Text -- Psalms 69:1-23 (NET)

Psalm 69

69:1 For the music director; according to the tune of “Lilies;” by David. Deliver me, O God, for the water has reached my neck. 69:2 I sink into the deep mire where there is no solid ground; I am in deep water, and the current overpowers me. 69:3 I am exhausted from shouting for help; my throat is sore; my eyes grow tired of looking for my God. 69:4 Those who hate me without cause are more numerous than the hairs of my head. Those who want to destroy me, my enemies for no reason, outnumber me. They make me repay what I did not steal! 69:5 O God, you are aware of my foolish sins; my guilt is not hidden from you. 69:6 Let none who rely on you be disgraced because of me, O sovereign Lord and king! Let none who seek you be ashamed because of me, O God of Israel! 69:7 For I suffer humiliation for your sake and am thoroughly disgraced. 69:8 My own brothers treat me like a stranger; they act as if I were a foreigner. 69:9 Certainly zeal for your house consumes me; I endure the insults of those who insult you. 69:10 I weep and refrain from eating food, which causes others to insult me. 69:11 I wear sackcloth and they ridicule me. 69:12 Those who sit at the city gate gossip about me; drunkards mock me in their songs. 69:13 O Lord, may you hear my prayer and be favorably disposed to me! O God, because of your great loyal love, answer me with your faithful deliverance! 69:14 Rescue me from the mud! Don’t let me sink! Deliver me from those who hate me, from the deep water! 69:15 Don’t let the current overpower me! Don’t let the deep swallow me up! Don’t let the pit devour me! 69:16 Answer me, O Lord, for your loyal love is good! Because of your great compassion, turn toward me! 69:17 Do not ignore your servant, for I am in trouble! Answer me right away! 69:18 Come near me and redeem me! Because of my enemies, rescue me! 69:19 You know how I am insulted, humiliated and disgraced; you can see all my enemies. 69:20 Their insults are painful and make me lose heart; I look for sympathy, but receive none, for comforters, but find none. 69:21 They put bitter poison into my food, and to quench my thirst they give me vinegar to drink. 69:22 May their dining table become a trap before them! May it be a snare for that group of friends! 69:23 May their eyes be blinded! Make them shake violently!

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Psa 69:1

Tribulations.

Wesley: Psa 69:4

For peace sake.

Wesley: Psa 69:5

But O Lord, although I have been innocent to mine enemies, I am guilty of many sins and follies against thee.

Wesley: Psa 69:6

Because of my sad disappointments. For if they see me forsaken, they will be discouraged by this example.

Wesley: Psa 69:7

For my obedience to thy commands, and zeal for thy glory.

Wesley: Psa 69:9

That fervent love which I have for thy house and service, and glory, and people.

Wesley: Psa 69:9

Exhausted my spirits.

Wesley: Psa 69:9

I have been as deeply affected with thy reproaches, as with mine own. This tho' truly belonging to David, yet was also directed by the spirit of God in him, to represent the disposition and condition of Christ, in whom it was more fully accomplished, to whom therefore it is applied in the New Testament, the first part of it, Joh 2:17, and the latter, Rom 15:3.

Wesley: Psa 69:10

For their impiety.

Wesley: Psa 69:10

They derided me for it.

Wesley: Psa 69:11

A proverb of reproach.

Wesley: Psa 69:12

Vain and idle persons, that spend their time in the gates and markets.

Wesley: Psa 69:13

Or, According to thy saving truth, or faithfulness; grant me that salvation, which thou hast graciously promised.

Wesley: Psa 69:21

Instead of giving me that comfort which my condition required, they added to my afflictions.

Wesley: Psa 69:21

These things were metaphorically fulfilled in David, but properly in Christ, the description of whose sufferings was principally intended here by the Holy Ghost.

Wesley: Psa 69:22

And this punishment in their table, exactly answers their sin, in giving Christ gall for his meat, Psa 69:21.

Wesley: Psa 69:22

Their table or meat, which is set before them, shall become a snare: the occasion of their destruction.

Wesley: Psa 69:23

Not the eyes of their bodies, but of their minds: as they that shut their eyes and will not see, so they shall be judicially blinded.

Wesley: Psa 69:23

To take away their strength.

JFB: Psa 69:1-2

Upon Shoshannim--(See on Psa 45:1, title). Mingling the language of prayer and complaint, the sufferer, whose condition is here set forth, pleads for God's help as one suffering in His cause, implores the divine retribution on his malicious enemies, and, viewing his deliverance as sure, promises praise by himself, and others, to whom God will extend like blessings. This Psalm is referred to seven times in the New Testament as prophetical of Christ and the gospel times. Although the character in which the Psalmist appears to some in Psa 69:5 is that of a sinner, yet his condition as a sufferer innocent of alleged crimes sustains the typical character of the composition, and it may be therefore regarded throughout, as the twenty-second, as typically expressive of the feelings of our Saviour in the flesh. (Psa. 69:1-36)

(Compare Psa 40:2).

JFB: Psa 69:1-2

Literally, "come even to my soul," endanger my life by drowning (Jon 2:5).

JFB: Psa 69:3

(Compare Psa 6:6).

JFB: Psa 69:3

In watching (Psa 119:82).

JFB: Psa 69:4

(Compare Joh 15:25). On the number and power of his enemies (compare Psa 40:12).

JFB: Psa 69:4

That is, he suffered wrongfully under the imputation of robbery.

JFB: Psa 69:5

This may be regarded as an appeal, vindicating his innocence, as if he had said, "If sinful, thou knowest," &c. Though David's condition as a sufferer may typify Christ's, without requiring that a parallel be found in character.

JFB: Psa 69:6

Literally, "in me," in my confusion and shame.

JFB: Psa 69:7-12

This plea contemplates his relation to God as a sufferer in His cause. Reproach, domestic estrangement (Mar 3:21; Joh 7:5), exhaustion in God's service (Joh 2:17), revilings and taunts of base men were the sufferings.

JFB: Psa 69:10

Literally, "wept away my soul," a strongly figurative description of deep grief.

JFB: Psa 69:12

Public place (Pro 31:31).

JFB: Psa 69:13-15

With increasing reliance on God, he prays for help, describing his distress in the figures of Psa 69:1-2.

JFB: Psa 69:16-18

These earnest terms are often used, and the address to God, as indifferent or averse, is found in Psa 3:7; Psa 22:24; Psa 27:9, &c.

JFB: Psa 69:19-20

Calling God to witness his distress, he presents its aggravation produced by the want of sympathizing friends (compare Isa 63:5; Mar 14:50).

JFB: Psa 69:21

Instead of such, his enemies increase his pain by giving him most distasteful food and drink. The Psalmist may have thus described by figure what Christ found in reality (compare Joh 19:29-30).

JFB: Psa 69:22-23

With unimportant verbal changes, this language is used by Paul to describe the rejection of the Jews who refused to receive the Saviour (Rom 11:9-10). The purport of the figures used is that blessings shall become curses, the "table" of joy (as one of food) a "snare," their

JFB: Psa 69:22-23

Literally, "peaceful condition," or security, a "trap." Darkened eyes and failing strength complete the picture of the ruin falling on them under the invoked retribution.

JFB: Psa 69:23

Literally, "to swerve" or bend in weakness.

Clarke: Psa 69:1

The waters are come in unto my soul - I am in the deepest distress. The waters have broken their dikes, and are just ready to sweep me away! Save me, Lord! In such circumstances I can have no other help

In the first, second, third, fourteenth, and fifteenth verses, the psalmist, speaking in the person of the captives in Babylon, compares their captivity to an abyss of waters, breaking all bounds, and ready to swallow them up; to a deep mire, in which there was no solid bottom, and no standing; and to a pot. in which they were about to be inclosed for ever. This is strongly figurative, and very expressive.

Clarke: Psa 69:3

I am weary of my crying - A pathetic description of the state of the poor captives for about seventy years.

Clarke: Psa 69:4

Then I restored that which I took not away - I think, with Calmet, that this is a sort of proverbial expression, like such as these, "Those who suffered the wrong, pay the costs."Delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi. "Kings sin, and the people are punished.""The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’ s teeth are set on edge."Our fathers have grievously sinned against the Lord, and we their posterity suffer for it. See on Psa 69:12 (note). Some have applied it to our Lord. I restored, by my suffering and death, that image of God and the Divine favor, which I took not away. That is, In my human nature I expiated the crime that human beings had committed against God. But such applications are very gratuitous.

Clarke: Psa 69:5

Thou knowest my foolishness - Though we have been brought into captivity in consequence of the crimes of our fathers, yet we have guilt enough of our own to merit a continuation of our miseries. How can such words as are in this verse be attributed to our blessed Lord, however they may be twisted or turned?

Clarke: Psa 69:6

Be ashamed for my sake - The sins of the Jews were a great stumbling-block in the way of the conversion of the Gentiles. They had been the peculiar people of the Lord. "How,"say the Gentiles, "can a pure and holy Being love such people?"They were now punished for their crimes. "How,"say the Gentiles, "can God deal so hardly with those whom he professes to love?"The pious among the captives felt keenly, because this reproach seemed to fall upon their gracious and merciful God.

Clarke: Psa 69:7

For thy sake I have borne reproach - The Gentiles have said, "Why such an obstinate attachment to the worship of a Being who treats you so rigorously, and who interests not himself in your comfort and deliverance?"And in these cutting reproaches some of the ungodly Jews took a part: "I am an alien to my mother’ s children."

Clarke: Psa 69:9

The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up - The strong desire to promote thy glory has absorbed all others. All the desires of my body and soul are wrapped up in this. This verse is very properly applied to our Lord, Joh 2:17, who went about doing good; and gave up his life, not only for the redemption of man, but to "magnify the law, and make it honorable."

Clarke: Psa 69:12

They that sit in the gate - At the gates were the courts for public justice; there were complaints lodged, and causes heard. No doubt many vexatious complaints were made against the poor captives; and false accusations, through which they grievously suffered; so that, literally, they were often "obliged to restore that which they had not taken away."See Psa 69:4

Clarke: Psa 69:12

The song of the drunkards - These poor miserable people were exposed to all sorts of indignities. Though the conduct is base, the exultation over a fallen enemy is frequent. How miserable was this lot! Forsaken by friends, scorned by enemies, insulted by inferiors; the scoff of libertines, and the song of drunkards; besides hard travail of body, miserably lodged and fed; with the burning crown of all, a deep load of guilt upon the conscience. To such a life any death was preferable.

Clarke: Psa 69:13

My prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time - This seems to refer to the end of the captivity, which Jeremiah had said should last seventy years, Jer 25:11, Jer 25:12 : "The whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon,"etc. The conclusion of this period was the accepted tome of which the psalmist speaks. Now, they incessantly pray for the fulfillment of the promise made by Jeremiah: and to hear them, would be the truth of God’ s salvation; it would show the promise to be true, because the salvation - the deliverance, was granted.

Clarke: Psa 69:16

Thy loving-kindness is good - The word חסד chesed signifies exuberance of kindness, and the word רחמים rachamim , which we translate tender mercies, signifies such affection as mothers bear to their young: and in God, there is רב rob , a multitude, of such tender mercies towards the children of men!

Clarke: Psa 69:18

Deliver me because of mine enemies - Probably they now began to think that the redemption of these captives was not an impossible thing; that it was not far off; and therefore they had great rage, because they found their time was but short.

Clarke: Psa 69:19

Thou hast known my reproach - This is one of the most forcible appeals to mercy and compassion that was ever made. The language of these two verses is inimitable; and the sentiment cannot be mended. I can devise no comment that would not lessen their effect.

Clarke: Psa 69:21

They gave me also gall for my meat - Even the food, necessary to preserve us in their slavery, was frequently mingled with what rendered it unpleasant and disgusting, though not absolutely unwholesome. And vinegar, sour small wines, was given us for our beverage. This is applied to our Lord, Mat 27:34, where the reader is requested to consult the notes.

Clarke: Psa 69:22

Let their table become a snare - The execrations here and in the following verses should be read in the future tense, because they are predictive; and not in the imperative mood, as if they were the offspring of the psalmist’ s resentment: "Their table Shall become a snare; - their eyes Shall be darkened; - thou Wilt pour out thine indignation upon them; - thy wrathful anger Shall take hold of them; - their habitation Shall be desolate, - and none Shall dwell in their tents.

The psalmist prophesies that the evils which they had inflicted on the Israelites should be visited on themselves; that as they had made them eat, drink, labor, and suffer, so God should in his judgment treat them.

Calvin: Psa 69:1

1.Save me, O God! for the waters, etc Under the figure of waters, the Psalmist represents his condition as so extremely distressing that it brought him even to the brink of despair; and yet we know that, so far from being a soft and an effeminate person, he was one who encountered and overcame dreadful temptations with extraordinary courage. Whence we may infer the bitterness of the distress with which he was at that time afflicted. Some understand the word soul as denoting life; ⁶⁸ but this gives a very cold and unsatisfactory meaning. It rather signifies the heart. A man when he falls into an abyss of waters, may prevent for some time the water from entering his body, by stopping his mouth and his nostrils, but at length, from its being impossible for a human being to live without respiration, suffocation will compel him to let in the waters, and they will penetrate even to the heart. David by this metaphor would intimate, not only that the waters had covered and overwhelmed him, but also that he had been forced to draw them into his body.

Calvin: Psa 69:2

2.I am sunk in deep mire, where there is no standing place Here he compares his afflictions to a deep sink of mire, where there is still greater danger; for if a man fixes his feet upon a solid bottom, he may raise himself up, there having been many instances in which persons, placing their feet on the bottom, have by a sudden spring emerged and escaped the peril of the waters; but when a man finds himself once sunk in some slough or muddy river, it is all over with him, he has no means of saving himself. ⁶⁹ The Psalmist adduces additional circumstances in illustration of his afflicted condition. He declares that he was inundated by the flowing of the waters; an expression indicating the disorder and confusion which his distresses and persecutions produced.

Calvin: Psa 69:3

3.I am weary of crying David, in seeking and calling upon God, when his affairs were in such a confused and desperate condition, exhibited an instance of rare and wonderful patience. He complains of having continued crying until he was exhausted and became hoarse, and all to no purpose. By the word weary, he does not mean that he gave up with prayer, as if he had cast from him all love to and delight in that exercise upon finding that it proved unavailing as a means of deliverance. He rather describes his untiring perseverance; and the same idea is expressed by his hoarse throat and failing eyes. ⁷⁰ He certainly did not cry out before men from mere affectation, nor was this hoarseness contracted in the course of one day. We perceive, then, that although his bodily senses failed him, the vigor of his faith was by no means extinguished. When we reflect that David has spoken, as it were, out of the mouth of Christ, and, as it were, out of the mouth of all true saints who are the members of Christ, we ought not to think that any strange thing happens to us, if at any time we are so overwhelmed with death, as to be unable to discern the slightest hope of life. Yea, rather let us learn betimes, while God spares us, to meditate on this truth, and derive the aid which it is fitted to impart under calamity, that even in the most profound depths of adversity faith may hold us up, and, what is more, may elevate us to God; there being, as Paul testifies, (Rom 8:39) no height nor depth which can separate us from the infinite love of Him who swallows up all depths, yea, even hell itself.

Calvin: Psa 69:4

4.They who hate me without cause are more in number than the hairs of my head The Psalmist now expresses without figure what he had said under the metaphors of the mire and of the impetuous rushing of the waters. Persecuted as he was by so great a multitude of enemies, he had too good reason to be afraid of death in innumerable ways. Nor is his language hyperbolical, when he represents his enemies as more in number than the hairs of his head, since he was mortally hated and detested by the whole kingdom, it being the universal belief that he was a base and wicked traitor to his country. Farther, we know from the sacred history how numerous and powerful the armies were which Saul sent forth to pursue him. He expresses the mortal hatred which they bore to him, when he tells us that they were intently set upon his destruction, being eagerly desirous to have him cut off by a violent death; and yet he avows that he had done nothing to merit such unrelenting persecution. The Hebrew word חנם , chinnam, which we have rendered, without cause, and which some translate, for nothing, intimates that they were impelled by a strong desire to do him injury, although he had not done them even the slightest wrong, nor given them the smallest provocation by ill usage of any kind. For this reason he applies to his enemies the appellation שקר , sheker, that is, liars, because they had no just ground to make war upon him, although they pretended the contrary. Let us, therefore, after his example, if at any time we are subjected to persecution, study to have the support arising from the testimony of a good conscience, and to be able freely to protest before God, that the hatred which our enemies cherish against us is altogether causeless. This implies a self-control to which it is very difficult for a man to inure himself; but the more difficult it is, the more strenuous ought to be his efforts to attain it. It is mere effeminacy to regard it as an intolerable evil to be unrighteously afflicted; and the folly of this is very happily exposed by that noble answer of Socrates to his wife, who, having one day lamented, in prison, that he was condemned wrongfully, received from him this reply, “What then — would you rather that I should have suffered death for my offenses?” Farther, David adds, that he not only had to suffer the wrongs of violence, but had also to bear much reviling and contumely, as if he had been convicted of many crimes; a trial which, to an ingenuous mind, is more bitter and hard to bear than a hundred deaths. Many are to be found resolutely prepared to encounter death, who are by no means prepared to exhibit equal fortitude in the endurance of shame. Farther, David was not only despoiled of his goods by the violence of robbers, but he had been also mangled in his person, as if he had been a thief and a robber: That which I took not by spoil, then I restored it ⁷¹ When his enemies thus plundered and maltreated him, they doubtless boasted that they were acting as the judges of a perverse and wicked man; and we know that they were held in honorable estimation as judges. Let us therefore learn from this example to prepare ourselves not only to bear patiently all losses and troubles, yea, even death itself; but also shame and reproach, if at any time we are loaded with unfounded accusations. Christ himself, the fountain of all righteousness and holiness, was not exempted from foul calumny, why then should we be dismayed when we meet with a similar trial? It may well fortify our minds against it when we consider, that to persevere steadfastly in the practice of righteousness, although such is the reward which we receive from the world, is the genuine test of our integrity.

Calvin: Psa 69:5

5.O God! thou knowest my foolishness Augustine has labored to little purpose to show in what way these words are applicable to Christ; and at length he transfers to his members that which could not properly be said of the Head. ⁷² David here uses the language of irony; and by this mode of expressing himself he meant to intimate, that, overwhelmed with the unrighteous judgments of men, he betakes himself to God, and implores him to appear as the defender of his cause. This is much more emphatic than if he had affirmed plainly, and without figure, that his integrity was known to God. In this way he administers a sharp rebuke to his enemies, and as it were looks down with a noble contempt upon the calumnious speeches which they uttered against him; as Jeremiah does when he says,

“O Lord! thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived.”
(Psa 20:7)

Some ignorant people put a violent construction on these words of Jeremiah, as if they implied that he was actually deceived; whereas he is rather to be understood as deriding with bitter sarcasm his calumniators, who, in speaking evil of him, were chargeable with reproaching and blaspheming God himself. David in like manner, in the passage before us, as a means of preserving himself from succumbing under the perverse judgments of men, appeals to God as the judge of his cause; and possessing as he did the approving testimony of a good conscience, he regards in a great measure with indifference the unjust estimate which men might form of his character. It were indeed desirable that our integrity should also be acknowledged and approved of by men, and that not so much on our own account as for the edification of our brethren. But if, after we have done all in our power to make men form a favorable opinion respecting us, they misconstruct and pervert every good word which we utter, and every good action which we perform, we ought to maintain such greatness of mind as boldly to despise the world and all false accusers, resting contented with the judgment of God and with that alone; for those who are over anxious about maintaining their good name cannot but often experience fainting of heart. Let us be always ready to satisfy men; but if they refuse to listen to what we have to say in self-vindication, let us proceed in our course through evil report as well as good report, following the example of Paul where he fearlessly appeals to the judgment of God,

“who will bring to light the hidden things of dark,”
(1Co 4:5)

Calvin: Psa 69:6

6.O Jehovah, Lord of Hosts! let not them that wait for thee be ashamed in me David declares that he is set forth as an example from which all the people of God may derive matter either of hope or despair. Although he was held in detestation and execrated by the great body of the people, there yet remained a few who were ready to bear just and impartial testimony to his innocence; knowing as they did that he was unrighteously afflicted by his persecutors, that he constantly reposed on the grace and goodness of God, and that no temptations could discourage or prevent him from continuing steadfast in the practice of true godliness. But when they observed the distresses and calamities to which he was notwithstanding subjected, the only conclusion to which they were able to arrive was, that all the pains and labor which he had taken in devoutly serving God were entirely thrown away. As all the instances in which God extends his succor to his servants are so many seals, by which he confirms and gives us assurance of his goodness and grace towards us, the faithful must have been exceedingly discouraged had David been forsaken in the extremity of his distress. The danger of their being thus discouraged he now lays before God; not that God has ever need of being put in mind of any thing, but because he allows us to deal familiarly with him at the throne of grace. The word wait is properly to be understood of hope, and the expression to seek God, of prayer. The connecting of the two together teaches us the profitable lesson, that faith is not all inactive principle, since it is the means of stirring us up to seek God.

Calvin: Psa 69:7

7.For on thy account I have suffered reproach He now expresses more distinctly what he had stated ironically in the fifth verse, where he asserts that his faults were not hidden from God. Nay, he proceeds farther, declaring not only that the evil treatment which he met with from his enemies was unjust and altogether unmerited, but also that his cause was really God’s cause, since whatever he had undertaken and engaged in was expressly in obedience to the command of God. Saul no doubt had other reasons, or at least other pretences, for persecuting David; but as the hatred which he entertained against him most unquestionably proceeded from God’s having called and anointed him to be king, David here justly protests that it was not for any wickedness which he had committed, but because he had obeyed God, that men in general disapproved of and rashly condemned him. It is a source of great consolation to true believers when they can protest that they have the warrant and call of God for whatever they undertake or engage in. If we are hated by the world for making a public confession of the faith, a thing which we are to expect, it being evident from observation that the wicked ordinarily are never more fierce than when they assault the truth of God and the true religion, we have ground to entertain double confidence. ⁷⁴ We also learn from this passage how monstrous is the malice of men, who convert into a ground for reproach and reprehension the zeal for the Divine glory by which true believers are animated. ⁷⁵ But it is well for us that God not only wipes away the reproaches with which the wicked load us, but also so ennobles them, that they surpass all the honors and triumphs of the world. The Psalmist farther aggravates his complaint by the additional circumstance, that he was cruelly cast off by his own relations and friends; from which we are taught, that when by our devotedness to the cause of religion we cannot avoid exciting the displeasure of our brethren against us, it is our duty simply to follow God, and not to confer with flesh and blood.

Calvin: Psa 69:9

9.For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up ⁷⁶ David’s enemies, no doubt, professed that nothing was farther from their mind than to touch the sacred name of God; but he reproves their hypocritical pretences, and affirms that he is fighting in God’s quarrel. The manner in which he did this, he shows, was by the zeal for the Church of God with which his soul was inflamed. He not only assigns the cause of the evil treatment which he received — his zeal for the house of God — but also declares that whatever evil treatment he was undeservedly made the object of, yet, as it were, forgetting himself, he burned with a holy zeal to maintain the Church, and at the same time the glory of God, with which it is inseparably connected. To make this the more obvious, let it be observed, that although all boast in words of allowing to God the glory which belongs to him; yet when the law, the rule of virtuous and holy living, presents its claims to them, men only mock him, and not only so, but they furiously rush against him by the opposition which they make to his Word. They do this as if he willed to be honored and served merely with the breath of the lip, and had not rather erected a throne among men, from which to govern them by laws. David, therefore, here places the Church in the room of God; not that it was his intention to transfer to the Church what is proper to God, but to show the vanity of the pretensions which men make of being the people of God, when they shake themselves loose from the control of God’s holy law, of which the Church is the faithful guardian. Besides, David had to deal with a class of men who, although a hypocritical and bastard race, professed to be the people of God; for all who adhered to Saul boasted of having a place in the Church, and stigmatised David as an apostate or a rotten member. With this unworthy treatment David was so far from being discouraged, that he willingly sustained all assaults for the defense of the true Church. He declares that he is unmoved by all the wrongs and revilings which he personally suffered at the hands of his enemies. Laying aside all concern about himself, he is disquieted and distressed only for the oppressed condition of the Church, or rather burns with anguish, and is consumed with the vehemence of his grief.

The second clause of the verse is to the same effect, denoting that he has nothing separate from God. Some explain it in a different sense, understanding it to mean that the wicked and proud, with the view of making an assault upon David, directed their fury and violence against God himself, and in this way indirectly pierced the heart of this holy man with their blasphemies, knowing as they did that nothing would be more grievous to him to bear than this. But this interpretation is too forced. Equally forced is that of those who consider David as intimating that he did not less prostrate himself in humble supplication at the mercy-seat whenever he heard the name of God torn by reproaches and blasphemy, than if he himself had been guilty of treason against the Divine Majesty. I therefore adhere to the opinion which I have already expressed, That David forgot what concerned himself, and that all the grief which he felt proceeded from the holy zeal with which he burned when he saw the sacred name of God insulted and outraged with horrible blasphemies. By this example we are taught, that whereas we are naturally so tender and delicate as to be unable to bear ignominy and reproach, we must endeavor to get quit of this unhappy state of mind, and ought rather to be grieved and agonised with the reproaches which are poured forth against God. On account of these, it becomes us to feel deep indignation, and even to give expression to this in strong language; but we ought to bear the wrongs and reproaches which we personally suffer without complaining. Until we have learned to set very little value upon our own reputation, we will never be inflamed with true zeal in contending for the preservation and advancement of the interests of the Divine glory. Besides, as David speaks in the name of the whole Church, whatever he says concerning himself behoved to be fulfilled in the supreme Head. It is, therefore, not surprising to find the Evangelists applying this passage to Christ, (Joh 2:17.) In like manner, Paul, in Rom 15:3, exhorting the faithful to imitate Christ, applies the second member to them all, and there also teaches us that the doctrine contained in it is very comprehensive, requiring them to devote themselves wholly to the advancement of the Divine glory, to endeavor in all their words and actions to preserve it unimpaired, and to be carefully on their guard that it may not be obscured by any fault of theirs. Since Christ, in whom there shines forth all the majesty of Deity, did not hesitate to expose himself to every species of reproach for the maintenance of his Father’s glory, how base and shameful will it be for us to shrink from a similar lot.

Calvin: Psa 69:10

10.And I wept, my soul fasted David here proves, by the signs or effects, that his efforts to promote the Divine glory proceeded from a pure and well-regulated zeal, inasmuch as he was not impelled or inflamed by the impetuosity of the flesh, but rather humbly abased himself before God, choosing him to be the witness of his sorrow. By this he shows the more evidently the incorrigible perversity of his enemies. It frequently happens, that those who set themselves boldly for the vindication of the glory of God, provoke and exasperate the wicked to a higher pitch by opposing them contentiously and without moderation. But David’s zeal was so tempered that it ought to have softened even the hardness of steel. By this circumstance he, however, intended to show that he was oppressed with such violence by the frowardness of his enemies, that he dared not even open his mouth to speak a single word in defense of the cause of God, and no other means were left him of defending it but tears and mourning. He was deprived, as we know, of the liberty of giving utterance to the sentiments of his heart, or rather his words, as being those of a condemned person, would have been repelled with cruel reproaches. It was a proof of the greater constancy when in such circumstances he continued to burn with a zeal as unabated as ever, and persevered in the voluntary sorrow which he had engaged to exercise with the view of maintaining the honor and glory of God. He accordingly declares, that he wept and that his soul fasted, and that he was clothed with sackcloth; which were the tokens of mourning among the Jews. But his enemies turned all these things into mockery and jesting; ⁷⁷ from which it is manifest that they were carried away with the fury of demons. It is of importance for us to be fortified with such an example, that in the present day we may not be discouraged when we meet with the same perversity by which the enemies of the Gospel prove themselves to be rather devils than men. We must, however, beware of pouring oil upon the fire which is already burning too fiercely, and should rather imitate David and Lot, who, although they had not liberty to rebuke the wicked, were yet deeply grieved in their hearts. And even when the wicked are constrained to hear us, mildness and humility will be a powerful means, or rather will be the best seasoning, for tempering holy zeal. Those who conceive of David as intimating that he resigned himself to suffer punishment in the room or stead of his enemies, attempt to confirm their opinion from his having clothed himself in sackcloth. But I take it more simply as meaning, that when he saw things in such a state of confusion, he voluntarily engaged in this sorrowful exercise to testify that nothing was more grievous to him than to witness the sacred name of God exposed to contumely.

