Biblion Bible Commentary
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They Encourage Themselves in Evil
Psalms 64:1-10
1 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Hear my voice, God, in my complaint. Preserve my life from fear of the enemy. · WEB
A conspiracy congratulates itself on a perfect plan, and is answered with a single arrow.
Hear my voice, God, in my complaint. Preserve my life from fear of the enemy Psalms 64:1.
The request is not for preservation from the enemy but from fear of him. The psalm knows where the damage is actually being done.
Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows, deadly words, to shoot innocent men from ambushes Psalms 64:3–4.
The weapons are all speech and all of them are ranged. A sword requires the user to close in; arrows do not, and words are described here as the weapon that lets a man kill someone he never has to stand next to.
They shoot at him suddenly and fearlessly Psalms 64:4. Without fear — because there is no expectation of consequence, which is the assumption every psalm about slander eventually names.
They encourage themselves in evil plans. They talk about laying snares secretly. They say, "Who will see them?" Psalms 64:5.
The conspiracy is described as a social activity. They strengthen each other, which is the mechanism by which a group does what none of its members would do alone; and the confidence rests, again, on invisibility.
They plot injustice, saying, "We have made a perfect plan!" Surely man's mind and heart are cunning Psalms 64:6.
The self-congratulation is quoted, and the psalm's comment on it is not that they are wrong about the plan. They may well have made a perfect one. The observation is about the depth of the faculty that produced it — the inward parts of a man are deep, and what comes out of them can be very good indeed at its work.
But God will shoot at them. They will be suddenly struck down with an arrow Psalms 64:7.
The turn is one word in Hebrew and it uses their own weapon. They shot suddenly from ambush; the reply is sudden and comes from somewhere they were not watching. The psalm answers a conspiracy of archers with a single archer.
Their own tongues shall ruin them Psalms 64:8.
The pit-digging principle applied to speech. Nothing external is required — the mechanism of their fall is the same instrument they were using, and the psalm does not describe how.
All mankind shall be afraid. They shall declare the work of God, and shall wisely ponder what he has done Psalms 64:9.
The outcome is not the destruction of the conspirators but a change in everyone watching. Three verbs: fear, tell, and consider carefully — which is the opposite of the shooting-from-ambush that opened the psalm.
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