Psalms 109:4

For my love they are my adversaries,.... For the love that Christ showed to the Jews; to their bodies, in going about and healing all manner of diseases among them; to their souls, in preaching, the

For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.

For my love they are my adversaries; they requite my love and good will with enmity and mischief, as it is explained, . But I give myself unto prayer, Heb. but I prayer, i.e. I am a man of prayer, or I betake myself to prayer. Thus I peace is put for I am for peace, as we render it, ; and thy bread for the men of thy bread, or that eat thy bread, Obadiah 7. The sense is, Whilst they reproach and curse me, I pray either, 1. For them, as he did, ; or, 2. For myself: I did not render unto them evil for evil, but quietly committed myself and my cause to God by prayer, desiring him to plead my cause against them; and I had no other refuge.

Psalms 109:4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I [give myself unto] prayer.Ver. 4. For my love they are mine adversaries] Heb. they satanically hate me. To render evil for evil is brutish, but to render evil for good is devilish. But I give myself to prayer] Heb. But I am prayer, or, a man of prayer, as Psalms 120:7, But I am peace. So, being defamed, we pray, 1 Corinthians 4:12. When our Saviour was wearied out with the people’ s obstinace, he turned himself to God in prayer, Matthew 11:26, and prayed for his crucifiers, Luke 23:34 Send me to my toads again (in the dungeon), where I may pray for your lordship’ s conversion, said Saunders, the martyr, to Winchester.

(4) For my love . . .—i.e., in return for my love I give myself unto prayer. For a concise expression of the same kind as “I prayer,” see Psalms 120:7, “I peace.” Of course the psalmist means, that in the face of all the taunts and reproaches of his maligners, he simply and naturally has recourse to prayer, and, as the context seems to indicate, prayer for them.

Verse 4. For my love they are my adversaries] In their behalf I have performed many acts of kindness, and they are my adversaries notwithstanding; this shows principles the most vicious, and hearts the most corrupt. Many of the fathers and commentators have understood the principal part of the things spoken here as referring to our Lord, and the treatment he received from the Jews; and whatever the original intention was, they may safely be applied to this case, as the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th verses are as highly illustrative of the conduct of the Jewish rulers towards our Lord as the following verses are of the conduct of Judas; but allowing these passages to be prophetic, it is the Jewish state rather than an individual, against which these awful denunciations are made, as it seems to be represented here under the person and character of an extremely hardened and wicked man; unless we consider the curses to be those of David's enemies. See Clarke on Psalms 109:20. But I give myself unto prayer] ואני תפלה vaani thephillah; "And I prayer." The Chaldee: ואנא אצלי vaana atsalley, "but I pray." This gives a good sense, which is followed by the Vulgate, Septuagint, AEthiopic, Arabic, and Anglo-Saxon. The Syriac, "I will pray for them." This, not so correctly; as dreadful imprecations, not prayers, follow. But probably the whole ought to be interpreted according to the mode laid down, Psalms 109:20. The translation and paraphrase in the old Psalter are very simple: - Trans. For that thyng that thai sulde hafe lufed me, thai bakbited me; bot I prayed. Par. That is, that sulde haf lufed me for I was godson, and thai bakbited me sayande, in Belzebub he castes oute fendes; bot I prayed for thaim.

4. In return for my love they behave as adversaries unto me, Though I (gave myself unto) prayer. Their hostility is not merely gratuitous (Psalms 109:3); it is an actual return of evil for good. The Heb. word for ‘adversaries’ is characteristic of this Psalms , vv20, 29; cp. Psalms 109:6 : elsewhere in the Psalter only in Psalms 38:20; Psalms 71:13. It may mean not ‘enemies’ in general, but ‘accusers,’ opponents in a court of law. For the forcible idiom I (was) prayer cp. Psalms 120:7, “I am peace”; Psalms 110:3, “Thy people are freewill offerings.” The A.V., But I give myself unto prayer, retained in R.V., takes the meaning to be that in his need he commits his cause to God (cp. Psalms 69:13). But the parallel passage in Psalms 35:13 is decidedly in favour of supposing that his prayers for them in past times are meant, and this explanation suits the context best. To these prayers he refers as the proof of his love, the good for which they are now (Psalms 109:5) requiting him with evil.

For my love ... - As a recompence for my love; or, this is the return which I get for all the expressions of my love to them. The enemies referred to were those whom he had treated kindly; to whom he had done good.

4, 5. For my love—Instead of “my love,” or instead of returning love for “my love,” they are my adversaries. And so, Psalms 109:5. This “rewarding evil for good and hatred for love” is the purest diabolism.