John Gill Commentary Psalms 91

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High ,
&c.] Or the Supreme; a title of God, who is superior to all beings, the Creator and Preserver of them, God over all, higher than the highest of angels or men; see (Genesis 14:22) , "his secret place" is his heart, his bosom, where his only begotten Son lies; and into which he takes his people, where they are set as a seal, and who enjoy intimate communion with him; which is no other than his gracious presence, called "the secret of his presence", (Psalms 31:20) , which none but saints are admitted to, when his everlasting love, which was a secret in his heart, is made known unto them, and in which they also dwell, (1 John 4:16) .

As they likewise do in the eternal decree of election; which perhaps is meant by "the clefts of the rock, and secret places of the stairs", where the church is said to dwell, (Song of Solomon 2:14) , unless rather Christ the Rock, and who may be signified by the cleft of that Moses was put into, when the goodness of the Lord passed before him, is intended; and who is the hiding place from the wind: mention is made of "the secret" of God's "tabernacle", (Psalms 27:5) , in which he hides his people; alluding to the tabernacle, or temple, and the most holy place in it, called his secret place, (Ezekiel 7:22) , and may refer to the ministry of the word and ordinances, where saints dwell, and enjoy much communion with God; and who are particularly under his special providence, protection, and power; which may here be designed:

shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty :
who is able to do all things for his people, and is "Shaddai", all sufficient, as this word is thought to signify; has a sufficiency of happiness in and for himself, and of provisions for all his creatures, and of power and grace for his own children: his "shadow" may be the same with his secret place, his power and protection, often in this book of Psalms called "the shadow of his wings", (Psalms 17:8) (36:7) (57:1) , in allusion to birds that overshadow and protect their young with their wings; though perhaps the allusion here may be to the shadow of a tree, and design the word and ordinances of the Lord's house, which are a delightful, refreshing, reviving, and fruitful shadow, (Song of Solomon 2:3) (Hosea 14:7) , where gracious souls dwell, and abide with great delight and pleasure.

Christ, the Son of God, is sometimes compared to the shadow of a rock, or tree, which screens and shelters from heat; as he preserves his people from the heat of a fiery law, the flaming sword of justice, the wrath of God, the fiery darts of Satan, and the fury of persecutors: under this shadow do they abide or lodge all night, safe and secure, as the word ^F15 signifies: the Targum calls this shadow the shadow of the clouds of glory; the Arabic version, "the shadow of the God of heaven."

FOOTNOTES:

• F15: (Nnwlty) "indesinenter pernoctans", Junius & Tremellius; "pernoctat", Piscator, Gejerus; "pernoctabit", Michaelis.

I will say of the Lord
Or to the Lord ^F16 : these are the words of the psalmist, expressing his faith in the Lord in the following words, taking encouragement from the safety of the godly man above described: the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read, he shall say to the Lord; that is, the man that dwells in the secret place, and under the shadow of the Lord: the Targum is, ``David said, I will say to the Lord,'' as follows:

he is my refuge :
a refuge in every time of trouble, outward or toward; a refuge when all others fail; and is himself a never failing one, a strong refuge, which none can break through and into, and in which all that have fled thither and dwell are safe:

and my fortress ;
what fortifications, natural or artificial, are to a city and its inhabitants, that is God to his people, and much more; he is round about them, as the mountains were about Jerusalem; his salvation are walls and bulwarks to them; yea, he is a wall of fire about them, (Psalms 125:2) (Isaiah 26:1) (Zechariah 2:5) , they are kept by his power, as in a garrison, (1 Peter 1:5) ,

my God, in him will I trust ;
his covenant God, his God in Christ, and who would ever continue so; and was a proper object of his trust and confidence, both as the God of nature, and the God of grace; who is to be trusted in, both for temporal and spiritual blessings, and at all times; to which his lovingkindness, power, and faithfulness, greatly encourage and engage: the Targum is, ``in his Word will I trust.''

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: (hwhyl) Domino, Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Musculus; "ad Jehovam", de Dieu.

Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler
These are the words of the psalmist, either speaking to himself, for the encouragement of his own faith and trust in the Lord; or to the man that dwells in the secret place, and under the shadow of the most High; which latter seems most agreeable; though Cocceius thinks they are the words of God in one of his Persons, speaking of another divine Person that should deliver such that trust in him: the Targum makes them to be the words of David to Solomon his son.

