Verse 17. - Lord, how long wilt thou look on? "How long?" is the common cry of sufferers (Job 19:2; Psalm 6:3; Psalm 13:1; Psalm 79:5; Psalm 89:46; Habakkuk 1:2; Revelation 6:10), who do not recognize the wholesome discipline of suffering, or realize the fact implied in the phrase, "No cross, no crown." Man desires immediate deliverance; God mostly delays his deliverance until Patience has "had her perfect work" (James 1:4). Rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling, from the lions (comp. Psalm 22:20).
35:17-28 Though the people of God are, and study to be, quiet, yet it has been common for their enemies to devise deceitful matters against them. David prays, My soul is in danger, Lord, rescue it; it belongs to thee the Father of spirits, therefore claim thine own; it is thine, save it! Lord, be not far from me, as if I were a stranger. He who exalted the once suffering Redeemer, will appear for all his people: the roaring lion shall not destroy their souls, any more than he could that of Christ, their Surety. They trust their souls in his hands, they are one with him by faith, are precious in his sight, and shall be rescued from destruction, that they may give thanks in heaven.
Lord, how long wilt thou look on?.... And behold these injuries and insults, and not arise to help and save? The psalmist firmly believed the omniscience of God, and was well assured he saw all that was done; but he was ready to consider him only as a spectator; or, however, seems impatient until he arose and showed himself strong on his behalf; see Psalm 35:22;
rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions; his "soul" and his "darling" mean the same; either his life, than which nothing is dearer to a man; or his soul, his more noble part, and which was now "alone", or solitary, as the word (a) used signifies; being forsaken of God and men, and was desolate and afflicted, as it is rendered Psalm 25:16; or his whole person, which was among men comparable to lions, for their strength and savageness, who breathed out nothing but cruelty and destruction; from which he desires he might be rescued, or returned to the quiet possession of his own house, and the house of God: the words are much the same with those of the Messiah; see Gill on Psalm 22:20 and See Gill on Psalm 22:21.
(a) "solitariam meam", Piscator, Gejerus, Schmidt, Michaelis; so Ainsworth.
The lions is another suitable epithet for the hostile foreign party, so bitter against the genuine Israelite.
rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions; his "soul" and his "darling" mean the same; either his life, than which nothing is dearer to a man; or his soul, his more noble part, and which was now "alone", or solitary, as the word (a) used signifies; being forsaken of God and men, and was desolate and afflicted, as it is rendered Psalm 25:16; or his whole person, which was among men comparable to lions, for their strength and savageness, who breathed out nothing but cruelty and destruction; from which he desires he might be rescued, or returned to the quiet possession of his own house, and the house of God: the words are much the same with those of the Messiah; see Gill on Psalm 22:20 and See Gill on Psalm 22:21.
(a) "solitariam meam", Piscator, Gejerus, Schmidt, Michaelis; so Ainsworth.