7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will be good to me. A Psalm by David.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Bring my soul out of prison - Bring me out of my present condition which is like a prison. I am as it were shut up; I am encompassed with foes; I do not know how to escape. Compare Psalm 25:17.
That I may praise thy name - Not merely for my own sake, but that I may have occasion more abundantly to praise thee; that thus "thou" mayest be honored; an object at all times much more important than our own welfare - even than our salvation.
The righteous shall compass me about - They shall come to me with congratulations and with expressions of rejoicing. They will desire my society, my friendship, my influence, and will regard it as a privilege and an honor to be associated with me. David looked to this as an object to be desired. He wished to be associated with the righteous; to enjoy their friendship; to have their good opinion; to be reckoned as one of them here and forever. Compare the notes at Psalm 26:9. It "is" an honor - a felicity to be desired - to be associated with good people, to possess their esteem; to have their sympathy, their prayers, and their affections; to share their joys here, and their triumphs in the world to come.
For thou shalt deal bountifully with me - Or, when thou shalt deal bountifully with me. When thou dost show me this favor, then the righteous will come around me in this manner. They will see that I am a friend of God, and they will desire to be associated with me as his friend.
Bring my soul out of prison - Bring נפשי naphshi, my life, out of this cave in which it is now imprisoned; Saul and his men being in possession of the entrance.
The righteous shall compass me about - יכתרו yachtiru, they shall crown me; perhaps meaning that the pious Jews, on the death of Saul, would cheerfully join together to make him king, being convinced that God, by his bountiful dealings with him, intended that it should be so. The old Psalter, which is imperfect from the twenty-frst verse of Psalm 119 to the end of Psalm 141:1-10, concludes this Psalm thus: "Lede my saule oute of corruption of my body; that corrupcion is bodely pyne, in whilk my saule is anguyst; after that in Godes house, Sal al be louyng (praising) of the."
Bring my soul out of (c) prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall (d) compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.
(c) For he was on all sides beset with his enemies as though he had been in a severe prison.
(d) Either to rejoice at my wonderful deliverer, or to set a crown on my head.
Bring my soul out of prison,.... Not out of purgatory, to which some Popish writers wrest these words very absurdly; nor out of the prison of his body, as Joseph Ben Gorion (p); knowing that none but God had a power of removing it from thence; but out of the cave, where he was detained as in a prison, while Saul and his men were about the mouth of it; or rather out of all his straits, distresses, and difficulties, which surrounded and pressed him on all sides, as if he was in a prison;
that I may praise thy name; this release he desired not so much for his own sake, that he might be at ease and liberty, but that he might have fresh occasion to praise the Lord, and an opportunity of doing it publicly, in the assembly and congregation of the people;
the righteous shall compass me about; in a circle, like a crown, as the word (q) signifies; when delivered, they should flock to him and come about him, to see him and look at him, as a miracle of mercy, whose deliverance was marvellous; and to congratulate him upon it, and to join with him in praises unto God for it. The Targum is,
"for my sake the righteous will make to thee a crown of praise.''
And to the same purpose Jarchi,
"for my sake the righteous shall surround thee, and praise thy name.''
Aben Ezra interprets it,
"they shall glory as if the royal crown was on their heads;''
for thou shalt deal bountifully with me; in delivering him from his enemies, settling him on the throne, and bestowing upon him all the blessings of Providence and grace; see Psalm 116:7; and thus the psalm is concluded with a strong expression of faith in the Lord, though in such a low estate.
(p) Hist. Hebrews. l. 6. c. 20. p. 610. (q) "coronabunt", Pagninus, Montanus; "vel in me tanquam eoronati triumphabunt", Cocceius.
(Compare Psalm 25:17).
that I may praise--literally, "for praising," or, "that Thy name may be praised," that is, by the righteous, who shall surround me with sympathizing joy (Psalm 35:27).
Prison - Set me at liberty. Compass - Shall flock to me from all parts, to rejoice and bless God with me and for me.
*More commentary available at chapter level.