Psalms 11:2

For, lo, the wicked bend [their] bow,.... Are devising mischief, and making preparations to accomplish it; they make ready their arrow upon the string; of the bow, and are just about to execute their

For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. For, lo.

For lo: these are the words, either, 1. Of David’ s friends or enemies, confirming their former advice; which might suit with it, if that was the counsel of his friends; but not if it was (as it seems to have been) the counsel of his enemies; for these would never have called themselves wicked, nor David and his men upright in heart. Or rather, 2. Of David himself; who having directed his speech to his enemies, , now turns it to God, and pours out before him his complaints against his enemies, as his usual course is in this book. They do not only speak scornfully of me, as I have said, but, O Lord, they act against me with all their might and malice. They make ready their arrow upon the string; they lay designs for my destruction, and they make all things ready to execute them. Privily; out of their lurking holes: compare ,9 64:5. For as some of his enemies did openly oppose him, so others did secretly undermine him, and with pretences of friendship seek to betray him. At the upright in heart; at me and my followers, who have manifested our integrity both towards God and towards Saul, whom I have faithfully served and Spared when I could have taken away his life.

Psalms 11:2 For, lo, the wicked bend [their] bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.Ver. 2. For, lo, the wicked bend their bow] sc. To shoot at you, a silly bird; you were best therefore to be packing, and not to stay till you come tumbling down, as a bird fetched off with a bolt. Nam ecce inquitis impii apposuerunt pedem arcui (Beza). This hath ever been the guise of the Church’ s enemies, and is still, to terrify her (if they could) and affright her out of her faith and true religion. Nebuchadnezzar, for instance, Antiochus, that little antichrist, the primitive persecutors, and still the Papists, with their cruel inquisition, and otherwise. But what saith the apostle, In nothing be terrified by your adversaries, Philippians 1:28. Be not afraid with any amazement, 1 Peter 3:6. Nos quidem neque expavescimus neque pertimescimus ea quae ab ignorantibus patimur, saith Tertullian, We fear not what any of you can do to us, do your worst ( Ad Scapulain). Contemptus est a me Romanus et favor et furor, said Luther, I care not for Rome’ s frowns or fair looks. This the blind world counteth and calleth silliness or stubbornness, but they know not the force of faith nor the privy armour of proof that the saints have about their hearts. They make ready their arrow upon the string, not in the quiver, as the Vulgate reads it. That they may privily shoot Heb. to shoot in the darkness; so that, although the saints hide themselves in caves and dark corners, yet they are ferreted out thence by their persecutors, as David was by Saul often. And this some hold to be the meaning of that place, Psalms 74:20, "The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty"; that is, we can hide ourselves nowhere but the persecutors find us out.

(2) Privily.—See margin, which preserves the image of the archer lurking in a dark corner.

Verse 2. For, lo, the wicked bend their bow] Perhaps these are more of the words of his advisers: Every thing is ready for thy destruction: the arrow that is to pierce thy heart is already set on the bow-string; and the person who hopes to despatch thee is concealed in ambush.

2. The words of the faint-hearted friends continued. They justify their advice by pointing to the treacherous intentions of remorseless enemies. Similar language is used figuratively of slander in Psalms 64:3-4; Jeremiah 9:3; but here it may be taken literally of intent to murder. Cp. 1 Samuel 19:1 ff. For the language cp. Psalms 7:12; Psalms 7:10. privily] Lit. as R.V., in darkness. LXX, in a moonless night.

For, lo, the wicked bend their bow - These are to he regarded as the words of the persons referred to in the previous verse, who had advised the persecuted psalmist to flee to the mountains.

2. Here is given the reason for the above advice of David’s friends— namely, the character and attitude of his enemies. Make ready—Fix, place upon the string. Privily—Literally, in darkness; that is, treacherously.