Psalms 17:8

“Keep me as the apple of the eye, etc.] Which is weak and tender, and is hurt and put to pain, and made uneasy by every little thing that annoys it, and than which nothing is more dear to a man, or he is more careful of preserving from being hurt; and fitly represents the weak estate and condition of God’s people, his affection for them, and tender care of them; who as he has provided tunics for the eye, and guarded it with eyebrows, so he has taken care for the safety of his dear children, (<053210>Deuteronomy 32:10 <380208>Zechariah 2:8); hide me under the shadow of thy wings; alluding either to the wings of the cherubim over the mercy seat, where God granted his presence; so the Targum…”

“Similar figures, denoting the preciousness of God's people in His sight, in Deu 32:10-11; Mat 23:37.”

“Keep me as the apple of the eye - Preserve me; guard me; defend me, as one defends that which is to him most precious and valuable. In the original there is a remarkable strength of expression, and at the same time a remarkable confusion of gender in the language. The literal translation would be, “Keep me as the little man - the daughter of the eye.” The word “apple” applied to the eye means the pupil, the little aperture in the middle of the eye, through which the rays of light pass to form an image on the retina (“Johnson, Webster”); though “why” it is called the “apple” of the eye the lexicographers fail to tell us. The Hebrew word - אישׁון 'ı̂yshôn - means properly, “a little man,” and…”

“17:8 as you would guard your own eyes (literally as the pupil of your eye): This metaphor expresses God’s care and affection for the psalmist (see Deut 32:10). • The shadow of God’s wings is a place of his protection from enemies and adversity (Pss 36:7; 57:1; 61:4; 63:7; 91:4).”

“apple: Deu 32:10; Pro 7:2; Zac 2:8 hide: Psa 36:7, Psa 57:1, Psa 61:4, Psa 63:7, Psa 91:1, Psa 91:4; Rut 2:12; Mat 23:37; Luk 13:34 Psalms 17:9”

“The covenant relationship towards Himself in which Jahve has placed David, and the relationship of love in which David stands to Jahve, fully justified the oppressed one in his extreme request. The apple of the eye, which is surrounded by the iris, is called אישׁון, the man (Arabic insân), or in the diminutive and endearing sense of the termination on: the little man of the eye, because a picture in miniature of one's self is seen, as in a glass, when looking into another person's eye. בּת־עין either because it is as if born out of the eye and the eye has, as it were, concentrated itself in it, or rather because the little image which is mirrored in it is, as it were, the little daughter of…”