Psalms 5:10 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Destroy thou them, O God Hebrew, האשׁימם, haashimem, hold them guilty, that is, condemn and punish them; or, make them desolate, as the word is used Ezekiel 6:6; Joel 1:18. Let them fall by their own counsels That is, make their counsels, not only unsuccessful against me, but also destructive to themselves. Or, from their counsels, that is, let them fall short of their aims and designs. Or, because of their counsels, which are ungodly and unjust, and so deserve destruction. Cast them out Of thy land and from among the people, whom they either infect or molest by their wicked courses. For they have rebelled against thee Against thy authority and declared will, concerning my advancement to the throne, and that of my seed the Messiah, and concerning the enlargement of thy church. It is justly observed by Dr. Horne, Dr. Dodd, and others, concerning these imprecatory passages of the Psalms, that they may all be rendered in the future tense, as indeed they ought to be to obviate objections, and cut off all occasion of offence from those who desire and seek it. “The verse before us would then run thus: ‘Thou wilt destroy them, O God; they shall perish by their own counsels: thou wilt cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee.' Thus rendered, the words contain a prophecy of the infatuation, rejection, and destruction of such as should obstinately persevere in their opposition to the counsels of Heaven, whether relating to David, to Christ, or to the church. The fate of Ahithophel and Absalom, of Judas and the Jews, should warn others not to offend after the same example.”