It is important to realize that in all its deliberations about the books that make up the canon of Scripture, the church did not sovereignly “determine” or “choose” the books it most preferred. It saw itself as empowered only to receive what God had provided, in books handed down from the apostles and their immediate companions. “Apostolicity,” “antiquity,” and “orthodoxy,” are not criteria by which the church autonomously judged which documents it wanted, but qualities the church recognizes in the voice of its Savior. Likewise, “liturgical use” and “church consensus” are reflections of the testimony of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church.
Charles Hill

Spurgeon PS1711

Spurgeon PS1711

EXPOSITION.

“_They have now compassed us in our steps_.” The fury of the ungodly is aimed not at one believer alone, but at all the band; they have compassed _us_. All the race of the Jews were but a morsel for Haman’s hungry revenge, and all because of one Mordecai. The prince of darkness hates all the saints for their Master’s sake. The Lord Jesus is one of the _us_, and herein is our hope. He is the Breaker, and will clear a way for us through the hosts which environ us. The hatred of the powers of evil is continuous and energetic, for they watch every _step_, hoping that the time may come when they shall catch us by surprise. If our spiritual adversaries thus compass every step, how anxiously should we guard all our movements, lest by any means we should be betrayed into evil! “_They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth_.” Trapp wittily explains this metaphor by an allusion to a bull when about to run at his victim; he lowers his head, looks downward, and then concentrates all his force in the dash which he makes. It most probably denotes the malicious jealousy with which the enemy watches the steps of the righteous; as if they studied the ground on which they trod, and searched after some wrong footmark to accuse them for the past, or some stumbling-stone to cast in their future path to trip them in days to come.

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Verse 11.–“_They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth. A man who has people watching him to find out a cause for accusation against him to the king, or to great men, says, “Yes, they are around my legs and my feet; their eyes are always open; they are ever watching my “_suvadu_,” “steps;” that is, they are looking for the impress or footsteps in the earth. For this purpose the eyes of the enemies of David were “_bowing down to the earth_.”–^Joseph Roberts.

Verse 11.–“_They have now compassed us in our steps_.” Like those who destroy game by battue [Ed. battue: interdiction], and so make a ring around their prey from which their victims cannot escape.–C. H. S.

Verse 11.–“_They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth_.” The allusion probably is to the huntsman tracing the footmarks of the animal he pursues.–^Religious Tract Society’s Commentary.

Verse 11.–“_They have set their eyes bowing to the earth_.” It is an allusion, as I conceive, to hunters, who go poring upon the ground to prick the hare, or to find the print of the hare’s claw, when the hounds are at a loss, and can make nothing of it by the scent.–^Joseph Caryl.