Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 21:8
Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.
8. shall find out ] Reach them and get them into thy power (1Sa 23:17).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
8 12. The king, who must be supposed to be present, is now addressed. This victory is an earnest of future victories. The total destruction of all his enemies is confidently anticipated.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thine hand shall find out – That is, Thou wilt find out – the hand being that by which we execute our purposes. This verse commences a new division of the psalm (see the introduction) – in which the psalmist looks forward to the complete and final triumph of God over all his enemies. He looks to this in connection with what God had done for him. He infers that he who had enabled him to achieve such signal conquests over his own foes and the foes of God would not withdraw his interposition until he had secured a complete victory for the cause of truth and holiness. In connection with the promise made to him respecting his permanent reign and the reign of his successors on the throne Psa 21:4, he infers that God would ultimately subdue the enemies of truth, and would set up his kingdom over all.
All thine enemies – However they may attempt to conceal themselves – however they may evade the efforts to subdue them – yet they shall all be found out and overcome. As this was intended by the Spirit of inspiration, it undoubtedly refers to the final triumph of truth on the earth, or to the fact that the kingdom of God will be set up over all the world. All that are properly ranked among the enemies of God – all that are in any way opposed to him and to his reign – will be found out and conquered. All the worshippers of idols – all the enemies of truth – all the rejecters of revelation – all the workers of iniquity, – all that are infidels or scoffers – shall be found out and subdued. Either by being made to yield to the claims of truth, and thus becoming the friends of God, or by being cut off and punished for their sins – they will be all so overcome that God shall reign over all the earth. An important truth is further taught here, to wit, that no enemy of God can escape him. There is no place to which he can flee where God will not find him. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves, Job 34:22.
Thy right hand – See the notes at Psa 17:7.
Those that hate thee – All thine enemies.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 21:8-9
Thine hand shall find out all Thine enemies.
The exposure and punishment of sin
I. The exposure of sin is inevitable. Iniquity delights in cunning, and is itself a masterpiece of cunning. It may succeed in deluding its victims, and for a time escape detection. But there is One to whom every detail of the plot is fully known. Sin is often its own detective. An unguarded word, a suspicious sign, an unconscious oversight, will unmask the most skilfully disguised plans, and lead to exposure and misery. It is the theme of many a ballad, how the cranes aided in the discovery of the assassins of Idycus, the poet. Recently the house of the Caliph of the Ben Oreazen in Algeria was entered by a band of robbers, and a box containing 25,000 francs stolen. In their haste to escape the thieves left behind them an Arab cake bearing a particular mark, which one of the bakers of the town recognised as the sign used by Ben Xerafas, it being the custom for each family, in sending their bread to the oven, to mark it so as to distinguish the loaves. The police acted on the information, and, descending on a certain hut, caught the robbers asleep, with a portion of the plunder still in their possession. A simple Arab cake was the insignificant agent of discovery and exposure.
II. The exposure of sin will extend to the inmost feelings of the heart. Those that hate Thee. That sin is not always the worst which is most apparent.
III. The punishment of sin will be terrible and complete.
1. It will be terrible. The sins of the impenitent wicked will supply fuel to the fire of their own sufferings, and perhaps be used as an instrument for punishing others.
2. It will be complete. Swallow them up in His wrath. Nations are an example–Antediluvians, Sodomites, Jews. Individuals are an example–Korah, Dathan, Abiram, Saul, and Judas. (Homiletic Commentary.)
Enemies found out by God
Oh, what a wonderful prophecy that is! Christs hand shall find out all His enemies. If they hide themselves, He shall discover them. If they cover themselves with chain armour, yet still His hand will find out their vulnerable parts, and touch their very souls until they melt with fear. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. Thine hand shall find out] Thy uncontrollable power shall find out all thine enemies, wheresoever hidden or howsoever secret. God knows the secret sinner, and where the workers of iniquity hide themselves.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
When they seek to hide themselves or flee away from thee, shall discover, and overtake, and destroy them. Or, shall be sufficient (as this verb sometimes signifies, as Num 11:22; Jdg 21:14) for all thine enemies, to wit, to conquer them; thou shalt need no foreign succours to help thee.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. The address is now made tothe king.
handdenotes power, and
right handa moreactive and efficient degree of its exercise.
