Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 109

God of my praise. —That is, God to whom as covenant God it was a privilege to make tehillah (praise). (See Deuteronomy 10:20-21, where Jehovah is said to be the praise of those who swear by His name. Compare also Psalms 106:2-3 and Psalms 33:1.)

Perhaps “God of my glory or boast” would more closely convey the force of the original. The psalmist prays that Jehovah’s silence may not make his confident glorifying in the covenant promises vain.

Of the deceitful. —Properly, as in margin, of deceit; consequently, to make the two expressions alike, it is proposed to read, instead of “mouth of the wicked” (properly, of a wicked man), “mouth of wickedness.” In any case the best English equivalent will be, “a wicked mouth and a deceitful mouth.” “A blow with a word strikes deeper than a blow with a sword” (Whichcote).

Spoken against me. —Rather , talked with me.

For my love ... — that is, in return for my love I give myself unto prayer. For a concise expression of the same kind as “I prayer,” see Psalm 120:7, “I peace.” Of course the psalmist means, that in the face of all the taunts and reproaches of his slanderers, he simply and naturally turns to prayer, and, as the context seems to indicate, prayer for them.

Set thou a wicked man over him. This rendering is abundantly confirmed by Leviticus 26:16; Numbers 4:27; Numbers 27:16; Jeremiah 15:3; and Jeremiah 51:27, against Hitzig’s proposed “Pronounce against him—guilty,” which also would only anticipate Psalm 109:7. (Compare also the noun “office” in Psalm 109:8, from the same verb.) The wish expressed is that the persons indicated may fall into the hands of an unscrupulous judge.

If, however, we are to think of the divine judgment, then this clause must be taken as exactly parallel to the next: “Appoint a wicked man against him.” Here the imprecatory part of the psalm begins, and it has been ingeniously argued that the whole of it (Psalms 109:6–20) is a quotation, giving, not the psalmist’s curse on his foes, but theirs on him. Such quotations, without any introductory words, are common, and the theory is tenable, but improbable.

Satan. This is by no means a proper name here, though the Septuagint and Vulgate have diabolus. The use of the same word in Psalm 109:4; Psalms 109:20; and Psalm 109:29 is decisive in giving it the general meaning “adversary” (as in margin) here, even though it is without the article. Satan is used for the tempting angel in 1 Chronicles 21:1, and in Zechariah 3:1 we find the same post, “at the right hand,” assigned to the accuser. An unscrupulous judge and an adversary as accuser—these are the substance of this imprecation.

When he is judged. —Literally, in his being judged. The meaning is, “may he go out of court a condemned man.”

Let his prayer become sin. —If this clause stood by itself, the most natural way would be to give “prayer” and “sin” their usual sense, and see in it the horrible hope that the man’s prayer to God for mercy would be reckoned as “sin.” That the performance of religious rites by a wicked man would have such a result was, it is true, a thought familiar to Hebrew thought. (Proverbs 21:27.)

But the judgment just spoken of is that of an earthly tribunal. Hence we must interpret it here as, let his prayer be an offence; that is, instead of procuring him a mitigation of his sentence, let it rather provoke the unscrupulous judge to make it heavier. For sin in this sense of offence, see Ecclesiastes 10:4, and compare 1 Kings 1:21.