Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 109:31

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 109:31. He shall stand at the right hand of the poor — Even if Satan himself be the accuser, God will vindicate the innocence of his servant. Pilate and the Jews condemned our Lord to death as a malefactor; God showed his immaculate innocence by his resurrection from the dead.

The whole of this Psalm is understood by many as referring solely to Christ, the traitor Judas, and the wicked Jews. This is the view taken of it in the analysis.

ANALYSIS OF THE HUNDRED AND NINTH PSALM

The later expositors expound this Psalm of Doeg, Ahithophel, and other persecutors of David; and so it may be understood in the type; but the ancient fathers apply it to Judas, and the Jews who put Christ to death; which opinion, being more probable, and because Peter (Acts 1:20) applies a passage out of Psalms 109:8 to Judas, I shall expound the Psalm as of Christ, whom David personated, and of Judas, and the malicious Jews, as understood in the persons of his wicked and slanderous enemies.

The Psalm has four parts: -

I. A short ejaculation, Psalms 109:1, and the reasons expressed in a complaint of the fraud and malice of his enemies, Psalms 109:6.

II. A bitter imprecation against their fury, Psalms 109:6-21.

III. A supplication presented to God for himself, and the reasons, Psalms 109:21-30.

IV. A profession of thanks.

I. He begins with an ejaculation: "Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise."

1. Either actively, that is, "O God, whom I praise," even in the greatest calamities.

2. Or passively; "Who art my praise:" The Witness and Advocate of my innocency when I am condemned by malicious tongues; which sense appears best for this place.

"Hold not thy peace." Tacere, to be silent, in Scripture, when referred to God, is to connive, to rest, to appear not to regard; and, on the contrary, loqui, to speak, to do something for revenge or deliverance; it is what David here asks, that, when the malice of his enemies arrived at its height, God should not suffer them, but show his displeasure.

Then by way of complaint, he describes their malicious nature, which he aggravates by an elegant gradation. "For the mouth of the wicked:" and they were, 1. Impious. 2. Deceitful. 3. Liars.

1. "For the mouth of the wicked:" Caiaphas, Judas, the priests, Jews, c.

2. "And the mouth of the deceitful," c. They sought to entrap him in his words.

3. "They have spoken against me," &c. "He casteth out devils through Beelzebub," &c.

And yet the mischief rises higher, even to hatred and malice.

1. "They compassed me about," &c. Manifesting in plain words the malice they carried in their hearts. "This man is not of God," &c.

2. "They hated me without a cause:" Wantonly, idly. They were not only evil, deceitful, and malicious but very ungrateful. "He went about doing good" and "How often would I have gathered you," c. and for this love they returned hatred.

1. "For my love, they are my adversaries:" But, nevertheless,

2. "I give myself to prayer:" "Father, forgive them; they know not," c. Which base ingratitude of theirs he opens in fuller words. "They have rewarded me evil." And Theognis truly says,

η χαρις αλλαξαι την φυσιν ου δυναται

No kindness can invert an evil nature:

A Jew will ever be a Jew. II. The prophet, having complained of the malice, spiteful usage, and ingratitude of his nation, their crafty dealing with him, and their lies against him, proceeds to pray against them, and that in most bitter and fearful imprecations. Enemies he foresaw they would be to the flourishing state of Christ's Church, and that nothing had power to restrain or amend them and therefore he curses them with a curse the most bitter that ever fell from the lips of man. In particular Judas, who was guide to them who took Jesus, is pointed out; but, as Augustine observes, he represented the person of the whole synagogue; therefore, it is involved necessarily. But some understanding these curses as uttered by the Jews against David. Psalms 109:20.

1. "Set thou a wicked man over him," c.: A fearful imprecation. Subject him to the will of some impious and wicked man, to whose lust and violence he may be no better than a slave. Others understand by a wicked man a false teacher, who may seduce him by false doctrines.

2. "Let Satan stand at his right hand:" Have full power over him. Let him stand which signifies a perpetual endeavour to urge him forward till he effect his intended mischief. And so it was with Judas and the Jews; Satan was their guide, and they followed him.

The second is, "When he shall be judged, let him be condemned;" - find no mercy, no favour, at the judge's hands; thus, when Judas, accused and condemned by his own conscience, went to the high priest, who had bribed him, he would not acquit him; and Judas, in despair and grief for his sin, "went out and hanged himself."

