Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 68:21
But God shall wound the head of his enemies, [and] the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses.
21. But God shall wound the head &c.) Yea, God shall smite through the head &c. Cp. Jdg 5:26; Hab 3:13-14.
and the hairy scalp ] Omit and. The warrior’s long hair is mentioned not merely as “a sign of exuberant strength and impenitent pride,” but in allusion to the ancient practice of allowing the hair to grow when a vow had been undertaken. “With warriors in primitive times the unshorn head was a usual mark of their consecration to the work they had undertaken, and their locks remained untouched till they had achieved their enterprise or had perished in the attempt. War among most primitive peoples is a sacred function.” J. S. Black in the Smaller Cambr. Bible for Schools, on Jdg 5:2, which should be rendered
“For that flowing locks were worn in Israel,
For that the people volunteered themselves, bless ye the Lord,”
i.e. give thanks for the zeal with which the people devoted themselves to the sacred war of independence. Cp. Deu 32:42, where “from the beginning of revenges on the enemy” should be rendered “from the hairy head of the enemy.”
of such a one &c.] According to strict grammar, the hairy scalp that goeth on in his guiltiness, the scalp standing by metonymy for the man. The verb expresses the idea of open and defiant persistence.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But God shall wound the head of his enemies – More properly, God shall crush the head, etc. The idea is that of complete destruction, – as, if the head is crushed, life becomes ex tinct. See Gen 3:15; compare Psa 110:6.
And the hairy scalp – More literally, the top of the hair. The Hebrew word used here for scalp means the vertex, the top, the crown, as of the head, where the hair divides itself; and the idea is properly, the dividing of the hair. Gesenius, Lexicon. The allusion is to the top of the head; that is, the blow would descend on the top of the head, producing death.
Of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses – Of the man who perseveres in a course of wickedness. If he repents, God will be merciful to him; if he persists in sin, he will be punished. The literal rendering would be, the hairy scalp going on, or going, sc. about, in his trespasses. The reference is to a wicked man continuing in his transgressions.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 68:21
But God shall wound the head of His enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.
Gods threatenings against incorrigible sinners
I. The persons threatened.
1. In general, Gods enemies; in particular, those who go on still in their trespasses (Lev 26:18; Deu 29:19-20; Pro 29:1). In these and other passages of Scripture, God threatens the pertinacious sinner.
2. There is very good ground for it, which may appear in these following considerations.
(1) Because he multiplies sin.
(2) Because he aggravates it.
(3) Because he confirms it.
He makes his sins more numerous. He makes his sins more heinous. He makes his sins more settled, and hardened and difficult to be removed; therefore draws on the punishment of them.
II. The evil threatened. Wound.
1. A mollified expression. Not kill, but wound. Counts it enough for Him to lay His enemies flat. He does not so much care to insult, and to triumph over them, or to do the worst that He can against them.
2. As it is a mollified expression, so it is a peremptory. He shall or will do it, does it not yet it may be, but yet means to do it hereafter, if He be not the better prevented, that He would have understood.
III. The part wherein they are threatened. The head.
1. This is not exclusive but specificative; it is not the head so, as if nowhere else besides but the head as therein especially. As for obstinate sinners, they have many wounds inflicted upon them in other respects.
(1) In their good names they have a wound oftentimes in them (Pro 6:33).
(2) In estate.
(3) In conscience.
2. But it is especially in the head.
(1) In their intellectuals, takes away their brains from them.
(2) In their vitals, takes away their life from them.
(3) In their principalities, and eminencies, takes away their glory from them.
3. And we cannot wonder at it, if we do but consider how they use their heads oftentimes against Himself; which they do by a double practice.
(1) In the contriving of sin.
(2) In the defending of it. Wicked men use their heads against God to each of these purposes, and therefore does He wound them in them.
4. There are two principles which do engage Him, and move Him hereunto.
(1) His own glory.
(2) His Churchs good.
5. If we shall ask when He will do it, because He does it not always, nor presently–I answer in these two cases.
(1) When the sins of the enemies are thoroughly ripened.
(2) When the hearts of the Christians are thoroughly humbled. In these two conditions does God wound the head of His enemies, and not before.
6. But how shall we be kept and preserved from it? what helps are there against persistency in sin?
(1) Mortify the principle of corruption in us. The way to be kept from the acts of sin, is to have the habit of it subdued in us. There must be the killing of this viper in the egg, a slaying it in the root; till this be done there is no security at all for us.
(2) Stop the beginnings, as we desire not to go on in trespasses, let us not at first venture upon them, for it is like the letting out of waters, as Solomon speaks of strife, which a man knows not where it will end.
