Here is, 1. The great contempt which wicked men put upon religion: My
enemies have forgotten thy words. They have often heard them, but so
little did they heed them that they soon forgot them, they willingly
forgot them, not only through carelessness let them slip out of their
minds, but contrived how to cast them behind their backs. This is at
the bottom of all the wickedness of the wicked, and particularly of
their malignity and enmity to the people of God; they have forgotten
the words of God, else those would give check to their sinful courses.
2. The great concern which godly men show for religion. David reckoned
those his enemies who forgot the words of God because they were enemies
to religion, which he had entered into a league with, offensive and
defensive. And therefore his zeal even consumed him, when he observed
their impieties. He conceived such an indignation at their wickedness
as preyed upon his spirits, even ate them up (as Christ's zeal, John
ii. 17), swallowed up all inferior considerations, and made him forget
himself. My zeal has pressed or constrained me (so Dr. Hammond reads
it), Acts xviii. 5. Zeal against sin should constrain us to do what we
can against it in our places, at least to do so much the more in
religion ourselves. The worse others are the better we should be.