Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 17:11

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 17:11. They have now compassed us in our steps — Instead of אשרנו ashshurenu, "our steps," Dr. Kennicott and others recommend אשרינו ashreynu, "O lucky we, at last we have compassed him." He cannot now escape; he is sure to fall into our hands.

They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth — All the commentators and critics have missed the very expressive and elegant metaphor contained in this clause. Kennicott says, They drove the hart into toils, and then shot him. Bishop Horsley says, on the clause, They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth: "This is the attitude of huntsmen, taking aim at an animal upon the ground." No, it is the attitude of the huntsmen looking for the slot, or track of the hart's, hind's, or antelope's foot on the ground. See at the conclusion of the Psalm. Psalms 17:15.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 14-17 Godly people in ungodly society

Continuing the theme of Psalms 10-13 (concerning the godly person who is downtrodden), the psalmist notes what happens when people refuse to acknowledge God and live as if he does not care about their actions. The result is a corrupt society (14:1-3). Because they have rejected God they have rejected the true standard by which to judge good and evil. They live solely for themselves, with no consideration for others and no thought for God (4). But in the end victory will go to the poor and downtrodden, because God is on their side (5-7).

In Psalms 15:0 David considers the requirements necessary to enter the presence of God (15:1). These all have to do with character and behaviour, not with religious beliefs and observances. People must be honest in their actions, truthful in their speech, and disciplined in their avoidance of slander and gossip (2-3). They must know how to make right judgments between things that are good and things that are not. In addition they must be reliable and trustworthy, keeping their word even when it hurts. They must be generous and helpful, and never take advantage of the poor or defenceless (4-5a). Such people will dwell in the presence of God and enjoy the lasting security that only God can give (5b).

Psalms 16:0 is David’s thanksgiving for one of the many occasions when God rescued him from what seemed to be certain death. He finds pleasure in the fellowship of God and his people, and rejects all other gods and those who worship them (16:1-4). Possessions may satisfy people and property may enrich them, but David considers that because he has God, he has all the satisfaction and wealth he desires (5-6). God is David’s instructor, friend and protector, the source of his stability and security (7-8). God delivers him from death and leads him through life, giving him the constant joy of his presence (9-11).

(The feelings that David expressed in Psalms 16:0 may have represented ideals that he himself never fully experienced. They find their full meaning in Jesus Christ; see Acts 2:25-28; Acts 13:35-37.)

In another prayer that probably belongs to the time of David’s flight from the murderous Saul, David emphasizes his innocence in the strongest terms (17:1-5). He asks God to protect him from his enemies (6-9), after which he describes their wickedness (10-12) and pronounces their certain destruction. Their hunger for wickedness is only building up a heavier weight of judgment, which will not only fall on them but will also affect their offspring (13-14). The wicked are never satisfied, but the psalmist finds full satisfaction in his experience of God (15).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"They are enclosed in their own fat: With their mouth they speak proudly. They have compassed us in our steps; They have set their eyes to cast me down to the earth. He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey, And as it were a young lion lurking in secret places."

"Enclosed in their own fat" (Psalms 17:10). Dummelow said this means that, "They have shut up their hearts, a figure of arrogance."J. R. Dummelow, The Whole Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 335. "Their fat" may also refer to their plenty of this worlds' goods. The people in view here were concerned only with this world and their possession of as much as possible of it. They had been successful, and from that their proud and arrogant speech was produced.

"They have compassed us in our steps" (Psalms 17:11). Jamieson pointed out that this means, "They pursue us as hunters tracking a wild beast."Robert Jamieson, Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary (Zondervan Publishing House), p. 351.

"They set their eyes… etc." (Psalms 17:11). This is a reference to the demeanor of a lion about to spring upon the prey. He fixes his eyes intently upon the object of his "kill." Who would have known something like this any better than David? He had protected his father's sheep from wild beasts; and upon one occasion he had actually seized a lion by the beard and killed him (1 Samuel 17:34-37). This, of course, is one of the many things in this psalm that support the opinion that David wrote it.