find outreach, layhold of, indicating success in pursuit of his enemies.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies,…. The Jews, that would not have him to reign over them, who crucified him and persecuted his apostles; the Gentiles, who were also concerned in his death; the Roman emperors, who persecuted the Christians, and are signified by the red dragon that waited to devour the man child when brought forth by the woman, the church, Re 12:3; and also the Papists, the followers of the man of sin, who oppose Christ in his offices and grace, and are the enemies of his witnesses, and of his interest; and besides these there are many professors of religion who are enemies of Christ, either doctrinally or practically; to whom may be added, the devil and his angels, and all those who are the children of him and are influenced by him: these the hand of Christ will find out sooner or later; for the words are an address to the King Messiah, who being omniscient knows where all his enemies are, and where to find them; and being omnipotent he will lay hold upon them, and hold them, and none shall escape from him; his hand of vengeance shall fall upon them, and he shall inflict righteous and deserved punishment on them; and this shall be the case of “all” of them, none will be able to hide themselves in secret places from him. This has been in part verified in the Jewish nation at the destruction of Jerusalem, when wrath came upon that people to the uttermost for their treatment of the Messiah; and in the Pagan empire, when it was demolished, and kings and great men in vain called to the rocks and mountains to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb, Re 6:15; and will have a further accomplishment in the antichristian states and kingdoms, when the vials of God’s wrath shall be poured out upon them; and especially at the battle of Armageddon, when Christ will avenge himself, and get rid of all his enemies at once; and will have its final accomplishment in all wicked men and devils at the day of judgment, when all Christ’s enemies will be found out by him, whether open or secret, and receive their just punishment;
thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee; this is the same with the former clause, and is repeated for the further certainty and greater confirmation of the thing; and “the right hand” is mentioned as expressive of the mighty power of the Lord. The Chaldee paraphrase renders it, “the vengeance of thy right hand”.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
8. Thy hand shall find. Hitherto the internal happiness of the kingdom has been described. Now there follows, as it was necessary there should, the celebration of its invincible strength against its enemies. What is said in this verse is of the same import as if the king had been pronounced victorious over all his enemies. I have just now remarked, that such a statement is not superfluous; for it would not have been enough for the kingdom to have flourished internally, and to have been replenished with peace, riches, and abundance of all good things, had it not also been well fortified against the attacks of foreign enemies. This particularly applies to the kingdom of Christ, which is never without enemies in this world. True, it is not always assailed by open war, and there is sometimes granted to it a period of respite; but the ministers of Satan never lay aside their malice and desire to do mischief, and therefore they never cease to plot and to endeavor to accomplish the overthrow of Christ’s kingdom. It is well for us that our King, who lifts up his hand as a shield before us to defend us, is stronger than all. As the Hebrew word מצא, matsa, which is twice repeated, and which we have translated, to find, sometimes signifies to suffice; and, as in the first clause, there is prefixed to the word כל, kal, which signifies all, the letter ל, lamed, which signifies for, or against, and which is not prefixed to the Hebrew word which is rendered those that hate thee; some expositors, because of this diversity, explain the verse as if it had been said, Thy hand shall be able for all thine enemies, thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thus the sentence will ascend by degrees, — Thy hand shall be able to withstand, thy right hand shall lay hold upon thy enemies, so that they shall not escape destruction.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) Thine.The psalm has hitherto been addressed to Jehovah. It now turns in prophetic strain to the king.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Thine hand shall find out Shall take hold of, as the word often signifies, and as it is employed in Psa 116:3; Psa 119:143. The idea is, that God infallibly knows who and where his enemies are, and his justice shall arrest them.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Attention Now Turns To The King Declaring His Reward and His Success Because He Trusts In YHWH ( Psa 21:8-12 ).
Psa 21:8
Your hand will find out all your enemies,
Your right hand will find out those who hate you.
The consequence of his faith is that the king will root out and defeat all his enemies. Neither their subtlety nor their strength will succeed against him. Wherever they hide he will discover them. Whatever their plots he will know of them. Compare Psalms 2.
There is also here the assurance that those who are God’s can always be sure that He will watch over them, and that He will know all that there is to know about their enemies.
And finally there is here the guarantee that the King Messiah will finally triumph over all His enemies who will not be able to avoid His searching eye. As the next verse makes clear, they will be brought into fiery judgment before Him.
Psa 21:9
You will make them as a fiery furnace,
In the time of your anger (or ‘countenance’).
YHWH will swallow them up in his wrath,
And the fire will devour them.
