They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
The verse portrays conspirators banding together, hiding themselves and their designs, keeping close watch over the speaker's movements and steps, and lying in wait for a chance to take his life. The psalm is one of David's psalms of thankfulness for personal deliverance from his enemies. The Hebrew word rendered steps is the same word rendered heel in Genesis 3:15. In its prophetic sense the verse points primarily to Jesus, whose enemies watched and pursued him to destroy him, with David's own persecution as its secondary application.
That hunting of Jesus ran from infancy through his ministry, beginning with Herod's search for the infant Jesus. During his ministry it continued through murderous spies who watched him and sought to entangle him in his speech in order to destroy him and take his life.
The verse portrays conspirators banding together, hiding themselves and their designs, keeping close watch over the speaker's movements and steps, and lying in wait for a chance to take his life. The psalm is one of David's psalms of thankfulness for personal deliverance from his enemies. The Hebrew word rendered steps is the same word rendered heel in Genesis 3:15. In its prophetic sense the verse points primarily to Jesus, whose enemies watched and pursued him to destroy him, with David's own persecution as its secondary application.
That hunting of Jesus ran from infancy through his ministry, beginning with Herod's search for the infant Jesus. During his ministry it continued through murderous spies who watched him and sought to entangle him in his speech in order to destroy him and take his life.