Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 91:5
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; [nor] for the arrow [that] flieth by day;
5. Neither sudden assaults of enemies by night, nor open attacks by day (Son 3:8; Jer 6:4-5; Pro 3:24-25) shall have power to harm thee. The language is figurative: all hostility, whether secret or avowed, is meant.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night – That which usually causes alarm at night – a sudden attack; an unexpected incursion of enemies; sudden disease coming on by night; or the pestilence which seems to love night, and to walk in darkness. Any one of these things seems to be aggravated by night and darkness; and hence, we most dread them then. We cannot see their approach; we cannot measure their outlines; we know not the extent of the danger, or what may be the calamity.
Nor for the arrow that flieth by day – Whether shot from the bow of God – as pestilence and disease; or from the hand of man in battle. The idea is, that he that trusts in God will be calm. Compare the notes at Psa 56:3.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. The terror by night] Night is a time of terrors, because it is a time of treasons, plunder, robbery, and murder. The godly man lies down in peace, and sleeps quietly, for he trusts his body, soul, and substance, in the hand of God; and he knows that he who keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. It may also mean all spiritual foes, – the rulers of the darkness of this world. I have heard the following petition in an evening family prayer: “Blessed Lord, take us into thy protection this night; and preserve us from disease, from sudden death, from the violence of fire, from the edge of the sword, from the designs of wicked men, and from the influence of malicious spirits!”
Nor for the arrow] The Chaldee translates this verse, “Thou shalt not fear the demons that walk by night; nor the arrow of the angel of death which is shot in the day time.” Thou needest not to fear a sudden and unprovided – for death.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By night, when evil accidents are most terrible and least avoidable.
The arrow; the pestilence, or any such common and destructive calamity; for such are frequently called Gods arrows, as Dent. Deu 32:23,42; La 3:12,13, &c.
By day, which is the time for shooting of arrows. The sense of the verse is, He shall be kept from secret and open mischiefs at all times.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. terroror, what causes it(Pr 20:2).
by nightthenaggravated.
arrowthat is, ofenemies.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night,…. The terrible things that happen in the night; as fire, storms and tempests, invasion of enemies, murders, thefts, and, robberies: a good man, when he has committed himself and his family to the care and protection of God by prayer, has no reason to be anxiously careful of these things, or to indulge a slavish fear about them; see Ps 3:5, the Targum is,
“thou shall not be afraid for the fear of devils that walk in the night:”
so Jarchi interprets this, and the next verse, of such; as do others of the Jewish writers: a man that trusts in the Lord need not be afraid of men or devils: a fear of evil spirits is natural to men, and very early appeared; perhaps it took its rise from the fatal affair of the fall of our first parents, through an intercourse with an evil spirit; and ever since has been imprinted on human nature an aversion to evil spirits, and a dread of them, and even of all spirits in general; see Job 4:13,
nor for the arrow that flieth by day; the judgments of God, such as the sword, famine, and pestilence; these are called the arrows of God,
De 32:23 q, because they move swiftly, come suddenly, and strike surely, and are open and visible; they are sent by the Lord, and are ordered and directed by him, and hit and hurt whom he pleases, and none else; and therefore such who dwell in the secret of the Lord, and under his shadow, need not be distressed about them: the Targum interprets it of the arrow of the angel of death, which he sends out in the day; see Heb 2:14, so Jarchi understands it of a demon that flies like an arrow.
q —- , Homer. Iliad. 1. v. 51, 53.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5 Thou shalt not fear for the terror of the night. The Psalmist continues to insist upon the truth which I have just adverted to, that, if we confide with implicit reliance upon the protection of God, we will be secure from every temptation and assault of Satan. It is of importance to remember, that those whom God has taken under his care are in a state of the most absolute safety. Even those who have reached the most advanced experience find nothing more difficult than to rely upon Divine deliverance; and more especially when, overtaken by some of the many forms in which danger and death await us in this world, doubts will insinuate themselves into our hearts, giving rise to fear and disquietude. There was reason, therefore, why the Psalmist should enter upon a specification of different evils, encouraging the Lord’s people to look for more than one mode of deliverance, and to bear up under various and accumulated calamities. Mention is made of the fear of the night, because men are naturally apprehensive in the dark, or because the night exposes us to dangers of different kinds, and our fears are apt at such a season to magnify any sound or disturbance. The arrow, rather than another weapon, is instanced as flying by day, for the reason apparently that it shoots to a greater distance, and with such swiftness, that we can with difficulty escape it. The verse which follows states, though in different words, the same truth, that there is no kind of calamity which the shield of the Almighty cannot ward off and repel.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) Terror by night.Possibly a night attack by an enemy. (Comp. Son. 3:8; Pro. 3:23-26.) Comp. Milton:
To bless the doors from nightly harm.
