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. 11. Let the extortioner, the heartless creditor, catch all that he hath, as in a net or snare; and let the strangers spoil his labor, making that their plunder or booty over which he toiled with so much work. V. 12. Let there be none to extend mercy unto him, showing love to his children; neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children. V. 13. Let his posterity be cut off, by exterminating his family; and in the generation following, in the second generation, let their name be blotted out, so annihilated that not even a remembrance would be left.
V. 14. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. V. 15. Let them be before the Lord continually, the iniquities of the father being unforgotten and unforgiven by the Lord, that He may cut off the memory of them from the earth, to the everlasting disgrace of the entire family, all of whose members, on account of their own wickedness, are burdened also with the guilt of their forbears, v. 16. because that he, the chief and representative enemy, remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, one who was already bowed down with suffering, that he might even slay the broken in heart. The Messianic character of this passage is seen from the corresponding section of Psalm 69, especially vv. 20-29.
V. 17. As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him, it struck him with full force when he, in despair, took his own life; as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. His fate was the result of his own choice, made in spite of better knowledge and repeated warnings. V. 18. As he clothed himself with cursing, as one wrapping himself closely in it, happy in feeling it all about himself, like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, the curse penetrating into the innermost parts of his body, and like oil into his bones, saturating everything and bringing condemnation and punishment upon him. V. 19. Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. All these imprecations are now summarized.
V. 20. Let this be the reward, the well-deserved punishment, of mine adversaries from the Lord, and of them that speak evil against my soul, in repaying the love shown them with enmity in word and deed. They have brought the curse and punishment upon themselves, they have chosen the evil. The inspired singer now turns to lament and prayer.