Bible Commentary

Psalms 53:5

Psalms 53:5

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible · John Gill (1697–1771) · Public Domain

There were they in great, fear, [where] no fear was,.... Before; neither of God nor man, nor any dread of punishment, but the utmost security, Re 18:7; alsoSee Gill on "";for God hath scattered the bones of [him] that encampeth [against] thee; either against Christ, or against his church and people; who set themselves against the person, office, and grace of Christ, and seek to distress and destroy his interest: "the bones [of such] God will scatter": that is, he will destroy antichrist and his armies, which are his strength, as the bones are the strength of the human body; and make such a carnage of them, that the fowls of the air shall eat their flesh, and their bones shall be scattered here and there; see Re 19:17.

So the Targum,"for God scatters the strength of the armies of the wicked.''Kimchi interprets it of the bones of the nations that shall encamp against Jerusalem, in the days of Gog; see Re 20:8; and Aben Ezra observes, that "thee" respects either God or the Messiah;thou hast put [them] to shame; this is either an address of the psalmist unto God, declaring what he had done; or rather of God the Father to his Son Christ Jesus; and so Kimchi and Ben Melech say this refers to the Messiah: and it may be expressive of the shame and confusion that antichrist and his followers will be thrown into, when they shall make war with the Lamb, and he shall overcome them, Re 17:14;because God hath despised them; or rejected them as reprobates; given them up to a reprobate mind; and being ungodly men, has before ordained them to this condemnation.

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