Psalms 144:7

Psa 144:7 Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of strange children;

Ver. 7. Send thine hand from above] Heb. hands, both hands, all thy whole power; for I need it.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ver. 7. Send thine hand from above. Let thy long and strong arm be stretched out till thine hand seizes my foes, and delivers me from them.

Rid me, and deliver me out of great waters. Make a Moses of me, one drawn out of the waters. My foes pour in upon me like torrents, they threaten to overwhelm me; save me from their force and fury; take them from me, and me from them.

From the hand of strange children. From foreigners of every race; men strange to me and thee, who therefore must work evil to me, and rebellion against thyself. Those against whom he pleaded were out of covenant with God; they were Philistines and Edomites; or else they were men of his own nation of black heart and traitorous spirit, who were real strangers, though they bore the name of Israel. Oh to be rid of those infidel, blaspheming beings who pollute society with their false teachings and hard speeches! Oh to be delivered from slanderous tongues, deceptive lips, and false hearts! No wonder these words are repeated, for they are the frequent cry of many a tried child of God; "Rid me, and deliver me." The devil's children are strange to us: we can never agree with them, and they will never understand us: they are aliens to us, and we are despised by them. O Lord, deliver us from the evil one, and from all who are of his race.

Ver. 7. Send thine hand from above. Hebrew, hands, both hands, all thy whole power, for I need it. John Trapp.

Ver. 7. Rid me, and deliver me. Away, you who theorize about suffering, and can do no more than descant upon it, away! for in the time of weeping we cannot endure your reasonings. If you have no means of delivering us, if you have nothing but sententious phrases to offer, put your hands on your mouths; enwrap yourselves in silence! It is enough to suffer; but to suffer and listen to you is more than we can bear. If Job's mouth was nigh unto blasphemy, the blame is yours, ye miserable comforters, who talked instead of weeping. If I must suffer, then I pray for suffering without fine talk! E. De Pressense.

Ver. 7. Rid me, and deliver me...from the hand of strange children. We must remember that as the Grecians (conceiting themselves the best bred people in the world) called all other nations "barbarians"; so the people of Israel, the stock of Abraham (being God's peculiar covenant people), called all other nations "aliens" or "strangers"; and because they were hated and maligned by all other nations, therefore they called all professed strangers enemies; so the word is used (Isa 1:7), "Your land strangers shall devour"; that is, enemies shall invade and prevail over you. "Deliver me out of the hand of strange children", or out of the hand of strangers; that is, out of the hand of mine enemies. The Latin word alienus is often put for hostis, and the Roman orator (Cicero) telleth us that "he who is now called a stranger was called an enemy by our ancestors." The reason was because strangers proved unkind to, yea, turned enemies against those that entertained them. Joseph Caryl.

Ver. 7. Strange children. He calls them strangers, not in respect of generic origin, but character and disposition. John Calvin.

Ver. 7. The strange children, now the enemies of David, shall be either won to willing subjection, or else shall be crushed under the triumphant Messiah (Ps 2:1-12). The Spirit by David spake things the deep significance of which reached further than even he understood (1Pe 1:11-12). Andrew Robert Fausset.

Ver. 7-8, 11. Repetitions, not vain. Repetitions in prayer are vain when they result from form, thoughtlessness, or superstition; but not, e.g.,

1. When they are the utterance of genuine fervour.

2. When the danger prayed against is imminent.

3. When the fear which prompts the prayer is urgent.

4. When the repetition is prompted by a new motive, Ps 144:7-8; by God's condescension, Ps 144:3, 11; by God's former deliverance, Ps 144:10; and by the results which will flow from the answer, Ps 144:12-14. C.A.D.