Calvin: Psa 69:12

12.They who sit in the gate defame me Had David been molested only by vulgar buffoons and the refuse of the people, it would have been more easily endured; for it is not surprising that mean persons, who have no regard to what is becoming and honorable, degrade themselves by indulging in defamation without shame. But when the very judges, forgetful of what is demanded by the dignity of their office, abandon themselves to the same audacious conduct, the iniquity and baseness of it is greatly aggravated. Accordingly, David expressly complains that he was made a by-word and a proverb by those in the highest ranks of life. The opinion of some who, by the expression, they who sit in the gate, understand the whole people, ⁷⁸ is both frigid and inconsistent with the words of the text; for although men of every rank and condition assembled at the gates, yet none but the judges and counsellors sat there. ⁷⁹ This is confirmed by the second clause of the verse; for by those who drink strong drink, ⁸⁰ is doubtless meant the rulers who were elevated by their wealth and dignity. It was, indeed, very cruel treatment, that this holy man was not only harassed by the lower classes of the people, but that the very persons who presided in the cause of justice, and the dignitaries of the Church, were in this ringleaders to others. As the same thing happens in our own day, it is not without cause that the Holy Spirit has set this example before our eyes. In the Papacy we find that the higher a man is exalted in honor, he is proportionally the more violent and outrageous in his opposition to the Gospel and its ministers, that he may exhibit himself a more valiant defender of the Catholic faith. Yea, this is a malady with which almost all kings and princes are smitten; which arises from their not regarding true dignity and excellence as consisting in virtue, and from their thinking that they are entitled to act without restraint as they please. And what is the estimation in which they hold the faithful servants of Christ? It is a fact which cannot be denied, that one of the principal things about which they are concerned is, to scoff at and defame them, not only at their tables, but also on their thrones, in order, if possible, to shame them into a renunciation of their faith. In general, also, they sneer at all the people of God, and enjoy themselves in descanting upon their simplicity, as if they were fools in wearying and wasting themselves in the service of God.

Calvin: Psa 69:13

13.But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Jehovah! It was a sign of uncommon virtue in David, that even this hard treatment could not shake his mind, and sink him into despondency. He informs us of the means by which he fortified himself against that terrible stumbling-block. When the wicked directed against him their witty and scoffing remarks, as if engines of war, to overthrow his faith, the means to which he had recourse for repelling all their assaults was pouring out his heart in prayer to God. He was constrained to keep silence before men, and, being thus driven out from the world, he betook himself to God. In like manner, although the faithful in the present day may be unable to make any impression upon the wicked, yet they will ultimately triumph, provided they retire from the world, and go directly to God to present their prayers before him. The meaning, in short, is, that David, having tried every means in his power, and finding that his labor was to no purpose, left off dealing with men, and dealt with God only. What follows, a time of thy favor, O God! is explained otherwise by many interpreters, who read the two clauses of the verse in one sentence, thus: But as for me, I prayed to God in a time of his favor; corresponding to that passage in Isa 55:6, “Call ye upon him while he is near.” Others resolve it thus: I prayed that the time of favor might come, and that God would begin to be merciful to me. But David is rather speaking of the consolation which he then received by reflecting with himself, that although it was now a time of trouble with him, and although his prayers seemed to be altogether unavailing, yet God’s favor would have its turn also. Thus the Prophet Habakkuk says,

“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will
watch to see what he will say unto me.” (Hab 2:1)

In like manner, Isaiah says,

“I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob;” (Isa 8:17)

and Jer 14:22,) “We will wait upon thee.” The only means by which, in our affliction, we can obtain the victory, is by our having hope shining in us in the midst of darkness, and by our having the sustaining influence which arises from waiting for the favor of God. After David has thus fortified himself for continued perseverance in the attitude of waiting, he immediately adds, Answer me in the multitude of thy goodness; and to goodness he joins the truth of salvation, ⁸¹ intimating that God’s mercy is proved by indubitable effect when he succours his servants who are reduced to the very depths of despair. What prompted him to present this prayer was, the full persuasion which he had, that the darkness in which he was now involved would in due time be dispelled, and that a serene and unclouded season of God’s favor would succeed; a persuasion which arose from his recalling all his thoughts to God, lest he should faint by reason of the harassing treatment which he met with from the wicked.

Calvin: Psa 69:14

14.Deliver me from the mire, that I may not sink The Psalmist repeats the same similitude which he had used before, but in a different manner. He had previously said that he was sunk in the mire, and now he prays that he may not sink in it. In short, he now prays that those things may not now befall him which he had formerly complained of as having befallen him. But it is very easy to reconcile this diversity of statement; for in the opening of the psalm he spake according to his actual feeling and experience; but now, looking to the issue, although living in the midst of death, he cherishes the hope of deliverance. This is expressed still more clearly in the last clause of the 15^th verse, where he prays, Let not the pit close its mouth upon me; which is as if he had said, Let not the great multitude and weight of my afflictions overwhelm me, and let not sorrow swallow me up.

Calvin: Psa 69:16

16.Answer me, O Jehovah! for thy mercy is good The appeal which he here makes to the mercy and compassion of God is an evidence of the distressed condition into which he was brought. There can be no doubt that he sustained a dreadful conflict, when he had recourse to these as the only means of his safety. It is a very difficult matter to believe that God is merciful to us when he is angry with us, and that he is near us when he has withdrawn himself from us. David, aware of this, brings to his view a subject which he may oppose to this distrust, and by pleading for the exercise of the mercy and great compassions of God towards him, shows, that the only consideration which inspired him with hope was the benignant and merciful character of God. When he says, a little after, Look upon me, it is a prayer that God would make it manifest in very deed that he had heard him by granting him succor. In the following verse he utters a similar prayer. And by repeating so often the same things, he declares both the bitterness of his grief and the ardor of his desires. When he beseeches God not to hide his face, it is not from any apprehension which he entertained of being rejected, but because those who are oppressed with calamities cannot avoid being agitated and distracted with mental disquietude. But as God, in a peculiar manner, invites his servants to him, David avows that he is one of their number. In thus speaking, as I have already shown, and will afterwards have occasion to state at greater length, he does not boast of services on account of which he could prefer any claim to a divine reward, but rather depends on the gratuitous election of God; although, at the same time, he is to be understood as adducing the service which he had faithfully yielded to God by whom he was called, as an evidence of his godliness.

Calvin: Psa 69:18

18.Draw near to my soul, redeem it David was doubtless fully persuaded by faith that God was near him; but as we are accustomed to measure the presence or absence of God by the effects, David here tacitly complains, judging according to the flesh, that he is far from him. By the expression, Draw near, he means, that in so far as could be gathered from his actual condition, God appeared to have no regard to his welfare. Again, by calling upon God to draw near to his life, which he seemed to have forsaken, he exhibits a striking proof of the strength of his faith. The more cruelly he is molested by the wicked and proud, the more does he trust that God will appear to deliver him. As has been elsewhere observed, it is always to be held as an undoubted truth, that since “God resisteth the proud” (Jas 4:6,) he must at length repress the insolence and pride of those who obstinately resist him, although he may seem to connive at them for a time.

Calvin: Psa 69:19

19.Thou knowest my reproach, and my confusion This is a confirmation of the preceding sentence. Whence is it that the greater part of men become dispirited when they see the wicked outrageously rushing upon them, and their wickedness, like a water-flood, carrying all before it, but because they think that heaven is so obscured and overcast with clouds as to prevent God from beholding what is done upon the earth? It becomes us, therefore, in this matter, to call to our remembrance the doctrine of a Divine Providence, that contemplating it we may be assured beyond all doubt, that God will appear for our succor in due season; for he cannot, on the one hand, shut his eyes to our miseries, and it is impossible for him, on the other, to allow the license which the wicked take in doing evil to pass with impunity, without denying himself. David, therefore, takes comfort from the consideration that God is the witness of his grief, fear, sorrows, and cares; nothing being hidden from the eye of Him who is the judge and governor of the world. Nor is it a vain repetition when he speaks so frequently of his reproach and shame. As he was subjected to such dreadful assaults of temptations as might have made the stoutest heart to tremble, it was indispensably necessary for his own defense to oppose to them a strong barrier for resistance. Nothing is more bitter to men of an ingenuous and noble spirit than reproach; but when this is repeated, or rather when shame and reproach are heaped upon us, how needful is it then for us to possess more than ordinary strength, that we may not thereby be overwhelmed? for when succor is delayed, our patience is very apt to give way, and despair very easily creeps in upon us. This shame and reproach may very properly be referred both to the outward appearance and to the actual feelings of the mind. It is well known that he was everywhere held in open derision; and the mockeries which he experienced could not but strike into him both shame and sorrow. For the same reason he subjoins that his enemies are before God, or known to him; as if he had said, Lord, thou knowest how, like a poor sheep, I am surrounded by thousands of wolves.

Calvin: Psa 69:20

20.Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am afflicted He expresses more distinctly not only that he was confounded, or ashamed at the sad aspect which he presented of having been deserted, but that he was well nigh overwhelmed with sorrow by lying so long under reproach and shame. Whence it is evident that he did not overcome this sorrow without a struggle; and that the reason why he so firmly withstood the waves of temptations was, not because they did not reach his heart, but because, being sorely smitten, he made resistance with a corresponding degree of intrepidity. He states, as an additional aggravation of his distress, that every office of humanity was withheld from him: that there was nobody who had compassion upon him, or to whom he could disburden his griefs. Some take the word נוד , nud, for to tell or recount; and undoubtedly when we pour out our complaints to our friends, it affords some alleviation to our distress. Thus he employs as an argument for obtaining mercy from God, the consideration that he was deprived of all aid and comfort from his fellow-men.

Calvin: Psa 69:21

21.And they put gall into my meat Here he again repeats that his enemies carry their cruelty towards him to the utmost extent in their power. He speaks metaphorically when he describes them as mingling gall or poison with his meat, ⁸⁵ and vinegar with his drink; even as it is said in Jeremiah,

“Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood,
and give them water of gall to drink.” (Jer 9:15)

But still the Apostle John justly declares that this Scripture was fulfilled when the soldiers gave Christ vinegar to drink upon the cross, (Joh 19:28;) for it was requisite that whatever cruelty the reprobate exercise towards the members of Christ, should by a visible sign be represented in Christ himself. We have stated on the same principle, in our remarks upon Psa 22:18, that when the soldiers parted the garments of Christ among them, that verse was appropriately quoted, “They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots;” although David’s object was to express by figurative language that he was robbed, and that all his goods were violently taken from him, and made a prey of by his enemies. The natural sense must, however, be retained; which is, that the holy prophet had no relief afforded him; and that he was in a condition similar to that of a man who, already too much afflicted, found, as an additional aggravation of his distress, that his meat was poisoned, and his drink rendered nauseous by the bitter ingredients with which it had been mingled.

Calvin: Psa 69:22

22.Let their table before them be for a snare Here we have a series of dire imprecations, with respect to which we must bear in mind, what we have elsewhere observed, that David did not allow himself recklessly to pour out his wrath, even as the greater part of men, when they feel themselves wronged, intemperately give way to their own passion; but, being under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he was kept from going beyond the bounds of duty, ⁸⁸ and simply called upon God to exercise just judgment against the reprobate. Farther, it was not on his own account that he pleaded in this manner; but it was a holy zeal for the divine glory which impelled him to summon the wicked to God’s judgment-seat. It was also owing to this: that he was not carried away by violence of passion, like those who are actuated by a desire of taking revenge. Since, then, the Spirit of wisdom, uprightness, and moderation, put these imprecations into the mouth of David, his example cannot justly be pleaded in self-vindication by those who pour forth their wrath and spite upon every one that comes in their way, or who are carried away by a foolish impatience to take revenge; never allowing themselves to reflect for a moment what good purpose this can serve, nor making any efforts to keep their passion within due bounds. We need wisdom by which to distinguish between those who are wholly reprobate and those of whose amendment there is still some hope; we have also need of uprightness, that none may devote himself exclusively to his own private interests; and of moderation too, to dispose our minds to calm endurance. It being evident, then, that David was distinguished by these three qualities, whoever would follow him aright, must not allow himself to break forth with reckless and blind impetuosity into the language of imprecation; he must, moreover, repress the turbulent passions of his mind, and, instead of confining his thoughts exclusively to his own private interests, should rather employ his desires and affections in seeking to advance the glory of God. In short, if we would be true imitators of David, we must first clothe ourselves with the character of Christ, that he may not administer to us at the present day the same rebuke which he gave to two of his disciples of old,

“Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of,”
(Luk 9:55.)

David had complained that his enemies mingled his meat with gall; and now he prays that their table may be turned into a snare for them, and that the things which are for peace may be turned into a net for them. These expressions are metaphorical, and they imply a desire that whatever things had been allotted to them in providence for the preservation of life, and for their welfare and convenience, might be turned by God into the occasion or instrument of their destruction. From this we gather that as things which naturally and of themselves are hurtful, become the means of furthering our welfare when we are in favor with God; so, when his anger is kindled against us, all those things which have a native tendency to produce our happiness are cursed, and become so many causes of our destruction. It is an instance of the Divine justice, which ought deeply to impress our minds with awe, when the Holy Spirit declares that all the means of preserving life are deadly to the reprobate, (Tit 1:15;) so that the very sun, which carries healing under his wings, (Mal 4:2,) breathes only a deadly exhalation for them.

Calvin: Psa 69:23

23.Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see The Psalmist here refers chiefly to two powers of the body, those of the eyes and of the loins; and I have no hesitation in considering his language as a prayer that God would deprive his enemies of reason and understanding, and at the same time enfeeble their strength, that they might be altogether unfitted for exerting themselves in any way. We know how indispensable it is, in order to the doing of any thing aright, that counsel go before to give light, and that there should also be added the power of putting what is purposed into execution. The curse here expressed impends over the heads of all the enemies of the Church; and, therefore, we have no reason to be terrified at the malice or fury of the wicked. God, whenever he pleases, can strike them suddenly with blindness, that they may see nothing, and by breaking their loins, ⁸⁹ lay them prostrate in shame and confusion.

Defender: Psa 69:4

This was fulfilled most specifically in Jesus Christ as He asserted in Joh 15:25 (compare Psa 35:19). It continues to be fulfilled today as multitudes hate Him and would destroy His followers."

Defender: Psa 69:8

This is a prophecy often fulfilled in the lives of those who yield their hearts unreservedly to Christ, but specifically fulfilled in the unbelief of Christ's own human siblings (Joh 7:3-5). Also note the Psalm speaks of "my mother's children," since Christ had no human father."

Defender: Psa 69:9

Cited in Joh 2:17 in reference to Christ's purging of the temple, this act certainly incurred the wrath of the religious leaders who were desecrating the temple with their covetousness.

Defender: Psa 69:9

This verse is quoted and applied to Christ by Paul in Rom 15:3."

Defender: Psa 69:21

This was fulfilled when Christ spoke on the cross of His thirst, being careful to fulfill everything that the prophets had written (Joh 19:28-30). The entire 69th psalm depicts His grief and humiliation."

Defender: Psa 69:22

Psa 69:22 and Psa 69:23 are cited by Paul in Rom 11:9, Rom 11:10 as having been fulfilled in Israel when that nation rejected Christ."

TSK: Psa 69:1

A Psalm : It is uncertain when this Psalm was composed; though it is probable that it was written by David during the rebellion of Absalom. It is an exceedingly fine composition; it evidently refers to the advent, passion, and resurrection of our Lord, to the vocation of the Gentiles, and the reprobation of Jews. See the marginal references.

the waters : Psa 69:2, Psa 69:14, Psa 69:15, Psa 18:4, Psa 42:7; Isa 28:17, Isa 43:2; Lam 3:54; Jon 2:3-5; Rev 12:15, Rev 12:16, Rev 17:15

TSK: Psa 69:2

I sink : Psa 40:2; Jer 38:6, Jer 38:22

deep mire : Heb. the mire of depth

deep waters : Heb. depth of waters, Psa 88:6, Psa 88:7; Eze 27:26-34

the floods : Psa 32:6; Gen 7:17-23; Mat 7:25, Mat 26:37, Mat 26:38

TSK: Psa 69:3

I am : Psa 6:6, Psa 13:1-3, Psa 22:2; Heb 5:7

my throat : Psa 69:21, Psa 22:15; Joh 19:28

mine : Psa 119:82, Psa 119:123; Deu 28:32; Job 11:20, Job 16:16; Isa 38:14; Lam 2:11

I wait : Psa 25:21, Psa 39:7

TSK: Psa 69:4

hate : Joh 15:25; 1Pe 2:22

more than : Psa 40:12

being : Psa 7:3-5, Psa 35:12, Psa 35:19, Psa 38:19, Psa 38:20, Psa 109:3-5

then I : Isa 53:4-7; 2Co 5:21; 1Pe 2:24, 1Pe 3:18

TSK: Psa 69:5

and my sins : Heb. and my guiltiness, Psa 17:3, Psa 19:12, Psa 44:20, Psa 44:21

hid : Psa 38:9; Jer 16:17

TSK: Psa 69:6

Let not : Psa 7:7, Psa 25:3, Psa 35:26; Isa 49:23; Luk 24:19-21; Act 4:7

O God of Israel : Psa 72:18; 2Sa 23:3; Act 13:17, Act 13:23

TSK: Psa 69:7

Because : Psa 22:6-8, Psa 44:22; Jer 15:15; Joh 15:21-24

shame : Isa 50:6, Isa 53:3; Mat 26:67, Mat 26:68, Mat 27:29, Mat 27:30, Mat 27:38-44; Luk 23:11, Luk 23:35-37; Heb 12:2

TSK: Psa 69:8

become : Psa 31:11; Job 19:13-19; Mat 26:48-50, Mat 26:56, Mat 26:70-74; Joh 1:11, Joh 7:5

and an alien : 1Sa 17:28; Mic 7:5, Mic 7:6; Mat 10:21, Mat 10:22, Mat 10:35, Mat 10:36

TSK: Psa 69:9

zeal : Psa 119:139; 1Ki 19:10; 1Ch 15:27-29, 1Ch 29:3; Mar 11:15-17; Joh 2:14-17

and the : Psa 89:50, Psa 89:51; Rom 15:3

TSK: Psa 69:10

Psa 102:8, Psa 102:9, Psa 109:24, Psa 109:25; Luk 7:33, Luk 7:34

TSK: Psa 69:11

I made : Psa 35:13, Psa 35:14; Isa 20:2, Isa 22:12; Joe 1:8, Joe 1:13

I became : Psa 44:13, Psa 44:14; Deu 28:37; 1Ki 9:7; Jer 24:9

TSK: Psa 69:12

They : Deu 16:18; Mat 27:12, Mat 27:13, Mat 27:20, Mat 27:41, Mat 27:42, Mat 27:62, Mat 27:63; Luk 23:2; Act 4:26, Act 4:27

I was : Psa 35:15, Psa 35:16; Job 30:8, Job 30:9; Mar 15:17-19

drunkards : Heb. drinkers of strong drink, Dan 5:2-4, Dan 5:23

TSK: Psa 69:13

my prayer : Psa 55:16, Psa 55:17, Psa 91:15; Mat 26:36-46; Luk 22:44; John 17:1-26; Heb 5:7; 1Pe 2:23

in an : 1Sa 25:8; Est 5:2, Est 5:6, Est 7:2; Isa 49:8, Isa 55:6; 2Co 6:2

in the : Psa 40:10, Psa 40:11, Psa 98:3; Gen 24:27; Mic 7:20; Luk 1:72; Act 13:32, Act 13:33; Rom 15:8, Rom 15:9

TSK: Psa 69:14

Deliver : Psa 40:1-3; Jer 38:6-13; Lam 3:55

let me : Psa 25:18, Psa 25:19, Psa 35:19, Psa 109:3, Psa 109:21; Luk 19:14, Luk 19:27; Act 5:30, Act 5:31

out of : Psa 69:1, Psa 69:2, Psa 69:15, Psa 42:7, Psa 124:4, Psa 124:5, Psa 144:7; Mar 14:34-42, Mar 15:34

TSK: Psa 69:15

waterflood : Isa 43:1, Isa 43:2; Jon 2:2-7; Mat 12:40; Rev 12:15, Rev 12:16

pit : Psa 16:10, Psa 88:4-6; Num 16:33, Num 16:34; Act 2:24, Act 2:31

TSK: Psa 69:16

for thy : Psa 36:7, Psa 63:3, Psa 109:21

turn : Psa 25:16, Psa 26:11, Psa 86:15, Psa 86:16; Mic 7:19

according : Psa 69:13, Psa 51:1; Isa 63:7

TSK: Psa 69:17

hide : Psa 13:1, Psa 22:24, Psa 27:9, Psa 44:24, Psa 102:2, Psa 143:9; Mat 27:46

for I am : Mat 26:38

hear me speedily : Heb. make haste to hear me, Psa 40:13, Psa 70:1; Job 7:21

TSK: Psa 69:18

Draw : Psa 10:1, Psa 22:1, Psa 22:19; Jer 14:8

redeem : Psa 31:5, Psa 111:9; Job 6:23

because : Deu 32:27; Jos 7:9

TSK: Psa 69:19

my reproach : Psa 69:7-9, Psa 22:6, Psa 22:7; Isa 53:3; Heb 12:2; 1Pe 2:23

dishonour : Joh 8:49

mine : Psa 2:2-4, Psa 38:9

TSK: Psa 69:20

Reproach : Psa 42:10, Psa 123:4; Heb 11:36

I am : Psa 42:6; Mat 26:37, Mat 26:38; Joh 12:27

I looked : Isa 63:5; Mar 14:37, Mar 14:50

take pity : Heb. to lament with me

but there : Psa 142:4; Joh 16:32; 2Ti 4:16, 2Ti 4:17

comforters : Job 16:2, Job 19:21, Job 19:22; Mat 26:56

TSK: Psa 69:21

gall for my meat : Bochart, from a comparison of this passage with Joh 19:29, thinks that rosh is the same herb as the evangelist calls υσσωπος , hyssop; a species of which, growing in Judea, he proves from Isaac ben Orman, an Arabian writer, to be so bitter as not to be eatable. Theophylact expressly tells us, that the hyssop was added ως δηλητεριωδος , as being deleterious, or poisonous, and Nonnus, in his paraphrase, says, Ωρεγεν υσσωπωκεκερασμενον οξος ολεθρου ""One gave the deadly acid mixed with hyssop.""Jer 8:14, Jer 9:15, Jer 23:15; Mat 27:34, Mat 27:48

vinegar : Mar 15:23, Mar 15:36; Luk 23:36; Joh 19:29, Joh 19:30

TSK: Psa 69:22

Let their table : etc. Or, rather, ""Their table shall become a snare; their eyes shall be darkened,""etc., in the future tense. Pro 1:32; Mal 2:2; Rom 11:8-10

a trap : Isa 8:14, Isa 8:15; 1Pe 2:8

TSK: Psa 69:23

Their eyes : Isa 6:9, Isa 6:10, Isa 29:9, Isa 29:10; Mat 13:14, Mat 13:15; Joh 12:39, Joh 12:40; Act 28:26, Act 28:27; Rom 11:25; 2Co 3:14

make their : Deu 28:65-67; Isa 21:3, Isa 21:4; Jer 30:6; Dan 5:6; Rom 11:10

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Psa 69:1

Save me, O God - That is, Interpose and deliver me from the dangers which have come upon me.

For the waters are come in unto my soul - So as to endanger my life. Waters, deep, raging, overwhelming, are images of calamity or danger. See the notes at Psa 32:6. Compare Psa 42:7.

Barnes: Psa 69:2

I sink in deep mire - Margin, as in Hebrew, "the mire of the depth."This would denote either mire which was itself so deep that one could not extricate himself from it; or, mire found in a deep place, as at the bottom of a pit. Compare the notes at Psa 40:2. An illustration of this might be drawn from the case of Joseph, cast by his brethren into a deep pit Gen 37:24; or from the case of Jeremiah, thrown into a deep dungeon: "And they let down Jeremiah with cords; and in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire,"Jer 38:6.

Where there is no standing - No solid ground; nothing for the foot to rest on. "I am come into deep waters."Margin, as in Hebrew, "depth of waters."That is, waters where he could not touch the bottom - an image of some peril that threatened his life.

Where the floods overflow me - The waters. They break over my head. My life is "in danger."

Barnes: Psa 69:3

I am weary of my crying - The word "crying"here does not mean weeping, or shedding tears, but calling upon God for help. He had grown weary; his strength had been exhausted in the act of calling upon God to assist him. See the notes at Psa 6:6. This was an instance where one had called so long on God, and prayed so much and so earnestly, that his strength was gone. Compare Mat 26:41.

My throat is dried - Or, "is parched up."The Hebrew word denotes to burn; to be enkindled; and then, to be inflamed. Here it means that by the excessive exertion of his voice, his throat had become parched, so that he could not speak.

Mine eyes fail - That is, become dim from exhaustion. I have looked so long in that one direction that the power of vision begins to fail, and I see nothing clearly. See the notes at Psa 6:7. Compare Job 17:7; Psa 31:9; Psa 38:10.

While I wait for my God - That is, by continued "looking"to God. The word "wait"is not used here, nor is it generally in the Bible, as it is now with us, in the sense of looking for "future"interposition, or of doing nothing ourselves in expectation of what "may"occur; but it is used in the sense of looking to God alone; of exercising dependence on him; of seeking his aid. This is indeed connnected with the ordinary idea of abiding his will, but it is also an "active"state of mind - a state expressive of intense interest and desire. See the notes at Psa 62:5.

Barnes: Psa 69:4

They that hate me without a cause - Without any just reason; without any provocation on my part. There were many such in the case of David, for to those who rose up against him in the time of Saul, and to Absalom also, he had given no real occasion of offence. An expression similar to the one used here occurs in Psa 35:19. See the notes at that passage. The "language"is applied to the Saviour Joh 15:25, not as having had original reference to him, but as language which received its most perfect fulfillment in the treatment which he received from his enemies. See the notes at Joh 15:25.

Are more than the hairs of mine head - The number is so great that it cannot be estimated.

They that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty - literally, "More than the hairs of my head are my haters falsely (those who hate me falsely); strong are those destroying me; my enemies."The idea is, that those who were numbered among his foes without any just provocation on his part were so numerous and strong that he could not contend with them.

Then I restored that which I took not away - Prof. Alexander renders this, "What I did not rob, then must I restore."This seems to have a proverbial cast, and the idea is, that under this pressure of circumstances - borne down by numbers - he was compelled to give up what he had not taken away from others. They regarded and treated him as a bad man - as if he had been a robber; and they compelled him to give up what he possessed, "as if"he had no right to it, or "as if"he had obtained it by robbery. This does not seem to refer to anything that was "voluntary"on his part - as if, for the sake of peace, he had proposed to give up that to which they had no claim, or to surrender his just rights, but to the act of compulsion by which he was "forced"to surrender what he had, "as if"he had been a public offender. How far it is proper to yield to an unjust claim for the sake of peace, or to act "as if"we had done wrong, rather than to have controversy or strife, is a point which, if this interpretation is correct, is not settled by this passage. It seems here to have been merely a question of "power."

Barnes: Psa 69:5

O God, thou knowest my foolishness - The errors and follies of my life. Though conscious of innocence in this case - though he felt that his enemies hated him "without cause,"and that they took what belonged to him and not to them, yet he was not insensible to the fact that he was a sinner, and he was not unwilling to confess before God, that, however conscious of uprightness he might be in his dealings toward people, yet toward God, he was a sinful man. From him he deserved all that had come upon him. Indeed the very calamities which had been permitted to come upon him were proof to his own mind that he was a sinner, and served, as they were doubtless designed, to turn his mind to that fact, and to humble him. The effect of calamities coming upon us, as reminding us of the fact that we are sinners, is often referred to in the Psalms. See Psa 38:2-4; Psa 40:12.

And my sins are not hid from thee - Margin, "guiltiness."The word used here has always attached to it the idea of "guilt."The meaning is, that God knew all his life; and that however unjust the conduct of "men"toward him might be when they treated him as if he had wronged them, yet considered as a part of the dealings of God, or as having been suffered to come upon him from God, all that had occurred was right, for it was a proper expression of the divine displeasure against his sins. We may feel that we have not wronged our fellow-men; yet even the treatment which we receive from them, however unjust so far as they are concerned, may be regarded as deserved by us at the hand of God, and as proper on his part as an expression of his displeasure for our transgressions against him, and as a proof that we are sinners. Trial never comes to us from any quarter except as founded on the fact that we are sinners; and even where there is entire innocence toward our fellow-men, God may make use of their passions to rebuke and discipline us for our sins toward himself.

Barnes: Psa 69:6

Let not them that wait on thee - Those who worship thee; those who are thy true friends. True piety is often, in the Scriptures, represented as waiting on the Lord. See Psa 25:3, Psa 25:5; Psa 37:9; Isa 40:31.

Be ashamed for my sake - On account of me; or, in consequence of what I do. Let me not be suffered to do anything that would make them ashamed of me, or ashamed to have it known that I belong to their number. I know that I am a sinner; I know that judgments come justly on me; I know that if left to myself I shall fall into sin, and shall dishonor religion; and I pray, therefore, that I may be kept from acting out the depravity of my heart, and bringing dishonor on the cause that I profess to love. No one who knows the evil of his own heart can fail to see the propriety of this prayer; no one who remembers how often people high in the church, and zealous in their professed piety, fall into sin, and disgrace their profession, can help feeling that what has happened to others "may"happen to him also, and that he has need of special prayer, and special grace, that he may go down into the grave at last without having brought dishonor upon religion.

Let not those that seek thee - Another phrase to denote people of true piety - as those who are "seeking"after God; that is, who are desirous of understanding his character, and obtaining his favor.

Be confounded for my sake - Let them not feel "disgraced"in me; let them not feel it a dishonor to have it said that I am one of their number, or that I profess to be united to them.

