Psalms 94:6

Psa 94:6 They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.

Ver. 6. They slay the widow and the stranger] Those sacred persons, thy proper clients; to such a height of hard heartedness are they grown, that they pity not them whom nature and courtesy would show compassion to.

Nulla fides, pietasque viris qui castra sequuntur.

Let us bless ourselves out of the bloody fingers of barbarous and brutish men, skilful to destroy.

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.

6. (Psa 94:6) Widow and stranger they kill, and orphans they murder. The strongest description of injustice and violence is given by saying, that they not only wrong but murder the very classes of sufferers, who in the Law are constantly exhibited as objects of compassion. See Exo 22:21-24, Deu 10:18.

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

94:6 widows . . . foreigners . . . orphans: The Lord’s law protects needy people (Deut 24:17; 27:19), but they remain vulnerable in society.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. They slay the widow] Nebuchadnezzar carried on his wars with great cruelty. He carried fire and sword every where; spared neither age, sex, nor condition. The widow, the orphan, and the stranger, persons in the most desolate condition of life, were not distinguished from others by his ruthless sword.

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

(6) Stranger.—The mention of the stranger as one friendless and helpless (Exo_22:21), under the tyranny of the great, seems to imply that domestic, and not foreign oppression, is the grievance.

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

6. A proverbial expression for inhumanity and treachery. They do not scruple to murder the most defenceless, and those whose lives, by the traditions of Semitic hospitality, should have been inviolable. “From the earliest times of Semitic life the lawlessness of the desert … has been tempered by the principle that the guest is inviolable.… To harm a guest, or to refuse him hospitality, is an offence against honour, which covers the perpetrator with indelible shame.” Robertson Smith, Rel. of Semites, p. 76. Cp. Exo_22:21-22; Psa_10:14; Mal_3:5.

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.

They slay the widow and the stranger,.... Who are so both in a literal and figurative sense, such who are weak and feeble, helpless and friendless; or who are deprived of their faithful pastors, who were as husbands and fathers to them, and who profess themselves pilgrims and strangers here; these the followers of the man of sin have inhumanly put to death, supposing they did God good service:

and murder the fatherless; having slain the parents in a cruel and barbarous manner, murder their infants; or figuratively such who are as orphans, destitute of their spiritual fathers, who were the instruments of begetting them in Christ, and of nourishing them with the words of faith and good doctrine; with the blood of these the whore of Rome has often made herself drunk, and therefore blood shall be given her to drink, Rev 17:5.

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

They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless - To do this is everywhere represented as a special crime, and as especially offensive to God from the fact that these classes are naturally feeble and unprotected. See the notes at Isa 1:17; Psa 68:5; Psa 82:3.

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

Whom common humanity obliged them to spare, and pity, and relieve.

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

Ver. 6. They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. They deal most arrogantly with those who are the most evident objects of compassion. The law of God especially commends these poor ones to the kindness of good men, and it is peculiar wickedness which singles them out to be the victims not only of fraud but of murder. Must not such inhuman conduct as this provoke the Lord? Shall the tears of widows, the groans of strangers, and the blood of orphans be poured forth in vain? As surely as there is a God in heaven, he will visit those who perpetrate such crimes; though he bear long with them, he will yet take vengeance, and that speedily.

Ver. 6. Widow; fatherless. An old Jewish writer (Philo Judaeus) has pointed out how aptly the titles of widow and orphan befitted the Hebrew nation, because it had no helper save God only, and was cut off from all other people by its peculiar rites and usages, whereas the Gentiles, by their mutual alliances and intercourse, had, as it were, a multitude of kindred to help them in any strait. J. M. Neale.

Ver. 6-9.

1. Conspicuous sin.

2. Absurd supposition.

3. Overwhelming argument.

Psalms 94:7*

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

6. They slay the widow… stranger… fatherless—Proving that the laws of war and of humanity are set aside. Non-combatants—innocent helpless ones—are murdered. It is a massacre, not a war. Murder without the pretence of trial or discrimination. The classes here distinguished were specially protected by the law of Moses, and by the promise of God. Exo_22:21-22; Psa_10:14; Psa_10:18; Psa_68:5; Isa_3:15

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

They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. (comp. Isa_1:17-23 Isa_10:2 Eze_22:6-9 Mal_3:5; also Psa_10:8-10)

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