no effect to them: moreover, the sacred writings, which are full of spiritual food and divine refreshment, the prophecies of the Old Testament, which clearly pointed out Christ, not being understood, but misapplied by them, proved a trap, a snare, and a stumbling block to them; so that they rejected the true Messiah, which issued in their utter ruin and destruction: yea, the preaching of the Gospel, the salutary truths and wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, were a stumbling block to the Jews, nay, even the savour of death unto death. Though these words may be literally understood of their table mercies, the necessary provisions of life, their common food and drink, of which they had great scarcity in their last wars; so that they not only by wicked methods stole it from one another, but ate what was forbidden by their law, and what was abhorrent to nature, as one is said to eat her own child; nor is it to be overlooked what is suggested by some, that the passover may be meant by their “table”; which was their grand yearly feast, and which they were eating s when they were surrounded and taken by the Roman army, like birds in a net, or beasts in a trap: and all this as
a recompense to them; a just judgment upon them, by way of retaliation for their ill treatment of Christ when on the cross, giving him gall and vinegar for his meat and drink.
s Josephus de Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
David says ( ). From Ps 69:23f; (68:23f LXX); Rom 34:8; Rom 28:4 (combined quotation).
Table (). For what is on the table, “a feast.”
A snare ( ). From , to make fast, old word for snares for birds and beasts. See on Lu 21:35. in predicate with is a translation-Hebraism.
A trap ( ). Old word for hunting of wild beasts, then a trap. Only here in N.T.
A stumbling-block ( ). A third word for trap, snare, trap-stick or trigger over which they fall. See on 1Cor 1:23; Rom 9:33.
A recompense ( ). Late word from double compound verb , to repay (both and ). Ancient Greeks used . In LXX and Didache. In N.T. only here (bad sense) and Lu 14:12 (good sense).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
David saith. Psa 69:23, 24. It is doubtful whether David was the author. Some high authorities are inclined to ascribe it to Jeremiah. David here may mean nothing more than the book of Psalm. 56 Table. Representing material prosperity : feasting in wicked security. Some explain of the Jews ‘ presumptuous confidence in the law.
Snare [] , From phgnumi to make fast. The anchor is called pagiv the maker – fast of the ships.
Trap (qhran). Lit., a hunting. Only here in the New Testament, and neither in the Hebrew nor Septuagint. Many render net, following Psa 35:8, where the word is used for the Hebrew resheth net. No kind of snare will be wanting. Their presumptuous security will become to them a snare, a hunting, a stumbling – block.
A recompense [] . Substituted by the Septuagint for the Hebrew, to them at ease. It carries the idea of a just retribution.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And David saith,” (kai David legei) “And David says,” speaks as follows, regarding this matter. Note Paul was not only inspired but also one who verified or documented revealed truth when it was in harmony with previously prophesied truth on the same or a similar subject; the quotation is from.
2) “Let their table be made a snare,” (genetheto he trapeza auto eis pagida) “Let their (own) table become a snare or entrapment (like a spider’s web) unto them”; Depending on the passover and other feasts and devotions to make them righteous, by their own deeds, ceremonial and ritual efforts, Israel was snared like a bird, fish, or wild animal, Rom 10:3; Tit 3:5; Deu 32:13-15.
3) “And a trap,” (kai eis theran) “And for an entangling net,” as a net that traps fish, fowls, or animals; at the tables where they lingered in gluttony and often sensual conduct; Isa 5:4-7; the trap signifies a sudden destruction. The Law misunderstood became an entrapment to the Jews, Mar 7:1-13.
4) “And a stumblingblock,” (kai eis skandalon) “And for a scandal unto them,” or an occasion for their stumbling; The fate or judgment of natural Israel is not the consequence of any unconditional decree of God, but Divine judgment of which God forewarned Israel as a result of her willful disobedience, Deu 28:1-68.