For God’s anger, His antipathy to sin, is aroused against the enemies of His people, because their very sinfulness is revealed in their desire to attack those who are faithful to Him. That is why He allow their enemies’ cities to be burned and the fires to destroy them. For He will enable the king to capture their cities and make them like a blazing furnace, and when the king personally arrives (the time of his countenance) and reveals his anger at their behaviour against God’s people, they will be swallowed up before the face of God’s anointed, and this will be in accordance with God’s will. For God’s wrath is revealed, as well as the king’s, because He is determined that He will protect His own who obey His covenant and reveal their love for Him and His ways, against all that would come against them. That then is why He will allow the fire to devour their enemies. Fire is often used in Scripture as a metaphor for the wrath of God (see e.g. Exo 19:18; Heb 12:29; Rev 1:14; and often).
While in our day this may seem ferocious we must remember that the people then lived in dangerous circumstances in dangerous days. Enemies were ever likely to swoop on them in order steal their possessions, rape their wives, burn their cities, destroy their crops and slay their children (especially the males), taking over their land, and either driving them out or exacting penal tribute (See Judges for examples). The only alternative was for their armies to get in first and prevent it.
But as Scripture constantly reveals God does not directly intervene in the details of world affairs. He carries out His will by controlling men’s overall activity, leaving the details to men themselves. Thus Nebuchadnezzar could be His servant (Jer 25:9; Jer 27:6) in spite of the terrible things he did. God was not responsible for the terrible things. He did not interfere with the detail. He had final overall direction as to what was or was not accomplished.
Psa 21:10
‘Their fruit will you destroy from the earth,
And their seed from among the children of men.’
And the result will be that the ‘fruit’ of their enemy, their sons and daughters (Lam 2:20), will be destroyed from the face of the earth by the king and his armies. Their seed will be destroyed from among the children of men. This would ensure the future, for it was only by rendering the enemy weak that they could be subdued and prevented from being a constant threat.
And the king’s success in all this mirrors the success of King Messiah when He comes to judge the world.
Psa 21:11
‘For they intended evil against you,
They conceived a device which they are not able to perform.’
For, as he points out here, these peoples that have been attacked by the king were not innocent. They had intended evil against them. They were constantly plotting and planning their raids. And the only reason that their plans failed was because the king got in first. That is the reason that they were not able to ‘perform’ their ‘devices’. So do we learn that God can deal with all our enemies, whatever their schemes, if we respond to what He asks of us.
Psa 21:12
‘For you will make them turn their back,
You will make ready with your bowstrings against their face.
Thus the enemy will not be able to stand against them, but will turn their back to them, while their own bowstrings will cause havoc and devastation among the enemy. Their victory will be certain because God is with His anointed.
We are reminded here that God may allow chastening for His people for a little while, but He will not allow them finally to be destroyed. He will guide us in the use of whatever weapons we possess so as to discomfit our enemies.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Confidence of Final Triumph
v. 8. Thine hand shall find out all Thine enemies, v. 9. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven, v. 10. Their fruit, v. 11. For they intended evil against Thee, v. 12. Therefore shalt Thou make them turn their back, v. 13. Be Thou exalted, Lord, in Thine own strength,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Psa 21:8. Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies Thus Psa 2:9. Thou shalt bruise them with a rod of iron, &c. The menaces that are described in this and the following verses particularly relate to the unbelieving Jews. Compare Mal 4:1. Psa 2:2-4; Psa 109:13-15.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 21:8 Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.
Ver. 8. Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies ] Thine, because ours; for thou art in a league with us, both defensive and offensive: now our enemies act as if they were out of the reach of thy rod, but thou wilt easily hunt them down and root them out. Pursued they shall be by thee, and overtaken, run they never so far, never so fast.
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Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 21:8-10
Psa 21:8-10
“Thy hand will find out all thine enemies;
Thy right hand will find out those that hate thee.
Thou wilt make them as a fiery furnace in the time of thine anger.
Jehovah will swallow them up in his wrath,
And the fire shall devour them.
Their fruit wilt thou destroy from the earth
And their seed from among the children of men.”
“All thine enemies” (Psa 21:9). Barnes’ summary of these enemies is: “All that in any way are opposed to God and his reign, all worshippers of idols, all enemies of truth, all rejecters of revelation, all workers of iniquity, all infidels and scoffers. These shall be subdued, either by being made to yield to the claims of truth, or by being cut off and punished.
The apostle Paul added the following to the list of God’s enemies: “Them that know not God, and them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2Th 1:8).
