Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on Psalms 11

PSALM 11

Psa 11:1-7. On title, see Introduction. Alluding to some event in his history, as in 1Sa 23:13, the Psalmist avows his confidence in God, when admonished to flee from his raging persecutors, whose destruction of the usual foundations of safety rendered all his efforts useless. The grounds of his confidence are God's supreme dominion, His watchful care of His people, His hatred to the wicked and judgments on them, and His love for righteousness and the righteous.

1. my soul--me (Psa 3:2).

Flee--literally, "flee ye"; that is, he and his companion.

as a bird to your mountain--having as such no safety but in flight (compare 1Sa 26:20; La 3:52).

2. privily--literally, "in darkness," treacherously.

3. Literally, "The foundations (that is, of good order and law) will be destroyed, what has the righteous done (to sustain them)?" All his efforts have failed.

4. temple ... heaven--The connection seems to denote God's heavenly residence; the term used is taken from the place of His visible earthly abode (Psa 2:6; 3:4; 5:7). Thence He inspects men with close scrutiny.

5. The trial of the righteous results in their approval, as it is contrasted with God's hatred to the wicked.

6. Their punishment is described by vivid figures denoting abundant, sudden, furious, and utter destruction (compare Ge 19:24; Job 18:15; Psa 7:15; 9:15).

cup--is a frequent figure for God's favor or wrath (Psa 16:5; 23:5; Mt 20:22, 23).

7. his countenance--literally, "their faces," a use of the plural applied to God, as in Ge 1:26; 3:22; 11:7; Is 6:8, &c., denoting the fulness of His perfections, or more probably originating in a reference to the trinity of persons. "Faces" is used as "eyes" (Psa 11:4), expressing here God's complacency towards the upright (compare Psa 34:15, 16).