EXPOSITION
THE title of this psalm—"To the chief musician, a psalm of David"—is thought to be not inappropriate. We may have here David's own appeal to God against his persecutors, and especially against a chief persecutor, who may be Saul, or Doeg, or Ahithophel, or Shimei. The psalm opens with mingled complaint and prayer. The adversaries are spoken of in the plural (Psalms 109:2-5). They have abused and maligned the writer, have returned evil for the good that he has sought to do them, and given him hatred for his love (Psalms 109:5). The psalmist, in return, utters against them, or rather against his chief persecutor, a series of male dictions (Psalms 109:6-15) which constitute a standing difficulty to all biblical apologists. They are certainly entirely alien to the Christian, though not perhaps to the Jewish spirit. It is impossible to read or re hearse them without pain. The attempt made to explain them as the utterances of David's adversaries (Kennicott, Mendelssohn, Westcott) is unsatisfactory. We must admit that they are the psalmist's own anathemas, and judge them from this standpoint (see the comment on Psalms 109:6-15). They are followed by an analysis of the evil tern-per in the adversaries which has led them into their evil courses (Psalms 109:15-20). The psalmist then turns to God in prayer, on-treating his help, and setting forth his own necessities (Psalms 109:21-29). Finally, he winds up with a short burst of praise, since he is confident that his prayer is heard, and that he will be delivered from his persecutors (Psalms 109:30, Psalms 109:31).