5) “And a recompence unto them,” (kai eis antapodoma autois) “And for a recompence (just done, just and fair payment) to them,” because of their willful, hesitating, loitering, procrastinating, disobeying, and turning away from the overtures of God’s Grace-call, first to them, Rom 10:21; Act 4:11-12; Joh 1:11-12; Joh 8:24; Rom 9:32.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
9. And David says, etc. In this testimony of David there is also made some change in the words, but it is not what changes the meaning. For he thus speaks, “Let their table before them become a snare, and their peaceful things a trap;” there is no mention of retribution. As to the main point there is sufficient agreement. The Prophet prays, that whatever is desirable and happy in life might turn out to the ruin and destruction of the ungodly; and this is what he means by table and peaceful things. (349) He then gives them up to blindness of spirit and weakening of strength; the one of which he expresses by the darkening of the eyes, and the other by the incurvation of the back. But that this should be extended almost to the whole nation, is not to be wondered at; for we know, that not only the chief men were incensed against David, but that the common people were also opposed to him. It appears plain, that what is read in that passage was not applied to a few, but to a large number; yea, when we consider of whom David was a type, there appears to be a spiritual import in the opposite clause. (350)
Seeing then that this imprecation remains for all the adversaries of Christ, — that their meat shall be converted into poison, (as we see that the gospel is to be the savor of death unto death,) let us embrace with humility and trembling the grace of God. We may add, that since David speaks of the Israelites, who descended according to the flesh from Abraham, Paul fitly applies his testimony to the subject in hand, that the blindness of the majority of the people might not appear new or unusual.
(349) [ Grotius ] understands by “table” guests, or friends, who partake of the provisions spread on the table. The wish is, that these should be a snare, etc. “Table,” according to [ Pareus ], means luxury or festivity: and he adds, that there are here three metaphors, — the ensnaring of birds — the entrapping of wild beasts — and the stumbling in the dark, or that of blind men. Then the recompense or retaliation implies, that this evil of being ensnared and entrapped, and of stumbling, are only just retaliations for similar acts on their part; as they had ensnared, entrapped, and caused others to stumble, it was but just that they should be treated in the same way. And if we take “table” as a metonymy for friends or guests, the meaning would be very striking. And we know that the very friends and confederates of the Jews became their enemies and effected their ruin. See Jer 38:22.
The subject of imprecations is attended with some difficulty. To imprecate, or to pronounce a curse on others, or to wish others accursed, was forbidden even under the law, and it is expressly forbidden under the gospel, Mat 5:44; we have the example of our Savior praying for his enemies even on the cross; and yet we find that God pronounced a curse on all the transgressors of the law, Deu 27:26, — that Christ pronounced a curse on Chorazin and Bethsaida, — that the Psalmist often imprecated vengeance on his enemies, Psa 5:10; Psa 109:7, — that the Apostle cursed Alexander the coppersmith, 2Ti 4:14, — and that John bids us not to pray for him who sins the sin unto death, 1Jo 5:16.
The truth is, that circumstances make the difference; what is forbidden in one respect is allowed in another. The rule to man is, not to curse, but to bless, except to pronounce on God’s enemies as such the judgment which God has already denounced on them. But to curse individuals is what no one is allowed to do, except he be inspired so as to know who those are who are given up by God to final judgment; which may be supposed to have been the case with the Psalmist and with St. Paul. — Ed.
(350) Psa 69:22. The passage is given as in the Septuagint, except that καὶ εἰς θήραν is added, and the two following words are transposed, with αὐτοῖς put after them, and ἀνταπόδομα is put for ἀνταπόδοσιν Rom 11:10 is given without any variation from the Septuagint. The Hebrew is in words considerably different, and more so in our version than it really is. The word, שלומים, is improperly rendered “welfare,” while it ought to be “recompenses,” or, according to [ Tremelius ] and Bp. [ Horseley ], “retributions,” or “retribution.” See Isa 34:8. The last clause of Rom 11:10, though in meaning the same, is yet wholly different in words from the Hebrew, which is thus correctly rendered in our version, “and make their loins continually to shake.” The idea in both instances is the taking away of vigor and strength. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) And David saith.It appears highly improbable that this Psalm was really written by David. Nor can the Davidic authorship be argued strongly from this passage, as David merely seems to stand for the Book of Psalms, with which his name was traditionally connected.
