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Ver. 7. So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about] As people love to flock to assizes, or such places of judicature, where sentence is passed upon great ones that have offended. Or thus, then shall the public sincere service of God be set up, and people shall fly to it, as the doves do to their windows. For their sakes therefore return thou on high] Seat thyself upon thy tribunal, and do justice. Thou hast seemed to come down from the bench, as it were, and to have no care of judgment; but go up once again, and declare thy power. Reverte, id est, ostende manure tuam esse altam, Return, that is, show that thou hast a high hand, saith R. Solomon.
Ver. 8. The Lord shall judge the people] The Ethiopian judges leave the chief seat ever empty, thereby acknowledging that God is the chief judge. Accordiny to my righteousness] viz. In this particular crime, whereof I am accused. Great is the confidence of a good conscience toward God. Such only can abide by the everlasting burnings.
Ver. 9. Oh let the wickedness, &c.] Put a stop to their rage and rancour. But establish the just] The overthrow of the one will be a strengthening to the other; as it was between the house of Saul and David, 2 Samuel 3:1. But who are just? The righteous God trieth the hearts and reins] i.e. The thoughts and affections or lusts of people, and accordingly esteemeth of them; for Mens cuiusque is est quisque; and God judgeth a man according to the hidden man of his heart, Cogitationum et cupiditatum (Junius).
Ver. 10. My defence is of God] Heb. My buckler is upon God. [See Trapp on “Ps 3:3”] Which saveth the upright in heart] Of which number I know myself to he one; and do, therefore, look for his salvation.
Ver. 11. God is angry with the wicked every day] Or, all day long; they are under the arrest of his wrath, and liable to the wrath to come. Children they are of wrath, because of disobedience. One rendereth it, God troubled them, sc. by laying continually some judgment or other upon them; and yet there is no cause to fear (as the heathen did of his Jupiter) that he should be exhausted, Si quoties peccent homines, &c.
Ver. 12. If he turn not] sc. Impius ab impietate sua, saith R. Solomon, If the wicked turn not from his wickedness, by true and timely repentance. He will whet his sword, he hath bent his bow] i.e. God will, God hath; and mark that he whets before he strikes, and is bending his bow, setting his arrows, preparing his instruments of death; all which must needs take up some time, and so give fair warning to these foul sinners if they have grace to make use of it. See the like Deuteronomy 32:41,42. God first whets his sword before he devours flesh, and first takes hold on judgment before his judgment take hold of men. But if this be not observed and improved, Patientia Dei quo diuturnior, eo est minacior; and what shall wicked men plead for themselves when God shall say to them, as Reuben once did to his brethren, Genesis 42:22, Did not I warn you, saying, Sin not?
Ver. 13. He hath also prepared, &c.] The punishment of ungodly persons is here elegantly set forth by three similitudes. 1. From warfare. 2. From child birth, Psalms 7:14 3. From hunting, Psalms 7:15,16. Well might the Lord say, “I have used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets,” Hosea 12:10. [See Trapp on “Ho 12:10”] He ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors] Heb. the hot burning persecutors, that are set on work by the great red dragon (Ardentes, importing their haste to perpetrate mischief). Such were Felix of Wurtemburg, who swore that ere he died he would ride up to the spurs, and Fornesius, who vowed that he would ride up to the saddle skirts, in the blood of the Lutherans. The archbishop of Tours made suit for the erection of a court called Chambre Ardent, wherein to condemn the French Protestants to the fire. But ere he died he had fire enough, for he was stricken with a disease called The Fire of God; which began at his feet, and so ascended upward, that he caused one member after another to be cut off, and so he died miserably. This was God’s burning arrow against a hot burning persecutor. The like may be said of Dioclesian, that bloody tyrant, who had his house burnt over his head with fire from heaven; wherewith he was so frightened that he died soon after (Euseb. l. 5). The previously mentioned Count Felix of Wurtemburg was, the same night that he had so vowed and vaunted, choked in his own blood. So he rode not, but bathed himself, not up to the spurs, but throat, not in the Lutherans’ blood, but in his own, before he died. And the like we read of Charles IX of France.