"He is like a lion… etc." (Psalms 17:12). The significance of this lies in the use of the singular number. Whereas the psalmist has been speaking of "enemies," "pursuers" and "adversaries," here he compares his foe to "a lion." This would fit the fact of King Saul's being David's real enemy, his soldiers, retainers, and supporters also being David's adversaries.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

They have now compassed us - Myself, and those who are associated with me. It would seem from this that the psalmist was not alone. It is to be observed, however, that there is a difference of reading in the Hebrew text. The Masoretic reading is: “us;” the Hebrew text is “me,” though in the other expression the plural is used - “our steps.” There is no impropriety in supposing that the psalmist refers to his followers, associates, or friends, meaning that the wrong was done not to him alone, but to others connected with him. The meaning of “compassed” is, that they “surrounded” him on every side. Wherever he went, they were there.

In our steps - Wherever we go.

They have set their eyes - As those do who are intent on any thing; as the lion does that is seeking its prey Psalms 17:12. They looked keenly and directly at the object. They did not allow their eyes to wander. They were not indifferent to the object of their pursuit.

Bowing down to the earth - That is, as the translators evidently understood this, having their eyes bowed down to the ground, or looking steadily to the ground. The image, according to Dr. Horsley, is borrowed from a hunter taking aim at an animal upon the ground. A more literal translation, however, would be, “They have fixed their eyes to lay me prostrate upon the ground.” The Hebrew word - נטה nâṭâh - means properly “to stretch out, to extend;” then, “to incline, to bow, to depress;” and hence, the idea of “prostrating;” thus, to make the shoulder bend downward, Genesis 49:15; to bring down the mind to an object, Psalms 119:112; to bow the heavens, Psalms 18:9. Hence, the idea of prostrating an enemy; and the sense here clearly is, that they had fixed their eyes intently on the psalmist, with a purpose to prostrate him to the ground, or completely to overwhelm him.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

11.They have now compassed me round about in our steps. The Psalmist confirms what he has said before concerning the furious passion for doing mischief with which his enemies were inflamed. He says they were so cruelly bent on accomplishing his destruction, that in whatever way he directed or altered his course, they ceased not to follow close upon him. When he says our steps, he doubtless comprehends his own companions, although he immediately after returns to speak of himself alone; unless, perhaps, another reading is preferred, for some copies have סבבונו, sebabunu, They have compassed us, in the plural number. This, however, is not a matter of great importance. David simply complains, that unless God stretch forth his hand from heaven to deliver him, there now remains for him no way of escape, seeing his enemies, whenever he stirs his foot to avoid their fury, immediately pursue him, and watch all his steps. By the adverb now, he intimates not only that he is at present in very great danger, but also that at every moment his enemies, in whatever way he turns himself, pursue and press hard upon him. In the last clause, They have fixed their eyes to cast down to the ground, some consider David as comparing his enemies to hunters, who, with eyes fixed on the ground, are silently looking with eager desire for their prey. They, therefore, think that by the eyes fixed on the ground is denoted the gesture or attitude of David’s adversaries, and certainly crafty and malicious men have their countenance often fixed on the ground. According to others, whose opinion is nearer the spirit of the passage, this form of expression signifies the continual and unwearied ardor by which the ungodly are impelled to turn all things upside down. To fix their eyes, therefore, is nothing else than to apply all their ingenuity, and put forth all their efforts. What follows, to cast down to the ground, is the same thing as to overthrow. The ungodly, as if they must necessarily fall, should the world continue to stand, would wish all mankind thrown down or destroyed, and, therefore, they exert themselves to the utmost to bring down and ruin all men. This is explained more fully by the figurative illustration introduced in the following verse, where they are said to be like lions and lions’ whelps ⁽³⁶⁷⁾ But we ought always to keep this truth in remembrance, that the more proudly wicked men exercise their cruelty against us, the hand of God is so much the nearer to us to oppose itself to their savage fury; for to him alone belongs the praise of subduing and restraining these wild beasts who delight in shedding blood. David speaks of dens, or secret lurking places, because his enemies were deeply skilled in artful stratagem, and had various methods of doing mischief, while they had also at hand the power and means of executing them, so that it was difficult to resist them.

