Psalms 69:25

69:22-29 These are prophecies of the destruction of Christ's persecutors. Verses 22,23, are applied to the judgments of God upon the unbelieving Jews, in Ro 11:9,10. When the supports of life and delights of sense, through the corruption of our nature, are made the food and fuel of sin, then our table is a snare. Their sin was, that they would not see, but shut their eyes against the light, loving darkness rather; their punishment was, that they should not see, but should be given up to their own hearts' lusts which hardened them. Those who reject God's great salvation proffered to them, may justly fear that his indignation will be poured out upon them. If men will sin, the Lord will reckon for it. But those that have multiplied to sin, may yet find mercy, through the righteousness of the Mediator. God shuts not out any from that righteousness; the gospel excludes none who do not, by unbelief, shut themselves out. But those who are proud and self-willed, so that they will not come in to God's righteousness, shall have their doom accordingly; they themselves decide it. Let those not expect any benefit thereby, who are not glad to be beholden to it. It is better to be poor and sorrowful, with the blessing of the Lord, than rich and jovial, and under his curse. This may be applied to Christ. He was, when on earth, a man of sorrows that had not where to lay his head; but God exalted him.

Let their habitation be desolate,.... Which is applied to Judas, Acts 1:20 ; but not to the exclusion of others; for it must be understood of the habitations of others; even of their princes and nobles, their chief magistrates, high priest and other priests, scribes, and doctors of the law: for the word may be rendered, "their palace" or "castle" (k), as it is by some; and so may denote the houses of their principal men, the members of their sanhedrim; their houses great and fair, of which there were many in Jerusalem when it was destroyed; see Isaiah 5:9 ; as well as the habitations of the meaner sort of people, which all became desolate at that time; and particularly their house, the temple, which was like a palace or castle, built upon a mountain. This was left desolate, as our Lord foretold it would, Matthew 23:38 ; and let none dwell in their tents; the city of Jerusalem was wholly destroyed and not a house left standing in it, nor an inhabitant of it; it was laid even with the ground, ploughed up, and not one stone left upon another, Luke 19:44. (k) "palatium eorum", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Cocceius, Michaelis; "castella eorum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "palatium vel casteilum eorum", Gejerus; so Ainsworth.

Psalm 69:25 . Let their habitation — Hebrew, שׂירתם , tiratham, their palace, as the same word is rendered Song of Solomon 8:9 , or castle, as Genesis 25:16 , and Numbers 31:10 . It is meant either of their temple, in which they placed their glory and their confidence for safety, or more generally of their strong and magnificent buildings and houses in which they dwelt, as it follows in the next clause. And let none dwell in their tents — None of their posterity, or none at all. Let the places be accounted execrable and dreadful. Bishop Patrick’s paraphrase is, “Let their most magnificent structures be laid waste; and root them out so entirely, that there may not be a man left to dwell in their poorest cottages.” This verse had a most eminent completion in the final destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish state and nation, according to the predictions of the Lord Jesus, Matthew 23:36-38 ; Luke 21:6 , &c. Jerusalem has indeed been again partly rebuilt, and inhabited by Gentiles, by Christians, and by Saracens, but no more by the Jewish people.

(25) Habitation. —The derivation is from a word meaning circle, and a better rendering is therefore encampment or village. Nomadic tribes pitch their tents in an enclosed ring. The derivation of the English town is precisely similar. The desolation of his homestead was, to the Arab, the most frightful of calamities. (Comp. Job 18:15 . For St. Peter’s use of this verse, combined with Psalm 109:8 , see Acts 1:20 , and Note, New Testament Commentary. )

Verse 25. - Let their habitation be desolate; literally, their encampment Tirah ( טִירָה ) is the circular enclosure of a nomadic tribe, within which it kept its cattle or took refuge itself ( Genesis 26:16 ; Numbers 31:10 ). Nomadic expressions remained in use after nomadic habits had ceased (see 1 Kings 12:16 ). And let none dwell in their tents. A duplication of the preceding clause. Psalm 69:25

Their habitation, Heb. their palace , as this word signifies, Genesis 25:16 Numbers 31:10 Song of Solomon 8:9 . Either, 1. Their temple, in which they place their glory and safety. Or rather, 2. and more generally, Their strongest and most magnificent buildings and houses, in which they dwelt, as it follows in the next clause, which explains this. None; either, 1. None of their posterity. Destroy them both root and branch. Or, 2. None at all. Let the places be accounted execrable and dreadful.

25 . their habitation ] Rather, as R.V. marg., their encampment; cp. Genesis 25:16 ; Numbers 31:10 ; Ezekiel 25:4 (R.V.). The language is a survival from the habits of nomad life, with which however the Israelites must always have been familiar. Cp. Jeremiah 4:20 ; Jeremiah 10:20 . To the Oriental no prospect was more terrible than that of the complete extermination of his family. Cp. Job 18:19 ; Proverbs 14:11 . The quotation in Acts 1:20 is a free adaptation of the LXX.

Let their habitation be desolate - Margin, "their palace." The Hebrew word means properly a wall; then, a fortress or castle; and then it means also a nomadic encampment, a rustic village, a farm-hamlet. The word conveys the idea of an "enclosure," with special reference to an encampment, or a collection of tents. The Septuagint renders it here ἔπαυλις epaulis, meaning a place to pass the night in, especially for flocks and herds. The Hebrew word - טירה ṭı̂yrâh - is rendered "castles" in Genesis 25:16 ; Numbers 31:10 ; 1 Chronicles 6:54 ; "palaces" in Sol 8:9; Ezekiel 25:4 ; "rows" in Ezekiel 46:23 ; and "habitation" in this place. It does not occur elsewhere. Here it means their "home," - their place of abode, - but with no particular reference to the "kind" of home, whether a palace, a castle, or an encampment. The idea is, that the place which they had occupied, or where they had dwelt, would be made vacant. They would be removed, and the place would be solitary and forsaken. It is equivalent to a prayer that they might be destroyed. And let none dwell in their tents - Margin, as in Hebrew, "let there not be a dweller." That is, Let their tents where they had dwelt be wholly forsaken. This passage is quoted in Acts 1:20, as applicable to Judas. See the notes at that passage.

The description of the suffering has reached its climax in Psalm 69:22 , at which the wrath of the persecuted one flames up and bursts forth in imprecations. The first imprecation joins itself upon Psalm 69:22 . They have given the sufferer gall and vinegar; therefore their table, which was abundantly supplied, is to be turned into a snare to them, from which they shall not be able to escape, and that לפניהם, in the very midst of their banqueting, whilst the table stands spread out before them ( Ezekiel 23:41 ). שׁלומים (collateral form of שׁלמים) is the name given to them as being carnally secure; the word signifies the peaceable or secure in a good ( Psalm 55:21 ) and in a bad sense. Destruction is to overtake them suddenly, "when they say: Peace and safety" ( 1 Thessalonians 5:3 ). The lxx erroneously renders: καὶ εἰς ἀνταπόδοσιν equals וּלשׁלּוּמים. The association of ideas in Psalm 69:24 is transparent. With their eyes they have feasted themselves upon the sufferer, and in the strength of their loins they have ill-treated him. These eyes with their bloodthirsty malignant looks are to grow blind. These loins full of defiant self-confidence are to shake (המעד, imperat. Hiph. like הרחק, Job 13:21 , from המעיד, for which in Ezekiel 29:7 , and perhaps also in Daniel 11:14 , we find העמיד).