Matthew Poole and continuators on Psalms 49:5

5. Wherefor[illegible: 1+ letters] should I fear in the days of evil , wh[illegible: 1+ letters]n the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about.

He speaks in his own Person, because he had now said that he would incline his Ear, v. 4. (i. e.) Learn and Practise what he was teaching others, but his meaning is more general: That there is no sufficient Cause, why he or any good man should Fear. Which is to be understood of Excessive or immoderate and prevailing Fear, causing Dejection or Despondency, or distrust of God's Providence and Goodness, or Discontent with his Condition. In which Sence men [illegible: 1 word] bid not to Fear, Gen. 50. 19. Mat. 28. 5. Comp. with Mark 16. 6. Thus Gen. 45 5. Be not grieved, to wit, inordinately: for otherwise they ought, and he would have had them to grieve for their sin. Thus to lead a man into Temptation, Mat. 6. 13. is to suffer him to be overcome by it, by Comparing 1 Cor. 10. 13. And the Object, or cause of this forb[illegible: 1+ letters]dden Fear is double, the one, the Afflictions of good Men, here following; the other, the Prosperity of the ungodly, as it is declared v. 16. and of which he begins to Treat in the very next Verse, and continues the Discourse of it, to the end of the Psalm.

Either, 1. Of sin: when iniquity of all sorts abounds; which is many ways grievous and vexa[illegible: 1+ letters]ious to every good Man. Or, 2. Of Misery; in times of great Distress and Calamity, either publick or private, when wicked Men flourish, (of which he speaks in all the rest of the Psalm) and good men are oppressed and persecuted.

By which he understands either, 1. His afflictions: which he might justly call the Punishment of his sinful Actions: for iniquity is commonly put for the Punishment of it, and the Heels are put for a Mans Foot-steps, and Metaphorically, for ones ways or Actions, as Psal. 56. 6. and 89. 51. Or, 2. The iniquity, (i. e.) The violent and injurious Designs and Practises of his ungodly and malitious Enemies, who, as he here saith, did [illegible: 1 word] him about. Whereby he notes their prosperous Success against him, and his being indangered and vexed by them, as this Phrase implies, Iob. 16. 13. Psal. 17. 9. 11. and 22. 12 and 140. 9. Habak. 1. 4. and withal their intention and endeavour to vex and persecure and destroy him, as this Phrase is used, Psal. 17. 9. and 22. 12. 16. and in many other places. This S[illegible: 1+ letters]nce is favoured both by the Syriack and Arabick Interpreters: whereof the former renders the Words thus, the iniquity of mine Enemies hath Compassed me, and the latter thus, when mine Enemies shall Compass me about: and by the main Scope of the Psalm, which is to Comfort himself and other good Men, against that great Scandal of the Prosperity of the Wicked, and the Oppressions and Miseries of the Righteous. But all the Difficulty is, why or how he calls this, the iniquity of his Heels. For the clearing whereof, it is humbly proposed to Consideration, that this Genitive Case, of my H[illegible: 1+ letters]els, seems to note not the Efficient or Meritorious cause of this iniquity, or Punishment of it, but the Object about which this iniquity is Exercised; as Nouns in the Genitive Case are frequently [illegible: 1+ letters]aken. Thus the spoil of the Poor, Isa. 3. 14. is not that spoil which was made by them, but upon them: and the Vi[illegible: 1+ letters] lence of the Children of Iudah, as it is in the Hebrew [illegible: 1 word], Io[illegible: 1+ letters]l. 3. 19. is that which was done ag[illegible: 1+ letters]inst them, as we truly Translate it. See also Dan. 4 27. Mat. 10. 1. Act. 4. 9. In like manner here, the iniquity of my Heels, is the iniquity wherewith they Compass and seek to trip up my Heels: for we shall find David oft speaking of the malitious Practices of his Enemies, with respect to his Heels or Feet, or Steps. So he tells us they pierced his Hands and Feet, Psal. 22. 16. they Compassed and marked, and prepared a Net for his Steps, Psal. 17. 11. and 56. 6. and 57. 6. as [illegible: 1 word] also complains of his Enemies, that they hid Snares for his Feet, Ch. 18. 22. And therefore it is not strange that the iniquity of his Enemies is here noted to be exercised about his Heels, or Footstepts, as this word signifies, either because they did malignantly observe all his steps or ways, that they might find occasion to load him with Reproaches in order to his Ruin; or because they purposed to trip up his Heels, or to overthrow his goings, as he Complains, Psal. 140. 4. Besides the Words may be rendred, the iniquity of my Supplanters; for the Hebrew word rendred Heels, may be and is by some learned Interpreters, taken for a Participle of that Verb, which signifies to Supplant or trip up the Heels or Circumvent, from whence Iacob had his Name. And this Character fitly agrees to David's Enemies, who were not onely most malitious, but also very deceitful and Treacherous, as he every where Complains.

Marginal references: Hos. [illegible: 1+ letters]. 2.