The third, "Let his prayer become sin:" He turned his ear from hearing God, why then should God hear him? No prayer is acceptable to God but through Christ, and that out of a sincere heart; any other prayers become sin.

The fourth is the shortening of their life and honour.

1. "Let his days be few:" Length of days is promised only to the obedient, and is a blessing: but the prayer is that this man's life be a short one, and so Judas's was.

2. "And let another take his office:" Which must be applied to Judas, since St. Peter (Acts 1:20) so interprets it; and it is at this day as true of the Jews, for they have no high priest. Another, after the order of Melchizedek, has succeeded Aaron's priesthood.

The fifth is -

1. "Let his children be fatherless," c.: Which follows on the former curse.

2. "Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg:" And such the Jews are to this day and beggars they were for a long time after the overthrow of Jerusalem.

The sixth execration is upon his goods.

1. "Let the extortioner catch all that he hath:" Probably the publicans.

2. "And let the strangers spoil his labour:" Which was verified by the soldiers of Titus, who ripped up the bellies of the captive Jews to see if they had swallowed gold.

But the prophet again returns to his children.

1. "Let there be none to extend mercy unto him," c.: To beg, or to want, is a misery but there is some comfort in it when beggars meet with some to relieve it. But the prophet says, Let there be none to pity him, or his. Judas found none to pity him.

2. Men, because they must die themselves, desire, if possible, to be immortal in their issue. Bellarmine observes that Judas had no issue; for that Matthias, who came in his place, did not derive his office from him. Though a posterity of the Jews remained after the flesh, yet, in the next generation, their ecclesiastical and civil polity was at an end; and since their dispersion they are without king, without priest, without sacrifice, without altar, without ephod, and without teraphim, as foretold by Hosea.

3. "Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered," c.: This imprecation answers God's threat: "I will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children." And this curse has come upon the Jews to the uttermost they are self-devoted: "Let his blood be upon us, and upon our children." The guilt of his blood is yet upon them; the iniquity of their fathers is yet remembered; and the sin of their mother, the synagogue, is not yet done away.

He repeats again the sin of their fathers, and the sin of the synagogue; this verse being but the exposition of the former.

1. "Let them be before the Lord continually:" The sin their father and mother committed, never let it be forgotten by God.

2. "That he may cut off the memory," c.: Except it be in contempt.

The prophet having now finished his execrations, acquaints us with the causes of them.

1. Their want of pity to them in distress: "Have ye no regard, all ye that pass by?" Lamentations 1:12. It is but just then "that they find judgment without mercy, that would show no mercy."

2. So far from that, "that he persecuted the poor and needy man," c., which is the second cause the inhumanity of Judas and the Jews against Christ, who is here called - 1. Poor, because, "when he was rich, for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich" 2 Corinthians 9:2. The needy man: "For the foxes have holes, c., Luke 9:58. 3. The broken in heart. For he was in agony, and his soul was troubled, when he sweated great drops of blood when he cried, "My God, my God!" not with compunction or contrition for any fault he had committed, but from a sense of pain, and his solicitude for the salvation of mankind.

In this verse there is noted the extreme cruelty and inhumanity of the Jews; for whoever persecutes a man for his life is inclined to it either from some real or supposed injury, or else through envy: but Christ was humble and lowly in heart; he went about doing good, and yet they persecuted him.

But, thirdly, he complains: "He loved cursing;" therefore, it is but reason that he should have what he loved: "As he clothed himself with cursing - so let it come," c. No man can love a curse or hate a blessing, if it be proposed to the will under the form of a curse or blessing: but a man is said to love a curse when he follows a wicked course, and avoids the blessing of a good life. This Judas and the Jews did: Judas, by loving money more than his Master the Jews, by - "Let his blood," c.

Neque enim lex justior ulla est. c.

It is just that a man should suffer for his own wicked inventions. But the prophet adds, Let it sit close to him as a garment let it be converted into his substance: let him carry it perpetually, c.

1. "As he clothed himself with cursing," &c. As in clothes he delights in.

2. "So let it come as waters," &c. As the stomach concocts and turns every thing into the very flesh of the animal so let his curse be converted into his nature and manners.

3. "Let it come as oil into his bones," c. Oil will pierce the bones water will not.

