Bible Commentaries
Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psalms 59
Psalms 59:6. They make a noise like a dog. Mr. Jowett, in his christian researches, states, that many dogs in eastern towns have no owners; that they lie in the shade during the heat of the day, and towards evening go about the town half perished with hunger, seeking what meat they can procure. This similé is therefore a fine figure to designate the restless and grovelling temper and habit of unregenerate men.
Psalms 59:11. Slay them not, lest my people forget. Those men were David’s friends while in favour, but now they are his worst foes. Therefore, in the goodness of his heart, he prays for a protracted state of correction, as was the case during the remaining six years of Saul’s reign, that the people might keep their eye on men unstable as water. So is the gloss of the Chaldee paraphrast.
This psalm bears the appellation of Michtam, being another golden psalm of David, when he fought with Aram-Naharaim, and with Aram-Zobah. 2 Samuel 8:3; 2 Samuel 8:13. The LXX have here a long title concerning the expedition of David in Mesopotamian Syria, and into the country of Zobah, called Aram in the Hebrew. It would seem that the southern provinces took advantage of David’s absence to revolt; on which account David begins the psalm interrogatively. Tadmor, called Palmyra, now fell under David’s power.
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