Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
Man’s enmity towards man
We see this enmity here in three aspects.
I. Piously dreaded. David prays against it. He prays for his own protection. Self-preservation is a natural instinct, and it is right that it should have a religious expression.
II. Characteristically working. How does enmity work generally?
1. Clandestinely (Psalms 64:2). Enmity in the heart, like poison in the serpent, has within it the instinct of cunning.
2. Slanderously (Psalms 64:3-4). “Slander, whose edge,” says Shakespeare, “is sharper than a sword.” It strikes at the reputation of the foe, and reputation is as dear as life.
3. Plottingly (Psalms 64:5). It lays traps and snares for the foe everywhere--snares by which a man may lose his commercial credit, his domestic peace, his social reputation.
4. Diligently (Psalms 64:6). Enmity is not dormant or lazy, nor a spasmodic agent, it is systematically and persistently active: it pursues its victim, tracks him until it finds him out, however labyrinthian the course.
III. Divinely thwarted. “God shall shoot at them with an arrow.”
1. Unawares (Psalms 64:7). Divine judgment will Strike at the malignant man when he least expects it.
2. By its own agency (Psalms 64:8). The malicious man must destroy himself. This is God’s law (Job 5:12-13).
3. in such a way as shall make an impression upon all (Psalms 64:9-10). What David here predicates of his enemies applies to all malignant men. Divine retribution will overtake them; they shall be baffled, thwarted, confounded, ruined, (Homilist.)