Bless  the  righteous,  destroy  the  wicked ;  but  he  says,  Discomfit
the  wicked  because  of  their  wickedness,  and  thereby  deliver  the
righteous.     What  has  misled  men  into  that  hypothesis,   and
given  it  probability,  is  the  Psalmist's  here  specially  bringing
out,  as  a  ground  of  hope  for  the"  righteous,  that  his  enemies  in
general  are  wicked,  while  elsewhere,  that  which  they  actually
do  as  enemies  is  particularly  declared — there  it  is  :  "Deliver  me
from  mine  enemies,  for  they  wrong  me  ;"  here  :  "  Deliver  me
from  them,  for  they  are  evil,  but  I  am  righteous  ;  and  Thou  canst
not  but,  according  to  Thy  nature,  desti-oy  the  wicked,  and  bless
the  righteous."     The  authors  of  the  Psalms  divide  the  treasure
of  consolation,  which  God  has  given  them  as  householders,  into
particular  gifts,  aiid  sometimes  they  exhibit  one,  sometimes  an-
other.    Here,  for  example,  the  particular  point  brought  into
notice  is,  that  the  enemies  of  the  Psalmist  are,  at  the  same  time,
rebels  against  God,  to  wliom  He  cannot  accord  tlie  victory,  with-
out denying  Himself ;  while  the  Psalniist,  on  the  otiier  hand,  was
a  righteous  man, — that  it  was  impossible  God  could  interchange
or  confuse  tiie  unalterably  fixed,  and  perpetually  separated  lots
of  the  righteous  and  the  wicked ;  while  in  Ps.  vi.  the  ground
of  hope  is  derived  from  the  extremely  sad  position  in  which
the  Psalmist  had  been  placed  by  his  enemies.     In  brief,  the
Psalmist  raises  up  the  suffering  righteous,  by  pointing  to  the
unchangeable  Divine  righteousness,  which  will  see  to  it  that  the
righteous  and  the  wicked  shall  each  receive  their  respective  lots.
He  points  out  how  his  deliverance  from  the  hand  of  the  wicked
is  as  undoubtedly  certain,  as  that  God  cannot  deny  and  forget
Himself.
