Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 141:7

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalm 140 - 143 Troubles for the godly

These four psalms are similar, and from the title of Psalms 142:0 it appears that all four belong to the time when David was fleeing from Saul. (See introductory notes to Psalms 34:0.)

Treachery and slander are the chief weapons that David’s enemies use to attack him. These men have the poison of snakes and the cunning of hunters (140:1-5). But Yahweh is David’s God, his defender in whom he trusts for victory (6-8). David’s enemies will receive a fitting punishment if they suffer the torments that they intended to inflict upon David (9-11). The righteous will praise God when they see his justice in punishing the wicked and delivering the innocent (12-13).
When a person is the victim of slanderous talk, such as David was at the time, he is tempted to use strong words and unwise speech in return. David prays that he may be kept from such sins. He does not want to follow the evil ways of the wicked (141:1-4). If a godly person ever has cause to rebuke him, David prays that he may receive it as a blessing, as if he has been anointed with oil. But he will always remain opposed to evil (5). People will be forced to take notice when God acts, for his punishments will leave the wicked completely shattered (6-7). Meanwhile, the wicked still live, and David prays that he will be saved from the traps they have set for him (8-10).

Still pursued by his enemies, David escaped from Gath and fled to the cave of Adullam, though at the time of this psalm others have not yet joined him (1 Samuel 22:1). He is overcome by a feeling of terrible loneliness. Feeling that no one cares for him, he cries out to God (142:1-4). He prays that God will deal with his enemies and so enable him to live a normal life in freedom and security again (5-7).

The frightening thought occurs to David that God might be using the enemy to punish him for his sins. He knows that he, like others, is a sinner, and there is no way of escaping punishment if God decides to act. He therefore casts himself entirely on the mercy of God for forgiveness and deliverance (143:1-2). David tells God about his troubles, how he has been pursued and is forced to live in darkness in the cave (3-4). He thinks of God’s mighty acts in the past and prays that God will save him again (5-6). He fears the hopelessness of those who die without God. He longs for a greater experience of God (7-8). He prays that God, having rescued him, will instruct and guide him in the future (9-12).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THE MYSTERIOUS PASSAGE

Psalms 141:5-7 are the difficult verses mentioned at the head of this chapter; and we submit the following renditions of these in various versions as the most practical way of discerning what might be meant.

"Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness; And let him reprove me, it shall be as oil upon the head; Let not my head refuse it: For even in their wickedness shall my prayer continue. Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock; And they shall hear my words; for they are sweet. As when one ploweth and cleaveth the earth, Our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol."

(MOFFATT)
"When good men wound us and reprove us,
'tis a kindness. I would pray ever to have their good will…
They are given over to their tyrants -
to teach them that the Eternal's threats are true.
Their bones lie scattered for the grave to swallow,
like stones splintered and crushed upon the road."

(GOOD NEWS BIBLE)
"A good man may punish me and rebuke me in kindness,
but I will never accept honor from evil men.
because I am always praying against their evil deeds.
When their rulers are thrown down from rocky cliffs,
The people will admit that my words are true.
Like wood that is split and chopped into bits,
So their bones are scattered at the edge of the grave."

(RSV)
"Let a good man strike or rebuke me in kindness,
but let the oil of the wicked never anoint my head;
for my prayer is continually against their wicked deeds.
When they are given over to those who shall condemn them,
Then shall they learn that the word of the Lord is true.
As a rock which one cleaves and shatters on the land,
so shall their bones be strewn at the mouth of Sheol."

These examples are enough to demonstrate that the translators simply do not know what these verses mean. Some of the proposed renditions have merit in themselves, but the proposition that any of these renditions is what is stated in the word of the Lord is impossible of any confident acceptance.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Our bones are scattered at the grave’s mouth - We are, indeed, now like bones scattered in the places of graves; we seem to be weak, feeble, disorganized. We are in a condition which of itself seems to be hopeless: as hopeless as it would be for dry bones scattered when they were buried to rise up and attack an enemy. The reference is to the condition of David and his followers as pursued by a mighty foe. His hope was not in his own forces, but in the power and interposition of God Psalms 141:8.

As when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth - Like chips, blocks, splinters, that have no strength; as when these lie scattered around - a fit emblem of our feeble and scattered forces.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

7.As one who breaketh, etc. Here David complains that his enemies were not satisfied with inflicting upon him one death — death of a common description — but must first mangle him, and those associated with him, and then cast them into the grave. The common robber on the highway throws the body of his murdered victim whole into the ditch; David tells us, that he and those with him were treated more barbarously, their Bones being dispersed, as one cleaves wood or stones into fragments, or digs the earth. From this it appears, that David, like Paul, (2 Corinthians 1:9,) was delivered from deaths oft; ⁽²⁴¹⁾ and we may learn the duty of continuing to cherish hope of life and deliverance even when the expression may apply to us, that our bones have been broken and scattered.

