Ver. 1. Deliver me O Lord, from the evil man] Made of malice, in which is steeped the venom of all vices. Preserve me from the violent man] Man of violences, who, vulture-like, (Revelation 11:10) liveth by rapine. Such were Saul and his informers.
Ver. 2. Which imagine mischief in their heart] Where the devil worketh night and day as a mintman; as a smith in his forge; or an artificer in his shop. A godly man is said to have right thoughts, Proverbs 12:5, and that his desires are only good, Proverbs 11:23. An evil man is called a man of wicked devices, Proverbs 12:2 14:17, being ingeniose nequam, wittily wicked, as it was once said of Gaius Curio, the Roman lawyer. They are gathered together for war] Heb. they gather wars, as serpents gather poison to vomit out at others. Coacervant praelia, q.d. sunt tanquam tubae belli.
Ver. 3. They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent] Which, by reason of his sharp tongue, striketh more deeply. Adders’poison] Venenum Ptyados. R. Solomen readeth spiders’ poison; others, asps!, vipers’; malice turneth men into serpents, saith Chrysostom.
Ver. 4. Keep me] Who am thus sought and set for; but thou canst rescue me. To overthrow my goings] Praecipitare, to hurl me down headlong.
Ver. 5. The proud have hid a snare, &c] They are restless to ruin me, adding all kind of craft to their cruelty.
Ver. 6. I said unto the Lord] Danger drove David home to God; as bugbears do little children to their parents.
Ver. 7. In the day of battle] Heb. of armours; for battle David never had any with Saul, but declined it.
Ver. 8. Grant not, O Lord, &c.] For if they should be votorum compotes, masters of their desires, they would be intolerably insolent, so as to say, Our high hand, and not the Lord, hath done all this, Deuteronomy 32:27.
Ver. 9. As for the head] The chieftain, the ringleader, Doeg, or Saul himself. Or thus, let mischief cover the heads of my besiegers, let it fall upon their pates, as Psalms 7:16 Similitudo est a sacrificiis, quorum capita execrabantur.
Ver. 10. Let burning coals fall upon them] Conflagrent ut corruant. Haec sunt non tam vota quam vaticinia.
Ver. 11. Let not an evil speaker] Heb. a man of tongue, whereof Geraldus reckoneth up twenty-four several sins; a world of wickedness, St James calleth it, James 3:6 Evil shall hunt the violent man] The angel of death shall hunt him into hell, saith the Chaldee. Of the blackbird’s excrements is made bird lime, to catch him. Gaius Marius was slain with the sword he made when he was a cutler. Propiis pennis perire grave est, was Julian’s motto. God’s judgments against sinners are feathered from themselves, as a fowl shot with an arrow feathered from her own body.
Ver. 12. I know] For I have a promise for it, and that is infallible.
Ver. 13. Shall give thanks] He shall have no other cause. The upright shall dwell in thy presence] When the hypocrite shall be dog out-of-doors, Job 13:16.