(367) In the French version it is lionceaux, young lions. French and Skinner read “like a lion,” and “like a young lion;’ and observe, “The word translated ‘young lion’ signifies a lion in the rigour of youth, and fully capable of pursuing his prey.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 17:1-15

The seventeenth psalm is another prayer of David. And it is, again, one of those prayers where David is sort of pleading his own cause, his own righteousness before the Lord.

Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry; give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of deceitful lips ( Psalms 17:1 ).

It is important that our prayers not come out of deceitful lips. I am afraid that many times I have prayed rather deceitfully, hoping to sort of con God. I haven't always been absolutely honest in my prayers. I have tried to make myself look better than I really am in many of my prayers. And I find that God can't deal with me until I get totally honest with Him. As long as I keep saying, "Well, Lord, I can do it. I just need a little help." I am not really honest, and the help doesn't seem to be forthcoming. Because if He would help me under those conditions, then I would go around saying, "I always knew I could do it." So it's when I get really honest and say, "Lord, I can't do it. I need help." Then He comes in and helps me, cause then all I can say is, "Wow! The Lord really helped me." And I give the credit and the glory to Him. "Lord, You know that I get a little upset with this brother. I don't love him as much as I should. I don't have that agape for him, Lord." That is sort of deceitful. That's not really telling the truth. "God, You know I hate his guts. I can't stand him. He makes me sick every time I look at him. I want to punch him in the nose. God, change my heart and my attitude." Then God can deal with me.

So David is saying, "Lord, I am not speaking out of deceitful lips." And it is something that we need to watch in our prayers. It can be very subtle, very subtle. We have not because we ask not; we ask and receive not because we ask amiss, that we might consume it upon our own lust. The true motive behind our prayers is often veiled. "Oh God, save my son. Bring him to You, Lord." And in my mind I am thinking, "I don't know what I am going to do with this kid. Can't control him any longer. I just know that one of these days, he keeps on the way he is, I am going to get a telephone call and it is going to be his one telephone call that he has from jail. They're gonna pick him up. Our name will get in the paper. What a disgrace that will be when all of the people will see our name. Our son arrested. Can't have that! Oh Lord, save him. Lord, save him. I don't want the embarrassment of my name in the paper, you know." Motive! It isn't that my heart is breaking because my son is destined in this path for hell. It's that I don't want my good name drug down into the gossip column.

"Oh God, send a revival to our church. Lord, save souls. Bring in the lost, pack the place, Lord. I don't know what we are going to do if we don't raise our budget some. If we only had about five new families we wouldn't have to worry about the budget. Lord, send in the souls. Maybe the bishop will notice that I am a pretty good pastor and I might even get a promotion to a bigger church. God, save souls." You know. Motive! Oh, how we have to watch it. Because I can deceive myself. You see, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked and we don't always know it ourselves. That is why David, in Psalms 139:1-24 said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there is a wicked way there, and then You lead me in Your path. O God, preserve me." Hear the prayer that comes out of unfeigned, unclean, not out of the feigned or deceitful lips.

Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal ( Psalms 17:2 ).

And, again, he is asking really for justice here, something that I never do when I pray, but David feels that his cause is right here. He does declare,

I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress ( Psalms 17:3 ).

And that is a great purpose to make. I think that we so often transgress with our mouth. Our mouth can get us in the most trouble it seems.

Years ago when we first started, before we had any children, when we first started in the ministry, we knew all about how kids ought to be raised in those days. We were beginning to discover that we didn't know as much as we thought we knew about marriage, but we still knew all that there was to know about raising kids, till we had our own. And at this point we know that we know nothing about raising kids. But at that time, we put a notice in the bulletin, "Teach your child to be silent; he'll learn soon enough to talk." We get into trouble talking.

I've purposed in my heart I'll not allow my mouth to transgress. Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. Hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not. I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me. Show your marvelous loving-kindness. O thou that savest by thy right hand them that put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me under the shadow of thy wings ( Psalms 17:3-8 ),

Now David is asking the Lord to just keep him there as the pupil, the apple of His eye, and hiding me under the shadow of thy wings.

From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who encircle me ( Psalms 17:9 ).

And then he speaks not so nicely about his enemies.