St. Paul is quoting freely from the LXX. In the original of Psalms 69 these verses refer to the fate invoked by the psalmist upon his persecutors; here they are applied by St. Paul to the fiat of the Almighty which had been pronounced against the unbelieving people of Israel.
Let their table . . .In the very moment of their feasting, let them be caught in a stratagem of their enemies.
And a trap.These words are not found either in the Hebrew or in the LXX., and appear to be added by St. Paul. Translate rather, Let them be for a chasei.e., instead of feasting, let them be hunted and persecuted.
And a recompence unto them.Similarly the LXX. The Hebrew is, When they are in peace, let it be a trap (that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trapA.V.)i.e., when they are eating and drinking securely, let them be caught as in a trap; let their security itself deceive them. By recompence unto them the Apostle means, Let their prosperity bring upon them retaliation for what they have donenamely, for their rejection of Christ.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. David saith Psalms 6:23. Quote not verbally, but freely.
Table Which should be a place of hospitable trust.
Stumblingblock Note on Mat 18:7.
Recompense A retribution. For all these disastrous results are the retributive, as well as the natural, results of their own wilful wickedness. This law of retribution is expressed in the form of a prayer, as showing that inspiration fully endorses the result and demands its completion. (Rev 18:6.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
And David says, “Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompense to them, let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow you down their back always.”
The second citation is an adaptation from Psa 69:22-23 which in LXX reads, ‘Let their table before them be for a snare, and for a recompense, and for a stumblingblock. Let their eyes be darkened that they should not see; and bow down their back continually.’ The reference to ‘a trap’ is incorporated from MT, but may have been in Paul’s LXX text.
The main reason for selecting this verse is the reference to ‘let their eyes be darkened’ tying in with the previous citation. But as the idea of them stumbling is taken up in the next verse Paul clearly has the whole citation in mind. The ‘table’ would have been a piece of leather unrolled and spread on the floor, which explains how it could become a snare, and a trap and a stumblingblock. The idea behind the whole citation is that what they would normally see as something joyous and beneficial (like a feast piled up on a table) is to become a snare, a trap and a stumblingblock to them. This is precisely what has happened to the unbelieving Jews with the Law. They want to eat of the table that they have set for themselves, with the result that they are not willing to eat at God’s table. They want righteousness by the Law. But this has proved to be ‘a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompense to them’. All it can do is entrap them and make them stumble on in their ignorance.
Some see ‘the table’ as referring to the altar in which case there is the idea that they have allowed their ritual to be a snare to them and to cause them to stumble. Compare Isa 1:11-18.
We note that in accordance with Rabbinic practise Paul underlines his point from the Law (Deuteronomy), the Prophets (Isaiah), and the Holy Writings (the Psalms), the three division of the Jewish Scriptures.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 11:9-10 . A further Scripture proof of , and that from Psa 69:23-24 , quoted with free deviation from the LXX. The composer of this psalm is not David (in opposition to Hengstenberg, Hvernick), but some one of much later date; a circumstance which we must judge of analogously to the expression of Christ, Mat 22:43 . The suffering theocrat of the psalm is, as such, a type of the Messiah, and His enemies a type of the unbelieving Jews; hence Paul could find the fulfilment of the passage in the of the latter. Consequently, in pursuance of this typical reference, the sense in which he takes the words is as follows: “ Let their table become to them for (let it be turned for them into, comp. Joh 16:20 ) a snare, and for a chase, and for a trap, and (so) for a retaliation; ” i.e., while they feast and drink securely and carelessly at their well-furnished table , let the fate of violence overtake them unawares , just as wild beasts are surprised in a snare , and by the capture of the chase , and by a trap; and so must retaliation alight upon them for that which they have done (in rejecting, namely, faith on Christ). But what violent calamity is meant, the sequel expresses, namely: “ Darkened must their eyes become, that they may not see ,” i.e. they must become spiritually blinded , incapable of discerning the truth of salvation; and finally the same thing under another figure: “ And bend their back always ,” denoting the keeping them in bondage , and that, in the sense of the apostle, the spiritual bondage of the unfree condition of the inner life produced by the . The hardening , therefore, which Paul recognises as predicted in the passage, does not lie in (Fritzsche), which is not to be explained “of the law and its works, which was Israel’s food” (Philippi, following older expositors, also Tholuck), but in . . ., and is more precisely indicated in Rom 11:10 . The express repetition in Rom 11:10 of the becoming blinded , already designated in Rom 11:8 , forbids our explaining the prophetic images in Rom 11:9-10 generally as representations of severe divine judgments like Pharaoh’s overthrow, in which case the specific point of the citation would be neglected (in opposition to Hofmann).
