Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 119:85
The proud have digged pits for me, which [are] not after thy law.
85. pits ] A metaphor from the pitfalls used by hunters. Cp. Psa 57:6; and especially Jer 18:20; Jer 18:22.
which ] Rather, who. His enemies are presumptuous sinners, who despise and defy God’s law ( Psa 119:21 ; Psa 119:53). Godless Israelites are clearly meant.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The proud – Those in high life, or of exalted rank. See the notes at Psa 119:51.
Have digged pits for me – See the notes at Psa 7:15. Compare Psa 35:7; Psa 57:6; Psa 94:13.
Which are not after thy law – The word which here refers not to the pits, but to the proud. They who have done this are people who do not regard thy commands; people who are open and public offenders. It is that class of people with whom I have to contend – inert who set at defiance all the laws of God; men high in rank, who wield great power, and who have no regard to the law of God in their conduct. Even they have sought my destruction in the meanest way possible – by covert arts, by underhanded means, by digging pits, as they would for wild beasts.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 85. The proud have digged pits] The Vulgate, Septuagint, AEthiopic, and Arabic, translate this verse thus: “They have recited to me unholy fables, which are not according to thy law.” They wish us to receive their system of idolatry, and the tales concerning their gods; but these are not according to thy law. The Anglo-Saxon is the same: [A.S.]: They quothed me the unrightwise spells; but no so so law thine.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Have digged pits for me; have sought to destroy me by deceit and treachery, as well as by violence.
Which; either,
1. Which men have no respect to thy law, which forbids such things. Or rather,
2. Which thing, to wit, to dig pits for me, an innocent and just man, is not agreeable to thy law, but directly contrary to it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
85. pitsplots for mydestruction.
whichrather, “who,”that is, “the proud”; “pits” is not theantecedent.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The proud have digged pits for me,…. Laid snares and temptations in his way, to draw him into sin, and so into mischief; they sought indeed to take away his life, and formed schemes for it. The allusion is to the digging of pits for the taking of wild beasts; which shows the ill opinion they had of David, and their ill usage of him; see Ps 7:15;
which [are] not after thy law; no, contrary to it; which forbids the digging of a pit, and leaving it uncovered, so that a neighbour’s beast might fall into it, Ex 21:33; and if those might not be dug to the injury of beasts, then much less to the injury of men, to the hurt of the servants of the Lord, or to the shedding of innocent blood, which the law forbids.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
85 The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law. 86 All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me. 87 They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts.
David’s state was herein a type and figure of the state both of Christ and Christians that he was grievously persecuted; as there are many of his psalms, so there are many of the verses of this psalm, which complain of this, as those here. Here observe,
I. The account he gives of his persecutors and their malice against him. 1. They were proud, and in their pride they persecuted him, glorying in this, that they could trample upon one who was so much cried up, and hoping to raise themselves on his ruins. 2. They were unjust: They persecuted him wrongfully; so far was he from giving them any provocation that he had studied to oblige them; but for his love they were his adversaries. 3. They were spiteful: They dug pits for him, which intimates that they were deliberate in their designs against him and that what they did was of malice prepense; it intimates likewise that they were subtle and crafty, and had the serpent’s head as well as the serpent’s venom, that they were industrious and would refuse no pains to do him a mischief, and treacherous, laying snares in secret for him, as hunters do take wild beasts, Ps. xxxv. 7. Such has been the enmity of the serpent’s seed to the seed of the woman. 4. They herein showed their enmity to God himself. The pits they dug for him were not after God’s law; he means they were very much against his law, which forbids to devise evil to our neighbour, and has particularly said, Touch not my anointed. The law appointed that, if a man dug a pit which occasioned any mischief, he should answer for the mischief (Exo 21:33; Exo 21:34), much more when it was dug with a mischievous design. 5. They carried on their designs against him so far that they had almost consumed him upon earth; they went near to ruin him and all his interests. It is possible that those who shall shortly be consummate in heaven may be, for the present, almost consumed on earth; and it is of the Lord’s mercies (and, considering the malice of their enemies, it is a miracle of mercy) that they are not quite consumed. But the bush in which God is, though it burns, shall not be burnt up.
II. His application to God in his persecuted state. 1. He acknowledges the truth and goodness of his religion, though he suffered: “However it be, all thy commandments are faithful, and therefore, whatever I lose for my observance of them, I know I shall not lose by it.” True religion, if it be worth any thing, is worth every thing, and therefore worth suffering for. “Men are false; I find them do; men of low degree, men of high degree, are so, there is no trusting them. But all thy commandments are faithful; on them I may rely.” 2. He begs that God would stand by him, and succour him: “They persecute me; help thou me; help me under my troubles, that I may bear them patiently, and as becomes me, and may still hold fast my integrity, and in due time help me out of my troubles.” God help me is an excellent comprehensive prayer; it is a pity that it should ever be used lightly and as a by-word.
