Psalm 64 - Overcomer - They aim their bitter word

I did this psalm for my brother's 64th birthday. It is now October, 2020, with the pandemic, riots, and the coming election. It seems very appropriate to this time.

v1 It often helps devotion if we are able to use the voice and speak audibly. ... We shall act wisely if we make prayer to God our first and best trusted resource in every hour of need. - C. H. Spurgeon

v2 - In v1 there was the enemy singular, satan.

Here there are 2 groups, a secret conspiracy and a tumultuous mob. A conspiracy is especially bad because the people involved know that what they are doing is wrong, but encourage one another to do it.

It is a good thing to conquer malicious foes, but a better thing still to be screened from all conflict with them, by being hidden from the strife. The Lord knows how to give his people peace. - Spurgeon

v3 - literally "who aim their arrow, a bitter word".

A bitter word is from someone who did not get his way, so he is offended (Heb 12:15; Deut 29:18).

Slander has ever been the master weapon of the good man's enemies, and great is the care of the malicious to use it effectively. - Spurgeon

v4 - The ones who shoot in secret are the conspiracy of evil-doers.

This can be through anonymous leaks.

"They are unafraid of their secret malice being exposed." - Rabbi David Kimchi (RaDaK)

v5 - I translated the Hebrew pronoun suffix mo as "the mob" twice in this verse referring back to v2. Mo is a poetic pronoun suffix that refers back to the extended people-group of its antecedant. The conspiracy strengthens the lawless mob to do more evil.

There is no "and" before "They write things". That is because this is not a separate action, but it explains how the conspiracy strengthens the mob to do evil. They do it by writing stuff to justify the crowd and lay snares for anyone who opposes the crowd.

They, the conspirators, say, Who will see them, the mob? How could we not see the mob, since it is huge? We see the mob, but not the individuals composing the mob, so they can't be prosecuted, or so they think.

v6 - The Hebrew word chapesh is used 3 times in this verse. It means to search out, and the noun means "disguise". They search out how to do iniquities and disguise it.

The Hebrew word for "man" here is ish, inferring a person of the upper class in contrast to adam, common man, in v9 (Ps 62:9).

They are very complicated. They invent bizarre plots in order to distract from their crimes (cf. Rev 2:24).

I feel that the mood of the psalm changes from the 2nd half of this verse. It shifts from looking at the enemies to the nature of man in general.

v7 - My favorite verse in this psalm.

The overthrow of the wicked in this psalm is entirely God's doing, and not man's ingenuity.

They had aimed to shoot by surprise (v4), but God shoots them by surprise.

God shoots the arrow at the conspiracy.

v8 - All of a sudden the tables are turned.

literally - Then they caused him to fall upon them by their tongue. "Them" is the Hebrew mo referring to the mob or conspiracy in v2.

The conspiracy has been propping up this "him" by their tongue. Now their lies catch up with them and cause him to fall. When he falls, the conspiracy falls too.

v9 - Common people (see v6) will see the Lord's hand in this, including people who were opposing because they were lied to.

They gained insight into how God works. - H. C. Leupold

"We are always intellectually capable of comprehending God's deeds and seeing the telltale signs of His handiwork everywhere. It is just that we sometimes need to see an event which makes us fear God in order to jolt us out of our complacent slumber and open our eyes and minds to the plethora of God's deeds which surround us." - ArtScroll Psalms

The judgments of God are frequently so clear and manifest that men cannot misread them, and if they have any thought at all, they must extract the true teaching from them. Some of the divine judgments are a great deep, but in the case of malicious persecutors the matter is plain enough, and the most illiterate can understand. - Spurgeon

ref Rev 11:11-13; 1Sam 6:3

v10 - The righteous will seek refuge in the Lord because there is still evil going on.

There are people who are upright in heart on both sides. All those who are upright in heart shall glory when they see what the Lord has done.

- Steve Miller