Ver. 1. Why standest thou afar off, O Lord?] As if thou hadst forgotten what thou hadst promised thy people in the formed psalm; which the Greek and Latin versions make to be one and the same with this, as having no title, and tending almost to the same purpose. Hence the difference in numbers, which holdeth almost to the end of the psalter, viz. to Psalm 148. Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?] So God seemeth to do when he helpeth not presently; neither doth anything more trouble the saints in affliction than the want of God’s gracious presence. This maketh them thus to expostulate and lament after the Lord; not quarrel, as those hypocrites did, Isaiah 58:3, or revile, as Caligula did his Jupiter, taking up that verse in Homer, Ζευ πατερ ουτις σειο Θεων ολοωτερος αλλος, or with him (little better) in the holy history, who said, “Behold, this evil is of the Lord; what should I wait for the Lord any lenger?” 2 Kings 6:33. The good soul knows that God waiteth to be gracious; and as he seldom cometh at our time, so at his own (which is ever the best) time he never faileth.
Ver. 2. The wicked in his pride doth persecute, &c.] Heb. hotly pursueth (εμπυριζεται. Chrysost.), and that out of his pride, the true cause of persecution, whatever else is pretended. And this is fitly here alleged, and urged as an argument to move God to make haste. See Deuteronomy 32:27: The saints fare the better for the insolence and outrage of their enemies, whose ruin is thereby accelerated, and somewhat God will do the sooner for his people, lest the enemy exalt himself, Psalms 140:8, and say, Our hand is high, the Lord hath not done this. Let them be taken in the devices, &c.] As all persecutors are sure to be in which regard Tertullian well adviseth Scapula, Si nobis non parcis, tibi parce; si non tibi, Carthagini: If thou wilt not spare us Christians, yet spare thyself; or if not thyself, yet thy city Carthage, which else will smart and smoke for thy cruelty.
Ver. 3. For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire] Though the soul of the wicked desire evil, Proverbs 21:10, yet he glorieth in it, as did that thrasonical Lamech, Genesis 4:23,24, and that pyrgopolynices Nebuchadnezzar, Isaiah 10:9-12 Da 4:30,31. See Psalms 52:1 Php 3:19. This the just and jealous God cannot bear, as neither that which followeth. And blesseth the covetous] Ut sapientem et providum, as a wise man and good husband. So they in Malachi, who said, “And now we count the proud happy,” &c. Felix scelus virtus vocatur (Seneca). Whom the Lord abhorreth] Smiting his hands with indignation at his dishonest gain, Ezekiel 22:13, like as Balak did at Balsam, with whom he was deeply displeased, Numbers 24:10.
Ver. 4. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance] That is, of his heart, appearing in his countenance, as a master pock in his forehead. For pride buddeth, Ezekiel 7:10; the pride of Israel testifieth to his face, Hosea 5:5; the thoughts are oft seen in the countenance; and the heart is printed upon the face, Isaiah 3:9. It is a hard thing, saith one, to have a brazen face and a broken heart. Will not seek] He thinks it not necessary or worth the while; and his practice is agreeable, that is, naught all over. Pride in the soul is like a great swelling in the body, which, besides that it is a dangerous symptom, unfits it for any good service; and is apt to putrefy and to break, and to run with loathsome and foul matter. So doth pride disable the soul from doing duty, and at last breaketh forth into odious deeds, abominable to God and men. It is observed, that the ground whereon the peacock useth to sit is by that occasion made exceeding barren; so where pride roosteth and reigneth, no good groweth. God is not in all his thoughts] God is neither in his head, as here, nor in his heart, Psalms 14:1, nor in his words, Psalms 12:4, nor in his ways, Titus 1:16; he is wholly without God in the world, Ephesians 2:1-3, he studies atheism, and all his thoughts are, There is no God, so this text may be read, he would fain so persuade himself.
Ver. 5. His ways are always grievous] As he pleaseth not God, so he is contrary and vexatious to men, Viae eius semper terrent, so Aben Ezra. The psalmist here noteth him for such a one as the Cyclopes are set forth to have been by the poets. Thy judgments are far above out of his sight] He looketh not so high, but reckoneth that quae supra nos nihil ad nos. If he read them at any time, he regardeth them as little as he doth the story of foreign wars, wherein he is not concerned. As for all his enemies, he puffeth at them] He holdeth himself man good enough to make his party good with them, and that he can overthrow them all with a puff. He defieth them and domineereth over them, as the Greek renders it, κατακυριενει (Sept.), εκφυσα (Chrysost.).
Ver. 6. He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved] So said a better man once, Psalms 30:6, but he was quickly confuted. If a believer conclude, by the force of his faith, that he shall never be moved from that good estate in which Christ hath set him, this is the triumph of trust, and not the vain vaunt of presumption. For I shall never be in adversity] The Chaldee hath it, Quoniam non sum in malo; and understandeth it as the evil of sin, as Exodus 32:22, and then the sense is, because the wicked man suffereth not the punishment of sin, therefore he conceiveth that he is innocent, and without sin. See Hosea 12:8, [See Trapp on “Ho 12:8”]