(241) If David here refers to the treatment he and his followers met with at the hands of Saul, this exhibits in dark colors the extreme inhumanity of that monarch. “We are not sufficiently informed,” says Walford, “respecting the cruelties which were perpetrated against David and those who adhered to him, to enable us to point out the instances to which he here alludes; but the murder of Abimelech, and of the priests who were with him, furnishes a pregnant proof of the atrocities which Saul and his agents were capable of perpetrating. (See 1 Samuel 22:0) It appears from the language of this verse that such enormities were not confined to a few cases, but must have been numerous, to give occasion to the image which is employed to describe them.” How striking the contrast between David’s treatment of Saul, and that which Saul adopted towards him! Mr. Peters in his Dissertations on Job, gives an exposition of this 7^th verse which is ingenious, and which Archbishop Secker calls “admirable, though not quite unexceptionable.” Understanding the verse as referring to the slaughter of the priests at Nob, just now adverted to, he renders the words שאול לפי, (which Calvin translates, at the grave’s mouth,) at the mouth, that is, at the command of Saul. In support of this translation he produces similar expressions, על פי פרעה, at the command of Pharaoh, (Genesis 45:21,) and על פיך, at thy command. (Job 39:17.) To this rendering there is, however, this strong objection, that we do not find David ever mentioning Saul by name in any of the Psalms. Peters, indeed, states that this objection was offered to him against his view, and he endeavors to remove it, though, as we think, with indifferent success.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 140:1-13 , another psalm of David.

Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man; Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war. They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings. The proud have hid a snare for me, the cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set traps for me ( Psalms 140:1-5 ).

Gins is traps.

I said unto the LORD, Thou art my God: hear the voice of my supplications, O LORD. O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle. Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves. As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them. Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again. Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him. I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor ( Psalms 140:6-12 ).

I'm glad I'm not David's enemy. He really asks God to take care of them. But it is so typical of so many of the psalms of David where his concern is about those who have conspired against him. David is the type of man that you either loved very much or hated very much. It was hard to just have a passive attitude towards David. He had many deep, loyal friends, but he also had many avowed enemies that were seeking to destroy him. And so he seems to be constantly asking God for help against his enemy and then asking God's judgment really to fall upon the head of his enemies.

Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence ( Psalms 140:13 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 141

In this evening prayer, David asked God to protect him and enable him to continue living for God’s glory. It is an individual lament.

"Life is built on character and character is built on decisions. This psalm reveals David making a number of wise decisions as he faced the attacks of the enemy." [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p. 369.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. A request to walk in God’s ways 141:3-7

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The psalmist expressed openness to the constructive criticisms of the righteous, but he prayed for God to judge the wicked. He believed their leaders would fail, as when an attacking army throws the judges of their enemy from cliffs to destroy them. The wicked would learn that David’s words had been true when God ultimately destroyed them. They would testify that God had overturned them into the grave, as one who plows a field turns the earth over.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth,.... Into which they were not suffered to be put, but lay unburied; or from whence they were dug up, and lay scattered about; which is to be understood of such of David's friends as fell into the hands of Saul and his men, and were slain: perhaps it may refer to the fourscore and five priests, and the inhabitants of Nob, slain by the order of Saul, 1 Samuel 22:18. Though the phrase may be only proverbial, and be expressive of the danger David and his men were in, and their sense of it, who looked upon themselves like dry bones, hopeless and helpless, and had the sentence of death in themselves, and were as it were at the mouth of the grave, on the brink of ruin;

as when one cutteth and cleaveth [wood] upon the earth: and the chips fly here and there, and are disregarded; such was their case: or as men cut and cleave the earth with the plough, and it is tore up by it, and falls on each side of it, so are we persecuted, afflicted, and distressed by our enemies, and have no mercy shown us; so the Targum,

"as a man that cuts and cleaves with ploughshares in the earth, so our members are scattered at the grave's mouth.''

The Syriac and Arabic versions understand it of the ploughshare cutting the earth.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      5 Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.   6 When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet.   7 Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.   8 But mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.   9 Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity.   10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape.

