Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 59:10
The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see [my desire] upon mine enemies.
10. The Kthbh, with which the LXX agrees, has My God shall meet me with His lovingkindness: but the Qr is, The God of my lovingkindness shall meet me. This variety of reading possibly points to an original text, in which Psa 59:9 ended with the words, the God of my lovingkindness, and Psa 59:10 began, His lovingkindness (or, My God with his lovingkindness) shall meet me. Cp. Psa 79:8. The loss of the words would be easily accounted for by the similarity between the end of Psa 59:9 and the beginning of Psa 59:10. Cp. note on Psa 42:5-6.
shall prevent me ] shall come to meet me; in answer to the prayer of Psa 59:4. For the archaism prevent cp. Psa 21:3.
shall let me see my desire] Cp. Psa 54:7, note. The same phrase occurs on the Moabite Stone, where Mesha says that he erected the high place to Chemosh, “because he let me see my desire upon all that hated me.”
upon mine enemies ] Upon them that lie in wait for me. See note on Psa 54:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
10 13. His enemies will be punished: yet let them not be utterly destroyed forthwith, but kept awhile for a warning, till they perish through their own iniquity, an evidence of the sovereignty of God.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The God of my mercy shall prevent me – Or rather, My God – his mercy shall prevent me. This is in accordance with the present reading of the Hebrew text, and is probably correct. The psalmist looks to God as his God, and then the feeling at once springs up that his mercy – favor – his loving-kindness – would prevent him. On the word prevent see the notes at Psa 21:3; compare Psa 17:13; Psa 18:5. The meaning here is, that God would go before him, or would anticipate his necessities.
God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies – That is, He will let me see them discomfited, and disappointed in their plans. This is equivalent to saying that God would give him the victory, or would not suffer them to triumph over him. See the notes at Psa 54:7.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 59:10
The God of my mercy shall prevent me.
A singular title and a special favour
Our trials and troubles, while they test and develop us, do also by Divine grace strengthen and improve us, and ever have we great cause to bless God for them when grace sanctifies them to our highest good. Had not David been a man of many afflictions he would never have penned such a verse as our text, a confident utterance of unstaggering faith, full of meaning, rich with consolation, the very cream of assured hope in God.
I. Davids looking to his God. The God of mercy, saith he. Note that this psalm was composed by him upon the occasion of his being shut up in the house of Michal, Sauls daughter, and surrounded by his adversaries. The messengers of the bloodthirsty king watched the house all night long, to kill him, and when they had not effected their purpose, Saul demanded that he should be brought, on his bed, into his presence, that he might slay him. It was not easy for a man, when his enemies were watching the house, to escape out of their hands. David, however, does not appear to have been at all disturbed, but with perfect confidence in God he expected that a way of escape would be made for him.
1. David looked to God on this occasion because he had before this habitually waited upon Him. His faith had realized the existence of God, and his soul had felt the power of that realized truth. This is a thing unknown to the unconverted, and unfelt to any high degree by large numbers of those who profess to know the Lord.
2. David was driven more closely to his God by the peculiar trouble with which he was environed. It is a blessed thing when the waves of affliction wash us upon the rock of confidence in God alone, when darkness below gives us an eye to the light above. The psalmist says in the verse preceding the text, Because of his strength–that is, the strength of the foe–will I wait upon Thee, for God is my defence. Because the enemy is too strong for me, therefore will I turn to my God, and invoke His omnipotence as my defence. To come to the end of yourself is to get to the beginning of your God. Blessed is that extremity which is Gods opportunity.
3. As soon as David had looked alone to his God his trials grew small. In his own esteem they grew to be nothing, for he says, Thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them, Thou shalt have all the heathen in derision; and methinks something of the laughter of God penetrated Davids spirit; and in that house wherein he was enclosed as a prisoner he smiled in his heart at the disappointment which awaited his foes. Faith laughs at that which fear weeps over; it leaps over mountains at whose feet mere mortal strength lies down to die.
