Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 56:8
Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: [are they] not in thy book?
8. Thou tellest my wanderings ] Thou countest the days and adventures of my fugitive life, while I am driven from my home as a wanderer and vagabond (Psa 36:11, notes); not one of them escapes Thy notice (Job 31:4; Mat 10:30). Tell, as in Psa 22:17, Psa 48:12, means count.
put thou my tears ] Or, my tears are put.
into thy bottle ] By a bold figure God is said to collect and treasure his tears, as though they were precious wine. Kay quotes St. Bernard’s saying, “Lacrimae poenitentium vinum angelorum.” The ‘bottle’ is the skin bottle of Oriental countries, holding a considerable quantity (Jos 9:4; Jos 9:13; 1Sa 16:20; Psa 119:83). There is no reference to the use of so-called ‘lachrymatories.’
are they not in thy book?] Or, record. For God’s ‘book of remembrance’ see Mal 3:16. Cp. Exo 32:32; Psa 69:28; Psa 139:16. The abrupt question is characteristic of this Psalm. Cp. Psa 56:4 ; Psa 56:13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thou tellest my wanderings – Thou dost number or recount them; that is, in thy own mind. Thou dost keep an account of them; thou dost notice me as I am driven from one place to another to find safety. My wanderings, to Gath, 1Sa 21:10; to the cave of Adullam, 1Sa 22:1; to Mizpeh, in Moab, 1Sa 22:3; to the forest of Hareth, 1Sa 22:5; to Keilah, 1Sa 23:5; to the wilderness of Ziph, 1Sa 23:14; to the wilderness of Maon, 1Sa 23:25; to En-gedi, 1Sa 24:1-2.
Put thou my tears into thy bottle – The tears which I shed in my wanderings. Let them not fall to the ground and be forgotten. Let them be remembered by thee as if they were gathered up and placed in a bottle – a lachrymatory – that they may be brought to remembrance hereafter. The word here rendered bottle means properly a bottle made of skin, such as was used in the East; but it may be employed to denote a bottle of any kind. It is possible, and, indeed, it seems probable, that there is an allusion here to the custom of collecting tears shed in a time of calamity and sorrow, and preserving them in a small bottle or lachrymatory, as a memorial of the grief. The Romans had a custom, that in a time of mourning – on a funeral occasion – a friend went to one in sorrow, and wiped away the tears from the eyes with a piece of cloth, and squeezed the tears into a small bottle of glass or earth, which was carefully preserved as a memorial of friendship and sorrow.
Many of these lachrymatories have been found in the ancient Roman tombs. I myself saw a large quantity of them in the Columbaria at Rome, and in the Capitol, among the relics and curiosities of the place. The above engraving will illustrate the form of these lachrymatories. The annexed remarks of Dr. Thomson (land and the Book, vol. i. p. 147), will show that the same custom prevailed in the East, and will describe the forms of the tear-bottles that were used there. These lachrymatories are still found in great numbers on opening ancient tombs. A sepulchre lately discovered in one of the gardens of our city had scores of them in it. They are made of thin glass, or more generally of simple pottery, often not even baked or glazed, with a slender body, a broad bottom, and a funnel-shaped top. They have nothing in them but dust at present. If the friends were expected to contribute their share of tears for these bottles, they would very much need cunning women to cause their eyelids to gush out with water. These forms of ostentatious sorrow have ever been offensive to sensible people. Thus Tacitus says, At my funeral let no tokens of sorrow be seen, no pompous mockery of woe. Crown me with chaplets, strew flowers on my grave, and let my friends erect no vain memorial to tell where my remains are lodged.
Are they not in thy book? – In thy book of remembrance; are they not numbered and recorded so that they will not be forgotten? This expresses strong confidence that his tears would be remembered; that they would not be forgotten. All the tears that we shed are remembered by God. If properly shed – shed in sorrow, without murmuring or complaining, they will be remembered for our good; if improperly shed – if with the spirit of complaining, and with a want of submission to the divine will, they will be remembered against us. But it is not wrong to weep. David wept; the Saviour wept; nature prompts us to weep; and it cannot be wrong to weep if our eye poureth out its tears unto God Job 16:20; that is, if in our sorrow we look to God with submission and with earnest supplication.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 56:8
Thou tellest my wanderings: put Thou my tears into Thy bottle; are they not in Thy book?
Life on the human side and the Divine
There is a description of life given in the Bible which has been objected to as depressing and unreal. Life is represented, it is said, as a scene of unending struggle and sorrow; and men are made to walk under a constant shadow. There is some apparent truth in this. But the question to be first asked is, Has the Bible view of life truth in it? If so, is it not better to take it fairly into account? And it may be a further question, Has the Bible no compensation for the saddening view of life which it sometimes presents?
I. The human side of life. It is described under the form of wandering and tears: its activities as wanderings, its passive side as tears. Still it may be said, What reason can there be in taking Davids life, and making it a copy of all human lives? Has not God given us in the world sunshine as well as cloud, has He not scattered manifold pleasures through it, and should we not thankfully acknowledge this? It is very true, and we must beware of taking any part of the Bible, and pressing it so far as to make it contradict both itself and our experience. Now, there are two things which God in His kindness has sent to the relief of men in the journey of life. There are the natural blessings that are, in a measure, close to all, visiting them often whether they will or not; and there are the helps and hopes which come from a felt relation to Himself. The first may be called the blessings of His hand, the second of His heart. The cloud would be too dark for poor humanity unless God had given it a silver lining, and it is neither good for us, nor grateful to Him, to overlook this. We may begin with the strange, mysterious pleasure God has put into life itself–to live, to breathe, to look on things and have an interest in them, to move, to walk among them–these are roots that go down into the world and hold men on to it by an indescribable attachment. It is one of the kind things in the world that God has given man a liking to life itself. How much there is that is pleasant. Nature, in her varied beauty; the benediction of work, of honest, earnest work, whether it be of hand or head; the kindly affections of the human heart, the love of home and kindred, the solace of friendship, the happiness of doing any good. We seem far enough away now from wandering and tears, and yet they return upon us. It was a saying of the ancients that for every joy granted to man, there are two sorrows, one before and one behind. Have you not felt this description of life true in its changefulness? How few of us are in the homes of our youth! Or, if near them, how far have we wandered in associations! Changes have taken place around and within which make us almost forget what we were. Our fathers, where are they? Or think of life in its constant struggle, perfection never gained, rest never reached. But come–
II. To the divine side of life. What does the view of God secure for the man who looks to Him? Well–
1. A Divine measure. Thou tellest my wanderings. This means not merely that God speaks of them, but takes the tale and number of them. Plato has said that in making the world God mathematizes. All is fixed and sure as is the science of numbers. It does not seem so, but it is.
2. This view of God secures a Divine sympathy in life: Put thou my tears into Thy bottle. However skilful the guide might be, he would not meet our ease unless he had a heart. There are rough defiles and thorny brakes through which the road leads–there is no help for it: these things make it the road; but what concerns us most is the manner of the Guide–that He should take our frailty into account and provide resting-places and refreshment for us as they are needed.
3. This view of God secures a Divine meaning in life–Are they not in Thy book? It is natural to understand this of both the wandering and the tears. They are written down, and therefore have an intelligent and consistent meaning. And by and by we shall see this. (J. Ker, D. D.)
Tears of Jesus
In the cabinets of antiquaries is often to be seen a small bottle found in ancient tombs. It is called a lachrymatory, or tear-bottle, and is supposed to have contained the tears of some bereaved relative of the departed one who was laid in the tomb. The heathen believed that the gods loved to see a good man struggling with adversity, for then the greatness of the human soul comes out. And our God loves to see the faith and patience of His sorrowing servants. But we desire to speak of Jesus, whose language the psalmist, by prophetic anticipation, speaks. The tears of Jesus, then, are our subject. His life was characterized by sorrow. But He did not weep at His crucifixion–there was never moral weakness in His tears. Ha was full of sympathy, and He was full of tenderness, but He was never moved to tears by the cruelty of men. But He wept in the Garden of Gethsemane. The Epistle to the Hebrews tells us of His strong crying and tears. There are tears which we cannot fully understand; but they were tears for the sins of the world, the weight of which in that most mysterious agony He was then bearing. Shall we, then, continue in sin? And He wept at the grave of Lazarus (Joh 11:1-57.). Then it is not inconsistent with spiritual-mindedness–as some say it is–to feel very keenly the sorrows and distress of life. Jesus wept. And thus He assures us of His sympathy. And He wept on His way to Jerusalem, when He beheld the city and wept ever it. It was the day of His triumphal entry, and yet He wept. But it was not for Himself, but for others–for the people of Jerusalem. They were tears of patriotism. He wept for His countrys sorrows. But observe it was not so much the national disasters as the national sins, that He wept. It is the reverse with the tears of ordinary patriotism. And patriotic pride and boasting, how often it is because of prosperity rather than of righteousness. But let our patriotism be sanctified by prayer. Prayer was in the heart of Jesus for His country. Let it be so for ours. (Dean Goulburn.)
Mans tears in Gods bottle
Tears are here employed as exponents of sorrows and troubles. But it is not all tears that are treasured up by God.
I. Tears of repentance. When the early years have been marked by transgression, the coming of the days of grace can never be without tears. Take as illustrations the woman who was a sinner; the Philippian jailor; Peter when he went out and wept bitterly on that day which we may regard as the day of his abiding conversion to God.
II. Tears which are wept in the spiritual conflicts of life.
III. Tears wept over the wickedness of men and the apparent slowness with which the kingdom of God makes its way. The greatest and the best men the world has ever known have been the men who have experienced the deepest sorrow. The man who can smile from the cradle to the grave knows neither himself, nor the world, nor God. Ezekiel tells of those on whom the Lord bid him put a mark for that they sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the city. Their tears were put into Gods bottle. Never was the truth contained in our text more wonderfully illustrated than in the history of our Blessed Lord and Saviour. Not a tear He shed was lost. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands. (Enoch Mellor, D. D.)
Treasured tears
The so-called lachrymatories, or tear-bottles, found in museums of art, were applied to no such use as their name implies. They probably contained unguents that were used in preparing the dead for burial; which accounts for their presence in tombs. The psalmist rather had in mind the skin bottle of his day, in which, by a bold figure of speech, he conceives of God as treasuring our tears with that same Divine carefulness which numbers the hairs of our heads or notes the falling sparrow. But why should God treasure our tears in His bottle?
1. As a token of prayers to be answered. Tears and prayers are closely connected. Strong crying and tears accompanied the prayers and supplications of Christ in the days of His flesh. The woman that was a sinner said nothing as she bathed the travel-stained feet of her Lord with her tears. Such tears are the guarantee of sincerity, the evidence of moral earnestness, and the token of prevailing prayer. The tears in Gods bottle represent petitions filed away for answer in His own good time.
2. In token of wrongs to be avenged. The tears of martyrs thus treasured up plead like the blood of Abel. It is a perilous thing to make a little child to weep by our cruelty or by injustice to smite the fountain of tears in the widows heart. Every such tear of the poor and needy is gathered into Gods bottle, and will be a swift witness against us, till the wrong is atoned for or avenged. (J. F. Elder, D. D.)
The tenderness of God towards His afflicted people
I. An assurance. Thou tellest my wanderings. They Were numerous and various. But what do these wanderings take in?
1. Moral infirmities, or deviations from duty, What is the whole course of a state of nature but a series of wanderings? It is well if God sees that you feel them to be your afflictions and that you repent of them.
2. These wanderings take in local changes. See Abraham, Israel, David–what wanderings were theirs? Some of the most eminent servants of God were wanderers (Heb 11:1-40.). They wandered about, etc. And it is so still. For conscience sake many have had to wander about seeking how to live. But they are not purposeless; God has taken count of them all. Thou tellest my wanderings. Therefore we are not to think that God disregards all individualities.