Psalms 144:8*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. (Psa 144:7) Send thy hands from on high; rid me and free me from (the) many waters, from the hand of aliens. With the first clause compare Psa 18:16. For hand we have here the plural hands, and for the two verbs there used two substantially equivalent, the first of which has the sense here given to it only in this place and the cognate languages,. and is therefore well represented by the less usual English word rid. With the last clause, compare Psa 18:44-45, where the phrase sons of strangeness (or of foreign parts) has been explained already.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, deliver me from the tumults of them that should be my people, but are corrupt in their judgment and enterprises, as though they were strangers.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 7. Deliver me out of great waters] See Clarke on Ps 18:16.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Send thy hand, etc. In one word we are now made to see what was meant by the figures formerly used — that in the absence of all earthly help, God would put forth his hand from above, the greatness of the exigency making extraordinary help necessary. Accordingly he compares his enemies to great and deep waters. He calls them strangers, not in respect of generic origin, but character and disposition. It were a mistake to refer the term to the uncircumcision, for David rather animadverts upon degenerate Jews who gloried in the flesh; and shortly afterwards he hints that he had to do with internal foes rather than a foreign enemy, who would openly assault him with violence and arms. By the right hand of falsehood some understand rash attempts, which David hoped would be frustrated. Others limit the phrase to the solemn ceremony of taking an oath, as if he said they were perjured; “In taking an oath the right hand was lifted up. The enemies of David profaned their oaths by violating the covenants into which they entered, and breaking their solemn engagements.” — Walford.

“The meaning is, the hands with which they confirm their treaties of peace and leagues of friendship are immediately lifted up against the lives and liberties of their allies.” — Warner.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(7) Rid.—The Hebrew verb means “to tear asunder,” and is used of the gaping of the mouth (Psa_22:13). The meaning here is got from the cognate Arabic, and Syriac

Strange children.—Literally, sons of the stranger.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. Stretch forth thine hands from on high:

Rescue me, and deliver me out of many waters, out of the hand of strangers.

From Psa_18:16; Psa_18:45, description being again changed to prayer. For hands some MSS and all Ancient Versions read hand. The word rendered rescue is a word used in this sense only here and in Psa_144:10-11 in the O.T., but common in Aramaic. It is an indication of the late date of the Psalm. Great or many waters are a figure for overwhelming dangers, here particularly the attacks of foreign enemies, or possibly the tyranny of foreign rulers.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Send thine hand from above,.... From the high heavens, as the Targum; that is, exert and display thy power in my deliverance, and in the destruction of my enemies; as follows:

rid me, and deliver me out of great waters; out of great afflictions, which, for quantity and quality, are like many waters, overflowing and overwhelming; see Isa 43:2; or out of the hands of enemies, many, mighty, and strong, whom he compares to waters; as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech observe: and so the Targum,

"deliver me from the multitudes or armies, that are like to many waters;''

see Rev 17:1. It may be applied to the sorrows and sufferings of Christ, the antitype of David, with which he was overwhelmed; to the billows of divine wrath which went over him; to the floods of ungodly men that encompassed him; and to the whole posse of devils, Satan, and his principalities and powers, that attacked him; see Psa 18:4;

from the hand of strange children; which explains what is meant by "great waters": wicked men chiefly; either Gentiles, the children of a people of a strange nation, and of a strange language, and of strange sentiments of religion, and that worship a strange god: such as the Edomites, Moabites, Philistines, &c. who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise: or else the Israelites, who were degenerated from their ancestors, such of David's subjects that rebelled against him; so the Ziphims are called strangers that rose up against him, Psa 54:3; and such were the enemies of Christ, both the Romans, who were Heathens and aliens; and the people of the Jews, his own countrymen, who were a generation of vipers; see Act 4:27; such as Juvenal calls (l) "filii morum", who inherited the vices of their fathers.

(l) Satyr. 14. v. 52.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Send thine hand from above - Margin, as in Hebrew, “hands.” See the notes at Psa 18:16 : “He sent from above.”

Rid me, and deliver me out of great waters - Thus Psa 18:16 : “He took me, he drew me out of many waters.” As God had done it once, there was ground for the prayer that he would do it yet again.

From the hand of strange children - Strangers: strangers to thee; strangers to thy people, foreigners. See Psa 54:3 : “For strangers are risen up against me.” The language would properly imply that at the time referred to in the psalm he was engaged in a warfare with foreign enemies. Who they were, we have no means now of ascertaining.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Either of the heathen nations, which envy and hate me; or of the rebellious Israelites, who, though they profess themselves to be the Lord’s people, yet in truth and for their carriage to me are like the barbarous heathens.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7-9. Strange children—That is, “unnatural, rebellious children.” David, in utter violation of Hebrew law, married Maachah, daughter of Talmai, a heathen ruler north east of Palestine. Her children, Absalom and Tamar, of remarkable beauty, were a source of serious trouble to David. Absalom’s mouth spoke vanity, and his right hand was a right hand of falsehood. David, as a father, mourned, but as a ruler, welcomed, his death, and for the relief it brought, he sang a new song unto God.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Send thine hand from above; literally, reach out thy hands from on high. Rid me; rather, rescue me. And deliver me out of great waters. "Great waters," or "deep waters," is a common metaphor in the Psalms for serious peril. David"s peril at this time was from the hand of strange children; literally, sons of strangers; i.e. foreign foes.

Vers. 7, 8. The known God and the unknown foe.

"Stretch forth thine hand from above; rescue me out of the hand of strangers." This is but saying, "I do not know those who trouble me, but I do know thee.

I ALL AROUND US IS THE UNKNOWN.

1. There is so little that we can understand. Spite of all the attainments of science, the "known" today bears no comparison at all to the "unknown." The philosopher has but scooped up in his shell a little of the water of the great ocean of truth. The mute a man knows, the more he feels how little he knows. We need not be philosophers, and argue that man never does know more than phenomena, the accidents of things; it is enough to see that, concerning almost everything, a child can ask questions which the wisest man cannot answer.

2. There is so much that never comes into the field of human thought at all. For we have no right to say that the laws which we apprehend as controlling the movements of nature are the only laws that control them. We are constantly baffled by intimations of the working of laws of which we know nothing at all.

3. And the human experience through which we have to pass is hopelessly unknown to us. Known to no man are his coming positions, relations, friends, or foes. Every day every man has to say to himself, "I have not gone this way heretofore." It just has to be accepted as the fact for every life, "We are of yesterday, and know nothing.

II UP ABOVE US IS THE KNOWN. In a recent exhibition there was a very touching picture of an old farm-laborer, dressed in his smock-frock, and with a lined, wearied face that told of a long life of troubles, but over the seams and lines seemed to spread a soul-smile as, looking away through the clouds, he said, "Up beyond is the blue sky." It may be thus with every man. For the mind there is no rest; there is nothing but a fretful worrying with the surrounding unknown. But for the soul there is rest. It does not look around; it looks up, and knows God knows as love can know, knows as trust can know. And that is the only satisfying knowledge. A man can only be an agnostic till his soul finds God; then he knows as souls only can know. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Strange children - Either of the Heathen nations: or of the rebellious Israelites.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Reach out your hand from above; rescue me out of many waters

David speaks as if God were on land above a flood and had physical hands with which he could pull David out of a flood. The flood is a metaphor for the troubles caused by the "foreigners." AT: "You who are able to act, help me overcome my troubles" (See: Metaphor)

from the hand of foreigners

Here "hand" refers to power. AT: "from the power of foreigners" (See: Metonymy)

Their mouths speak lies

Here the word "mouths" represent the people who speak. AT: "They speak lies" (See: Synecdoche)

their right hand is falsehood

Possible meanings are 1) David speaks of the custom of raising the right hand to swear that what one is about to say in court is true, "they lie even when they swear to tell the truth," or 2) the "right hand" is a metaphor for power, "everything they have gotten, they have gotten by telling lies." (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

hand

water

alien

right hand

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

deliver me פצני, take me out. That is an expression of saving, and so is (verse 10): “Who delivers (הפוצה) David His servant.” (I found.)

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.