Set thou a wicked man over him - This commences the imprecatory part of the psalm, extending to Psalm 109:20. The first thing that the psalmist asks is, that his foe might be subjected to the evil of having a man placed over him like himself: a man regardless of justice, truth, and right; a man who would respect character and propriety no more than he had himself done. It is, in fact, a prayer that he might be punished "in the line of his offences." It cannot be wrong that a man should be treated as he treats others; and it cannot be in itself wrong to desire that a man should be treated according to his character and deserts, for this is the object of all law, and this is what all magistrates and legislators are endeavoring to secure.

And let Satan stand at his right hand - As his counselor and adviser. The language would be properly applicable to one who had been a counselor or adviser to a king in the administration of the government; and the prayer is, that he might know what it was to have such a one as his counselor and adviser. The language used would seem to make it not improbable that David here refers particularly to someone who had occupied this position in reference to himself, and who had betrayed his trust; who had given him crafty and malignant counsel; who had led him into bad measures; who had used his position to promote his own interests at the expense of his master's. David had such counselors, as anyone in authority may have. The prayer, then, would be, that such a man might be punished in his own line; that he might know what it was to have a bad and wicked adviser. The word rendered "Satan" - שׂטן śâṭân - is in the margin rendered "adversary." In the Septuagint it is διάβολος diabolos; in the Vulgate, "diabolus." See the notes at Job 1:6, for its meaning. The prayer here seems not to be that the devil or Satan might stand near him as his counselor; but that a man - a real adversary - an accuser - one with a malignant heart - one who would make use of his position to accomplish his own purposes, and to betray the interests of his master, might give him counsel, as seems to have been done in the case of David.

Let Satan stand at his right hand - As the word שטן satan means an adversary simply, though sometimes it is used to express the evil spirit Satan, I think it best to preserve here its grammatical meaning: "Let an adversary stand at his right hand:" i.e., Let him be opposed and thwarted in all his purposes.

All the Versions have devil, or some equivocal word. The Arabic has eblees, the chief of the apostate spirits; but the name is probably corrupted from the Greek διαβολος diabolos; from which the Latin diabolus. the Italian diavolo, the Spanish diablo, the French diable, the Irish or Celtic diabal, the Dutch duivel, the German teufel, the Anglo-Saxon deofal, and the English devil, are all derived. The original, διαβολος, comes from δια βαλλειν to shoot or pierce through.

Set thou a wicked man over him,.... Or "them", as the Syriac version; over everyone of his adversaries, and all of them: and which may be interpreted, as it is by Cocceius, of tyrannical princes and governors, set over the Jews, as Tiberius, Caius, Claudius, Nero, &c. and their deputies, Pilate, Felix, Festus, Florus; all wicked men, and which were a judgment on them for their usage of Christ. Though here some single person is designed, even Judas, notorious for his enmity and ingratitude to Christ; and by the wicked one set over him may be meant Satan, as in the next clause, as he is sometimes called, Matthew 13:38, into whose hands and power Judas was put, under whose influence he was; who entered into him, took possession of him, and put it into his heart to betray his Master, John 13:2.

And let Satan stand at his right hand; to direct and influence him, to solicit and tempt him to do the evil he did, and to accuse him for it when done; see Zechariah 3:1.

6 Set thou a wicked man over him; and let Satan stand at his fight hand.

7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned; and let his prayer become sin.

8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office.

9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg; let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.

11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.

12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him; neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.

13 Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.

15 Let them be before the Lord continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

16 Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.

17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.

18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.

19 Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.

continued...

The writer now turns to one among the many, and in the angry zealous fervour of despised love calls down God's judgment upon him. To call down a higher power, more particularly for punishment, upon any one is expressed by על (הפקיד) פּקד, Jeremiah 15:3; Leviticus 26:16. The tormentor of innocence shall find a superior executor who will bring him before the tribunal (which is expressed in Latin by legis actio per manus injectionem). The judgment scene in Psalm 109:6, Psalm 109:7 shows that this is what is intended in Psalm 109:6: At the right hand is the place of the accuser, who in this instance will not rest before the damnatus es has been pronounced. He is called שׂטן, which is not to be understood here after 1 Samuel 29:4; 2 Samuel 19:22, but after Zechariah 3:1; 1 Chronicles 21:1, if not directly of Satan, still of a superhuman (cf. Numbers 22:22) being which opposes him, by appearing before God as his κατήγωρ; for according to Psalm 109:7 the שׂטן is to be thought of as accuser, and according to Psalm 109:7 God as Judge. רשׁע has the sense of reus, and יצא refers to the publication of the sentence. Psalm 109:7 wishes that his prayer, viz., that by which he would wish to avert the divine sentence of condemnation, may become לחטאה, not: a missing of the mark, i.e., ineffectual (Thenius), but, according to the usual signification of the word: a sin, viz., because it proceeds from despair, not from true penitence. In Psalm 109:8 the incorrigible one is wished an untimely death (מעטּים as in one other instance, only, Ecclesiastes 5:1) and the loss of his office. The lxx renders: τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν αὐτοῦ λάβοι ἕτερος. פּקדּה really signifies the office of overseer, oversight, office, and the one individual must have held a prominent position among the enemies of the psalmist. Having died off from this position before his time, he shall leave behind him a family deeply reduced in circumstances, whose former dwelling - place-he was therefore wealthy - becomes "ruins." His children wander up and down far from these ruins (מן as e.g., in Judges 5:11; Job 28:4) and beg (דּרשׁ, like προσαιτεῖν ἐπαιτεῖν, Sir. 40:28 equals לחם בּקּשׁ, Psalm 37:25). Instead of ודרשׁוּ the reading ודרשׁוּ is also found. A Poel is now and then formed from the strong verbs also,

(Note: In connection with the strong verb it frequently represents the Piel which does not occur, as with דּרשׁ, לשׁן, שׁפט, or even represents the Piel which, as in the case of שׁרשׁ, is already made use of in another signification (Piel, to root out; Poel, to take root).)

in the inflexion of which the Cholem is sometimes shortened to Kametz chatuph; vid., the forms of לשׁן, to slander, in Psalm 101:5, תּאר, to sketch, mark out in outline, Isaiah 44:13, cf. also Job 20:26 (תּאכלהוּ) and Isaiah 62:9 (according to the reading מאספיו). To read the Kametz in these instances as ā, and to regard these forms as resolved Piels, is, in connection with the absence of the Metheg, contrary to the meaning of the pointing; on purpose to guard against this way of reading it, correct codices have ודרשׁוּ (cf. Psalm 69:19), which Baer has adopted.

{c} Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.

(c) Whether it was Doeg or Saul, or some familiar friend that had betrayed him, he prays not for private affection, but moved by God's Spirit, that God would take vengeance on him.

109:6 A wicked man - Who will rule him with rigour and cruelty. Satan - To accuse him; for this was the place and posture of accusers in the Jewish courts.

Satan: or, an adversary

6. over him-one of his enemies prominent in malignity (Ps 55:12).

let Satan stand-as an accuser, whose place was the right hand of the accused (Zec 3:1, 2).

109:6-20 The Lord Jesus may speak here as a Judge, denouncing sentence on some of his enemies, to warn others. When men reject the salvation of Christ, even their prayers are numbered among their sins. See what hurries some to shameful deaths, and brings the families and estates of others to ruin; makes them and theirs despicable and hateful, and brings poverty, shame, and misery upon their posterity: it is sin, that mischievous, destructive thing. And what will be the effect of the sentence, Go, ye cursed, upon the bodies and souls of the wicked! How it will affect the senses of the body, and the powers of the soul, with pain, anguish, horror, and despair! Think on these things, sinners, tremble and repent.