III. His adherence to his duty notwithstanding all the malice of his persecutors (v. 87): But I forsook not thy precepts. That which they aimed at was to frighten him from the ways of God, but they could not prevail; he would sooner forsake all that was dear to him in this world than forsake the word of God, would sooner lose his life than lose the comfort of doing his duty.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
85 The proud (428) have digged pits for me. He complains that he had been circumvented by the frauds and artifices of his enemies; as if he had said, They have not only endeavored to injure me by open force and the violence of the sword, but have also maliciously sought to destroy me by snares and secret arts. The additional clause, which thing is not according to thy Law, is introduced as an argument, to excite God to exercise his mercy; for he is the more inclined to succor his servants, when he sees that the attempts made upon their welfare involve the violation of his own Law. At the same time, the Psalmist furnishes a proof of his own innocence, intimating that he had deserved no such treatment at their hands, and that whatever they practiced, he, notwithstanding, patiently kept himself under restraint; not attempting any thing which he knew to be contrary to the Divine Law.
(428) “ זדים, the proud. The proud here, as well as in many other parts of Scripture, stands for lawless, wicked men. So the rendering of the LXX. Is παράνομοι; Vulg. Iniqui . The relative, אשר, is referred to שיחות, pits, by many persons, as Amyraldus, who thus paraphrases the latter part of the verse: ‘ At retia illa, cum lege tua directe pugnant.’ Others make זדיש the antecedent, of whom they consider the second hemistich as descriptive. The proud, who have not acted according to thy Law, have dug pits for me. The sense is more obvious, according to this latter exposition; for one does not see the force of the phrase, ‘digging pits,’ which are not according to God’s Law, as if pits might be dug which are according to it.” — Phillips
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(85) Which.Better, who. Its antecedent, of course, the proud, not the pits.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 119:85. The proud, &c. If we understand the latter clause of this verse to refer to pits, the meaning is, “which insidious designs against an innocent person are not after thy law.” But Mudge renders it thus: The proud dig pits for me, who are not according to thy law: i.e. who act and behave without any regard to it; who have renounced all conformity to it. See Psa 119:150. Houbigant, instead of pits, reads words or discourses. The proud have agitated discourses, concerning me, which are not according to thy law.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 119:85 The proud have digged pits for me, which [are] not after thy law.
Ver. 85. The proud have digged pits for me ] The pride, cruelty, and craftiness of wicked persecutors are foretokens of their utter destruction. The Greek rendereth it, They have told me tales; Pro 16:27 , “An ungodly man diggeth up evil.”
Which are not after thy law
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Which, &c. = “[Men] who are not”, &c.
after = according to.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The proud: This metaphor is taken from the mode in which wild beasts are caught in the East: deep pits are dug in the earth, and slightly covered over with reeds, turf, etc., so as not to be discerned from the solid ground; and the animals attempting to walk over them, the surface breaks, they fall in, and are taken alive. Thus the Psalmist’s enemies employed craft as well as power in order to effect his ruin. Psa 119:78, Psa 7:15, Psa 35:7, Psa 36:11, Pro 16:27, Jer 18:20
which: Psa 58:1, Psa 58:2
Reciprocal: Exo 21:33 – General Psa 10:2 – The wicked Psa 86:14 – O God Psa 119:95 – wicked Psa 119:110 – wicked Psa 140:5 – The proud
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 119:85-88. The proud have digged pits for me Have sought to destroy me by deceit and treachery, as well as by violence; which are not after thy law Which pits, that is, which insidious designs against an innocent person, are not agreeable to thy law, but directly contrary to it. Or the meaning may be, Which men are not after thy law, that is, act and behave without any regard to it, nay, in direct opposition to its injunctions. For all thy commandments are faithful Are in themselves most just and true, and require righteousness from men, promising many blessings to those that practise it, and severely forbid all fraud or falseness, threatening grievous punishments to those that use them; and such promises and threatenings are true, and shall certainly be executed. They had almost consumed me As to my present life and all my happiness; upon earth Whereby be implies that his immortal soul and eternal happiness in heaven were safe and out of their reach. Quicken me after thy loving-kindness Revive, support, and comfort me by the Spirit of life, which proceeds from thy loving-kindness; so shall I keep the testimony. &c. Making it the rule of my conduct, and the ground of my confidence and hope, for time and for eternity.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
119:85 The proud have {d} digged pits for me, which [are] not after thy law.
(d) They have not only oppressed me violently but also craftily conspired against me.