Psalm 63:10

They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) Shall fall.—See margin. But more literally, they shall pour him on to the hands of the sword, where the suffix him is collective of the enemy, and the meaning is, “they shall be given over to the power of the sword.” (Comp. Jeremiah 18:21; Ezekiel 35:5.)

Foxes . . .—Rather, jackals. Heb., shualîm. (See Note, Song of Solomon 2:15.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

63:7-11 True Christians can, in some measure, and at some times, make use of the strong language of David, but too commonly our souls cleave to the dust. Having committed ourselves to God, we must be easy and pleased, and quiet from the fear of evil. Those that follow hard after God, would soon fail, if God's right hand did not uphold them. It is he that strengthens us and comforts us. The psalmist doubts not but that though now sowing in tears, he should reap in joy. Messiah the Prince shall rejoice in God; he is already entered into the joy set before him, and his glory will be completed at his second coming. Blessed Lord, let our desire towards thee increase every hour; let our love be always upon thee; let all our enjoyment be in thee, and all our satisfaction from thee. Be thou all in all to us while we remain in the present wilderness state, and bring us home to the everlasting enjoyment of thee for ever.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They shall fall by the sword - Margin, They shall make him run out like water by the hands of the sword. The word rendered in the text "they shall fall," and in the margin "they shall make him run out" - נגר nâgar - means properly, to flow, to pour out, as water; and then, to pour out; then, to give up or deliver. The idea here is that of delivering over, as one pours out water from a basin or pitcher: they shall be delivered over to the sword. The original rendered "sword" is, as in the margin, "by the hands of the sword;" that is, the sword is represented as accomplishing its purpose as if it had hands. The sword shall slay them.

They shall be a portion for foxes - The original word - שׁועל shû‛âl - means properly and commonly a fox. But under this general name fox, the Orientals seem to have comprehended other animals also, having some resemblance to a fox, and particularly jackals. Thus jackals seem to be meant in Judges 15:4; since foxes are with great difficulty taken alive; and in this place also it has the same meaning, inasmuch as foxes do not feast on dead bodies, though a favorite repast of the jackal. Gesenius, Lexicon. Compare Bochart Hieroz. T. ii. p. 190, ed. Lips. Jackals are wild, fierce, savage; they howl around dwellings at night - producing most hideous music, beginning "in a sort of solo, a low, long-drawn wail, rising and swelling higher and higher until it quite overtops the wind," (Thomson's "Land and the Book," i. 133) - and ready to gather at any moment when there is prey to be devoured. "These sinister, guilty, wo-begone brutes, when pressed with hunger, gather in gangs among the graves, and yell in rage, and fight like fiends over their midnight orgies; but on the battlefield is their great carnival. Oh! let me never even dream that anyone dear to me has fallen by the sword, and lies there to be torn, and gnawed at, and dragged about by these hideous howlers."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. foxes—literally, "jackals."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

They shall fall by the sword, i.e. die in battle, as David foretold, 1 Samuel 26:10, and as was accomplished in Saul and his followers, who were David’s greatest enemies, 1 Samuel 31.

They shall be a portion for foxes; their carcasses shall be unburied upon the earth, and thereby become a prey to wild and ravenous creatures, and especially to foxes, which were in those parts in great abundance and which did and do feed not only upon fruits, Song of Solomon 2:15, but also upon flesh, as experience showeth. Besides, some very learned men think that the word rendered foxes is more general, and comprehends, besides foxes, another sort of creatures, like unto them called thoes, which were very numerous in this country; of which See Poole "Judges 15:4".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

They shall fall by the sword,.... As Saul, his sons, and mighty men, did, 1 Samuel 31:4; or, "they shall make him pour out" (u); that is, his blood, "by the hands" or "means of the sword"; meaning either some principal enemy, as Saul in particular, or everyone of his enemies; who should be thrust with the sword, their blood let out, and they slain: so antichrist, the enemy of David's son, will be put to death in this manner, Revelation 13:10;

they shall be a portion for foxes; falling in desolate places where foxes run, and so become the food of them, and have no other burial. The foxes hunt after dead carcasses, and will find them out where they are, in holes and ditches; as appears from the case of Aristomenes, related by Pausanias (w): so the followers of antichrist, their flesh will be eaten by the fowls of heaven, Revelation 19:17.

(u) "fundere facient eum", Montanus; so Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt. (w) Messenica, sive l. 4. p. 251.

Geneva Study Bible

{f} They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.