This curse must be of great efficacy he must always carry it.

1. "Let it be unto him," c. Stick close as a garment.

2. "And for a girdle," c. Compass him round about.

For a garment some read pallium a cloak that a man puts off at home, and calls for when he goes abroad: thus let God set an outward mark upon him let him be known as a cast-away.

If Doeg were the type of Judas, as most agree, in this Psalm, then by the girdle might be understood cingulum militare, the military girdle, which, while they were of that profession they cast not off: and he, Doeg, being a military man, the curse was to cleave to him, and compass him as his girdle.

The prophet concludes this part of the Psalm with an exclamation, as being persuaded his curses were not in vain.

"Let this be the reward of mine adversaries," c., who say that I am a deceiver, and deny me to be the Saviour of the world.

III. The prophet now turns from curses to prayer: and in the person of Christ, directs it to God for protection and deliverance both of himself and the whole Church.

1. "But do thou for me," c. He asks help against his persecutors on these three grounds: 1. Because his Lord was Jehovah, the fountain of all being and power. 2. Because it would be for his honour: "Do it for thy name's sake." Thy faithfulness and goodness to the Church, and justice in executing vengeance on her enemies. 3. Do it, because thy mercy is good - easily inclined to succour the miserable.

2. "Deliver me," may have reference to Christ's prayer, "Father, save me from this hour," &c.

1. "Deliver me," for I am destitute of all human help.

2. "Deliver me," for my heart is wounded within me.

And to these he adds many other reasons and uses two similes, the one drawn from the shadow of the evening, the other from the locust.

1. "I am gone like a shadow: " c. Which passes away in a moment silently: so was Christ led away as a prisoner, without any murmur: "He was led as a lamb," &c., Isaiah 53:7. Thus the apostles and martyrs died patiently.

2. "I am tossed up and down as the locust." From one tribunal to another, as the locust carried from place to place, Exodus 10:12, Exodus 10:19.

Secondly, he reasons from his bodily debility.

1. "My knees are weak through fasting." The little sustenance Christ took before his passion and his watching in prayer all night.

2. "And my flesh faileth of fatness," through the excess of his fatigue, and the anguish of his Spirit: thus he could not bear his cross.

3. A third reason why God should pity and deliver is drawn from the opprobrious usage and the scorn they put upon him, than which there is nothing more painful to an ingenuous and noble nature: "I am become also a reproach unto them," c. The four Gospels are an ample comment upon this verse.

The second part of his prayer is for a speedy resurrection: "Help me, O Lord my God: O save me," &c. And he supports his petition with a strong reason, drawn from the final cause: "Save me, that they may know," &c. That all men, the Jews especially may be convinced by my rising again, in despite of the watch and the seal, that it was not their malice and power that brought me to this ignominious death, but that my passion, suffering, and death proceeded from thy hand: "By his resurrection he was declared," Romans 1:4. And in the close of his prayer he sings a triumph over his enemies, the devil, Judas, the Jews, those bitter enemies, to him and his Church.

1. "Let them curse." Speak evil of me and my followers.

2. "But bless thou." Bless all nations that have faith in me.

3. "When they arise." For, 1. Arise they will, and endeavour by every means to destroy my kingdom 2. But "let them be ashamed." Confounded that their wishes are frustrated.

4. "But let thy servant (which condition Christ took upon himself) rejoice" because thy name is thereby glorified.

And he continues his exercrations by way of explanation. "Let mine adversaries," &c, be confounded at the last day, for their ingratitude and malice, before angels and men.

IV. He closes all with thanks, which he opposes to the confusion of the wicked.

1. "I will greatly praise the Lord." With affection and a great jubilee.

2. "I will praise him among the multitude." Before all the world.

For which he assigns this reason, -

1. "He shall stand at the right hand of the poor." That is, such as are poor in spirit, who ask and find mercy from God: to such I will be as a shield and buckler.

2. "I will stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him," &c. From the devil and all his instruments. Christ is the all-covering shield of his Church: "He hath blotted out the handwriting of ordinances," &c. So that, cum a mundo damnamur, a Christo ab solvemur. "When we are condemned by the world, we are absolved by Christ."

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 109:0 Those who afflict others

David complains to God about the unjust attacks of his opponents and the false accusations they bring against him (1-3). He has no desire for personal revenge; rather he has shown love for his enemies and has prayed for them (4-5).