II. The prayer. Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle. There are some persons who despise tears as weak and womanly. Do they remember who He was who wept at the grave of Lazarus? Do they remember who He was, who, when He came nigh unto Jerusalem, wept over it, etc.? True greatness, says Lavater, is always simple; and true courage, I am persuaded, is always combined with tenderness. Homer–that matchless painter of men and manners–makes no scruple to represent his bravest of men, Ajax, and his wisest of men, Ulysses, as weeping; and the latter as weeping no less than three times in the course of a few lines. The Easterns wept more readily, and were less ashamed of indulging their tears, than we. David was a man of tears. Of these tears, let us now, if we can, trace out the sources. One source of these tears was affliction. He had many trials and troubles, which his greatness could not prevent, or even alleviate; yea, which his greatness rather increased. Another source of his tears was sin; and a much more plentiful one than his sufferings. My sin, says he, is ever before me. Not only his great sin in his fall, but his daily and hourly failures. Who, says he, can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. And David wept for the sins of others, as well as his own. I beheld the transgressors, says he, and was grieved, Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because men keep not Thy law.
III. The question. Are they not in Thy book?–that is, Are they nob written and recorded there? What book? The book of His providence? Yes, they are all there; their number is there; their quality is there; their degree is there; their duration is there and all their sad memorial is there. The book of His remembrance (Mal 3:16). Now, let us conclude–
1. By admiring the condescension of God.
2. Let us, as Young says, not stop at wonder, but imitate and live.
3. Ye wanderers, ye weepers, repair here. God is able to comfort in all our tribulation. (W. Jay.)
Tear-bottles
There are some very good people who always have their tear-bottle by them, and who always treasure up every little grief and every little disappointment. Whenever you meet them, the first thing you see is the tear-bottle; and you soon see there is more in it than there was last time. Now, of course I am not speaking of those who have indeed great trials, but of those who make a great deal of little ones. I do not want you to get into that gloomy way of living. (D. Davies.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. Thou tellest my wanderings] Thou seest how often I am obliged to shift the place of my retreat. I am hunted every where; but thou numberest all my hiding-places, and seest how often I am in danger of losing my life.
Put thou my tears into thy bottle] Here is an allusion to a very ancient custom, which we know long obtained among the Greeks and Romans, of putting the tears which were shed for the death of any person into small phials, called lacrymatories or urnae lacrymales and offering them on the tomb of the deceased. Some of these were of glass, some of pottery, and some of agate, sardonyx, c. A small one in my own collection is of hard baked clay.
Are they not in thy book?] Thou hast taken an exact account of all the tears I have shed in relation to this business and thou wilt call my enemies to account for every tear.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
My wanderings: here I have been hunted from place to place, and am now driven hither.
Put my tears into thy bottle; regard, and remember, and pity them.
Are they not in thy book? but why do I pray to God to do that which I am well assured he is of himself inclined to do, and hath already done?
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. God is mindful of his exileand remembers his tears. The custom of bottling the tears ofmourners as a memorial, which has existed in some Eastern nations,may explain the figure.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thou tellest my wanderings,…. Not his sins; though these are aberrations or wanderings from the ways of God’s commandments; yet these are not told by the Lord: he takes no account of them; the number of them is not kept by him; they are blotted out, cast behind his back, and into the depths of the sea; though sometimes his people think they are told and numbered by him, Job 14:16; but David’s moves and flights from place to place are meant, through Saul’s pursuit of him, as a partridge on the mountains. Some writers reckon twelve of these moves. The Targum renders it,
“thou numberest the days of my wandering;”
that is, the days of his pilgrimage and sojourning in this world: the number of our days, and months and years, in which we wander about in this uncertain state of things, is with the Lord, Job 14:5;
put thou my tears into thy bottle; the allusion is to “lachrymatories”, or tear bottles, in which surviving relatives dropped their tears for their deceased friends, and buried them with their ashes, or in their urns; some of which tear bottles are still to be seen in the cabinets of the curious. A description of which is given by Gejerus c, from Olaus Wormius; and who also from Cotovicus relates, that the grave of M. Tullius Cicero was dug up in the island of Zacynthus, A. D. 1544, in which were found two glass urns; the larger had ashes in it, the lesser water: the one was supposed to contain his ashes, the other the tears of his friends: and as this was a custom with the Romans, something like this might obtain among the Jews; and it is a saying with them d,
“whoever sheds tears for a good man (deceased) the holy blessed God numbers them, and puts them into his treasures, according to Ps 56:8;”
which shows, that they thought that reference is here had to funeral tears. The meaning of the text is, that God would take notice of David’s afflictions and troubles, which had caused so many tears, and remember them, and deliver him out of them: these being desired to be put into a bottle was, that they might be kept and reserved; not to make atonement for sin; for as a thousand rivers of oil cannot expiate one sin, could they be come at; so neither as many rivers of brinish tears, could they possibly be shed: nor to obtain heaven and happiness; for there is no comparison nor proportion between the sufferings of the saints and the glory that shall be revealed in them; though there is a connection of grace through the promise of God between them: but rather, that they might be brought forth another day and shown, to the aggravation of the condemnation of wicked men, who by their hard speeches, and ungodly actions, have caused them;
[are they] not in thy book? verily they are; that is, the tears and afflictions of his people. They are in his book of purposes; they are all appointed by him, their kind and nature, their measure and duration, their quality and quantity; what they shall be, and how long they shall last; and their end and use: and they are in his book of providence, and are all overruled and caused to work for their good; and they are in the book of his remembrance; they are taken notice of and numbered by him, and shall be finished; they shall not exceed their bounds. These tears will be turned into joy, and God will wipe them all away from the eyes of his people.
c De Ebr. Luctu, c. 12. s. 5. d T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 105. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
What the poet prays for in Psa 56:8, he now expresses as his confident expectation with which he solaces himself. (Psa 56:9) is not to be rendered “flight,” which certainly is not a thing that can be numbered (Olshausen); but “a being fugitive,” the unsettled life of a fugitive (Pro 27:8), can really be numbered both by its duration and its many temporary stays here and there. And upon the fact that God, that He whose all-seeing eye follows him into every secret hiding-place of the desert and of the rocks, counteth (telleth) it, the poet lays great stress; for he has long ago learnt to despair of man. The accentuation gives special prominence to as an emphatically placed object, by means of Zarka; and this is then followed by with the conjunctive Galgal and the pausal with Olewejored (the _ of which is placed over the final letter of the preceding word, as is always the case when the word marked with this double accent is monosyllabic, or dissyllabic and accented on the first syllable). He who counts (Job 31:4) all the steps of men, knows how long David has already been driven hither and thither without any settled home, although free from guilt. He comforts himself with this fact, but not without tears, which this wretched condition forces from him, and which he prays God to collect and preserve. Thus it is according to the accentuation, which takes as imperative, as e.g., in 1Sa 8:5; but since , , , is also the form of the passive participle (1Sa 9:24, and frequently, 2Sa 13:32), it is more natural, in accordance with the surrounding thoughts, to render it so even in this instance ( posita est lacrima mea ), and consequently to pronounce it as Milra (Ewald, Hupfeld, Bttcher, and Hitzig). (Ecc 4:1) corresponds chiastically (crosswise) to , with which forms a play in sound; and the closing clause unites with in the first member of the verse. Both Psa 56:9 and Psa 56:9 are wanting in any particle of comparison. The fact thus figuratively set forth, viz., that God collects the tears of His saints as it were in a bottle, and notes them together with the things which call them forth as in a memorial (Mal 3:16), the writer assumes; and only appropriatingly applies it to himself. The which follows may be taken either as a logical “in consequence of so and so” (as e.g., Psa 19:14; Psa 40:8), or as a “then” fixing a turning-point in the present tearful wandering life (viz., when there have been enough of the “wandering” and of the “tears”), or “at a future time” (more abruptly, like in Psa 14:5; 36:13, vid., on Psa 2:5). is not an expansion of this , which would trail awkwardly after it. The poet says that one day his enemies will be obliged to retreat, inasmuch as a day will come when his prayer, which is even now heard, will be also outwardly fulfilled, and the full realization of the succour will coincide with the cry for help. By in Psa 56:10 he justifies this hope from his believing consciousness. It is not to be rendered, after Job 19:19: “I who know,” which is a trailing apposition without any proper connection with what precedes; but, after 1Ki 17:24: this I know (of this I am certain), that Elohim is for me. as a neuter, just as in connection with in Pro 24:12, and also frequently elsewhere (Gen 6:15; Exo 13:8; Exo 30:13; Lev 11:4; Isa 29:11, cf. Job 15:17); and as e.g., in Gen 31:42. Through Elohim, Psa 56:11 continues, will I praise : thus absolutely is the word named; it is therefore the divine word, just like in Psa 2:12, the Son absolutely, therefore the divine Son. Because the thought is repeated, Elohim stands in the first case and then Jahve, in accordance with the Elohimic Psalm style, as in Psa 58:7. The refrain in Psa 56:12 (cf. Psa 56:5) indicates the conclusion of the strophe. The fact that we read instead of in this instance, just as in Psa 56:11 instead of ( Psa 56:5), is in accordance with the custom in the Psalms of not allowing the refrain to recur in exactly the same form.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Comfort under Affliction; Confidence in God. | |
8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book? 9 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me. 10 In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word. 11 In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. 12 Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee. 13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?
Several things David here comforts himself with in the day of his distress and fear.
I. That God took particular notice of all his grievances and all his griefs, v. 8. 1. Of all the inconveniences of his state: Thou tellest my wanderings, my flittings, so the old translation. David was now but a young (under thirty) and yet he had had many removes, from his father’s house to the court, thence to the camp, and now driven out to sojourn where he could find a place, but not allowed to rest any where; he was hunted like a partridge upon the mountains; continual terrors and toils attended him; but this comforted him, that God kept a particular account of all his motions, and numbered all the weary steps he took, by night or by day. Note, God takes cognizance of all the afflictions of his people; and he does not cast out from his care and love those whom men have cast out from their acquaintance and converse. 2. Of all the impressions thus made upon his spirit. When he was wandering he was often weeping, and therefore prays, “Put thou my tears into thy bottle, to be preserved and looked upon; nay, I know they are in thy book, the book of thy remembrance.” God has a bottle and a book for his people’s tears, both those for their sins and those for their afflictions. This intimates, (1.) That he observes them with compassion and tender concern; he is afflicted in their afflictions, and knows their souls in adversity. As the blood of his saints, and their deaths, are precious in the sight of the Lord, so are their tears, not one of them shall fall to the ground. I have seen thy tears, 2 Kings xx. 5. I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, Jer. xxxi. 18. (2.) That he will remember them and review them, as we do the accounts we have booked. Paul was mindful of Timothy’s tears (2 Tim. i. 4), and God will not forget the sorrows of his people. The tears of God’s persecuted people are bottled up and sealed among God’s treasures; and, when these books come to be opened, they will be found vials of wrath, which will be poured out upon their persecutors, whom God will surely reckon with for all the tears they have forced from his people’s eyes; and they will be breasts of consolation to God’s mourners, whose sackcloth will be turned into garments of praise. God will comfort his people according to the time wherein he has afflicted them, and give to those to reap in joy who sowed in tears. What was sown a tear will come up a pearl.
II. That his prayers would be powerful for the defeat and discomfiture of his enemies, as well as for his own support and encouragement (v. 9): “When I cry unto thee, then shall my enemies turn back; I need no other weapons than prayers and tears; this I know, for God is for me, to plead my cause, to protect and deliver me; and, if God be for me, who can be against me so as to prevail?” The saints have God for them; they may know it; and to him they must cry when they are surrounded with enemies; and, if they do this in faith, they shall find a divine power exerted and engaged for them; their enemies shall be made to turn back, their spiritual enemies, against whom we fight best upon our knees, Eph. vi. 18.
