Ver. 1. Give ear to my prayer, O God] David’s danger was present, his prayer therefore is pressing, being not the labour of his lips, but the travail of his heart. The breath that cometh from the lips is cold, not that which cometh from the lungs. Hide not thyself] As men when they are not willing to be sued unto will not be seen.
Ver. 2. Attend unto me, and hear me] Heb. answer me, that is, grant me deliverance from this death which threateneth me. This is his sense, as appeareth by the sequel; though at present he could not instance, but only beggeth audience. I mourn in my complaint] Heb. I toss this way and that way; I am so much troubled ut meipsum lamentando huc et illuc versare, et mire agitare cogar. Prae dolore moveo me nunc huc nunc illuc (Campensis). And make a noise] Plungo, et perstrepo. Of our Saviour it is said, that, being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly; he bent, as it were, all his nerves, and set up his note, Luke 22:44.
Ver. 3. Because of the voice of the enemy] He may very well intend Shimei’s bitter revilings, 2 Samuel 16:5, &c. For they cast iniquity upon me] They tumble it on me, as men do stones or anything else upon their besiegers, to endamage them; so did these, sin, shame, anything, upon innocent David, to make him odious. And in wrath they hate me] Heb. they Satanically hate me.
Ver. 4. My heart is sore pained within me] No otherwise than a woman is pained in travail; cordicitus doleo. I am pained deep in my heart. And the terrors of death are fallen upon me] Caused, doubtless, by the deep sense and conscience of his late grievous sins.
Ver. 5. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me] Fearfulness of heart, and trembling of body, Timor cordis, tremor corporis; which last falleth out, when as the spirits flying back to the heart, to relieve it, leave the outward parts destitute. And horror hath overwhelmed me] This was David’s infirmity; for he should have better fortified his heart against that cowardly passion of fear; the devil also had a finger in it. At another time David could better resolve and say, What time I am afraid I will trust in thee.
Ver. 6. And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove!] Ut citissime et longissime fugerem, that I might swiftly fly far off from Absalom’s pursuers; as the dove saveth herself by fight, and not by fight, scoureth away to the rocks and deserts, Jeremiah 48:28. Many souls are swifter of flight than doves; but these hold out better. R. Jonah saith, that whereas other birds, when they are wearied with flying, do rest them upon rocks or trees, and are taken; the dove doth not so, but letteth down one wing, and flieth with the other, and thereby escapeth the pursuer (R. Jonah, apud Kimchi). For then would I fly away] But whither he saith not, because he knew not. The Church in the Revelation fled into the wilderness, Revelation 12:6 God provided a Pella for those primitive Christians. Luther, being asked where he would be at quiet from his enemies? answered, Sub coelo, under heave, somewhere God would secure him.
Ver. 7. Lo, then would I wander far off] Far from the force and fury of these breathing devils. Jeremiah wisheth the like, as being tired out by the ungodly practices of his countrymen, Psalms 9:2. And many a dear child of God, forced to be in bad company, cries, Oh that I had the wings, &c. Or if that Oh will not set him at liberty, he takes up that Woe, to express his misery, Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech, &c. And remain in the wilderness] Among wild beasts; which were better than to abide with these lycanthropi, men more cruel, savage, and bloody than any beasts. A kind of insanity described by ancient writers, in which the patient imagined himself to be a wolf, and had the instincts and propensities of a wolf. Now occasionally applied as a name of those forms of insanity in which the patient imagines himself a beast, and exhibits depraved appetites, alteration of voice, etc., in accordance with this delusion.
Ver. 8. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm, &c.] I would thrust my ship into any creek in the whole world, go as far as my legs, nay, wings, could carry me. Of the swiftness of the dove’s flight, see Plin. l. 10, c. 37; and how David hastened his flight from Absalom, see 2 Samuel 15:14.
Ver. 9. Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues] Heb. Swallow them up, O Lord, and divide their tongues; by an allusion, as some conceive, to those two famous judgments of God upon Dathan and Abiram, first, Numbers 16:31-33, and then, secondly, upon the Babel builders, Genesis 11:6-9, both which were thrown out for examples to all succeeding ages (as St Jude saith of the Sodomites, Jude 7), and are to be considered by the saints, as here, in their prayers against their enemies. How God answered this prayer to David, see 2 Samuel 17:1-14, &c. For I have seen violence and strife in the city] i.e. In Jerusalem, something I have seen, but more outrages I have heard of, since Absalom with his army came into it. The rude soldiers plunder the poor citizens at pleasure, and cannot agree among themselves in dividing the spoil.