Nevertheless, in the prayer that follows, David uses strong language as he pleads for justice to be done. With the cruelty of his enemies increasing, he hands the case over to God, the righteous judge, who will repay the wicked for their wickedness. In particular David has in mind the leader of his accusers (6-7). (See section ‘Curses on the wicked’ that follows notes on Psalms 7:0.) The evildoer will receive fitting justice if he suffers the sorrows he intended to bring upon David. The curses listed here display the character of the aggressor and the evil he intended to do to David and his family (8-15). The man ruthlessly persecuted those who could not defend themselves, and deserves a punishment that is similarly ruthless (16-20).

As for David, he is weak, sick and despised, as helpless as an insect about to be blown away. Only God can save him now (21-25). He wants God to save him and punish his persecutors in such a way that people will see the events as the direct work of God (26-29). True justice is found with God alone. David is therefore confident that God will rescue him (30-31).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“I will give thanks unto Jehovah with my mouth; Yea, I will praise him among the multitude. For he will stand at the right hand of the needy, To save him from them that judge his soul.”

“For he will stand at the right hand of the needy” Delitzsch observed that this verse is a sequence to Psalms 109:6. “There at the right hand of the tormenter stands Satan as an accuser; here (Psalms 109:31) at the right hand of the tormented stands God as his vindicator.”F. Delitzsch, Vol. V-C, p. 182.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor - He will thus show that he befriends the poor and the helpless.

To save him from those that condemn his soul - - Margin, “from the judges of his soul.” The Hebrew is, “from those that judge his soul.” The meaning is, from those that pronounce a harsh or unjust judgment; from those that condemn the innocent.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

Moreover, he also subjoins the form in which he rendered thanks; namely, that God stood at the right hand of the poor By this language he intimates, that when God had apparently forsaken and abandoned him, and stood far from him, even then he was always near and ready to render him seasonable and needful help; and, assuredly, his poverty and affliction gave some reason for suspecting that he was forsaken of God, inasmuch as he then either withdrew or concealed his loving-kindness. Notwithstanding of this seeming departure, he acknowledges that, during his affliction and poverty, God never ceased to be present to render him assistance. In saying that he was saved from the judges of his life, he sets forth, in a still stronger light, the very trying situation in which he was placed; his having to deal with very formidable enemies, such as the king and the princes of the realm, who, proudly presuming upon their grandeur and greatness, and regarding his recovery hopeless, treated him as if he had been a dead dog. It is my firm conviction, that in this passage he complains both of the torturing cruelty of his enemies, and also that his character had been unjustly aspersed by calumny and reproach; for we know that he was borne down by the malignity and wickedness of those who, being invested with authority, boastingly, yet falsely, pretended that they wished to act as judges and as the executors of justice, which plausible pretexts they adopt as a cloak for their iniquity.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 109:1-31 makes me glad that I'm not an enemy of David. For this is one of those psalms where he really takes off again against his enemies, and I mean he goes after them with tongs.

Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue ( Psalms 109:1-2 ).

So these people were talking about David. They were lying about David. And he's saying, "God, don't hold Your peace. Get angry with them."

For they compassed me about also with words of hatred; and they fought against me without a cause. For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer ( Psalms 109:3-4 ).

Oh, what wisdom there is in verse Psalms 109:4 . I've loved them, but they've become my adversaries. And so I will give myself unto prayer. Rather than striking out against them in kind, rather than trying to get vengeance myself, rather than getting involved, how much better if I will just give myself to prayer. Oh, how many times I wish I'd given myself to prayer rather than getting involved.

You see, it is the trick of Satan to draw you in to a physical conflict, to get you at odds, to get you in this physical area of bantering back and forth. Satan is constantly trying to draw you into the physical arena to do battle with you. Why? Because if he can get you in the flesh, he can clean up on you like nobody's business. Every time he gets me in the flesh, he gives me such a beating you'd think I'd learn not to get in the flesh. But he's always seeking to draw me into the flesh. For he has a decided advantage over me.

Now David said, "I will give myself unto prayer." I'm going to stay in the Spirit. Oh, how important that I stay in the Spirit, because in the spirit realm, I have a decided advantage over him. For you see, he was defeated at the cross. And if I can just stay in the Spirit, I can just wipe him out with the victory of Jesus Christ upon the cross. And prayer is actually the big guns of the Spirit by which I can defeat the enemy.