III. That his faith in God would set him above the fear of man, Psa 56:10; Psa 56:11. Here he repeats, with a strong pathos, what he had said (v. 4), “In God will I praise his word; that is, I will firmly depend upon the promise for the sake of him that made it, who is true and faithful, and has wisdom, power, and goodness enough to make it good.” When we give credit to a man’s bill we honour him that drew it; so when we do, and suffer, for God, in a dependence upon his promise, not staggering at it, we give glory to God, we praise his word, and so give praise to him. Having thus put his trust in God, he looks with a holy contempt upon the threatening power of man: “In God have I put my trust, and in him only, and therefore I will not be afraid what man can do unto me (v. 11), though I know very well what he would do if he could,” Psa 56:1; Psa 56:2. This triumphant word, so expressive of a holy magnanimity, the apostle puts into the mouth of every true believer, whom he makes a Christian hero, Heb. xiii. 6. We may each of us boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and then I will not fear what man shall do unto me; for he has no power but what he has given him from above.
IV. That he was in bonds to God (v. 12): “Thy vows are upon me, O God!–not upon me as a burden which I am loaded with, but as a badge which I glory in, as that by which I am known to be thy menial servant–not upon me as fetters that hamper me (such are superstitious vows), but upon me as a bridle that restrains me from what would be hurtful to me, and directs me in the way of my duty. Thy vows are upon me, the vows I have made to thee, to which thou art not only a witness, but a party, and which thou hast commanded and encouraged me to make.” It is probably that he means especially those vows which he had made to God in the day of his trouble and distress, which he would retain the remembrance of, and acknowledge the obligations of, when his fright was over. Note, It ought to be the matter of our consideration and joy that the vows of God are upon us–our baptismal vows renewed at the Lord’s table, our occasional vows under convictions, under corrections, by these we are bound to live to God.
V. That he should still have more and more occasion to praise him: I will render praises unto thee. This is part of the performance of his vows; for vows of thankfulness properly accompany prayers for mercy, and when the mercy is received must be made good. When we study what we shall render this is the least we can resolve upon, to render praises to God–poor returns for rich receivings! Two things he will praise God for:– 1. For what he had done for him (v. 13): “Thou has delivered my soul, my life, from death, which was just ready to seize me.” If God have delivered us from sin, either from the commission of it by preventing grace or from the punishment of it by pardoning mercy, we have reason to own that he has thereby delivered our souls from death, which is the wages of sin. If we, who were by nature dead in sin, are quickened together with Christ, and are made spiritually alive, we have reason to own that God has delivered our souls from death. 2. For what he would do for him: “Thou hast delivered my soul from death, and so hast given me a new life, and thereby hast given me an earnest of further mercy, that thou wilt deliver my feet from falling; thou hast done the greater, and therefore thou wilt do the less; thou hast begun a good work, and therefore thou wilt carry it on and perfect it.” This may be taken either as the matter of his prayer, pleading his experience, or as the matter of his praise, raising his expectations; and those that know how to praise in faith will give God thanks for mercies in promise and prospect, as well as in possession. See here, (1.) What David hopes for, that God would deliver his feet from falling either into sin, which would wound his conscience, or into the appearance of sin, from which his enemies would take occasion to wound his good name. Those that think the stand must take heed lest they fall, because the best stand no longer than God is pleased to uphold them. We are weak, our way is slippery, many stumbling-blocks are in it, our spiritual enemies are industrious to thrust us down, and therefore we are concerned by faith and prayer to commit ourselves to his care who keeps the feet of his saints. (2.) What he builds this hope upon: “Thou hast delivered my soul from death, and therein hast magnified thy power and goodness, and put me into a capacity of receiving further mercy from thee; and now wilt thou not secure and crown thy own work?” God never brought his people out of Egypt to slay them in the wilderness. He that in conversion delivers the soul from so great a death as sin is will not fail to preserve it to his heavenly kingdom. (3.) What he designs in these hopes: That I may walk before God in the light of the living, that is, [1.] “That I may get to heaven, the only land of light and life; for in this world darkness and death reign.” [2.] “That I may do my duty while this life lasts.” Note, This we should aim at, in all our desires and expectations of deliverance both from sin and trouble, that we may do God so much the better service–that, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we may serve him without fear.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
8. Thou hast taken account of my wanderings The words run in the form of an abrupt prayer. Having begun by requesting God to consider his tears, suddenly, as if he had obtained what he asked, he declares that they were written in God’s book. It is possible, indeed, to understand the interrogation as a prayer; but he would seem rather to insinuate by this form of expression, that he stood in no need of multiplying words, and that God had already anticipated his desire. It is necessary, however, to consider the words of the verse more particularly. He speaks of his wandering as having been noted by God, and this that he may call attention to one remarkable feature of his history, his having been forced to roam a solitary exile for so long a period. The reference is not to any one wandering; the singular number is used for the plural, or rather, he is to be understood as declaring emphatically that his whole life was only one continued wandering. This he urges as an argument to commiseration, spent as his years had been in the anxieties and dangers of such a perplexing pilgrimage. Accordingly, he prays that God might put his tears into his bottle (334) It was usual to preserve the wine and oil in bottles: so that the words amount to a request that God would not suffer his tears to fall to the ground, but keep them with care as a precious deposit. The prayers of David, as appears from the passage before us, proceeded upon faith in the providence of God, who watches our every step, and by whom (to use an expression of Christ)
“
the very hairs of our head are numbered,” (Mat 10:30.)
Unless persuaded in our mind that God takes special notice of each affliction which we endure, it is impossible we can ever attain such confidence as to pray that God would put our tears into his bottle, with a view to regarding them, and being induced by them to interpose in our behalf. He immediately adds, that he had obtained what he asked: for, as already observed, I prefer understanding the latter clause affirmatively. He animates his hope by the consideration that all his tears were written in the book of God, and would therefore be certainly remembered. And we may surely believe, that if God bestows such honor upon the tears of his saints, he must number every drop of their blood which is shed. Tyrants may burn their flesh and their bones, but the blood remains to cry aloud for vengeance; and intervening ages can never erase what has been written in the register of God’s remembrance.
