59:5 Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not {d} merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.
(d) Seeing it belongs to God's judgments to punish the wicked, he desires God to execute his vengeance on the reprobate, who maliciously persecutes his Church.
59:5 The God - A God in covenant with all true Israelites, whom thou hast promised to protect and bless. The heathen - Or, these heathens, who though they are Israelites by birth; yet in their dispositions they are mere Heathens. Be not - For indeed thou canst not according to thy word, be merciful to such incorrigible offenders.
59:1-7 In these words we hear the voice of David when a prisoner in his own house; the voice of Christ when surrounded by his merciless enemies; the voice of the church when under bondage in the world; and the voice of the Christian when under temptation, affliction, and persecution. And thus earnestly should we pray daily, to be defended and delivered from our spiritual enemies, the temptations of Satan, and the corruptions of our own hearts. We should fear suffering as evil-doers, but not be ashamed of the hatred of workers of iniquity. It is not strange, if those regard not what they themselves say, who have made themselves believe that God regards not what they say. And where there is no fear of God, there is nothing to secure proper regard to man.
