Verse 31:[1] (Ps. 83:9, 10) So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be (2 Sam. 23:4) as the sun (Ps. 19:5) when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.
So, that is, so suddenly, so surely, so effectually and irrecoverably.
[Just as the sun in its rising shines, כְּצֵ֥את הַשֶּׁ֖מֶשׁ בִּגְבֻרָת֑וֹ] As to go forth of the sun[2] (as the rising of the sun [Syriac, Arabic]) in its strength (Montanus). Let them be just like the sun when it rises (or, goes forth [Munster], advances [Junius and Tremellius], rises and goes forth [Dutch]) in its strength (Munster, Pagnine, Tigurinus). They shall be as the going forth of the sun; that is, Let them advance, or obtain strength, just like the sun when it rises constantly becomes brighter: that is, let them become ever greater and most illustrious; that is, similar to the rising Sun (Grotius). Let them be strengthened as the sun increases from its rising to its strength (Martyr). Let them be like unto the sun rising with its strength (Castalio). Just as the sun to go forth in its strength; that is, when in the middle of summer it holds the first degree of Cancer (Malvenda). [Why might it not be translated, as the sun when it goes forth unto, or toward, its strength?]
When he goeth forth in his might; when he first riseth, and so goeth on in his course, which he doth with great might, even as a strong man that runneth a race, Psalm 19:5, and so as no creature can stop or hinder him; even so irresistible let the people be.
[Forty years] Under these are contained the twenty years in which Jabin oppressed the Hebrews, Judges 4:3 (Lapide). See above on Judges 3:11 (Bonfrerius). Forty years, namely, from that eighty years, Judges 3:30 (Junius).
Forty years; how to be computed, see before on Judges 3:11.
[1] Hebrew: כֵּ֠ן יֹאבְד֤וּ כָל־אוֹיְבֶ֙יךָ֙ יְהוָ֔ה וְאֹ֣הֲבָ֔יו כְּצֵ֥את הַשֶּׁ֖מֶשׁ בִּגְבֻרָת֑וֹ וַתִּשְׁקֹ֥ט הָאָ֖רֶץ אַרְבָּעִ֥ים שָׁנָֽה׃
[2] A woodenly literalistic rendering of the Hebrew.
Robert Bolton's "Comfortable Walking": 'Of prayer. Thus, or in the like manner:—Thou art acquainted with the secret plots of some plausible tyrant against the people of God, whose words, perhaps, may be as soft as butter or oil, and outward deportment promise fair, but his thoughts and invisible intendments against the better side composed all of blood and bitterness, of gall and gunpowder; whereupon, as occasion is offered, thou unmaskest his malice among thy Christian friends, to the end that they may communicate and, contribute their prayers for the confusion and infatuation of all his devilish depths and devices of hell. Tears, patience, and prayers were ever the defensive weapons of God's people. Let powder plots, Parisian massacres, invincible armadas…
Matthew Henry: 'She concludes all with a prayer to God, 1. For the destruction of all his foes: "So, so shamefully, so miserably, let all thy enemies perish, O Lord; let all that hope to triumph in Israel's ruin be thus disappointed and triumphed over. Do to them all as unto Sisera," Psalm 83:9. Though our enemies are to be prayed for, God's enemies, as such, are to be prayed against; and, when we see some of God's enemies remarkably humbled and brought down, this is an encouragement to us to pray for the downfall of all the rest. Deborah was a prophetess, and this prayer was a prediction that in due time all God's enemies shall perish, Psalm 92:9…