Matthew Poole and continuators on Psalms 141

2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense ; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice .

Heb. Be directed to thy face. Let it not be lost, but let it come unto thee and find audience.

Owned and accepted by thee no less than the incense, which by thy command, Exod. 30. 7, &c. is offered upon thine Altar, from which I am now banished and so disenabled to offer it there, and therefore I trust thou wilt accept my prayer instead of it.

My prayer made with hands lifted up, which was the usual gesture. See Iob 11. 13. Psal. 63. 5. & 88. 10, &c.

Which was offered every evening, Exod. 29. 39, &c. Which he mention[illegible: 1+ letters] either, 1. by way of opposition to the incense which was offered in the morning: or, 2. Synecdochically, so as to include the morning-sacrifice and all the sacrifices of the day, of which this was the close; such Synecdoches being most frequent, as hath been already observed: or, 3. because the evening-sacrifice was more solemn than the morning, and was attended with more company and more prayers, whence the ninth hour, which was the time of this sacrifice, is called the hour of prayer, Acts 3. 1.

Marginal references: Heb. directed.

3 Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth ; keep the door of my lips .

That I may not through mine own infirmity and the great provocations of mine enemies, break [illegible: 1+ letters]orth into any unadvised speeches or any expressions of impa[illegible: 1+ letters]ience or distrust or envy or malice, &c.

My lips which are the door of my mouth whence words come forth.

4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity : and let me not eat of their dainties .

Suffer it not to be inclined or led aside either by my own errours or lusts, or by the temptations of the world or of the Devil. Thus God is frequently said to harden mens hearts not positively, for he can do no evil, nor tempt any man to it, Iam. 1. 13. but privatively, by denying sof[illegible: 1+ letters]ning grace.

Keep me not onely from wicked speeches, v. 3. but from all evil motions of my heart, which otherwise will draw me to many evil speeches and actions.

Either, 1. to joyn with them in their sinful courses: or, 2. to do wickedly as they do.

Let me never enjoy or desire worldly comforts upon such terms as they do, to wit, with Gods wrath and curse, as instruments of wickedness, and of my own eternal destruction. My afflictions are more desirable than such prosperity. Let none of their sweet morsels, the pleasures o[illegible: 1+ letters] advantages, which they gain by their wickedness, tempt me to approve of or imitate their ways.

5 Let the righteous smite me , it shall be a kindness , and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil , which shall not break my head : for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities .

To wit, with his tongue by reproofs, as the next clause explains it, which are called wounds, Prov. 27. 6. As I pray unto thee that [illegible: 1 word] would[illegible: 1+ letters]st keep me from sinful practices, so I beg it of all just men, that if I do transgress, or if, by the arts and slanders of mine enemies, any of them are made to believe that I am guilty of [illegible: 1+ letters]il designs against Saul, or of any other wickedness, that they would freely admonish and reprove me for it And their reproofs shall please me better than the dainties of the wicked last mentioned, v. 4.

I shall be so far from being offended with it as an act of enmity or ill will, as they may suspect, that I shall esteem it an act and sign of true friendship.

Or, it shall be as the oil of the head, as it is in the Hebrew, i. e. which is poured upon the head, as the manner was in great feasts and solemnities.

Not hurt or disturb it, but on the contrary, shall heal and greatly refresh and delight it. Which is here understood by a known figure called Meiosis, whereby more is intended than is expressed, as Prov. 17. 21. and oft elsewhere.

Either, 1. in the calamities of those righteous persons who reproved and censured him. So this is an evidence of what he last said, that he should take their reproofs for a kindness, because when they came into such calamities as those wherein he was involved, as all righteous men must expect sufferings at one time or other, he would not insult over them nor censure them, but pity them and pray for them: or, 2. in the calamities of his enemies, of which he speaks in the next words. And so this may be added as a reason why he did so freely offer himself to the righteous to be reproved by them, if he or his cause were so bad as his enemies made them, because he was well assured that he was sincere and his cause good, and that God would bring him out of all his calamities, and bring his enemies into such calamities, that they should need and desire his prayers, which also he would willingly grant to them; and then all good men would be fully satisfied of the justice of his person and cause.

