Psalms 4:2

“O ye sons of men, etc.] Meaning great men, the nobles of Israel; and so the Jewish interpreters f58 generally explain it; such as Ahithophel, and others, who were in the conspiracy with Absalom, (<101512>2 Samuel 15:12): and so they were the kings and princes of the earth, and the rulers of the Jewish sanhedrim, the chief priests and elders, who were the enemies of Christ; and such, generally speaking, have been the persecutors of the saints; these men of power and authority, of dignity and honour, and who were in high places, and boasted of their titles and grandeur, the psalmist addresses by way of expostulation in the following words; how long [will ye turn] my glory into shame? Meaning…”

“sons of men--men of note or prominence (compare Ch2 21:9). turn my glory--or, "royal dignity." into shame--or, "reproach." vanity--a foolish and hopeless enterprise (Psa 2:1). leasing--a lie.”

“O ye sons of men - Turning from God to men; from Him in whom he hoped for protection to those who were engaged in persecuting him. We are not, of course, to suppose that they were present with him, but this is an earnest, poetic remonstrance, “as if” they were with him. The reference is doubtless to Absalom and his followers; and he calls them “sons of men,” as having human feelings, passions, and purposes, in strong distinction from that righteous God to whom he had just made his solemn appeal. God was holy, true, and just, and he might appeal to Him; they were ambitious and wicked, and from them he had nothing to hope. He looked upon God as righteous altogether; he looked upon them as…”

“My glory - By his glory probably he means that honour which God had conferred upon him. Vanity - Wickedness. Lying - Those calumnies which they raised against him, to make him odious to all the people. Psalms 4:3”

“4:2 The opponents of the godly place their hope in delusions, treachery, and idolatry. • my reputation (or my glory): The honor of the psalmist, or possibly of the Lord, is at stake.”

“O: Psa 57:4, Psa 58:1; Ecc 8:11, Ecc 9:3 how: Psa 72:2; Exo 10:3; Num 14:11; Pro 1:22 my glory: Psa 3:3, Psa 14:6, Psa 106:20; Isa 20:5, Isa 45:17; Jer 2:11; Hos 4:7; Co1 1:31 love: Psa 2:1; Sa1 12:21; Isa 59:4; Jer 2:5; Jon 2:8 leasing: Psa 5:6, Psa 58:3, Psa 63:11; Jer 9:3; Eph 4:25 Psalms 4:3”

“(Heb.: 4:3-4) Righteous in his relation to God he turns rebukingly towards those who contemn his whose honour is God's honour, viz., to the partisans of Absolom. In contrast with בּני אדם, men who are lost in the multitude, בּני אישׁ denotes such as stand prominently forward out of the multitude; passages like Psa 49:3; Psa 62:10; Pro 8:4; Isa 2:9; Isa 5:15, show this distinction. In this and the preceding Psalm David makes as little mention of his degenerate son as he does of the deluded king in the Psalms belonging to the period of his persecution by Saul. The address is directed to the aristocratic party, whose tool Absolom has become. To these he days: till when (עד־מה beside the…”