By the "fowler" and his "snare" may be meant either Saul, who laid wait for David, spread snares for him, and hunted him as a partridge on the mountains, from whom he was delivered; or rather any tyrannical enemy and persecutor of the saints, who lay snares for them; and these are broken by the Lord, and so they escape, as a bird out of the hands of the fowler, (Psalms 124:6Psalms 124:7) or it may, best of all, be understood of Satan and his temptations, which are as snares that he lays to catch the people of God in, and from which they are delivered by the power and grace of God; see (1 Timothy 3:7) (2 Timothy 2:26)

and from the noisome pestilence ;
the most pernicious and destructive one; which may be literally understood of any pestilential distemper; from which the Lord, by his powerful providence, sometimes protects his people, when in danger of it: or, spiritually, of the pestilential disease of sin, that noisome and deadly one, the plague of the heart, which is the worst of all plagues; and from the ruinous and destructive effects and consequences of which the Lord saves his saints.

He shall cover you with his feathers
As birds do their young, who cannot cover themselves: this they do from a tender regard to them, whereby they both keep them warm, and protect them from those that would hurt them: this represents the helpless state of the children of God, who are, like to young birds, weak and unable to defend themselves: the tender regard of God unto them, as the eagle and other birds have to their young; see (Deuteronomy 32:11) (Isaiah 31:5) (Matthew 23:37) and the warmth and comforts souls have, as well as protection, under his powerful and gracious presence; he comforts them under their tribulations, as well as defends them from their enemies:

and under his wings shall you trust; (See Gill on Psalms 91:1) and the passages there referred to; the same metaphor is continued:

his truth shall be your shield and buckler ;
his faithfulness, which is engaged to keep and preserve his saints safe to his kingdom and glory, (1 Corinthians 1:8 1 Corinthians 1:9) (1 Thessalonians 5:23 1 Thessalonians 5:24) , his Son, who is "truth" itself, (John 14:6) , and whose person, blood, righteousness, and salvation, are as a shield and buckler all around the saints, to secure them from ruin and destruction; and are the shield which faith lays hold on, and makes use of, against the temptation, of Satan; see (Psalms 84:11) (Ephesians 6:16) , the word of God also, which is truth, (John 17:19) , every promise in it, and doctrine of it, is as a shield and buckler to strengthen, support, and secure the faith of his people, (Proverbs 30:5) .

You shall not be afraid for the terror by night
The terrible things that happen in the night; as fire, storms and tempests, invasion of enemies, murders, thefts, and, robberies: a good man, when he has committed himself and his family to the care and protection of God by prayer, has no reason to be anxiously careful of these things, or to indulge a slavish fear about them; see (Psalms 3:5) (4:8) (Proverbs 3:24Proverbs 3:25) .

The Targum is, "you shall not be afraid for the fear of devils that walk in the night:" so Jarchi interprets this, and the next verse, of such; as do others of the Jewish writers: a man that trusts in the Lord need not be afraid of men or devils.

A fear of evil spirits is natural to men, and very early appeared; perhaps it took its rise from the fatal affair of the fall of our first parents, through an intercourse with an evil spirit; and ever since has been imprinted on human nature an aversion to evil spirits, and a dread of them, and even of all spirits in general; see (Job 4:13–16) (Matthew 14:25Matthew 14:26) (Luke 24:37Luke 24:38) .

nor for the arrow that flies by day ;
the judgments of God, such as the sword, famine, and pestilence; these are called the arrows of God, (Deuteronomy 32:23Deuteronomy 32:24Deuteronomy 32:42) (Ezekiel 5:16) ^F17 .

Because they move swiftly, come suddenly, and strike surely, and are open and visible; they are sent by the Lord, and are ordered and directed by him, and hit and hurt whom he pleases, and none else; and therefore such who dwell in the secret of the Lord, and under his shadow, need not be distressed about them: the Targum interprets it of the arrow of the angel of death, which he sends out in the day; see (Hebrews 2:14) , so Jarchi understands it of a demon that flies like an arrow.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: (ecepeukev belouv----khla yeoio) , Homer. Iliad. 1. v. 51, 53.