Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary Verse 2. No help for him in God. ] These were some of the reproaches of his enemies, Shimei and others: "He is now down, and he shall never be able to rise. God alone can save him from these his enemies; but God has visibly east him off." These reproaches deeply affected his heart; and he mentions them with that note which so frequently occurs in the Psalms, and which occurs here for the first time, hls selah. Much has been said on the meaning of this word; and we have nothing but conjecture to guide us. The Septuagint always translate it by diayalma diapsalma, "a pause in the Psalm." The Chaldee sometimes translates it by yml[l lealmin, "for ever." The rest of the versions leave it unnoticed. It either comes from ls sal, to raise or elevate, and may denote a particular elevation in the voices of the performers, which is very observable in the Jewish singing to the present day; or it may come from hls salah, to strew or spread out, intimating that the subject to which the word is attached should be spread out, meditated on, and attentively considered by the reader. Fenwick, Parkhurst, and Dodd, contend for this meaning; and think "it confirmed by Psa. ix. 16, where the word higgaion is put before selah at the end of the verse." Now higgaion certainly signifies meditation, or a fit subject for meditation; and so shows selah to be really a nota bene, attend to or mind this.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-3 - An active believer, the more he is beaten off from God, either by the rebukes of providence, or the reproaches of enemies, the faster hold he will take, and the closer will he cleave to him. A child of God startles at the very thought of despairing of help in God. See what God is to his people, what he will be, what they have found him, what Davi found in him. 1. Safety; a shield for me; which denotes the advantag of that protection. 2. Honour; those whom God owns for his, have tru honour put upon them. 3. Joy and deliverance. If, in the worst of times, God's people can lift up their heads with joy, knowing that all shall work for good to them, they will own God as giving them bot cause and hearts to rejoice.
Original Hebrew רבים7227 אמרים559 לנפשׁי5315 אין369 ישׁועתה3444 לו באלהים430 סלה׃5542
