Psa 6:3, 14:4, 36:12, 53:4, 59:2 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 3. How long? ] How long shall I continue under this malady? How long will it be before thou speak peace to my troubled heart?

‏ Psalms 6:3

Verse 3. How long?] How long shall I continue under this malady? How long will it be before thou speak peace to my troubled heart?

‏ Psalms 14:4

Verse 4. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?] Is there not one of them who takes this dreadful subject into consideration? To their deeply fallen state they add cruelty; they oppress and destroy the poor, without either interest or reason.

Who eat up my people as they eat bread] Ye make them an easy and unresisting prey. They have no power to oppose you, and therefore you destroy them. That this is the meaning of the expression, is plain from the speech of Joshua and Caleb relative to the Canaanites. Nu 14:9: "Neither fear ye the people or the land; for they are bread for us."

And call not upon the Lord.] They have no defence, for they invoke not the Lord. They are all either atheists or idolaters.

‏ Psalms 36:12

Verse 12. There are the workers of iniquity fallen] THERE, in Babylon, are the workers of iniquity fallen, and so cast down that they shall not be able to rise. A prophecy of the destruction of the Babylonish empire by Cyrus. That it was destroyed, is an historical fact; that they were never able to recover their liberty, is also a fact; and that Babylon itself is now blotted out of the map of the universe, so that the site of it is no longer known, is confirmed by every traveller who has passed over those regions.

The word sham, THERE, has been applied by many of the fathers to the pride spoken of in the preceding verse. There, in or by pride, says Augustine, do all sinners perish. There, in heaven, have the evil angels fallen through pride, says St. Jerome. There, in paradise, have our first parents fallen, through pride and disobedience. There, in hell, have the proud and disobedient angels been precipitated.-Eusebius, &c. THERE, by pride, have the persecutors brought God's judgments upon themselves. See Calmet. But the first interpretation is the best.

ANALYSIS OF THE THIRTY-SIXTH PSALM

The object of this Psalm is to implore God, out of his goodness, that he would deliver the upright from the pride and malice of the wicked.

I. The psalmist sets down the character of a wicked man, and his fearful state, Ps 36:1-5.

II. He makes a narrative in commendation of God's mercy, Ps 36:6-10.

III. He prays for a continuance of God's goodness to his people, petitions against his proud enemy, and exults at his fall, Ps 36:10-12.

I. The character of a wicked man:-

1. "There is no fear of God before his eyes;" and from this, as an evil root, all the other evils spring: and thus he enters on an induction of particulars.

2. "He flattereth himself in his own eyes." A great sin, in his eyes, is no sin: vice is virtue; falsehood, truth.

3. In this he continues, "until his iniquity be found to be hateful;"-till God, by some heavy judgment, has passed his sentence against it.

4. He is full of hypocrisy and deceit; "the words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit;" he gives goodly words, but evil is in his heart.

5. He has renounced all wisdom and goodness: "He hath left off to be wise, and to do good."

6. He enters deliberately and coolly into evil plans and designs: 1. "He deviseth mischief upon his bed." 2. "He sets himself (of firm purpose) in the way that is not good. 3. "He abhors not evil." He invents wickedness; he labours to perfect it; yea, though it be of the deepest stain, he abhors it not.

II. How comes it that such wicked men are permitted to live? How is it that God can bear patiently with such workers of iniquity? The psalmist answers this question by pointing out God's mercy, from which this long-suffering proceeds; which he considers in a twofold point of view: 1. Absolute and general, extending to all. 2. Particular, which is exhibited to the faithful only.

1. General. God is good to all; which is seen in his bountifulness, fidelity, justice; and in his preservation of all things: 1. "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens." Thou preservest them. Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. They water the earth, as thou hast promised. 3. "Thy righteousness is like the great mountains." Immovable. 4. "Thy judgments are a great deep." Unsearchable, and past finding out. 5. "Thou Lord, preservest man and beast." In thee we live, move, and have our being.

2. In particular. He is especially careful of his followers. The providence by which he sustains them is, 1. A precious thing: "O, how excellent (quam pretiosa) how precious is thy loving-kindness, O Lord!" The operation of which, in behalf of the faithful, is hope, confidence, and comfort in distress: "Therefore the children of men shall put their trust under the shadow," &c. 2. The effects of this, the plenty of all good things prepared for them: 1. "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the goodness of thy house." 2. "Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures." To which he adds the cause: "For with thee is the fountain of life; in thy light we shall see light."

III. He concludes with a prayer, 1. For all God's people. 2. For himself.

1. He prays that this excellent and precious mercy may light on all those who serve God sincerely: "O continue thy loving-kindness to them that know thee."

2. He prays for himself; that he may be defended from the pride and violence of wicked men: "Let not the foot of pride come against me; and let not the hand of the wicked remove me."

3. Lastly, he closes all with this exultation: "There are the workers of iniquity fallen!" There, when they promised themselves peace and security, and said, Tush! no harm shall happen to us; there and then are they fallen: "They are cast down, and shall not be able to rise."

‏ Psalms 53:4

Verse 4. Have the workers of iniquity] For , poaley, workers seventy-two of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., with several ancient editions, the Chaldee, though not noticed in the Latin translation in the London Polyglot, the Syriac, Vulgate, Septuagint, AEthiopic, and the Arabic, with the Anglo-Saxon, add the word col, all,-ALL the workers of iniquity; which is the reading in the parallel place in Ps 14:3, 4. It may be necessary to observe, that the Chaldee, in the Antwerp and Paris Polyglots, and in that of Justinianus, has not the word col, ALL.

Have not called upon God] Elohim; but many MSS. have Jehovah, LORD.

‏ Psalms 59:2

Verse 2. The workers of iniquity] Principally Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian; who were the chief enemies of the poor returned captives.

Bloody men.] The above, who sought the destruction of the Israelites; and particularly, that of Nehemiah, whom four several times they endeavoured to bring into an ambush, that they might take away his life. See Ne 6:1-4.