They're enclosed in their own fat: their mouth speaks proudly. They've encircled our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth; like a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a younger lion lurking in secret places. Arise, O LORD, disappoint them, cast them down: deliver my soul from the wicked, from men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life ( Psalms 17:10-14 ),

What an interesting phrase, and how important. Talking about the men of the world, he is talking about men who have their portion in this life. Now, in the seventy-third psalm, we have an interesting case where the psalm confesses, "Hey, I almost slipped. I almost went under. When I looked around and I saw the prosperity of the wicked. I saw these wicked men, and man, they had everything they wanted, everything their hearts desired. People would pour out a full cup to them. They didn't lack for a thing, and when I saw how prosperous the wicked were, then I said, 'Hey man, it doesn't pay to try to live the right kind of a life. You know, better that you are wicked. You seem to have it better off. Here I am trying to live the right kind of a life and I'm in trouble all the time. It seems like I am always broke and I am always going through such hardships, and it really doesn't pay to serve the Lord.'" And he said, "When I sought to understand these things it almost wiped me out. My foot almost slipped. Until I went into the house of the Lord. And then I saw their end. Surely You have set them in slippery places, in a moment they go down into the pit and all." But he saw now the end.

Now, so he talks here of the men of the world who have their portion in this life only. You see, God is interested in your eternal welfare. Don't forget that. God is always dealing with you in the light of eternity. I am always interested in the light of today. I am looking for my ease today. I am looking for comfort today. I am looking for deliverance today. I want it now. So I can enjoy it for the next few minutes. But God is looking at me with eternity in view, and He wants me to have the eternal blessings of His glory and of His kingdom, and it may take depriving me of some of those things that I think I want right now in order that I might have a richer eternity with Him.

When Jesus spoke very harshly saying, "If your eye offend thee, pluck it out." And we cringe at such a horrible thing, which He wanted you to do. He is just using an illustration that just causes you to cringe, "Oouhuhu, can't pluck out my eye!" And He is trying to get that kind of a revulsion in you, because He is seeking to point out how important eternity is. Now, I think my eyes are extremely important, but they are not as important as my eternity with Him. And that is the illustration He's trying to make. Just that your eternal welfare with Him is the most important thing in this life. And the men of the world, they have their portion in this life only. But I am a stranger and a pilgrim here; my portion is coming in the life to come. My portion is there with Him in His kingdom.

The fifteenth verse is one of my favorites in the whole psalms, or in the Bible as far as that goes.

As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake with thy likeness ( Psalms 17:15 ).

I am going to behold Your face, Lord, in righteousness. This reminds me of what Paul said in Corinthians, where he said, "And we with open face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed from glory to glory into the same image by His Spirit in us" ( 2 Corinthians 3:18 ). I'll be satisfied. I'll behold Your face in righteousness, and I'll be satisfied the day I awake in Your likeness. Oh, how I long for that day. When I open my eyes, and I look in the mirror and there I am in the likeness of Jesus Christ. Now I see through the glass darkly, but then, face to face. His work complete in me. Conformed into the image of God's dear Son.

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, it does not yet appear what we are going to be, but we know that when He appears we are going to be like Him" ( 1 John 3:2 ). Now, people are all wondering, "Well, what kind of body?" I am not at all worried; I am satisfied that it is going to be like Him, for I am going to see Him as He is. People are always worried, "What kind of body am I going to have when the Lord comes? What will I look like? I don't know if I want to change or not. Maybe I would like to have this one, you know. Just renew it or something." No way, friend! I can hardly wait for the new model to come out. Like Him. I'll be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Comes from beholding His face in righteousness. As we behold the glory of the Lord, we are being changed from glory to glory. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 17

The content of this lament psalm is similar to that of the preceding one, except that the danger David faced when he wrote this psalm was more threatening. Again he viewed himself as a person committed to God who lived among many others who lived for the present. He prayed for deliverance from their oppression and anticipated the future in God’s presence. A strong concern for righteousness pervades the entire psalm (cf. Psalms 17:1-2; Psalms 17:15).

