For [it was] not an enemy [that] reproached me
An open and avowed one; a Moabite or a Philistine; such an one as
Goliath, who cursed him by his gods; but one of his own country,
city, court, and family, who pretended to be a friend; his son
Absalom, according to Arama: so it was not one of the Scribes and
Pharisees, the sworn enemies of Christ, who rejected him as the
Messiah, and would not have him to reign over them, that
reproached him, but one of his own apostles;
then I could have borne [it];
reproach from an enemy is to be expected, and may be patiently
endured; and, when it is for righteousness' sake, should be
accounted an happiness, and rejoiced at; but the reproaches of
one that has been thought to be a friend are very cutting,
wounding, heartbreaking, and intolerable, ( Psalms 69:7 Psalms 69:8 Psalms 69:20
) ; the calumnies and reproaches of the Scribes and Pharisees
were borne by Christ with great patience, and were answered with
great calmness and mildness, ( Matthew
11:19 ) ( Matthew
12:24 Matthew
12:25 ) ( John 8:48 John 8:49 ) . Or, "I
would have lifted up" F20; that is, my hand, and defended
myself; I should have been upon my guard, ready to receive the
blow, or to have put it off, or repelled it;
neither [was it] he that hated me:
openly, but secretly in his heart;
[that] did magnify [himself] against me;
made himself a great man, and set himself at the head of the
conspiracy and opposition against him, and spoke great swelling
words, in way of raillery and reproach;
then I would have hid myself from him;
as David did from Saul, when he became his enemy, ( 1 Samuel
20:24 ) ( 23:19 ) (
24:1
) ; and as Christ from the Jews, ( John 8:59 ) ; but as for
Judas, he knew the place he resorted to; and therefore easily
found him, ( John 18:2 ) ; the sense
may be, that he would have shunned his company, refused
conversation with him; much less would he have admitted him to
his privy councils, by which means he knew all his affairs, and
there was no hiding and concealing things from him.