II. Davids appropriation of the Divine mercy. The God of my mercy. Notice that the pith of the title lies in the appropriating word my. Luther used to say that the very soul of divinity lay in the possessive pronouns; another divine said that all the stir there ever has been in the world has been caused by meum and tuum, mine and thine. It is mine, says one man; It is mine, cries another man, and then comes a conflict. It is mine, says one king; Nay, says another, it is not thine, and then fierce war begins. Nothing influences a man so much as that which he calls his own. The God of my mercy.
1. David appropriated to himself a portion of Divine mercy as being peculiarly his; and we shall never advance in the divine life unless we do the same, for the mercy which is in common to all men, of what avail is it to any man? But the mercy which any one man by faith grasps for himself, this is the mercy which will bless him and which he will prize above all things.
2. I think he meant, too, that there was a portion of mercy which he had already received, which was, therefore, altogether his own. The God of my mercy–he meant the God of the mercy he had already experienced. Well may it bring the tears into your eyes to think of it. The mercy which nursed you in your infancy; the mercy which watched over you in your youth and kept you when you were apt to stray; the mercy which restrained you from many a deadly sin, etc.
3. And, remember, that all the mercy you have had is little compared with the mercy you have yet to receive. As the rich father thinks, This will I give to my eldest son, and that to the second, and that to the third, and so he puts by a portion for each of his children; so has God mapped out and allotted for each one of us some choice and special mercy fitted for our peculiar case, which no one can receive but ourselves, but which we must and shall obtain.
4. But I think David made a larger grasp than this, for when he said, The God of my mercy, he felt as if all the mercy in the heart of God belonged to him. If any one saint should have all the wants of all the saints in the world put upon him, and if his necessities should be so great that nothing would supply them but the whole of the infinite mercy which fills the heart of God, that child of God should have all the mercy which the Lord Himself can dispense.
III. David confining in God. The God of my mercy shall prevent me, or anticipate me by His mercy. Now, it so happens that the Hebrew word may be read in all three tenses, and some have said it should be understood, The God of my mercy has prevented me; others, does prevent me; and a third party, like our translators, read it, shall prevent me. Whichever tense you choose is true, and the whole three put together may be viewed as the full meaning of the passage.
1. The Lord has prevented me. This is one of the grand doctrines of the Gospel, the doctrine of eternal love, spontaneous, self-generated, having no cause but itself. God loved us before we loved Him–he prevented us with love. Before His people were born God had elected and redeemed them, and prepared the Gospel, by which in due time they are called. He is before us in all good things. O Lord, Thou hast the first hand with Thy people; they seek Thee early, but Thou art up before them, Thou hast distanced them in the race of affection; Alpha art Thou, indeed!
2. The Lord hast prevented us, but the meaning of the passage is that He does still prevent us. Is He not daily doing so? Before you can feel the pinch of want the mercy is given. God goes before you day by day, and His paths drop fatness. Even in the common acceptation of the word prevent God has often so gone before us that He has prevented us from the commission of many sins, into which otherwise we should have fallen to our sorrow and damage. Again, how often has He prevented our prayers! Before we have asked, we have had; while we were yet calling, we have received. The desire of the righteous is granted oftentimes as soon as it takes shape, and before it is expressed.
3. It will always be so. God will prevent us. A good captain, when he is marching an army through a country, takes care to make provision for every emergency. It is time for the soldier, to camp, and they need tents. Bring up the baggage wagons, here are the tents which you ask for! The men must have their rations. Here they are! Serve them out! The meat needs cooking. See, there are the portable kitchens and the fuel! The army comes to a river by and by, how will they pass it? Why, the engineers are ready, and pontoons are very soon thrown across. It is wonderful how the well-skilled commander foresees every possible emergency, and has everything ready just at the nick of time. Much more is it so with our God. So let us close with these three practical reflections. If He prevents us with mercy, let us not hesitate to come to Him. Loiter not, O soul, if thou wouldst have the mercy of God. Is God so quick? Wilt thou be slow? Does He go first, and wilt thou not follow?