This is one of five psalms that identify themselves as prayers (cf. 86; 90; 102; and 142; see also Psalms 72:20 and Habakkuk 3:1.). There are at least a dozen Hebrew words for prayer, and the one used here, tepilla, means "to intervene." Since most of the psalms were prayers, it is unusual that only five call themselves "prayers." Perhaps this Hebrew word had other connotations as well, possibly indicating a tune to be used in corporate worship.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. The petition for protection 17:6-12

David asked God to keep him from the wicked in the world who are vicious and proud.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Whatever the situation in David’s life was to which he referred in this psalm, it is clear from these verses that David’s enemies were surrounding him (figuratively if not literally, cf. Psalms 22:12-18). They determined to kill him. They appear to have been confident of their success, too. Their eyes were on David even as the Lord’s were (Psalms 17:8 a), but there was hatred in their gaze. Rather than protecting him lovingly as a mother bird (Psalms 17:8 b), they were out to tear him apart and devour him as a lion does its prey, by sneaking around and attacking. The lion is a symbol of brute strength and a ferocious appetite (cf. Judges 14:14), and so provides a fitting picture of the wicked (cf. Psalms 7:2; Psalms 10:9; Psalms 22:13).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

They have now compassed us in our steps,.... The sense is, they could not stir a step but they were at their heels, surrounding them on every side. This was true of David, when he was pursued by Saul, and followed by him to Keilah and the wilderness of Maon,

1 Samuel 23:8; according to the "Cetib", or textual writing, it should be rendered, "they have compassed me"; but, according to the "Keri", or marginal reading, and the points, it is as we have translated it, and which is followed by the Targum, and both are right, and design David as a principal person, and those that were with him, who were encompassed by Saul and his men. This also was verified in Christ, when Judas followed him into the garden with a band of men to betray him, and when he was enclosed by wicked men as he went to the cross, and hung upon it, John 18:2; and may likewise be accommodated to the case of all the saints, who are troubled on every side, are beset with the corruptions of their hearts, the temptations of Satan, and the reproaches and persecutions of the men of the world, 2 Corinthians 4:8;

they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth; which posture either denotes fraudulence and hypocrisy, showing, by looking only upon the ground, as if they were harmless and inoffensive, and had no ill designs, and took no notice of anything; which, as it was true of David's enemies, so of the Jews and of Judas with respect to Christ, and of false teachers with respect to the church, Luke 20:20 Matthew 7:15; or else inhumanity and contempt, not caring to turn their eyes to look upon them in distress, but kept their eyes fixed upon the earth, so Christ was treated by the Jews, Isaiah 53:3; or rather their being intent upon mischief, their diligence and watchfulness to observe all motions, and take every opportunity "to strike", or "cast me down to the earth", as the Arabic and Syriac versions render it; or the sense is, as Kimchi gives it, their eyes are upon our ways, to spread nets for us in the earth to take us.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,   9 From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.   10 They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.   11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth;   12 Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.   13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:   14 From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.   15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

      We may observe, in these verses,

      I. What David prays for. Being compassed about with enemies that sought his life, he prays to God to preserve him safely through all their attempts against him, to the crown to which he was anointed. This prayer is both a prediction of the preservation of Christ through all the hardships and difficulties of his humiliation, to the glories and joys of his exalted state, and a pattern to Christians to commit the keeping of their souls to God, trusting him to preserve them to his heavenly kingdom. He prays,

      1. That he himself might be protected (Psalms 17:8; Psalms 17:8): "Keep me safe, hide me close, where I may not be found, where I may not be come at. Deliver my soul, not only my mortal life from death, but my immortal spirit from sin." Those who put themselves under God's protection may in faith implore the benefit of it.

      (1.) He prays that God would keep him, [1.] With as much care as a man keeps the apple of his eye with, which nature has wonderfully fenced and teaches us to guard. If we keep God's law as the apple of our eye (Proverbs 7:2), we may expect that God will so keep us; for it is said concerning his people that whoso touches them touches the apple of his eye,Zechariah 2:8. [2.] With as much tenderness as the hen gathers her young ones under her wings with; Christ uses the similitude, Matthew 23:37. "Hide me under the shadow of thy wings, where I may be both safe and warm." Or, perhaps, it rather alludes to the wings of the cherubim shadowing the mercy-seat: "Let me be taken under the protection of that glorious grace which is peculiar to God's Israel." What David here prays for was performed to the Son of David, our Lord Jesus, of whom it is said (Isaiah 49:2) that God hid him in the shadow of his hand, hid him as a polished shaft in his quiver.