Now, the world is filled with spirits. And spirits have a decided advantage over us in many ways. For spirits are not bound by the time, space, material things by which we are bound. As we've gathered together here tonight, there are many spirits that have gathered here also, lot of angels around the place tonight. Because they're very curious at the work that God has done in your life, and they desire to look into it.

Peter, in talking about the grace and the goodness of God towards us, he said, "Which things the angels desire to look into" ( 1 Peter 1:12 ). And if He has "given His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. To bear thee up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone" ( Psalms 91:11-12 ), that means the angels are here tonight. You know, they're watching over you. They'll be watching over you as you go home tonight.

But there are also other spirits that are here tonight. Spirits that are antagonistic to you as a child of God. Seeking to bring hurt and harm. And in the spirit realm, there is a real warfare that is going on. You remember when Daniel decided to fast and pray and wait upon God. After twenty-one days, the angel came and said, "Daniel, you know, twenty-one days ago when you started this fast, God sent me down here to bring you the answers. But, man, that prince of Persia got hold of me," talking about Satan, "and he took me captive and he held me for twenty-one days until Michael, that great prince, came and set me free. But now I'm come to tell you the things that the Lord wants to reveal unto you. The things that you had upon your heart. God dispatched me. There was a warfare. I got captured for a while until Michael came."

There is a fierce warfare going on in the spiritual realm. But that warfare was climaxed at the cross. In that, on the cross, Jesus defeated the spirit forces of Satan and darkness. In Colossians, chapter 2, we are told that He triumphed over the principalities and powers, which are names for spiritual entities, spiritual forces. He said He triumphed over them through the cross, making an open display of His victory as He triumphed over them in the cross. So that Satan is a defeated foe. So that if I stay in the spiritual realm, I have a decided advantage over Satan because he was defeated at the cross, and I can come against him in the power of the victory of Jesus Christ. And he's got to back down. He's got to back down. He was defeated at the cross.

Now these spirit forces, as I say, are not restricted to time and space and material obstacles as are we. Therefore, they have a decided advantage over us. Some of the spirits that are here tonight visiting with us in this service could quite possibly have been over a few moments ago watching the Syrian troops at the border of Jordan to see if anything was going to happen tonight. When nothing was going to happen, they decided, "Come on over, let's go to Calvary Chapel to see what's happening there tonight, you know." And as fast as you can think it, because they are not bound by, despite the time, space limitations as we are, as fast as you can think it, they were here. You see, they can they can get around really in a hurry. And if things get boring here, they might head for China or something and see what's going on there tonight, or tomorrow morning which over there.

Now, when we came in tonight, we came in through the doors. Hopefully. But the spirits that are here, they came through the ceiling or through the walls, or actually, if they were in China they may have just made a shortcut and come right through, because they are not restricted by material obstacles. They are able to pass through.

Now, it is difficult to fight with an enemy that you can't see. That can only bring spiritual pressures. That you can only feel but without being able to see them, it's extremely difficult to fight against them. But we have spiritual weapons. The Bible said, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal," they're not fleshly, "but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of the strongholds of the enemy" ( 2 Corinthians 10:4 ). And the big gun in the spiritual warfare is prayer.

And it is interesting, because the prayer itself takes on the nature of a spirit in that the prayer does not become restricted to time or space or material. So that we can pray here tonight for a friend in Florida who is maybe going through a real spiritual trial. The enemy is really oppressing them, giving them a bad time. I can go into my closet. I can get on my knees. And I can begin to intercede for my friend in Florida. And as I pray for them, my prayer takes on the nature of a spirit in that it goes immediately to Florida, right into the home where they are and begins to do business for God right there in their house. Driving back the forces of darkness. Binding the forces of the enemy, and releasing God's work in their lives. Doing spiritual battle.

And so God has given us weapons whereby we have a decided advantage over the enemy. But whenever he gets you into the flesh, then he has the advantage. And Satan is always trying to get us into the flesh for that reason. So the best thing when someone is lying about me, someone is trying to cut me down and all, the best thing you can do is what David did, give yourself to prayer. Don't get into the physical. You'll only get wiped out. But retreat into prayer, and man, you can blast him to pieces and they don't even know where it's coming from. As you enter into the spiritual warfare and you do battle in the spirit through prayer. Oh, the change that you can bring in the lives of people.

