Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil
[man]
His power and strength, so that he shall not be able to hold the
sword, to strike a blow, or do any hurt to the people of God; see
( Ezekiel
30:21-25 ) . This prayer is in some measure already fulfilled
in antichrist, the man of sin, or pope of Rome; though his
kingdom is not broke to pieces; as it will be when Christ's
kingdom shall be more visibly set up, to which reference is had
in ( Psalms
10:16 ) ; see ( Daniel 2:44 ) ; yet his
strength is weakened, his arm is broken, he has not the power he
had, nor can he tyrannise and do the mischief he once did: "but
as [for] the evil man" {m}, for so the words should be read,
there being an "athnach" under the word "wicked", which ends the
proposition there:
seek out his wickedness [till] thou find none;
which designs a thorough search after sin, full punishment of it,
and the entire ruin and destruction of the wicked; and the sense
is, that God would make a strict inquiry into the wickedness of
the man of sin, which he promised himself he would not, (
Psalms
10:13 ) ; and that he would punish him and his followers to
the uttermost for it, until there should not be one of the
antichristian party found upon earth; with which sense agrees (
Psalms
10:16 ) ; see ( Psalms
104:35 ) .