4. Is God so quick in mercy? Let us who are His be very quick in service. Say in your heart, My God, since Thou dost prevent me, I cannot hope to keep pace with Thy mercy, but at any rate I will not lag further behind Thee than I must. When I have done all I can for Thee, how little it is, but that little shall be done. George Herbert once described the good man as resolved to build a spital, or mend common ways, and in his day these were acts of charity which piety delighted in; other good deeds are more fitting for these days. Houses for worship are wanted in many a populous district, and orphan children need to be fed. He who can buy no sweet cane with money, can bring time and zeal and effort, and these are precious. What, then, will you do?
5. And now finally, believer, cast yourself into your Lords arms. Have done with fretting; have done with anxiety and doubt. Mount like the lark to your God, and sing as you mount. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. The God of my mercy shall prevent me] The mercy of God shall go before me, and thus help me in all my doings.
God shall let me see my desire] The sentence is short. God will let me see concerning my enemies, i.e., how he will treat them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The God of my mercy, i.e. the giver of all that mercy and comfort which I either have, or hope for. Heb. of his mercy. But here also there is (as appears by comparing this with Psa 59:17) a change of the person, as there was in the foregoing verse.
Shall prevent me, to wit, with the blessings of goodness, as it is more fully expressed, Psa 21:3. Thou shalt help me, and that seasonably, before it be too late, and sooner than I expect.
My desire in their disappointment and overthrow, as it follows; which was very desirable to David, no less for the public good, than for his own safety and happiness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. prevent me (Ps21:3).
see my desirein theiroverthrow (Ps 54:7).
enemiesas in Ps5:8.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The God of my mercy shall prevent me,…. Or “of my grace”, or “goodness”, as the Targum; see 1Pe 5:10. God is gracious in himself, and he has treasured up a fulness of grace in Christ: he is the donor of all the blessings of grace in the covenant; and the author of all internal grace in the hearts of his people; and who supplies them with more grace as they want it; and he is the Father of all temporal and spiritual mercies. The “Cetib”, or writing, is , “his mercy”; the “Keri”, or reading, is , “my mercy”; grace or mercy is the Lord’s; it is his own, which he disposes of as he pleases; being given and applied, it is the believer’s; all the grace and mercy in the heart of God, in his Son, and in his covenant, is the saints’, which he keeps for them with Christ for evermore; “the God of my mercy”, or “grace”, is the same with “my merciful”, or “my gracious God”; who goes before his people, as he does the Messiah, with the blessings of his goodness, Ps 21:3. It may be rendered, “hath came before me”; and denote the antiquity of his love, being before his people’s to him, and the early provisions of his grace and mercy for them: or “doth prevent me”: expressing the freeness of it; he not waiting for any duties, services, or conditions to be performed, but bestows his grace and mercy, notwithstanding much unworthiness: or “shall come before me”; designing the seasonable and timely application of mercy come before his fears, as it sometimes does the prayers of his people, Isa 65:24;