Several years ago there was a United States senator from Missouri, very popular senator. He had a very keen mind. And he was sitting in the Senate in Washington during an especially busy session. His wife was in a prayer group with some ladies in their home state in Missouri. And her husband, because of his popularity, was actually being considered as a possible candidate for the presidency of the United States. One day, she and a group of the ladies at the prayer meeting decided that they were going to band together to pray for her husband's salvation. A brilliant man, but he was an atheist.

And so these ladies began every day at ten o'clock, no matter what they were doing, they would stop and agree together in prayer that God would get hold of the heart of this lady's husband and bring him to Jesus Christ. Binding the work of the enemy that had blinded him; was holding him captive. During the Congressional recess, he came home. And on Sunday as she got up to go to church, she was surprised that he also got up. And she said, "Well, where are you going today?" He said, "I'm going to church with you." And it rather surprised her, but she played it cool. And that morning in the service, when the invitation was given, he went forward to publicly receive Jesus Christ.

And, of course, she was absolutely ecstatic, as were all of the ladies that were in her prayer group who had been praying for his salvation. Afterwards, she told him of this prayer pact that these ladies had made. He said, "When did you start?" And so she said, "Well, let's see, it was you know, Tuesday afternoon or Tuesday morning, and let's see, it was just before... " and she figured out the date and she said, "March the twelfth, ten o'clock, Tuesday morning."

He pulled out his diary to that date and with the time difference, he said, "Though I am sitting here in the Senate," in his diary, "and there is debate going on, suddenly I have become conscious of a great need in my life for God." Spirit force, the Spirit power by which lives can be changed.

"I will give myself," the psalmist said, "unto prayer." The wisest thing you can do. Now I don't really believe that you should give yourself to prayer as the psalmist did. For he says in verse Psalms 109:5 , concerning the wicked and his enemies,

They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love. [Therefore, Lord,] Set a wicked man over him: let Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged, condemn him: and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children continually be vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all that he has; and let the strangers spoil his labor. And let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any favor for his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth. Because that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and the needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing like with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment which covers him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. Let this be the reward of my adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul ( Psalms 109:5-20 ).

Boy, he's really out for blood! How far this is, of course, from the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, who said, "Bless those that curse you, do good unto those that despitefully use you" ( Matthew 5:44 ). But this is David, and this is what I feel many times when someone's done me wrong. I feel, "Lord, give them one." So though I can identify with the prayer, yet I realize that this is not the new nature in Christ of forgiveness. Realizing how much God has forgiven me, I also am to forgive.

Now, "Let another take his office," verse Psalms 109:8 . In the first chapter of the book of Acts, after Jesus had ascended into heaven and the disciples were meeting together in Jerusalem waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Peter said to them, "You know, it's necessary that we get someone to take Judas' place who by transgression fell. For, the scriptures said, 'Let another take his bishopric,'" ( Acts 1:20 ). And Peter is quoting this particular psalm, verse Psalms 109:8 , "Let another take his office," and he applies it unto Judas Iscariot. And as you read David's vilification against this traitor, the man who lied against him and all, Satan standing at his right hand, condemned and all, there is a shadow of Judas behind it.

Now David prayed that for his enemies, but now he's praying for himself in verse Psalms 109:21 , and he sure changes the tune.

But for me, O God the LORD, do for me for thy name's sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver me. For I am poor and needy, my heart is wounded within me. I am gone like the shadow when it declineth ( Psalms 109:21-23 ):

Referring to the sundial.

I am tossed up and down as the locust. My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness ( Psalms 109:23-24 ).

I'm skinny and weak.

I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads ( Psalms 109:25 ).

And if you go over there today, you'll see them when they are fighting with each other or talking with each other, they just shake their heads violently as they're yelling at one another.

Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy: That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it. Let them curse, but You bless: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let your servant rejoice. Let my adversaries be clothed with shame; and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle. And I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude. For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul ( Psalms 109:26-31 ).

