Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 21:8

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 21:8. Thine hand shall find out — Thy uncontrollable power shall find out all thine enemies, wheresoever hidden or howsoever secret. God knows the secret sinner, and where the workers of iniquity hide themselves.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 20-21 Before and after battle

These two psalms belong together as a pair. The former is a prayer for the king before he leads the people in battle; the latter, a thanksgiving after victory.
Addressing the king, the people call down God’s power and protection upon him (20:1-2). They pray that God will remember the king’s faithfulness and give him victory (3-5). The king replies that victory is certain, because he has God’s help. God’s power is greater than military might (6-8). In response, the people offer a further plea, brief and urgent, for God’s help (9).

The people join in thanksgiving to God that he has answered their prayer of the previous psalms (see Psalms 20:4). God has given the king his heart’s desire, enabling him to lead his people to victory (21:1-4). Although the king receives glory because of his victory, the glory is not self-centred. It is glory given him by God, in whom he trusts (5-7). Having offered thanks to God, the people turn and address the king. They assure him that through God’s power he will continue to have victory over all his enemies (8-12). King and people then unite in praise to God (13).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Thy hand will find out all thine enemies; Thy right hand will find out those that hate thee. Thou wilt make them as a fiery furnace in the time of thine anger. Jehovah will swallow them up in his wrath, And the fire shall devour them. Their fruit wilt thou destroy from the earth And their seed from among the children of men.”

“All thine enemies” (Psalms 21:9). Barnes’ summary of these enemies is: “All that in any way are opposed to God and his reign, all worshippers of idols, all enemies of truth, all rejecters of revelation, all workers of iniquity, all infidels and scoffers. These shall be subdued, either by being made to yield to the claims of truth, or by being cut off and punished.”Barnes’ Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a 1987 reprint of the 1878 edition), p. 186.

The apostle Paul added the following to the list of God’s enemies: “Them that know not God, and them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:8).

“As a fiery furnace” (Psalms 21:9). The enemies of God are here compared, not to a furnace, but to the fuel in the fiery furnace. What does this mean? Spurgeon properly identified what is here foretold as exactly what Christ promised when he said, “They shall be cast into a furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”Charles Haddon Spurgeon, p. 98.

One hardly needs to be told that the judgments against God’s enemies here foretold are not those capable of being executed by any king. The sudden outcropping of the word “Jehovah” in Psalms 21:9 b dramatically indicates that the passage cannot pertain to the earthly David, but to David’s Greater Son, the Messiah. Kidner expressed it thus: “This passage outruns the power of any king, as the word `Jehovah’ in Psalms 21:9 b acknowledges; and the scale of events calls once more for the Messiah.”Derek Kidner, p. 104.

“In the time of thine anger” (Psalms 21:9). The literal meaning of the Hebrew text here is, “in the time of thy face, thy presence, or thy countenance.”Alexander Maclaren, p. 206. (Also, see American Standard Version margin). This indicates that the time when such terrible judgments upon the wicked shall be executed is that of the final judgment of mankind associated with the Second Advent of Jesus Christ. The thought of this passage is dramatically repeated in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10, especially in the words, “Who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face (or presence) of the Lord and the glory of his might.” The apostle Paul also revealed in that passage exactly when such terrifying judgments shall come: “When he (the Christ) shall come (in the Second Advent) to be glorified in his saints.”

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Thine hand shall find out - That is, Thou wilt find out - the hand being that by which we execute our purposes. This verse commences a new division of the psalm (see the introduction) - in which the psalmist looks forward to the complete and final triumph of God over “all” his enemies. He looks to this in connection with what God had done for him. He infers that he who had enabled him to achieve such signal conquests over his own foes and the foes of God would not withdraw his interposition until he had secured a complete victory for the cause of truth and holiness. In connection with the promise made to him respecting his permanent reign and the reign of his successors on the throne Psalms 21:4, he infers that God would ultimately subdue the enemies of truth, and would set up his kingdom over all.

All thine enemies - However they may attempt to conceal themselves - however they may evade the efforts to subdue them - yet they shall “all” be found out and overcome. As this was intended by the Spirit of inspiration, it undoubtedly refers to the final triumph of truth on the earth, or to the fact that the kingdom of God will be set up over all the world. All that are properly ranked among the enemies of God - all that are in any way opposed to him and to his reign - will be found out and conquered. All the worshippers of idols - all the enemies of truth - all the rejecters of revelation - all the workers of iniquity, - all that are infidels or scoffers - shall be found out and subdued. Either by being made to yield to the claims of truth, and thus becoming the friends of God, or by being cut off and punished for their sins - they will be all so overcome that God shall reign over all the earth. An important truth is further taught here, to wit, that no enemy of God can escape him. There is no place to which he can flee where God will not find him. “There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves,” Job 34:22.