God shall let me see [my desire] upon mine enemies; expressed in the following verses, Ps 59:11; or “vengeance upon them”; as the Targum paraphrases it; see Ps 58:10.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In this second half of the Psalm the cry of fear is hushed. Hope reigns, and anger burns more fiercely. The Ker says that Psa 59:11 is to be read: , my gracious God will anticipate me, – but with what? This question altogether disappears if we retain the Chethb and point : my God will anticipate me with His mercy (cf. Psa 21:4), i.e., will meet me bringing His mercy without any effort of mine. Even the old translators have felt that chcdw must belong to the verb as a second object. The lxx is perfectly correct in its rendering, . The Ker has come into existence in looking to v. 18, according to which it seems as though ought to be added to the refrain, Psa 59:10 (cf. a similar instance in Psa 42:6-7). But Psa 59:11 would be stunted by doing this, and it accords with Biblical poetic usage that the refrain in v. 18 should be climactic in comparison with Psa 59:10 (just as it also does not altogether harmonize in its first half); so that Olshausen’s proposal to close Psa 59:10 with and to begin Psa 59:11 with (cf. Psa 79:8) is only just to be put on record. The prayer “slay them not” does not contradict the prayer that follows for their destruction. The poet wishes that those who lie in wait for him, before they are totally swept away, may remain for a season before the eyes of this people as an example of punishment. In accordance with this, , by a comparison of the Hiph. in Num 32:13, and of the Kal in Psa 59:16, Psa 109:10, is to be rendered: cause them to wander about (Targum, cf. Genesis Rabba, ch. 38 init., ); and in connection with one is involuntarily reminded of Psa 10:10, Psa 10:14, and is tempted to read or : cause them to wander about in adversity or wretchedness, = Arab. umr halik , vita caliginosa h. e. misera), and more especially since occurs nowhere else instead of or . But the Jod in is unfavourable to this supposition; and since the martial apostrophe of God by “our shield” follows, the choice of the word is explained by the consideration that the poet conceives of the power of God as an army (Joe 2:25), and perhaps thinks directly of the heavenly host (Joe 3:11), over which the Lord of Hosts holds command (Hitzig). By means of this He is first of all to cause them to go astray ( , Gen 4:12), then utterly to cast them down (Psa 56:8). The Lord ( ) is to do this, as truly as He is Israel’s shield against all the heathen and all pseudo-Israelites who have become as heathen. The first member of Psa 59:13 is undoubtedly meant descriptively: “the sin of their mouth (the sin of the tongue) is the word of their lips” (with the dull-toned suffix mo, in the use of which Ps 59 associates itself with the Psalms of the time of Saul, Psa 56:1-13, Psa 11:1-7, Psa 17:1-15, 22, 35, Psa 64:1-10). The combination , however, more readily suggests parallel passages like Pro 11:6 than Pro 6:2; and moreover the of the expression , which is without example in connection with , and, taken as expressing the motive (Hupfeld), ought to be joined with some designations of the disposition of mind, is best explained as an appended statement of the reason for which they are to be ensnared, so that consequently (cf. Psa 69:27; Psa 64:6) is an attributive clause; nor is this contrary to the accentuation, if one admits the Munach to be a transformation of Mugrash . It is therefore to be rendered: “let them, then, be taken in their pride, and on account of the curse and deceit which they wilfully utter.” If, by virtue of the righteousness of the Ruler of the world, their sin has thus become their fall, then, after they have been as it were a warning example to Israel, God is utterly to remove them out of the way, in order that they (it is unnecessary to suppose any change of subject), while perishing, may perceive that Elohim is Ruler in Jacob ( , used elsewhere of the object, e.g., Mic 5:1, is here used of the place of dominion), and as in Jacob, so from thence unto the ends of the earth ( like , Psa 48:11) wields the sceptre. Just like the first group of the first part, this first group of the second part also closes with Sela .
