Psa 118:5-14 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 5. I called upon the Lord ] I am a standing proof and living witness of God's mercy. Take encouragement from me.

‏ Psalms 118:5-14

Verse 5. I called upon the Lord] I am a standing proof and living witness of God's mercy. Take encouragement from me.

Verse 7. The Lord taketh my part with them that help me] Literally, The Lord is to me among my helpers. Therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. Literally, And I shall look among them that hate me. As God is on my side, I fear not to look the whole of them in the face. I shall see them defeated.

Verse 8. Better to trust in the Lord] Man is feeble, ignorant, fickle, and capricious; it is better to trust in Jehovah than in such.

Verse 9. In princes.] Men of high estate are generally proud, vain-glorious, self-confident, and rash: it is better to trust in God than in them. Often they cannot deliver, and often they will not when they can. However, in the concerns of our salvation, and in matters which belong to Providence, they can do nothing.

Verse 10. All nations compassed me about] This is by some supposed to relate to David, at the commencement of his reign, when all the neighbouring Philistine nations endeavoured to prevent him from establishing himself in the kingdom. Others suppose it may refer to the Samaritans, Idumeans, Ammonites, and others, who endeavoured to prevent the Jews from rebuilding their city and their temple after their return from captivity in Babylon.

But in the name of the Lord will I destroy them.] Dr. Kennicott renders amilam, "I shall disappoint them;" Bishop Horsley, "I cut them to pieces;" Mr. N. Berlin, repuli eas, "I have repelled them." "I will cut them off;" Chaldee. Ultus sum in eos, "I am avenged on them;" Vulgate. So the Septuagint.

Verse 12. They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns] I shall refer to Dr. Delaney's note on this passage. The reader has here in miniature two of the finest images in Homer; which, if his curiosity demands to be gratified, he will find illustrated and enlarged, Iliad ii., ver. 86.

---------------επεσσευοντοδελαοι

ηυτεεθνεαεισιμελισσαωναδιναων

πετρηςεκγλαφυρηςαιεινεονερχομεναων

βοτρυδονδεπετονταιεπανθεσινειαρινοισιν

αιμεντενθααλιςπεποτηαταιαιδετεανθα

ωςτωνεθνεαπολλανεωναποκαικλισιαων

ηιονοςπροπαροιθεβαθειηςεστιχοωντο

ιλαδονειςαγορην

----------------The following host,

Poured forth by thousands, darkens all the coast.

As from some rocky cleft the shepherd sees,

Clustering in heaps on heaps, the driving bees,

Rolling and blackening, swarms succeeding swarms,

With deeper murmurs and more hoarse alarms:

Dusky they spread a close embodied crowd,

And o'er the vale descends the living cloud;

So from the tents and ships a lengthening train

Spreads all the beach, and wide o'ershades the plain;

Along the region runs a deafening sound;

Beneath their footsteps groans the trembling ground.

POPE

The other image, the fire consuming the thorns, we find in the same book, ver. 455:-

ηυτεπυραιδηλονεπιφλεγειασπετονυλην

ουρεοςενκορυφηςεκαθενδετεφαινεταιαυγη

ωςτωνερχομενωναποχαλκουθεσπεσιοιο

αιγληπαμφανοωσαδιαιθεροςουρανονικεν

As on some mountain, through the lofty grove,

The crackling flames ascend and blaze above;

The fires expanding, as the winds arise,

Shoot their long beams, and kindle half the skies;

So, from the polished arms, and brazen shields,

A gleamy splendour flashed along the fields.

POPE.

The arms resembling a gleaming fire is common both to the psalmist and Homer; but the idea of that fire being quenched when the army was conquered, is peculiar to the psalmist.

Verse 13. Thou hast thrust sore at me] In pushing thou hast pushed me that I might fall.

But the Lord helped me.] Though he possessed skill, courage, and strength, yet these could not have prevailed had not God been his helper; and to him he gives the glory of the victory.