Verse 15
15. Again the subdued and tender strain of the muse is suddenly broken by one of the harshest imprecations in the Book of Psalms. The style is exceedingly impassioned.
Let death seize upon them The word “death” is needlessly harsh. The Hebrew is simply, Destructions upon them! The idea is, desolation, not death; and it may be understood of his public fame and his plans.
Let them go downs quick into hell Literally, they shall descend alive into the grave, or region of the dead. Proverbs 1:12. Sheol is not to be understood here of the place of future punishment, but of the grave, underworld, region of the dead. The Saxon hell is modernly restricted to signify the place of future punishment, and is not now, as formerly, an adequate translation of sheol. The description is based on Numbers 16:30, where sheol is rendered pit, “ and they go down quick into the pit.” David’s conspirators had all forfeited their lives for the highest crime against the State, and the judgment is only suited to their desert, and to the exigency of the kingdom. But see on Psalms 109:0
Be the first to react on this!