In this case the arrow flying by day would refer to dangers of actual battle. But it is quite possible that the latter may be merely the Oriental expression for the pestilence, since it is still so called by Arabians. I desired to remove to a less contagious air. I received from Solyman the emperor this message: that the emperor wondered what I meant in desiring to remove my habitation. Is not the pestilence Gods arrow, which will always hit his mark?Quoted in Spurgeons Treasury of David, from Busbequins Travels.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Terror by night arrow by day A time of war is here supposed, when the night is filled with apprehensions and the day with battles.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 91:5-8. Thou shalt not be afraid The younger ones were to rest secure in the divine promise for protection. Amid the daily spectacles of mortality to which they were soon to be accustomed, it is added, Psa 91:8. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold, &c. i.e. “Thou shalt only have the discomfort of seeing those who may be dear to thee fall by their own guilt, and the just sentence passed upon them for their wicked murmurings and disobedience.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
These are all so many examples in which distinguishing grace shall manifest covenant-promises. But what I would very particularly request the Reader to remark with me, as eminently fulfilled in the person of Jesus, is, the preservation from the pestilence of darkness, and the destruction of the noon day. How lovely and truly blessed is it to see that though Christ took upon him our nature, he took none of the corruptions of that nature. His holy soul was not susceptible of the impression of the pestilence of sin, nor the defilement of our fallen nature. Such an High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. Reader, this is the sweet consolatory thought of the soul, when pleading for salvation, in and through the Redeemer’s righteousness. Heb 7:26 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 91:5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; [nor] for the arrow [that] flieth by day;
Ver. 5. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night ] Thou shalt be freed, if not from the common destruction, yet from the common distraction.
Impavidum ferient ruinae.
Nor for the arrow that flieth by day ] Sudden ill occurrences quae nec praevident nec praecavent fideles, the arrows of death shall come whisking by thine ears, and not hit. (Hor. lib 2, Oba 1:13 .)
Quid quisque vitet nunquam homini saris
Cautum est in horas – Improvisa lethi
Vis rapuit, rapietque gentes.
True faith is a target, and sayeth a man if not from the smart, yet from the hurt of evil accidents.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 91:5-10
5You will not be afraid of the terror by night,
Or of the arrow that flies by day;
6Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
7A thousand may fall at your side
And ten thousand at your right hand,
But it shall not approach you.
8You will only look on with your eyes
And see the recompense of the wicked.
9For you have made the Lord, my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
10No evil will befall you,
Nor will any plague come near your tent.
Psa 91:5-10 This strophe continues the imagery of Psa 91:1-4, esp. the deadly pestilence of Psa 91:3 b, which is expanded in Psa 91:5-6; Psa 91:10, while the military imagery of Psa 91:4 c is expanded in Psa 91:7-8.
Psa 91:5-6 These things were viewed by the rabbis as elements of the demonic (cf. Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 5, p. 1523). Notice (1) it walks, Psa 91:6 and (2) the it of Psa 91:7. See SPECIAL TOPIC: THE DEMONIC IN THE OLD TESTAMENT .
Psa 91:7 This is a hyperbolic expression using military imagery of the believer’s personal care, provided by his covenant God.
Psa 91:8 As God’s people are subject to the attack of the wicked, they will also be an observer of their judgment (cf. Psa 37:34; Psa 54:7; Psa 58:10).
the recompense This form of the basic root (BDB 1024) is found only here in the OT. Similar forms are found in Deu 32:35; Isa 59:18 (twice).
Psa 91:9-10 This is parallel to Psa 91:1-2, while Psa 91:10 is parallel to Psa 91:5-7.