Barnes: Psa 69:7

Because for thy sake I have borne reproach - In thy cause; in defense of thy truth; because I have professed to be a friend of God. The true reason why these calamities have come upon me is that I have been thy professed friend, and have endeavored to do my duty to thee. The reproach connected with religion in a world of sin, or where true religion is hated, has fallen on me.

Shame hath covered my face - The idea here is not that he had himself been ashamed of religion or of the service of God, but that he had suffered shame, derision, reproach among people for his professed attachment to the truth. Compare Psa 44:15-16.

Barnes: Psa 69:8

I am become a stranger unto my brethren - That is, They treat me as they would a stranger; as one in whom they have no interest, and whom they regard with no friendship. Compare the notes at Psa 31:11.

And an alien unto my mother’ s children - A foreigner; one of another tribe or nation; one to whom they were bound by no tie of relationship. The allusion in the language "unto my mother’ s children"is intended to denote the most intimate relationship. In families where a man had many wives, as was common among the Hebrews, the nearest relationship would be denoted by being of the same "mother"rather than of the same "father."See the notes at Psa 50:20. The same thing occurs also where polygamy is not practiced, in cases where a man has married more wives than one. The idea of the psalmist here, therefore, is, that his nearest relatives treated him as if he were a stranger and a foreigner. Compare Job 19:13-19.

Barnes: Psa 69:9

For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up - My zeal - my ardor - in the cause of religion (that is, of thy pure worship) has been so great as to consume me. It has been like a devouring fire within me. Zeal is represented under the idea of heat - as it is in the Greek language; and the characteristics of heat or fire are here applied to it. This passage is quoted in Joh 2:17, and applied to the Saviour, not as having had originally a reference to him, but as language which would accurately describe his character. See the notes at that passage.

And the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me - This, too, is applied, in the same way, to the Saviour, by the Apostle Paul, in Rom 15:3. See the notes at that passage.

Barnes: Psa 69:10

When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting - The words "and chastened"are not in the original. The literal translation would be, "And I wept (away) my soul with fasting;"that is, I gave myself so much to fasting accompanied with weeping, that my strength was exhausted. This refers to his acts of devotion; to his endeavors to discipline his soul so as to lead a strictly religious life.

That was to my reproach - This may either mean that they accused him of hypocrisy and insincerity; or, that they charged him with folly for being so religious, so strict, so self-sacrificing, so serious - perhaps they would say, so superstitious, so gloomy, so fanatical. The latter best accords with the connection, since it was for his "religion"mainly that they reproached him, Psa 69:7-9.

Barnes: Psa 69:11

I made sackcloth also my garment - I put on sackcloth. This was often done as expressive of grief and sorrow. See Psa 30:11, note; Psa 35:13, note. Compare Isa 22:12; Dan 9:3. In the case here referred to, this was an act of religion; an expression of penitence and humiliation.

And I became a proverb to them - A jest; a subject of derision; a by-word. They ridiculed me for it. Compare 1Ki 9:7.

Barnes: Psa 69:12

They that sit in the gate speak against me - The gates of cities were places of concourse; places where business was transacted; places where courts were frequently held. See the notes at Job 29:7. Compare Isa 14:31; Isa 28:6; Psa 9:14. Calvin supposes that as the gates were the places where the judges sat to administer justice, the meaning here is that magistrates, or those who were high in rank and power, joined in the cry of reproach against him. The more probable interpretation, however, is, that he was subject to the reproach of those who were gathered around these places - the people of business, and the idlers who were assembled there; or, as we should say, that he was the subject of "towntalk."

And I was the song of the drunkards - Margin, as in the Hebrew, "drinkers of strong drink."They made ballads or low songs about me. They selected me for an example in their drunken songs. David was not alone in this. It has not been uncommon that the songs of revellers and drunkards have been designed to turn piety and the pious into derision. Compare, alas! some of the songs of Burns. See Job 30:9, note; Psa 35:15-16, notes.

Barnes: Psa 69:13

But as for me - In respect to my conduct and my feelings in these circumstances, and under this treatment.

My prayer is unto thee - I indulge in no reproaches of others, and no recriminations. I do not permit myself to indulge in any revengeful feelings. I give myself to prayer. I look to God alone. I keep up my devotions, I maintain my habits of religion, notwithstanding their reproaches, and revilings. I do not allow these things to alter my course of life. Compare the notes at Dan 6:10.

In an acceptable time - A time that is well-pleasing to thee; a time when thou wilt hear me. See Isa. 49:83; Isa 61:2; 2Co 6:2. This implies

(a) that he had come to God when he was "disposed"to hear; and

(b) that he had heard him, and had answered his requests.

While others mocked, he continued to pray, and the Lord heard him. No time for prayer can be more "acceptable"to God than when others are reproaching us because we are his friends.

In the multitude of thy mercy hear me - In the abundance of thy mercy; or, in thy abounding compassion. This was the substance of his prayer.

In the truth of thy salvation - In the exercise of that faithfulness on which salvation depends; or which is manifested in the salvation of people. He prayed that God would show himself faithful to the promises which he had made to those who were seeking salvation.

Barnes: Psa 69:14

Deliver me out of the mire - Out of my troubles and calamities. See Psa 69:1-2.

And let me not sink - As in, mire. Let me not be overwhelmed by my sorrows.

Let me be delivered from them that hate me - All my enemies. Let me be saved from their machinations and devices.

And out of the deep waters - See Psa 69:1-2. From my troubles.

Barnes: Psa 69:15

Let not the waterflood overflow me - The stream; the volume of waters. The idea is that of a flood or stream rolling along, that threatened to drown him.

Neither let the deep swallow me up - The abyss; the deep waters.

And let not the pit shut her mouth upon me - In his anguish and distress he passes here from the idea of running streams, and deep waters, to that of a well, pit, or cavern - representing himself as "in"that pit, and praying that it might not be closed upon him, leaving him in darkness and in mire, from which he could not then escape. The general idea in all these expressions is the same - that of overwhelming calamities from which he prayed to be delivered.

Barnes: Psa 69:16

Hear me, O L RD, for thy lovingkindness is good - Thy mercy - thy favor - is good; that is, it is ample, abundant, great: it delights in deeds of mercy; in acts of benevolence. This was the only ground of his plea; and this was enough. Compare Psa 63:3.

Turn unto me - Incline thine ear unto me; turn not away, but be favorable to me.

According to the multitude of thy tender mercies - See the notes at Psa 51:1. He felt that he had occasion for the exercise of "all"the mercy of God; that the case was one which could be reached only by the exercise of the highest kindness and compassion.

Barnes: Psa 69:17

And hide not thy face from thy servant - See the notes at Psa 27:9.

For I am in trouble - In the midst of dangers and sorrows. Literally, "there is trouble upon me."

Hear me speedily - Margin, as in Hebrew, "Make haste to hear me."That is, Grant me without delay what I ask. The case is one of urgent necessity. I "must"have relief or I shall perish. It is not wrong to ask God to interpose at once in our behalf when we are in trouble, though it is our duty to be patient and resigned if his interposition is delayed, for he may have important ends to accomplish by our continuing to suffer. In our distress on account of sin also, it is right to plead with him to interpose "at once,"and to relieve us by forgiveness. In this respect we are not to be contented with delay; we are to cast ourselves upon his mercy, and to plead for immediate pardon, for as it is our only safety, so it is for the honor of God that we should be forgiven, and that we should not continue in a state of guilt. An afflicted child of God will be safe in the final issue, whether he is relieved at once, or whether he is suddenly cut off by death, or whether he continues to suffer for even many years; but an unpardoned sinner is "not"safe for a moment, and if he should be cut off, unforgiven, even when under the deepest conviction for sin, he would perish. Every consideration, therefore, makes it proper that he should plead for forgiveness at once, and ask that God would not "delay"to show him mercy.

Barnes: Psa 69:18

Draw nigh unto my soul - To me - for my life is in danger.

And redeem it - Ransom it; save it from ruin. See the notes at Isa 43:3; notes at Isa 44:22.

Deliver me, because of mine enemies - Because they are so numerous, so powerful, and so determined on my destruction. Compare Psa 13:4.

Barnes: Psa 69:19

Thou hast known my reproach - The reproach that has come upon me; the shame and contempt which I am called to endure. God had seen all this; and the psalmist appeals to him as having seen it, as a reason why he should now interpose and save him.

And my shame, and my dishonor - These are different words to express the same idea. They are accumulated here to denote the "greatness"of his distress. In other words, shame and reproach bad come upon him in every possible form.

Mine adversaries are all before thee - All who persecute and oppose me are constantly in thine eye. Thou knowest who they are; thou seest all that they do. Nothing in their conduct is concealed from thee. God, therefore, could take an accurate view of his troubles, and could see all the reasons which existed for interfering in his behalf.

Barnes: Psa 69:20

Reproach hath broken my heart - The reproaches, the calumnies, the aspersions, the slanders of others, have crushed me. I am not able to bear up under them; I fail under the burden. Distress may become so great that life may sink under it, for many die of what is called "a broken heart."Undeserved reproaches will be as likely to produce this result on a sensitive heart as any form of suffering; and there are thousands who are crushed to the earth by such reproaches.

And I am full of heaviness - Or, I am sick; I am weak; I am ill at ease. My strength is gone.

And I looked for some to take pity - Margin, "to lament with me."The meaning of the Hebrew word is to pity; to commiserate; to show compassion. Job 2:11; Job 42:11; Isa 51:19; Jer 16:5.

But there was none - There was no one whose heart seemed to be touched with compassion in the case; none who sympathized with me.

And for comforters - For those who would show sympathy for me; who would evince a friendly feeling in my distress.

But I found none - He felt that he was utterly forsaken by mankind. There is no feeling of desolation like that.

Barnes: Psa 69:21

They gave me also - My enemies; all persons around me. No one would show me even so much kindness as to give me food when I was hungry, or drink when I was thirsty. They utterly forsook me; they left me to die unpitied. Nay, they did more than this. When I was perishing with hunger, they not only refused to give me wholesome food, but they mocked my sufferings by giving me a bitter and poisonous herb for food, and vinegar for my drink.

Gall for my meat - For my food. Or, they gave me this "instead"of wholesome food. The word here rendered "gall"- ראשׁ rô'sh - is the same "in form"which is commonly rendered "head,"and occurs in this sense very often in the Scriptures. It is also used to denote a "poisonous plant,"perhaps from the idea that the plant referred to was distinguished for, or remarkable for its "head"- as the poppy; and "then"the name may have been given also to some other similar plants. The word then comes to denote poison; venom; anything poisonous; and then, anything very bad-tasted; "bitter."It is rendered "gall,"as here, in Deu 29:18; Jer 8:14; Jer 9:15; Jer 23:15; Lam 3:5, Lam 3:19; Amo 6:12; "venom"in Deu 32:33; "poison,"in Job 20:16; and "hemlock,"in Hos 10:4. In Deu 29:18, it is rendered, in the margin, "rosh,"or "a poisonful herb."It does not occur elsewhere with any such signification. It may not be possible to determine precisely what is denoted here by the word, but it undoubtedly refers to some poisonous, bitter, deadly, stupefying substance given to a sufferer, "instead"of that which would be wholesome food, or suited to sustain life.

And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink - Instead of giving me pure water, they gave me sour wine - vinegar - that which would not slake my thirst, or which would not answer the purpose of drink. The form of trial here referred to is that where one is dying of thirst, and where, instead of giving water to assuage the thirst, one should give, in mockery, that which could not be drunk, or which would answer none of the purposes required. The word translated "vinegar"- חמץ chômets - is rendered in the ancient versions "sour grapes,"but the proper signification here seems to be vinegar - the usual meaning of the word. What is here stated to have been done to David was also done to the dying Saviour, though without any intimation that the passage here had an original reference to him - or that what was done to him was intended to be a fulfillment of what is here said. See Mat 27:34, Mat 27:48; Mar 15:23; Joh 19:29. In the case of the Saviour, they first gave him vinegar mingled with myrrh - a usual custom in reference to those who were crucified - for the purpose of deadening the pain, or stupefying the sufferer. Mat 27:34. At a subsequent part of the crucifixion they gave him vinegar, extended to him in a sponge affixed to a reed. Mat 27:48; Joh 19:29. This was for a different purpose. It was to allay his thirst, and it seems (as the former may have been) to have been an act of kindness or compassion on the part of those who were appointed to crucify him. The former he refused to take, because he came to suffer; the latter he just tasted as he died. Joh 19:30. The "coincidence"in the cases of David and the Saviour was remarkable; but in the case of the Saviour no further use is made of what occurred to David than to employ the "language"which he employed to describe his own sufferings. The one was not, in any proper sense, a "type"of the other; nor does the language in the psalm refer to the Saviour.

Barnes: Psa 69:22-23

Let their table become a snare before them - These verses are quoted by Paul Rom 11:9-10 as descriptive of the character of persons in his time, or as "language"which would express what he desired to say. See the passage explained at length in the notes at Rom 11:9-10. The whole passage is a prayer that they might receive a proper recompense for what they had done. The word "table"here means the table at which they were accustomed to eat. As they refused food to a hungry man, the prayer is, that they might find the recompense for their conduct "in that very line;"or that, as they refused food to the hungry, they might find "their"food a "snare"to them. That is, Let it be the means of punishing them for their not giving wholesome food to the hungry, or for their offering poisonous herbs to a starving man. The word "snare"here means unexpected danger; danger sprung suddenly upon them - as a snare is upon a wild beast.

And that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap - Much of this is supplied by the translators. The literal rendering would be, "And to those at peace (or secure) a trap."The word here rendered "welfare"is the plural form of the word meaning "peace,"and may denote those who feel that they are at peace; that they are secure; that they are in no danger. The ancient versions give it the sense of "requitals,"that is, a recompence for their transgressions; but the other signification best accords with the connection. The word "trap"is usually applied to the devices for capturing wild beasts, and the meaning is, "Let the recompence come suddenly upon them, while they think themselves at peace, or when they are surrounded by all the comforts and luxuries of life."This prayer is such as occurs frequently in the Psalms. It cannot be "proved"that it was uttered in a malignant spirit, or that anything more is intended by it than that the psalmist desired that justice might be done to all people - an object which all magistrates, and all good citizens, should pray for.

Psa 69:23

Let their eyes be darkened ... - See the notes at Rom 11:10.

And make their loins continually to shake - As under a heavy burden. The apostle Rom 11:10 varies the language, but retains the idea: "and bow down their back alway."

Poole: Psa 69:2

In deep mire Heb. in the mire of the deep waters . I am not in the shallows, or nigh the bank, but in the middle and deepest parts, and in the very mire, which is at the bottom of the waters.

No standing no firm and sure footing, but I sink in deeper and deeper, and, without thy speedy and almighty help, shall be overwhelmed and destroyed.

Poole: Psa 69:3

I am weary of my crying I have prayed and cried to God long and fervently, and yet God seems to neglect and forsake me.

My throat is dried with loud and frequent cries.

Mine eyes fail with looking to God for that assistance which he hath promised, and I confidently expected, but in vain.

Poole: Psa 69:4

Without a cause without any injury or occasion given them by me.

Restored that which I took not away either because they unjustly and violently forced me to it, or because I was willing to do it to my own wrong for peace sake. By this one kind of wrong he understands all those injuries and violences which they practised against him.

Poole: Psa 69:5

This is added, either,

1. As a proof of his innocency, which he had now asserted by way of appeal to God. Do thou, O Lord, judge between me and them, whether I be guilty of those rallies and sins which they lay to my charge. And such appeals indeed David useth, Psa 7:3,4 , and elsewhere; but then they are delivered in form of a supposition, and not a positive assertion, as this is. Or rather,

2. As an exception to what he last said. But, O Lord, although I have been innocent to mine enemies, and have given them no cause to hate or persecute me, as they do; yet I must confess I am guilty of many sins and follies against thee, and have given thee just cause to punish me, and to give me up into their hands, and to deny or delay thine help unto me. By foolishness he means sin, as he explains it, which is commonly so called in Scripture; or by his

foolishness he means lesser sins, committed through ignorance or inconsiderateness, and by sins those of a grosser nature.

Poole: Psa 69:6

Them that wait on thee i.e. thy godly people, who rely upon thy promises which thou hast made to all thine in general, and to me in a special manner, wherein they also are concerned.

Ashamed i.e. frustrated of their just hopes; which will make them ashamed, either to look upon God, or to look upon their enemies, when they shall reproach them for their confidence in God.

For my sake either,

1. For the sake of my sins last mentioned; let not all good men suffer for my sins. Or,

2. Because of my sad disappointments. For if they see me rejected and forsaken of God, whom they have esteemed a great example of faith, and prayer, and all virtue and piety, they will be exceedingly discouraged by this example; which will tend much to thy dishonour and disservice.

Poole: Psa 69:7

For thy sake for my trust in thy promise, and obedience to thy commands, and zeal for thy glory, and against all wickedness; all which they turn into matter of derision and reproach.

My face in which man’ s majesty and glory is most evident, which I am in a manner ashamed to show amongst men.

Poole: Psa 69:8

My nearest kinsmen estranged themselves from me; partly out of fear, test they should be involved in my sufferings; and chiefly out of dislike of his piety and excessive zeal in religion, as it here follows.

Poole: Psa 69:9

For: this is the reason of that alienation of my brethren and others from me, because there is a vast difference and contrariety in our tempers. They mind not the concerns of God and of religion, but are wholly intent upon wealth, and honour, and worldly greatness.

The zeal of thine house that fervent passion which I have for thy house, and service, and glory, and people.

Eaten me up exhausted and wasted my natural moisture and vital spirits, which is oft effected by grief and anger, and fervent love and desire; of which passions zeal is composed.

That reproached thee: that speak contemptuously or wickedly of thy name, or providence, or truth, or worship and service. Fallen upon me; either,

1. By imputation. They reflect upon me, because I am engaged in the defence of thy cause and glory, which wicked men oppose and despise, and therefore must needs suffer in it, and with it. Or,

2. By choice and affection. I have been as deeply affected with thy reproaches as with mine own. This whole verse, though truly belonging to David, yet was also directed by him, at least by the Spirit of God in him, to a higher use, to represent the disposition and condition of Christ, in whom this was more truly and fully accomplished than in David; to whom therefore it is applied in the New Testament, the first part of it, Joh 2:17 , and the latter, Rom 15:3 .

Poole: Psa 69:10

Wept for their impiety and reproaches which they cast upon God and godliness.

Chastened which word is here understood out of Psa 35:13 ; as it is also in 2Ch 10:11,14 , out of 1Ki 12:11 , where it is expressed.

My soul either my body, or myself; the soul being oft used both ways. That was to my reproach; they derided me for my piety and devotion, and for my faith in God’ s promises, and hopes of assistance from him.

Poole: Psa 69:11

My garment wearing it next to my skin, in token of my humiliation and hearty sorrow, as the manner then was in days of fasting.

A proverb to them they used my name proverbially of any person whom they thought vainly and foolishly religious.

Poole: Psa 69:12

They that sit in the gate either,

1. Vain and idle persons, that spend their time in the gates and markets, in which there used to be a confluence of people. Or rather,

2. The judges and magistrates, who used to sit (which was their posture, Exo 18:14 Pro 20:8 , &c.) in the gates of cities, the usual places of judicature; for David oft complains of his hard usage from these men, as Psa 58:1,2 119:23 , and elsewhere; which was the more grievous, because these, who were obliged by their office to protect and right him, did join with others in reproaching and oppressing him.

Of the drunkards of the scum of the people; of all lewd and debauched persons. Thus both-high and low conspired against him.

Poole: Psa 69:13

But my prayer is unto thee but whilst they scoff I will pray, and not be driven from God, and from my prayers and other duties, by all their reproaches or other discouragements.

In an acceptable time Heb. in a time of acceptation , or grace , or thy good will , or good pleasure . These words may be joined, either,

1. With the following words, by way of limitation: Hear me in thy accepted time , i.e. I do not limit thee to a day or time, but when thou seest fit hear and help me. Or rather,

2. With the foregoing, as an argument to enforce his prayer: I pray in a time of grace or acceptation ; I seek thee when thou mayest be found, as Psa 32:6 Isa 55:6 ; in a good day , as they said, 1Sa 25:8 , in the day of grace and mercy, in a time of great trouble, which is the proper season for prayer, Psa 50:15 ; and whilst I have thee engaged to me by promises, which thy honour and truth oblige thee to perform, I come not too late, and therefore do thou hear me.

In the truth of thy salvation or, for or according to thy saving truth or faithfulness ; whereby thou art obliged to grant unto me that salvation which thou hast graciously promised.

Poole: Psa 69:14

Them that hate me whereby he explains his meaning in these metaphors of mire, and waters, and deep, and pit.

Poole: Psa 69:16

Is good i.e. is eminently and unspeakably good; the positive degree being put for the superlative, as it is Luk 1:28 1Co 12:23 , &c. It is most ready to communicate itself to indigent and miserable creatures.

Poole: Psa 69:18

Draw nigh unto my soul to support and relieve it, O thou who seemest to be departed far away from me.

Because of mine enemies partly because they persecute it, and greedily seek to destroy it; and partly because they are thine as well as mine enemies, and if they succeed, will triumph not only over me, but in some sort over thee, and over religion.

Poole: Psa 69:19

Thou hast known my reproach & c.; thou seest how much of it I suffer, and that for thy sake; as he said, Psa 69:7 .

Are all before thee thou knowest them thoroughly, and all their injurious and wicked devices and implacable malice against me, and all their impiety and contempt of thee; for which they deserve to be utterly and speedily destroyed.

Poole: Psa 69:20

Hath broken my heart: for reproach is most grievous to the most generous and noble souls; and besides, this was the highest degree and the worst kind of reproach, being cast upon him for God’ s sake, and upon God also for his sake.

None i.e. few or none, as that word is frequently used, both in sacred and profane writers. For whether you understand it of David, or of Christ, there were some who pitied both of them.

Poole: Psa 69:21

Gall or poison , or bitter herbs , Hos 10:4 . See Deu 29:18 Jer 9:15 Lam 3:19 . Instead of giving me that pity and comfort which my condition required, they barbarously added to my afflictions. These things were metaphorically fulfilled in David, but properly and literally h Christ, the description of whose sufferings was principally intended here by the Holy Ghost, who therefore directed David’ s pen to these words, and possibly informed him that this should be accomplished in Christ; which may not seem improbable to him that considers the following imprecations, which are so many and so severe, that they may seem to exceed the bounds of justice and charity, if they be applied to David’ s enemies, as a recompence for their injuries done to him; whereas they most deservedly and fitly belong to the enemies and murderers of Christ.

Poole: Psa 69:22

These and the following words, which are expressed in the form of imprecations, are thought by divers to be and that the imperatives are put for the as sometimes they are. And accordingly they translate the words thus, Their table shall become a snare , But if they be imprecations, here was sufficient cause for them. And besides, it is apparent that they were not the dictates of human passion, but of Divine inspiration, from a just zeal for God’ s glory, as hath been before.

Their table i.e. their food, and all their for necessity or delight, either for body or soul; curses here following are spiritual and eternal as temporal. And so this may comprehend their sacrifices and other legal ordinances, and the word of God; all to the Jews through their own default a great occasion of stumbling at Christ. And this punishment in their table exactly answers to their sin in giving Christ gall for his meat, Psa 69:21 . Become a snare before them , Heb. before them (i.e. their table or meat, which is set

before them which is the usual expression in this case, as Gen 18:8 2Ki 6:22 ) become a snare , i.e. the occasion or instrument of their destruction. It is a metaphor taken from birds or fishes, that are commonly ensnared and taken with their baits.

And that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap Heb. and as for their great peace , (which the plural number seems to import, all that tranquillity and prosperity which they do or may enjoy,) let it be a trap ; or, and their peace offerings (which sacrifices may be here mentioned, because the offerers did partake of them, and feast upon them; and so this agrees with the table expressed in the former clause) a trap . And so they were to the unbelieving Jews, whose false conceit of the everlastingness of the Mosaical dispensation was one cause of their rejection of Christ. Or thus, and for recompences , (i.e. an abundant compensation of all their injuries,) and for a trap . For thus it is rendered by divers, both ancient and modern, interpreters, and, which is more considerable, by the apostle, Rom 11:9 .

Poole: Psa 69:23

Their eyes not the eyes of their bodies, (for so this was not accomplished in David’ s nor in Christ’ s enemies,) but of their minds, that they may not discern God’ s truth, nor their own duty, nor the way of peace and salvation. Punish them in their own kind; as they shut their eyes and would not see, so do thou judicially blind them. This was threatened and inflicted upon the Jews, Isa 6:10 Joh 12:39,40 .

Their loins: this also belongs to the loins of their minds or souls; of which we read Luk 12:35 1Pe 1:13 . The loins of the body are the seat of strength, and the great instrument of bodily motions and actions; which being applied to the mind, the sense may be, either,

1. Take away their courage and alacrity, and give them up to pusillanimity, and terror, and despair; or rather,

2. Take away their strength and ability for spiritual actions. In the former branch, he wisheth that they may not be able to see or choose their way; and here, that they may not be able to walk in it, nor to execute the good counsels which others may give them. As, on the other side, when God gives men strength, they are able not only to walk, but to run in the ways of God, Psa 119:32 Son 1:4 Isa 40:31 .

Haydock: Psa 69:1

A prayer in persecution.

Haydock: Psa 69:1

Remembrance. This is all that occurs in Hebrew, or in many Greek copies, though the following words were perhaps extant in the copy of the Septuagint, or were added to complete the sentence. Several of the verses are found in Psalm xxxiv., and xxxix., and seem to have been used as a form of prayer in any danger. (Berthier) ---

David foresaw that Christ would pray for the safety of his natural and mystical body, and would be heard. (Menochius) ---

The following psalm is a sequel to this. (Calmet)

Haydock: Psa 69:4

'Tis well, 'tis well. Euge, euge. St. Jerome renders it, vah! vah! which is the voice of one insulting and deriding. Some understand it was a detestation of deceitful flatterers. (Challoner) ---

In the New Testament, Well done, denotes applause. (St. Jerome in Ezechiel vi.) ---

These predictions relate to the murderers of the Messias. (Berthier) ---

In the 39th psalm, the Church prays for aid; and here David, persecuted by Absalom, or any of the just, lays before God his particular wants. (Worthington)

Gill: Psa 69:1

Save me, O God,.... The petitioner is Christ; not as a divine Person, as such he is blessed for ever, and stands in no need of help and assistance; but as man, and in distressed and suffering circumstances. As a priest, it was part of his work to intercede, as well as to offer sacrifice; and though he did not offer a sin offering for himself, yet he offered up supplications, with strong cryings and tears; and, as the surety of his people, he prayed, in point of right and justice, both for himself and them; see Joh 17:4. The person petitioned is God the Father, who was able to save him, and always heard him; and did in this petition, Heb 5:7; which perfectly agrees with some petitions of Christ, recorded in the New Testament, Joh 12:27. These show the weakness of the human nature, the weight of sin upon him, and his sense of the wrath of God; and which, notwithstanding, were made with limitations and restrictions, and even with a correction. Moreover, this may also design help and assistance from his divine Father, which was promised him, and he expected and had, in the acceptable time, in the day of salvation: and he was so saved in death, as that he abolished that, and destroyed him that had the power of it; and was quickly raised from the grave, and thereby saved out of it. And this he could have done himself, but he would be saved in a legal way, in a way of justice; and as a point of honour, when he had done the work, he, as a surety, engaged to do. The reasons enforcing this petition follow:

for the waters are come in unto my soul: the Messiah represents his case, in these words, and in Psa 69:2, as like to that of a man standing up to his chin in water, and the waters running into his mouth, just suffocating him; and that in a miry place, where he could not set his feet firm, nor get himself out; and even overflowed with the floods, and immersed in the deep waters, and so in the most imminent danger. These overwhelming waters may signify the floods of ungodly men that encompassed him, the assembly of the wicked that enclosed him; and the proud waters that went over his soul, the Gentiles and people of Israel, that were gathered against him to destroy him; and so the Targum interprets it of the camp of sinners, that pressed him on every side, as water: the whole posse of devils may also be designed, for now was the hour and power of darkness; Satan, and his principalities and powers, came in like a flood upon him, to swallow him up; innumerable evils, the sins of his people, came upon him from every quarter, and pressed him sore; the curses of the law fell upon him, which may be compared to the bitter water of jealousy that caused the curse. These entered into him, when he was made a curse for his people; and the wrath of God went over him, and lay hard upon him, and came about him like water, into his very soul, which made him exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.

Gill: Psa 69:2

I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing,.... Which signifies not despair of mind, but difficult and distressed circumstances; the Messiah now bearing the filthy sins of his people, and the punishment of them, and so was got into the horrible pit, the mire and clay; See Gill on Psa 40:2;

I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me: as afflictions are often compared to waters in Scripture, Christ's sorrows and sufferings are very aptly signified by deep waters and overflowing floods; and therefore rightly called a baptism, as by himself, Luk 12:50, when he was as one immersed in and overwhelmed with water.