(334) Some think that there is here an allusion to an ancient custom of putting the tears of mourners into lachrymal urns or bottles. In the Roman tombs there are found small vials, or bottles of glass or pottery, usually called ampulloe , or urnoe lachrymales , which, it has been supposed, contained tears shed by the surviving relatives and friends, and were deposited in the sepulchres of the deceased as memorials of affection and sorrow. If in this passage there is a reference to this custom, it must have existed at an early period among the Hebrews. It may however be doubted, whether there is any such allusion. “It is only a modern conjecture that these bottles ‘found in the Roman tombs’ have been deposited there for such a purpose, and there is no trace of such a custom in ancient writings or sculptures. Some think they were intended to contain the perfumes used in sprinkling the funeral pile. On some of them there is the representation of one or two eyes, and this seems to favor the former view.” — Illustrated Commentary on the Bible Let it also be observed, that the word נאד, nod, here translated bottle, means a sort of bottle which had no resemblance to these Roman urns. It was made of a goat’s or kid’s skin, and was used by the Hebrews for keeping their wine, their milk, and their oil. Compare 1Sa 16:20; Jos 9:13; Jud 4:19; Mat 9:17. “Besides,” as Bishop Mant remarks, “the treasuring up of the Psalmist’s tears shed by him during his own sufferings, seems a very different thing from the offering up of the tears of surviving relations or friends, as memorials on the tomb of a deceased person.” The expression, “Put thou my tears into thy bottle,” may be viewed as simply meaning, Let not my tears fall unnoticed; let my distress and the tears which it has wrung from me be ever before thee, excite thy compassion, and plead with thee to grant me relief. As the choicest things, such as wine and milk, were put into bottles, the Psalmist may also be understood as praying that his tears might not only be noted by God, but prized by him. The מאד, nod, was of large capacity, and used for churning as well as for wine. It may therefore contain a reference to the large quantity of tears which David’s affliction forced from him. — Harmer ’ s Observations, volume 2, pp. 121, 122.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) Wanderings.Rather, in the singular, wandering, which, from the parallelism with tears, must mean mental restlessness, the tossings to and fro of the mind. Symmachus, my inmost things.
Put thou my tears into thy bottle.There is a play of words in the original of bottle, and wandering. We must not, of course, think of the lachrymatories, as they are called, of glass, which have been found in Syria (see Thomson, Land and Book, page 103). If these were really in any way connected with tears, they must have formed part of funeral customs. The LXX., Thou hast put my tears before thee, and Symmachus and Jerome, put my tears in thy sight, suggest a corruption of the text; but, in any case, the poets feeling here is that of Constance in Shakespeares King John
His grandams wrongs, and not his mothers shames,
Draw these heaven-moving pearls from his poor eyes,
Which heaven shall take in nature of a fee;
Ay, with those crystal beads Heaven shall be bribd
To do him justice and revenge on you.
Book.As in Psa. 139:16. Some prefer calculation.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Thou tellest my wanderings The word for “tellest” means the numbering and entering upon a roll, or book. To “number” his wanderings is to preserve a record of them as to times, places, distances, circumstances, with the implied idea that they were appointed, accurately measured, and limited. Compare “numberest my steps,” Job 14:16 and Job 31:4, where the same thought occurs. David comforts himself with the assurance that in God’s book was kept a faithful record of his fugitive life, and that it would not exceed the proposed limit.
Put thou my tears into thy bottle An allusion, probably, to the Oriental practice once universal of bottling the tears of mourners at funerals. Thus Van Lennep: “As the mourners are sitting around and weeping, the master of ceremonies presents each one with a piece of cotton wool, with which he wipes off his tears; this cotton is afterwards squeezed into a bottle, and the tears are preserved as a powerful and efficacious remedy for reviving a dying man after every other means has failed. It is also employed as a charm against evil influences.” The practice is still preserved in Persia. “Tear bottles are found in almost every ancient tomb.” Thus David, for the present, sobs out his grief in the bosom of God, who counts and remembers all his tears.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
An Expression Of His Trust In God In The Face Of His Enemies ( Psa 56:8-11 ).
His confidence lies in the fact that he knows that he is the chosen of YHWH, that God is keeping count of his wanderings, and has stored up his tears. Thus he knows that God is ‘for him’, and that those who are opposing him are thus acting against God. He is sure that when he calls on God, God will turn back his enemies. He will thus trust in God and His promises and not be afraid.
Psa 56:8-9
‘You number my wanderings,
Put you my tears into your bottle, are they not in your book?’
Then will my enemies turn back in the day that I call.
This I know, that God is for me,’
.
He is certain that God is keeping count of his wanderings, and will bottle up his tears, because He is keeping a record of them. (The ‘bottle’ would be a skin container such as was used for storing wine). He is sure that God is interested in, and has kept on record, every aspect of his life. (For God’s records compare Psa 69:28; Psa 139:16; Mal 3:16). Thus his enemies need to be careful, for he is certain that when he calls on God his enemies will have to turn back because God is for him. Whatever happens, his enemies will not prevail.
Psa 56:10-11
‘In God, I will praise (his) word,
In YHWH, I will praise (his) word,
In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid,
What can man (adam) do to me?
His confidence lies in God, Who has given him a word, which he can praise; in YHWH, Who has given him a word, which he can praise. He is aware that he is one of God’s chosen. The word which he praises may be the word that he received from Samuel (his anointing by Samuel must have been accompanied by an explanation (1Sa 16:13), and he had then spent time with Samuel in Naioth after he had initially fled from Saul (1Sa 19:18-24)). Or it may be the Torah (the Law of Moses), an indication of his own commitment to YHWH’s covenant. Or indeed it could include both.