The second group opens like the second group in the first part, but with this exception, that here we read , which loosely connects it with what precedes, whereas there it is . The poet’s gaze is again turned towards his present straitened condition, and again the pack of dogs by which Saul is hunting him present themselves to his mind. points towards an antithesis that follows, and which finds its expression in . and stand in direct contrast to one another, and in addition to this has preceded. The reading of the lxx (Vulgate, Luther, [and authorized version]), = or , is thereby proved to be erroneous. But if is the correct reading, then it follows that we have to take Psa 59:16 not as foretelling what will take place, but as describing that which is present; so that consequently the fut. consec. (as is frequently the case apart from any historical connection) is only a consecutive continuation of (for which the Ker has ; the form that was required in Psa 59:12, but is inadmissible here): they wander up and down ( as in Psa 109:10, cf. , Job 15:23) to eat (that is to say, seeking after food); and if they are not satisfied, they pass the night, i.e., remain, eager for food and expecting it, over night on the spot. This interpretation is the most natural, the simplest, and the one that harmonizes best not only with the text before us (the punctuation , not , gives the member of the clause the impress of being a protasis), but also with the situation. The poet describes the activity of his enemies, and that by completing or retouching the picture of their comparison to dogs: he himself is the food or prey for which they are so eager, and which they would not willingly allow to escape them, and which they nevertheless cannot get within their grasp. Their morbid desire remains unsatisfied: he, however, in the morning, is able to sing of the power of God, which protects him, and exultantly to praise God’s loving-kindness, which satiates and satisfies him (Psa 90:14); for in the day of fear, which to him is now past, God was his inaccessible stronghold, his unapproachable asylum. To this God, then, even further the play of his harp shall be directed ( ), just as was his waiting or hoping ( , Psa 59:10).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
10. The God of my mercy will prevent me In the Hebrew, there is the affix of the third person, but we have the point which denotes the first. (367) The Septuagint has adopted the third person, and Augustine too ingeniously, though with a good design, has repeatedly quoted the passage against the Pelagians, in proof that the grace of God is antecedent to all human merit. In the same manner, he has again and again cited the preceding verse, to refute the arrogancy of those who boast of the power of free-will. “I will put in trust my strength with thee,” he says; “that is, men must subject themselves with all modesty and humility to God, as having no strength but that with which he supplies them.” Now, it may be said with great plausibility, that the man puts his strength in trust with God, who declares that he has no strength but what comes from him, and who depends entirely upon his help. The sentiment inculcated is also, without all doubt, a pious and instructive one; but we must be ever on our guard against wresting Scripture from its natural meaning. The Hebrew word קדמ, kidem, means no more than to come forward seasonably; and David simply intimates that the divine assistance would be promptly and opportunely extended. (368) The scope of the words is, that God will interpose at the very moment when it is required, however much he may retard or defer his assistance. Were it not that we are hurried on by the excessive eagerness of our own wishes, we would sufficiently recognize the promptness with which God hastens to our help, but our own precipitance makes us imagine that he is dilatory. To confirm his faith, he calls him the God of his mercy, having often proved him to be merciful; and the experience of the past afforded him good hopes of what he might expect in the future. The idea of some, that David uses the word in an active sense, and praises his own mercy, is poor and unnatural. Its passive use is quite common.
(367) “We have חסדו, his mercy, with the points חסדי, my mercy, the keri being for the one, and the kethib for the other. And, accordingly, of the interpreters, some read the one, some the other, both certainly meaning the same thing: the Chaldee, ‘the God of my grace, or goodness, or mercy;’ but the LXX. ‘ Ο Θεός μοῦ τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ,’ ‘My God his mercy,’ and so the Latin.” — Hammond Green translates, “My God shall prevent me with his loving-kindness.”
(368) Horsley reads, “God shall give me ready help.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) Preventi.e., come to meet. (See Psa. 21:3, Note.)
See my desire.See Note, Psa. 54:7. (Comp. Psa. 92:11.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. God shall prevent me Shall go before me.
Shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies God will cause me to look upon their overthrow. The word “enemies,” here, signifies those who lie in wait, my spies, my watchers.
Psa 59:10. God shall let me see, &c. The word rendered enemies in this verse properly signifies insidious men, who craftily observed and lay in wait for him. David says, God will cause me to see amongst them, i.e. to discover their plots and contrivances to ruin me; that they may not prove fatal to me; or, to see them fall by the destruction which they intend me.
What a very sweet verse is this, considered in any, and in every point of view. The God of my mercy shall prevent me! Preventing mercies, or such mercies as go before hand, and before they are asked for or even thought of, or known to be needed, are sweet mercies indeed. Some read the words, hath prevented me, meaning, that the Lord was always in the blessing before the blessing was sought, and surprised the soul in coming even before the soul was prepared to look for it. Others translate the words doth prevent me, which is as if a soul was to say, I shall not be anxious for the event of this trial, for the carrying me through it is my God’s concern, not mine; be hath promised all I need, and therefore he will do all that is needful.