      (2.) David further prays, "Lord, keep me from the wicked, from men of the world," [1.] "From being, and doing, like them, from walking in their counsel, and standing in their way, and eating of their dainties." [2.] "From being destroyed and run down by them. Let them not have their will against me; let them not triumph over me."

      2. That all the designs of his enemies to bring his either into sin or into trouble might be defeated (Psalms 17:13; Psalms 17:13): "Arise, O Lord! appear for me, disappoint him, and cast him down in his own eyes by the disappointment." While Saul persecuted David, how often did he miss his prey, when he thought he had him sure! And how were Christ's enemies disappointed by his resurrection, who thought they had gained their point when they had put him to death!

      II. What he pleads for the encouraging of his own faith in these petitions, and his hope of speeding. He pleads,

      1. The malice and wickedness of his enemies: "They are such as are not fit to be countenanced, such as, if I be not delivered from them by the special care of God himself, will be my ruin. Lord, see what wicked men those are that oppress me, and waste me, and run me down." (1.) "They are very spiteful and malicious; they are my deadly enemies, that thirst after my blood, my heart's blood--enemies against the soul," so the word is. David's enemies did what they could to drive him to sin and drive him away from God; they bade him go serve other gods (1 Samuel 26:19), and therefore he had reason to pray against them. Note, Those are our worst enemies, and we ought so to account them, that are enemies to our souls. (2.) "They are very secure and sensual, insolent and haughty (Psalms 17:10; Psalms 17:10): They are enclosed in their own fat, wrap themselves, hug themselves, in their own honour, and power, and plenty, and then make light of God, and set his judgments at defiance, Psalms 73:7; Job 15:27. They wallow in pleasure, and promise themselves that to-morrow shall be as this day. And therefore with their mouth they speak proudly, glorying in themselves, blaspheming God, trampling upon his people, and insulting them." See Revelation 13:5; Revelation 13:6. "Lord, are not such men as these fit to be mortified and humbled, and made to know themselves? Will it not be for thy glory to look upon these proud men and abase them?" (3.) "They are restless and unwearied in their attempts against me: They compass me about,Psalms 17:9; Psalms 17:9. They have now in a manner gained their point; they have surrounded us, they have compassed us in our steps, they track us wherever we go, follow us as close as the hound does the hare, and take all advantages against us, being both too many and too quick for us. And yet they pretend to look another way, and set their eyes bowing down to the earth, as if they were meditating, retired into themselves, and thinking of something else;" or (as some think), "They are watchful and intent upon it, to do us a mischief; they are down-looked, and never let slip any opportunity of compassing their design." (4.) "The ringleader of them (that was Saul) is in a special manner bloody and barbarous, politic and projecting (Psalms 17:12; Psalms 17:12), like a lion that lives by prey and is therefore greedy of it." It is as much the meat and drink of a wicked man to do mischief as it is of a good man to do good. He is like a young lion lurking in secret places, disguising his cruel designs. This is fitly applied to Saul, who sought David on the rocks of the wild goats (1 Samuel 24:2) and in the wilderness of Ziph (Psalms 26:2), where lions used to lurk for their prey.

      2. The power God had over them, to control and restrain them. He pleads, (1.) "Lord, they are thy sword; and will any father suffer his sword to be drawn against his own children?" As this is a reason why we should patiently bear the injuries of men, that they are but the instruments of the trouble (it comes originally from God, to whose will we are bound to submit), so it is an encouragement to us to hope both that their wrath shall praise him and that the remainder thereof he will restrain, that they are God's sword, which he can manage as he pleases, which cannot move without him, and which he will sheathe when he has done his work with it. (2.) "They are thy hand, by which thou dost chastise thy people and make them feel thy displeasure." He therefore expects deliverance from God's hand because from God's hand the trouble came. Una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit--The same hand wounds and heals. There is no flying from God's hand but by flying to it. It is very comfortable, when we are in fear of the power of man, to see it dependent upon and in subjection to the power of God; see Isaiah 10:6; Isaiah 10:7; Isaiah 10:15.

