Lament of the Righteous Against Traitors and Enemies.
To the chief musician, for use in the liturgical part of worship, a psalm of David, in which he indeed may have reference to conditions of his own time, in his relation to Doeg, to Ahithophel, or to Shimei, but which at the same time is prophetical and typical of the relation in which Christ stood to the Jews and especially to Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him. This is evident from the remarks of Peter at the election of Matthias, Acts 1, 16. 20.
V. 1. Hold not Thy peace, as if God’s silence were an indication of His indifference, O God of my praise, the object of his praise, of whose help he was so sure that he could proclaim His glory even in advance; v. 2. for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful, literally, “of deceit,” said in an emphatic statement, are opened, that is, have the enemies opened, against me, as though in an effort to discredit him in court; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue, literally, “with a tongue of lies or falsehood,” since their entire being was wrapped up in lying, since they knew nothing else.
V. 3. They compassed me about also, coming against him from all sides, with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause, without his having given provocation to them. V. 4. For my love, that is, in return for all the love which he has shown them, they are my adversaries; but I give myself unto prayer, literally, “I am prayer,” that is, he gives forth his whole being in prayer, placing himself in the care of God in absolute trust.
V. 5. And they have rewarded me evil for good, which he, on his part, showed toward them in all his dealings, and hatred for my love.Having thus set forth the wickedness of the adversaries, David singles out one of them, the type of Judas Iscariot, asking the Lord to punish him as he deserved.
V. 6. Set Thou a wicked man over him, a power of punishment, an executioner, to drag him to judgment, and let Satan, in this case practically as the servant of God in carrying out the punishment fixed by Him, stand at his right hand, the usual position of the accusing witness. The court scene is further pictured. V. 7. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned, and let his prayer become sin, since it was not the crying of a penitent sinner, but of one in the depths of blasphemous despair. We are here reminded of the cry of Judas Iscariot: “I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood,” Matt. 27, 4.
V. 8. Let his days be few, his life coming to an end before the time normally set for its length; and let another take his office, this statement being directly applied by Peter to the apostleship lost by Judas Iscariot, Acts 1,20. V. 9. Let his children be fatherless, orphaned by his violent death, and his wife a widow, his family sharing in the punishment of his guilt. V. 10. Let his children, who evidently followed their father in his wickedness, be continually vagabonds, wandering vagrants, and beg; let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places, prowling about at a distance from their ruined home.