] stands neither in the Hebrew nor in the LXX.; but means chase , not net (Tholuck, Ewald), to establish which signification the solitary passage Psa 35:8 , where the LXX. render inexactly by , cannot suffice. It often means booty (van Hengel) in the LXX. and in classical Greek; but this is not appropriate here, where the “becoming for a booty” is said not of such as men, but of the . This shall be turned for them into a chase , so that they, in their secure feasting, become like to the unfortunate object of the chase, which is captured by the hunter.
] corresponding primarily to the classical , the stick set in a trap (Schol. Ar. Ach . 687), is frequently in the LXX. (see Schleusner, Thes . V. p. 38), and so also here, the translation of , snare , by which we must therefore abide.
is not found in classical Greek, but often in the LXX. and Apocrypha, Luk 14:12 .
. . . ] is to be taken, according to the context, as the expression of the idea of hardening (represented as a bending together under the yoke of spiritual servitude), not, with Fritzsche, of rendering miserable through the withdrawal of the Messianic salvation. On the masculine , see Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 290.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
Ver. 9. Be made a snare ] As the bait is to the birds.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
9. ] And David saith, Let their table be for a snare and for a net ( more usually ‘a hunt,’ or the act of taking or catching, but here and in ref. a net , the instrument of capture. It is not in the Heb. nor in the LXX, and is perhaps inserted by the Apostle to give emphasis by the accumulation of synonymes), and for a stumbling-block and for a recompense to them (the LXX have . . . The Heb. of , as at present pointed, is , ‘to the secure.’ It has been supposed that the LXX pointed or , ‘for retributions.’ See Psa 91:8 ; but qu.?):
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
table. Put by Figure of speech Metaphor for material prosperity.
a = for (Greek. eis) a.
stumblingblock. See Rom 9:32.
recompence. Greek. antapodoma. Only here and Luk 14:12.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
9.] And David saith, Let their table be for a snare and for a net ( more usually a hunt, or the act of taking or catching,-but here and in ref. a net, the instrument of capture. It is not in the Heb. nor in the LXX, and is perhaps inserted by the Apostle to give emphasis by the accumulation of synonymes), and for a stumbling-block and for a recompense to them (the LXX have . . . The Heb. of , as at present pointed, is , to the secure. It has been supposed that the LXX pointed or , for retributions. See Psa 91:8; but qu.?):
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 11:9. – -) Psa 69:22-23, LXX., – . Let their-be made before their eyes into a snare, and for a recompence, and for an offence.-.-, a table) , Psa 69:22, where, on comparing with it the preceding verse, there is an allegory, i.e., while they are carelessly taking their food, let them be taken themselves.-, stumbling-block) It is taken in the more literal sense in this passage, to correspond with the synonyms, noose and instrument of capture (laqueus and captio); for is the moveable stick in a trap. It corresponds to in the above psalm. There is a gradation: the noose (laqueus) catches a part, for example, the foot; the instrument of capture (captio, , trap) holds the whole; the stumbling-block (scandalum) not only catches, but also hurts.-, recompence) Their fault, therefore, not the absolute decree of God, was the mediating cause of their rejection.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 11:9
Rom 11:9
And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompense unto them:- Let that which was intended for their good become a snare to entrap them, a stumbling block over which they may fall, and a recompense to requite them their iniquity. This shows Gods dealings with men. He proposes to bless them if they will trust him; but if they are determined in their rebellion, then the things to bless them will be a curse, will lead them into greater sin and bring the deeper ruin.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
David saith: Psa 69:22, Psa 69:23
their table: Deu 6:10-12, Deu 32:13-15, 1Sa 25:36-38, Job 20:20-23, Pro 1:32, Isa 8:13, Isa 8:14, Luk 12:20, Luk 16:19-25, 1Ti 6:17-19
