Psalms 11

Ps 11:1-7.

On title, see

Introduction.

Alluding to some event in his history, as in

1Sa 23:13,

the Psalmist avows his confidence in God, when admonished to flee from

his raging persecutors, whose destruction of the usual foundations of

safety rendered all his efforts useless. The grounds of his confidence

are God's supreme dominion, His watchful care of His people, His hatred

to the wicked and judgments on them, and His love for righteousness and

the righteous.

1. my soul--me

(Ps 3:2).

Flee--literally, "flee ye"; that is, he and his companion.

as a bird to your mountain--having as such no safety but in flight

(compare

1Sa 26:20;

La 3:52).

2. privily--literally, "in darkness," treacherously.

3. Literally, "The foundations (that is, of good order and law) will be

destroyed, what has the righteous done (to sustain them)?" All his

efforts have failed.

4. temple . . . heaven--The connection seems to denote God's heavenly

residence; the term used is taken from the place of His visible earthly

abode

(Ps 2:6; 3:4; 5:7).

Thence He inspects men with close scrutiny.

5. The trial of the righteous results in their approval, as it is

contrasted with God's hatred to the wicked.

6. Their punishment is described by vivid figures denoting abundant,

sudden, furious, and utter destruction (compare

Ge 19:24;

Job 18:15;

Ps 7:15;

9:15).

cup--is a frequent figure for God's favor or wrath

(Ps 16:5; 23:5;

Mt 20:22, 23).

7. his countenance--literally, "their faces," a use of the plural

applied to God, as in

Ge 1:26; 3:22; 11:7;

Isa 6:8,

&c., denoting the fulness of His perfections, or more probably

originating in a reference to the trinity of persons. "Faces" is used

as "eyes"

(Ps 11:4),

expressing here God's complacency towards the upright (compare

Ps 34:15, 16).