Thy right hand - See the notes at Psalms 17:7.

Those that hate thee - All thine enemies.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

8.Thy hand shall find. Hitherto the internal happiness of the kingdom has been described. Now there follows, as it was necessary there should, the celebration of its invincible strength against its enemies. What is said in this verse is of the same import as if the king had been pronounced victorious over all his enemies. I have just now remarked, that such a statement is not superfluous; for it would not have been enough for the kingdom to have flourished internally, and to have been replenished with peace, riches, and abundance of all good things, had it not also been well fortified against the attacks of foreign enemies. This particularly applies to the kingdom of Christ, which is never without enemies in this world. True, it is not always assailed by open war, and there is sometimes granted to it a period of respite; but the ministers of Satan never lay aside their malice and desire to do mischief, and therefore they never cease to plot and to endeavor to accomplish the overthrow of Christ’s kingdom. It is well for us that our King, who lifts up his hand as a shield before us to defend us, is stronger than all. As the Hebrew word מצא, matsa, which is twice repeated, and which we have translated, to find, sometimes signifies to suffice; and, as in the first clause, there is prefixed to the word כל, kal, which signifies all, the letter ל, lamed, which signifies for, or against, and which is not prefixed to the Hebrew word which is rendered those that hate thee; some expositors, because of this diversity, explain the verse as if it had been said, Thy hand shall be able for all thine enemies, thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thus the sentence will ascend by degrees, — Thy hand shall be able to withstand, thy right hand shall lay hold upon thy enemies, so that they shall not escape destruction.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 21:1-13

Again, to the chief musician, the psalm of David.

The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and you have not withheld the requests of his lips ( Psalms 21:1-2 ).

Now the Selah indicates, really, sort of a change of thought. It sort of introduces a new idea. It is just sort of a rest, and then introducing of a new idea, new thought pattern.

For you prevent him with the blessings of goodness: you set a crown of pure gold on his head. He asks for life from thee, and you gave it to him, even the length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy salvation ( Psalms 21:3-5 ):

He is talking about the king's delight in the Lord, and how he was just so gracious for what God has done.

For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved. Your hand shall find out all your enemies: your right hand shall find out those that hate thee. You will make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit will you destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. For they intended evil against thee: they imagined mischievous devices, that they are not able to perform. Therefore thou shalt make them to turn their back, when thou shalt make ready your arrows upon thy strings against the face of them. Be thou exalted, LORD, in your own strength: so will we sing of thy praise and thy power ( Psalms 21:5-13 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 21

This royal psalm of thanksgiving is a companion to the preceding one in that it records David’s thanksgiving for the victory that he anticipated in Psalms 20.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The change in person indicates that David’s subjects now addressed him. Because he trusted in the Lord and received victory, the people were sure he would continue to defeat his enemies. The right hand refers symbolically to power and authority. David’s enemies would perish as in a fiery oven and as by a hungry animal. Scripture often uses fire as a metaphor for the wrath of God (e.g., Exodus 19:18; Hebrews 12:29; Revelation 1:14; et al.). God would cut off the posterity of the enemies, so the defeat of David’s foes would be final.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. Anticipation of further blessing 21:8-12

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies,.... The Jews, that would not have him to reign over them, who crucified him and persecuted his apostles; the Gentiles, who were also concerned in his death; the Roman emperors, who persecuted the Christians, and are signified by the red dragon that waited to devour the man child when brought forth by the woman, the church, Revelation 12:3; and also the Papists, the followers of the man of sin, who oppose Christ in his offices and grace, and are the enemies of his witnesses, and of his interest; and besides these there are many professors of religion who are enemies of Christ, either doctrinally or practically; to whom may be added, the devil and his angels, and all those who are the children of him and are influenced by him: these the hand of Christ will find out sooner or later; for the words are an address to the King Messiah, who being omniscient knows where all his enemies are, and where to find them; and being omnipotent he will lay hold upon them, and hold them, and none shall escape from him; his hand of vengeance shall fall upon them, and he shall inflict righteous and deserved punishment on them; and this shall be the case of "all" of them, none will be able to hide themselves in secret places from him. This has been in part verified in the Jewish nation at the destruction of Jerusalem, when wrath came upon that people to the uttermost for their treatment of the Messiah; and in the Pagan empire, when it was demolished, and kings and great men in vain called to the rocks and mountains to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb, Revelation 6:15; and will have a further accomplishment in the antichristian states and kingdoms, when the vials of God's wrath shall be poured out upon them; and especially at the battle of Armageddon, when Christ will avenge himself, and get rid of all his enemies at once; and will have its final accomplishment in all wicked men and devils at the day of judgment, when all Christ's enemies will be found out by him, whether open or secret, and receive their just punishment;

thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee; this is the same with the former clause, and is repeated for the further certainty and greater confirmation of the thing; and "the right hand" is mentioned as expressive of the mighty power of the Lord. The Chaldee paraphrase renders it, "the vengeance of thy right hand".