(3) Have daily, and continual, and fresh, and actual apprehensions in us of the filthiness and dangerousness of it. (T. Horton, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 21. The hairy scalp] kodkod sear. Does this mean any thing like the Indian scalping? Or does it refer to a crest on a helmet or headcap? I suppose the latter.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The head; either,
1. The political head, their ruler or rulers, the devil or other wicked Christians. Or rather,
2. The natural head, as appears from the following expression, added to explain this, and
the hairy scalp; and he speaks of the heads or hairy scalps not of one, but of all his enemies; the singular number being put for the plural, than which nothing is more frequent. The hairy scalp, i.e. his most fierce and terrible enemies. For in ancient times many people used to wear long and shaggy hair, that their looks might be more terrible to their enemies.
Of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses; of those who persist in their enmity and rebellion against him; whereby he opens a door of hope and mercy to his very enemies, if they return and submit themselves to him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. wound the heador,”violently destroy” (Num 24:8;Psa 110:6).
goeth on still in . . .trespassesperseveringly impenitent.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But God shall wound the head of his enemies,…. Him who is the chief of his enemies, even Satan the prince of devils, the god of the world, the father of the wicked Jews, all enemies of Christ; to “wound” is the same as to bruise him, as in Ge 3:15; and so the Targum here,
“but God shall break the head of his enemies;”
disappoint his schemes, blast his designs, crush his power and authority, demolish his empire, and eternally destroy him with the fire prepared for him and his angels; and the same may be applied to the man of sin, and all other enemies of Christ, who is the divine Person here, and all along, spoken of; see Ps 110:6;
[and] the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses; by whom may be meant antichrist: Jarchi interprets it of Esau, who was an hairy man, and a figure of antichrist: and his hairy scalp may denote his fierceness and cruelty, appearing like a savage beast, drinking the blood of the saints; and like a thief and a robber, who used to let their hair grow long, shagged, and entangled, to strike terror into men they met with, Job 5:5; and also his pride and haughtiness; he exalting himself above all that is called God, and opening his mouth in blasphemy against him: and likewise it signifies his great power and authority, he having people, kingdoms, and nations, depending upon him, as hair on the head, and subject to him: and of him it may be truly said, that he “goes on still in his trespasses”; in tyranny, idolatry, superstition, and will worship; taking no notice of what God says by his witnesses, nor any warning by what the eastern empire suffered by the Turks and Saracens; so as to repent of the works of his hands, of worshipping idols of gold, silver, brass, and wood; nor of his murders, sorceries, fornications, and thefts; but still persisting in them, until his, and the sins of his followers, reach to heaven, Re 9:20; but the God-man, Christ Jesus, will give him a deadly wound, of which he shall never be healed: this also holds true of all that persist in a sinful course of life without repentance; who are workers of iniquity, whose lives are one continued series of sinning; these will be punished by Christ with everlasting destruction.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
21. Surely God shall wound, etc. The enemies of the Church are fierce and formidable, and it is impossible that she can be preserved from their continued assaults, without a vigorous protection being extended. To persuade us that she enjoys such a defense, David represents God as armed with dreadful power for the overthrow of the ungodly. The verse stands connected as to scope with the preceding, and we might render the Hebrew particle אך, ach, by wherefore, or on which account; but it seems better to consider it as expressing simple affirmation. We are to notice the circumstance, that God counts all those his enemies who unjustly persecute the righteous, and thus assures us of his being always ready to interpose for our defense. The concern he feels in our preservation is forcibly conveyed by the expressions which follow, that he will wound the head of his enemies, and the crown of their hair; (43) intimating, that he will inflict a deadly and incurable wound upon such as harass his Church. This is still more strikingly brought out in what is added immediately afterwards, when God is described as wading through destruction.
(43) Bishops Hare and Horsley suppose that there is here an allusion to the usage of the people in those Arabian regions, who nourished their hair on the crown of their head, that by their unshorn heads and shaggy hair they might appear more fierce. “The expressions, ‘the head,’ and ‘the hairy crown,’” observes Bishop Horne, “denote the principal part, the strength, the pride, and the glory of the adversary which was to be crushed;” and Roberts, in his Oriental Illustrations, observes, that “this language, ‘ wounding the crown of the hair, ’ still used in the East, is equivalent to saying, ‘I will kill you.’”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(21) Hairy scalp.Literally, crown, or top, or head of hair. The word is rendered pate in Psa. 7:16. This is probably a portrait of some historical person hostile to Israel. Others take it as a type of pride and arrogance, comparing the use of the Greek verb . The word scalp, properly shell (comp. skull), was a word in common use at the time of the translation of the English Bible
White beards have armed their thin and hairless scalps
Against thy majesty.
SHAKSPERE: Richard II.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. Hairy scalp That is, The hair-covered crown. Luxuriant hair was a sign of beauty and strength, and an occasion of pride and lofty airs, and shaving the head a sign of degradation. See Deu 32:42, where, instead of “from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy,” translate, from the uncoverings of the head of the enemy.