      3. Their outward prosperity (Psalms 17:14; Psalms 17:14): "Lord, appear against them, for," (1.) "They are entirely devoted to the world, and care not for thee and thy favour. They are men of the world, actuated by the spirit of the world, walking according to the course of this world, in love with the wealth and pleasure of this world, eager in the pursuits of it (making them their business) and at ease in the enjoyments of it--making them their bliss. They have their portion in this life; they look upon the good things of this world as the best things, and sufficient to make them happy, and they choose them accordingly, place their felicity in them, and aim at them as their chief good; they rest satisfied with them, their souls take their ease in them, and they look no further, nor are in any care to provide for another life. These things are their consolation (Luke 6:24), their good things (Luke 16:25), their reward (Matthew 6:5), the penny they agreed for, Matthew 20:13. Now, Lord, shall men of this character be supported and countenanced against those who honour thee by preferring thy favour before all the wealth in this world, and taking thee for their portion?" Psalms 16:5. (2.) They have abundance of the world. [1.] They have enlarged appetites, and a great deal wherewith to satisfy them: Their bellies thou fillest with thy hidden treasures. The things of this world are called treasures, because they are so accounted; otherwise, to a soul, and in comparison with eternal blessings, they are but trash. They are hidden in the several parts of the creation, and hidden in the sovereign disposals of Providence. They are God's hidden treasures, for the earth is his and the fulness thereof, though the men of the world think it is their own and forget God's property in it. Those that fare deliciously every day have their bellies filled with these hidden treasures; and they will but fill the belly (1 Corinthians 6:13); they will not fill the soul; they are not bread for that, nor can they satisfy, Isaiah 55:2. They are husks, and ashes, and wind; and yet most men, having no care for their souls, but all for their bellies, take up with them. [2.] They have numerous families, and a great deal to leave to them: They are full of children, and yet their pasture is not overstocked; they have enough for them all, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes, to their grand-children; and this is their heaven, it is their bliss, it is their all. "Lord," said David, "deliver me from them; let me not have my portion with them. Deliver me from their designs against me; for, they having so much wealth and power, I am not able to deal with them unless the Lord be on my side."

      4. He pleads his own dependence upon God as his portion and happiness. "They have their portion in this life, but as for me (Psalms 17:15; Psalms 17:15) I am none of them, I have but little of the world. Nec habeo, nec careo, nec curo--I neither have, nor need, nor care for it. It is the vision and fruition of God that I place my happiness in; that is it I hope for, and comfort myself with the hopes of, and thereby distinguish myself from those who have their portion in this life." Beholding God's face with satisfaction may be considered, (1.) As our duty and comfort in this world. We must in righteousness (clothed with Christ's righteousness, having a good heart and a good life) by faith behold God's face and set him always before us, must entertain ourselves from day to day with the contemplation of the beauty of the Lord; and, when we awake every morning, we must be satisfied with his likeness set before us in his word, and with his likeness stamped upon us by his renewing grace. Our experience of God's favour to us, and our conformity to him, should yield us more satisfaction than those have whose belly is filled with the delights of sense. 2. As our recompence and happiness in the other world. With the prospect of that he concluded the foregoing psalm, and so this. That happiness is prepared and designed only for the righteous that are justified and sanctified. They shall be put in possession of it when they awake, when the soul awakes, at death, out of its slumber in the body, and when the body awakes, at the resurrection, out of its slumber in the grave. That blessedness will consist in three things:-- [1.] The immediate vision of God and his glory: I shall behold thy face, not, as in this world, through a glass darkly. The knowledge of God will there be perfected and the enlarged intellect filled with it. [2.] The participation of his likeness. Our holiness will there be perfect. This results from the former (1 John 3:2): When he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. [3.] A complete and full satisfaction resulting from all this: I shall be satisfied, abundantly satisfied with it. There is no satisfaction for a soul but in God, and in his face and likeness, his good-will towards us and his good work in us; and even that satisfaction will not be perfect till we come to heaven.