Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 55:7
Lo, [then] would I wander far off, [and] remain in the wilderness. Selah.
7. and remain &c.] R.V., I would lodge in the wilderness. Selah seems to be misplaced here, and also in Psa 55:19.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lo, then would I wander far off – literally, Lo, I would make the distance far by wandering; I would separate myself far from these troubles.
And remain in the wilderness – literally, I would sojourn; or, I would pass the night; or, I would put up for the night. The idea is taken from a traveler who puts up for the night, or who rests for a night in his weary travels, and seeks repose. Compare Gen 19:2; Gen 32:21; 2Sa 12:16; Jdg 19:13. The word wilderness means, in the Scripture, a place not inhabited by man; a place where wild beasts resort; a place uncultivated. It does not denote, as with us, an extensive forest. It might be a place of rocks and sands, but the essential idea is, that it was not inhabited. See the notes at Mat 4:1. In such a place, remote from the habitations of people, he felt that he might be at rest.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. Would I wander far off] He did escape; and yet his enemies were so near, as to throw stones at him: but he escaped beyond Jordan. 2Sa 17:22-23.
A passage in the Octavia of SENECA has been referred to as being parallel to this of David. It is in the answer of Octavia to the Chorus, Acts v., ver. 914-923.
Quis mea digne deflere potest
Mala? Quae lacrymis nostris quaestus
Reddet Aedon? cujus pennas
Utinam miserae mihi fata darent!
Fugerem luctus ablata meos
Penna volucri, procul et coetus
Hominum tristes sedemque feram.
Sola in vacuo nemore, et tenui
Ramo pendens, querulo possem
Gutture moestum fundere murmur.
My woes who enough can bewail?
O what notes can my sorrows express?
Sweet Philomel’s self e’en would fail
To respond with her plaintive distress.
O had I her wings I would fly
To where sorrows I ne’er should feel more,
Upborne on her plumes through the sky,
Regions far from mankind would explore.
In a grove where sad silence should reign,
On a spray would I seat me alone;
In shrill lamentations complain,
And in wailings would pour forth my moan.
J. B. CLARKE.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Like a dove; which being fearful, and pursued by birds of prey, flies away, and that very swiftly and far, and into solitary places, where it hides and secures itself in the holes of the rocks, or in some other secret and safe place; all which fitly represents Davids present disposition and desire. And be at rest; or, that I might, or where I might, be at rest, or dwell, in some settled and safe place, and be delivered from those uncertainties and wanderings to which I am now exposed.
In the wilderness; where I might be free from the company, and rage, and treachery of my wicked enemies, who are worse than the wild beasts of the wilderness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7, 8. Even a wilderness is asafer place than exposure to such evils, terrible as storm andtempest.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Lo, [then] would I wander far off, [and] remain in the wilderness,…. So David did when he fled from Absalom,
2Sa 15:23; so gracious souls desire to be; not in the wilderness of the people; but to be solitary as in a wilderness, clear of the company of wicked men, as Jeremiah wished for, Jer 9:2; and that they might be more at leisure for and given up unto spiritual devotion, and be secure from their enemies: and as this may be applied to Christ, it shows the wickedness, cruelty, and barbarity of the men of that generation among whom he lived; that he chose rather to be in the wilderness, among wild beasts, than to dwell among them, Mt 17:17; some apply this to the state of the primitive church under Jewish persecution, when it fled from Judea, and settled in the wilderness of the Gentiles; the preachers of the word being scattered abroad by the windy storm and tempest of persecution, and the Gospel taken from the Jews, and carried to a nation bringing forth the fruit of it, where it has remained ever since. With this may be compared the state of the church under Rome Pagan, in Re 12:6.
Selah; on this word, [See comments on Ps 3:2].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(7) Remain.Better, lodge.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Remain Another word of the same signification as abide, be at rest, Psa 55:6. Compare Jer 9:2. Of the thirty-eight years of David’s public life twenty six had been disturbed and embittered by the persecutions of Saul; by the rivalry and civil war of Ishbosheth, Saul’s son; by foreign wars with the Syrian and Arabian nations; and by the conduct and conspiracies of Absalom.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 55:7 Lo, [then] would I wander far off, [and] remain in the wilderness. Selah.
Ver. 7. Lo, then would I wander far off ] Far from the force and fury of these breathing devils. Jeremiah wisheth the like, as being tired out by the ungodly practices of his countrymen, Psa 9:2 . And many a dear child of God, forced to be in bad company, cries, Oh that I had the wings, &c. Or if that Oh will not set him at liberty, he takes up that Woe, to express his misery, Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech, &c.
And remain in the wilderness
a A kind of insanity described by ancient writers, in which the patient imagined himself to be a wolf, and had the instincts and propensities of a wolf. Now occasionally applied as a name of those forms of insanity in which the patient imagines himself a beast, and exhibits depraved appetites, alteration of voice, etc., in accordance with this delusion.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
remain = lodge. The Septuagint renders it by aulizomai, the word used in Mat 21:17. Compare Luk 21:37. See also Jer 9:2.
wilderness. Compare 2Sa 15:28; 2Sa 17:16.
Selah. Connecting his despondency with his escape from the cause of it. It was not merely comfort he desired, but deliverance. See App-66.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
1Sa 27:1, 2Sa 15:14, 2Sa 17:21, 2Sa 17:22, Pro 6:4, Pro 6:5, Jer 9:2, Jer 37:12
Reciprocal: Psa 11:1 – Flee Pro 21:19 – better Jer 48:28 – like