Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 62:3

"How long will ye set upon a man, That ye may slay [him], all of you, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?" — Psalms 62:3 (ASV)

How long will you imagine mischief against a man? - The original word translated here as “imagine mischief,” from התת (hâthath), occurs only in this place. It means, according to Gesenius (Lexicon), to break in upon, to set upon, or to assail: “How long will you break in upon a man?” that is, set upon him. The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render it similarly. It does not refer to their merely forming harmful purposes against a man, but to their making assaults upon him, to their endeavoring to take his life or to destroy him. The address here is to David's enemies, and the language would apply well to the attempts made on his life by Absalom and his followers. The question here is “how long” they would continue to do this; how long they would show this determined purpose to take his life; whether they would never cease to persecute him in this way. They had already done it for a long time; they had shown great perseverance in this course of wickedness, and he asks whether it would never come to an end?

He does not specify who these persons were, but there is likely no great error in referring the description to Absalom and his adherents.

You shall be slain all of you - Professor Alexander translates this entire passage: “Will you murder (that is, seek to murder him) all of you (combined against a single person, who is consequently) like a wall inclined (or bent by violence), a fence (or hedge) crushed (broken down).” DeWette translates it substantially the same way. Those who interpret the passage this way give it an active meaning, implying that his enemies pressed upon him like a wall bent by violence, or a fence likely to fall on someone. The original word translated “you shall be slain,” tªraatsªchuw—תרצחוּ, t^erâts^echû—is in the active form (Piel) and cannot be rendered in the passive, as it is in our translation, without doing violence to its meaning.

However, the active form can still be retained, and a consistent meaning given to the whole passage without the forced interpretation applied to it in the translation by Professor Alexander. It is not natural to speak of enemies attacking a man in such a way that the man himself becomes like a falling wall or a tottering fence. The clear idea is that they themselves would be like a falling wall; that is, they would be defeated or disappointed in their purpose, just as a wall with no solid foundation tumbles to the ground. The meaning of the original may be expressed this way: “How long will you assail a man, that you may put him to death? All of you shall be as a bowing wall,” etc. That is, You will not accomplish your design; you will fail in your enterprise, just as a wall without strength falls to the ground.

As a bowing wall - This refers to a wall that bows out or swells out, a wall that may fall at any moment. See the notes at Isaiah 30:13.

And as a tottering fence - This means a fence that is ready to fall, one that has no firmness. So it would be with them. Their purposes would suddenly give way, just as a fence does when its posts have rotted off and there is nothing to support it.