Ver. 14. Behold, he travaileth with iniquity] Heb. he shall travail, or he continually travaileth; he taketh as great pains to go to hell as a travailing woman doth to be delivered. And hath conceived mischief] See Job 15:35, [See Trapp on “Job 15:35”] And brought forth falsehood] Or, a lie, that is, a disappointment. See Isaiah 26:18. The Jews have a proverb, Quicquid genuit mendacium, dispellit maledictio (R. Solomon).
Ver. 15. He made a pit, and digged it, &c.] This simile shows, that the wicked shall not only be frustrated, but undone by their own doing; as was Absalom, Haman, our gunpowder Papists, Pope Alexander VI, and his son Caesar Borgia (Bucholcer); who, by a mistake of the attendants at table, drank up the poisoned wine which they had prepared and set ready for some princes of Italy whom they had invited, and for whose dominions they thirsted. Hic aut Caesar ut nullus, saith Pontanus, who relateth the history.
Ver. 16. His mischief shall return upon his own head] As the Thracians’ arrows did, which they in a rage (because it rained upon them unseasonably) shot up against heaven (Herodot.). And his violent dealing upon his own pate] i.e. Abundantly, and apparently. Various instances might be given hereof. Henry III of France was stabbed in the same chamber where he had helped to contrive the French massacre. His brother, Charles IX, had blood given him to drink, for he was worthy: Quem sitiit vivens seelerata mente cruorem, Perfidus hunc moriens Carolus ore vomit. John Martin of Briqueras, in France, vaunted everywhere, that he would slit the minister’s nose of Angrogne. But he was shortly after assaulted by a wolf, which bit off his nose, so that he died thereof mad. Dispatch the knave, have done, said Sir Ralph Ellerken, governor of Calais, to the executioner of Adam Davilip, martyr, for I will not away till I see the traitor’s heart out (Acts and Mon.). But shortly after, the said Sir Ralph in a skirmish between the French and us at Bulloin, was among others slain, and had his heart ripped out by the enemy. That was a very remarkable one of Dr. Story, who escaping out of prison in Queen Elizabeth’s days, got to Antwerp, and there thinking himself out of the reach of God’s rod, he got commission under Duke D’Alva, to search all ships coming there for English books. But one Parker, an English merchant, trading to Antwerp, laid his snare fair, saith our chronicler (Speed. 1174), to catch this foul bird, causing secret notice to be given to Story, that in his ship were store of heretical books, with other intelligences that might stand him in stead. The canonist, conceiving that all was cock sure, hasted to the ship, where with looks very big upon the poor mariners, each cabin, chest, and corner above board were searched, and some things found to draw him further on; so that the hatches must be opened, which seemed to be unwillingly done, and great signs of fear were showed by their faces. This drew on the doctor to descend into the hold, where now in the trap the mouse might well gnaw, but could not get out; for the hatches were down, and the sails hoisted up, which with a merry gale were blown into England, where ere long he was arraigned, and condemned of high treason, and accordingly executed at Tyburn, as he had well deserved.
Ver. 17. I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness] i.e. His faithfulness in keeping promise with his people, and with myself in particular. I will say to his honour, as Deuteronomy 32:4, “A God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he.” And will sing praise to the name, &c.] Where the psalmist mentioneth the overthrow of the wicked. Laus praecedit et sequitur, saith R. Joshua Ben Levi here, as in this place, and Psalms 9:2 To the chief Musician upon Gittith] Upon the cittern, or gittern, brought from Gath, saith the Chaldee paraphrast; or, that was used by the sons of Obed Edom, the Gittite, 2 Samuel 6:10; or, that was sung at the wine presses, as the Greek hath it, for a thanksgiving in time of vintage: This last Aben Ezra disliketh, though I see no reason why he should, Vani heroines exponunt de torculari (Aben-Ezra).