Psalms 94:16

“Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? etc.] These are the words of the psalmist, representing the church of God, under sore persecutions from the antichristian party; called “evildoers”, because of their thefts, murders, idolatries, sorceries, and all manner of wickedness committed by them, (<660921>Revelation 9:21), intimating that she had looked all around her, and could not observe any that she could hope for assistance from, to fight her battles for her with the enemy, and deliver her out of his hands: the Targum is, “who will rise up, for me, to make war with the evildoers?” what the church here seems to say in a despairing way, the followers of antichrist say in a triumphant…”

“Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers?... - This is the language of the psalmist. It is what he had said in the circumstances referred to in the first part of the psalm, when the wicked seemed to triumph; when they had come in upon the land, and laid waste the heritage of God, Psalms 94:3-6. At that time, full of anxiety and trouble, and deeply impressed with a sense of danger, he had anxiously looked around for help, and had asked with deep concern who would stand up for him and defend him. The following verses Psalms 94:17-18 show what was then his reliance, and in what way confidence in God had kept him from falling into despair. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Rise - To defend and help me. I looked hither and thither, but none appeared; God alone helped me. Psalms 94:17”

“94:16-23 The psalmist’s prayer resumes (see 94:1-7) with a desperate cry for the Lord’s justice; it concludes with the hopeful expectation that evil will end. 94:16 Only God has the power to stand up to the wicked (see 2:2).”

“rise up: Exo 32:26-29; Num 25:6-13; Jdg 5:23; Kg1 18:39, Kg1 18:40; Kg2 9:32, Kg2 10:15; Isa 59:16, Isa 63:5; Jer 5:1; Eze 22:30; Mat 12:30; Jo3 1:8 stand up: Neh 5:7; Jer 26:16-19; Joh 7:50, Joh 7:51 Psalms 94:17”

“In the fifth strophe the poet celebrates the praise of the Lord as his sole, but also trusty and most consolatory help. The meaning of the question in Psa 94:16 is, that there is no man who would rise and succour him in the conflict with the evil-doers; ל as in Exo 14:25; Jdg 6:31, and עם (without נלחם or the like) in the sense of contra, as in Psa 55:19, cf. Ch2 20:6. God alone is his help. He alone has rescued him from death. היה is to be supplied to לוּלי: if He had not been, or: if He were not; and the apodosis is: then very little would have been wanting, then it would soon have come to this, that his soul would have taken up its abode, etc.; cf. on the construction Psa 119:92; Psa…”