So his assurance and certainty lie in God, in Whom he has put his trust (compare Psa 56:3-4), and thus he will not be afraid, for what can mere created beings (adam) do to him? His confidence in God is total.
The Psalm provides assurance to all true believers that they are in the hands of God, a God who keeps account of their wanderings and a record of their tears. They too, therefore, can enjoy the same assurance and certainty.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 56:8. Thou tellest my wanderings David’s whole life, from his victory over Goliath till the death of Saul, was almost entirely spent in wandering from place to place. He was now in exile at Gath; he comforts himself, however, that God was with him wherever he fled; and beheld, as no unconcerned spectator, the distresses of his unhappy situation. He therefore adds, put my tears into thy bottle; which seems to intimate, that the custom of putting tears into the ampullae, or urnae lachrymales, so well known among the Romans, was more anciently in use among the eastern nations, and particularly among the Hebrews. These urns were of different materials; some of glass, some of earth, as may be seen in Montfaucon’s Antiq. Expliquees, tom. 5: p. 116 where also may be found the various forms or shapes of them. These urns were placed on the sepulchres of the deceased, as a memorial of the distress and affection of their surviving relations and friends. It will be difficult to account for the expression of the Psalmist, but upon the supposition, If this be allowed, when the Psalmist prays put my tears into thy bottle, the meaning will be, “Let my distress, and the tears I have shed in consequence of it, be ever before thee; excite thy kind remembrance of me, and plead with thee to grant the relief that I stand in need of.” The allusion is pertinent and expressive. The next expression, are they not in thy book? denotes the confidence which the Psalmist placed in the kind regard of God towards him, as though he took an account of every tear that he shed, and would in due time remember and comfort him. See Chandler and Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
What a sweet thought is here suggested of God’s remembrance of his people’s affliction! It is an interesting figure of speech, of bottling their tears: but the sense is, they are remembered. And woe will be to the man that offends one of God’s little ones on His account. What are now bottles of tears, will be poured out in the end as so many vials of wrath. But, Reader, think how the tears of Jesus have been treasured up, which he shed for the sins of his people.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 56:8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: [are they] not in thy book?
Ver. 8. Thou tellest my wanderings ] Or, thou cipherest up my flittings, and hast them in numerato, ready told up; my vagaries while hunted up and down like a partridge, and hushed out of every bush, so that I have nowhere to settle. St Paul was at the same pass, , saith he, we have no certain abode, 1Co 4:11 ; and so were sundry of the holy martyrs and confessors, who wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins, &c., driven from post to pillar, from one country to another, God all the while noting and numbering all their flittings, yea, all their footings, bottling up their tears, booking down their sighs, as here, and Mal 3:16 ; see Mat 10:30 . The Septuagint, for my wanderings, or flittings, have my life, , to teach us, saith one, that our life is but a flitting.
Put thou my tears into thy bottle
Are they not in thy book?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 56:8-13
8You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?
9Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call;
This I know, that God is for me.
10In God, whose word I praise,
In the Lord, whose word I praise,
11In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
12Your vows are binding upon me, O God;
I will render thank offerings to You.
13For You have delivered my soul from death,
Indeed my feet from stumbling,
So that I may walk before God
In the light of the living.
Psa 56:8-13 This strophe deals with the psalmist’s faith conviction that God was with him and for him. One day his adversaries will face the consequences of their actions (Psa 56:9).
Psa 56:8 God knows what the psalmist is going through (cf. Exo 3:7). He expresses this faith worldview (i.e., based on the promises of Scripture) in
1. the verb, taken account (i.e., God knows) BDB 707, KB 765, Qal perfect
2. the verb, put my tears in a bottle BDB 962, KB 1321, Qal imperative (i.e., prayer request); a metaphor for remembering the suffering and evil the psalmist experienced at the hands/words of his enemies
3. Your book the word book (BDB 707) is very similar to the verb take into account (BDB 707). Book is a biblical idiom of God’s memory. See SPECIAL TOPIC: THE TWO BOOKS OF GOD .
bottle The word (BDB 609) means an animal skin (sheep) sewed into a container for liquid (cf. Jos 9:4; Jos 9:13; Jdg 4:19; 1Sa 16:20; Psa 119:83).
NASB, NKJV,
JPSOAwanderings
NRSVtossings
TEVhow troubled
NJBsorrows
REBgrief
The Hebrew noun (BDB 627 I) is found only here. It is the same consonants as move to and from wander, flutter, show grief (BDB 626). The usage of wander can be seen in Psa 36:11; Psa 59:11; 2Ki 21:8. There is a sound play in Hebrew between wander and bottle.
Psa 56:9 when I call It is possible the call is the statement of faith.
1. Psa 56:9 b
2. Psa 56:3 a
3. Psa 56:4 -b
Whichever it refers to, it denotes an act of volitional faith. There is a theological tension between the sovereignty of God and the freewill of man. Both are necessary for covenant. See SPECIAL TOPIC: Election/Predestination and the Need for a Theological Balance and SPECIAL TOPIC: COVENANT .
This I know, that God is for me This is a play on the meanings of the Hebrew word know (BDB 393). See Special Topic: Know .
Psa 56:12 vows This may be another way of referring to God’s promises (cf. Psa 56:10 b) or it may refer to promises the psalmist made to God. Once they are fulfilled then
1. an offering is required (cf. Psa 56:12 b)
2. verbal praise is required
In context it may refer to the psalmist’s fear of death by his adversaries and thereby he asked God to save him. In this request he made some kind of a vow. God did save him, now he must fulfill his vow.
Psa 56:13 The psalmist mentions several things God has done for him.
1. delivered his soul from death BDB 664, KB 717, Hiphil perfect; this must relate to Psa 56:6
2. kept his feet from stumbling and, thereby allowing him to walk before God; godly living was described as a clear, level, unobstructed path/road (see note at Psa 1:1). They watched his steps in Psa 56:6, but now God helps him walk.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought provoking, not definitive.