“As a fiery furnace” (Psa 21:9). The enemies of God are here compared, not to a furnace, but to the fuel in the fiery furnace. What does this mean? Spurgeon properly identified what is here foretold as exactly what Christ promised when he said, “They shall be cast into a furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
One hardly needs to be told that the judgments against God’s enemies here foretold are not those capable of being executed by any king. The sudden outcropping of the word “Jehovah” in Psa 21:9 b dramatically indicates that the passage cannot pertain to the earthly David, but to David’s Greater Son, the Messiah. Kidner expressed it thus: “This passage outruns the power of any king, as the word `Jehovah’ in Psa 21:9 b acknowledges; and the scale of events calls once more for the Messiah.
“In the time of thine anger” (Psa 21:9). The literal meaning of the Hebrew text here is, “in the time of thy face, thy presence, or thy countenance.” (Also, see American Standard Version margin). This indicates that the time when such terrible judgments upon the wicked shall be executed is that of the final judgment of mankind associated with the Second Advent of Jesus Christ. The thought of this passage is dramatically repeated in 2Th 1:7-10, especially in the words, “Who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face (or presence) of the Lord and the glory of his might.” The apostle Paul also revealed in that passage exactly when such terrifying judgments shall come: “When he (the Christ) shall come (in the Second Advent) to be glorified in his saints.”
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 21:8. Thine refers to king David. The people believed their king would be able to find out or manage his enemies. Right hand had a figurative as well as literal meaning. David was destined to win out against his enemies because the things he was doing with his hand were right.
Psa 21:9. As a fiery oven means as if they were cast into such an oven. The comparison is made to the wrath of God against the enemies of David.
Psa 21:10. Their fruit means the fruit of this body. Their seed means the same as the fruit and the statement was added for emphasis.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Psa 2:9, Psa 18:1, *title Psa 72:9, Psa 89:22, Psa 89:23, Psa 110:1, Psa 110:2, 1Sa 25:29, 1Sa 31:3, 2Sa 7:1, Amo 9:2, Amo 9:3, Luk 19:14, Luk 19:27, 1Co 15:25, Heb 10:28, Heb 10:29, Rev 19:15
Reciprocal: Exo 17:16 – will have war Deu 7:10 – repayeth Deu 20:13 – thou shalt smite Deu 33:7 – and be thou Jos 10:28 – them 1Sa 2:10 – adversaries 1Sa 11:12 – Who is he 2Sa 12:31 – and put them 2Sa 22:38 – General 2Sa 22:41 – I might 1Ch 17:10 – Moreover 1Ch 20:3 – And he 2Ch 19:2 – hate the Lord Ezr 6:12 – destroy Ezr 8:22 – his power and his wrath Psa 5:10 – let Psa 6:10 – sore Psa 11:5 – wicked Psa 36:11 – hand Psa 41:10 – that Psa 45:4 – right Psa 68:1 – that hate Psa 92:9 – For Psa 97:3 – General Psa 99:1 – people Psa 109:20 – Let this Psa 110:5 – in the day Psa 132:18 – His enemies Isa 26:11 – fire Isa 45:24 – and all Isa 59:18 – fury Dan 2:44 – break Mic 5:9 – hand Mat 21:44 – but Luk 20:16 – destroy Luk 20:43 – General Act 2:35 – thy foes 1Co 15:28 – all things 2Th 1:8 – flaming Heb 1:13 – until Jam 4:4 – is the Rev 6:16 – and from Rev 17:14 – the Lamb shall
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 21:8-9. Thy hand shall find out all thine enemies When they seek to hide themselves, or flee away from thee, thy hand shall discover, overtake, and destroy them. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven Hebrew, , teshithemo chetannur esh, thou shalt put them, as it were, into an oven of fire. The Lord shall swallow them up Destroy them. Thus, Psa 2:9, Thou shalt bruise them with a rod of iron, &c., which prediction, and those contained in these verses, particularly relate to the unbelieving Jews. Compare Mal 4:1; Psa 2:2-4; Psa 109:13-15.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
21:8 {e} Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.
(e) Here he describes the power of Christ’s kingdom against the enemies of it.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. Anticipation of further blessing 21:8-12
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The change in person indicates that David’s subjects now addressed him. Because he trusted in the Lord and received victory, the people were sure he would continue to defeat his enemies. The right hand refers symbolically to power and authority. David’s enemies would perish as in a fiery oven and as by a hungry animal. Scripture often uses fire as a metaphor for the wrath of God (e.g., Exo 19:18; Heb 12:29; Rev 1:14; et al.). God would cut off the posterity of the enemies, so the defeat of David’s foes would be final.