Gill: Psa 69:3

I am weary of my crying,.... In his distress; when, bearing the punishment both of loss and sense, he cried unto God; he prayed earnestly, with great intenseness and fervency of spirit; he offered supplications, with strong cryings and tears, insomuch that he calls it a roaring: and whereas there was a seeming delay of answer to his cries, he cried till he was weary of crying; and yet it is remarkable that his last cry was with a loud voice, which surprised the centurion; see Psa 22:1;

my throat is dried; with crying, so that he was hoarse; or "burnt" ^u; with inward heat of a fever, which usually attended persons crucified; see Psa 22:15;

mine eyes fail while I wait for my God; God the Father was the God of Christ, as he was man; he prepared a body for him, and anointed his human nature with the Holy Spirit; he supported and upheld him: and as such Christ loved him, believed in him, prayed to him, and waited and looked for help and salvation from him; this being delayed, his eyes failed with intense looking about for it, as well as with grief and tears. Ainsworth observes, that failing of the eyes is one of the curses of the law, Lev 26:16, and it shows how in every thing Christ was made a curse for his people.

Gill: Psa 69:4

They that hate me without a cause,.... As the Jews did; see Joh 15:18; for he did no injury to the persons or properties of men; but went about continually doing good, both to their souls and bodies; so that he merited their highest esteem and love, and not their hatred; and yet they were his implacable enemies; see Luk 19:14;

are more than the hairs of mine head; they were a multitude that came to take him in the garden; and it was the multitude that the priests and Pharisees instigated to ask for the release of Barabbas, and the crucifixion of Jesus; and a vast number of people followed him to the cross, and insulted him on it; the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together against him;

they that would destroy me; as the Jews sought to do often before his time was come;

being mine enemies wrongfully; without cause, as before; or through lies and falsehoods told of him, and spread about concerning him:

are mighty; lively and strong, as David's enemies were, Psa 38:19. The great men of the earth, kings and princes, as Herod and Pontius Pilate, and also the infernal principalities and powers, who were concerned in contriving those lies, and putting them into the minds of men; for Satan is the father of lies and falsehood;

then I restored that which I took not away; by rapine, force, and violence, as the word ^w signifies; and which was done by others. Thus, for instance, Christ restored the glory of God, of which he was robbed, and which was taken away by the sin of man; by veiling his own glory, not seeking that, but his Father's; and by working out the salvation of his people, in such a manner as that all the divine perfections were glorified by it; hence, "glory to God in the highest", Luk 2:14. He satisfied justice he had never injured, though others had; he fulfilled a law, and bore the penalty of it, which he never broke; and made satisfaction for sins he never committed; and brought in a righteousness he had not taken away; and provided a better inheritance than what was lost by Adam: and all this was done at the time of his sufferings and death, and by the means of them.

Gill: Psa 69:5

O God, thou knowest my foolishness,.... Not that there was real foolishness in him, who, as man, from his infancy was filled with wisdom, and increased in it; and, as Mediator, had the spirit of wisdom on him, and the treasures of wisdom in him; and, as a divine Person, he is the Wisdom of God, and the only wise God; and, as in our nature, there was no foolishness in his heart, nor in his words, nor in his actions: but this is to be understood either of what was accounted so by others; he and his followers were reckoned foolish and illiterate men, and the Gospel preached by him and his apostles was foolishness to them that perished; or of what he was charged with by his enemies; even with immorality, heresy, blasphemy, and sedition; of all which he was innocent, and therefore could appeal to his divine Father, who knows all things, that he was clear of all such folly; for it may be rendered, "thou knowest as to my foolishness" ^x, with respect to what he was charged with, that there was none in him; or else it regards the foolishness of his people imputed to him, the sin that folly of follies, together with all the foolishness in the heart, lip, and lives of his people, before and after conversion; these were all reckoned to him, and reckoned by him, as his own in some sense; and which is confirmed by what follows:

and my sins are not hid from thee; meaning not any committed by him; for then he could not have said what he does in Psa 69:4; but the sins of his people imputed to him, which be calls his own; see Gill on Psa 40:12, these must be known to his divine Father, since he is God omniscient, and since he laid them upon him, and he made satisfaction for them to him; and which he observes to enforce his petition, Psa 69:1; with this compare Isa 53:11.

Gill: Psa 69:6

Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake,.... Of their expectation of redemption and salvation by the Messiah, they have been waiting upon the Lord for; when they shall see him in suffering circumstances, and even dead and laid in the grave, without any hope of his rising again; which was the case of the two disciples travelling to Emmaus, Luk 24:19; whose trust in him, and expectation of him, as the Redeemer of Israel, were almost gone. The people of God, and believers in Christ, are described by such that "wait on the Lord"; for the coming of Christ, and salvation by him; who would be in danger of being put to shame and in confusion, when they should see him under the power of death and the grave; wherefore in this petition Christ addresses his divine Father as "the Lord God of hosts", of armies above and below, as God omnipotent; partly to encourage their trust and confidence in him, and partly to encourage his own faith as man, that this petition would be answered;

let not those that seek thee: in the word and ordinances, by prayer and supplication, with all their hearts, in Christ, in whom the Lord is only to be found, and for life and happiness:

be confounded for my sake; that is, through his sufferings and death, as before:

O God of Israel; the covenant God of the spiritual Israel, whom he has chosen, the Messiah redeems, and the Spirit makes Israelites indeed.

Gill: Psa 69:7

Because for thy sake I have borne reproach,.... Being reckoned a sinner, called a deceiver, said to be a Samaritan, and to have a devil; with many other reproaches, which he bore patiently for the sake of the word and worship of God, and for the sake of the glory of God, which he all along sought; and to repair the loss of it, which was sustained through the sin of man;

shame hath covered my face; when he was spit upon by some, and smote by others with a rod upon his cheek; and when he was blindfolded, and bid to prophesy who smote him; see Isa 50:6.

Gill: Psa 69:8

I am become a stranger unto my brethren,.... Not only to the Jews in general, who were his own people and nation, to whom he came, and of whom he came; who received him not, hid as it were their faces from him, and rejected him as the Messiah; but also to such who were still nearer akin to him, according to the flesh, who did not believe in him, Joh 7:5; and even in some sense to his disciples and followers; some of which having heard some doctrines delivered by him not agreeable to them, withdrew from him, and walked no more with him, Joh 6:60; yea, to his apostles, whom he often called his brethren: one of these betrayed him, another denied him with oaths and cursing, and all of them forsook him and fled, when he was taken by his enemies, and about to suffer death;

and an alien unto my mother's children; which is the same as before, in other words. The Targum is,

"as the son of the Gentiles to my mother's children;''

that is, as an Heathen to them; see Mat 18:17.

Gill: Psa 69:9

For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up,.... Of the house of the sanctuary, as the Targum; that is, the temple, which was Christ's Father's house, where he was worshipped and dwelt; and zeal for his Father, and his glory in it, and indignation against those that made it an house of merchandise, inflamed him; put him upon driving out the buyers and sellers in it, whereby this passage had its accomplishment, Joh 2:14; and this may be applied to the church of God which is the house of God, of his building, and where he dwells; and zeal may design the fervent affection of Christ for it, for the doctrine, discipline, and salvation of it. His zeal for the Gospel appeared in his warm and lively preaching it, in his assiduity and constancy in it; in the wearisome journeys he took to spread it, in the risks he run, and dangers he exposed himself to, for the sake of it; in the miracles he wrought to confirm it, and in the care he took to free it from calumny and reproach: his zeal for the worship and discipline of God's house was shown by his asserting the purity of worship in spirit and truth; by his severe inveighing against the traditions, superstition, and will worship of men, and against the vices and corruptions of professors of religion, the Scribes and Pharisees: his zeal for the salvation of his people is easily seen in his suretyship engagements for them; in coming into this world to do the will of him that sent him; in his early regards unto it, and vehement desire, even of suffering death, in order to accomplish it, and in his voluntary and cheerful submission and obedience, even to the death of the cross: this zeal of his was according to knowledge, and was cordial, hearty, and unfeigned; and this "eat him up": inflamed like fire his spirit and affections; consumed his time and strength, and even life itself;

and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me: the same persons that reproached the one reproached the other; and the reproaches of his divine Father were as cutting to him as if cast on himself; it went to his heart that his Father's house should be made an house of merchandise; that his doctrine should be despised, his worship neglected, and his glory lessened; to have the name of God, his ways and truth, evil spoken of, were not pleasing to him; he took all reproach of this kind to himself, and bore it becomingly; and yet showed zeal for his Father's glory, and indignation against those that reproached him; see Rom 15:1.

Gill: Psa 69:10

When I wept,.... Because of the sins of his people imputed to him; the hardness and unbelief of the Jews that rejected him; their impiety and profaneness in polluting the temple with their merchandise: he wept at the grave of Lazarus, and over the city of Jerusalem, on account of the blindness of its inhabitants, and the ruin coming upon them; and in his prayers at different times, especially in the garden and on the cross, which were offered up with strong crying and tears; see Joh 11:35;

and chastened my soul with fasting; or "my soul being in fasting" ^y. The Targum renders it, "in the fasting of my soul"; the word "chastened" is supplied from Psa 35:13; and "soul" is put for the body, or for the whole person. Christ fasted forty days and nights in the wilderness; and often, through neglect of himself, and multiplicity of business, in preaching, and in healing diseases, was without food for some time: he seems to have been fasting the day that he suffered, when he made atonement for sin; and so answered the type on the day of atonement, when every man was to afflict his soul with fasting, Lev 16:29; hence the Jews taunting at him gave him gall for his meat, and vinegar for his drink, Psa 69:21; and it follows,

that was to my reproach; if he ate and drank, he was charged with being a glutton and a winebibber; and if he wept and fasted, as John his forerunner did, they reproached him with madness, and having a devil, Mat 11:18; and, as may be reasonably supposed, after this manner;

"can this poor creature, that weeps, and mourns, and fasts, be thought to be the Son of God, a divine Person, as he makes himself to be, and his followers believe he is?''

and so the blind Jews reason to this day.

Gill: Psa 69:11

I made sackcloth also my garment,.... Though we nowhere read that Jesus put on sackcloth upon any occasion, yet it is not improbable that he did; besides, the phrase may only intend that he mourned and sorrowed at certain times, as persons do when they put on sackcloth: moreover, as the common garb of his forerunner was raiment of camels' hair, with a leathern girdle; so it is very likely his own was very mean, suitable to his condition; who, though he was rich, for our sakes became poor;

and I became a proverb to them; a byword; so that when they saw any person in sackcloth, or in vile raiment, behold such an one looks like Jesus of Nazareth.

Gill: Psa 69:12

They that sit in the gate speak against me,.... The princes, magistrates, and judges, who sat in the gates of cities, heard and tried causes, and executed judgment there; the elders of the city; see Rth 4:1; the civil rulers among the Jews are meant; and also their ecclesiastical ones, the Scribes and Pharisees that sat in Moses's seat; though some think men of lower characters are designed, idle persons that saunter about, and sit in gateways, and corners of streets, and in marketplaces; spending their time, like the Athenians, in hearing and telling of news, and prating about this and the other person, and their affairs; but the former sense seems best, since these are rather intended in the next clause: now such men of rank and figure spoke against Christ; against his person as the Son of God, against his office as the Messiah, against his doctrines and ordinances, and against his people and followers: or they spake together "of him" ^z; they confabulated and consulted together how to seize him, and take away his life, as the chief priests and elders frequently did; and when they had taken him they gave their voice against him, and unanimously condemned him, when they sat in judgment upon him;

and I was the song of the drunkards; or "of them that drink strong drink" ^a; be it made of what it will; that is, to excess: these, while they played on their instruments of music, as the word ^b here used signifies, sung songs, and Christ was the subject of them; as Job complains was his case, Job 30:8; very probably the common people that were employed in taking of Jesus might have plenty of liquor given them by the priests and elders, to encourage them; and this being a festival time too, might come at it more easily than usual, and drink more freely; and this might be the case of the Roman soldiers, when they made Christ the subject of their mirth and diversion in Pilate's hall.

Gill: Psa 69:13

But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord,.... Christ betook himself to prayer in these circumstances, and not to railing and reviling again: he applied to his divine Father, and committed himself to him that judgeth righteously, and prayed both for himself and for his enemies too: and this he did

in an acceptable time; or "a time of good will" ^c; which was the time of his sufferings and death; so called, because the good will and pleasure of God was seen therein; in not sparing his Son, his own and only begotten Son, his beloved Son, and delivering him up to justice and death for the worst of sinners; and because at this time the good will of God was done: Christ laid down his life by the commandment of his Father, offered himself a sacrifice by the will of God, and hereby the law of God was fulfilled, justice satisfied, and the work of man's redemption finished; which was the pleasure of the Lord, that prospered in his hands; and therefore this must be an acceptable time to God. The sufferings of Christ were well pleasing to him; the sacrifice of Christ was for a sweet smelling savour; the righteousness of Christ was acceptable to him, the law being magnified and made honourable by it: peace was now made by the blood of his cross; the perfections of God were glorified, his purposes executed, his promises fulfilled, his covenant confirmed, and his people saved; and so a proper time for the Mediator to offer up his supplications and prayers, in which he was heard, as appears from Isa 49:8;

O God, in the multitude of thy mercy; these words, according to the accents in the Hebrew text, should be rendered in connection with the preceding words, thus: "in the time of good will, O God"; or "in the time of the good will of God, through the multitude of thy mercy"; and then the sense is, that the acceptable time was owing to the greatness of divine mercy; it was from hence that the dayspring from on high visited men; or Christ came in the flesh, and suffered in the room and stead of sinners; in which there was a wonderful display of the abundant mercy of God to men; for otherwise there was none shown to the surety and Saviour; he was not spared, but delivered up; and then it follows,

hear me, in the truth of thy salvation; or "because of", or "by thy true salvation" ^d; that which God contrived in council, and secured in covenant, and sent his Son to effect, and which he is become the author of, is a true and real salvation; not figurative and shadowy, as the salvation of Israel out of Egypt and Babylon were: or because of the truth and faithfulness of God, who had promised salvation to the Messiah, that he should be carried through his sufferings, be raised from the dead, and be crowned with glory and honour; and therefore he prays he might be heard on this account, and his prayer follows, and the several petitions in it.

Gill: Psa 69:14

Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink,.... In which he was sinking, Psa 69:2; and accordingly he was delivered out of it, Psa 11:2; even out of all the mire of sin, the sins of his people that were upon him, from which he was justified when raised from the dead; and so will appear without sin, when he comes a second time:

let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters; these phrases design the same, even the enemies of Christ; such that hated him, compared to deep waters: these are the floods of the ungodly, and the many waters out of which he was drawn and delivered, Psa 18:4.

Gill: Psa 69:15

Let not the water flood overflow me,.... The enemy, Satan, that came in like a flood upon him, with his whole posse of devils; or the wrath of God, which came upon him like a flood overwhelming him:

neither let the deep swallow me up: as Jonah by the whale, and Dathan and Abiram in the earth:

and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me; either the pit of hell; so the Targum interprets it: for Christ, when he endured the curses of the law, and the wrath of God, suffered the same for kind as the damned in hell; only the mouth of this pit could not be shut upon him, or he be continued under such wrath and curse: or else the pit of the grave, where his divine Father left him not, or suffered him to be so long in it as to see corruption; this pit was not shut upon him, but he was delivered out of it, and will die no more.

Gill: Psa 69:16

Hear me, O Lord; for thy lovingkindness is good,.... His lovingkindness to him, not only as his Son, but as Mediator; and which is a love of complacency and delight, and was from eternity, and will be to eternity: and this is "good", as appears by the effects and evidences of it; such as putting all things into his hands, showing him all that he does, concealing and keeping nothing from him, appointing him to be the Saviour of his people, the Head of the church, and the Judge of the world; and this lovingkindness shown to him is a reason why he might expect to be heard by his God and Father; see Joh 17:24; and the loving kindness of God to his people, and the members of Christ, is also good: it arises from the good will and pleasure of God; it is pleasantly and delightfully good to the saints, who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, and have had his love shed abroad in their hearts; it is profitably good unto them; it has prepared and laid up good things for them, both for time and eternity, even all the blessings of grace and goodness: it has promised good things unto them in covenant, and it gives Christ, and all good things along with him; it has a good influence on the graces of the Spirit, faith, hope, and love, to encourage them; and engages believers to a cheerful obedience to all the divine commands; to which may be added the duration of it, it lasts for ever: and it is so good, that it is better than any temporal good thing without it; it is better than life, and all the comforts of it, Psa 63:3;

turn unto me, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies; his divine Father had turned away his face from him, and turned his fury upon him; he had awoke his sword of justice against him, pointed it at him, and thrust it into him; and now, satisfaction being made, he desires he would turn unto him in a way of grace and favour; that he would have respect unto him, and look upon him with his paternal countenance, and in a kind and tender manner, as well pleased with him, and with his righteousness and sacrifice. Of the phrase, "according to the multitude of that tender mercies"; see Gill on Psa 51:1.

Gill: Psa 69:17

And hide not thy face from thy servant,.... This is a character that is frequently given to Christ as Mediator; he is a servant of God's choosing, calling, and appointing; of his sending, bringing forth, and supporting; who is an obedient, diligent, righteous, and prudent one; who always reverenced and honoured him whose servant he was, Isa 42:1; now, when he was on the cross, suffering in the room and stead of his people, his Father hid his face from him; which he here deprecates, and desires he would not continue to do, seeing he was his servant, now doing his service, and about to finish it, even the great work of man's redemption; and for a reason following;

for I am in trouble; in straits and difficulties; pressed on every side, enclosed with the assembly of the wicked, who were mocking of him, and with the whole posse of devils, who were throwing their fiery darts at him; having the sins of his people and the curses of a righteous law on him, and the wrath of God in him; and what increased his trouble was, he was forsaken by him;

hear me speedily; or "make haste to hear" ^e; and answer me; his case required haste; see Psa 22:19.

Gill: Psa 69:18

Draw nigh unto my soul,.... God his father, while he was suffering, stood afar off from him; wherefore he desires that he would draw nigh to him in the manifestations of his love and favour to him; which he did, when he made known to him the way of life, and made him full of joy with his countenance;

and redeem it: that is, from the power of the grave; not leave it there, but raise him from the dead, and give him glory, as he did;

deliver me, because of mine enemies; that they might not triumph over him, as if, being dead, he should rise no more; and so the Targum,

"that mine enemies might not lift up themselves against me.''

Or the meaning is, deliver me from the grave, raise me from the dead, that I may requite mine enemies, and take vengeance on them; see Psa 41:8.

Gill: Psa 69:19

Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour,.... A heap of words to express the greatness of the contempt that was cast upon him, and the injury that was done to his person and character; which was all known to God: as how he was vilified by wicked words and blasphemous speeches; how he was exposed to shame and dishonour by deeds; by spitting upon him, buffeting him, veiling his face, stripping him of his garments, and scourging and crucifying him naked;

mine adversaries are all before thee; in his sight: he knew their persons, the malice and wickedness that were in their hearts; and all the evil words that were spoken, and the evil actions that were done by them. Or, "are all against thee" ^f; for they that were against Christ were against his Father.

Gill: Psa 69:20

Reproach hath broken my heart,.... This was his case when his soul was exceeding sorrowful unto death, and his heart like wax melted in the midst of his bows is, Mat 26:38;

and I am full of heaviness; as he was in the garden, Mar 14:33; or, "very sick, yea, incurably sick", as the word ^g signifies; see 2Sa 12:15. For what cure is there for a broken heart?

and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none: his disciples forsook him and fled; the priests, scribes, and common people, that attended him at the cross, mocking him; the thieves that were crucified with him reviled him; and his Father hid his face from him; only a few women stood afar off and lamented.

Gill: Psa 69:21

They gave me also gall for my meat,.... Either some bitter herb mentioned with wormwood and hemlock, Deu 29:18; or the gall of some animal The Targum renders it,

"the gall of the heads of serpents:''

the poison of some serpents is in their heads, and the word that is here used signifies the head; see Deu 32:33. This was literally fulfilled in Christ, Mat 27:34; and showed that he bore the curse of the law; that being given to him for food, which was not fit to be eaten; thereby intimating, that he deserved not to have the common food and necessaries of life; which is the case of those in whose place and stead he suffered: and this may be a rebuke to such who, through fulness and affluence, are apt to slight and contemn some of the good creatures of God, which ought to be received with thanksgiving; let them remember the gall that was given Christ for meat. And this may serve to reconcile poor Christians to that mean fare and low way of living they are obliged to; though they, have but a dinner of herbs, or bread and water, it is better fare than their Lord's; it is not gall;

and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink; Christ, when on the cross, was athirst, which was occasioned by a fever that usually attended persons in his circumstances; see Psa 22:15; and, that this Scripture might be fulfilled, he signified it, saying, "I thirst"; upon which vinegar was given to him, as all the evangelists relate; Mat 27:48. This shows the truth of Christ's human nature; that it was a true and real body that he assumed, which was subject to hunger and thirst, and was supported by food and drink, as our bodies are; also the truth of divine revelation; since such a minute circumstance as this, predicted so many hundred years ago, should, after so long a time, be exactly fulfilled; and likewise the truth of the Messiahship of Jesus, in whom this, and every thing else said Messiah, in the Law, the Prophets, and the book of Psalms, were fully accomplished; and therefore it may be strongly concluded that this is he of whom they spoke. Moreover, this expresses the inhumanity of the enemies of Christ, to use him in this manner, when he was suffering and dying; see Pro 31:6.

Gill: Psa 69:22

Let their table become a snare before them,.... This and the following imprecations were not the effects of a spirit of private revenge; of which there was no appearance in Christ, but all the reverse who prayed for his enemies, while they were using him as above related: but they are prophecies of what should be, being delivered out under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, Act 1:16. Wherefore some versions render the words, "their table shall become a snare" ^h; and therefore are not to be drawn into an example by us, to favour and encourage a revengeful spirit: and they are very just and righteous, according to "lex talionis", the law of retaliation; since, inasmuch as they gave Christ gall for his meat, and vinegar for his drink, it was but right that the same measure should be meted out to them again; and their table mercies and blessings be cursed; that they should have them not in love, but in bitter wrath. Or that they should be left to be overcharged with them, and surfeit upon them; and so the day of their destruction come upon them as a snare: or that they should want the common necessaries of life, and be tempted to eat what was not lawful; and even their own children, as some did; see Mal 2:2, Lam 4:10. The Targum gives the sense of the words thus;

"let their table, which they prepared before me, that I might eat before them, be for a snare;''

meaning a table spread with vinegar and gall. Of the figurative sense of these words; see Gill on Rom 11:9; where apostle cites this passage, and applies it to the enemies of Christ;

and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap; the word translated, "for their welfare", comes from שלמ, which signifies both "to be at peace", and "to recompense"; and so is differently interpreted. Some think the "shelamim", or peace offerings, are meant; see Exo 24:5; and so the Targum,

"let their sacrifices be for a trap, or stumbling block;''

as they were, they trusting in them for the atonement of sin: and so neglected the atoning sacrifice of Christ, and his righteousness; which was the stumbling block at which they stumbled, and the trap into which they fell, and was their ruin. And it is observable, that while they were eating the sacrifice of the passover, they were surrounded by the Roman army, and taken as birds in a net, and as beasts in a trap. Others render the words, "to them that are at peace" ⁱ, let their table be "for a trap"; while they are living in security, and crying, Peace, peace, let sudden, destruction come upon them; as it did. But the apostle has taught us how to render the word "for a recompence", Rom 11:9; as the word, differently pointed, is in Isa 34:8. The true rendering and meaning of the whole seem to be this, "let their table become a snare before them"; and let their table be "for recompences" unto them, or in just retaliation; let the same food, or the like unto it, be set upon their tables, they gave to Christ, and let their table "become a trap"; for all relate to their table.

Gill: Psa 69:23

Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not,.... Not literally, the eyes of their bodies; but figuratively, the eyes of their understanding; which were so darkened, and they given up to such judicial blindness, that they could not discern the signs of the times that the Messiah must be come, Daniel's weeks being up; could not see any glory, excellency, and comeliness in Christ; could not see the evidence of the Messiahship of Jesus in the miracles he wrought; nor in the prophecies of the Old Testament fulfilled in him: that book was a sealed book unto them; the Gospel, and the doctrines of it, were hid from them, even from the wise and prudent among them; yea, also those things which belonged to their temporal peace; they were so blinded and infatuated, they could not see what was for their outward good and happiness: and, in proof of this their blindness, the words are cited by the apostle in Rom 11:7; see Mat 16:3;

and make their loins continually to shake; weaken their loins, in which a man's strength lies, that they may not be able to rise up against their enemies; and that they might not be able to flee and escape from them; see Deu 33:11; or fill them with horror, dread, and trembling, as they will be when Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven; and they shall see him whom they have pierced, Rev 1:7. The apostle renders the words "bow down their back alway"; See Gill on Rom 11:10.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 69:1

¹ sn Psalm 69. The psalmist laments his oppressed condition and asks the Lord to deliver him by severely judging his enemies.

² tn Heb “according to lilies.” See the superscription to Ps 45.

³ tn The Hebrew term נפשׁ (nefesh) here refers to the psalmist’s throat or neck. The psalmist compares himself to a helpless, drowning man.

NET Notes: Psa 69:2

¹ tn Heb “and there is no place to stand.”

² tn Heb “have entered.”

NET Notes: Psa 69:3

¹ tn Or perhaps “raw”; Heb “burned; enflamed.”

² tn Heb “my eyes fail from waiting for my God.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision.

NET Notes: Psa 69:4

¹ tn Heb “[with] a lie.” The Hebrew noun שֶׁקֶר (sheqer, “lie”) is used here as an adverb, “falsely, wrongfully” (see Pss 35:19; 38:19).

² tn The Hebrew verb עָצַם (’atsam) can sometimes mean “are strong,” but here it probably focuses on numerical superiority; note the parallel verb רָבַב (ravav, “be many”).

³ tn Heb “that which I did not steal, then I restore.” Apparently אָז (’az, “then”) is used here to emphasize the verb that follows.

sn They make me repay what I did not steal. The psalmist’s enemies falsely accuse him and hold him accountable for alleged crimes he did not even commit.

NET Notes: Psa 69:5

¹ tn Heb “you know my foolishness.”

² sn The psalmist is the first to admit that he is not perfect. But even so, he is innocent of the allegations which his enemies bring against him (v. 5b). God, who is aware of his foolish sins and guilt, can testify to the truth of his claim.

NET Notes: Psa 69:6

¹ tn Heb “O Master, Lord of hosts.” Both titles draw attention to God’s sovereign position.

NET Notes: Psa 69:7

¹ tn Heb “carry, bear.”

² tn Heb “on account of you.”

³ tn Heb “and shame covers my face.”

NET Notes: Psa 69:8

¹ tn Heb “and I am estranged to my brothers, and a foreigner to the sons of my mother.”

NET Notes: Psa 69:9

¹ tn Or “for.” This verse explains that the psalmist’s suffering is due to his allegiance to God.

² tn Or “devotion to.”

³ sn God’s house, the temple, here represents by metonymy God himself.

⁴ tn Heb “the insults of those who insult you fall upon me.”

sn Jn 2:17 applies the first half of this verse to Jesus’ ministry in the context of John’s account of Jesus cleansing the temple.

NET Notes: Psa 69:10

¹ sn Fasting was a practice of mourners. By refraining from normal activities such as eating food, the mourner demonstrated the sincerity of his sorrow.

² tn Heb “and it becomes insults to me.”

NET Notes: Psa 69:11

¹ tn Heb “and I am an object of ridicule to them.”

NET Notes: Psa 69:12

¹ tn Heb “the mocking songs of the drinkers of beer.”

NET Notes: Psa 69:13

¹ tn Heb “as for me, [may] my prayer be to you, O Lord, [in] a time of favor.”

² tn Heb “O God, in the abundance of your loyal love, answer me in the faithfulness of your deliverance.”

NET Notes: Psa 69:14

¹ tn Heb “let me be delivered.”

NET Notes: Psa 69:15

¹ tn Heb “well,” which here symbolizes the place of the dead (cf. Ps 55:23).

² tn Heb “do not let the well close its mouth upon me.”

NET Notes: Psa 69:16

¹ tn Or “pleasant”; or “desirable.”

NET Notes: Psa 69:17

¹ tn Heb “do not hide your face from.” The Hebrew idiom “hide the face” can (1) mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

² tn Or “quickly.”

NET Notes: Psa 69:18

¹ tn Heb “come near my life and redeem it.” The verb “redeem” casts the Lord in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Ps 19:14).

NET Notes: Psa 69:19

¹ tn Heb “before you [are] all my enemies.”

NET Notes: Psa 69:20

¹ tn Heb “break my heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the origin of the psalmist’s emotions.

² tn The verb form appears to be a Qal preterite from an otherwise unattested root נוּשׁ (nush), which some consider an alternate form of אָנַשׁ (’anash, “be weak; be sick”; see BDB 60 s.v. I אָנַשׁ). Perhaps the form should be emended to a Niphal, וָאֵאָנְשָׁה (va’e’onshah, “and I am sick”). The Niphal of אָנַשׁ occurs in 2 Sam 12:15, where it is used to describe David’s sick child.

³ tn Heb “wait.”

⁴ tn Heb “and I wait for sympathy, but there is none.” The form נוּד (nud) is an infinitive functioning as a verbal noun:, “sympathizing.” Some suggest emending the form to a participle נָד (nad, “one who shows sympathy”). The verb נוּד (nud) also has the nuance “show sympathy” in Job 2:11; 42:11 and Isa 51:19.