Marginal references: Prov. 9. 8.; Or, let the righteous smi[illegible: 1+ letters] me kindly, and reprove me; let not their precious oil break my head, &c.

6 When their judges are overthrown in stony places , they shall hear my words, for they are sweet .

The chief of mine enemies, their Governors Civil and Military.

Or, shall be overthrown, or cast down headlong by thine exemplary vengeance. Or, as others, were left free, unhurt by me, when it was in my power to destroy them: of which see 1 Sam. 24. & 26. to which histories this place is by divers learned Interpreters thought to allude. And then by their Iudges he means Saul, although he thought not fit distinctly to mention him, but onely to intimate him in an obscure and general way.

Heb. in the hands or by the sides of the rock. Which may relate either, 1. to the rocky nature of those places in which Saul fell into Davids hands. See 1 Sam. 24. 2. or, 2. to the ancient manner of punishing malefactors, which was by throwing them down from the tops of rocks: of which see 2 Chron. 25. 12. or, 3. to aggravate their overthrow; for falls in stony places are as most easie and frequent, so also most mischievous.

Then they, either the Judges, who will be wise too late; or the people spared by my favour, when others were overthrown and warned by that fearful example, will hear my words, i. e. hearken to my counsels and offers which now they despise, and then they, my words, will be sweet and acceptable to them, which now they reject. Others thus, then they did hear my words that they were sweet, then they acknowledged that my words and carriage towards Saul were full of meekness and gentleness, and that I was not so false and malicious, as they had represented me to be.

7 Our bones are scattered at the graves mouth , as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth .

My bones and the bones of my friends and followers. Our skin and flesh is in a manner consumed, and there is nothing left of us but a company of dead and dry bones. Whereby he intimates that their condition was desperate. Comp. Ezek. 37. 11.

Either, 1. literally and properly. So barbarously cruel were our enemies, that they not onely killed us, but left our carkasses unburied, by which means our flesh and sinews, &c. were consumed or torn in pieces by wild [illegible: 1+ letters]easts, and our bones dispersed upon the face of the earth our common grave: or, if any of my followers were dead and buried, they pulled their bones out of the grave, and scattered them about: or rather, 2. Metaphorically. So the sence is, Our case is almost as hopeless as of those who are dead, and whose bones are scattered in several places.

As much neglected and despised by them as the chips which a Carpenter makes when he is cutting wood, which he will not stoop to take up. Or rather, as the LXX. and Chaldee and Syriack understand it, and as it is in the Hebrew, as when one (to wit, the husbandman) cutteth and cleaveth the earth or in the earth; which he teareth without any mercy.

8 But mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord: in thee is my trust, leave not my soul destitute .

Or, naked, as this word signifies Psal. 137. 7. and a[illegible: 1+ letters] Aa[illegible: 1+ letters]on is said to have made the people naked, Exod. 32. 25. i. e. deprived of thy favour and protection. Or, do not po[illegible: 1+ letters]r out my soal, to wit, unto death, as this word is used, Isa. 53. 12.

Marginal references: Heb. make [illegible: 1 word] soul bare, [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word]. 5. 2, 3.

10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets , whilst that I withal escape.

Heb. Into his nets, either into Gods nets, the Relative being put without the Antecedent, as is usual in such cases, where it is easily understood. Or, each into his own nets, to wit, the mischiefs which he designs against me.

Or, together, to wit, with my followers: or, in like manner, as I have d[illegible: 1+ letters]e formerly. But this word may seem to be more fitly joyned to the [illegible: 1+ letters]oregoing clause, to which it is next placed in the Hebrew, and the verse may be and is by divers both ancient and later Translators, thus rendred, Let the wicked fall▪ (Or, The wicked shall fall) into their own nets together, (altogether, or alik[illegible: 1+ letters], one as well as another, Saul himself not excepted, whom though I dare not destroy, God will judge) whilst that I escape, am preserved from that common calamity in which mine enemies shall perish. Which was verified by the event. For David was strangely kept out of harms way when Saul and others of Davids enemies were cut off by the Phisisti[illegible: 1+ letters]s, 1 Sam. 31.

Marginal references: Heb pass over.