Psa 59:10 The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see [my desire] upon mine enemies.
Ver. 10. The God of my mercy shall prevent me ] Or, God will prevent me with his mercy, sc. before I ask or think; howsoever, in the opportunity of time he will not fail me.
God shall let me see, &c. mercy = lovingkindness, or grace.
prevent = anticipate.
Psa 59:10-13
Psa 59:10-13
“My God with his lovingkindness will meet me;
God will let me see my desire upon mine enemies.
Slay them not, lest my people forget.
Scatter them by thy power, and bring them down,
O Lord, our shield.
For the sin of their mouth, and the word of their lips,
Let them even be taken in their pride,
And for cursing and lying which they speak.
Consume them in thy wrath, consume them so they shall be no more;
And let them know that God ruleth in Jacob.
Unto the ends of the earth. (Selah)”
“Let me see my desire upon mine enemies” (Psa 59:10). “The words ‘my desire’ are not in the original (as indicated by the italics); and Spurgeon tells us that the Hebrew here means that, “David expected to see his enemies without fear.” This is only another example of instances in which ‘supplied words’ by the translators sometimes unintentionally change the meaning of the text.
“Lest my people forget” (Psa 59:11). David’s request here is that God would not slay his enemies at once, but subdue them, in order that their punishment might serve as an example to “my people.” If God had destroyed his enemies at once, the people would soon have forgotten all about it.
“My people” (Psa 59:11). This line seems to say that David, at the time of writing this psalm was already king, as some commentators suggest. We can hardly think of David, during the time when he was being pursued by enemies intent on killing him as speaking of Israel as ‘my people,’ although, of course, it was not impossible.
“Slay them not … scatter them” (Psa 59:11). This plea directed against the sudden and immediate death of his foes indicates that God surely has a use for wicked people. A woman once asked Adam Clarke, “Dr. Clarke, ‘Why doesn’t God just destroy all the wicked people and thereby put an end to sin?” Clarke replied, “My dear Lady, if God did a thing like that, there would not be enough righteous people left on earth to keep the lions and tigers from eating up the human race.”
Kidner pointed out the following roles of wicked people on earth. “(1) God uses them as scourges (Isa 10:5 f); (2) as tests of loyalty (Jdg 2:22); (3) as hardeners (Jdg 3:22); and (4), in this passage as object-lessons. And to these we may add a fifth; (5) God uses one wicked nation to destroy another. “The king of Assyria,” for example, was called God’s razor (Isa 7:20); but later God used Babylon to destroy Assyria, etc.”
Kidner also believed that this verse, “Inspired the line, ‘Scatter her enemies, and make them fall,’ in the British national anthem.
“Sin of their mouth … words of their lips … cursing and lying” (Psa 59:12). This emphasis upon the human tongue as an instrument of sin is amazing. The men charged here were murderers and assassins, also compared by the psalmist to a pack of vicious scavenger dogs; but here the sin singled out for emphasis was that of the tongue. This reminds us of the words of James, “If any man stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man” (Jas 3:2).
“Consume them” (Psa 59:13). God’s use of wicked men and nations to accomplish in some instances the will of God, which we noticed back in Psa 59:11, does not obscure the ultimate intention of God to destroy the wicked. “Wait awhile” in Psa 59:11, issues here as “Consume them.”
As Dummelow said, “Zeal for God’s glory is the one motive of the Psalmist’s prayer, however vindictive some of his requests may appear.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 59:10. Prevent has a meaning opposite of what it has today. It means literally “to go before” for the purpose of guidance. It therefore means that the mercy of God would help David in his conflicts with the foes.
Psa 59:11. To slay the foes would soon put them out of remembrance. David preferred to have them live, but be scattered and defeated which would enable them to realize their shame and thus be punished more extensively.
Psa 59:12. No actual bodily harm was coming to David from his enemies. But they were uttering vicious words against him and that irritated him.