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      7 For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.   8 Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.   9 Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.   10 Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men.   11 For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.   12 Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.   13 Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power.

      The psalmist, having taught his people to look back with joy and praise on what God had done for him and them, here teaches them to look forward with faith, and hope, and prayer, upon what God would further do for them: The king rejoices in God (Psalms 21:1; Psalms 21:1), and therefore we will be thankful; the king trusteth in God (Psalms 21:7; Psalms 21:7), therefore will we be encouraged. The joy and confidence of Christ our King is the ground of all our joy and confidence.

      I. They are confident of the stability of David's kingdom. Through the mercy of the Most High, and not through his own merit or strength, he shall not be moved. His prosperous state shall not be disturbed; his faith and hope in God, which are the stay of his spirit, shall not be shaken. The mercy of the Most High (the divine goodness, power, and dominion) is enough to secure our happiness, and therefore our trust in that mercy should be enough to silence all our fears. God being at Christ's right hand in his sufferings (Psalms 16:8) and he being at God's right hand in his glory, we may be sure he shall not, he cannot, be moved, but continues ever.

      II. They are confident of the destruction of all the impenitent implacable enemies of David's kingdom. The success with which God had blessed David's arms hitherto was an earnest of the rest which God would give him from all his enemies round about, and a type of the total overthrow of all Christ's enemies who would not have him to reign over them. Observe, 1. The description of his enemies. They are such as hate him, Psalms 21:8; Psalms 21:8. They hated David because God had set him apart for himself, hated Christ because they hated the light; but both were hated without any just cause, and in both God was hated, John 15:23; John 15:25. 2. The designs of his enemies (Psalms 21:11; Psalms 21:11): They intended evil against thee, and imagined a mischievous device; they pretended to fight against David only, but their enmity was against God himself. Those that aimed to un-king David aimed, in effect, to un-God Jehovah. What is devised and designed against religion, and against the instruments God raises up to support and advance it, is very evil and mischievous, and God takes it as devised and designed against himself and will so reckon for it. (3.) The disappointment of them: "They devise what they are not able to perform," Psalms 21:11; Psalms 21:11. Their malice is impotent, and they imagine a vain thing,Psalms 2:1. (4.) The discovery of them (Psalms 21:8; Psalms 21:8): "Thy hand shall find them out. Though ever so artfully disguised by the pretences and professions of friendship, though mingled with the faithful subjects of this kingdom and hardly to be distinguished from them, though flying from justice and absconding in their close places, yet thy hand shall find them out wherever they are." There is no escaping God's avenging eye, no going out of the reach of his hand; rocks and mountains will be no better shelter at last than fig-leaves were at first. (5.) The destruction of them; it will be an utter destruction (Luke 19:27); they shall be swallowed up and devoured, Psalms 21:9; Psalms 21:9. Hell, the portion of all Christ's enemies, is the complete misery both of body and soul. Their fruit and their seed shall be destroyed,Psalms 21:10; Psalms 21:10. The enemies of God's kingdom, in every age, shall fall under the same doom, and the whole generation of them will at last be rooted out, and all opposing rule, principality, and power, shall be put down. The arrows of God's wrath shall confound them and put them to flight, being levelled at the face of them, Psalms 21:12; Psalms 21:12. That will be the lot of daring enemies that face God. The fire of God's wrath will consume them (Psalms 21:9; Psalms 21:9); they shall not only be cast into a furnace of fire (Matthew 13:42), but he shall make them themselves as a fiery oven or furnace; they shall be their own tormentors; the reflections and terrors of their own consciences will be their hell. Those that might have had Christ to rule and save them, but rejected him and fought against him, shall find that even the remembrance of that will be enough to make them, to eternity, a fiery oven to themselves: it is the worm that dies not.

      III. In this confidence they beg of God that he would still appear for his anointed (Psalms 21:13; Psalms 21:13), that he would act for him in his own strength, by the immediate operations of his power as Lord of hosts and Father of spirits, making little use of means and instruments. And, 1. Hereby he would exalt himself and glorify his own name. "We have but little strength, and are not so active for thee as we should be, which is our shame; Lord, take the work into thy own hands, do it, without us, and it will be thy glory." 2. Hereupon they would exalt him: "So will we sing, and praise thy power, the more triumphantly." The less God has of our service when a deliverance is in the working the more he must have of our praises when it is wrought without us.