Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.
Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly. The loving condescension of the high God, in having respect to the lowly and needy (as I, David, was raised from a sheepfold, and from outlawry, to be King of God's people, Psalms 113:4-8), attracts all to Him; especially the elevation of the antitypical David, Messiah, from the humiliation of His first coming to the manifested glory and majesty of His second coming, shall cause "all kings" to "praise" Him. Hengstenberg makes God's height the ground on account of which He raises the lowly, and brings down the proud. 'For the Lord is high, and therefore He hath respect unto the lowly.' But the contrast between "high" and "lowly" favours the English version. Lowliness of mind, as well as of position, is implied in "the lowly," as the antithesis to "the proud" requires.
But the proud he knoweth afar off. "The proud" are the haughty world-powers, the foes of David, and in the ulterior sense the foes of the Divine Son of David (cf. Psalms 138:7, "the wrath of mine enemies;" Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5; Psalms 18:27). The lowly whom the world eyes from afar, and supposes God has forgotten, God regards with tender favour, because they rest all their hopes in Him, and not in themselves; whereas those proud because of their worldly greatness He thoroughly knows, but knows only so as to put them to a distance, saying, "Depart from me, ye cursed" (cf. Luke 16:26, "between us and you there is a great gulf fixed." Matthew 25:41; Psalms 73:27). They put God far from them (Jeremiah 12:2), therefore, in just retribution, God "knoweth" them only to put them "afar off."