Interesting psalm. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 109

This individual lament is one of the imprecatory psalms in which the writer called on God to avenge his enemies (cf. Psalms 3:7; Psalms 5:10; Psalms 6:10; Psalms 7:14-16; Psalms 28:4-5; Psalms 31:17-18; Psalms 37:2; Psalms 37:9-10; Psalms 37:15; Psalms 37:20; Psalms 37:35-36; Psalms 40:14-15; Psalms 54:5; Psalms 55:9; Psalms 55:15; Psalms 55:23; Psalms 59:12-13; Psalms 63:9-11; Psalms 64:7-9; Psalms 71:13; Psalms 79:6; Psalms 79:12; Psalms 139:19-22; Psalms 140:9-10). [Note: See Day, "The Imprecatory . . .," pp. 176-80.]

"Whereas Psalms 88 is preoccupied with the absence and silence of God, Psalms 109 is concerned for vindictiveness toward other human beings who have seriously violated the speaker. I group them together because I believe the two psalms embody the main problems of Christian faith: the problem of trusting a God who seems not available, and the problem of caring for a neighbor who is experienced as enemy." [Note: Brueggemann, p. 81.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

3. Request for help 109:21-31

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

David called on Yahweh to save him from the distress in which he found himself-in a way that would teach his enemies that God had delivered him. This would vindicate David, and all he stood for, in their sight. Again he asked God to shame his accusers and thereby signal divine disapproval of their opposition to God’s righteous servant. David concluded with a confident assertion that God would indeed vindicate him. This would result in the psalmist thanking and praising the Lord.

Believers can pray for the vindication of righteousness with good precedent in the psalms. With the light of later revelation, we understand better than David did, that God will not always vindicate the godly in this life, but He will do so eventually (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19; et al.; cf. Acts 17:30-31; Revelation 7:17; Revelation 21:4). In David’s day and in ours, God normally vindicates the righteous before they die, but His decision to postpone vindication often makes it appear that He is unjust (cf. Job). David’s "bottom line" concern in this psalm was the vindication of God Himself (Psalms 109:31), but he also wanted relief from his oppressors. [Note: See E. Calvin Beisner, Psalms of Promise, pp. 161-82. See also Thomas L. Constable, "The Doctrine of Prayer" (Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1969), pp. 12-13.]

David did what we should do: he turned his enemies over to God. We can pray that God will punish the wicked because He has promised to do so, but we should also ask Him to bring them to salvation (e.g., corrupt politicians, crooked business men, drug dealers, terrorists, et al.). Peter applied Psalms 109:8 to Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:20), to whom Jesus had previously extended grace.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor,.... Of the Messiah, as in Psalms 109:22 at whose right hand the Lord was, to guide and direct, help and assist, protect and defend, Psalms 16:8, or of his people, who are poor in every sense; but the Lord is on their side, and is a present help in time of trouble, Psalms 46:1.

To save him from those that condemn his soul: the Messiah: from his judges, the high priest and Jewish sanhedrim, and Pilate the Roman governor, who condemned him to death; but he committed his spirit, or soul, to God, who received it, and raised his body from the dead; and would not suffer it to see corruption, as a testimony of his innocence: or the soul of the poor saints, which the Lord saves from the condemnation of sin, Satan, the law, and their own consciences, Romans 8:1.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      21 But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name's sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.   22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.   23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.   24 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.   25 I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.   26 Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy:   27 That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it.   28 Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice.   29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.   30 I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude.   31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.

      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.

      I. He pours out his complaint before God concerning the low condition he was in, which, probably, gave advantage to his enemies to insult over him: "I am poor and needy, and therefore a proper object of pity, and one that needs and craves thy help." 1. He was troubled in mind (Psalms 109:22; Psalms 109:22): My heart is wounded within me, not only broken with outward troubles, which sometimes prostrate and sink the spirits, but wounded with a sense of guilt; and a wounded spirit who can bear? who can heal? 2. He apprehended himself drawing near to his end: I am gone like the shadow when it declines, as good as gone already. Man's life, at best, is like a shadow; sometimes it is like the evening shadow, the presage of night approaching, like the shadow when it declines. 3. He was unsettled, tossed up and down like the locust, his mind fluctuating and unsteady, still putting him upon new counsels, his outward condition far from any fixation, but still upon the remove, hunted like a partridge on the mountains. 4. His body was wasted, and almost worn away (Psalms 109:24; Psalms 109:24): My knees are weak through fasting, either forced fasting (for want of food when he was persecuted, or for want of appetite when he was sick) or voluntary fasting, when he chastened his soul either for sin or affliction, his own or other's, Psalms 35:13; Psalms 69:10. "My flesh fails of fatness; that is, it has lost the fatness it had, so that I have become a skeleton, nothing but skin and bones." But it is better to have this leanness in the body, while the soul prospers and is in health, than, like Israel, to have leanness sent into the soul, while the body is feasted. 5. He was ridiculed and reproached by his enemies (Psalms 109:25; Psalms 109:25); his devotions and his afflictions they made the matter of their laughter, and, upon both those accounts, God's people have been exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that were at ease. In all this David was a type of Christ, who in his humiliation was thus wounded, thus weakened, thus reproached; he was also a type of the church, which is often afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted.