a recompense: Deu 32:35, Psa 28:4, Isa 59:18, Isa 66:9, Heb 2:2
Reciprocal: Job 18:10 – snare Isa 28:13 – that Jer 6:21 – I will Eze 3:20 – and I lay Eze 7:19 – it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity Rom 14:13 – put Rev 2:14 – a stumblingblock
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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Verses 9-10. The original for table is defined by Thayer at this place, “a banquet, feast.” The passage is a prediction that even the feasts of the Jews would be used by their foes to snare or entrap them to their detriment. The rest of the paragraph is a further prediction of the fate to come to the Jews for their stubborn unbelief. Bow down their back predicts the subject condition of Israel at the heathen’s hands.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 11:9. And David saith. The citation is from Psa 69:22-23, which is attributed to David, in the heading as well as by Paul. Many argue that some parts of the Psalm point to a date after the captivity. But the references to the house of God (Rom 11:9), the description of the opposers (Rom 11:8), and other passages, seem to prove that the date was much earlier. The Psalm is a portrayal of the sufferings of the Servant of Jehovah at the hands of spiritual foes, rather than of the sorrows of the exiled Jews. The latter reference gives to the imprecations a national and personal character which seems revolting. The former points to a Messianic fulfilment, and justifies the Apostles application of the passage. The imprecations of the Psalm are to be 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 (Luk 23:34), had before applied the words of this very passage to the unbelieving Jews (Mat 23:38), as Paul did afterwards (J. A. Alexander).
Let their table. In the Psalm the table represents the material enjoyments of life; here it is referred by some to the law, or to the presumptuous confidence the Jews had in it; but it is not necessary to define it so closely.
Become a snare; be turned into this.
And a trap. The word more usually signified a hunt, or the act of taking or catching,but here a net, the instrument of capture. It is not in the Hebrew nor in the Septuagint, and is perhaps inserted by the Apostle to give emphasis by the accumulation of synonymes (Alford).
And a stumbling block. This phrase follows the next one in the LXX. The reference to hunting probably led to the transposition.
A recompense unto them. Here the Apostle varies slightly from the form of the LXX, which preserves the sense, but not the figure of the Hebrew. In fact this phrase is an interpretation of the entire verse. While they think they are consuming the spoils of their earthly sense, they become themselves a spoil to every form of retribution (Lange).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The apostle proceeds here to declare unto us, that the general unbelief and hardness of heart which was found amongst the rejected Jews, was not to be wondered at, because it was prophetically foretold by holy David, in the person of the Messiah, of whom he was a type, that his own people the Jews should extremely injure and wrong him, oppress and vex him: for which wickedness he foretells what dreadful and tremendous judgments should come upon the Jews; namely,
That their table should be made to them a snare, a trap, and a stumbling-block; that is, that all their pleasant and delightful things should become the instruments of their destruction.
That their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. The darkening of their eyes signifies the taking away of the judgment and understanding from a people.
And the bowing down of the back always, intimates and implies their grovelling upon this earth; their relishing and savouring nothing but earthly things, never lifting up either head or heart to God.
Now all this which David spake of the wicked Jews in his time, the apostle applies and adapts to the incredulous and unbelieving Jews in his days, to whom the very preaching of the gospel was an occasion of obduration and hardness of heart.
Learn here, 1. That to the obstinate and obdurate enemies of God, the best things become baneful, and through their own corruption become the instruments and means of their own destruction. Let their table be made a snare, a trap, and a stumbling-block.