1. The heart of the Psalm is a repeated refrain, what is it?
2. Explain the idiom of book. How many books does the Bible mention that God keeps?
3. What does in that day imply?
4. Explain Psa 56:10 in your own words.
5. What does it mean to walk before God?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
tellest = recordest.
wanderings . . . bottle. Figure of speech Paronomasia. App-6. Hebrew. nodi. . . ben’odeka.
Thy bottle. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. App-6. Tears of mourners were thus collected and buried with the dead. Hence often found in ancient tombs.
Thy book. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
tellest: Psa 105:13, Psa 105:14, Psa 121:8, Num 33:2-56, 1Sa 19:18, 1Sa 22:1-5, 1Sa 27:1, Isa 63:9, 2Co 11:26, Heb 11:8, Heb 11:13, Heb 11:38
put: Psa 39:12, Psa 126:5, Psa 126:6, 2Ki 20:5, Job 16:20, Rev 7:17
are they: Psa 139:16, Mal 3:16, Mat 10:30, Rev 20:12
Reciprocal: Exo 32:32 – blot me 2Sa 15:20 – go up and down Psa 6:8 – for Psa 30:5 – weeping Psa 139:2 – knowest Isa 38:5 – I have seen Isa 65:6 – it is Dan 12:1 – written
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
HE CARETH FOR YOU
Thou tellest my wanderings: put Thou my tears into Thy bottle: are they not in Thy book?
Psa 56:8
I. The human side of life.It is described under two forms: wandering and tears; and the division, though brief, is very comprehensive. Life has its active part in wanderings, its passive in tears. This description of life is true (1) in its changefulness; (2) in its imperfection; (3) in its growing fatigue.
II. We come to the Divine side of life.This belongs only to the man who can feel, know, and be regulated by it, as the polestar shines for those who take it for their guide. What, then, does this view of God secure for the man who looks to Him? (1) It secures for His life a Divine measure. Thou tellest my wanderings. That is not merely, Thou speakest of them, but Thou takest the tale and number of them. We ask Him to teach us to count our days, and He replies by counting them for us. They look often as restless as a birds flutterings, as unregarded as the fallen leaves, but they are reckoned up by God, and there shall not be too many for the wanderers strength or too few so as to fall short of the promised rest. (2) This view of God secures a Divine sympathy in life. Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle. This teaches (a) that God is close beside a sufferer in the time of sore trial, so near that He can mark and catch the tears; (b) that the tears are preservedthey enter into Gods memory, and become prayers; (c) that the tears shall be brought forth again. It is for this they are marked and preserved. (3) This view of God secures a Divine meaning in life. Are they not all in Thy book? It is possible then, if a man puts all his wanderings and tears into the hand of God, that they may be seen at last to end in a plan, man freely contributing his part and God suggesting and guiding. We cannot but think that this shall be one of the occupations of eternity: to read the meaning of the past in the possessions of the future, and this not for each one interested in himself alone, but for each interested in all.
Illustration
The believer knows that God not only sees him and his distresses, but likewise cares for the minuti of his life and welfare, that He thus counts his steps and days, collects his tears, writes down his actions and his omissions. He knows likewise that this Divine sympathy is not merely beholding or pitying, but shows itself and attests itself by actual assistance, so that it may be seen that God is with him. And thus knowledge is not merely recognition, but a conviction full of life. It expresses itself as such in the day of trouble, as prayer for Gods grace, as confession of God and His word, as vows of thanksgiving for the help pre-supposed as certain, and is strengthened and enlivened by every Divine exhibition of grace to the hope of a walk in the light of life.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Psa 56:8. Thou tellest my wanderings Thou art perfectly acquainted, I am sure, how often I have been forced to flee, like a vagabond, from place to place; which hath cost me many a tear. Good Lord, preserve a kind remembrance of them, and let them not perish as things thou nothing regardest. Bishop Patrick. Davids whole life, from his victory over Goliath till the death of Saul, was almost entirely spent in wandering from place to place. He was now an exile at Gath; he comforts himself, however, in the consideration that God was with him, whithersoever he fled; and that he beheld, as no unconcerned spectator, the distresses of his unhappy situation. He therefore adds, Put thou my tears into thy bottle; which seems to intimate that the custom of putting tears into the ampull, or urn lacrymales, so well known among the Romans, was more anciently in use among the eastern nations, and particularly among the Hebrews. These urns were of different materials, some of glass, some of earth, and were placed on the sepulchres of the deceased, as a memorial of the distress and affection of their surviving friends and relations. It will be difficult to account for this expression of the psalmist but upon this supposition. If this be allowed when the psalmist prays, Put my tears into thy bottle, the meaning will be, Let my distress, and the tears I have shed in consequence of it, be ever before thee; let them excite thy kind remembrance of me, and plead with thee to grant the relief I stand in need of. The allusion is pertinent and expressive: see Chandler and Calmet. Are they not in thy book But why do I pray God to do that which I am well assured he is of himself inclined to do, and hath already done? Thus the psalmist signifies the confidence which he placed in the kind regard of God toward him, as though he took an account of every tear he shed, and would, in due time, remember and comfort him. The continual care and providence which God exercises over his people, is frequently represented by his keeping a book, or register, in which he records their conception, Psa 139:15; their birth, Psa 87:6; their actions, Mal 3:16; and what shall happen to them, Jer 22:30; Dan 12:1. Dodd.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
56:8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my {g} tears into thy bottle: [are they] not in thy book?
(g) If God stores the tears of his saints, much more will he remember their blood, to avenge it: and though tyrants burn the bones, yet they cannot blot the tears and blood out of God’s register.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. The confidence of the psalmist 56:8-13
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
David was confident that God knew about all his experiences intimately. He knew wherever David had gone, and He had made note of all his painful sufferings. The psalmist asked God to remember his sufferings in a graphic way. He wanted the Lord to store his tears in His bottle so their volume might move Him to act for David.
"Archaeologists have unearthed small ’tear bottles’ in which mourners collected their tears and then deposited the bottle at the gravesite." [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p. 198.]