The Bible Commentaries and Others: Psalms 140 v 1

http://biblebitbybit.blogspot.com/2016/01/psalms-140-v-1.html
Posted by Psalms on Saturday, 23 January 2016

Psalms 140:1

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man;

140:1. Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man. It reads like a clause of the Lord’s prayer, “Deliver us from evil.” David does not so much plead against an individual as against the species. We shall not find an unregenerate person who is not in some sense evil, and yet all are not alike evil. It is well for us that our enemies are evil: it would be a horrible thing to have the good against us. When the evil man bestirs himself against the godly he is as terrible a being as a serpent, or even a devil. The persecuted turn to God in prayer. We cannot of ourselves baffle the enemy, but the Lord knows how to deliver his saints.

Preserve me from the violent man. “The evil man” soon develops into the violent man. Our Lord was surrounded by those who thirsted for his blood. We may not, therefore, hope to pass through the world without enemies, but we may hope to be delivered out of their hands, and preserved from their rage, so that no real harm will come of their malignity.

Excerpt from:

The Treasury of David by Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)