Psalm 144:7

EXPOSITION

Verse 7. Send thine hand from above. Let thy long and strong arm be stretched out till thine hand seizes my foes, and delivers me from them.

Rid me, and deliver me out of great waters. Make a Moses of me, -- one drawn out of the waters. My foes pour in upon me like torrents, they threaten to overwhelm me; save me from their force and fury; take them from me, and me from them.

From the hand of strange children. From foreigners of every race; men strange to me and thee, who therefore must work evil to me, and rebellion against thyself. Those against whom he pleaded were out of covenant with God; they were Philistines and Edomites; or else they were men of his own nation of black heart and traitorous spirit, who were real strangers, though they bore the name of Israel. Oh to be rid of those infidel, blaspheming beings who pollute society with their false teachings and hard speeches! Oh to be delivered from slanderous tongues, deceptive lips, and false hearts! No wonder these words are repeated, for they are the frequent cry of many a tried child of God; -- "Rid me, and deliver me." The devil's children are strange to us: we can never agree with them, and they will never understand us: they are aliens to us, and we are despised by them. O Lord, deliver us from the evil one, and from all who are of his race.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

Verse 7. Send thine hand from above. Hebrew, hands, both hands, all thy whole power, for I need it. --John Trapp.

Verse 7. Rid me, and deliver me. Away, you who theorize about suffering, and can do no more than descant upon it, away! for in the time of weeping we cannot endure your reasonings. If you have no means of delivering us, if you have nothing but sententious phrases to offer, put your hands on your mouths; enwrap yourselves in silence! It is enough to suffer; but to suffer and listen to you is more than we can bear. If Job's mouth was nigh unto blasphemy, the blame is yours, ye miserable comforters, who talked instead of weeping. If I must suffer, then I pray for suffering without fine talk! --E. De Pressense.

Verse 7. Rid me, and deliver me ... from the hand of strange children. We must remember that as the Grecians (conceiting themselves the best bred people in the world) called all other nations "barbarians"; so the people of Israel, the stock of Abraham (being God's peculiar covenant people), called all other nations "aliens" or "strangers"; and because they were hated and maligned by all other nations, therefore they called all professed strangers enemies; so the word is used ( Isaiah 1:7 ), "Your land strangers shall devour"; that is, enemies shall invade and prevail over you. "Deliver me out of the hand of strange children", or out of the hand of strangers; that is, out of the hand of mine enemies. The Latin word alienus is often put for hostis, and the Roman orator (Cicero) telleth us that "he who is now called a stranger was called an enemy by our ancestors." The reason was because strangers proved unkind to, yea, turned enemies against those that entertained them. -- Joseph Caryl.

Verse 7. Strange children. He calls them strangers, not in respect of generic origin, but character and disposition. --John Calvin.

Verse 7. The strange children, now the enemies of David, shall be either won to willing subjection, or else shall be crushed under the triumphant Messiah ( Psalms 2:1-12 ). The Spirit by David spake things the deep significance of which reached further than even he understood ( 1 Peter 1:11-12 ). --Andrew Robert Fausset.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

Verse 7-8,. 11. Repetitions, not vain. Repetitions in prayer are vain when they result from form, thoughtlessness, or superstition; but not, e.g.,

1. When they are the utterance of genuine fervour.
2. When the danger prayed against is imminent.
3. When the fear which prompts the prayer is urgent.
4. When the repetition is prompted by a new motive, Psalms 144:7-8 ; by God's condescension, Psalms 144:3 Psalms 144:11 ; by God's former deliverance, Psalms 144:10 ; and by the results which will flow from the answer, Psalms 144:12-14 . --C.A.D.