NET Notes: Psa 69:21

¹ tn According to BDB 912 s.v. II רֹאשׁ the term can mean “a bitter and poisonous plant.”

² sn John 19:28-30 appears to understand Jesus’ experience on the cross as a fulfillment of this passage (or Ps 22:15). See the study note on the word “thirsty” in John 19:28.

NET Notes: Psa 69:22

¹ tc Heb “and to the friends for a snare.” The plural of שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”) is used in Ps 55:20 of one’s “friends.” If the reading of the MT is retained here, the term depicts the psalmist’s enemies as a close-knit group of friends who are bound together by their hatred for the psalmist. Some prefer to revocalize the text as וּלְשִׁלּוּמִים (ulÿshillumim, “and for retribution”). In this case the noun stands parallel to פַּח (pakh, “trap”) and מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh, “snare”), and one might translate, “may their dining table become a trap before them, [a means of] retribution and a snare” (cf. NIV).

NET Notes: Psa 69:23

¹ tn Heb “may their eyes be darkened from seeing.”

² tn Heb “make their hips shake continually.”

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:1

"To the chief Musician upon ^{( a )} Shoshannim, [A Psalm] of David." Save me, O God; for the ^{( b )} waters are come in unto [my] soul.

^{( a )} Of Shoshannim, read (Psa 45:1).

^{( b )} David shows by the waters the great dangers he was in, out of which God delivered him.

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:2

I sink in deep mire, where [there is] no ^{( c )} standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

^{( c )} No stable firmness to settle my feet.

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:3

I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine ^{( d )} eyes fail while I wait for my God.

^{( d )} Though his senses failed him, yet his faith was constant and encouraged him still to pray.

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:4

They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, [being] mine enemies ^{( e )} wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored [that] which I ^{( f )} took not away.

^{( e )} Condemning me as guilty.

^{( f )} They judged me a thief, though innocent, and gave my goods to others, as though I had stolen them.

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:5

O God, thou knowest my ^{( g )} foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.

^{( g )} Though I am guilty toward you, yet I am innocent toward them.

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:6

Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for ^{( h )} my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.

^{( h )} Do not let my evil entreaty of the enemy be an opportunity for the faithful to fall from you.

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:9

^{( i )} For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

^{( i )} When I saw your enemies claim your Name in mouth only, and in their life deny the same, your Holy Spirit thrust me forward to reprove them and defend your glory.

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:10

When I ^{( k )} wept, [and chastened] my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.

^{( k )} My zeal moved me to lament and pray for my salvation.

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:12

They that ^{( l )} sit in the gate speak against me; and I [was] the song of the drunkards.

^{( l )} The more he sought to win them to God, the more they were against him both the poor and the rich.

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:13

But as for me, my prayer [is] unto thee, O LORD, [in] an ^{( m )} acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.

^{( m )} Knowing that even though I endure trouble now, yet you have a time in which you have appointed my deliverance.

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:14

Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the ^{( n )} deep waters.

^{( n )} He shows a living faith, in that he believes that God is favourable towards him when he seems to be angry and at hand when he seems to be far off.

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:17

And ^{( o )} hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.

^{( o )} Not that he feared that God would not hear him, but that care made him think that God delayed too long.

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:19

Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine ^{( p )} adversaries [are] all before thee.

^{( p )} You see that I am beset as a sheep among many wolves.

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:20

Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and ^{( q )} I looked [for some] to take pity, but [there was] none; and for comforters, but I found none.

^{( q )} He shows men that it is vain to put our trust in men in our great necessity, but that our comfort only depends on God: for man increases our sorrows, then diminishes them, (Joh 19:29).

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:22

Let their ^{( r )} table become a snare before them: and [that which should have been] for [their] welfare, [let it become] a trap.

^{( r )} He desires God to execute his judgments against the reprobate, which cannot by any means be turned, (Rom 11:9).

Geneva Bible: Psa 69:23

Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their ^{( s )} loins continually to shake.

^{( s )} Take both judgment and power from them, (Act 1:20).

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Psa 69:1-36

1 David complains of his affliction.

13 He prays for deliverance.

22 He devotes his enemies to destruction.

30 He praises God with thanksgiving.

MHCC: Psa 69:1-12

We should frequently consider the person of the Sufferer here spoken of, and ask why, as well as what he suffered, that, meditating thereon, we may be more humbled for sin, and more convinced of our danger, so that we may feel more gratitude and love, constraining us to live to His glory who died for our salvation. Hence we learn, when in affliction, to commit the keeping of our souls to God, that we may not be soured with discontent, or sink into despair. David was hated wrongfully, but the words far more fully apply to Christ. In a world where unrighteousness reigns so much, we must not wonder if we meet with those that are our enemies wrongfully. Let us take care that we never do wrong; then if we receive wrong, we may the better bear it. By the satisfaction Christ made to God for our sin by his blood, he restored that which he took not away, he paid our debt, suffered for our offences. Even when we can plead Not guilty, as to men's unjust accusations, yet before God we must acknowledge ourselves to deserve all that is brought upon us. All our sins take rise from our foolishness. They are all done in God's sight. David complains of the unkindness of friends and relations. This was fulfilled in Christ, whose brethren did not believe on him, and who was forsaken by his disciples. Christ made satisfaction for us, not only by putting off the honours due to God, but by submitting to the greatest dishonours that could be done to any man. We need not be discouraged if our zeal for the truths, precepts, and worship of God, should provoke some, and cause others to mock our godly sorrow and deadness to the world.

MHCC: Psa 69:13-21

Whatever deep waters of affliction or temptation we sink into, whatever floods of trouble or ungodly men seem ready to overwhelm us, let us persevere in prayer to our Lord to save us. The tokens of God's favour to us are enough to keep our spirits from sinking in the deepest outward troubles. If we think well of God, and continue to do so under the greatest hardships, we need not fear but he will do well for us. And if at any time we are called on to suffer reproach and shame, for Christ's sake, this may be our comfort, that he knows it. It bears hard on one that knows the worth of a good name, to be oppressed with a bad one; but when we consider what a favour it is to be accounted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus, we shall see that there is no reason why it should be heart-breaking to us. The sufferings of Christ were here particularly foretold, which proves the Scripture to be the word of God; and how exactly these predictions were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, which proves him to be the true Messiah. The vinegar and the gall given to him, were a faint emblem of that bitter cup which he drank up, that we might drink the cup of salvation. We cannot expect too little from men, miserable comforters are they all; nor can we expect too much from the God of all comfort and consolation.

MHCC: Psa 69:22-29

These are prophecies of the destruction of Christ's persecutors. Psa 69:22, Psa 69:23, are applied to the judgments of God upon the unbelieving Jews, in Rom 11:9, Rom 11:10. When the supports of life and delights of sense, through the corruption of our nature, are made the food and fuel of sin, then our table is a snare. Their sin was, that they would not see, but shut their eyes against the light, loving darkness rather; their punishment was, that they should not see, but should be given up to their own hearts' lusts which hardened them. Those who reject God's great salvation proffered to them, may justly fear that his indignation will be poured out upon them. If men will sin, the Lord will reckon for it. But those that have multiplied to sin, may yet find mercy, through the righteousness of the Mediator. God shuts not out any from that righteousness; the gospel excludes none who do not, by unbelief, shut themselves out. But those who are proud and self-willed, so that they will not come in to God's righteousness, shall have their doom accordingly; they themselves decide it. Let those not expect any benefit thereby, who are not glad to be beholden to it. It is better to be poor and sorrowful, with the blessing of the Lord, than rich and jovial, and under his curse. This may be applied to Christ. He was, when on earth, a man of sorrows that had not where to lay his head; but God exalted him. Let us call upon the Lord, and though poor and sorrowful, guilty and defiled, his salvation will set us up on high.

Matthew Henry: Psa 69:1-12

In these verses David complains of his troubles, intermixing with those complaints some requests for relief.

I. His complaints are very sad, and he pours them out before the Lord, as one that hoped thus to ease himself of a burden that lay very heaven upon him.

1. He complains of the deep impressions that his troubles made upon his spirit (Psa 69:1, Psa 69:2): "The waters of affliction, those bitter waters, have come unto my soul, not only threaten my life, but disquiet my mind; they fill my head with perplexing cares and my heart with oppressive grief, so that I cannot enjoy God and myself as I used to do."We shall bear up under our troubles if we can but keep them from our hearts; but, when they put us out of the possession of our own souls, our case is bad. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but what shall we do when the spirit is wounded? That was David's case here. His thoughts sought for something to confide in, and with which to support his hope, but he found nothing: He sunk in keep mire, where there was no standing, no firm footing; the considerations that used to support and encourage him now failed him, or were out of the way, and he was ready to give himself up for gone. He sought for something to comfort himself with, but found himself in deep waters that overflowed him, overwhelmed him; he was like a sinking drowning man, in such confusion and consternation. This points at Christ's sufferings in his soul, and the inward agony he was in when he said, Now is my soul troubled; and, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful; for it was his soul that he made an offering for sin. And it instructs us, when we are in affliction, to commit the keeping of our souls to God, that we may be neither soured with discontent nor sink into despair.

2. He complains of the long continuance of his troubles (Psa 69:3): I am weary of my crying. Though he could not keep his head above water, yet he cried to his God, and the more death was in his view the more life was in his prayers; yet he had not immediately an answer of peace given in, no, nor so much of that support and comfort in praying which God's people used to have; so that he was almost weary of crying, grew hoarse, and his throat so dried that he could cry no more. Nor had he his wonted satisfaction in believing, hoping, and expecting relief: My eyes fail while I wait for my God; he had almost looked his eyes out, in expectation of deliverance. Yet his pleading this with God is an indication that he is resolved not to give up believing and praying. His throat is dried, but his heart is not; his eyes fail, but his faith does not. Thus our Lord Jesus, on the cross, cried out, Why hast thou forsaken me? yet, at the same time, he kept hold of his relation to him: My God, my God.

3. He complains of the malice and multitude of his enemies, their injustice and cruelty, and the hardships they put upon him, Psa 69:4. They hated him, they would destroy him, for hatred aims at the destruction of the person hated; but what was his iniquity, what was his sin, what provocation had he given them, that they were so spiteful towards him? None at all: " They hate me without a cause; I never did them the least injury, that they should bear me such ill-will."Our Saviour applies this to himself (Joh 15:25): They hated me without a cause. We are apt to use this in justification of our passion against those that hate us, that we never gave them cause to hate us. But it is rather an argument why we should bear it patiently, because then we suffer as Christ did, and may then expect that God will give us redress. "They are my enemies wrongfully, for I have been no enemy to them."In a world where unrighteousness reigns so much we must not wonder if we meet with those that are our enemies wrongfully. Let us take care that we never do wrong and then we may the better bear it if we receive wrong. These enemies were not to be despised, but were very formidable both for their number - They are more than the hairs of my head (Christ's enemies were numerous; those that came to seize him were a great multitude; how were those increased that troubled him!) and for their strength - They are mighty in authority and power. We are weak, but our enemies are strong; for we wrestle against principalities and powers. Then I restored that which I took not away. Applying this to David, it was what his enemies compelled him to (they made him suffer for that offence which he had never been guilty of); and it was what he consented to, that, if possible, he might pacify them and make them to be at peace with him. He might have insisted upon the laws of justice and honour, the former not requiring and the latter commonly thought to forbid the restoring of that which we took not away, for that is to wrong ourselves both in our wealth and in our reputation. Yet the case may be such sometimes that it may become our duty. Blessed Paul, though free from all men, yet, for the honour of Christ and the edification of the church, made himself a servant to all. But, applying it to Christ, it is an observable description of the satisfaction which he made to God for our sin by his blood: Then he restored that which he took not away; he underwent the punishment that was due to us, paid our debt, suffered for our offence. God's glory, in some instances of it, was taken away by the sin of man; man's honour, and peace, and happiness, were taken away; it was not he that took them away, and yet by the merit of his death he restored them.

4. He complains of the unkindness of his friends and relations, and this is a grievance which with an ingenuous mind cuts as deeply as any (Psa 69:8): " I have become a stranger to my brethren; they make themselves strange to me and use me as a stranger, are shy of conversing with me and ashamed to own me."This was fulfilled in Christ, whose brethren did not believe on him (Joh 7:5), who came to his own and his own received him not (Joh 1:11), and who was forsaken by his disciples, whom he had been free with as his brethren.

5. He complains of the contempt that was put upon him and the reproach with which he was continually loaded. And in this especially his complaint points at Christ, who for our sakes submitted to the greatest disgrace and made himself of no reputation. We having by sin injured God in his honour, Christ made him satisfaction, not only by divesting himself of the honours due to an incarnate deity, but by submitting to the greatest dishonours that could be done to any man. Two things David here takes notice of as aggravations of the indignities done him: - (1.) The ground and matter of the reproach, Psa 69:10, Psa 69:11. They ridiculed him for that by which he both humbled himself and honoured God. When men lift up themselves in pride and vain glory they are justly laughed at for their folly; but David chastened his soul, and clothed himself with sackcloth, and from his abasing himself they took occasion to trample upon him. When men dishonour God it is just that their so doing should turn to their dishonour; but when David, purely in devotion to God and to testify his respect to him, wept, and chastened his soul with fasting, and made sackcloth his garment, as humble penitents used to do, instead of commending his devotion and recommending it as a great example of piety, they did all they could both to discourage him in it and to prevent others from following his good example; for that was to his reproach. They laughed at him as a fool for mortifying himself thus; and even for this he became a proverb to them; they made him the common subject of their banter. We must not think it strange if we be ill spoken of for that which is well done, and in which we have reason to hope that we are accepted of God. Our Lord Jesus was stoned for his good works (Joh 10:32), and when he cried, Eli, Eli - My God, my God, was bantered, as if he called for Elias. (2.) The persons that reproached him, Psa 69:12. [1.] Even the gravest and the most honourable, from whom better was expected: Those that sit in the gate speak against me, and their reproaches pass for the dictates of senators and the decrees of judges, and are credited accordingly. [2.] The meanest, and the most despicable, the abjects (Psa 35:15), and scum of the country, the children of fools, yea, the children of base men, Job 30:8. Such drunkards as these make themselves vile, and he was the song of the drunkards; they made themselves and their companions merry with him. See the bad consequences of the sin of drunkenness; it makes men despisers of those that are good, 2Ti 3:3. When the king was made sick with bottles of wine he stretched out his hand with scorners, Hos 7:5. The bench of the drunkards is the seat of the scornful. See what is commonly the lot of the best of men: those that are the praise of the wise are the song of fools. But it is easy to those that rightly judge of things to despise being thus despised.

II. His confessions of sin are very serious (Psa 69:5): " O God! thou knowest my foolishness, what is and what is not; my sins that I am guilty of are not hidden from thee, and therefore thou knowest how innocent I am of those crimes which they charge upon me."Note, Even when, as to men's unjust accusations, we plead Not guilty, yet, before God, we must acknowledge ourselves to have deserved all that is brought upon us, and much worse. This is the genuine confession of a penitent, who knows that he cannot prosper in covering his sin, and that therefore it is his wisdom to acknowledge it, because it is naked and open before God. 1. He knows the corruption of our nature: Thou knowest the foolishness that is bound up in my heart. All our sins take rise from our foolishness. 2. He knows the transgressions of our lives; they are not hidden from him, no, not our heart-sins, no, not those that are committed most secretly. They are all done in his sight, and are never cast behind his back till they are repented of and pardoned. This may aptly be applied to Christ, for he knew no sin, yet he was made sin for us; and God knew it, nor was it hidden from him, when it pleased the Lord to bruise him and put him to grief.

III. His supplications are very earnest. 1. For himself (Psa 69:1): " Save me, O God! save me from sinking, from despairing."Thus Christ was heard in that he feared, for he was saved from letting fall his undertaking, Heb 5:7. 2. For his friends (Psa 69:6): Let not those that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts! and that seek thee, O God of Israel! (under these two characters we ought to seek God, and in seeking him to wait on him, as the God of hosts, who has all power to help, and as the God of Israel in covenant with his people, whom therefore he is engaged in honour and truth to help) be ashamed and confounded for my sake. This intimates his fear that if God did not appear for him it would be a discouragement to all other good people and would give their enemies occasion to triumph over them, and his earnest desire that whatever became of him all that seek God, and wait upon him, might be kept in heart and kept in countenance, and might neither be discouraged in themselves nor exposed to contempt from others. If Jesus Christ had not been owned and accepted of his Father in his sufferings, all that seek God, and wait for him, would have been ashamed and confounded; but they have confidence towards God, and in his name come boldly to the throne of grace.

IV. His plea is very powerful, Psa 69:7, Psa 69:9. Reproach was one of the greatest of his burdens: "Lord, roll away the reproach, and plead my cause, for, 1. It is for thee that I am reproached, for serving thee and trusting in thee: For thy sake I have borne reproach. "Those that are evil spoken of for well-doing may with a humble confidence leave it to God to bring forth their righteousness as the light. 2. "It is with thee that I am reproached: The zeal of thy house has eaten me up, that is, has made me forget myself, and do that which they wickedly turn to my reproach. Those that hate thee and thy house for that reason hate me, because they know how zealously affected I am to it. It is this that has made them ready to eat me up and has eaten up all the love and respect I had among them."Those that blasphemed God, and spoke ill of his word and ways, did therefore reproach David for believing in his word and walking in his ways. Or it may be construed as an instance of David's zeal for God's house, that he resented all the indignities done to God's name as if they had been done to his own name. He laid to heart all the dishonour done to God and the contempt cast upon religion; these he laid nearer to his heart than any outward troubles of his own. And therefore he had reason to hope God would interest himself in the reproaches cast upon him, because he had always interested himself in the reproaches cast upon God. Both the parts of this verse are applied to Christ. (1.) It was an instance of his love to his Father that the zeal of his house did even eat him up when he whipped the buyers and sellers out of the temple, which reminded his disciples of this text, Joh 2:17. (2.) It was an instance of his self-denial, and that he pleased not himself, that the reproaches of those that reproached God fell upon him (Rom 15:3), and therein he set us an example.

Matthew Henry: Psa 69:13-21

David had been speaking before of the spiteful reproaches which his enemies cast upon him; here he adds, But, as for me, my prayer is unto thee. They spoke ill of him for his fasting and praying, and for that he was made the song of the drunkards; but, notwithstanding that, he resolves to continue praying. Note, Though we may be jeered for well-doing, we must never be jeered out of it. Those can bear but little for God, and their confessing his name before men, that cannot bear a scoff and a hard word rather than quit their duty. David's enemies were very abusive to him, but this was his comfort, that he had a God to go to, with whom he would lodge his cause. "They think to carry their cause by insolence and calumny; but I use other methods. Whatever they do, As for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord! "And it was in an acceptable time, not the less acceptable for being a time of affliction. God will not drive us from him, though it is need that drives us to him; nay, it is the more acceptable, because the misery and distress of God's people make them so much the more the objects of his pity: it is seasonable for him to help them when all other helps fail, and they are undone, and feel that they are undone, if he do not help them. We find this expression used concerning Christ. Isa 49:8, In an acceptable time have I heard thee. Now observe,

I. What his requests are. 1. That he might have a gracious audience given to his complaints, the cry of his affliction, and the desire of his heart. Hear me (Psa 69:13), and again, Hear me, O Lord! (Psa 69:16), Hear me speedily (Psa 69:17), not only hear what I say, but grant what I ask. Christ knew that the Father heard him always, Joh 11:42. 2. That he might be rescued out of his troubles, might be saved from sinking under the load of grief ( Deliver me out of the mire; let me not stick in it, so some, but help me out, and set my feet on a rock, Psa 40:2), might be saved from his enemies, that they might not swallow him up, nor have their will against him: " Let me be delivered from those that hate me, as a lamb from the paw of a lion, Psa 69:14. Though I have come into keep waters (Psa 69:2), where I am ready to conclude that the floods will overflow me, yet let my fears be prevented and silenced; let not the waterflood, though it flow upon me, overflow me, Psa 69:15. Let me not fall into the gulf of despair; let not that deep swallow me up; let not that pit shut her mouth upon me, for then I am undone."He gave himself up for lost in the beginning of the psalm; yet now he has his head above water, and is not so weary of crying as he thought himself. 3. That God would turn to him (Psa 69:16), that he would smile upon him, and not hide his face from him, Psa 69:17. The tokens of God's favour to us, and the light of his countenance shining upon us, are enough to keep our spirits from sinking in the deepest mire of outward troubles, nor need we desire any more to make us safe and easy, Psa 69:18. "Draw nigh to my soul, to manifest thyself to it, and that shall redeem it."

II. What his pleas are to enforce these petitions. 1. He pleads God's mercy and truth (Psa 69:13): In the multitude of thy mercy hear me. There is mercy in God, a multitude of mercies, all kinds of mercy, inexhaustible mercy, mercy enough for all, enough for each; and hence we must take our encouragement in praying. The truth also of his salvation (the truth of all those promises of salvation which he has made to those that trust in him) is a further encouragement. He repeats his argument taken from the mercy of God: " Hear me, for thy lovingkindness of good. It is so in itself; it is rich and plentiful and abundant. It is so in the account of all the saints; it is very precious to them, it is their life, their joy, their all. O let me have the benefit of it! Turn to me, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, "Psa 69:16. See how highly he speaks of the goodness of God: in him there are mercies, tender mercies, and a multitude of them. If we think well of God, and continue to do so under the greatest hardships, we need not fear but God will do well for us; for he takes pleasure in those that hope in his mercy, Psa 147:11. 2. He pleads his own distress and affliction: " Hide not thy face from me, for I am in trouble (Psa 69:17), and therefore need thy favour; therefore it will come seasonably, and therefore I shall know how to value it."He pleads particularly the reproach he was under and the indignities that were done him (Psa 69:19): Thou hast known my reproach, my shame, and my dishonour. See what a stress is laid upon this; for, in the sufferings of Christ for us, perhaps nothing contributed more to the satisfaction he made for sin, which had been so injurious to God in his honour, than the reproach, and shame, and dishonour he underwent, which God took notice of, and accepted as more than an equivalent for the everlasting shame and contempt which our sins had deserved, and therefore we must by repentance take shame to ourselves and bear the reproach of our youth. And if at any time we be called out to suffer reproach, and shame, and dishonour, for his sake, this may be our comfort, that he knows it, and, as he is before-hand with us, so he will not be behind-hand with us. The Psalmist speaks the language of an ingenuous nature when he says (Psa 69:20): Reproach has broken my heart; I am full of heaviness; for it bears hard upon one that knows the worth of a good name to be put under a bad character; but when we consider what an honour it is to be dishonoured for God, and what a favour to be counted worthy to suffer shame for his name (as they deemed it, Act 5:41), we shall see there is no reason at all why it should sit so heavily or be any heart-breaking to us. 3. He pleads the insolence and cruelty of his enemies (Psa 69:18): Deliver me because of my enemies, because they were such as he had before described them, Psa 69:4. " My adversaries are all before thee (Psa 69:19); thou knowest what sort of men they are, what danger I am in from them, what enemies they are to thee, and how much thou art reflected upon in what they do and design against me."One instance of their barbarity is given (Psa 69:21): They gave me gall for my meat (the word signifies a bitter herb, and is often joined with wormwood) and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. This was literally fulfilled in Christ, and did so directly point to him that he would not say It is finished till this was fulfilled; and, in order that his enemies might have occasion to fulfil it, he said, I thirst, Joh 19:28, Joh 19:29. Some think that the hyssop which they put to his mouth with the vinegar was the bitter herb which they gave him with the vinegar for his meat. See how particularly the sufferings of Christ were foretold, which proves the scripture to be the word of God, and how exactly the predictions were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, which proves him to be the true Messiah. This is he that should come, and we are to look for no other. 4. He pleads the unkindness of his friends and his disappointment in them (Psa 69:20): I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; they all failed him like the brooks in summer. This was fulfilled in Christ, for in his sufferings all his disciples forsook him and fled. We cannot expect too little from men (miserable comforters are they all); nor can we expect too much from God, for he is the Father of mercy and the God of all comfort and consolation.

Matthew Henry: Psa 69:22-29

These imprecations are not David's prayers against his enemies, but prophecies of the destruction of Christ's persecutors, especially the Jewish nation, which our Lord himself foretold with tears, and which was accomplished about forty years after the death of Christ. The first two verses of this paragraph are expressly applied to the judgments of God upon the unbelieving Jews by the apostle (Rom 11:9, Rom 11:10), and therefore the whole must look that way. The rejection of the Jews for rejecting Christ, as it was a signal instance of God's justice and an earnest of the vengeance which God will at last take on all that are obstinate in their infidelity, so it was, and continues to be, a convincing proof of the truth of the Christian religion. One great objection against it, at first, was, that it set aside the ceremonial law; but its doing so was effectually justified, and that objection removed, when God so remarkably set it aside by the utter destruction of the temple, and the sinking of those, with the Mosaic economy, that obstinately adhered to it in opposition to the gospel of Christ. Let us observe here,

I. What the judgments are which should come upon the crucifiers of Christ; not upon all of them, for there were those who had a hand in his death and yet repented and found mercy (Act 2:23; Act 3:14, Act 3:15), but upon those of them and their successors who justified it by an obstinate infidelity and rejection of his gospel, and by an inveterate enmity to his disciples and followers. See 1Th 2:15, 1Th 2:16. It is here foretold,

1. That their sacrifices and offerings should be a mischief and prejudice to them (Psa 69:22): Let their table become a snare. This may be understood of the altar of the Lord, which is called his table and theirs because in feasting upon the sacrifices they were partakers of the altar. This should have been for their welfare or peace (for they were peace-offerings), but it became a snare and a trap to them; for by their affection and adherence to the altar they were held fast in their infidelity and hardened in their prejudices against Christ, that altar which those had no right to eat of who continued to serve the tabernacle, Heb 13:10. Or it may be understood of their common creature-comforts, even their necessary food; they had given Christ gall and vinegar, and therefore justly shall their meat and drink be made gall and vinegar to them. When the supports of life and delights of sense, through the corruption of our nature, become an occasion of sin to us, and are made the food and fuel of our sensuality, then our table is a snare, which is a good reason why we should never feed ourselves without fear, Jud 1:12.

2. That they should never have the comfort either of that knowledge or of that peace which believers are blessed with in the gospel of Christ (Psa 69:23), that they should be given up, (1.) To a judicial blindness: Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not the glory of God in the face of Christ. Their sin was that they would not see, but shut their eyes against the light, loving darkness rather; their punishment was that they should not see, but be given up to their own hearts' lusts, which were hardening, and the god of this world should be permitted to blind their minds, 2Co 4:4. This was foretold concerning them (Isa 6:10), and Christ ratified it, Mat 13:14, Mat 13:15; Joh 12:40. (2.) To a judicial terror. There is a gracious terror, which opens the way to comfort, such as that of Paul (Act 9:6); he trembled and was astonished. But this is a terror that shall never end in peace, but shall make their loins continually to shake, through horror of conscience, as Belshazzar, when the joints of his loins were loosed. "Let them be driven to despair, and filled with constant confusion."This was fulfilled in the desperate counsels of the Jews when the Romans came upon them.

3. That they should fall and lie under God's anger and fiery indignation (Psa 69:24): Pour out thy indignation upon them. Note, Those who reject God's great salvation proffered to them may justly fear that his indignation will be poured out upon them; for those that submit not to the Son of his love will certainly be made the generation of his wrath. It is the doom passed on those who believe not in Christ that the wrath of God abideth on them (Joh 3:36); it takes hold of them, and will never let them go. Salvation itself will not save those that are not willing to be ruled by it. Behold the goodness and severity of God!

4. That their place and nation should be utterly taken away, the very thing they were afraid of, and to prevent which, as they pretended, they persecuted Christ (Joh 11:48): Let their habitation be desolate (Psa 69:25), which was fulfilled when their country was laid waste by the Romans, and Zion, for their sakes, was ploughed as a field, Mic 3:12. The temple was the house which they were in a particular manner proud of, but this was left unto them desolate, Mat 23:38. Yet that is not all; it ought to be some satisfaction to us, if we be cut off from the enjoyment of our possessions, that others will have the benefit of them when we are dislodged: but it is here added, Let none dwell in their tents, which was remarkably fulfilled in Judah and Jerusalem, for after the destruction of the Jews it was long ere the country was inhabited to any purpose. But this is applied particularly to Judas, by St. Peter, Act 1:20. For, he being felo de se - a suicide, we may suppose his estate was confiscated, so that his habitation was desolate and no man of his own kindred dwelt therein.

5. That their way to ruin should be downhill, and nothing should stop them, nor interpose to prevent it (Psa 69:27): "Lord, leave them to themselves, to add iniquity to iniquity. "Those that are bad, if they be given up to their own hearts' lusts, will certainly be worse; they will add sin to sin, nay, they will add rebellion to their sin, Job 34:37. It is said of the Jews that they filled up their sin always, 1Th 2:16. Add the punishment of iniquity to their iniquity (so some read it), for the same word signifies both sin and punishment, so close is their connexion. If men will sin, God will reckon for it. But those that have multiplied to sin may yet find mercy, for God multiplies to pardon, through the righteousness of the Mediator; and therefore, that they might be precluded from all hopes of mercy, he adds, Let them not come into thy righteousness, to receive the benefit of the righteousness of God, which is by faith in a Mediator, Phi 3:9. Not that God shuts out any from that righteousness, for the gospel excludes none that do not by their unbelief exclude themselves; but let them be left to take their own course and they will never come into this government; for being ignorant of the demands of God's righteousness, and going about to establish the merit of their own, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God, Rom 10:3. And those that are so proud and self-willed that they will not come into God's righteousness shall have their doom accordingly; they themselves have decided it: they shall not come into his righteousness. Let not those expect any benefit by it that are not willing and glad to be beholden to it.