Psa 59:13. To consume does not mean to destroy literally, for that would contradict Psa 59:11. David wished God to come against his foes with such unmerciful vengeance that all their plans would be destroyed.
The God: Psa 59:17, 2Co 1:3, Eph 2:4, Eph 2:5, 1Pe 5:10
prevent: Psa 21:3, Psa 79:8, Isa 65:24, 1Th 4:15
let: Psa 54:7, Psa 91:8, Psa 92:11, Psa 112:8, 1Sa 26:10, 2Sa 1:11, 2Sa 1:12, 2Sa 1:17, Jer 17:16, Luk 19:41-44, Rom 10:2, Rom 10:3
enemies: Heb. observers, Psa 5:8, Psa 54:5, *marg. Psa 56:2, Psa 56:6
Reciprocal: Exo 14:30 – saw Psa 56:1 – Be Psa 59:16 – But Psa 118:7 – therefore Jer 20:12 – let me Oba 1:12 – looked
THE MERCIFUL GOD
The God of my mercy.
Psa 59:10
I. All round Davids house the messengers of Saul prowled like the wild dogs of an Eastern city.He could hear their muttered curses as he lay quiet, like a young lion in its lair when hunters are abroad. They belched out with their mouths; the words on their lips were like swords. Then, as was his wont, he fell back upon God. Notice the R.V. Psa 59:9. O my Strength! I will wait upon Thee, which is repeated Psa 59:17. There is a difference, however, between the verses: in the first, he professes his intention to wait; in the second, to sing.
II. Twice over God is described as being the source of that peculiar special mercy which David appropriates as his ownthe God of my mercy.Your mercy would not suffice for me, nor mine for you. Our needs are unique. The medicine that heals my disease would not touch yours. The conception of God which ministers comfort to my heart, would be as unintelligible to you as the gnats shrill trumpet to your ear. Each has his own gift from God. In another psalm we are told that goodness and mercy follow; here we learn that mercy prevents, that is, goes before. As the courier precedes the sovereign, so does mercy prepare our way, strewing it with the soft garment, and cutting down branches from the palm-trees, preceding and following with songs of Hosanna in the Highest. O happy soul, in the heart of such a procession! Mercy before, behind, around, and over thee; thou mayest well sing aloud of Gods mercy, as the morning breaks, and the enemies who had environed the house of life slink unsatisfied away.
Illustrations
(1) The fifth of the Golden Psalms. Compare the title with that of 57 and 58 Delitzsch says, We believe that it is most advisable to adhere to the title. The contents of this psalm correspond to the title, and carry us naturally to 1Sa 19:11.
It consists of four parts, of which the first and third are very similar, and the second and fourth. Compare 1Sa 19:1-5 with 1Sa 19:11-13, also 1Sa 19:6-10 with 1Sa 19:14-17.
(2) The fifty-sixth, fifty-seventh, and fifty-ninth psalms are pervaded by constructions, turns of expression and images, which indicate Davids authorship. There is in them a royal nobility of confidence in God which elevates even the mystic subtlety of Jewish commentators to magnificence.
Psa 59:10. The God of my mercy The giver of all that mercy and comfort which I have or hope for; shall prevent me With the blessings of his goodness, Psa 21:3. Thou shalt help me seasonably, before it be too late, and sooner than I expect. God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies Namely, in their disappointment and overthrow, as it follows; which was very desirable to David, no less for the public good than for his own safety and happiness. Dr. Waterland renders the clause, God shall make me look upon mine enemies. The word rendered enemies, , shorerai, properly signifies insidious men, who craftily observed and lay in wait for him. David says, God will cause me to see them, or, see among them; that is, to discover their plots and contrivances to ruin me, that they may not prove fatal to me; or to see them fall by the destruction which they intend me.
59:10 The God of my mercy shall {h} prevent me: God shall let me see [my desire] upon mine enemies.
(h) He will not fail to help me when need requires.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes