I. CONCERNED APPEAL (1-6). PRAYER. The Cry and the Cause. The Wicked in Power. I. Complaint of the Psalmist ( 1-2 ). 2. Conspiracy of the Enemy (3-6). Their Words. "Their arrow suddenly shot." II. CONFIDENT AS.SERTION (7-10 ). PREDICTION. The Certainty and the Cause. The Wicked under Punishment. I. Confounding' of the Enemy (7-8). God's Work. "His arrow suddenly smites." 2. Consequences among Men (9-rn). (a) Reverence and Public Acknowledgment (9). All men. (b) Rejoicing and Public Acclamation (rn). The Upright. SUPERSCRIPT.-A psalm of David. SUBSCRIPT.-For the Chief Musician. PRIMARY AssocIATION.-Composed by David almost certainly during the period of Absalom's insurrection, 2 Sam. xv.-xvii. The secret counsel here referred to in that case will be that of Ahithophel :.md those with him. It is plain that the machinations of the rebels against David recoiled upon their own heads. PROPHETIC AN'.('ICIPATION.-Messiah as God's anointed Head of the nation makes the cause of the godly remnant fully His in the days when Antichrist and the apostate portion of Israel attack them. Other Scriptures confirm that this attack will be secretly planned and suddenly executed. While it is the people of God who suffer, the main object of aggression is Messiah Himself, even as David was in the history. PERSONAL APPLICATION.-Our great weapon against secret evils is prayer. Saints need guarding not only from the enemy himself, but from fear of the enemy and his secret plots (r). The wicked find many allies ( 2). '' Go not with a multitude to do evil,'' Exod. xxiii.
- FrŠm· the secret plans of the enemy, God hides His people in a secret place (2, 10). Evil minds love secrecy (s); c£ John iii. 20. Bitter words are like poisoned shafts (3). The power of the tongue to do evil is often dwelt upon in the Scriptures, c£ James iii. Harm done by the tongue is often through thoughtlessness rather than malice. !fhe arrows of the wicked are apt to rebound upon them selves, their own sword to be turned against them (3, 7); c£ 1 Sam. xvii. 51·; Luke xix. 22. The godly man is always a mark for secret arrows (4). The voice of-slander delights in veiled suggestions; God alone can fathom the depths of iniquity in the human heart ( 6). Cf. Jer. xvii. 9-10. When Goš smites, He needs but one arrow (7). Immediate catastrophe may follow immoral conduct (7). The Lord often allows men to perfect their eviJ. scheme, then strikes unerringly (7). He is glorified even in His judgment work (9). VERSE NOTES 2. or, "Thou wilt hide . .. "; "tumult" = tumultum1s throng; (a) indic. secret. designs; (b) overt attack; cf. ii. I-2. 3. Or, "Aimed as their arrow a deadly scheme"; probably metaphorical allusion to a poisoned shaft. 4. "perfect"; of our Lord in an absolute sense, but of d\e godly in a rdative sense = upright. 5. (c) c£ x. n,\'3; xii. 4; lix. 7 et al; with the verse c£ Matt. xxii. IS ff;John viii. 6. 6. Br. "They plan deeds of iniquity, 'We have perfected,' say they, 'a con- 1 ,,, summate p an ; see sa. xxix. I5. 7. "Therefore God . . . smitten; cf. II with 4; die punishment is described in terms of the crime; arrow for arrow. 8. See 3; cf. Ahithophd's fate. 9. Br. "And shall understand His operation." tak £i trust = e re uge m. Psahns lxv.-lxviii. all bear the double title "Psalm" and "Song." Songs were intended for singing at public worship in the Temple (Isa. xxxi. 29; Amos viii. 3) and are all in a strain of joyous cdebration.
