Deliver my soul from the sword
Wicked men, whose tongues were as a sharp sword, reproaching and blaspheming him, and bearing false witness against him; and crying out, "Crucify him, crucify him", ( Luke 23:21 ) ( John 19:6 ) ; see ( Psalms 17:12 ) ( 57:4 ) ( Proverbs 25:18 ) ; or any instrument of violence, as the iron bar with which the legs of the malefactors crucified with him were broken, which he escaped; and the spear which pierced his side, after he had commended his soul or spirit into the hands of his Father; or a violent death; for though his death had the appearance of one, he was taken in a violent manner, and condemned to be put to death, and was crucified, yet his life was not taken away by men; he laid it down, and gave up his breath himself;
my darling from the power of the dog,
or "my only one" F9; meaning his life or soul, as before; so called, not because there is but one soul in the body, but because it was dear and valuable to him; and hence we render it "darling", an only one being usually the darling of its parents; so a man's life is dear to him, all that he has will he give for it, ( Job 2:4 ) . Christ's life was a more precious life than any man's, and peculiarly his own, in such sense as another man's, is not his own; and his soul also was an only one, it was not polluted with original sin, as the souls of other men are; it was pure and holy: the word here used is sometimes rendered "desolate" and "solitary"; see ( Psalms 25:16 ) ( 68:6 ) ; and it may have this sense here, and be translated "my lonely" or "solitary one" F11; he being forsaken by God, and deserted by his disciples; his soul was in darkness, sorrow, and distress, wherefore he prays it might be delivered "from the power of the dog"; either Satan is so called for his malice and envy, who had put it into the heart of Judas to betray him, and had filled the Pharisees with envy at him, and who through it delivered him to Pilate; or the impure, cruel, and wicked Roman soldiers, and in short all his crucifiers; called in the plural number "dogs", (See Gill on Psalms 22:16).