      II. He prays for mercy for himself. In general (Psalms 109:21; Psalms 109:21): "Do thou for me, O God the Lord! appear for me, act for me." If God be for us, he will do for us, will do more abundantly for us than we are able either to ask or think. He does not prescribe to God what he should do for him, but refers himself to his wisdom: "Lord, do for me what seems good in thy eyes. Do that which thou knowest will be for me, really for me, in the issue for me, though for the present it may seem to make against me." More particularly, he prays (Psalms 109:26; Psalms 109:26): "Help me, O Lord my God! O save me! Help me under my trouble, save me out of my trouble; save me from sin, help me to do my duty." He prays (Psalms 109:28; Psalms 109:28), Though they curse, bless thou. Here (1.) He despises the causeless curses of his enemies: Let them curse. He said of Shimei, So let him curse. They can but show their malice; they can do him no more mischief than the bird by wandering or the swallow by flying,Proverbs 26:2. He values the blessing of God as sufficient to counterbalance their curses: Bless thou, and then it is no matter though they curse. If God bless us, we need not care who curses us; for how can they curse those whom God has not cursed, nay, whom he has blessed? Numbers 23:8. Men's curses are impotent; God's blessings are omnipotent; and those whom we unjustly curse may in faith expect and pray for God's blessing, his special blessing. When the Pharisees cast out the poor man for his confessing Christ, Christ found him,John 9:35. When men without cause say all the ill they can of us, and wish all the ills they can to us, we may with comfort lift up our heart to God in this petition: Let them curse, but bless thou. He prays (Psalms 109:28; Psalms 109:28), Let thy servant rejoice. Those that know how to value God's blessing, let them but be sure of it, and they will be glad of it.

      III. He prays that his enemies might be ashamed (Psalms 109:28; Psalms 109:28), clothed with shame (Psalms 109:29; Psalms 109:29), that they might cover themselves with their own confusion, that they might be left to themselves, to do that which would expose them and manifest their folly before all men, or rather that they might be disappointed in their designs and enterprises against David, and thereby might be filled with shame, as the adversaries of the Jews were, Nehemiah 6:16. Nay, in this he prays that they might be brought to repentance, which is the chief thing we should beg of God for our enemies. Sinners indeed bring shame upon themselves, but they are true penitents that take shame to themselves and cover themselves with their own confusion.

      IV. He pleads God's glory, the honour of his name:--Do for me, for thy name's sake (Psalms 109:21; Psalms 109:21), especially the honour of his goodness, by which he has proclaimed his name: "Deliver me, because thy mercy is good; it is what thou thyself dost delight in, and it is what I do depend upon. Save me, not according to my merit, for I have none to pretend to, but according to thy mercy; let that be the fountain, the reason, the measure, of my salvation."

      Lastly, He concludes the psalm with joy, the joy of faith, joy in assurance that his present conflicts would end in triumphs. 1. He promises God that he will praise him (Psalms 109:30; Psalms 109:30): "I will greatly praise the Lord, not only with my heart, but with my mouth; I will praise him, not in secret only, but among the multitude." 2. He promises himself that he shall have cause to praise God (Psalms 109:31; Psalms 109:31): He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, night to him, a present help; he shall stand at his right hand as his patron and advocate to plead his cause against his accusers and to bring him off, to save him from those that condemn his soul and would execute their sentence if they could. God was David's protector in his sufferings, and was present also with the Lord Jesus in his, stood at his right hand, so that he was not moved (Psalms 16:8), saved his soul from those that pretended to be the judges of it, and received it into his own hands. Let all those that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him.