Psalms 109:6

6. Set thou a wicked man over him Cause a wicked man to be appointed over him; that is, as a judge, as the next member and Psalms 109:7 show. The verb is in Hiphil imperative, grammatically the proper form of prayer. All other verbs in the psalm, which are rendered optatively (“let”) in our English version, (according to the rule that in a connected discourse the first verb in the series fixes the character of those which follow,) are in the future the predictive or declarative tense and should be so translated, as in the following notes. Whatever sense the verbs should take, the translation should conform to the original. The special sense belongs to the province of commentary, not to that of translation.

The Hebrew imperative is used variously to express a command, a prayer or entreaty, a warning, a prophecy, or promise. When used in the first or the third person it takes the form of the future tense of some one of the conjugations, the Hebrew having no other mode, in such cases, of expressing the imperative. This future form is marked by a slight grammatical peculiarity. In each particular instance the connexion and the known facts in the case must determine which of the several senses of which it is susceptible is to be adopted. But in each and every case the imperative discovers itself by the tone of absoluteness, of certainty and authority, which gives assurance that the thing denoted will come to pass according to the moral conditions expressed or implied. The great error of many, in the interpretation of this psalm, is in limiting the so-called imprecatory verbs too rigidly to the sense of request, or wish, as if they proceeded from a vindictive feeling. There is no rule in Hebrew, however, to justify or allow this as a necessary grammatical construction; and the ethics of Holy Scripture, and the facts of David’s history, absolutely forbid it. The verbs in question, therefore, must have a future predictive sense, to be construed as warnings, like beacon fires lighted up along the way of the wicked to deter them from their course; and the imperative tone evinces the sanction of law and the certainty of judgment under the divine moral government. This sense is not infrequent. Indeed, it is common for imperatives in the first and third persons future to drop the precatory and take the declarative sense. Thus, in Isaiah 23:1, “Howl, ye ships of Tarshish,” etc., the form is imperative, but the sense is that of predictive warning: “Ye shall howl,” etc., that is, unless repentance avert the judgment. So in Numbers 16:26, “Depart from the tents,” etc.; the verbis in the imperative, but the sense is that of entreative warning, and hence the particle of entreaty, ( נא ,) is added, “Depart, I pray you,” etc. In Psalms 128:5, “Thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem,” the original is imperative, “see thou the good,” etc., but the sense is that of predictive promise, as in the English version. In Psalms 22:27, “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn,” etc., the form is Kal (indicative) future, and is a predictive promise, but the verb is imperative. When the imperative form is intended as an optative, expressing a wish, the particle just alluded to is commonly employed, as in Psalms 7:9, “Let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but,” etc. But though this is the common use of the particle, (to excite and express desire,) it is not once used in Psalm cix, a strong indication that not a wish of vengeance is intended, but, as we have said, a solemn warning predictively uttered. The verbs in question, therefore, should be translated as in the original, in the future tense, carrying the force of the imperative, that is, an authoritative warning under sanction of divine law.

Let Satan stand at his right hand An adversary, or accuser, shall stand, etc. The Hebrew “satan,” here, is without the article, and is an appellative, not a proper name. It is noticeable that it occurs four times in this psalm; once, in its verb form. Psalms 109:4; Psalms 109:20; Psalms 109:29. As a proper name for the chief of the evil spirits, ( τω αρχοντι των διμονιων , the chief of the devils, Matthew 9:34,) it occurs Job 1:6; Zechariah 3:1-2, et al., whose children David’s enemies might well be called. John 8:44. The language of the text is forensic. In the Hebrew courts the judge sat, and the parties stood up. The accuser, or adversary, (plaintiff,) is here placed at the right hand of the accused, the proper place of the advocate. See Psalms 109:31. The allusion is more fully carried out in Zechariah 3:1-2, where the phrase “to resist him” is literally to prosecute him, to accuse him, to be his adversary.