(f) He prophecies of the destruction of Saul and they who take his part, whose bodies will not be buried but be devoured with wild beasts.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. They shall fall &c.] Lit., They shall give him over (lit. pour him out) to the power of the sword (Jeremiah 18:21; Ezekiel 35:5). The active verb with indefinite subject is practically equivalent to a passive, ‘He shall be given over’; yet the idiom suggests the idea of mysterious agents, God’s ministers of justice, whose office it is. Cp. Luke 12:20, R.V. marg. The object of the verb is in the singular, either individualising the king’s enemies (‘each one of them’), or treating them as one body; but hardly singling out the leader. Cp. Psalm 64:8, note.

a portion for foxes] Rather, jackals. “It is the jackal rather than the fox which preys on dead bodies, and which assembles in troops on the battle-fields, to feast on the slain.” Tristram, Nat. Hist., p. 110. Their corpses will lie unburied where they fall, to be devoured ignominiously by wild beasts, instead of receiving honourable sepulture. Cp. Isaiah 18:6; Jeremiah 19:7.

10, 11. While his enemies come to an ignominious end, the king emerges from the struggle, triumphant over all opposition.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - They shall fall by the sword; i.e. in battle - the natural end of those who stir up civil strife. They shall be a portion for foxes; rather, for jackals (see 2 Samuel 18:6-8). Psalm 63:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The closing strophe turns towards these foes. By והמּה he contrasts with his own person, as in Psalm 59:16., Psalm 56:7., the party of the enemy, before which he has retreated into the desert. It is open to question whether לשׁואה is intended to be referred, according to Psalm 35:17, to the persecuted one (to destroy my life), or, with Hupfeld, to the persecutors (to their own destruction, they themselves for destruction). If the former reference to the persecuted be adopted, we ought, in order to give prominence to the evidently designed antithesis to Psalm 63:9, to translate: those, however, who..., shall go down into the depths of the earth (Bttcher, and others); a rendering which is hazardous as regards the syntax, after המּה and in connection with this position of the words. Therefore translate: On the other hand, those, to (their own) ruin do they seek my soul. It is true this ought properly to be expressed by לשׁואתם, but the absence of the suffix is less hazardous than the above relative rendering of יבּקּשׁוּ. What follows in Psalm 63:10-11 is the expansion of לשׁואה. The futures from יבאוּ onwards are to be taken as predictive, not as imprecatory; the former accords better with the quiet, gentle character of the whole song. It shall be with them as with the company of Korah. תּחתּיּות הארץ is the interior of the earth down into its deepest bottom; this signification also holds good in Psalm 139:15; Isaiah 44:23.

(Note: In this passage in Isaiah are meant the depths of the earth (lxx θεμέλια τῆς γῆς), the earth down to its inmost part, with its caverns, abysses, and subterranean passages. The apostle, however, in Ephesians 4:9 by τὰ κατώτερα τῆς γῆς means exactly the same as what in our passage is called in the lxx τὰ κατώτατα τῆς γῆς: the interior of the earth equals the under world, just as it is understood by all the Greek fathers (so far as my knowledge extends); the comparative κατώτερος is used just like ἐνέρτερος.)

The phrase הגּיר על־ידי חרב here and in Jeremiah 18:21; Ezekiel 35:5 (Hiph., not of גּרר, to drag, tear away, but נגר, to draw towards, flow), signifies properly to pour upon equals into the hands (Job 16:11), i.e., to give over (הסגּיר) into the power of the sword; effundent eum is (much the same as in Job 4:19; Job 18:18, and frequently) equivalent to effundetur. The enallage is like Psalm 5:10; Psalm 7:2., and frequently: the singular refers to each individual of the homogeneous multitude, or to this multitude itself as a concrete persona moralis. The king, however, who is now banished from Jerusalem to the habitation of jackals, will, whilst they become a portion (מנת equals מנות), i.e., prey, of the jackals (vid., the fulfilment in 2 Samuel 18:7.), rejoice in Elohim. Every one who sweareth by Him shall boast himself. Theodoret understands this of swearing κατὰ τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως σωτηρίαν. Hengstenberg compares the oath חי פרעה, Genesis 42:15. Ewald also (217, f) assumes this explanation to be unquestionable. But the Israelite is to swear by the name of Jahve and by no other, Deuteronomy 6:13; Isaiah 65:16, cf. Amos 8:14. If the king were meant, why was it not rather expressed by הנשׁבּע לו, he who swears allegiance to him? The syntax does not help us to decide to what the בּו refers. Neinrich Moeller (1573) says of the בו as referred to the king: peregrinum est et coactum; and A. H. Franke in his Introductio in Psalterium says of it as referred to Elohim: coactum est. So far as the language is concerned, both references are admissible; but as regards the subject-matter, only the latter. The meaning, as everywhere else, is a searing by God. He who, without allowing himself to turn from it, swore by Elohim, the God of Israel, the God of David His anointed, and therefore acknowledged Him as the Being exalted above all things, shall boast himself or "glory," inasmuch as it shall be practically seen how well-founded and wise was this recognition. He shall glory, for the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped, forcibly closed, viz., those who, together with confidence in the Christ of God, have by falsehood also undermined the reverence which is due to God Himself. Psalm 64:1-10 closes very similarly, and hence is placed next in order.