Psa 91:9 This verse in Hebrew seems to first address God (i.e., O YHWH) in line a and then makes a statement directed to a faithful follower who made Him his dwelling place. There are several places this type of mixing of persons occurs. The UBS Handbook (p. 801) suggests that in
1. Psa 91:1, a priest is speaking
2. Psa 91:2, the worshiper
3. Psa 91:3-8, a priest again
4. Psa 91:9 a, the worshiper
5. Psa 91:9 b, the priest again
6. Psa 91:14-16, God speaks
This solves some of the person problems but raises other grammatical issues. The Hebrew language often changes persons, even gender, for no apparent reason.
Psa 91:5-8
Psa 91:5-8
EXHORTATION NOT TO FEAR THE PESTILENCE
“Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night,
Nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
For the pestilence that walketh in darkness;
Nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
A thousand shall fall at thy side,
And ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold,
And see the reward of the wicked.”
We do not believe all of this paragraph is a reference to the pestilence, `the arrow that flieth by day’ being no doubt a reference to warfare.
If Moses was the author of this, as the Rabbinic tradition assures us, then Moses had actually seen instances of such marvelous help of God’s people in the midst of abounding misfortunes for the wicked.
For example, the plague of boils was a horrible pestilence upon the Egyptians, as was the plague of the murrain of cattle (Genesis 9); but, “Nothing that belonged to the children of Israel died” (Gen 9:4). Furthermore, God’s victory over Amalek (Exodus 17) and over the Amorites and the Moabites (Numbers 21), provided instances in which God’s followers suffered very few casualties and the enemies Were destroyed. Also in Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, there were numerous examples of that same providence.
“The pestilence that walketh in darkness … the destruction that wasteth at noonday” (Psa 91:6). Yates pointed out that the Jewish Talmud identified these lines with the night-time demon (Lilith), and the day-time demon (Namtar), “Suggesting that the psalm be used in the case of demonic attacks. Regardless of such opinions, we find no reference whatever here to superstitions like that. Christ indeed cast out demons; and there are many New Testament references to demonic possession, but in all instances where Christ is known and loved, demon-possession seems now to be an utter impossibility. There is much that men do not know about this; and there are instances of human depravity which indeed seem to be demonically induced. Nevertheless, the pestilence and destruction mentioned here are not connected in any way with demons.
M.E. Zerr:
Psa 91:5. The antecedent of thou. is the person described by he that dwelleth, etc., in Psa 91:1. Th6 verse means that actual danger (arrow) or the fear of it (terror) will never affect the one who puts his trust in the Lord.
Psa 91:6. This verse is similar in thought to the preceding one. Pestilence or disease sometimes attacks one in the night, and speedy destruction may come to him in the day. But neither will defeat the one who relies on the help of God.
Psa 91:7. This verse denotes the safety of those who put their trust in the Lord. Great numbers of the enemy will not count as any more dangerous than would a few to those who have God with them. Paul taught this same idea in Rom 8:31.
Psa 91:8. Those who trust in God will see the reward or fate of the wicked, that it will be a just and awful punishment.
Thou: Psa 3:6, Psa 27:1-3, Psa 46:2, Psa 112:7, Job 5:19-27, Pro 28:1, Isa 43:2, Mat 8:26, Heb 13:6
terror: Psa 3:5, 2Ki 7:6, Job 4:13-15, Job 24:14-16, Pro 3:23-25, Isa 21:4, Luk 12:20, Luk 12:39
nor: Job 6:4, Lam 3:12, Lam 3:13
Reciprocal: 2Ch 13:14 – cried Job 5:21 – neither Psa 121:6 – the sun Pro 3:25 – Be Eze 5:16 – the evil Joh 14:27 – afraid
Psa 91:5-6. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night When evil accidents are most terrible and least avoidable; nor for the arrow Any common and destructive calamity; (for such are commonly called Gods arrows;) that flieth by day Which is the time for shooting arrows. The sense of the verse is, Thou shalt be kept from secret and open mischiefs at all times. Nor for the pestilence, &c. This verse explains the former, and shows what that terror and arrow signify; that walketh in darkness That makes progress and spreads death and desolation in an invisible manner, such as can neither be foreseen nor prevented; nor for the destruction at noon-day That, like a bold enemy, assaults us openly, and though discovered cannot be resisted.
91:5 {e} Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; [nor] for the arrow [that] flieth by day;
(e) The care that God has over his is sufficient to defend them from all dangers.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes