Cast forth lightnings, and scatter them - See the notes at Psalm 18:14 : "He sent out his arrows, and scattered them." The allusion there is to lightning. The psalmist prays that; God would do now again what he had then done. The Hebrew here is, "Lighten lightning;" that is, Send forth lightning. The word is used as a verb nowhere else.

Shoot out thine arrows ... - So in Psalm 18:14 : "He shot out lightnings." The words are the same here as in that psalm, only that they are arranged differently. See the notes at that place.

Cast forth lightning - See the note Psalm 18:13-14 (note).

Cast forth lightning, and scatter them,.... The mountains, the kings and kingdoms of the earth; the enemies of David, and of Christ, and of his people; particularly the Jews, who have been scattered all over the earth by the judgments of God upon them; cast forth like lightning, which is swift, piercing, penetrating, and destructive;

shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them; or, "trouble them" (k); as the Targum, Septuagint, and Arabic versions, nearer to the Hebrew: these also design the sore judgments of God, the arrows of famine, pestilence, and sword; which fly swiftly, pierce deeply, cut sharply, and, like fiery darts, give great pain and trouble. So Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret them of the decrees which come down from heaven, as Aben Ezra does Psalm 144:5, by "lightning" Arama understands the flame of fire which comes out with thunder; and by "arrows" the thunderbolt, which he calls a stone hardened in the air like iron.

(k) "ac turba eos", Tigurine version; "et conturba eos", Cocceius, Michaelis.

{e} Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them.

(e) By these manner of speeches he shows that all the hindrances in the world cannot prevent God's power, which he apprehends by faith.

144:1-8 When men become eminent for things as to which they have had few advantages, they should be more deeply sensible that God has been their Teacher. Happy those to whom the Lord gives that noblest victory, conquest and dominion over their own spirits. A prayer for further mercy is fitly begun with a thanksgiving for former mercy. There was a special power of God, inclining the people of Israel to be subject to David; it was typical of the bringing souls into subjection to the Lord Jesus. Man's days have little substance, considering how many thoughts and cares of a never-dying soul are employed about a poor dying body. Man's life is as a shadow that passes away. In their highest earthly exaltation, believers will recollect how mean, sinful, and vile they are in themselves; thus they will be preserved from self-importance and presumption. God's time to help his people is, when they are sinking, and all other helps fail.