Psalm 109:16

Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) Poor.—The Hebrew word thus rendered, viz., ‘anî, has suggested a reference to the murder of the high priest Onias (2 Maccabees 4:34-36).

Benson Commentary

Psalm 109:16. Because he remembered not — “The crime which brought upon its perpetrators all the above-mentioned judgments and calamities, is here pointed out too plainly to be mistaken. They remembered not to show mercy — To him who showed it to all the world; they persecuted him who for our sakes became poor; they betrayed and murdered the lowly and afflicted Jesus, whose heart was broken with sorrow for their sins, and with a sense of the punishment due to them.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

109:6-20 The Lord Jesus may speak here as a Judge, denouncing sentence on some of his enemies, to warn others. When men reject the salvation of Christ, even their prayers are numbered among their sins. See what hurries some to shameful deaths, and brings the families and estates of others to ruin; makes them and theirs despicable and hateful, and brings poverty, shame, and misery upon their posterity: it is sin, that mischievous, destructive thing. And what will be the effect of the sentence, Go, ye cursed, upon the bodies and souls of the wicked! How it will affect the senses of the body, and the powers of the soul, with pain, anguish, horror, and despair! Think on these things, sinners, tremble and repent.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Because that he remembered not to show mercy - He had no compassion; he was severe, harsh, unjust, unfeeling.

But persecuted the poor and needy man - The man that was destitute of friends; that was a wanderer and a beggar. There were times in the life of David when this would be strictly and literally applicable to him.

That he might even slay the broken in heart - The man whose heart was crushed by sorrow - that he might put "the finishing stroke" to all, and send him to the grave. Whatever might have been the "feeling" which prompted to this prayer, or however difficult it may be to vindicate the psalmist's expression of feeling, there can be no doubt as to the propriety of inflicting punishment on such a man. The sufferings invoked are none too severe to be inflicted on a man who persecutes the poor and needy, and seeks so to multiply sorrows that the man already crushed and broken in heart shall sink to the grave.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. Let God remember guilt, because he (the wicked) did not remember mercy.

poor and needy … broken in heart—that is, pious sufferer (Ps 34:18; 35:10; 40:17).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Remembered not his duty to God, and his obligation to me my former kindness, expressed Psalm 109:4,5.

The poor and needy man; myself, who was desolate and miserable, whose required pity, and not additions of cruelty.

The broken in heart; whose spirit was grieved, and even broken the burden of his calamities.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Because that he remembered not to show mercy,.... As Judas did not; neither to the poor, whom he cared not for, John 12:6 nor to Christ, whom he betrayed with a kiss to his enemies: nor had these words of Christ any effect upon him, to move his pity and compassion, "Friend, wherefore art thou come?" Matthew 26:49 nor did the Jews show mercy to him: they were a merciless and hardhearted people; though mercy was one of the weightier matters of the law, this they omitted, Matthew 23:23, their want of compassion may be observed in the priest and Levite passing by the man wounded by thieves, Luke 10:30. Nor did they show any mercy to Christ, when they smote and buffeted him; nor did it move their pity when Pilate brought him forth with a crown of thorns on his head, and in a miserable condition, saying, "Behold the man"; but they cried out, "Crucify him, crucify him"; and gave him gall for his meat, and vinegar to drink; and mocked him when in all his miseries and agonies.

But persecuted the poor and needy man; Christ, who became poor for our sakes, and stood in need of the ministration of others to him, 2 Corinthians 8:9 and was poor in spirit, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs; him Judas and the Jews persecuted to death, as follows:

that he might even slay the broken in heart; Christ, whose heart was broken with the reproach and cruel usage of men, Psalm 69:20, whose life the Jews sought to take away, and by means of Judas did.

Geneva Study Bible

Because that {h} he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.

(h) He shows that God plagues them in a strange way who show themselves cruel toward others.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. Because he remembered not to do lovingkindness,

But persecuted the afflicted and needy man,

And him that was cowed in heart, to do them to death.

He took no thought of the constant teaching of prophets (Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:8) and wise men (Proverbs 11:17). The poor and downhearted and spiritless, men such as the Psalmist represents himself to be (Psalm 109:22), were his victims.

16–20. This curse is deserved: it is the just retribution for his deliberate choice of evil.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 16-20. - A portraiture of the wicked man, who was David's chief adversary at the time, is now given, in explanation, and perhaps in justification, of the numerous and severe anathemas. He was merciless (ver. 16), a persecutor of the poor (ver. 16), given to cursing (vers. 17, 18), and one who spoke evil against the innocent (ver. 20). Verse 16. - Because that he remembered not to show mercy. Saul certainly was a persecutor of this kind - implacable; one whom compassion never touched; who, after he had once become David's enemy, never under any circumstances showed him mercy. But otherwise the description scarcely seems to point to Saul. But persecuted the poor and needy man (see 1 Samuel 18:10; 1 Samuel 19:1, 10, 11; 1 Samuel 20:31; 1 Samuel 23:8, 14, 25; 1 Samuel 24:2; 1 Samuel 26:2-20; 1 Samuel 27:1, etc.). That he might even slay the broken in heart; literally, and the broken in heart (or, yea, the broken in heart) to slay him. It was certainly Saul's object to slay David (1 Samuel 18:11; 1 Samuel 19:1, 10; 1 Samuel 20:1, etc.). It was probably also Ahithophel's (2 Samuel 17:2). Psalm 109:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

He whom he persecuted with a thirst for blood, was, apart from this, a great sufferer, bowed down and poor and נכאה לבב, of terrified, confounded heart. lxx κατανενυγμένον (Jerome, compunctum); but the stem-word is not נכא (נכה), root נך, but כּאה, Syriac bā'ā', cogn. כּהה, to cause to come near, to meet. The verb, and more especially in Niph., is proved to be Hebrew by Daniel 11:30. Such an one who without anything else is of a terrified heart, inasmuch as he has been made to feel the wrath of God most keenly, this man has persecuted with a deadly hatred. He had experienced kindness (חסד) in a high degree, but he blotted out of his memory that which he had experienced, not for an instant imagining that he too on his part had to exercise חסד. The Poel מותת instead of המית points to the agonizing death (Isaiah 53:9, cf. Ezekiel 28:10 מותי) to which he exposes God's anointed. The fate of the shedder of blood is not expressed after the manner of a wish in Psalm 109:16-18, but in the historical form, as being the result that followed of inward necessity from the matter of fact of the course which he had himself determined upon. The verb בּוא seq. acc. signifies to surprise, suddenly attack any one, as in Isaiah 41:25. The three figures in Psalm 109:18 are climactic: he has clothed himself in cursing, he has drunk it in like water (Job 15:16; Job 34:7), it has penetrated even to the marrow of his bones, like the oily preparations which are rubbed in and penetrate to the bones.n In Psalm 109:19 the emphasis rests upon יעטּה and upon תּמיד. The summarizing Psalm 109:20 is the close of a strophe. פּעלּה, an earned reward, here punishment incurred, is especially frequent in Isaiah 40:1, e.g., Psalm 49:4; Psalm 40:10; it also occurs once even in the Tra, Leviticus 19:13. Those who answer the loving acts of the righteous with such malevolence in word and in deed commit a satanic sin for which there is no forgiveness. The curse is the fruit of their own choice and deed. Arnobius: Nota ex arbitrio evenisse ut nollet, propter haeresim, quae dicit Deum alios praedestinasse ad benedictionem, alios ad maledictionem.