Psalm 31:15

My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) My times are in thy hand—i.e., the vicissitudes of human life (LXX. and Vulg. have “my destinies”) are under Divine control, so that the machinations of the foe cannot prevail against one whom God intends to deliver. For the expression comp. 1Chronicles 29:30, “the times that went over him,” Isaiah 33:6.

The sense of security in this trusting phrase may be contrasted with the feeling of danger in another Hebrew phrase, “my soul is continually in my hand,” Psalm 119:109.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

31:9-18 David's troubles made him a man of sorrows. Herein he was a type of Christ, who was acquainted with grief. David acknowledged that his afflictions were merited by his own sins, but Christ suffered for ours. David's friends durst not give him any assistance. Let us not think it strange if thus deserted, but make sure of a Friend in heaven who will not fail. God will be sure to order and dispose all for the best, to all those who commit their spirits also into his hand. The time of life is in God's hands, to lengthen or shorten, make bitter or sweet, according to the counsel of his will. The way of man is not in himself, nor in our friend's hands, nor in our enemies' hands, but in God's. In this faith and confidence he prays that the Lord would save him for his mercies's sake, and not for any merit of his own. He prophesies the silencing of those that reproach and speak evil of the people of God. There is a day coming, when the Lord will execute judgment upon them. In the mean time, we should engage ourselves by well-doing, if possible, to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

My times are in thy hand - That is, I said this in my trouble; when my friends forsook me, and when my enemies came around me and threatened my life. The meaning is, that all that pertained to him was under the control and at the disposal of God. He would "live" as long as God should please. It was His to give life; His to preserve it; His to take it away. All in relation to life - its origin - its continuance - its changes - its seasons - childhood, youth, middle age, old age - all was in the hand of God. No one, therefore, could take his life before the time that had been appointed by God, and he might calmly commit the whole to him. This we may feel in all seasons of life and in all times of danger; of sickness; of feebleness. We shall live as long as God has appointed; we shall pass through such changes as he directs; we shall die when and where and how he chooses. In the faithful discharge of our duty, therefore, we may commit all these things to him, and leave all at his disposal.

Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies - That is, since all these things are under thy control; since thou hast power over my life and over all that pertains to me, I pray that thy power may be exerted in my behalf, and that my life may be rescued from danger. This was his prayer in the midst of his troubles, and this prayer was heard.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15. times—course of life.

deliver … hand—opposed to "shut me up," &c., of Ps 31:8.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

My times; either,

1. The time of my life, how long I shall live. Or,

2. My opportunities or fit seasons for working out my deliverance. Or rather,

3. All the affairs and events of my life; for time is oft put for things done or accidents happening in time, as 1 Chronicles 29:30 Job 11:17 Psalm 37:18 Ecclesiastes 9:11 Daniel 2:21 Acts 17:26.

Are in thy hand, i.e. are wholly in thy power, to dispose and order as thou seest fit, and not at all in mine enemies’ power, who can do nothing against me, unless it be given them from above.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

My times are in thy hand,.... And not in the hand of his enemies; as his time of life and death, which was only by the direction and appointment of God, was in his power, and fixed by him; nor could his enemies take away his life before his time, and without the will of his covenant God: the time of his coming to the throne, and what was gone over him during his reign hitherto, 1 Chronicles 29:30; and all his times of trouble in it; times of prosperity and of adversity; of darkness, desertion, and temptation; and of joy, peace, and comfort; these were all in the hands of the Lord, at his disposal, and ordered by him for the good of his servant, and for the glory of his own name; and this was a quieting consideration to the psalmist under his present trials and exercises; the Targum is, "the times of my redemption"

deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me; a good man has many enemies, and even his very goodness creates him such; for wicked men are enemies to all that is good; and those are persecuting ones, in one way or other; either by words or deeds; and deliverance out of their hands is by the Lord, who sometimes gives his people rest from adversity, and suffers not the rod of the wicked to continue on them; and therefore it is best to apply to him for it.

Geneva Study Bible

My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. My times &c.] Cp. 1 Chronicles 29:30. The vicissitudes of my life are all under Thy control.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - My times are in thy hand. "My times," i.e. "all the varied events, happy or sad, which make up the parti-coloured web of life" (Kay). Not one of them but is shaped by thee and ordered by thee. Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me (camp. vers. 1, 2, 4). The great need under existing circumstances was deliverance. Absalom was looked for daily to "pass over Jordan, and all the men of Israel with him" (2 Samuel 17:24). A battle was imminent. If the day went against David, and his army was defeated, he would necessarily fall into the hands of his "enemies" and "persecutors," in which case he could not hope that they would spare his life (2 Samuel 17:2, 12). Psalm 31:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 31:15-19) But, although a curse of the world and an offscouring of all people, he is confident in God, his Deliverer and Avenger. By ואני prominence is given to the subject by way of contrast, as in Psalm 31:7. It appears as though Jahve had given him up in His anger; but he confides in Him, and in spite of this appearance, he even confides in Him with the prayer of appropriating faith. עתּות or אתּים (1 Chronicles 29:30) are the appointed events and circumstances, the vicissitudes of human life; like the Arabic 'idât (like עת from ועד), the appointed rewards and punishments. The times, with whatsoever they bring with them, are in the Lord's hand, every lot is of His appointment or sending. The Vulgate follows the lxx, in manibus tuis sortes meae. The petitions of Psalm 31:16, Psalm 31:17, spring from this consciousness that the almighty and faithful hand of God has mould his life. There are three petitions; the middle one is an echo of the Aaronitish blessing in Numbers 6:25. כּי קראתיך, which gives the ground of his hope that he shall not be put to shame (cf. Psalm 31:2), is to be understood like אמרתּי in Psalm 31:15, according to Ges. 126, 3. The expression of the ground for אל־אבושׁה, favours the explanation of it not so much as the language of petition (let me not be ashamed) of as hope. The futures which follow might be none the less regarded as optatives, but the order of the words does not require this. And we prefer to take them as expressing hope, so that the three petitions in Psalm 31:16, Psalm 31:17, correspond to the three hopes in Psalm 31:18, Psalm 31:19. He will not be ashamed, but the wicked shall be ashamed and silenced for ever. The form ידּמוּ, from דּמם, is, as in Jeremiah 8:14, the plural of the fut. Kal ידּם, with the doubling of the first radical, which is customary in Aramaic (other examples of which we have in יקּד, ישּׁם, יתּם), not of the fut. Niph. ידּם, the plural of which would be ידּמּוּ, as in 1 Samuel 2:9; conticescere in orcum is equivalent to: to be silent, i.e., being made powerless to fall a prey to hades. It is only in accordance with the connection, that in this instance נאלם, Psalm 31:19, just like דּמם, denotes that which is forcibly laid upon them by the judicial intervention of God: all lying lips shall be dumb, i.e., made dumb. עתק prop. that which is unrestrained, free, insolent (cf. Arabic 'âtik, 'atı̂k, unrestrained, free

(Note: But these Arabic words do not pass over into the signification "insolent."))

is the accusative of the object, as in Psalm 94:4, and as it is the nominative of the subject in 1 Samuel 2:3.