Learn, 2. That to be deprived of the use of our judgment and understanding, especially in things pertaining unto God, is a very dreadful judgment. Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see.
3. That imprecations are to be used very warily, and only in weighty matters. These and other expressions of David, which look like imprecations, may as well be accounted prophetical predictions, foretelling what will come upon obstinate sinners, rather than praying that evil may come.
Great is the sin and danger of using imprecations lightly, either upon ourselves or others. Some persons use them to gain credit to what they say; but this will not do with wise men, who frequently observe, that persons most guilty are most apt to call for vengeance upon themselves, that they may be thought guiltless.
Lord! how do some sinners wish and call for that at which the devils tremble!–I mean damnation.
Alas! it slumbereth not; within a moment or two thou shalt feel what thou wilt not fear.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 9, 10. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling-block, and [so] a just recompense unto them! Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see; and bow down their back alway!
Paul ascribes this psalm to David, according to the title and Jewish tradition; he does not meddle with criticism. Is this title erroneous, as is alleged by our modern savants? They allege Rom 11:33-36, which close the psalm, and in which we have mention made of the liberated captives who shall rebuild and possess the cities of Judah, expressions which naturally apply to the time of the captivity. But, on the other hand, the author speaks of that zeal for the house of God which eats him up; which supposes the existence of the temple. Nay more, the adversaries who oppress him are expressly designated as members of God’s people: they are his brethren, his mother’s children (Rom 11:8); they shall be blotted out of the book of life (Rom 11:28); their name was therefore inscribed in it; they are not the Chaldeans. Finally, what is stronger: those enemies, his fellow-countrymen, enjoy perfect external well-being; while they give the Psalmist, the object of their hatred, gall to drink, they themselves sit at table and sing as they drink strong drink (Rom 11:22; Rom 11:11-12); a singular description of the state of the Jews in captivity! It must therefore be held that the last verses of the psalm (Rom 11:33-36) were, like the last and perfectly similar verses of Psalms 51 (Rom 11:18-19), added to the hymn later, when the exiled people applied it to their national sufferings. The original description is that of the righteous Israelite suffering for the cause of God; and his adversaries, to whom the curses contained in the two verses quoted by Paul refer, are all the enemies of this just one within the theocracy itself, from Saul persecuting David down to the Jewish enemies of Jesus Christ and His Church.
The table is, in the Psalmist’s sense, the emblem of the material pleasures in which the ungodly live. Their life of gross enjoyments is to become to them what the snares of all sorts with which men catch them are to the lower animals. It is difficult to avoid thinking that the apostle is here applying this figure in a spiritual sense; for the punishment which he has in view is of a spiritual nature; it is, moral hardening. The cause of such a judgment must therefore be something else than simple worldly enjoyment; it is, as we have seen, the proud confidence of Israel in their ceremonial works. The table is therefore, in Paul’s sense, the emblem of presumptuous security founded on their fidelity to acts of worship, whether the reference be to the table of showbread as a symbol of the Levitical worship in general, or to the sacrificial feasts. These works, on which they reckoned to save them, are precisely what is ruining them.
The Psalmist expresses the idea of ruin only by two terms: those of snare and net (in the LXX. , net, and , stumbling-block). Paul adds a third, , strictly prey, and hence: every means of catching prey. This third term is taken from Psa 35:8 (in the LXX), where it is used as a parallel to , net, in a passage every way similar to that of Psalms 69. By this accumulation of almost synonymous terms, Paul means forcibly to express the idea that it will be impossible for them to escape, because no kind of snare will be wanting; first the net (), then the weapons of the chase (), and finally the trap which causes the prey to fall into the pit ().
