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3.Lift up thy strokes. Here the people of God, on the other hand, beseech him to inflict a deadly wound upon their enemies, corresponding to the cruelty with which they had raged against his sanctuary. They would intimate, that a moderate degree of punishment was not sufficient for such impious and sacrilegious fury; and that, therefore, those who had shown themselves such violent enemies of the temple and of the worshippers of God should be completely destroyed, their impiety being altogether desperate. As the Holy Spirit has dictated this form of prayer, we may infer from it, in the first place, the infinite love which God bears towards us, when he is pleased to punish so severely the wrongs inflicted upon us; and, in the second place, the high estimation in which he holds the worship yielded to his Divine majesty, when he pursues with such rigour those who have violated it. With respect to the words, some translate פעמים, pheamim, which we have rendered strokes, by feet or steps, (215) and understand the Church as praying that the Lord would lift up his feet, and run swiftly to strike her enemies. Others translate it hammers, (216) which suits very well. I have, however, no hesitation in following the opinion of those who consider the reference to be to the act of striking, and that the strokes themselves are denoted. The last clause of the verse is explained by some as meaning that the enemy had corrupted all things in the sanctuary. (217) But as this construction is not to be found elsewhere, I would not depart from the received and approved reading.
(215) “ פעמים means feet or steps is evident from Psa_17:5 Psa_57:6; and Psa_58:10 Lift up thy feet, advance not slowly or by stealth, but with large and stately steps, full in the view of all; come to thy sanctuary, so long suffered to lie waste; examine what has been done there, and let thy grace and aid, hitherto so much withheld, be extended to us.” — Gejer To lift up the feet is a Hebraism for “ put one’ self in motion;” “ set out on a journey,” as may be learned from Gen_29:1, where of Jacob it is said, “ lifted up his feet, and went into the east country.” Lifting up the feet is used for going, in the same way as opening the mouth is for speaking.
(216) “ is another notion of פעם, for a mallet or hammer, Isa_41:7 and Kimchi would have that to be the meaning here, הורם פעם, ‘ up thy mallet,’ in opposition to the ‘ and hammers,’ verse 6; and thus also Abu Walid, ‘ up thy dashing instruments.’ And the LXX., who read, ἔπαρον τάς χεῖρας, ‘ up thy hands,’ come near this.” —Hammond
(217) This is the sense put upon the words by some Jewish interpreters. Thus Abu Walid reads, “ up thy dashing instruments, because of the utter destructions which the enemy hath made, and because of all the evil that he hath done in or on the sanctuary.” Aben Ezra has, “ of the perpetual desolations,” that is, because of thy inheritance which is laid waste. Piscator takes the same view: “ thyself to Jerusalem, that thou mayest see these perpetual desolations which the Babylonians have wrought.” In like manner, Gejer, who observes that this sense is preferable to that which considers the words as a prayer, that God would lift up his feet for the perpetual ruin of the enemy, because the Psalmist has been hitherto occupied with a mere description of misery, and has used nothing of the language of imprecation. But the Chaldee has, “ up thy goings or footsteps, to make desolate the nations for ever;” that is, Come and spread desolation among those enemies who have invaded and so cruelly reduced thy sanctuary to ruins.