He hath also prepared for him - The instruments of punishment are already prepared, and God can use them when he pleases. They are not to be made ready, and, therefore, there is no necessity for delay when he shall have occasion to use them. The idea is, that arrangements are made for the destruction of the wicked, and that the destruction must come upon them. The world is full of these arrangements, and it is impossible that the sinner should escape.
The instruments of death - The means of putting them to death; that is, of punishing them. The particular means referred to here are arrows, as being what God has prepared for the wicked. "Death" here is designed simply to denote punishment, as death would be inflicted by arrows.
He ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors - Or rather, as the Hebrew is, "He makes his arrows for burning," that is, "for burning arrows." Horsley renders it, "He putteth his arrows in action against those who are ready for burning." Prof. Alexander, "His arrows to (be) burning he will make." DeWette, "His arrows he makes burning." The Latin Vulgate and Septuagint, His arrows he has made for the burning: "that is, probably for those who are burning with rage, for persecutors. This seems to have been the idea of our translators. The Hebrew word - דלק dâlaq - means to burn, to flame; and hence, also, to burn with love, with anxiety, or with zeal or wrath - as persecutors do. But here the word seems properly to be connected with "arrows;" and the sense is, as rendered by Gesenius, "he maketh his arrows flaming;" that is, burning - alluding to the ancient custom of shooting ignited darts or arrows into besieged towns or camps, for the purpose of setting them on fire, as well as for the purpose of inflicting greater personal injury. The sense is, that God had prepared the means of certain destruction for the wicked. The reference here is not necessarily to persecutors, but what is said here pertains to all the wicked unless they repent. |