There are expressions in this psalm which sound harsh and cruel, and which Christians would shrink from using. But, on the other hand, there is much here that comes home to our experience, and that is helpful and comforting in the great trials of life. It is something to know that good men have suffered affliction before us - that they have been falsely accused and foully wronged, that they have felt the pangs of grief and the bitterness of disappointment, and that they have had to bear much and wait long before deliverance came. The lesson is clear. It is - Wait upon God. This is the refrain, which comes so sweetly at the middle (ver. 10), and then with increased force and emphasis at the end (ver. 17). The figure seems that of a sentinel on his tower. He is set there to watch. He must be vigilant and patient. There is much to try him, but not till morning breaks will he find release.

I. WAITING UPON GOD ASSURES DELIVERANCE. Waiting implies faith and hope. "The husbandman waiteth for the harvest." The physician waits for the effect of his remedies. The father waits for the time when his son is educated, and fit to take his place in the world. So we are to have faith, to hold ourselves still, in patient expectancy, till God's will is made known. Waiting does not preclude personal effort. On the contrary, it implies it. God will not do for us what he has made us able to de for ourselves. Our duty is to work, and wait upon God for his blessing. We must do our part, if we expect God to do his part. But there are times when we have, so far as we know, done all in our power, when we have exhausted all lawful efforts, and yet our condition is not bettered, but rather grown worse. Our straits are great. Our needs are urgent. Our enemies press us on every side, and shout as if sure of their prey. What comfort it is, at such a time, to commit ourselves to God, and to wait patiently for him from whom our salvation cometh! Remember what God is, and what he has done. He is our "Strength" and our "Defence." God in us is our Strength - our strength made perfect in weakness. We in God is our "Defence" - our Strong Tower to which we run and are safe.

II. WAITING UPON GOD AWAKENS PRAISE. (Vers. 14 17.) Here is a sweet strain of thanksgiving. The rage and malice of the enemy still continue, but it is malice that is defeated, and rage that is baulked of its prey. The "morning" brings deliverance, and, instead of the shrieks of the victim, there are the songs of the victor. God has saved his servant who trusted in him. How often has the same thing come true! God's people, waiting upon him in the day of their trouble, have found "defence" and "refuge." God's power has delivered them from their enemies; God's "mercy" has brought joy and peace to their hearts. Therefore they, with renewed ardour, say, "Unto thee, O my Strength, will I sing: for God is my Defence, and the God of my mercy." - W.F.

This verse spends itself on a double comparison; of persons and conditions. The persons compared are men and serpents; the conditions or qualities upon which the similitude stands are poison and deafness. The former whereof is indefinite: "Their poison is as the poison of a serpent," any serpent. The latter is restrictive: "Their deafness is like the adder," one kind of serpents.

I. Poison — there is such a thing as poison; but where to be found? Wheresoever it is, in man who would look for it? God made man's body of the dust; he mingled no poison with it. He inspired his soul from heaven; he breathes no poison with it. He feeds him with bread; he conveys no poison with it. Whence is this poison? (Matthew 13:27). That great serpent, the red dragon, hath poured into wicked hearts this poison. In this poison there is a double pestilent effect. It is to themselves death; to others a contagious sickness.

1. To themselves. It is an epidemical corruption, dispersing the venom over all parts of body and soul. It poisons the heart with falsehood, the head with lightness, the eyes with adultery, the tongue with blasphemy, the hands with oppression, the whole body with intemperance. It poisons beauty with wantonness, strength with violence, wit with wilfulness, learning with dissension, devotion with superstition. And in all this observe the effect of this poison in themselves. For it doth not only annoy others, but mostly destroy themselves. But the poison of the wicked, whilst it infects others, kills themselves. "His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself" (Proverbs 5:22). Their own wickedness, like poison, hath in themselves these three direful effects.(1) It makes them swell with pride, and blows up the heart as a bladder with a quill. "Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse?" (1 Samuel 25:10). "Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?" (Job 21:15). Thus the spider, the poisonous vermin, "climbs up to the roof of the king's palace" (Proverbs 30:28).(2) It makes them swill; the poison of sin is such a burning heat within them, that they must still be drinking.(3) It makes them burst (Acts 1:18). This is the catastrophe of a wicked life. "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death (James 1:15).

2. To others. You see how fatal the poison of the wicked is to themselves. The hurt it doth to others consists in outward harming, in inward defiling them. Outwardly. — Their poison breaks forth in the injuries of all about them. They spare neither foreigner nor neighhour. There be little snakes in Babylon, that bite only foreigners, and not inhabitants. Pliny writes of scorpions in the hill Carla, that when they sting only wound the natural-born people of the country; but bite strangers gently or not at all. These, like fools, not only strike them that are nearest, but beteem their poison to the overthrow of all. Such a one cannot sleep except he have done mischief; nay, he dies, if others do not die by him. Inwardly. — Their poison doth most hurt by infection. Their poison is got by touching — he that toucheth pitch shall be defiled: by companying with them (Proverbs 1:14); by confederacy; by sight — the very beholding of their wickedness causes it in others.

II. THEIR PERSONS — We have spoken of their poison. They are said to be as serpents (Matthew 23:33; Ezekiel 2:6).

1. There are mystical serpents.

2. There are the dart-like serpents (Acts 28.). He is the angry man, the hasty, furious one, who flies upon another with a sudden blow.

3. The great serpent of all, the devil (Revelation 12:3). Faith in Christ can alone put him to flight. For the remedy of this poison (see John 3:14), and further let there be repentance.

(Thomas Adams.)