Search Tools
New Defender's Study Bible Notes
5:1 consider my meditation. Prayer can be expressed in words, but also without words in meditation, and God can respond to both.
5:3 in the morning. Although prayer is always good, there is special blessing associated with prayer and meditation early in the day. Guidance is needed for the activities of the day; rest is needed for the night. Note the example of Abraham (Genesis 19:27), Jacob (Genesis 28:18), Moses (Exodus 24:4), Gideon (Judges 6:38), Hannah (I Samuel 1:19), and especially that of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Mark 1:35).
5:6 speak leasing. Note also Psalm 4:2. “Leasing” is an archaic term meaning “falsehood.” The Hebrew word is translated “leasing” only in these two verses.
5:10 Destroy thou them. This is the first of many “imprecations” in the Psalms, wherein God-fearing men actually pray for God to torture and destroy their enemies. This seems alien to the spirit of Matthew 5:44 (“I say unto you, Love your enemies”), especially in view of the fact that these “imprecatory psalms” are divinely inspired. The distinction, however, is to be made between our personal enemies and the enemies of God. David says in a later psalm: “Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee?...I hate them with perfect hatred” (Psalm 139:21-22). There is no personal vindictiveness involved in desiring and praying that God will be vindicated when His enemies are defeated and judged. David here is praying for judgment against such men, not because they have injured him personally but because “they have rebelled against thee.”
5:11 put their trust. Compare Psalm 2:8.
Psalm 6 (title) Sheminith. Sheminith occurs only here and in the title to Psalm 12. It is believed to refer to an eight-stringed lyre.