Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 109:11
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labor.
11. Let a creditor ensnare all that he hath,
And let foreigners plunder his labour.
Ensnare is a graphic word for the wily schemes by which an unscrupulous creditor or usurious money-lender would contrive to get possession of all a man’s property. For examples of the destitution to which Israelites were sometimes brought by creditors see 2Ki 4:1 ff.; Neh 5:1-7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath – literally, Let the extortioner cast a snare over all that he hath; that is, let him seize all his property. The word rendered catch – naqash – is a word which means to lay a snare, as for birds and wild animals, and hence, it means to ensnare, to entrap, to catch. The word rendered extortioner means literally one who lends or borrows money; a money-loaner; in our times, a broker. Here it refers to one who loaned money on interest; or who took advantage of the necessities of others to lend money at high rates – thus sooner or later seizing upon and securing the property of another. The prayer here is, that he might be in such circumstances as to make it necessary to fall into the hands of those who would thus come into possession of all his property.
And let the strangers spoil his labor – Let strangers plunder his labor; that is, the fruit of his labor. Let them seize and possess what he has earned and gained to enjoy it themselves. The remarks made on Psa 109:10, will apply to this verse and the following.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. Let the strangers spoil his labour.] Many of these execrations were literally fulfilled in the case of the miserable Jews, after the death of our Lord. They were not only expelled from their own country, after the destruction of Jerusalem, but they were prohibited from returning; and so taxed by the Roman government, that they were reduced to the lowest degree of poverty. Domitian expelled them from Rome; and they were obliged to take up their habitation without the gate Capena, in a wood contiguous to the city, for which they were obliged to pay a rent, and where the whole of their property was only a basket and a little hay. See JUVENAL, Sat. ver. 11: –
Substitit ad veteres arcus, madidamque Capenam:
Hic ubi nocturne Numa constituebat amicae,
Nunc sacri fontis nemus, et delubra locantur
Judaeis: quorum cophinus, foenumque supellex:
Omnis enim populo mercedem pendere jussa est
Arbor, et ejectis mendicat silva Camoenis.
He stopped a little at the conduit gate,
Where Numa modelled once the Roman state;
In nightly councils with his nymph retired:
Though now the sacred shades and founts are hired
By banished Jews, who their whole wealth can lay
In a small basket, on a wisp of hay.
Yet such our avarice is, that every tree
Pays for his head; nor sleep itself is free;
Nor place nor persons now are sacred held,
From their own grove the Muses are expelled.
DRYDEN.
The same poet refers again to this wretched state of the Jews, Sat. vi., ver. 541; and shows to what vile extremities they were reduced in order to get a morsel of bread: –
Cum dedit ille locum, cophino foenoque relicto,
Arcanam Judaea tremens mendicat in aurem,
Interpres legum Solymarum, et magna sacerdos
Arboris, ac summi fida internuncia coeli.
Implet et illa manum, sed parcius, aere minuto.
Qualia cunque voles Judaei somnia vendunt.
Here a Jewess is represented as coming from the wood mentioned above, to gain a few oboli by fortune-telling; and, trembling lest she should be discovered, she leaves her basket and hay, and whispers lowly in the ear of some female, from whom she hopes employment in her line. She is here called by the poet the interpretess of the laws of Solymae, or Jerusalem, and the priestess of a tree, because obliged, with the rest of her nation, to lodge in a wood; so that she and her countrymen might be said to seek their bread out of desolate places, the stranger having spoiled their labour. Perhaps the whole of the Psalm relates to their infidelities, rebellions, and the miseries inflicted on them from the crucifixion of our Lord till the present time. I should prefer this sense, if what is said on Ps 109:20 be not considered a better mode of interpretation.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Extortioner; or, usurer, or creditor. Catch, Heb. insnare, which is an emphatical expression, i.e. take away not only by oppression and violence, but also by cheats and cunning artifices, whereby such persons entangle, and so ruin their debtors.
The strangers; who have no right to his goods, and will use no pity nor measure in spoiling him.