6. That they should be cut off from all hopes of happiness (Psa 69:28): Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be suffered to live any longer, since, the longer they live, the more mischief they do. Multitudes of the unbelieving Jews fell by sword and famine, and none of those who had embraced the Christian faith perished among them; the nation, as a nation, was blotted out, and became not a people. Many understand it of their rejection from God's covenant and all the privileges of it; that is the book of the living: "Let the commonwealth of Israel itself, Israel according to the flesh, now become alienated from that covenant of promise which hitherto it has had the monopoly of. Let it appear that they were never written in the Lamb's book of life, but reprobate silver let men call them, because the Lord has rejected them. Let them not be written with the righteous; that is, let them not have a place in the congregation of the saints when they shall all be gathered in the general assembly of those whose names are written in heaven,"Psa 1:5.

II. What the sin is for which these dreadful judgments should be brought upon them (Psa 69:26): They persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and talk to the grief of thy wounded. 1. Christ was he whom God had smitten, for it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and he was esteemed stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, and therefore men hid their faces from him, Isa 53:3, Isa 53:4, Isa 53:10. They persecuted him with a rage reaching up to heaven; they cried, Crucify him, crucify him. Compare that of St. Peter with this, Act 2:23. Though he was delivered by the counsel and foreknowledge of God, it was with wicked hands that they crucified and slew him. They talked to the grief of the Lord Jesus when he was upon the cross, saying, He trusted in God, let him deliver him, than which nothing could be said more grieving. 2. The suffering saints were God's wounded, wounded in his cause and for his sake, and them they persecuted, and talked to their grief. For these things wrath came upon them to the uttermost, 1Th 2:16; and see Mat 23:34, etc. This may be understood more generally, and it teaches us that nothing is more provoking to God than to insult over those whom he has smitten, and to add affliction to the afflicted, upon which it justly follows here, Add iniquity to iniquity; see Zec 1:15. Those that are of a wounded spirit, under trouble and fear about their spiritual state, ought to be very tenderly dealt with, and care must be taken not to talk to their grief and not to make the heart of the righteous sad.

III. What the psalmist thinks of himself in the midst of all (Psa 69:29): " But I am poor and sorrowful; that is the worst of my case, under outward afflictions, yet written among the righteous, and not under God's indignation as they are."It is better to be poor and sorrowful, with the blessing of God, than rich and jovial and under his curse. For those who come into God's righteousness shall soon see an end of their poverty and sorrow, and his salvation shall set them up on high, which is the thing that David here prays for, Isa 61:10. This may be applied to Christ. He was, in his humiliation, poor and sorrowful, a man of sorrows, and that had not where to lay his head. But God highly exalted him; the salvation wrought for him, the salvation wrought by him, set him up on high, far above all principalities and powers.

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 69:1-13

Out of deep distress, the work of his foes, the complaining one cries for help; he thinks upon his sins, which is sufferings bring to his remembrance, but he is also distinctly conscious that he is an object of scorn and hostility for God's sake, and from His mercy he looks for help in accordance with His promises. The waters are said to rush in unto the soul ( עד־נפשׁ ), when they so press upon the imperilled one that the soul, i.e., the life of the body, more especially the breath, is threatened; cf. Jon 2:6; Jer 4:10. Waters are also a figure of calamities that come on like a flood and drag one into their vortex, Psa 18:17; Psa 32:6; Psa 124:5, cf. Psa 66:12; Psa 88:8, Psa 88:18; here, however, the figure is cut off in such a way that it conveys the impression of reality expressed in a poetical form, as in Ps 40, and much the same as in Jonah's psalm. The soft, yielding morass is called יון , and the eddying deep מצוּלה . The Nomen Hophal . מעמד signifies properly a being placed, then a standing-place, or firm standing (lxx ὑπόστασις ), like מטּה , that which is stretched out, extension, Isa 8:8. שׁבּלת (Ephraimitish סבּלת ) is a streaming, a flood, from שׁבל , Arab. sbl , to stream, flow (cf. note on Psa 58:9 ). בּוא בּ , to fall into, as in Psa 66:12, and שׁטף with an accusative, to overflow, as in Psa 124:4. The complaining one is nearly drowned in consequence of his sinking down, for he has long cried in vain for help: he is wearied by continual crying ( יגע בּ , as in Psa 6:7, Jer 45:3), his throat is parched ( נחר from חרר ; lxx and Jerome: it is become hoarse), his eyes have failed (Jer 14:6) him, who waits upon his God. The participle מיחל , equal to a relative clause, is, as in 18:51, 1Ki 14:6, attached to the suffix of the preceding noun (Hitzig). Distinct from this use of the participle without the article is the adverbially qualifying participle in Gen 3:8; Son 5:2, cf. חי , 2Sa 12:21; 2Sa 18:14. There is no necessity for the correction of the text מיּחל (lxx apo' τοῦ elpi'zein me). Concerning the accentuation of רבּוּ vid., on Psa 38:20. Apart from the words "more than the hairs of my head"(Psa 40:13), the complaint of the multitude of groundless enemies is just the same as in Psa 38:20; Psa 35:19, cf. Psa 109:3, both in substance and expression. Instead of מצמיתי , my destroyers, the Syriac version has the reading מעצמותי (more numerous than my bones), which is approved by Hupfeld; but to reckon the multitude of the enemy by the number of one's own bones is both devoid of taste and unheard of. Moreover the reading of our text finds support, if it need any, in Lam 3:52. The words, "what I have not taken away, I must then restore,"are intended by way of example, and perhaps, as also in Jer 15:10, as a proverbial expression: that which I have not done wrong, I must suffer for (cf. Jer 15:10, and the similar complaint in Psa 35:11). One is tempted to take אז in the sense of "nevertheless"(Ewald), a meaning, however, which it is by no means intended to convey. In this passage it takes the place of זאת (cf. οὕτως for ταῦτα , Mat 7:12), inasmuch as it gives prominence to the restitution desired, as an inference from a false assumption: then, although I took it not away, stole it not.

The transition from the bewailing of suffering to a confession of sin is like Psa 40:13. In the undeserved persecution which he endures at the hand of man, he is obliged nevertheless to recognise well-merited chastisement from the side of God. And whilst by אתּה ידעתּ (cf. Psa 40:10, Jer 15:15; Jer 17:16; Jer 18:23, and on ל as an exponent of the object, Jer 16:16; Jer 40:2) he does not acknowledge himself to be a sinner after the standard of his own shortsightedness, but of the divine omniscience, he at the same time commends his sinful need, which with self-accusing modesty he calls אוּלת (Psa 38:6) and אשׁמות (2Ch 28:10), to the mercy of the omniscient One. Should he, the sinner, be abandoned by God to destruction, then all those who are faithful in their intentions towards the Lord would be brought to shame and confusion in him, inasmuch as they would be taunted with this example. קויך designates the godly from the side of the πίστις , and מבקשׁיך a from the side of the ἀγάπη . The multiplied names of God are so many appeals to God's honour, to the truthfulness of His covenant relationship. The person praying here is, it is true, a sinner, but that is no justification of the conduct of men towards him; he is suffering for the Lord's sake, and it is the Lord Himself who is reviled in him. It is upon this he bases his prayer in Psa 69:8. עליך , for thy sake, as in Psa 44:23; Jer 15:15. The reproach that he has to bear, and ignominy that has covered his face and made it quite unrecognisable (Psa 44:16, cf. Psa 83:17), have totally estranged (Psa 38:12, cf. Psa 88:9, Job 19:13-15; Jer 12:6) from him even his own brethren ( אחי , parallel word בּני אמּי , as in Psa 50:20; cf. on the other hand, Gen 49:8, where the interchange designedly takes another form of expression); for the glow of his zeal ( קנאהּ from קנא , according to the Arabic, to be a deep or bright red) for the house of Jahve, viz., for the sanctity of the sanctuary and of the congregation gathered about it (which is never directly called "the house of Jahve"in the Old Testament, vid., Köhler on Zec 9:8, but here, as in Num 12:7; Hos 8:1, is so called in conjunction with the sanctuary), as also for the honour of His who sits enthroned therein, consumes him, like a fire burning in his bones which incessantly breaks forth and rages all through him (Jer 20:9; Jer 23:9), and therefore all the malice of those who are estranged from God is concentrated upon and against him.

He now goes on to describe how sorrow for the sad condition of the house of God has brought noting but reproach to him (cf. Psa 109:24.). It is doubtful whether נפשׁי is an alternating subject to ואבכּה ( fut. consec . without being apocopated), cf. Jer 13:17, or a more minutely defining accusative as in Isa 26:9 (vid., on Psa 3:5), or whether, together with בּצּום , it forms a circumstantial clause ( et flevi dum in jejunio esset anima mea ), or even whether it is intended to be taken as an accusative of the object in a pregnant construction (= בּכה ושׁפך נפשׁו , Psa 42:5; 1Sa 1:15): I wept away my soul in fasting. Among all these possible renderings, the last is the least probable, and the first, according to Psa 44:3; 83:19, by far the most probable, and also that which is assumed by the accentuation.

(Note: The Munach of בצום is a transformation of Dechî (just as the Munach of לחרפות is a transformation of Mugrash ), in connection with which נקשי might certainly be conceived of even as object (cf. Psa 26:6 ); but this after ואבכּה (not ואבכּה ), and as being without example, could hardly have entered the minds of the punctuists.)

The reading of the lxx ואענּה , καὶ συνέκαψα (Olshausen, Hupfeld, and Böttcher), is a very natural (Psa 35:13) exchange of the poetically bold expression for one less choice and less expressive (since ענּה נפשׁ is a phrase of the Pentateuch equivalent to צוּם ). The garb of mourning, like the fasting, is an expression of sorrow for public distresses, not, as in Psa 35:13, of personal condolence; concerning ואתּנה , vid., on Psa 3:6. On account of this mourning, reproach after reproach comes upon him, and they fling gibes and raillery at him; everywhere, both in the gate, the place where the judges sit and where business is transacted, and also at carousals, he is jeered at and traduced (Lam 3:14, cf. Lam 5:14; Job 30:9). שׂיח בּ signifies in itself fabulari de ... without any bad secondary meaning (cf. Pro 6:22, confabulabitur tecum ); here it is construed first with a personal and then a neuter subject (cf. Amo 8:3), for in Psa 69:13 neither הייתי (Job 30:9; Lam 3:14) nor אני (Lam 3:63) is to be supplied. Psa 69:14 tells us how he acts in the face of such hatred and scorn; ואני , as in Psa 109:4, sarcasmis hostium suam opponit in precibus constantiam (Geier). As for himself, his prayer is directed towards Jahve at the present time, when his affliction as a witness for God gives him the assurance that He will be well-pleased to accept it ( עת רצון = בעת רצון , Isa 49:8). It is addressed to Him who is at the same time Jahve and Elohim , - the revealed One in connection with the history of redemption, and the absolute One in His exaltation above the world, - on the ground of the greatness and fulness of His mercy: may He then answer him with or in the truth of His salvation, i.e., the infallibility with which His purpose of mercy verifies itself in accordance with the promises given. Thus is Psa 69:14 to be explained in accordance with the accentuation. According to Isa 49:8, it looks as though עת רצון must be drawn to ענני (Hitzig), but Psa 32:6 sets us right on this point; and the fact that ברב־חסדך is joined to Psa 69:14 also finds support from Psa 5:8. But the repetition of the divine name perplexes one, and it may be asked whether or not the accent that divides the verse into its two parts might not more properly stand beside רצון , as in Psa 32:6 beside מצא ; so that Psa 69:14 runs: Elohim, by virtue of the greatness of Thy mercy hear me, by virtue of the truth of Thy salvation.

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 69:14-21

In this second part the petition by which the first is as it were encircled, is continued; the peril grows greater the longer it lasts, and with it the importunity of the cry for help. The figure of sinking in the mire or mud and in the depths of the pit ( בּאר , Ps 55:24, cf. בור , Psa 40:3) is again taken up, and so studiously wrought out, that the impression forces itself upon one that the poet is here describing something that has really taken place. The combination "from those who hate me and from the depths of the waters"shows that "the depths of the waters"is not a merely rhetorical figure; and the form of the prayer: let not the pit (the well-pit or covered tank) close ( תּאטּר with Dagesh in the Teth , in order to guard against its being read תּאטר ; cf. on the signification of אטּר , clausus = claudus , scil. manu ) its mouth (i.e., its upper opening) upon me, exceeds the limits of anything that can be allowed to mere rhetoric. "Let not the water-flood overflow me"is intended to say, since it has, according to Psa 69:3, already happened, let it not go further to my entire destruction. The "answer me"in Psa 69:17 is based upon the plea that God's loving-kindness is טּוב , i.e., good, absolutely good (as in the kindred passion-Psalm, Psa 109:21), better than all besides (Psa 63:4), the means of healing or salvation from all evil. On Psa 69:17 cf. Psa 51:3, Lam 3:32. In Psa 69:18 the prayer is based upon the painful situation of the poet, which urgently calls for speedy help ( מהר beside the imperative, Psa 102:3; Psa 143:7; Gen 19:22; Est 6:10, is certainly itself not an imperative like הרב , Psa 51:4, but an adverbial infinitive as in Psa 79:8). קרבה , or, in order to ensure the pronunciation ḳorbah in distinction from ḳārbah , Deu 15:9, קרבה (in Baer,

(Note: Originally - was the sign for every kind of o6 , hence the Masora includes the חטוף also under the name קמץ חטף ; vid., Luther. Zeitschrift , 1863, S. 412,f., cf. Wright, Genesis , p. xxix.))

is imperat. Kal ; cf. the fulfilment in Lam 3:57. The reason assigned, "because of mine enemies,"as in Psa 5:9; Psa 27:11, and frequently, is to be understood according to Psa 13:5 : the honour of the all-holy One cannot suffer the enemies of the righteous to triumph over him.

(Note: Both נפשׁי and איבי , contrary to logical interpunction, are marked with Munach ; the former ought properly to have Dechî , and the latter Mugrash . But since neither the Athnach -word nor the Silluk -word has two syllables preceding the tone syllable, the accents are transformed according to Accentuationssystem , xviii. §2, 4.)

The accumulation of synonyms in Psa 69:20 is Jeremiah's custom, Jer 13:14; Jer 21:5, Jer 21:7; Jer 32:37, and is found also in Ps 31 (Psa 31:10) and Ps 44 (Psa 44:4, Psa 44:17, Psa 44:25). On הרפּה שׁברה לבּי , cf. Psa 51:19, Jer 23:9. The ἅπαξ γεγραμ , ואנוּשׁה (historical tense), from נוּשׁ , is explained by ענוּשׁ from אנשׁ , sickly, dangerously ill, evil-disposed, which is a favourite word in Jeremiah. Moreover נוּד in the signification of manifesting pity, not found elsewhere in the Psalter, is common in Jeremiah, e.g., Psa 15:5; it signifies originally to nod to any one as a sign of a pity that sympathizes with him and recognises the magnitude of the evil. "To give wormwood for meat and מי־ראשׁ to drink"is a Jeremianic (Jer 8:14; Jer 9:14; Jer 23:15) designation for inflicting the extreme of pain and anguish upon one. ראשׁ ( רושׁ ) signifies first of all a poisonous plant with an umbellated head of flower or a capitate fruit; but then, since bitter and poisonous are interchangeable notions in the Semitic languages, it signifies gall as the bitterest of the bitter. The lxx renders: καὶ ἔδωκαν εἰς τὸ βρῶμά μου χολήν, καὶ εἰς τὴν δίψαν μου ἐπότισάν με ὄξος . Certainly נתן בּ can mean to put something into something, to mix something with it, but the parallel word לצמאי (for my thirst, i.e., for the quenching of it, Neh 9:15, Neh 9:20) favours the supposition that the בּ of בּברוּתי is Beth essentiae , after which Luther renders: "they give me gall to eat."The ἅπαξ γεγραμ . בּרוּת (Lam 4:10 בּרות ) signifies βρῶσις , from בּרה , βιβρώσκειν (root βορ , Sanscrit gar , Latin vor-are ).

Keil-Delitzsch: Psa 69:22-36

The description of the suffering has reached its climax in Psa 69:22, at which the wrath of the persecuted one flames up and bursts forth in imprecations. The first imprecation joins itself upon Psa 69:22. They have given the sufferer gall and vinegar; therefore their table, which was abundantly supplied, is to be turned into a snare to them, from which they shall not be able to escape, and that לפניהם , in the very midst of their banqueting, whilst the table stands spread out before them (Eze 23:41). שׁלומים (collateral form of שׁלמים ) is the name given to them as being carnally secure; the word signifies the peaceable or secure in a good (Psa 55:21) and in a bad sense. Destruction is to overtake them suddenly, "when they say: Peace and safety"(1Th 5:3). The lxx erroneously renders: καὶ εἰς ἀνταπόδοσιν = וּלשׁלּוּמים . The association of ideas in Psa 69:24 is transparent. With their eyes they have feasted themselves upon the sufferer, and in the strength of their loins they have ill-treated him. These eyes with their bloodthirsty malignant looks are to grow blind. These loins full of defiant self-confidence are to shake ( המעד , imperat. Hiph . like הרחק , Job 13:21, from המעיד , for which in Eze 29:7, and perhaps also in Dan 11:14, we find העמיד ). Further: God is to pour out His wrath upon them (Psa 79:6; Hos 5:10; Jer 10:25), i.e., let loose against them the cosmical forces of destruction existing originally in His nature. זעמּך has the Dagesh in order to distinguish it in pronunciation from זעמך . In Psa 69:26 טירה (from טוּר , to encircle) is a designation of an encamping or dwelling-place (lxx ἔπαυλις ) taken from the circular encampments (Arabic ṣı̂rât , ṣirât , and dwâr , duâr ) of the nomads (Gen 25:16). The laying waste and desolation of his own house is the most fearful of all misfortunes to the Semite ( Job , note to Psa 18:15). The poet derives the justification of such fearful imprecations from the fact that they persecute him, who is besides smitten of God. God has smitten him on account of his sins, and that by having placed him in the midst of a time in which he must be consumed with zeal and solicitude for the house of God. The suffering decreed for him by God is therefore at one and the same time suffering as a chastisement and as a witnessing for God; and they heighten this suffering by every means in their power, not manifesting any pity for him or any indulgence, but imputing to him sins that he has not committed, and requiting him with deadly hatred for benefits for which they owed him thanks.

There are also some others, although but few, who share this martyrdom with him. The psalmist calls them, as he looks up to Jahve, חלליך , Thy fatally smitten ones; they are those to whom God has appointed that they should bear within themselves a pierced or wounded heart (vid., Psa 109:22, cf. Jer 8:18) in the face of such a godless age. Of the deep grief ( אל , as in Psa 2:7) of these do they tell, viz., with self-righteous, self-blinded mockery (cf. the Talmudic phrase ספר בלשׁון הרע or ספר לשׁון הרע , of evil report or slander). The lxx and Syriac render יוסיפוּ ( προσέθηκαν ): they add to the anguish; the Targum, Aquila, Symmachus, and Jerome follow the traditional text. Let God therefore, by the complete withdrawal of His grace, suffer them to fall from one sin into another - this is the meaning of the da culpam super culpam eorum - in order that accumulated judgment may correspond to the accumulated guilt (Jer 16:18). Let the entrance into God's righteousness, i.e., His justifying and sanctifying grace, be denied to them for ever. Let them be blotted out of ספר חיּים (Exo 32:32, cf. Isa 4:3; Dan 12:1), that is to say, struck out of the list of the living, and that of the living in this present world; for it is only in the New Testament that we meet with the Book of Life as a list of the names of the heirs of the ζωὴ αἰώνιος . According to the conception both of the Old and of the New Testament the צדיקים are the heirs of life. Therefore Psa 69:29 wishes that they may not be written by the side of the righteous, who, according to Hab 2:4, "live,"i.e., are preserved, by their faith. With ואני the poet contrasts himself, as in Ps 40:18, with those deserving of execration. They are now on high, but in order to be brought low; he is miserable and full of poignant pain, but in order to be exalted; God's salvation will remove him from his enemies on to a height that is too steep for them (Psa 59:2; Psa 91:14). Then will he praise ( הלּל ) and magnify ( גּדּל ) the Name of God with song and thankful confession. And such spiritual תּודה , such thank-offering of the heart, is more pleasing to God than an ox, a bullock, i.e., a young ox (= פּר השּׁור , an ox-bullock, Jdg 6:25, according to Ges. §113), one having horns and a cloven hoof (Ges. §53, 2). The attributives do not denote the rough material animal nature (Hengstenberg), but their legal qualifications for being sacrificed. מקרין is the name for the young ox as not being under three years old (cf. 1Sa 1:24, lxx ἐν μόσχῳ τριετίζοντι ); מפריס as belonging to the clean four-footed animals, viz., those that are cloven-footed and chew the cud, Lev. 11. Even the most stately, full-grown, clean animal that may be offered as a sacrifice stands in the sight of Jahve very far below the sacrifice of grateful praise coming from the heart.

When now the patient sufferers ( ענוים ) united with the poet by community of affliction shall see how he offers the sacrifice of thankful confession, they will rejoice. ראוּ is a hypothetical preterite; it is neither וראוּ ( perf. consec .), nor יראוּ (Psa 40:4; Psa 52:8; Psa 107:42; Job 22:19). The declaration conveying information to be expected in Psa 69:33 after the Waw apodoseos changes into an apostrophe of the "seekers of Elohim:"their heart shall revive, for, as they have suffered in company with him who is now delivered, they shall now also refresh themselves with him. We are at once reminded of Psa 22:27, where this is as it were the exhortation of the entertainer at the thank-offering meal. It would be rash to read שׁמע in Psa 69:23, after Psa 22:25, instead of שׁמע (Olshausen); the one object in that passage is here generalized: Jahve is attentive to the needy, and doth not despise His bound ones (Psa 107:10), but, on the contrary, He takes an interest in them and helps them. Starting from this proposition, which is the clear gain of that which has been experienced, the view of the poet widens into the prophetic prospect of the bringing back of Israel out of the Exile into the Land of Promise. In the face of this fact of redemption of the future he calls upon (cf. Isa 44:23) all created things to give praise to God, who will bring about the salvation of Zion, will build again the cities of Judah, and restore the land, freed from its desolation, to the young God-fearing generation, the children of the servants of God among the exiles. The feminine suffixes refer to ערי (cf. Jer 2:15; Jer 22:6 Chethîb ). The tenor of Isa 65:9 is similar. If the Psalm were written by David, the closing turn from Psa 69:23 onwards might be more difficult of comprehension than Psa 14:7; 51:20f. If, however, it is by Jeremiah, then we do not need to persuade ourselves that it is to be understood not of restoration and re-peopling, but of continuance and completion (Hofmann and Kurtz). Jeremiah lived to experience the catastrophe he foretold; but the nearer it came to the time, the more comforting were the words with which he predicted the termination of the Exile and the restoration of Israel. Jer 34:7 shows us how natural to him, and to him in particular, was the distinction between Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. The predictions in Jer 32:1, which sound so in accord with Psa 69:36., belong to the time of the second siege. Jerusalem was not yet fallen; the strong places of the land, however, already lay in ruins.

Constable: Psa 42:1--72:20

II. Book 2: chs. 42--72

In Book 1 we saw that all the psalms except 1, 2, 10, and 33 claimed David as their writer. It is likely that he wrote these four as well even though they do not bear his name. In Book 2 the titles identify David as the writer of 18 psalms (Pss. 51-65, 68-70). He may have written those bearing the notation, "of the sons of Korah" (Pss. 42, 44-49). The sons of Korah (cf. Num. 26:10-11) were musicians (1 Chron. 6:31-48). Some scholars believe David wrote these psalms for them to perform. Others believe the sons of Korah composed them. I think this is a less likely possibility because of the similarity between the content of these psalms and the ones David wrote. Asaph wrote Psalm 50, and Solomon composed Psalm 72. Psalms 43, 66, 67, and 71 are anonymous.

Constable: Psa 69:1-36

Psalm 69

In this psalm David sought God to deliver him from destruction. He was experiencing criticism and rejection from the Israelites because of decisions he had made to do God's will. He asked God to deal with his oppressors, and he looked forward to relief and the renewal of praise to God. Some scholars have labelled this psalm indirectly messianic because while it does not specifically predict Messiah, Messiah fulfilled what the writer expressed (cf. Ps. 16; 22; 34; 40; 41; 109).¹²⁷

Constable: Psa 69:1-3

1. The unwarranted hatred of David's enemies 69:1-4

69:1-3 The psalmist likened his desperate condition to that of a drowning man. He also pictured himself hoarse from praying and losing his eyesight as he strained to see God's deliverance that had not yet appeared.

69:4 David faced numerous critics that he described hyperbolically as innumerable. His enemies were very powerful people. He was having to make concessions to them that were unwarranted.

Jesus Christ suffered this type of opposition as well. He referred to His sufferings as a fulfillment of what David had written here and elsewhere (Ps. 35:19) in John 15:25.

Constable: Psa 69:4-11

2. The reason for and the results of David's condition 69:5-12

69:5 David did not pretend to be sinless. However he believed his enemies' present antagonism was not due to sins he had committed.

69:6-7 The psalmist did not want others who trusted in God to feel discouraged by the opposition of his critics. He seems to have had in mind those who stood with him in the decision that had drawn criticism.

69:8 Very few people sided with David. Even his closest relatives had turned against him.

69:9 Evidently it was David's preoccupation with building the temple that had turned popular opinion against him. Perhaps the majority of the Israelites considered this an extravagant project. Had he increased taxes to pay for it? We do not know.

The Lord Jesus' zeal for the temple that led Him to drive the money changers out of it brought this verse to His disciples' minds (John 2:17).

69:10-11 David had expressed his mourning over the opposition he faced by weeping internally, by going without meals, and by wearing sackcloth. His sorrow was genuine and deep.

69:12 From the most respected city judges who sat in the gate to the least respected drunkards, everyone was criticizing David.

Constable: Psa 69:12-27

3. David's appeal to God in prayer 69:13-28

69:13-15 David wanted deliverance from a premature death and a word from the Lord that would enable him to know what to do.

69:16-18 The king based his petition on the loyal love and compassion of God. He asked God to redeem him from his trouble by drawing him out of it. God had done this when He redeemed Israel out of Egyptian bondage.

69:19-21 David was confident that God knew his situation and because He knew it would help him. The opposition of his critics had wounded David's spirit. None of his friends stood with him when popular opinion turned against him. Instead of sustaining him with a good meal they gave him poison to eat and vinegar to drink. This is probably a figurative description of their treatment of him. The Hebrew word barut (food) describes a meal that sympathetic friends gave to a mourner.¹²⁸ David's use of this particular word highlights the hypocrisy of his friends' actions.

One of Jesus' disciples treated Him hypocritically by betraying Him with a kiss (Matt. 26:48). Jesus' enemies gave Him real vinegar to drink as He hung on the cross (Matt. 27:48).

69:22-28 "Up to this point, Christ and His passion have been so evidently foreshadowed (see on verses 4, 9, 21) that we are almost prepared now for a plea approximating to Father, forgive them'. The curse which comes instead is a powerful reminder of the new thing which our Lord did at Calvary."¹²⁹

Most of these verses call down God's punishment on those who had opposed God's anointed who sought to do His will and glorify Him. David was not venting his personal hatred but was asking God to punish those who resisted Him.

The Apostle Paul applied verses 22 and 23 to the Jews who had opposed the Lord Jesus in Romans 11:9-10 (cf. 1 Thess. 5:3).

The reason David wanted God to deal with his adversaries so severely comes through in verse 26. They had poured salt in a wound that God had given him. Evidently David viewed his suffering as ultimately coming from God in the sense that He had permitted it. His human enemies were adding insult to injury by treating him the way they did.

Likewise God was behind the crucifixion of His Son, but the human agents of Jesus' sufferings and death were also responsible and had to bear the punishment for their actions.

David asked that God blot out the names of his enemies from His book of life (v. 28). This probably refers to the book of the living (cf. Rev. 3:5). The term "book of life" in the Old Testament refers to the record of those who are alive physically (cf. Exod. 32:32-33; Deut. 29:20; Ps. 69:28; Dan. 12:1; cf. Exod. 17:14; Deut. 25:19; Isa. 4:3). It came to have a more specific meaning in the New Testament. There it usually refers to the list of the names and deeds of the elect (Luke 10:20; Phil. 4:3; Heb. 12:23; Rev. 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27; 22:19; cf. Rev. 2:11).¹³⁰ In other words David asked God to cut the lives of his enemies short.

Commentary -- Other

Evidence: Psa 69:9

This is a direct reference to the Messiah. (See Joh 2:17 ).

