He keepeth back his soul from the pit
Or, "that he may keep back" F14; for this is another end and
use of God's speaking unto men; it is to preserve them for the
present from going down to the grave, the pit of corruption and
destruction; so called because the bodies of men, being there
laid, corrupt, and are entirely destroyed by worms, and turn to
rottenness and dust; and to preserve them from the bottomless pit
of everlasting ruin and destruction; for the Lord's people are
reproved by him, that they may not be condemned with the world, (
1
Corinthians 11:32 ) ;
and his life from perishing by the sword;
by the sword of men, which is one of God's sore judgments; or by
the sword of the civil magistrate, the man spoken to being warned
of God of committing these sins, which would bring him into the
hands of such; or by the sword of divine justice; Jarchi
interprets it of the sword of the angel of death; the word
signifies a missive weapon, as a dart; so Mr. Broughton renders
the words, "and his life from going on the dart": or, as another
version has it, "lest it should go on under the cast of darts"
F15; the darts of an enemy in war, or
the fiery darts of Satan, ( Ephesians
6:16 ) .