His labour; all the fruits of his labours.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath,…. Or, “lay a snare for all” c; as the Romans did, by bringing in their army, invading the land of Judea, and besieging the city of Jerusalem; who are “the extortioner or exacter that demanded tribute of them”; which they refused to pay, and therefore they seized on all they had for it. The Syriac and Arabic versions render it, “the creditor”; who sometimes for a debt would take wife and children, and all that a man had; see 2Ki 4:1. It might be literally true of Judas; who dying in debt, his wife and children, and all he had, might be laid hold on for payment.
And let the stranger spoil his labour; plunder his house of all his goods and substance he had been labouring for: which was true of the Romans, who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel; who came into the land, and spoiled their houses, fields, and vineyards, they had been labouring in; they took away their place and nation, and all they had, Joh 11:48.
c “illaqueet”, Pagninus, Montanus, Musculus, Piscator, Gejerus; “iretiat”, Vatablus, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Piel properly signifies to catch in snares; here, like the Arabic Arab. nqs , II, IV, corresponding to the Latin obligare (as referring to the creditor’s right of claim); nosheh is the name of the creditor as he who gives time for payment, gives credit (vid., Isa 24:2). In Psa 109:12 , to draw out mercy, is equivalent to causing it to continue and last, Psa 36:11, cf. Jer 31:3. , Psa 109:13, does not signify his future, but as Psa 109:13 (cf. Psa 37:38) shows: his posterity. is not merely exscindatur , but exscindenda sit (Eze 30:16, cf. Jos 2:6), just as in other instances corresponds to the active fut. periphrasticum , e.g., Gen 15:12; Isa 37:26. With reference to instead of (contracted from ), vid., Ges. 75, rem. 8. A Jewish acrostic interpretation of the name runs: . This curse shall overtake the family of the . All the sins of his parents and ancestors shall remain indelible above before God the Judge, and here below the race, equally guilty, shall be rooted out even to its memory, i.e., to the last trace of it.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(11) Let the extortioner.Better, let the usurer lay traps to catch all that he hath. So Timon:
Let prisons swallow them,
Debts wither them to nothing.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Extortioner The lender, whether of money or other property for a pledge, especially one who takes occasion of the necessity of the borrower to extort and oppress. The idea is that of a merciless creditor. See Exo 22:25; Psa 89:22.
Strangers spoil his labour Foreigners, heathens, shall make a spoil of his wealth; a special dishonour to a Hebrew. See Deu 28:33; Deu 28:51; Jer 5:17
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 109:11. Let the extortioner catch Or, Let the usurer extort.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 109:11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
Ver. 11. Let the extortioner catch all that he hath ] As it were in nets and snares, that is, in bonds, debts, mortgages; so Chrysostom expoundeth Psa 10:9 . Et ipsum et omnes eius facultates inexplicabilibus suis laqueis immites foeneratores irretiant, Let the merciless usurer make a prey of him and his estate.
And let the stranger, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
catch = lay a snare for. Compare 1Sa 28:9.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
extortioner: Job 5:5, Job 18:9-19, Job 20:18
strangers: Deu 28:29, Deu 28:33, Deu 28:34, Deu 28:50, Deu 28:51, Jdg 6:3-6
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 109:11-12. Let the extortioner catch, &c. Hebrew, , jenakkesh nosheh, the creditor, or usurer, shall insnare all that he hath: that is, take it away, not only by oppression and violence, but by cunning artifices and fraud, whereby such persons are wont to entangle, and so ruin their debtors. Let the stranger Who hath no right to his goods, and will use no pity in spoiling him; spoil his labour All the fruits of his labour. Let there be There shall be none to extend mercy to him, &c. He and his offspring shall be unpitied and hated as the public enemies of mankind. Since the destruction of Jerusalem how often hath this race been seized, pillaged, stripped, and empoverished by prince and people, in all the nations of the known world, none appearing, as in other cases, to favour and extend mercy to them: see notes on Lev 26:21-39; Deu 28:29-68. They have had no nation, none, says Dr. Jackson, to avenge their grievous wrong, which the Lord God of their forefathers had ordained they should suffer at all times and in all places, wheresoever they have come, without redress. Nay, their general carriage hath been so odious and preposterous, that albeit Christian magistrates had conspired together for their good, they would themselves have certainly provoked their own misery.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
109:11 Let {f} the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
(f) He declares that the curse of God lies on the extortioners, who thinking to enrich their children by their unlawfully gotten goods, are by God’s just judgment deprived of all.