Charles H. Spurgeon on Psalms 109:2

For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me. Speak, says Arnobius, to thine own conscience, O man of God, thou who art following Christ; and when the mouth of the wicked and deceitful man is opened concerning thee, rejoice and be secure; because while the mouth of the wicked is opened for thy slander in the earth, the mouth of God is opened for thy praise in heaven. —Lorinus.

Verses 2-3. Note, first, the detractor opens his mouth, that he may pour forth his poison, and that he may devour his victim. Hence, David says, "the mouth of the wicked is opened against me." Note, secondly, the detractor is talkative —They have spoken, etc. The mouth of the detractor is a broken pitcher leaking all over. Note, thirdly, detraction springs from hatred, "they compassed me about also with words of hatred." In Greek, ekuklwoan me, ie., as in a circle they have enclosed me. St. Climacus says, "Detraction is odii partus, a subtle disease, a fat but hidden leech which sucks the blood of charity and after destroys it." —Lorinus.

Verse 2-5. The mouth of the wicked, etc.

Vice —deformed

Itself, and ugly, and of flavour rank —

To rob fair Virtue of so sweet an incense

And with it to anoint and salve its own

Rotten ulcers, and perfume the path that led

To death, strove daily by a thousand means:

And oft succeeded to make Virtue sour

In the world's nostrils, and its loathly self

Smell sweetly. Rumour was the messenger

Of defamation, and so swift that none

Could be the first to tell an evil tale.

It was Slander filled her mouth with lying words;

Slander, the foulest whelp of Sin. The man

In whom this spirit entered was undone.

His tongue was set on fire of hell; his heart

Was black as death; his legs were faint with haste

To propagate the lie his tongue had framed

His pillow was the peace of families

Destroyed, the sigh of innocence reproached,

Broken friendships, and the strife of brotherhoods.

Yet did he spare his sleep, and hear the clock

Number the midnight watches, on bis bed

Devising mischief more; and early rose

And made most hellish meals of good men's names.

Peace fled the neighbourhood in which he made

His haunts; and, like a moral pestilence,

Before his breath the healthy shoots and blooms

Of social joy and happiness decayed.

Fools only in his company were seen,

And those forsaken of God, and to themselves

Given up. The prudent man shunned him and his house

As one who had a deadly moral plague. —Robert Pollok.