Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, [even] for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.
Ver. 13. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people] q.d. Thou wast Generalissimo grand general in our expeditions, in the days of the judges, who therefore were so successful. How could they be otherwise, when God came with them into the field? If Queen Elizabeth could take for her motto, Cui adhaereo, praeest, He to whom I adhere prevaileth, how much more may Almighty God say as much?
Even for salvation with thine anointed] i.e. With David, 1Sa 16:12-13; 2 Samuel 5:3; 2 Samuel 5:17; 2Sa 19:22; 2 Samuel 22:51; Psalms 20:7; a lively type of Christ, that Messiah the prince, the mystery of which promised Saviour the ancient Jewish doctors confessed to be contained in this text. It is not altogether unlikely that the prophet might intend here to point at Jesus Christ, when he saith, for salvation (Jeshang, whence Jesus) for thine anointed, or thy Christ. There are those who read the words in the future tense, thus: Thou shalt go forth for the salvation of thy people, sc. when Messiah, the great Sospitator, preserver cometh: thou shalt wound the head of the wicked, sc. of the devil, Romans 16:20. Thou shalt make naked the foundation of his kingdom, unto the neck. Selah : thou shalt utterly destroy sin, death, and hell. A remarkable mercy indeed, a mystery of greatest concernment, and most worthy to be considered. Gualther carries the sense this way; and yet addeth, that if any please to refer the words to the history of the Old Testament, they must be understood as those tyrants that persecuted the true Church, and whom God, for Christ's sake, subdued and subverted, together with their kingdoms.