A Psalm for Festival Services
V. 10. All nations compassed me about, or, “though all the heathen should surround me,” but in the name of the Lord, trusting in the almighty power of Yahweh, will I destroy them, cut them down, exterminate them.
V. 11. They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about, though they attempt their attacks on all sides; but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them, he who makes the Lord his ally always having the balance of power in his favor.
V. 12. They compassed me about like bees, or, “like wasps,” who were particularly troublesome and vicious during harvest-time; they are quenched as the fire of thorns, which flares up with great force, but is as quickly extinguished; for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. Sure of the assistance of Jehovah, the congregation is at all times possessed of a feeling of triumph.
V. 13. Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall, the impersonal subject being used in the Hebrew, people have attempted in every possible way to wound and overcome the believer; but the Lord helped me. Therefore his song rings out with that of all the faithful.
V. 14. The Lord is my Strength, affording the believer might to overcome, and Song, the subject of hymns of praise at all times, and is become my Salvation, delivering him from all enemies.
V. 15. The voice of rejoicing and salvation, the happiness over the marvelous deliverance, as expressed in hymns of the congregation, is in the tabernacles of the righteous, in the homes of all believers, who have become partakers of the righteousness of the Messiah by the gift of God. The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly, exalted in victory.
V. 16. The right hand of the Lord, emblem of almighty power, is exalted, in a rule over all enemies; the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly, in possession of victory.
V. 17. I shall not die, thus being deprived of the privilege of praising Jehovah, but live, being preserved by God’s mercy, and declare the works of the Lord, that being one of the glorious duties of all believers.
V. 18. The Lord hath chastened me sore, in the anxieties and distresses to which the psalmist had referred in V. 5; but He hath not given me over unto death. Although the psalmist speaks in the singular, he is speaking in the name of the congregation, setting forth their common experience.