Evidence: Psa 69:21

Messianic prophecy : This was fulfilled in Joh 19:29 .

Introduction / Outline

JFB: Psalms (Book Introduction)

The Hebrew title of this book is Tehilim ("praises" or "hymns"), for a leading feature in its contents is praise, though the word occurs in the title of only one Psalm (the hundred forty-fifth). The Greek title (in the Septuagint, a translation made two hundred years before Christ) is psalmoi, whence our word "Psalms." This corresponds to the Hebrew word mizmoi by which sixty-five Psalms are designated in their inscriptions, and which the Syriac, a language like the Hebrew, uses for the whole book. It means, as does also the Greek name, an ode, or song, whose singing is accompanied by an instrument, particularly the harp (compare 1Ch 16:4-8; 2Ch 5:12-13). To some Psalms, the Hebrew word (shir) "a song," is prefixed. Paul seems to allude to all these terms in Eph 5:19, "singing . . . in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs."

TITLES.--To more than a hundred Psalms are prefixed inscriptions, which give one or more (and in one case, [Psalm 60], all) of these particulars: the direction to the musician, the name of the author or the instrument, the style of the music or of the poetry, the subject or occasion. The authority of these inscriptions has been disputed by some writers. They say that the earliest translators, as the Greek and Syriac, evince a disregard for their authority, by variations from a proper translation of some, altering others, and, in several instances, supplying titles to Psalms which, in Hebrew, had none. It is also alleged that the subject of a Psalm, as given in the title, is often inconsistent with its contents. But those translators have also varied from a right translation of many passages in the Bible, which all agree to be of good authority; and the alleged inconsistency may be shown, on more accurate investigation, not to exist. The admitted antiquity of these inscriptions, on the other hand, and even their obscurity, raise a presumption in their favor, while such prefaces to a composition accord with the usages of that age and part of the world (compare Isa 38:9).

"The Chief Musician" was the superintendent of the music (compare "to oversee," 1Ch 15:21, Margin). "To" prefixed to this, means, "pertaining to" in his official character. This inscription is found in fifty-three Psalms and is attached to Habakkuk's prayer (Hab. 3:1-19). The same Hebrew preposition is prefixed to the name of the author and translated "of," as "a Psalm of David," "of Asaph," except that to "the sons of Korah," it is translated "for," which is evidently wrong, as the usual direction, "to the chief musician," is given, and no other authorship intimated. On the apparent exception to this last remark, see below, and see on Psa 88:1, title. The explanations of other particulars in the titles will be given as they occur.

AUTHORS.--This book is often called "The Psalms of David," he being the only author mentioned in the New Testament (Luk 20:42) and his name appearing in more titles than that of any other writer. Besides about one-half of the Psalms in which it thus appears, Psalms 2 and 95 are ascribed to him (Act 4:25 and Heb 4:7). He was probably the author of many others which appear without a name. He used great efforts to beautify the worship of the sanctuary. Among the two hundred eighty-eight Levites he appointed for singing and performing instrumental music, we find mentioned the "sons of Korah" (1Ch 9:19); including Heman (1Ch 6:33-38); and also Asaph (1Ch 6:39-44); and Ethan (1Ch 15:17-19). God was doubtless pleased to endow these men with the inspiration of His Spirit, so that they used those poetic talents which their connection with the kindred art of music had led them to cultivate, in the production of compositions like those of their king and patron. To Asaph are ascribed twelve Psalms; to the sons of Korah, eleven, including the eighty-eighth, which is also ascribed to Heman, that being the only instance in which the name of the "son" (or descendant) is mentioned; and to Ethan, one. Solomon's name appears before the seventy-second and hundred twenty-seventh; and that of Moses before the ninetieth. Special questions respecting authorship will be explained as they arise.

CONTENTS.--As the book contains one hundred fifty independent compositions, it is not susceptible of any logical analysis. The Jews having divided it into five books, corresponding to the Five Books of Moses (First, Psalms 1-42; Second, Psalms 43-72; Third, Psalms 73-89; Fourth, Psalms 90-106; Fifth, Psalms 107-150), many attempts have been made to discover, in this division, some critical or practical value, but in vain. Sundry efforts have been made to classify the Psalms by subject. Angus' Bible Hand Book is perhaps the most useful, and is appended.

Still the Psalms have a form and character peculiar to themselves; and with individual diversities of style and subject, they all assimilate to that form, and together constitute a consistent system of moral truth. They are all poetical, and of that peculiar parallelism (see Introduction to the Poetical Books,) which distinguished Hebrew poetry. They are all lyrical, or songs adapted to musical instruments, and all religious lyrics, or such as were designed to be used in the sanctuary worship.

The distinguishing feature of the Psalms is their devotional character. Whether their matter be didactic, historical, prophetical, or practical, it is made the ground or subject of prayer, or praise, or both. The doctrines of theology and precepts of pure morality are here inculcated. God's nature, attributes, perfections, and works of creation, providence, and grace, are unfolded. In the sublimest conceptions of the most exalted verse, His glorious supremacy over the principalities of heaven, earth, and hell, and His holy, wise, and powerful control of all material and immaterial agencies, are celebrated. The great covenant of grace resting on the fundamental promise of a Redeemer, both alike the provisions of God's exhaustless mercy, is set forth in respect of the doctrines of regeneration by the Spirit, forgiveness of sins, repentance toward God, and faith toward Jesus Christ, while its glorious results, involving the salvation of men "from the ends of the earth" [Act 13:47], are proclaimed in believing, prophetic prayer and thankful praise. The personal history of the authors, and especially David's in its spiritual aspects, is that of God's people generally. Christian biography is edifying only as it is truth illustrated in experience, such as God's Word and Spirit produce. It may be factitious in origin and of doubtful authenticity. But here the experience of the truly pious is detailed, under divine influence, and "in words which the Holy Ghost" taught [1Co 2:13]. The whole inner life of the pious man is laid open, and Christians of all ages have here the temptations, conflicts, perplexities, doubts, fears, penitent moanings, and overwhelming griefs on the one hand, and the joy and hope of pardoning mercy, the victory over the seductions of false-hearted flatterers, and deliverance from the power of Satan on the other, with which to compare their own spiritual exercises. Here, too, are the fruits of that sovereign mercy, so often sought in earnest prayer, and when found, so often sung in rapturous joy, exhibited by patience in adversity, moderation in prosperity, zeal for God's glory, love for man, justice to the oppressed, holy contempt for the proud, magnanimity towards enemies, faithfulness towards friends, delight in the prosperity of Zion, and believing prayer for her enlargement and perpetuity.

The historical summaries of the Psalms are richly instructive. God's choice of the patriarchs, the sufferings of the Israelites in Egypt, their exodus, temptations of God, rebellions and calamities in the wilderness, settlement in Canaan, backslidings and reformations, furnish illustrations of God's providential government of His people, individually and collectively, tending to exalt His adorable grace and abase human pride. But the promises and prophecies connected with these summaries, and elsewhere presented in the Psalms, have a far wider reach, exhibiting the relations of the book to the great theme of promise and prophecy:

THE MESSIAH AND HIS KINGDOM.--David was God's chosen servant to rule His people, as the head at once of the State and the Church, the lineal ancestor, "according to the flesh" [Act 2:30; Rom 1:3], of His adorable Son, and His type, in His official relations, both in suffering and in triumph. Generally, David's trials by the ungodly depicted the trials of Christ, and his final success the success of Christ's kingdom. Typically, he uses language describing his feelings, which only finds its full meaning in the feelings of Christ. As such it is quoted and applied in the New Testament. And further, in view of the great promise (2Sa 7:12-16) to him and his seed, to which such frequent reference is made in the Psalms, David was inspired to know, that though his earthly kingdom should perish, his spiritual would ever endure, in the power, beneficence, and glory of Christ's. In repeating and amplifying that promise, he speaks not only as a type, but "being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne," he "foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. His incarnation, humiliating sorrows, persecution, and cruel death are disclosed in the plaintive cries of a despairing sufferer; and His resurrection and ascension, His eternal priesthood, His royal dignity, His prophetical office, the purchase and bestowal of the gifts of the Spirit, the conversion of the nations, the establishment, increase, and perpetuity of the Church, the end of time, and the blessedness of the righteous who acknowledge, and the ruin of the wicked who reject this King in Zion, are predicted in the language of assured confidence and joy." While these great themes have supplied the people of God with a popular theology and a guide in religious experience and Christian morality, clothed in the language of devotion, they have provided an inspired liturgy in which the pious, of all creeds and sects, have, for nearly three thousand years, poured out their prayers and praises. The pious Jew, before the coming of Christ, mourned over the adversity, or celebrated the future glories, of Zion, in the words of her ancient king. Our Saviour, with His disciples, sang one of these hymns on the night on which He was betrayed [Mat 26:30]; He took from one the words in which He uttered the dreadful sorrows of His soul [Mat 27:46], and died with those of another on His lips [Luk 23:46]. Paul and Silas in the dungeon [Act 16:25], primitive Christians in their covert places of worship, or the costly churches of a later day, and the scattered and feeble Christian flocks in the prevalence of darkness and error through the Middle Ages, fed their faith and warmed their love with these consoling songs. Now, throughout the Christian world, in untold forms of version, paraphrase, and imitation, by Papists and Protestants, Prelatists and Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, Methodists--men of all lands and all creeds, in public and private worship, God is still adored in the sentiments expressed in these venerable Psalms. From the tone of sorrow and suffering which pervade their earlier portions we are gradually borne on amid alternate conflicts and triumphs, mournful complaints and awakening confidence; as we approach the close the tones of sorrow grow feebler, and those of praise wax louder and stronger--till, in the exulting strains of the last Psalm, the chorus of earth mingles with the hallelujahs of the multitude, which no man can number, in the sanctuary above.

JFB: Psalms (Outline)

• ALEPH. (Psa 119:1-8). This celebrated Psalm has several peculiarities. It is divided into twenty-two parts or stanzas, denoted by the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each stanza contains eight verses, and the first letter of each verse is that which gives name to the stanza. Its contents are mainly praises of God's Word, exhortations to its perusal, and reverence for it, prayers for its proper influence, and complaints of the wicked for despising it. There are but two verses (Psa 119:122, Psa 119:132) which do not contain some term or description of God's Word. These terms are of various derivations, but here used, for the most part, synonymously, though the use of a variety of terms seems designed, in order to express better the several aspects in which our relations to the revealed word of God are presented. The Psalm does not appear to have any relation to any special occasion or interest of the Jewish Church or nation, but was evidently "intended as a manual of pious thoughts, especially for instructing the young, and its peculiar artificial structure was probably adopted to aid the memory in retaining the language." (Psa. 119:1-176)
• BETH. (Psa 119:9-16). The whole verse may be read as a question; for,
• GIMEL. (Psa 119:17-24). Life is desirable in order to serve God; that we may do so aright, we should seek to have our eyes opened to behold His truth, and earnestly desire fully to understand it.
• DALETH. (Psa 119:25-32). Submitting ourselves in depression to God, He will revive us by His promises, and lead us to declare His mercy to others.
• HE. (Psa 119:33-40). To encourage us in prayer for divine aid in adhering to His truth, we are permitted to believe that by His help we shall succeed.
• VAU. (Psa 119:41-48). The sentiment more fully carried out. God's mercies and salvation, as revealed in His Word, provide hope of forgiveness for the past and security in a righteous course for the future.
• ZAIN. (Psa 119:49-56). Resting on the promises consoles under affliction and the tauntings of the insolent.
• CHETH. (Psa 119:57-64). Sincere desires for God's favor, penitence, and activity in a new obedience, truly evince the sincerity of those who profess to find God a portion (Num 18:20; Psa 16:5; Lam 3:24).
• TETH. (Psa 119:65-72). The reliance on promises (Psa 119:49) is strengthened by experience of past dealings according with promises, and a prayer for guidance, encouraged by sanctified affliction.
• JOD. (Psa 119:73-80). As God made, so He can best control, us. So as to Israel, he owed to God his whole internal and external existence (Deu 32:6).
• CAPH. (Psa 119:81-88). In sorrow the pious heart yearns for the comforts of God's promises (Psa 73:26; Psa 84:2).
• LAMED. (Psa 119:89-96). In all changes God's Word remains firm (1Pe 1:25). Like the heavens, it continually attests God's unfailing power and unchanging care (Psa 89:2).
• MEM. (Psa 119:97-104). This characteristic love for God's law (compare Psa 1:2) ensures increase.
• NUN. (Psa 119:105-112). Not only does the Word of God inform us of His will, but, as a light on a path in darkness, it shows us how to follow the right and avoid the wrong way. The lamp of the Word is not the sun. He would blind our eyes in our present fallen state; but we may bless God for the light shining as in a dark place, to guide us until the Sun of Righteousness shall come, and we shall be made capable of seeing Him (2Pe 1:19; Rev 22:4). The lamp is fed with the oil of the Spirit. The allusion is to the lamps and torches carried at night before an Eastern caravan.
• SAMECH. (Psa 119:113-120).
• AIN. (Psa 119:121-128). On the grounds of his integrity, desire for God's word, and covenant relation to Him, the servant of God may plead for His protecting care against the wicked, gracious guidance to the knowledge of truth, and His effective vindication of the righteous and their cause, which is also His own.
• PE. (Psa 119:129-136).
• TZADDI. (Psa 119:137-144). God's justice and faithfulness in His government aggravate the neglect of the wicked, and more excite the lively zeal of His people.
• KOPH. (Psa 119:145-152). An intelligent devotion is led by divine promises and is directed to an increase of gracious affections, arising from a contemplation of revealed truth.
• RESH. (Psa 119:153-160). Though the remembering of God's law is not meritorious, yet it evinces a filial temper and provides the pious with promises to plead, while the wicked in neglecting His law, reject God and despise His promises (compare Psa 9:13; Psa 43:1; Psa 69:18).
• SCHIN. (Psa 119:161-168). (Compare Psa 119:46, Psa 119:86).
• TAU. (Psa 119:169-176). The prayer for understanding of the truth precedes that for deliverance. The fulfilment of the first is the basis of the fulfilment of the second (Psa 90:11-17). On the terms "cry" and "supplication" (compare Psa 6:9; Psa 17:1).
• LIVING VOICES SHALL TAKE UP THE FAILING SOUNDS OF DEAD INSTRUMENTS, AND AS THEY CEASE ON EARTH, THOSE OF INTELLIGENT RANSOMED SPIRITS AND HOLY ANGELS, AS WITH THE SOUND OF MIGHTY THUNDERS, WILL PROLONG ETERNALLY THE PRAISE, SAYING: "ALLELUIA! SALVATION, AND GLORY, AND HONOR, AND POWER, UNTO THE LORD OUR GOD;" "ALLELUIA! FOR THE LORD GOD OMNIPOTENT REIGNETH." AMEN!.

TSK: Psalms (Book Introduction)

The Psalms have been the general song of the universal Church; and in their praise, all the Fathers have been unanimously eloquent. Men of all nations find in these compositions a language at once suitable to their feelings, and expressive of their highest joys and deepest sorrows, as well as of all the endlessly varied wishes and desires of their hearts. Whether the pious believer is disposed to indulge the exalted sentiments of praise and thanksgiving towards the ALMIGHTY FATHER of his being; to pour out his soul in penitence or prayer; to bewail, with tears of contrition, past offences; to magnify the goodness and mercy of GOD; to dwell with ecstacy on the divine attributes of wisdom and omnipotence; or to rejoice in the coming of the MESSIAH, the Psalms afford him the most perfect models for expressing all his feelings.

TSK: Psalms 69 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Psa 69:1, David complains of his affliction; Psa 69:13, He prays for deliverance; Psa 69:22, He devotes his enemies to destruction; Psa 69:30, He praises God with thanksgiving.

Psa 45:1, Psa 60:1, Psa 80:1 *titles

Poole: Psalms (Book Introduction)

OF PSALMS

THE ARGUMENT

The divine authority of this Book of PSALMS is so certain and evident, that it was never questioned in the church; which being fixed, it is of small moment that the penman of some of them is not now known; nor doth this any more lessen its authority, than it invalidates the decree of a prince, or an act of parliament, that it is not certain by whose pen it was drawn up. Most of them were composed by David, as is evident, both from the title of them, and from the express testimony of the New Testament concerning some of them; and that by the inspiration of God’ s Spirit, as appears both from the Divine matter and frame of them, and from 2Sa 23:1 Mat 22:43 Act 1:16 2:25 . But some of them were composed by other persons; by Moses, as Ps 90 , by Heman, and Ethan, and Asaph, as the title of the Psalms show; and by others after their times, whose names are not mentioned, as is manifest from Ps 126 Ps 127 . It is apparent that the Psalms were not written in the order in which they now lie; and they were put into this order either by Ezra, as the Hebrew doctors affirm, or by some other holy prophet or prophets. It is sufficient for us that the whole book is owned as canonical by our blessed Saviour, Luk 24:44 .

PSALM 1

Poole: Psalms 69 (Chapter Introduction)

THE ARGUMENT

This Psalm of David consists of his complaints and fervent prayers, and comfortable predictions of his deliverance, and of the ruin of his enemies. But the condition of this Psalm is like that of divers others, wherein although the matter or substance of it agree in some sort to David, yet there are some singular passages, which he delivers with a particular respect unto Christ, of whom he was an eminent type, and upon whom his thoughts were much and often fixed, and of whom they are more fitly and fully understood; and therefore they are justly applied to him in the New Testament, as we shall see.

David (as a type of Christ) complaineth of his heavy and manifold afflictions, Psa 69:1-12 ; fervently prayeth for help and deliverance, Psa 69:13-21 ; giveth over his enemies to, destruction, Psa 69:22-29 ; and praiseth God in confidence of being accepted, Psa 69:30-34 , and Zion saved, Psa 69:35,36 .

Waters i.e. tribulations, which are oft expressed by waters ; as hath been observed.

Unto my soul i.e. to my vital parts; so that I am ready to be choked with them. My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death.

MHCC: Psalms (Book Introduction)

David was the penman of most of the psalms, but some evidently were composed by other writers, and the writers of some are doubtful. But all were written by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost; and no part of the Old Testament is more frequently quoted or referred to in the New. Every psalm either points directly to Christ, in his person, his character, and offices; or may lead the believer's thoughts to Him. And the psalms are the language of the believer's heart, whether mourning for sin, thirsting after God, or rejoicing in Him. Whether burdened with affliction, struggling with temptation, or triumphing in the hope or enjoyment of deliverance; whether admiring the Divine perfections, thanking God for his mercies, mediating on his truths, or delighting in his service; they form a Divinely appointed standard of experience, by which we may judge ourselves. Their value, in this view, is very great, and the use of them will increase with the growth of the power of true religion in the heart. By the psalmist's expressions, the Spirit helps us to pray. If we make the psalms familiar to us, whatever we have to ask at the throne of grace, by way of confession, petition, or thanksgiving, we may be assisted from thence. Whatever devout affection is working in us, holy desire or hope, sorrow or joy, we may here find words to clothe it; sound speech which cannot be condemned. In the language of this Divine book, the prayers and praises of the church have been offered up to the throne of grace from age to age.

MHCC: Psalms 69 (Chapter Introduction)

(Psa 69:1-12) David complains of great distress.

(Psa 69:13-21) And begs for succour.

(Psa 69:22-29) He declares the judgments of God.

(Psa 69:30-36) He concludes with joy and praise.

Matthew Henry: Psalms (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Book of Psalms

We have now before us one of the choicest and most excellent parts of all the Old Testament; nay, so much is there in it of Christ and his gospel, as well as of God and his law, that it had been called the abstract, or summary, of both Testaments. The History of Israel, which we were long upon, let us to camps and council-boards, and there entertained and instructed us in the knowledge of God. The book of Job brought us into the schools, and treated us with profitable disputations concerning God and his providence. But this book brings us into the sanctuary, draws us off from converse with men, with the politicians, philosophers, or disputers of this world, and directs us into communion with God, by solacing and reposing our souls in him, lifting up and letting out our hearts towards him. Thus may we be in the mount with God; and we understand not our interests if we say not, It is good to be here. Let us consider,

I. The title of this book. It is called, 1. The Psalms; under that title it is referred to, Luk 24:44. The Hebrew calls it Tehillim , which properly signifies Psalms of praise, because many of them are such; but Psalms is a more general word, meaning all metrical compositions fitted to be sung, which may as well be historical, doctrinal, or supplicatory, as laudatory. Though singing be properly the voice of joy, yet the intention of songs is of a much greater latitude, to assist the memory, and both to express and to excite all the other affections as well as this of joy. The priests had a mournful muse as well as joyful ones; and the divine institution of singing psalms is thus largely intended; for we are directed not only to praise God, but to teach and admonish ourselves and one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, Col 3:16. 2. It is called the Book of Psalms; so it is quoted by St. Peter, Act 1:20. It is a collection of psalms, of all the psalms that were divinely inspired, which, though composed at several times and upon several occasions, are here put together without any reference to or dependence upon one another; thus they were preserved from being scattered and lost, and were in so much greater readiness for the service of the church. See what a good master we serve, and what pleasantness there is in wisdom's ways, when we are not only commanded to sing at our work, and have cause enough given us to do so, but have words also put in our mouths and songs prepared to our hands.

II. The author of this book. It is, no doubt, derived originally from the blessed Spirit. They are spiritual songs, words which the Holy Ghost taught. The penman of most of them was David the son of Jesse, who is therefore called the sweet psalmist of Israel, 2Sa 23:1. Some that have not his name in their titles yet are expressly ascribed to him elsewhere, as Psa 2:1-12 (Act 4:25) and Psa 96:1-13 and 105 (1 Chr. 16). One psalm is expressly said to be the prayer of Moses (Ps. 90); and that some of the psalms were penned by Asaph is intimated, 2Ch 29:30, where they are said to praise the Lord in the words of David and Asaph , who is there called a seer or prophet. Some of the psalms seem to have been penned long after, as Psa 137:1-9, at the time of the captivity in Babylon; but the far greater part of them were certainly penned by David himself, whose genius lay towards poetry and music, and who was raised up, qualified, and animated, for the establishing of the ordinance of singing psalms in the church of God, as Moses and Aaron were, in their day, for the settling of the ordinances of sacrifice; theirs is superseded, but his remains, and will to the end of time, when it shall be swallowed up in the songs of eternity. Herein David was a type of Christ, who descended from him, not from Moses, because he came to take away sacrifice (the family of Moses was soon lost and extinct), but to establish and perpetuate joy and praise; for of the family of David in Christ there shall be no end.

III. The scope of it. It is manifestly intended, 1. To assist the exercises of natural religion, and to kindle in the souls of men those devout affections which we owe to God as our Creator, owner, ruler, and benefactor. The book of Job helps to prove our first principles of the divine perfections and providence; but this helps to improve them in prayers and praises, and professions of desire towards him, dependence on him, and an entire devotedness and resignation to him. Other parts of scripture show that God is infinitely above man, and his sovereign Lord; but this shows us that he may, notwithstanding, be conversed with by us sinful worms of the earth; and there are ways in which, if it be not our own fault, we may keep up communion with him in all the various conditions of human life. 2. To advance the excellencies of revealed religion, and in the most pleasing powerful manner to recommend it to the world. There is indeed little or nothing of the ceremonial law in all the book of Psalms. Though sacrifice and offering were yet to continue many ages, yet they are here represented as things which God did not desire (Psa 40:6, Psa 51:16), as things comparatively little, and which in time were to vanish away. But the word and law of God, those parts of it which are moral and of perpetual obligation are here all along magnified and made honourable, nowhere more. And Christ, the crown and centre of revealed religion, the foundation, corner, and top-stone, of that blessed building, is here clearly spoken of in type and prophecy, his sufferings and the glory that should follow, and the kingdom that he should set up in the world, in which God's covenant with David, concerning his kingdom, was to have its accomplishment. What a high value does this book put upon the word of God, his statutes and judgments, his covenant and the great and precious promises of it; and how does it recommend them to us as our guide and stay, and our heritage for ever!

IV. The use of it. All scripture, being given by inspiration of God, is profitable to convey divine light into our understandings; but this book is of singular use with that to convey divine life and power, and a holy warmth, into our affections. There is no one book of scripture that is more helpful to the devotions of the saints than this, and it has been so in all ages of the church, ever since it was written and the several parts of it were delivered to the chief musician for the service of the church. 1. It is of use to be sung. Further than David's psalms we may go, but we need not, for hymns and spiritual songs. What the rules of the Hebrew metre were even the learned are not certain. But these psalms ought to be rendered according to the metre of every language, at least so as that they may be sung for the edification of the church. And methinks it is a great comfort to us, when we are singing David's psalms, that we are offering the very same praises to God that were offered to him in the days of David and the other godly kings of Judah. So rich, so well made, are these divine poems, that they can never be exhausted, can never be worn thread-bare. 2. It is of use to be read and opened by the ministers of Christ, as containing great and excellent truths, and rules concerning good and evil. Our Lord Jesus expounded the psalms to his disciples, the gospel psalms, and opened their understandings (for he had the key of David) to understand them, Luk 24:44. 3. It is of use to be read and meditated upon by all good people. It is a full fountain, out of which we may all be drawing water with joy. (1.) The Psalmist's experiences are of great use for our direction, caution, and encouragement. In telling us, as he often does, what passed between God and his soul, he lets us know what we may expect from God, and what he will expect, and require, and graciously accept, from us. David was a man after God's own heart, and therefore those who find themselves in some measure according to his heart have reason to hope that they are renewed by the grace of God, after the image of God, and many have much comfort in the testimony of their consciences for them that they can heartily say Amen to David's prayers and praises. (2.) Even the Psalmist's expressions too are of great use; and by them the Spirit helps our praying infirmities, because we know not what to pray for as we ought. In all our approaches to God, as well as in our first returns to God, we are directed to take with us words (Hos 14:2), these word, words which the Holy Ghost teaches. If we make David's psalms familiar to us, as we ought to do, whatever errand we have at the throne of grace, by way of confession, petition, or thanksgiving, we may thence be assisted in the delivery of it; whatever devout affection is working in us, holy desire or hope, sorrow or joy, we may there find apt words wherewith to clothe it, sound speech which cannot be condemned. It will be good to collect the most proper and lively expressions of devotion which we find here, and to methodize them, and reduce them to the several heads of prayer, that they may be the more ready to us. Or we may take sometimes one choice psalm and sometimes another, and pray it over, that is, enlarge upon each verse in our own thoughts, and offer up our meditations to God as they arise from the expressions we find there. The learned Dr. Hammond, in his preface to his paraphrase on the Psalms (sect. 29), says, " That going over a few psalms with these interpunctions of mental devotion, suggested, animated, and maintained, by the native life and vigour which is in the psalms, is much to be preferred before the saying over the whole Psalter, since nothing is more fit to be averted in religious offices than their degenerating into heartless dispirited recitations." If, as St. Austin advises, we form our spirit by the affection of the psalm, we may then be sure of acceptance with God in using the language of it. Nor is it only our devotion, and the affections of our mind, that the book of Psalms assists, teaching us how to offer praise so as to glorify God, but, it is also a directory to the actions of our lives, and teaches us how to order our conversation aright, so as that, in the end, we may see the salvation of God, Psa 50:23. The Psalms were thus serviceable to the Old Testament church, but to us Christians they may be of more use than they could be to those who lived before the coming of Christ; for, as Moses's sacrifices, so David's songs, are expounded and made more intelligible by the gospel of Christ, which lets us within the veil; so that if to David's prayers and praises we all St. Paul's prayers in his epistles, and the new songs in the Revelation, we shall be thoroughly furnished for this good work; for the scripture, perfected, makes the man of God perfect.

As to the division of this book, we need not be solicitous; there is no connexion (or very seldom) between one psalm and another, nor any reason discernable for the placing of them in the order wherein we here find them; but it seems to be ancient, for that which is now the second psalm was so in the apostles' time, Act 13:33. The vulgar Latin joins the 9th and 10th together; all popish authors quote by that, so that, thenceforward, throughout the book, their number is one short of ours; our 11 is their 10, our 119 is their 118. But they divide the 147th into two, and so make up the number of 150. Some have endeavoured to reduce the psalms to proper heads, according to the matter of them, but there is often such a variety of matter in one and the same psalm that this cannot be done with any certainty. But the seven penitential Psalms have been in a particular manner singled out by the devotions of many. They are reckoned to be Psa 6:1-10, Psa 32:1-11, 38, 51,102, Psa 130:1-8, and Psa 143:1-12. The Psalms were divided into five books, each concluding with Amen, Amen, or Hallelujah; the first ending with Psa 41:1-13, the second with Ps. 72, the third with Ps. 89, the fourth with Ps. 106, the fifth with Psa 150:1-6. Others divide them into three fifties; others into sixty parts, two for every day of the month, one for the morning, the other for the evening. Let good Christians divide them for themselves, so as may best increase their acquaintance with them, that they may have them at hand upon all occasions and may sing them in the spirit and with the understanding.

