Psa 109:21-31 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 21 But do thou for me - While they use horrible imprecations against me, and load me with their curses, act thou for me, and deliver me from their maledictions. While they curse, do thou bless. This verse is a farther proof of the correctness of the interpretation given above.

Psalms 109:21-31

Verse 21

But do thou for me - While they use horrible imprecations against me, and load me with their curses, act thou for me, and deliver me from their maledictions. While they curse, do thou bless. This verse is a farther proof of the correctness of the interpretation given above. Verse 22

I am poor and needy - I am allicted and impoverished; and my heart is wounded - my very life is sinking through distress. Verse 23

I am gone like the shadow - "I have walked like the declining shadow," - I have passed my meridian of health and life; and as the sun is going below the horizon, so am I about to go under the earth.

I am tossed up and down as the locust - When swarms of locusts take wing, and infest the countries in the east, if the wind happen to blow briskly, the swarms are agitated and driven upon each other, so as to appear to be heaved to and fro, or tossed up and down. Dr. Shaw, who has seen this, says it gives a lively idea of the comparisons of the psalmist. Verse 24

My knees are weak through fasting - That hunger is as soon felt in weakening the knees, as in producing an uneasy sensation in the stomach, is known by all who have ever felt it. Writers in all countries have referred to this effect of hunger. Thus Tryphioderus Il. Excid. ver 155: Τειρομενου βαρυθειεν ατερπεΐ γουνατα λιμῳ. "Their knees might fail, by hunger's force subdued;

And sink, unable to sustain their load."

Merrick.

So Plautus, Curcul, act. ii., scen. 3: -

Tenebrae oboriuntur, genua inedia succidunt. "My eyes grow dim; my knees are weak with hunger."

And Lucretius, lib. 4: ver. 950: -

Brachia, palpebraeque cadunt, poplitesque procumbunt. "The arms, the eyelids fall; the knees give way."

Both the knees and the sight are particularly affected by hunger. Verse 25

When they looked upon me they soaked their heads - Thus was David treated by Shimei, 2Sam 16:5, 2Sam 16:6, and our blessed Lord by the Jews, Mat 27:39. Verse 27

That they may know that this is thy hand - Let thy help be so manifest in my behalf, that they may see it is thy hand, and that thou hast undertaken for me. Or, if the words refer to the passion of our Lord, Let them see that I suffer not on my own account; "for the transgression of my people am I smitten." Verse 28

Let them curse, but bless thou - See on Psa 109:20 (note): Of the mode of interpretation recommended there, this verse gives additional proof. Verse 29

Let them cover themselves - He here retorts their own curse, Psa 109:18. Verse 30

I will greatly praise the Lord - I have the fullest prospect of deliverance, and a plenary vindication of my innocence. Verse 31

He shall stand at the right hand of the poor - Even if Satan himself be the accuser, God will vindicate the innocence of his servant. Pilate and the Jews condemned our Lord to death as a malefactor; God showed his immaculate innocence by his resurrection from the dead.

The whole of this Psalm is understood by many as referring solely to Christ, the traitor Judas, and the wicked Jews. This is the view taken of it in the analysis.