The Hebrew and the LXX., as we have said, contain only two of these terms, the first and the third. Instead of the second, the LXX. read another regimen: , for a recompense. Whence comes this expression? They have evidently meant thereby to render the word lischelomim, for those who are in security, which in the Hebrew text is put between the words snare and stumbling-block. Only to render it as they have done, they must have read leschilloumim (probably after another reading). This substantive is derived from the verb schalam, to be complete, whence in the Pel: to recompense. It therefore signifies recompense; hence this , for a recompense, in the LXX. Paul borrows from them this expression; but he puts it at the end as a sort of conclusion: and so in just retribution. In Rom 11:10 the apostle continues to apply to the present judgment of Israel (hardening) the expressions of the Psalmist. The reference is to the darkening of the understanding which follows on the insensibility of the heart (Rom 11:9), to such a degree that the Gentiles, with their natural good sense, understand the gospel better than those Jews who have been instructed and cultivated by divine revelation.
The last words: bow down their reins, are an invocation; they refer to the state of slavish fear in which the Jews shall be held as long as this judgment of hardening which keeps them outside of the gospel shall last. They are slaves to their laws, to their Rabbins, and even to their God (Rom 8:15). We must beware of thinking, as Meyer does, that this chastisement is their punishment for the rejection of the Messiah. It is, on the contrary, that rejection which is in the apostle’s eyes the realization of the doom of hardening previously pronounced upon them. As St. John shows, Joh 12:37 et seq., the Jews would not have rejected Jesus if their eyes had not been already blinded and their ears stopped. It could only be under the weight of one of those judgments which visit man with a spirit of torpor, that any could fail to discern the raying forth of the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ, as the apostle declares, 2Co 4:4. In this passage he ascribes the act of blinding to the god of this world, who has cast a veil over the spirit of his subjects. This means, as is seen in the book of Job, that God proves or punishes by leaving Satan to act, and it may be by the spirit of torpor mentioned in Rom 11:8, as with that spirit of lying whom the Lord sent to seduce Ahab in the vision of the prophet Micaiah, 1Ki 22:10 et seq. However this may be, the rejection of Jesus by the Jews was the effect, not the cause of the hardening. The cause
Paul has clearly enough said, Rom 9:31-33was the obstinacy of their self-righteousness.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, And a stumblingblock, and a recompense unto them [Psa 69:22-23 . the word “trap” is added from Psa 35:8 . Theodoret says that Psalm 69 “is a prediction of the sufferings of Christ, and the final destruction of the Jews on that account.” That which is presented in the form of a wish is, therefore, really a prophecy. Let the food on their table be as the bait to the snare and the trap, and the stumbling-block over which the tempted creature falls to lame itself. Let that which they think a source of pleasure and life become an enticement to pain and death. Dropping the figure, the words mean that the very religion of the Old Dispensation, to which the Jew looked for spiritual joy and sustenance, should become to him a sorrow and a fatal famine, so that this very blessing became to him a curse. The word “recompense” denotes a punishment for an evil deed; its presence here shows that the evil which came upon the Jews was caused by their own fault and sin, and not by absolute decree]:
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
11:9 And David saith, {i} Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:
(i) As unhappy birds are enticed by that which is their sustenance, and then killed, and so did that thing turn to the Jew’s destruction, out of which they sought life, that is, the law of God, for the preposterous zeal of which they refused the Gospel.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Jews regarded Psalms 69 as Messianic in Paul’s day (cf. Joh 15:25). The quotation from this psalm (Rom 11:22-23) records David’s desire. He wished that his enemies’ table (i.e., blessings) would become something that they would stumble over. The enemies in view were the Lord’s enemies as well as the king’s since David was the Lord’s anointed. This is really what had happened to the Israelites who had set themselves against God by rejecting His Son. Inability to see clearly and bondage to the Law had resulted (cf. Act 15:10). The Greek phrase dia pantos usually means "continually." It probably means that here rather than "forever." [Note: Cranfield, 2:552.] Paul would explain that Israel’s obstinacy and bondage would not last indefinitely (Rom 11:26). Paul explained that God had brought upon the Jews what David had prayed would happen to his persecutors.
Even though as a whole Israel had reaped the fruit of her own stubborn rebellion against God, God had called a remnant within the nation for salvation. The presence of this remnant shows that God has not cast off His chosen people completely or been unfaithful to His promises to them.