      Here, I. David desires to be told of his faults. His enemies reproached him with that which was false, which he could not but complain of; yet, at the same time, he desired his friends would reprove him for that which was really amiss in him, particularly if there was any thing that gave the least colour to those reproaches (Psalms 141:5; Psalms 141:5): let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness. The righteous God (so some); "I will welcome the rebukes of his providence, and be so far from quarrelling with them that I will receive them as tokens of love and improve them as means of grace, and will pray for those that are the instruments of my trouble." But it is commonly taken for the reproofs given by righteous men; and it best becomes those that are themselves righteous to reprove the unrighteousness of others, and from them reproof will be best taken. But if the reproof be just, though the reprover be not so, we must make a good use of it and learn obedience by it. We are here taught how to receive the reproofs of the righteous and wise. 1. We must desire to be reproved for whatever is amiss in us, or is done amiss by us: "Lord, put it into the heart of the righteous to smite me and reprove me. If my own heart does not smite me, as it ought, let my friend do it; let me never fall under that dreadful judgment of being let alone in sin." 2. We must account it a piece of friendship. We must not only bear it patiently, but take it as a kindness; for reproofs of instruction are the way of life (Proverbs 6:23), are means of good to us, to bring us to repentance for the sins we have committed, and to prevent relapses into sin. Though reproofs cut, it is in order to a cure, and therefore they are much more desirable than the kisses of an enemy (Proverbs 27:6) or the song of fools, Ecclesiastes 7:5. David blessed God for Abigail's seasonable admonition, 1 Samuel 25:32. 3. We must reckon ourselves helped and healed by it: It shall be as an excellent oil to a wound, to mollify it and close it up; it shall not break my head, as some reckon it to do, who could as well bear to have their heads broken as to be told of their faults; but, says David, "I am not of that mind; it is my sin that has broken my head, that has broken my bones, Psalms 51:8. The reproof is an excellent oil, to cure the bruises sin has given me. It shall not break my head, if it may but help to break my heart." 4. We must requite the kindness of those that deal thus faithfully, thus friendly with us, at least by our prayers for them in their calamities, and hereby we must show that we take it kindly. Dr. Hammond gives quite another reading of this verse: "Reproach will bruise me that am righteous, and rebuke me; but that poisonous oil shall not break my head (shall not destroy me, shall not do me the mischief intended), for yet my prayer shall be in their mischiefs, that God would preserve me from them, and my prayer shall not be in vain."

      II. David hopes his persecutors will, some time or other, bear to be told of their faults, as he was willing to be told of his (Psalms 141:6; Psalms 141:6): "When their judges" (Saul and his officers who judged and condemned David, and would themselves be sole judges) "are overthrown in stony places, among the rocks in the wilderness, then they shall hear my words, for they are sweet." Some think this refers to the relentings that were in Saul's breast when he said, with tears, Is this thy voice, my son David?1 Samuel 24:16; 1 Samuel 26:21. Or we may take it more generally: even judges, great as they are, may come to be overthrown. Those that make the greatest figure in this world do not always meet with level smooth ways through it. And those that slighted the word of God before will relish it, and be glad of it, when they are in affliction, for that opens the ear to instruction. When the world is bitter the word is sweet. Oppressed innocency cannot gain a hearing with those that live in pomp and pleasure, but when they come to be overthrown themselves they will have more compassionate thoughts of the afflicted.

      III. David complains of the great extremity to which he and his friends were reduced (Psalms 141:7; Psalms 141:7): Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, out of which they are thrown up, so long have we been dead, or into which they are ready to be thrown, so near are we to the pit; and they are as little regarded as chips among the hewers of wood, which are thrown in neglected heaps: As one that cuts and cleaves the earth (so some read it), alluding to the ploughman who tears the earth in pieces with his plough-share, Psalms 129:3. Can these dry bones live?

      IV. David casts himself upon God, and depends upon him for deliverance: "But my eyes are unto thee (Psalms 141:8; Psalms 141:8); for, when the case is ever so deplorable, thou canst redress all the grievances. From thee I expect relief, bad as things are, and in thee is my trust." Those that have their eye towards God may have their hopes in him.

      V. He prays that God would succour and relieve him as his necessity required. 1. That he would comfort him: "Leave not my soul desolate and destitute; still let me see where my help is." 2. That he would prevent the designs of his enemies against him (Psalms 141:9; Psalms 141:9): "Keep me from being taken in the snare they have laid for me; give me to discover it and to evade it." Be the gin placed with ever so much subtlety, God can and will secure his people from being taken in it. 3. That God would, in justice, turn the designs of his enemies upon themselves, and, in mercy, deliver him from being ruined by them (Psalms 141:10; Psalms 141:10): let the wicked fall into their own net, the net which, intentionally, they procured for me, but which, meritoriously, they prepared for themselves. Nec lex est justioir ulla quam necis artifices arte perire sua--No law can be more just than that the architects of destruction should perish by their own contrivances. All that are bound over to God's justice are held in the cords of their own iniquity. But let me at the same time obtain a discharge. The entangling and ensnaring of the wicked sometimes prove the escape and enlargement of the righteous.