to judge · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
overthrown
נִשְׁמְט֣וּnish.me.Tu
H8058
to fling down · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person common plural
stony
סֶ֭לַעSe.la'
H5553
a craggy rock · noun, common masculine singular absolute
places
בִֽידֵיvi.dei-
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders dual construct
hear
וְשָׁמְע֥וּve.sha.me.'U
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
words
אֲ֝מָרַ֗י'a.ma.Rai
H561
something said · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
sweet
נָעֵֽמוּna.'E.mu
H5276
to be agreeable (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Chronicles 25:12 And other ten thousand left alive did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of the rock, and cast them dow…
1 Samuel 31:1-8 Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.
2 Samuel 1:17-27 And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son:
2 Samuel 2:4-6 And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, That the men of Jabesh-g…
2 Samuel 5:1-3 Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.
2 Samuel 23:1 Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob,…
1 Chronicles 10:1-7 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.
1 Chronicles 11:1-3 Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 141:5–end
Here, I. David desires to be told of his faults. His enemies reproached him with that which was false, which he could not but complain of; yet, at the same time, he desired his friends would reprove him for that which was really amiss in him, particularly if there was any thing that gave the least colour to those reproaches (Psa 141:5): let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness. The righteous God (so some); "I will welcome the rebukes of his providence, and be so far from quarrelling with them that I will receive them as tokens of love and improve them as means of grace, and will pray for those that are the instruments of my trouble." But it is commonly taken for the reproofs given…
When their judges are overthrown in stony places,.... The judges of David's adversaries, the workers of iniquity; meaning Saul, Abner, &c. Arama refers this to Saul and his sons being slain on the mountains of Gilboa, 1 Samuel 31:1; which might be here prophetically spoken of. Or, as it is by some rendered, "when their judges are let down by the sides of the rock" (d); or let go free, as Saul was by David more than once; when it was in the power of his hands to have taken away his life, which his principal friends urged him to do, 1 Samuel 24:2. Some render the words as an imprecation or wish, "let their judges be cast down" (e); or as a prophecy, they "shall be cast dozen in stony places",…
Psalm 141:5-7
5. Let the righteous smite me, a kindness; and let him chastise me, a precious oil, it shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities. 6. Their judges have been thrown down upon stony places; and they shall hear my words, for they are sweet. 7. As one who breaketh and cutteth [238] on the earth, our bones have been, scattered at the mouth of the grave.
5. Let the righteous smite me, etc. While Satan tempts the wicked by his allurements, they, at the same time, deceive one another by flattery, which leads David to declare, that he would much rather be awakened to his duty by the severe rod of reproof, than be seduced through pleasing falsehoods. A…
The Church Fathers
Their judges have been swallowed up, joined to the rock. As elsewhere he says: 'Blessed is he who shall take hold of and dash your little ones against the rock.' 'And the rock was Christ.' Now the little ones are the lesser and small thoughts before they grow up. And now these very heretics, although through Aristotle and Plato they seem to despise the simplicity of the Church, yet when they have come to the Scriptures they are at once swallowed up by the rock, that is, by Christ, and are converted to him. For 'swallowing up' is said for victory, as the Apostle says: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? where, O hell, is your sting?' Now he calls that very swallowing up a victory, the victory which it had in swallowing. They shall hear my words, for they have prevailed. The Lord himself says: Those who have come to me have been overcome, and have been delighted by my words, and have been converted to me in my Church.
You say to me, What am I doing? I am beset with flatterers; they cease not to besiege me; they praise in me what I would not, that praise in me what I hold in little esteem; what I hold dear they blame in me; flatterers, treacherous, deceivers. For instance, "Gaiuseius is a great man, great, learned, wise; but why is he a Christian? For great is his learning, great his reading, great his wisdom." If great is his wisdom, approve of his being a Christian; if great his learning, learnedly has he chosen. In fine, what you revile, that pleases him whom you praise. But what? That praise sweetens not: it is "the oil of a sinner." Yet ceases he not to speak so. Let him not therewith "fatten your head;" that is, rejoice not in such things; agree not to such things; consent not to such things; rejoice not in such things; and then, if he have applied to you the oil of flattery, yet has your head remained as it was, it has not been puffed up, it has not swollen...."For still shall My word be well-pleasing to them." Wait awhile: now they revile Me, says Christ. In the early times of the Christians, the Christians were blamed on all sides. Wait as yet; and "My word shall be well-pleasing to them." The time shall come when they shall conquer thousands of men, who shall beat their breasts, and say, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Even now, how many remain who blush to beat their breasts? Let them then blame us: let us bear it. Let them blame; let them hate, accuse, detract; "still shall My word be well-pleasing to them;" the time shall come when My word shall please them....O wordy defence of iniquity! Verily now whole nations say this, and the thunder of nations beating their breasts ceases not. Rightly do the clouds thunder, wherein now God dwells. Where is now that wordiness, where that boasting, "I am righteous; nought of ill have I done"? Verily, when you have contemplated in Holy Scripture the law of righteousness, how far soever you have advanced, you shall find yourself a sinner....What sort of man am I now speaking of, brethren? I speak of him who worships God alone, who confesses Christ, who knows the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost to be one God; who commits not fornication against Him; who worships not devils; who seeks him not aid from the devil; who holds the Catholic Church; whom no one complains of as cheating; under whose…
The prayer now begins to be particularized, and that in the first instance as a petition fore the grace of silence, calling to mind old Davidic passages like Psa 39:2; Psa 34:14. The situation of David, the betrayed one, requires caution in speaking; and the consciousness of having sinned, not indeed against the rebels, but against God, who would not visit him thus without his deserving it, stood in the way of any outspoken self-vindication. In pone custodiam ori meo שׁמרה is ἅπ. λεγ., after the infinitive form דּבקה, עזבה, עצמה. In Psa 141:3 דּל is ἅπ. λεγ. for דּלת; cf. "doors of the mouth" in Mic 7:5, and πύλαι στόματος in Euripides. נצּרה might be imper. Kal: keep I pray, with Dag.…
Wisdom sometimes requires protection from oneself. One could say or think things that lead to the evil path (Prov 13:3; 21:23). • Wisdom opens itself to correction from godly people (see Prov 3:11; 9:8; 15:31; 19:25).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 141:6
When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet.
This is a verse of which the meaning seems far to seek. Does it refer to the righteous among the Israelites? We think so. David surely means that when their leaders fell never to rise again, they would then turn to him and take delight in listening to his voice. When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet. And so they did: the death of Saul made all the best of the nation look to the son of Jesse as the Lord's anointed; his words became sweet to them. Many of those good men who had spoken severely of David's quitting his country, and going over t…
