4 For my love H160 they are my adversaries: H7853 but I give myself unto prayer. H8605
5 And they have rewarded H7760 me evil H7451 for good, H2896 and hatred H8135 for my love. H160
6 Set H6485 thou a wicked man H7563 over him: and let Satan H7854 stand H5975 at his right hand. H3225
7 When he shall be judged, H8199 let him be H3318 condemned: H7563 and let his prayer H8605 become sin. H2401
8 Let his days H3117 be few; H4592 and let another H312 take H3947 his office. H6486
9 Let his children H1121 be fatherless, H3490 and his wife H802 a widow. H490
10 Let his children H1121 be continually H5128 vagabonds, H5128 and beg: H7592 let them seek H1875 their bread also out of their desolate places. H2723
11 Let the extortioner H5383 catch H5367 all that he hath; and let the strangers H2114 spoil H962 his labour. H3018
12 Let there be none to extend H4900 mercy H2617 unto him: neither let there be any to favour H2603 his fatherless children. H3490
13 Let his posterity H319 be cut off; H3772 and in the generation H1755 following H312 let their name H8034 be blotted out. H4229
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 109
Commentary on Psalms 109 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 109
Whether David penned this psalm when he was persecuted by Saul, or when his son Absalom rebelled against him, or upon occasion of some other trouble that was given him, is uncertain; and whether the particular enemy he prays against was Saul, or Doeg, or Ahithophel, or some other not mentioned in the story, we cannot determine; but it is certain that in penning it he had an eye to Christ, his sufferings and his persecutors, for that imprecation (v. 8) is applied to Judas, Acts 1:20. The rest of the prayers here against his enemies were the expressions, not of passion, but of the Spirit of prophecy.
In singing this psalm we must comfort ourselves with the believing foresight of the certain destruction of all the enemies of Christ and his church, and the certain salvation of all those that trust in God and keep close to him.
To the chief Musician. A psalm of David.
Psa 109:1-5
It is the unspeakable comfort of all good people that, whoever is against them, God is for them, and to him they may apply as to one that is pleased to concern himself for them. Thus David here.
Psa 109:6-20
David here fastens upon some one particular person that was worse than the rest of his enemies, and the ringleader of them, and in a devout and pious manner, not from a principle of malice and revenge, but in a holy zeal for God and against sin and with an eye to the enemies of Christ, particularly Judas who betrayed him, whose sin was greater than Pilate's that condemned him (Jn. 19:11), he imprecates and predicts his destruction, foresees and pronounces him completely miserable, and such a one as our Saviour calls him, A son of perdition. Calvin speaks of it as a detestable piece of sacrilege, common in his time among Franciscan friars and other monks, that if any one had malice against a neighbour he might hire some of them to curse him every day, which he would do in the words of these verses; and particularly he tells of a lady in France who, being at variance with her own and only son, hired a parcel of friars to curse him in these words. Greater impiety can scarcely be imagined than to vent a devilish passion in the language of sacred writ, to kindle strife with coals snatched from God's altar, and to call for fire from heaven with a tongue set on fire of hell.
Psa 109:21-31
David, having denounced God's wrath against his enemies, here takes God's comforts to himself, but in a very humble manner, and without boasting.