I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set
_themselves_ against me round about.
Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine
enemies _upon_ the cheek-bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the
ungodly.
Salvation _belongeth_ unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people.
Selah.
This Psalm is a prayer of David in the time of his greatest
affliction, and under the severest trial he ever experienced. And here
we have set before us a signal example of this greatest and most
spiritual of men—David; how he, in the time of Absalom, when all
Israel revolted from him and went over to Absalom; how this eminent
saint, I say, who was now an exile, forsaken by all, betrayed by those
of his own household, and in the midst of the most appalling peril of
his own life and salvation; how, when sinking under this heavy
calamity, and struggling in this agony, he prayed unto God in faith;
and what a fervency of heart there was in these his cries unto him.
In a word,—in this Psalm, David, with a wonderful feeling of mind, and
a signal experience of faith, extols, in the highest strains, the
greatness of the long-suffering and goodness of God, when he says,
“Salvation is of the Lord!” As if he had said, The Lord is he alone
who has all salvation in his hand, and all the issues of life and
death. He sets up and changes kingdoms in a moment, just as he wills.
No peril is so great, no death so instant, from which he cannot
deliver his own, if they but call upon him in true faith, and flee
unto him alone.
This Psalm has reference to the First Commandment, wherein it is said,
“I am the Lord thy God;” and it is comprehended in the seventh
petition of the Lord’s Prayer, where we pray, “Deliver us from evil.”