Matthew Henry: Psalms 69 (Chapter Introduction)

David penned this psalm when he was in affliction; and in it, I. He complains of the great distress and trouble he was in and earnestly begs of God to relieve and succour him (v. 1-21). II. He imprecates the judgments of God upon his persecutors (Psa 69:22-29). III. He concludes with the voice of joy and praise, in an assurance that God would help and succour him, and would do well for the church (Psa 69:30-36). Now, in this, David was a type of Christ, and divers passages in this psalm are applied to Christ in the new Testament and are said to have their accomplishment in him (Psa 69:4, Psa 69:9, Psa 69:21), and Psa 69:22 refers to the enemies of Christ. So that (like the twenty-second psalm) it begins with the humiliation and ends with the exaltation of Christ, one branch of which was the destruction of the Jewish nation for persecuting him, which the imprecations here are predictions of. In singing this psalm we must have an eye to the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that followed, not forgetting the sufferings of Christians too, and the glory that shall follow them; for it may lead us to think of the ruin reserved for the persecutors and the rest reserved for the persecuted.

To the chief musician upon Shoshannim. A psalm of David.

Constable: Psalms (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title

The title of this book in the Hebrew Bible is Tehillim, which means "praise songs." The title adopted by the Septuagint translators for their Greek version was Psalmoi meaning "songs to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument." This Greek word comes from the Hebrew word mizmor that occurs in the titles of 57 of the psalms. In time the Greek word psalmoi came to mean "songs of praise" without reference to stringed accompaniment. The English translators transliterated the Greek title resulting in the title "Psalms" in English Bibles.

Date and Writers

The texts of the individual psalms do not usually indicate who wrote them.¹ However some of the titles of the individual psalms do contain information about the writers.² This is the only really reliable information we have as to who composed these psalms, though the commentators have their theories.

Not all the titles contain information about authorship.³ The ones that do refer to the following writers. Moses wrote Psalm 90.⁴ David composed 73 psalms, mostly in the first two books of the Psalter (i.e., Pss. 1-72). Asaph wrote 12 (Pss. 50, 73-83). Korah's descendents were responsible for 10 (Pss. 42, 44-49, 84, 87-88). Solomon wrote one or two (127 and perhaps 72). Heman the Ezrahite wrote one (Ps. 88). Ethan the Ezrahite composed one (Ps. 89).

Of these the earliest would have been the one Moses wrote (Ps. 90) and it probably dates from about 1405 B.C. Those David composed would have originated between about 1020 and 975 B.C. Asaph was a contemporary of David so we can date his in approximately the same period. Solomon's psalm(s) seem to have been produced about 950 B.C. Korah's descendents as well as Heman and Ethan probably lived after Solomon, but exactly when we cannot identify. Since Heman and Ethan are connected with Ezra as Ezrahites it is probable that they lived and wrote after the Babylonian exile as he did.

We can date some of the psalms that do not contain information about their writers in the title, if they have a title, by their subject matter. For example, David seems to have written Psalms 2 and 33 even though his name does not occur in the superscriptions (cf. Acts 4:25). Likewise Psalms 126 and 137 must have been late compositions dating from the time the Jews returned from Babylonian exile or shortly after that.

Most of the Psalms, then, were written between 1000 and 450 B.C. The one by Moses was composed considerably earlier and a few may have been written later, but probably not much later, than 450 B.C.

There is some internal evidence in the Book of Psalms that the Jews collected the individual psalms and compiled them into groups in various stages and that this process took some time.⁵ We would expect this because some psalms date hundreds of years after others. Psalm 72:20, for example, seems to mark the end of a collection of David's psalms that antedated the Psalter we now have, but which editors incorporated into the larger work. Psalm 1 appears intended to introduce this collection and, probably later, the entire Psalter. The writer of most of the first 72 psalms (Books 1 and 2 of our modern editions) was David.⁶ Solomon (2 Chron. 5:11-14; 7:6; 9:11; Eccles. 2:8), Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20:21-22), and Jehoiada (2 Chron. 23:18) all organized temple singing and may have had a hand in compiling some of the psalms. Hezekiah (715-686 B.C.; 2 Kings 18-20; 2 Chron. 29-32), one of Judah's best kings and one who led his people in returning to Scripture, may have added to and organized part of the Psalter (cf. 2 Chron. 29:25-28, 30; 30:21; 31:2; Prov. 25:1). So may Josiah, another reforming king of Judah (640-609 B.C.; 2 Kings 22:1-23:30; 2 Chron. 34-35; cf. 2 Chron. 35:15, 25). The last two books (sections) of Psalms (chs. 90-106 and 107-150) contain more miscellaneous psalms dating from Moses to the return from exile. It seems likely that Ezra, the great renovator of postexilic Judaism, may have been responsible for adding these and perhaps putting the whole collection in its final form.

"The picture that emerges is a mixture of order and informality of arrangement, which invites but also defeats the attempt to account for every detail of its final form. There is some chronological progression, with David most in evidence in the first half, and a clear allusion to the captivity towards the close of Book V (Ps. 137). But David reappears in the next psalm (138), and by contrast, the fall of Jerusalem had been lamented as far back as Psalm 74."⁷

Each of the five books or major sections of the Psalter ends with a doxology, and Psalm 150 is a grand doxology for the whole collection. The earliest evidence of the five-fold division of the Book of Psalms comes from the Qumran scrolls, which scribes copied early in the first century A.D. Undoubtedly the Psalter was in its final form by the close of the Old Testament canon, namely by 400 B.C.

Scope

Historically the psalms cover a period of about 1000 years, from the time of Moses (c. 1400 B.C.) to the Isrealites' return from exile (c. 450 B.C.).

In terms of subject matter they deal with selected events of that millennium. They provide us with the thoughts and feelings of those who went through the experiences recorded, especially their God-directed thoughts and feelings.

"Of all the books in the Old Testament the Book of Psalms most vividly represents the faith of individuals in the Lord. The Psalms are the inspired responses of human hearts to God's revelation of Himself in law, history, and prophecy. Saints of all ages have appropriated this collection of prayers and praises in their public worship and private meditations."⁸

Genre

"One should think of this aspect of interpretation as being like the Olympics, a grand occasion made up of a variety of sports. Though it is all sport, each game is played by its own rules and has its own expectations about how to play the game. The variety of literature is the same way. It all has a message, but it conveys that message in a variety of ways and with a variety of expectations. To try to play basketball with soccer's rules will never work, though both use a ball and require foot speed. Or think of musical instruments, they all make music, but in different ways with different sounds. One cannot play the violin like a piano or drums; nor should one expect a violin to sound like either a piano or the kettledrum! In the same way, to read the poetry of the Psalms like a historical book is to miss the emotional and pictorial impact of the message, though both genres convey reality about people's experience with God. To transform the imagery and setting of the Psalter into mere theological proposition is also to take the passion and lifeblood out of its veins."⁹

Types

The messianic psalms are perhaps the most commonly known type. They predict the coming of a messiah. Franz Delitzsch broke these psalms down into five kinds. The first is the purely prophetic, which predicts that a future Davidic king would be the Lord (Ps. 110). Second, the eschatological psalms predict the coming of Messiah and the consummation of His kingdom (Pss. 96-99, et al.). Third, we have the typological-prophetic in which the writer describes his own experience but goes beyond that to describe what became true of the Messiah (e.g., Ps. 22). Fourth, there are the indirectly messianic psalms composed for a contemporary king but having ultimate fulfillment in Messiah (Pss. 2: 45; 72). Fifth, we have the typically messianic in which the writer was in some way typical of Messiah, but all he wrote in the psalm did not describe Him (e.g., Ps. 34:20; 109:8 as used in Acts 1:20).¹⁰ The following seem to be messianic psalms in whole or in part: 2 (cf. Matt. 3:17; Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5; 5:5; 7:28; 2 Pet. 1:17); 8 (Matt. 21:15-16; Heb. 2:6-9); 16 (Acts 2:25-28; 13:55); 22 (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34); 34; 40; 41; 45 (Heb. 1:8-9); 68; 69 (John 2:17; 15:25); 72; 96-99; 102; 109; 110; and 118 (Matt. 21:42).¹¹

The imprecatory psalms are thought of as a distinct type by some interpreters on the basis of their subject matter.¹² These psalms contain imprecations, or curses, on God's enemies. They have created a problem for some Christians since Jesus Christ taught His disciples to bless their enemies and not to curse them (Matt. 5:43-44; Luke 6:27-28; cf. Rom. 12:14). In the progress of revelation it was not easy for the writers of the psalms to see the details of the future distinctly. They could not feel the peace about God's ultimate establishment of justice that modern believers who know their Bibles do. Consequently when they witnessed injustice and oppression they did not usually know how God would deal with it so they called on Him to vindicate Himself immediately. With the coming of Jesus Christ and the added revelation He provided believers now have a fuller picture of how God will balance the scales of justice. It is therefore inappropriate for us to pray imprecations of the sort we find in the Old Testament. God has recorded them for our benefit, not as examples to follow in their wording but in their spirit of zeal for God's glory.¹³

What is now the most common way of classifying the psalms originated with the German scholar Hermann Gunkel at the beginning of the twentieth century.¹⁴ He was one of the founders of the form critical school of scholarship that sought to understand a given portion of Scripture by analyzing the form in which the writer composed it. Scholars then compared that form with other biblical and contemporary literature from the ancient Near Eastern countries that were Israel's neighbors, particularly Egypt and Mesopotamia. Gunkel classified the psalms into various categories or types (Germ. gattungen) by trying to identify the general situation in life (Germ. sitz im leben) that brought them into existence rather than by their content. He concluded that most of the psalms were postexilic. Many scholars have followed this form critical approach in their study of the Psalms as well as in other portions of the Old Testament.¹⁵

Most form critical scholars speculated about the origins of the various psalms and concluded that priests wrote most of them late in Israel's history. This has led many conservatives to reject form criticism completely. Nonetheless this school of interpreters has given us some helpful information, namely the various literary types of psalms that appear in the book.

Some of the more important types of psalms by literary form are the following. Individual laments are psalms by individuals calling on God for help from distress. National laments are similar but voice a corporate cry for help in view of some national situation.

"Laments outnumber every other kind of psalm in the Psalter; almost a third of the psalms belong to this category."¹⁶

Thanksgiving psalms--also called psalms of declarative praise--center on some act of deliverance God granted His people. Descriptive praise psalms offer praise to God for Himself or for His general working rather than for a specific instance of His working. The poets wrote the pilgrim psalms, also called songs of ascent, for singing by the Israelites as they made their thrice-yearly pilgrimages up to Jerusalem for the required festival observances there. Royal psalms are those in which the king of Israel is the chief character. Some event in his reign is being described such as his coronation, wedding, or going out to battle. The enthronement psalms speak of the Lord as the great king fulfilling His role in some way such as reigning or coming to judge.

Another type of psalm, based on the form in which the writer set it rather than on the subject matter, is the acrostic. In these each verse, or group of verses in the case of Psalm 119, begins with the succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The psalmists adopted this style so the Israelites could memorize and remember the psalm easily. The acrostic psalms are these: 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, and 145.¹⁷

Message¹⁸

The Book of Psalms is an inspired collection of Hebrew poems intended for use in worship. Spirit directed compilers put them in their present order for several reasons including authorship and affinity of ideas. The compilers did not organize them in the order in which the psalmist wrote them. Each psalm is the expression of one writer who responded to God in the light of his particular circumstances when he wrote. Consequently there is no argument or progression of thought as the reader makes his or her way through the book.

The subject of the Book of Psalms is worship. Worship is the act of offering to God what is due Him because of who He is. The Hebrew word translated "worship" (shachah) means to bow oneself down or to do obeisance. The psalmists used it to describe prostration before God or some angel or another human being. It pictures an attitude of submission to a superior person. This word occurs only 15 times in Psalms with God as the object, but the idea of worshipping God is present in every psalm.

In these 15 passages the psalmists referred to God as Yahweh, Elohim, or Adonai. Those worshipping Him are individuals, kings, nations, and all the earth. His temple (Israel's central sanctuary) and His holy hill (Mt. Zion) were the central places of worship. Fear, holiness, and joy are the primary attitudes prominent in this worship.

God's people throughout history have loved the Psalter. There are a number of reasons for its popularity. First, it is a collection of songs that arise out of experiences with which we can all identify. It is very difficult to find any circumstance in life that does not find expression in some psalm or another. Some arose out of prosperity, others out of adversity. Some psalms deal with holiness, and others with sinfulness. Some are laments that bewail the worst of situations whereas others are triumphant hymns of joy and thanksgiving. Some look back to the past while others look forward to the future.

The psalms are great because their writers composed them out of their most profound experiences. Great poetry arises out of great living. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt. 12:34). They are also great because the writers brought these profound experiences into God's presence. They show how people behave when they are conscious of God, the only truly realistic way to live. Therefore the permanent value of the psalms lies in their revelation of worship.

First, the Psalter reveals the person of God who is the object of worship. The primary revelation of God's character in the psalms is His names. The writers employed dozens of titles and figures of speech to describe God, but the three names of God that they used most are Yahweh, Elohim, and Adonai. When we understand these names alone we will want to worship God.

The name Yahweh captures the essential being of God. He is who He is (Exod. 3:14). This name occurs more often than any other in the psalms. Essentially it means that God is the eternally self-existent Person who becomes all that His people need. God's being is never the subject of debate in the psalms. The writers assumed His existence. As Yahweh God is always an adequate resource for whatever His people need whenever they have needs. That is because the Name Yahweh describes God in covenant relationship with His people. Translators normally render it LORD in English translations. Psalm 139 is perhaps the greatest exposition of the essential being of God, and Psalm 23 the chief revelation of His becoming all His people need.

The second great name of God in the Psalter is Elohim. Normally this Hebrew word translates as "God" in our English Bibles. It is a plural word in the Hebrew, which does not necessarily signify number but immensity. God as He reveals Himself is so infinite that no singular word can express Him adequately. "Elohim" suggests God's essential might and the fact that He is extremely powerful. God's strength is not just potential, but kinetic (i.e., in motion). It is latent, but also active. Such power elicited the awe of the psalmists. Psalm 68 is perhaps the greatest revelation of God's essential might in the Psalter, and Psalm 46 sets forth His great power at work most impressively.

The title "Adonai" (Lord in the sense of Master) does not occur frequently in the psalms, but the idea it expresses is present constantly. This title expresses the sovereignty of God, the fact that there is no one higher in authority than He. He is the King over the whole universe and the ultimate ruler over Israel. Perhaps Psalm 86 sets forth the sovereignty of God more magnificently than any other psalm.

Whenever a person, king, nation, or race conceives of God as Yahweh, Elohim, or Adonai the result is worship. We can do nothing else but prostrate ourselves before such an One. That is what the writers of these psalms did as they reflected on their experiences in the light of who God is.

The second great revelation of the Psalter is man's attitude in worship. Briefly we see man responding to the revelation of God joyfully, trustfully, and submissively. When we understand that God Himself is an adequate resource for us regardless of our needs, we worship by rejoicing. When we appreciate God's mighty power we worship Him by trusting Him. When we learn that God is sovereign we respond in worship by submitting to Him.

When we appreciate God's grace in providing all we need we rejoice. In the psalms we see joy manifesting itself in penitence and adoration. Penitence manifests joy in the following way. We have God's promises of forgiveness if we confess when we sin. Forgiveness for sin is one of God's greatest gifts to humankind. It is not something we can earn or deserve. It is a gift of God based ultimately on a work God has done for us through His Son. The penitential root attitude blossoms into adoration for God's grace. The sweetest music comes out of hearts broken by sin, hearts aware of their total bankruptcy before God. The most glorious praises spring from the lips of those who most sense the great gifts God has given them.

Trust in God's almighty power expresses itself in honesty and courage. Honesty is the internal fruit of trust and courage its external manifestation. The person who really trusts God's power will be open and honest because he believes God will exercise His power to defend him. He will be willing to take risks because he is relying on God's supernatural power to sustain and uphold him. The psalmists expressed themselves and behaved honestly before God and people because they believed in His sovereignty. They also faced danger courageously because they believed God could and would provide adequate help for His own.

Submission to the sovereignty of God expresses itself in reverence and obedience in the psalms. Reverence is the external evidence of submission to God, and obedience the core proof of it. The person who really believes God is the ultimate authority will respect Him. He will also yield to God's superior authority submissively. We see the psalmists expressing their reverence for God and bowing humbly to His will throughout the Psalter.

The third major revelation concerning worship in the psalms is the activities of worship. As we have seen, one's conception of God leads to worship, and one's attitudes shape worship. One's activities also demonstrate worship.

The psalms reveal that worship grows out of something God has done for man. Man does not worship because there is something intrinsic within him that must come out. Worship is always a response to something God has done. God elicits worship. Man does not initiate it on his own. Throughout the psalms the psalmists responded to God's dealings with them. God is always the initiator and man the responder. This fact helps us see that God is worthy of worship.

Human response in worship involves opening the soul to God. David's confession in Psalm 32 is a good example of this. He rejoiced in his open relationship with God when he acknowledged his sin. He also received God's gift of pardon. Then he offered praise to God. These are the essential human activities of worship: confession, reception, and praise.

After God initiates worship and man responds by worshipping, God becomes to the worshipper all he or she needs. God is true and faithful in His dealings with worshippers. He becomes for us all we need when we worship Him. Thus the activities of worship begin and end with God. They begin with His initiating situations in life. They end with His drawing us to Himself. In between we bare our souls, receive His gifts, and offer our praise.

The message of the Psalter then is, "Worship God!" Turn every situation into an occasion for worship. If we are sad we should worship. If we are glad we should worship. If we are in the dark we should worship. If we are in the light we should worship. The Apostle Paul expressed it this way in Philippians 4:4 and 7: "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice. . . . And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. You praise the Lord" (Ps. 150:6).

Constable: Psalms (Outline)

Outline

I. Book 1: chs. 1-41

II. Book 2: chs. 42-72

III. Book 3: chs. 73-89

IV. Book 4: chs. 90-106

V. Book 5: chs. 107-150

Constable: Psalms

Psalms

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_____. Fortolkning til de Gemmeltestamentlige Salmer. Kobenhavn: G. E. C. Gad, 1939.

Bock, Darrell L. "Interpreting the Bible--How Texts Speak to Us." In Progressive Dispensationalism, pp. 76-105. By Craig A. Blaising and Darrell L. Bock. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1993.

Bratcher, Robert G., ed. Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament. 3rd rev. ed. London: United Bible Societies, 1987.

Cansdale, G. S. Animals of Bible Lands. London: Paternoster Press, 1970.

Chafer, Lewis Sperry. Systematic Theology. 8 vols. Dallas: Dallas Seminary Press, 1948.

Childs, Brevard S. Memory and Tradition in Israel. Studies in Biblical Theology series, no. 37. London: SCM, 1962.

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_____. "Does God Deceive?" Bibliotheca Sacra 155:617 (January-March 1998):11-28.

_____. "A Theology of the Psalms." In A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, pp. 257-304. Edited by Roy B. Zuck. Chicago: Moody Press, 1991.

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Psalms (Book Introduction)

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

INTRODUCTION.

The Psalms are called by the Hebrew, Tehillim; that is, hymns of praise. The author, of a great part of them at least, was king David; but many are of opinion, that some of them were made by Asaph and others, whose names are prefixed in the titles. (Challoner) --- These, however, are not unquestionably of divine authority, though they deserve to be respected. (Calmet) --- St. Jerome (ad Cyprian) says: "Let us be convinced that those labour under a mistake, who suppose that David was the author of all the Psalms, and not those whose names appear in the titles." Paine is not, therefore, the first who has made this discovery. (Watson) (2 Paralipomenon xxix. 30.) --- Psalm lxxvi., compared with Psalms xxxviii., lxiv., lxx., cxi., cxxv., cxxxvi., and cxlv., seems favourable of this opinion, (Calmet; Tirinus; &c.) which is contrary to St. Ambrose, &c. The matter is not of great moment, as all confess that the 150 Psalms were dedicated by the Holy Ghost. (Du Hamel) --- St. Augustine (City of God xvii. 14.) attributes all the Psalms to David; and it seems best to adhere to this opinion, as it is most generally received. (Menochius) --- Our Saviour cites the cix. Psalm as belonging to David, (Matthew xxii. 44.) agreeably to the title; and the 2d Psalm is also attributed to him, by the apostles, (Acts iv. 25.) though it have no title at all, no more than the first. (Haydock) --- It has generally been asserted, that when a Psalm is in this position, it must be referred to the author who was mentioned last. But Bellarmine calls this in question: and the titles of themselves afford but a precarious argument, either to know the author or the real import of the Psalm. (Calmet) --- St. Jerome himself (ad Paulin.) seems to suppose that David was the writer of all the Psalms, (Worthington) and that he has left us compositions which may vie with those of the most celebrated pagan bards. In effect, nothing could excel the harmony of these divine hymns, to judge even from a translation. (Fleury.) --- What then would they be in the original? The difficulty of coming to a perfect knowledge of the author's meaning, arises chiefly from the variety of translations and commentaries, which have been more numerous on this work than any other. To examine all minutely, would require more volumes than our present limits will allow. The version which we have to explain, is not that which St. Jerome made from the Hebrew and which possesses the same intrinsic merit as the rest of his works: but the Church has declared authentic the holy doctor's corrected (Haydock) version from St. Lucian, (Bellarmine; Tirinus) or from the Septuagint as the people had been accustomed to sing the psalter in that manner; and it would have been difficult for them to learn another. (Calmet) --- A critical examination would show, that the Septuagint have not so often deviated from the original [Hebrew] as some would pretend. See Berthier, &c. Pellican extols the fidelity of our version on the Psalms, though he was a Protestant. (Ward. Err. p. 6.) --- When therefore we offer a different version, we would not insinuate that the Vulgate is therefore to be rejected. The copiousness of the Hebrew language, (Haydock) and on some occasions the uncertainty of its roots, or precise import, (Somon. Crit.) ought to make every one diffident in pronouncing peremptorily on such subjects. Let us rather adhere to the decision of the Church, when it is given on any particular text; and when she is silent, let us endeavour to draw the streams of life from our Saviour's fountains, and read for our improvement in virtue. (Haydock) --- No exhortations could be more cogent, than those which we may find in the Psalms. They contain the sum of all the other sacred books, as the Fathers agree. (St. Augustine; St. Basil; &c.) To understand them better, we must reflect upon what key or string they each play. Expositors discover ten such stings on this mysterious harp: 1. God; 2. his works; 3. Providence; 4. the peculiar people of the Jews; 5. Christ; 6. his Church; 7. true worship; 8. David; 9. the end of the world; 10. a future life. On some of these subjects the Psalm principally turns. The titles, composed by Esdras, or the Septuagint, (Worthington) or by some other, (Calmet) will often point out the subject; and if that be not the case, the context and other parts of Scripture will (Worthington) commonly (Haydock) do it. (Worthington) --- The greatest stress must be laid on these. (Calmet) --- An intimate acquaintance with the history of David, and with the Jewish and Christian religion, will also be of essential service to enable us to penetrate the hidden treasures contained in these most heavenly canticles. (Haydock) --- David excels all the pagans in point of antiquity, as he lived 100 years before Homer. His natural genius led him to follow the pursuits of poetry and music; (1 Kings xvi. 23.) and God inspired him to compose these poems, as works in metre are more easily remembered, and make a more pleasing impression upon the heart. Hence Moses and other prophets adopted the same plan, both in the Old and the New Testament. The pious king [David] not being permitted to build the temple, made nevertheless all necessary preparations for it; and among the rest, procured 288 masters of music to train up 4000 singers, 1 Paralipomenon xxiii. 25. He foresaw that these Psalms would be of service, not only on the Jewish festivals, but also in the Christian Church, (Psalm lvi., 10., &c.) gathered from all nations, (Worthington) among whom he sings by the mouths (Haydock) of the clergy, who are commanded daily to sing or recite some of these Psalms. (Worthington) --- The psalter takes its name from an instrument of ten strings, resembling the Greek [letter] Lamda, (Ven. Bede) and sounding from above, to insinuate that we may (Worthington) here learn to observe (Haydock) all the decalogue, and to aim at heaven. If difficulties present themselves in the perusal of these sacred writings, we must remember not to trust private interpretation, (2 Peter i.) but to the doctrine of the Church, (John xiv. 16., and 1 Corinthians xii.) which we may find in the works of the holy Fathers, (St. Augustine, Doct.[On Christian Doctrine?]) and exercise ourselves in humility, when any thing occurs above our comprehension. (St. Gregory xvii. in Ezechiel) (Worthington) --- We must pray with all earnestness to the Father of Lights, and surely no prayers can be more efficacious to obtain what we want, than those which he has here delivered. Whether just or sinners, whether in joy or sorrow, we may here find what may be suitable for us. (Haydock) --- In hoc libro spiritualis Bibliotheca instructa est. (Cassiodorus)

Gill: Psalms (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO PSALMS

The title of this book may be rendered "the Book of Praises", or "Hymns"; the psalm which our Lord sung at the passover is called an "hymn", Mat 26:30; and the one hundred forty fifth Psalm is entitled תהלה, "an Hymn of David"; and the psalms in general are called "hymns" by Philo the Jew ^a, and songs and hymns by Josephus ^b; and to these several names of this book the apostle manifestly refers in Eph 5:19, Col 3:16. The Jews divided the writings of the Old Testament into three parts: the first division is the Law, or five books of Moses; the second is the Prophets, former and latter; and the third, the "Hagiographa", or holy writings; to which division Christ has a regard in Luk 24:44; and because the book of Psalms stand first in the last division, the whole goes by its name. This book by the Apostle Peter is entitled as here, Act 1:20; the title in the Syriac version is,

"the Book of the Psalms of David, King and Prophet,''

with which agrees the Arabic version. As to the divine authority of it, that it was written by inspiration of God, we have not only the testimony of David, who says, "the Spirit of God spake by me", 2Sa 23:2; but the testimonies of Christ and his apostles, Mat 22:43; and, as Aben Ezra ^c observes the whole of it was spoken ברוח הקודש, "by the Holy Ghost". Concerning the penman or amanuensis, employed by the Spirit of God in writing it, there are different opinions. The Jews make mention of ten, which are differently reckoned by them. According to Jarchi ^d, they were Adam, Melchizedek, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Asaph, and the three sons of Korah. According to Kimchi ^e, they were Adam, the first, Melchizedek, Abraham, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, Moses, and the three sons of Korah; Asir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. Some ascribe all the Psalms to David ^f, and think that those which are said to be a psalm of Asaph, or of Heman, &c. should be rendered "a psalm to Asaph", &c. and only signify that they were psalms delivered to them, to be sung in a public manner. But the truest opinion seems to be, that the greater part of them were written by David, and for the most part those that have no title; and the rest by those whose names they bear. Some were written at and after the Babylonish captivity, as Psa 126:1 and Psa 137:1. The manner or form in which they were written was metre ^g, though some deny it that the Jews had metre: as appears by the different accentuation of them from other writings, and from their being sung vocally and on musical instruments. Josephus ^h, the Jewish historian, says, that

"David being free from war, and enjoying a profound peace, composed songs and hymns to God, of various metre; some trimeter, and some pentameter;''

that is, some of three feet, and others of five feet: for the Psalms of David are thought to be of the "lyric" kind; and Gomarus, in his Lyra, has given many instances out of them, which are of the "iambic", "trochaic" kind, &c. though the Jews for many years have lost the knowledge of the sacred poetry. R. Benjamin ⁱ indeed says, that in his time there were at Bagdad R. Eleazar and his brethren, who knew how to sing the songs, as the singers did when the temple was standing. The subject matter of this book is exceeding great and excellent; many of the psalms respect the person, offices, and grace of Christ; his sufferings and death, resurrection, ascension, and session at the right hand of God; and so are exceeding suitable to the Gospel dispensation. The whole book is a rich mine of grace and evangelical truths, and a large fund of spiritual experience; and is abundantly suited to every case, state, and condition, that the church of Christ, or particular believers, are in at any time.

Gill: Psalms 69 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 69

To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David. Of the word "shoshannim", See Gill on Psa 45:1, title. The Targum renders it,

"concerning the removal of the sanhedrim;''

which was about the time of Christ's death. The Talmudists ^t say, that forty years before the destruction of the temple, the sanhedrim removed, they removed from the paved chamber, &c. But it can hardly be thought that David prophesied of this affair; nor of the captivity of the people of Israel, as the Targum, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Arama, and R. Obadiah interpret it: and so Jarchi takes the word "shoshannim" to signify lilies, and applies it to the Israelites, who are as a lily among thorns. But not a body of people, but a single person, is spoken of, and in sorrowful and suffering circumstances; and, if the Jews were not blind, they might see that they are the enemies of the person designed, and the evil men from whom he suffered so much. And indeed what is said of him cannot be said of them, nor of any other person whatever but the Messiah: and that the psalm belongs to Christ, and to the times of the Gospel, is abundantly evident from the citations out of it in the New Testament; as

Psa 69:4 in Joh 15:25; Psa 69:9 in Joh 2:17; Psa 69:21 in Mat 27:34; Psa 69:22 in Rom 11:9; Psa 69:25 in Act 1:16.

The inscription of the psalm in the Syriac version is,

""a psalm" of David, according to the letter, when Shemuah (Sheba), the son of Bichri, blew a trumpet, and the people ceased from following after him (David); but the prophecy is said concerning those things which the Messiah suffered, and concerning the rejection of the Jews.''

And Aben Ezra interprets Psa 69:36 of the days of David, or of the days of the Messiah.