Psalms 7:13

He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death,.... The weapons of his indignation, Isaiah 13:5; which, will issue both in the first and second death, corporeal and eternal; the instruments

He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. Ordaineth-`maketh.' against the persecutors.

For him; either, 1. For or against the persecutor, as it follows. Or rather, 2. For himself, for his own use, to wit, to shoot against his enemies. The instruments of death, i.e. arrows, or other deadly weapons. He ordaineth, Heb. maketh or worketh, designeth or fitteth for his very use. Against the persecutors; or, against furious and wry persecutors, as the word signifies, and as it is used, .

Psalms 7:13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.Ver. 13. He hath also prepared, &c.] The punishment of ungodly persons is here elegantly set forth by three similitudes. 1. From warfare. 2. From child birth, Psalms 7:14 3. From hunting, Psalms 7:15-16. Well might the Lord say, "I have used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets," Hosea 12:10. He ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors] Heb. the hot burning persecutors, that are set on work by the great red dragon (Ardentes, importing their haste to perpetrate mischief). Such were Felix of Wurtemburg, who swore that ere he died he would ride up to the spurs, and Fornesius, who vowed that he would ride up to the saddle skirts, in the blood of the Lutherans. The archbishop of Tours made suit for the erection of a court called Chambre Ardent, wherein to condemn the French Protestants to the fire. But ere he died he had fire enough, for he was stricken with a disease called The Fire of God; which began at his feet, and so ascended upward, that he caused one member after another to be cut off, and so he died miserably. This was God’ s burning arrow against a hot burning persecutor. The like may be said of Dioclesian, that bloody tyrant, who had his house burnt over his head with fire from heaven; wherewith he was so frightened that he died soon after (Euseb. l. 5). The previously mentioned Count Felix of Wurtemburg was, the same night that he had so vowed and vaunted, choked in his own blood. So he rode not, but bathed himself, not up to the spurs, but throat, not in the Lutherans’ blood, but in his own, before he died. And the like we read of Charles IX of France.

(13) Instruments of death.—That is, deadly weapons.Against the persecutors.—Literally, for those burning; so LXX. and Vulg. The meaning appears to be, “His arrows he makes into fiery arrows”—i.e., tips them with fire, by wrapping them in burning tow. Latin, malleoli. (Comp. Ephesians 6:16, with Note, in New Testament Commentary.) Milton’s “rattling storm of arrows barb’d with fire,” refers to the same custom.

Verse 13. He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death] This appears to be all a prophecy of the tragical death of Saul. He was wounded by the arrows of the Philistines; and his own keen sword, on which he fell, terminated his woful days!

13. Render: Tea at him hath he aimed deadly missiles; Making his arrows fiery. Or, Yea, for him hath he prepared &c. The description of the warrior-judge is continued. God’s arrows are His lightnings (Psalms 18:14; Zechariah 9:14), which He aims at the impenitent sinner. There may be a reference to the fire-darts of ancient warfare (Lat. malleoli), arrows with tow, pitch, and other inflammable materials attached to them, lighted and discharged into a besieged town with the object of setting it on fire. Cp. ‘the fire-charged darts of the evil one,’ Ephesians 6:16.

He hath also prepared for him - The instruments of punishment are already prepared, and God can use them when he pleases.

11-13. God judgeth—These verses present an earnest warning, not only to David’s wicked persecutors, but to all contemners of law and justice.