Psa 68:21. God shall wound, &c. According to the emphasis of the original word, God shall exhaust,draw forth the blood of, the head of his enemies, or utterly destroy them by the sword. “He will avenge himself on their devoted heads; nor shall their strength and craft be able to protect them from his indignation, if they continue wickedly to disturb me in the possession of that kingdom to which he has advanced me.”
Psa 68:21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies, [and] the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses.
Ver. 21. But God shall wound the head of his enemies ] Cruentabit caput, a wound in the head if deep (and God strikes no small blows) is mortal. Christ will break the head of those that bruise his heel, that attempt anything against him and his. By head here Diodati understandetb the devil, that prince of the world, Deu 32:42 Psa 110:6 Hab 3:13 . Evil spirits in Scripture are called Shegnirim, shag-haired, Lev 17:7 Isa 13:21 . And they go on in their trespasses; they do infinitely hate God, and sin that sin against the Holy Ghost every moment. But the most understand it of wicked men.
And the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still, &c. trespasses. Hebrew. ‘asham. App-44.
Psa 68:21-23
Psa 68:21-23
PRAISING GOD FOR HIS VICTORY OVER ENEMIES
“But God will smite through the head of his enemies,
The hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on in his guiltiness.
The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan,
I will bring again from the depths of the sea;
That thou mayest crush them, dipping thy foot in blood.”
The terminology here, as in the imprecatory psalms, seems very harsh and offensive to Christians, but this is due to a general blindness to the Biblical revelation that God’s anger against wickedness is no light thing at all, but that the most terrible penalties that the mind of man can visualize shall at last be executed against all mortals who make themselves enemies of God.
Therefore, the proper reaction to terminology of this kind is not, “How awful that punishment is,” but “What an unspeakably awful thing is enmity against God”!
“The hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on in his guiltiness” (Psa 68:21). Some find a hint of the bushy hair of Absalom in this passage. It will be remembered that he lost his life when the animal he was riding went under a tree in which Absalom’s hair was caught, giving Joab the opportunity to kill him.
“From Bashan … from the depths of the sea” (Psa 68:22). The thought here is that there is nowhere to hide from God. Neither the rocky fortress of Bashan nor the caves at the bottom of the sea can afford a hiding place for the wicked when the judgment of God falls upon them. See Rev 6:14 f.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 68:21. The head and hairy scalp indicate the most vital part of a man. The reference to it is to show the complete defeat of the enemies of God.
Psa 68:22. Bashan was one of the heathen districts and was occupied by strong people. To rescue his people from such a hold would show God’s great power. Likewise would it be shone were he to save them from the sea. Psa 68:23. Thy foot means the foot of God’s people. Victory over the enemy is the subject of the verse. That was indicated by the dipping of the foot in the blood of the enemy. The humiliating degree of the defeat to be imposed on the enemy was indicated by the prediction that the dogs of the Israelites would lick the blood of the enemy slain. This kind of comparison was made in the case of Ahab. (1Ki 21:19.)
God: Psa 110:6, Hab 3:13, Mar 12:4
the hairy: Psa 55:23
of such: Psa 68:18, Psa 7:12, Pro 1:24-33, Eze 18:27-30, Luk 13:5, Heb 2:1-3, Heb 12:25, Rev 2:14-16
Reciprocal: Exo 9:2 – General Amo 9:1 – cut them
Psa 68:21. But God shall wound the head of his enemies Of Satan, the old serpent, of whom it was, by the first promise, foretold, that the seed of the woman should bruise his head; and the heads of all the powers of the nations, whether Jews or Gentiles, that oppose him and his kingdom among men. Psa 110:6, He shall wound the heads over many countries; of all those, whoever they are, that will not have him to reign over them. For these he accounts his enemies, and they shall be brought forth and slain before him, Luk 19:27. The hairy scalp, &c. This expression seems to refer to the custom prevalent with many, in ancient times, of wearing long shaggy hair, that their looks might be more terrible to their enemies. Of such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses And hates to be reformed. Christ looks on all such as his enemies, and will treat them accordingly. The original words here used have great emphasis, and imply, God shall strike deep, or exhaust the blood of the head of his enemies, that is, utterly destroy them. As if he had said, He will avenge himself on their devoted heads; nor shall their strength or craft be able to protect them from his indignation. For the head, and the hairy scalp, or crown, denote the principal part, the strength, the pride, and the glory of the adversary, which was to be crushed, according to the original sentence, Gen 3:15. It is justly observed here by Dr. Horne, that this verse begins a prediction of that vengeance which the person who was ascended on high would infallibly execute upon his impenitent enemies, and which was shadowed forth in the destruction of the enemies of Israel by David, after that the ark of God was placed upon the hill of Zion.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments