Provocation and Imprecation

Psa 69

Nobody knows who wrote this poem. All the little headings and ascriptions are of purely human origin, and therefore no reliance is to be put upon them except they be corroborated by historical proofs. Otherwise we read at the head of this psalm, “A Psalm of David;” but who wrote that heading is probably as little known as who wrote the psalm itself. It does not apply to David, because there are some things here that never occurred in his lifetime; it does not apply to Christ wholly, because there are some things here which he never could have said, notably, “O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.” Who, then, wrote the psalm? I think we can tell. It has a large authorship. Everybody who has known anything of the deeper experiences of human life wrote this psalm. We wrote it, though it be thousands of years old, if we have passed through experiences such as it describes: and we have done so in some degree. Every soul that has seen life in anything like its proper scope and its true reality has been exactly where this man describes himself to have been. All his prayers, sufferings, aspirations, imprecations, are ours.

How often we think of water and billow and wave and sea when we are in trouble! Not, the wolves have pursued me; not, the lions have opened their mouths and roared upon me; though these figures are not wanting when we seek to describe some aspects of human experience: but, “the waters are come in unto my soul…. I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.” We never know what water is going to do. We know what the wolf is about: there is no pity in the wolfs eye; but “water” is that water which is rolling in the leaf of the flower? is that water which is made into pearly dew? Yes, that is water. Is that water which is shaped into a rainbow, acted upon by the transfiguring sun? Yes, that is water. Is that water which is like a mirror in the valley, redoubling the sky and redoubling the hills, and taking the roughness out of the shaggy forest, and making it a thing of still rarer beauty? Yes, that is water. Can it ever be angry? What can be so angry as water? It sweeps away whole cities and towns as it roars and plunges in terrific floods down the narrow valleys. Is that the dew? Yes, in another form, that is the dew. Trouble may begin like dew, and then may trickle in upon us, and then may greatly increase its volume, it may become a river, a torrent, a cataract, and may go on even to become a great sea. Beware of beginnings. That which is very simple at first may become very awful at last. We talk of a “sea of trouble”: the poet was right when he formed and expressed that daring and tumultuous image.

“I sink.” What feeling is equal to that? The man cannot fight, for he has no standing-ground; he cannot run away, for the earth will not afford him a place to run upon: he goes down more and more; presently he will be engulfed. The man can do nothing. Here is an image of helplessness, of direst despair. So long as a man can run or walk or defend himself in any degree, his dejection is saved from despair; but the process of sinking that is a doctor’s word. The doctor says, “The patient is sinking.” We know the meaning of that expression; there is no longer any sphere of combat or collision or defence; the motion is downward.

In all this trouble we come upon the puzzle of all ages: “They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty.” If that were a whole view we might well close the book of revelation and say we must look otherwhere for interpretation and for comfort. Yet when men are sinking they cannot be philosophers; expressions are driven out of them which will not bear to be analysed and balanced and estimated by cold and sober reason. It is well to have momentary expressions; it is instructive sometimes to have our sentences cut off in the middle. When our eloquence is guillotined we are often surprised at our own insanity. Imagination gives up life’s battle too soon: piercing, burning agony is not a calm, tranquil reasoner, saying, I will follow out this analysis, and see to what rich conclusion it leads. When the soul is aflame, as it were with the fire of hell, it will commit itself to bold and broad and indefensible statement. In that condition we over-estimate the might of the enemy; we think the clouds are armies, we suppose all the firm trees on the hillside to be moving down upon us in great hosts; whereas, when we recover ourselves, and stand at the centre of things, and look round about us with the eyes of true piety, we see that the flowers were not against us, that the forests were no foes of ours, and that we multiplied the strength of the enemy because our imagination was inspired by fear. In our sober moments, when we can pray with our whole heart, and hold God in intercourse with our whole voice, we know perfectly well that there are no enemies any man can have that are worthy of a moment’s attention. No man can harm you; the devil cannot stain your character: it is for the man himself to say what shall be the issue of trial, discipline, collision, combat. God has given each man the power, not the right, of suicide.

A wondrous conflict is proceeding in the mind of this poet. He says, “Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.” This is what we call in common society esprit de corps , the spirit of the body, the spirit of the club, the spirit of the brotherhood or the church. This poet is afraid that if he misbehaves himself people will exalt themselves against God, and say with mocking laughter, These are thy saints! Even whilst he is sinking he would wish to do it with some grace. Extinction itself may be crowned with a species of honour. Death need not be humiliation. There are men who have so died as to have lived a thousand lives in their last combat. Have we lost esprit de corps ? Do you not remember that we are involved in the way in which you bear your troubles? If you do not play the man now the enemy will laugh at the whole Church; he will gladly take you up as a specimen of God’s sustaining grace, and say, This is the man who prayed: how chopfallen now! see how that once proud chin hangs on the collapsing breast: this is prayer! If I do not bear myself heroically in the storm, the enemy will have a right to laugh at this pulpit, and to put his foot of contempt upon this whole ministry. If I play the atheist in the darkness, then may men justly mock what I endeavour to say in the light. The mockery will be directed against God, not against men. Moses felt this; he said, If they go back, they will say thou thyself wert not able to take us forward; and if saints do not play the hero in the time of real combat and desperate difficulty, when everything is going down, when business is dull, when enemies are strong, when health is quaking, people will blame not them only but God, and say, This is the doing of the Lord; why, what advantage is it that we pray to him? or what profit have we in waiting upon God? the saint and the dog die in the same agony. Thus we recover ourselves, under the blessing of God, by thinking of others. Fathers should remember this. What will your sons say if they see you playing the coward? Why, it will be more than human on their part to play anything else themselves. The whole family will go up or go down in your temper: you give the keynote, you conduct the song; it is for you to say whether the music shall rise into rapture, and crown itself with triumph, or whether it shall dwindle and die and be forgotten, gladly forgotten, for it was the groan of a defeated soul. All men who lead society to any considerable extent ought to remember the action of this. For they cannot fall or fail alone. They themselves will be blamed, and their principles will be mocked, and their memory will be a trust which no man will undertake, for who would lock up a shame in his strong-box and say, Lo, I am the trustee of this cowardice?

The poet says, “The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.” He knew what he had been doing; he had taken his own temperature every day, he watched the thermometer of his soul; he had become so zealous about God that the reproaches of those who reproached God fell upon him. We might read the text with proper syntax reversely, and say, “And the reproaches of them that are fallen upon me are also fallen upon thee, O God.” It is well to remember that God and his people go together. You cannot reproach a good man without reproaching God; you cannot reproach Providence without reproaching the whole Church. There are circumstances under which God will not be separated from his people. They that receive you receive me, and they that receive me, said Christ, receive him that sent me. Not only is the Church to be one, the Church is to be one in God; God and the Church are to be one, and indivisible.

A very fine feature in this poet’s character comes out in the tenth and eleventh verses. He made some endeavour to conciliate men; he thought he would handle society with tact: instead of being a saint, he would be a manager; instead of being a suppliant always, he would undertake the work of manipulation. Let us see what it all came to. When a man leaves his prayer that he may begin to manage society a trick I counsel you never to learn it comes to this: “When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach;” they mocked me, they heard my prayers and turned them back upon me; when I cried my very eyes out because of the bitterness of my soul they mimicked my weeping, they became my echoes; “I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them;” they made a maxim of me, a joke, a sneer; they quoted me in their songs, and those that were most ribald were most free in their iniquitous and humiliating criticisms upon me. Never attempt to coax society; have nothing to do with mean compromises. If there is any mystery in your life, face it, wait its solution, accept it as a chastisement or an opportunity for self-refinement; but never endeavour to conciliate society by making light of any of the mysteries of God. And never show your deepest agonies to those who cannot understand them. You have no right to cry in public; you are forbidden to show your sores to those who will only mock God because of the harrowing sight; seek the prophet, cultivate fellowship with kindred spirits who know the tragedy and pain of life, and who have large experience, and who can, out of the consolations with which they themselves have been comforted, encourage and sustain your soul. As for the enemy, and the drunkards who make songs out of human misery, you do not belong to that masonry; renounce it, and never give the enemy an opportunity to mock your sorrow.

Still the poet says he will be firm; come what may he will be found at the right place: “But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.” Here is what may be termed proved constancy. Here is something that cannot be trifled with, or cannot be moved about by sleight of hand; here is a faith that lies beyond the line of surprise. It cannot be amazed into unbelief. There is a growing faith, struggling and feeble more or less, that sometimes is almost half-infidel; it requires time, richer experience, large opportunity for development, and then at the last it becomes stalwart, herculean, massive, immovable. We want faith that has been tested; we want men who have come up through all the cloud of doubt and by the grace of God have been enabled to lift up their heads into the cloudless sunshine. There is a way, so we have heard, of evading all doubt, and sorrow of soul, and difficulty, and getting into heaven by some unnamed road. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of that statement. There are those who have never had doubt or fear or difficulty; they have always sung the same song, and the same words, in the same key, and never have been devoid of real spiritual cheerfulness; they have come into the world, and have passed through it, and have gone up into heaven singing all the time. I will not undertake to endorse that view of the case. They have made no mark in history, they have left behind them nothing that fear-stricken spirits can take hold of, saying, This is human consolation, sent for my nourishment and edification. The faith that would rule the world now is a faith that has come up through all the infidelities, and stands immeasurably above them all. We do not want some secretly gained faith that has never tested the weather; we want a faith that has encountered the enemy all the way and smitten him, and has come up to the top by the grace and goodness of God, and therefore will pray wherever the floods are, and will find a kneeling-place even in the mire. Be afraid of those persons who have never gone out into difficult circumstances, who have never encountered the enemy, who have never seen the wilderness of temptation, and who have never read anything calculated to shape their faith: have confidence in the men who have seen it all, who have spent forty days and forty nights with the devil, who have seen infidelity, unbelief, atheism, in all their varieties, postures, and possibilities, and have left them below. These are the men whose record will be living annotations upon the living gospel.

Even now the poet begins to hope. He says, “Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me”: say, Thus far shalt thou come, no farther; define the limit of trial, remember my frame, reflect that I am but dust, and have pity upon me, O God of my salvation. Whilst there is life there is hope; man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. The man is in the mire, and he is sinking, yet he says, Lord, so long as my mouth is above the mire there is time for thee to come and save; a moment more and all will be over, but it is into a moment thou canst condense thine own eternity. “Let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.” In Eastern lands the pits were covered with stones; the stone was put there to protect the water from defilement, and to prevent travellers from plunging into unseen depths; so this man says, I am in the well, but do not let the stone be put upon the top of it, let not the pit shut its mouth upon me. The placing of the stone on the well was called shutting its mouth. So even at that last point, when the men were lifting the stone and going to put it upon the top of the well, even then, said the poet, God can come to me, and even yet can mightily deliver me.

Then comes a change of spiritual key in the twenty-second verse. There was provocation enough; the man had a good cause from a merely human standpoint; when they gave him gall for his meat, and when in his thirst they gave him vinegar to drink, he might well be excused, humanly speaking, from desiring that what they had done to him might be done to themselves. We do not know what is in our hearts until we are tried; you do not know that your best friend is a Christian until you have seen him under insult; you know nothing about any man until you have seen him opposed. Many a man there is with a nice reputation and a sleek name, and a person who is spoken of as being extremely amiable, whom you have never seen under difficulty. Let some one oppose him, disappoint him, insult him, then you will know what he is. There are saints today who if their self-love were wounded would prove themselves to be the veriest atheists upon earth. Yet they have prayed an hour in the morning, and are ready to pray another hour in the evening. What covers them is a film of piety; that film is spread over a whole body of devilry. You know what you are when you find yourselves in an unlawful passion. This man prays that God will deal very heavily and hardly with enemies. The man probably did not know what he was talking about. We do not understand the force of our own words. There are circumstances under which a man is not to be held responsible for his own statements, though the man be perfectly sane, because he does not know the atmosphere in which he is speaking, the circumstances under which he is delivering himself; he does not know the balance and force of the words he is using. In order to know what he is saying he must consult the persons who hear him. We speak of the phonograph, and think it a very wonderful instrument; so it is; there is one peculiarity about it which men of science have pointed out, namely, that the only men who do not recognise the voice are the men to whom the voice belongs. When the phonograph speaks, all a man’s friends say, “That is your voice, how distinct, how wonderful, how vivid! do you not hear it?” And the man says, “That is not my voice.” The only man who does not recognise the tone of the phonograph is the man whose voice it is repeating. So infidels do not recognise their own arguments. When they see men devastated by them, when they see young men rise from their knees, and say then they will pray no longer, the infidel wants to avoid all responsibility, and says, “I never said that, I never meant that.” Why science is against him, the phonograph is against him; he thinks he never said it, but he said every word of it, only he did not understand what he was saying; the words meant one thing to him, and another to the person who heard them. But we shall be judged by our deeds, our effects, and not always by our purposes. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Say to certain persons that their words have been grievous, sharp, unkind, and they will deny that they ever uttered the words, just as the man denied that the voice emitted by the phonograph was his; but fate will avenge the injury, science will come and be a witness against the foolish person, and every man will have to give account of himself to God for the things done in the body, whether they be good, or whether they be evil. Do not bind a man, therefore, to his imprecations. He does not wholly mean that these things should be deluged or destroyed, or pursued by evil spirits, or stung by hornets; he did not mean all that: only at the time these great expressions seemed best to set forth the tumult of his agitation. Men who are in Christ never utter imprecatory prayers, they never write imprecatory psalms; when they dip their pen for the purpose of writing such poetry, a voice arrests them, saying, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves; for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Do not undertake to punish your enemies. Have nothing to do with dealing out penalties to men who have wronged you. God’s mills grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small, and there is no coward or sneak or base man or sharp-eyed, clever-fingered thief who has done you wrong that shall not, if he do not repent, be ground to powder.

Prayer

Almighty God, thou who art merciful and gracious, full of compassion and long-suffering and tenderness, thou art kind to the unthankful and to the evil! We come to thee with our offering of praise, inasmuch as thou hast crowned our life with loving-kindness and tender mercy and made it beautiful with continual love. We praise thee; we magnify thee; we offer thee the whole strength of our heart. We come to thee as those who have been mocked by the promises of the world, and who long to find satisfaction in thine infinite and unspeakable peace. We have been disappointed. The staff has been broken in our hand and pierced us. We have hewn unto ourselves cisterns; they are broken cisterns, which can hold no water. Foiled, smitten, wounded, humiliated and disgraced, we come into thy presence, knowing that in God as revealed in the person and doctrine of Jesus Christ, and made known unto us by the ministry of the Holy Ghost, we can find rest which our souls could not find elsewhere. All our springs are in thee. Thou givest us what we need. They who are in thy presence, who live in thy light, and thy love, hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither are subjected to weariness or decay. We would live in God. We would have our being in the Eternal. We would know nothing among men but Jesus and him crucified; and by the mystery of pain and the mystery of love, symbolised by Christ’s Cross, we would endure the trials of the world, and discharge the whole service of life. Meet us as sinners, and pardon us! The blood of Jesus Christ thy Son cleanseth from all sin. May we know its cleansing, healing power! We have done the things we ought not to have done; we have withheld the testimony which it became us to deliver; we have often been timid and unfaithful; we have hesitated when we ought to have gone forward; our word has been untrue; our spirit has been worldly; our very prayers have been selfish. All this we say when we truly know ourselves, and we are revealed to ourselves by the indwelling, all-disclosing Spirit. God be merciful to us sinners, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Amen.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

XVI

THE MESSIANIC PSALMS AND OTHERS

We commence this chapter by giving a classified list of the Messianic Psalms, as follows:

The Royal Psalms are:

Psa 110 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 72 ; Psa 45 ; Psa 89 ;

The Passion Psalms are:

Psa 22 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 69 ;

The Psalms of the Ideal Man are Psa 8 ; Psa 16 ; Psa 40 ;

The Missionary Psalms are:

Psa 47 ; Psa 65 ; Psa 68 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 100 ; Psa 117 .

The predictions before David of the coming Messiah are, (1) the seed of the woman; (2) the seed of Abraham; (3) the seed of Judah; (4) the seed of David.

The prophecies of history concerning the Messiah are, (1) a prophet like unto Moses; (2) a priest after the order of Melchizedek; (3) a sacrifice which embraces all the sacrificial offerings of the Old Testament; (4) direct references to him as King, as in 2Sa 7:8 ff.

The messianic offices as taught in the psalms are four, viz: (1) The Messiah is presented as Prophet, or Teacher (Psa 40:8 ); (2) as Sacrifice, or an Offering for sin (Psa 40:6 ff.; Heb 10:5 ff.) ; (3) he is presented as Priest (Psa 110:4 ); (4) he is presented as King (Psa 45 ).

The psalms most clearly presenting the Messiah in his various phases and functions are as follows: (1) as the ideal man, or Second Adam (8); (2) as Prophet (Psa 40 ); (3) as Sacrifice (Psa 22 ) ; (4) as King (Psa 45 ) ; (5) as Priest (Psa 110 ) ; (6) in his universal reign (Psa 72 ).

It will be noted that other psalms teach these facts also, but these most clearly set forth the offices as they relate to the Messiah.

The Messiah as a sacrifice is presented in general in Psa 40:6 . His sufferings as such are given in a specific and general way in Psa 22 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 69 . The events of his sufferings in particular are described, beginning with the betrayal of Judas, as follows:

1. Judas betrayed him (Mat 26:14 ) in fulfilment of Psa 41:9 .

2. At the Supper (Mat 26:24 ) Christ said, “The Son of man goeth as it is written of him,” referring to Psa 22 .

3. They sang after the Supper in fulfilment of Psa 22:22 .

4. Piercing his hands and feet, Psa 22:16 .

5. They cast lots for his vesture in fulfilment of Psa 22:18 .

6. Just before the ninth hour the chief priests reviled him (Mat 27:43 ) in fulfilment of Psa 22:8 .

7. At the ninth hour (Mat 27:46 ) he quoted Psa 22:1 .

8. Near his death (Joh 19:28 ) he said, in fulfilment of Psa 69:21 , “I thirst.”

9. At that time they gave him vinegar (Mat 27:48 ) in fulfilment of Psa 69:21 .

10. When he was found dead they did not break his bones (Joh 19:36 ) in fulfilment of Psa 34:20 .

11. He is represented as dead, buried, and raised in Psa 16:10 .

12. His suffering as a substitute is described in Psa 69:9 .

13. The result of his crucifixion to them who crucified him is given in Psa 69:22-23 . Compare Rom 11:9-10 .

The Penitential Psalms are Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 . The occasion of Psa 6 was the grief and penitence of David over Absalom; of Psa 32 was the blessedness of forgiveness after his sin with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah; Psa 38 , David’s reference to his sin with Bathsheba; Psa 51 , David’s penitence and prayer for forgiveness for this sin; Psa 102 , the penitence of the children of Israel on the eve of their return from captivity; Psalm 130, a general penitential psalm; Psa 143 , David’s penitence and prayer when pursued by Absalom.

The Pilgrim Psalms are Psalms 120-134. This section of the psalter is called the “Little Psalter.” These Psalms were collected in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, in troublous times. The author of the central psalm of this collection is Solomon, and he wrote it when he built his Temple. The Davidic Psalms in this collection are Psa 120 ; Psa 122 ; Psa 124 ; Psa 131 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 133 . The others were written during the building of the second Temple. They are called in the Septuagint “Songs of the Steps.”

There are four theories as to the meaning of the titles, “Songs of the Steps,” “Songs of Degrees,” or “Songs of Ascents,” viz:

1. The first theory is that the “Songs of the Steps” means the songs of the fifteen steps from the court of the women to the court of Israel, there being a song for each step.

2. The second theory is that advanced by Luther, which says that they were songs of a higher choir, elevated above, or in an elevated voice.

3. The third theory is that the thought in these psalms advances by degrees.

4. The fourth theory is that they are Pilgrim Psalms, or the songs that they sang while going up to the great feasts.

Certain scriptures give the true idea of these titles, viz: Exo 23:14-17 ; Exo 34:23-24 ; 1Sa 1:3 ; 1Ki 12:27-28 : Psa 122:1-4 ; and the proof of their singing as they went is found in Psa_42:4; 100; and Isa 30:29 . They went, singing these psalms, to the Feasts of the Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Psa 121 was sung when just in sight of Jerusalem and Psa 122 was sung at the gate. Psa 128 is the description of a good man’s home and a parallel to this psalm in modern literature is Burns’s “Cotter’s Saturday Night.” The pious home makes the nation great.

Psa 133 is a psalm of fellowship. It is one of the finest expressions of the blessings that issue when God’s people dwell together in unity. The reference here is to the anointing of Aaron as high priest and the fragrance of the anointing oil which was used in these anointings. The dew of Hermon represents the blessing of God upon his people when they dwell together in such unity.

Now let us look at the Alphabetical Psalms. An alphabetical psalm is one in which the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are used alphabetically to commence each division. In Psalms 111-112, each clause so begins; in Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 145 ; each verse so begins; in Psa 37 each stanza of two verses so begins; in 119 each stanza of eight verses so begins, and each of the eight lines begins with the same letter. In Psa 25 ; 34 37 the order is not so strict; in Psa 9 and Psa 10 there are some traces of this alphabetical order.

David originated these alphabetical psalms and the most complete specimen is Psa 119 , which is an expansion of the latter part of Psa 19 .

A certain group of psalms is called the Hallelujah Psalms. They are so called because the word “Hallelujah” is used at the beginning, or at the ending, and sometimes at both the beginning and the ending. The Hallelujah Psalms are Psalm 111-113; 115-117; 146-150. Psa 117 is a doxology; and Psalms 146-150 were used as anthems. Psa 148 calls on all creation to praise God. Francis of Assisi wrote a hymn based on this psalm in which he called the sun his honorable brother and the cricket his sister. Psa 150 calls for all varieties of instruments. Psalms 113-118 are called the Egyptian Hallel. They were used at the Passover (Psalm 113-114), before the Supper and Psalm 115-118 were sung after the Supper. According to this, Jesus and his disciples sang Psalms 115-118 at the last Passover Supper. These psalms were sung also at the Feasts of Pentecost, Tabernacles, Dedication, and New Moon.

The name of God is delayed long in Psa 114 . Addison said, “That the surprise might be complete.” Then there are some special characteristics of Psa 115 , viz: (1) It was written against idols. Cf. Isa 44:9-20 ; (2) It is antiphonal, the congregation singing Psa 115:1-8 , the choir Psa 115:9-12 , the priests Psa 115:13-15 and the congregation again Psa 115:16-18 . The theme of Psa 116 is love, based on gratitude for a great deliverance, expressed in service. It is appropriate to read at the celebration of the Lord’s Supper and Psa 116:15 is especially appropriate for funeral services.

On some special historical occasions certain psalms were sung. Psa 46 was sung by the army of Gustavus Adolphus before the decisive battle of Leipzig, on September 17, 1631.Psa 68 was sung by Cromwell’s army on the occasion of the battle of Dunbar in Scotland.

Certain passages in the Psalms show that the psalm writers approved the offering of Mosaic animal sacrifices. For instance, Psa 118:27 ; Psa 141:2 seem to teach very clearly that they approved the Mosaic sacrifice. But other passages show that these inspired writers estimated spiritual sacrifices as more important and foresaw the abolition of the animal sacrifices. Such passages are Psa 50:7-15 ; Psa 4:5 ; Psa 27:6 ; Psa 40:6 ; Psa 51:16-17 . These scriptures show conclusively that the writers estimated spiritual sacrifices as more important than the Mosaic sacrifices.

QUESTIONS

1. What are the Royal Psalms?

2. What are the Passion Psalms?

3. What are the Psalms of the Ideal Man?

4. What are the Missionary Psalms?

5. What are the predictions before David of the coming Messiah?

6. What are the prophecies of history concerning the Messiah?

7. Give a regular order of thought concerning the messianic offices as taught in the psalms.

8. Which psalms most clearly present the Messiah as (1) the ideal man, or Second Adam, (2) which as Prophet, or Teacher, (3) which as the Sacrifice, (4) which as King, (5) which as Priest, (6) which his universal reign?

9. Concerning the suffering Messiah, or the Messiah as a sacrifice, state the words or facts, verified in the New Testament as fulfilment of prophecy in the psalms. Let the order of the citations follow the order of facts in Christ’s life.

10. Name the Penitential Psalms and show their occasion.

11. What are the Pilgrim Psalms?

12. What is this section of the Psalter called?

13. When and under what conditions were these psalms collected?

14. Who is the author of the central psalm of this collection?

15. What Davidic Psalms are in this collection?

16. When were the others written?

17. What are they called in the Septuagint?

18. What four theories as to the meaning of the titles, “Songs of the Steps,” “Songs of Degrees,” or “Songs of Ascents”?

19. What scriptures give the true idea of these titles?

20. Give proof of their singing as they went.

21. To what feasts did they go singing these Psalms?

22. What was the special use made of Psa 121 and Psa 122 ?

23. Which of these psalms is the description of a good man’s home and what parallel in modern literature?

24. Expound Psa 133 .

25. What is an alphabetical psalm, and what are the several kinds?

26. Who originated these Alphabetical Psalms?

27. What are the most complete specimen?

28. Of what is it an expansion?

29. Why is a certain group of psalms called the Hallelujah Psalms?

30. What are the Hallelujah Psalms?

31. Which of the Hallelujah Psalms was a doxology?

32. Which of these were used as anthems?

33. Which psalm calls on all creation to praise God?

34. Who wrote a hymn based on Psa 148 in which he called the sun his honorable brother and the cricket his sister?

35. Which of these psalms calls for all varieties of instruments?

36. What is the Egyptian Hallel?

37. What is their special use and how were they sung?

38. Then what hymns did Jesus and his disciples sing?

39. At what other feasts was this sung?

40. Why was the name of God delayed so long in Psa 114 ?

41. What are the characteristics of Psa 115 ?

42. What is the theme and special use of Psa 116 ?

43. State some special historical occasions on which certain psalms were sung. Give the psalm for each occasion.

44. Cite passages in the psalms showing that the psalm writers approved the offering of Mosaic animal sacrifices.

45. Cite other passages showing that these inspired writers estimated spiritual sacrifices as more important than the Mosaic sacrifices.

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

PSALMS

XI

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS

According to my usual custom, when taking up the study of a book of the Bible I give at the beginning a list of books as helps to the study of that book. The following books I heartily commend on the Psalms:

1. Sampey’s Syllabus for Old Testament Study . This is especially good on the grouping and outlining of some selected psalms. There are also some valuable suggestions on other features of the book.

2. Kirkpatrick’g commentary, in “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges,” is an excellent aid in the study of the Psalter.

3. Perowne’s Book of Psalms is a good, scholarly treatise on the Psalms. A special feature of this commentary is the author’s “New Translation” and his notes are very helpful.

4. Spurgeon’s Treasury of David. This is just what the title implies. It is a voluminous, devotional interpretation of the Psalms and helpful to those who have the time for such extensive study of the Psalter.

5. Hengstenburg on the Psalms. This is a fine, scholarly work by one of the greatest of the conservative German scholars.

6. Maclaren on the Psalms, in “The Expositor’s Bible,” is the work of the world’s safest, sanest, and best of all works that have ever been written on the Psalms.

7. Thirtle on the Titles of the Psalms. This is the best on the subject and well worth a careful study.

At this point some definitions are in order. The Hebrew word for psalm means praise. The word in English comes from psalmos , a song of lyrical character, or a song to be sung and accompanied with a lyre. The Psalter is a collection of sacred and inspired songs, composed at different times and by different authors.

The range of time in composition was more than 1,000 years, or from the time of Moses to the time of Ezra. The collection in its present form was arranged probably by Ezra in the fifth century, B.C.

The Jewish classification of Old Testament books was The Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings. The Psalms was given the first place in the last group.

They had several names, or titles, of the Psalms. In Hebrew they are called “The Book of Prayers,” or “The Book of Praises.” The Hebrew word thus used means praises. The title of the first two books is found in Psa 72:20 : “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.” The title of the whole collection of Psalms in the Septuagint is Biblos Psalman which means the “Book of Psalms.” The title in the Alexandrian Codex is Psalterion which is the name of a stringed instrument, and means “The Psalter.”

The derivation of our English words, “psalms,” “psalter,” and “psaltery,” respectively, is as follows:

1. “Psalms” comes from the Greek word, psalmoi, which is also from psallein , which means to play upon a stringed instrument. Therefore the Psalms are songs played upon stringed instruments, and the word here is used to apply to the whole collection.

2. “Psalter” is of the same origin and means the Book of Psalms and refers also to the whole collection.

3. “Psaltery” is from the word psalterion, which means “a harp,” an instrument, supposed to be in the shape of a triangle or like the delta of the Greek alphabet. See Psa 33:2 ; Psa 71:22 ; Psa 81:2 ; Psa 144:9 .

In our collection there are 150 psalms. In the Septuagint there is one extra. It is regarded as being outside the sacred collection and not inspired. The subject of this extra psalm is “David’s victory over Goliath.” The following is a copy of it: I was small among my brethren, And youngest in my father’s house, I used to feed my father’s sheep. My hands made a harp, My fingers fashioned a Psaltery. And who will declare unto my Lord? He is Lord, he it is who heareth. He it was who sent his angel And took me from my father’s sheep, And anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were goodly and tall, But the Lord took no pleasure in them. I went forth to meet the Philistine. And he cursed me by his idols But I drew the sword from beside him; I beheaded him and removed reproach from the children of Israel.

It will be noted that this psalm does not have the earmarks of an inspired production. There is not found in it the modesty so characteristic of David, but there is here an evident spirit of boasting and self-praise which is foreign to the Spirit of inspiration.

There is a difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint. Omitting the extra one in the Septuagint, there is no difference as to the total number. Both have 150 and the same subject matter, but they are not divided alike.

The following scheme shows the division according to our version and also the Septuagint: Psalms 1-8 in the Hebrew equal 1-8 in the Septuagint; 9-10 in the Hebrew combine into 9 in the Septuagint; 11-113 in the Hebrew equal 10-112 in the Septuagint; 114-115 in the Hebrew combine into 113 in the Septuagint; 116 in the Hebrew divides into 114-115 in the Septuagint; 117-146 in the Hebrew equal 116-145 in the Septuagint; 147 in the Hebrew divides into 146-147 in the Septuagint; 148-150 in the Hebrew equal 148-150 in the Septuagint.

The arrangement in the Vulgate is the same as the Septuagint. Also some of the older English versions have this arangement. Another difficulty in numbering perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another, viz: In the Hebrew often the title is verse I, and sometimes the title embraces verses 1-2.

The book divisions of the Psalter are five books, as follows:

Book I, Psalms 1-41 (41 chapters)

Book II, Psalms 42-72 (31 chapters)

Book III, Psalms 73-89 (17 chapters)

Book IV, Psalms 90-106 (17 chapters)

Book V, Psalms 107-150 (44 chapters)

They are marked by an introduction and a doxology. Psalm I forms an introduction to the whole book; Psa 150 is the doxology for the whole book. The introduction and doxology of each book are the first and last psalms of each division, respectively.

There were smaller collections before the final one, as follows:

Books I and II were by David; Book III, by Hezekiah, and Books IV and V, by Ezra.

Certain principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection:

1. David is honored with first place, Book I and II, including Psalms 1-72.

2. They are grouped according to the use of the name of God:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovah psalms;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohim-psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovah psalms.

3. Book IV is introduced by the psalm of Moses, which is the first psalm written.

4. Some are arranged as companion psalms, for instance, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes more. Examples: Psa 2 and 3; 22, 23, and 24; 113-118.

5. They were arranged for liturgical purposes, which furnished the psalms for special occasions, such as feasts, etc. We may be sure this arrangement was not accidental. An intelligent study of each case is convincing that it was determined upon rational grounds.

All the psalms have titles but thirty-three, as follows:

In Book I, Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 33 , (4 are without titles).

In Book II, Psa 43 ; Psa 71 , (2 are without titles).

In Book IV, Psa 91 ; Psa 93 ; Psa 94 ; Psa 95 ; Psa 96 ; Psa 97 ; Psa 104 ; Psa 105 ; Psa 106 , (9 are without titles).

In Book V, Psa 107 ; III; 112; 113; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 135; 136; 137; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150, (18 are without titles).

The Talmud calls these psalms that have no title, “Orphan Psalms.” The later Jews supply these titles by taking the nearest preceding author. The lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; and 10 may be accounted for as follows: Psa 1 is a general introduction to the whole collection and Psa 2 was, perhaps, a part of Psa 1 . Psalms 9-10 were formerly combined into one, therefore Psa 10 has the same title as Psa 9 .

QUESTIONS

1. What books are commended on the Psalms?

2. What is a psalm?

3. What is the Psalter?

4. What is the range of time in composition?

5. When and by whom was the collection in its present form arranged?

6. What the Jewish classification of Old Testament books, and what the position of the Psalter in this classification?

7. What is the Hebrew title of the Psalms?

8. Find the title of the first two books from the books themselves.

9. What is the title of the whole collection of psalms in the Septuagint?

10. What is the title in the Alexandrian Codex?

11. What is the derivation of our English word, “Psalms”, “Psalter”, and “Psaltery,” respectively?

12. How many psalms in our collection?

13. How many psalms in the Septuagint?

14. What about the extra one in the Septuagint?

15. What is the subject of this extra psalm?

16. How does it compare with the Canonical Psalms?

17. What is the difference in the numbering of the psalms in our version which follows the Hebrew, and the numbering in the Septuagint?

18. What is the arrangement in the Vulgate?

19. What other difficulty in numbering which perplexes an inexperienced student in turning from one version to another?

20. What are the book divisions of the Psalter and how are these divisions marked?

21. Were there smaller collections before the final one? If so, what were they?

22. What principles determined the arrangement of the several psalms in the present collection?

23. In what conclusion may we rest concerning this arrangement?

24. How many of the psalms have no titles?

25. What does the Talmud call these psalms that have no titles?

26. How do later Jews supply these titles?

27. How do you account for the lack of titles in Psa 1 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 10 ?

XII

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS (CONTINUED)

The following is a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms:

1. The author: “A Psalm of David” (Psa 37 ).

2. The occasion: “When he fled from Absalom, his son” (Psa 3 ).

3. The nature, or character, of the poem:

(1) Maschil, meaning “instruction,” a didactic poem (Psa 42 ).

(2) Michtam, meaning “gold,” “A Golden Psalm”; this means excellence or mystery (Psa 16 ; 56-60).

4. The occasion of its use: “A Psalm of David for the dedication of the house” (Psa 30 ).

5. Its purpose: “A Psalm of David to bring remembrance” (Psa 38 ; Psa 70 ).

6. Direction for its use: “A Psalm of David for the chief musician” (Psa 4 ).

7. The kind of musical instrument:

(1) Neginoth, meaning to strike a chord, as on stringed instruments (Psa 4 ; Psa 61 ).

(2) Nehiloth, meaning to perforate, as a pipe or flute (Psa 5 ).

(3) Shoshannim, Lilies, which refers probably to cymbals (Psa 45 ; Psa 69 ).

8. A special choir:

(1) Sheminith, the “eighth,” or octave below, as a male choir (Psa 6 ; Psa 12 ).

(2) Alamoth, female choir (Psa 46 ).

(3) Muth-labben, music with virgin voice, to be sung by a choir of boys in the treble (Psa 9 ).

9. The keynote, or tune:

(1) Aijeleth-sharar, “Hind of the morning,” a song to the melody of which this is sung (Psa 22 ).

(2) Al-tashheth, “Destroy thou not,” the beginning of a song the tune of which is sung (Psa 57 ; Psa 58 ; Psa 59 ; Psa 75 ).

(3) Gittith, set to the tune of Gath, perhaps a tune which David brought from Gath (Psa 8 ; Psa 81 ; Psa 84 ).

(4) Jonath-elim-rehokim, “The dove of the distant terebinths,” the commencement of an ode to the air of which this song was to be sung (Psa 56 ).

(5) Leannoth, the name of a tune (Psa 88 ).

(6) Mahalath, an instrument (Psa 53 ); Leonnoth-Mahaloth, to chant to a tune called Mahaloth.

(7) Shiggaion, a song or a hymn.

(8) Shushan-Eduth, “Lily of testimony,” a tune (Psa 60 ). Note some examples: (1) “America,” “Shiloh,” “Auld Lang Syne.” These are the names of songs such as we are familiar with; (2) “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood,” are examples of sacred hymns.

10. The liturgical use, those noted for the feasts, e.g., the Hallels and Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 146-150).

11. The destination, as “Song of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134)

12. The direction for the music, such as Selah, which means “Singers, pause”; Higgaion-Selah, to strike a symphony with selah, which means an instrumental interlude (Psa 9:16 ).

The longest and fullest title to any of the psalms is the title to Psa 60 . The items of information from this title are as follows: (1) the author; (2) the chief musician; (3) the historical occasion; (4) the use, or design; (5) the style of poetry; (6) the instrument or style of music.

The parts of these superscriptions which most concern us now are those indicating author, occasion, and date. As to the historic value or trustworthiness of these titles most modern scholars deny that they are a part of the Hebrew text, but the oldest Hebrew text of which we know anything had all of them. This is the text from which the Septuagint was translated. It is much more probable that the author affixed them than later writers. There is no internal evidence in any of the psalms that disproves the correctness of them, but much to confirm. The critics disagree among themselves altogether as to these titles. Hence their testimony cannot consistently be received. Nor can it ever be received until they have at least agreed upon a common ground of opposition.

David is the author of more than half the entire collection, the arrangement of which is as follows:

1. Seventy-three are ascribed to him in the superscriptions.

2. Some of these are but continuations of the preceding ones of a pair, trio, or larger group.

3. Some of the Korahite Psalms are manifestly Davidic.

4. Some not ascribed to him in the titles are attributed to him expressly by New Testament writers.

5. It is not possible to account for some parts of the Psalter without David. The history of his early life as found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1and 2 Chronicles, not only shows his remarkable genius for patriotic and sacred songs and music, but also shows his cultivation of that gift in the schools of the prophets. Some of these psalms of the history appear in the Psalter itself. It is plain to all who read these that they are founded on experience, and the experience of no other Hebrew fits the case. These experiences are found in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.

As to the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition, I have this to say:

1. This theory has no historical support whatever, and therefore is not to be accepted at all.

2. It has no support in tradition, which weakens the contention of the critics greatly.

3. It has no support from finding any one with the necessary experience for their basis.

4. They can give no reasonable account as to how the titles ever got there.

5. It is psychologically impossible for anyone to have written these 150 psalms in the Maccabean times.

6. Their position is expressly contrary to the testimony of Christ and the apostles. Some of the psalms which they ascribe to the Maccabean Age are attributed to David by Christ himself, who said that David wrote them in the Spirit.

The obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result if it be Just, is a positive denial of the inspiration of both Testaments.

Other authors are named in the titles, as follows: (1) Asaph, to whom twelve psalms have been assigned: (2) Mosee, Psa 90 ; (3) Solomon, Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ; (4) Heman, Psa 80 ; (5) Ethem, Psa 89 ; (6) A number of the psalms are ascribed to the sons of Korah.

Not all the psalms ascribed to Asaph were composed by one person. History indicates that Asaph’s family presided over the song service for several generations. Some of them were composed by his descendants by the game name. The five general outlines of the whole collection are as follows:

I. By books

1. Psalms 1-41 (41)

2. Psalms 42-72 (31)

3. Psalms 73-89 (17)

4. Psalms 90-106 (17)

5. Psalms 107-150 (44)

II. According to date and authorship

1. The psalm of Moses (Psa 90 )

2. Psalms of David:

(1) The shepherd boy (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 ).

(2) David when persecuted by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ).

(3) David the King (Psa 101 ; Psa 18 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 2 ; Psa 110 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 20 ; Psa 21 ; Psa 60 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 41 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 3:4 ; Psa 64 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 ).

3. The Asaph Psalms (Psa 50 ; Psa 73 ; Psa 83 ).

4. The Korahite Psalms (Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 84 ).

5. The psalms of Solomon (Psa 72 ; Psa 127 ).

6. The psalms of the era of Hezekiah and Isaiah (Psa 46 ; Psa 47 ; Psa 48 )

7. The psalms of the Exile (Psa 74 ; Psa 79 ; Psa 137 ; Psa 102 )

8. The psalms of the Restoration (Psa 85 ; Psa 126 ; Psa 118 ; 146-150)

III. By groups

1. The Jehovistic and Elohistic Psalms:

(1) Psalms 1-41 are Jehovistic;

(2) Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic Psalms;

(3) Psalms 84-150 are Jehovistic.

2. The Penitential Psalms (Psa 6 ; Psa 32 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 51 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 130 ; Psa 143 )

3. The Pilgrim Psalms (Psalms 120-134)

4. The Alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9 ; Psa 10 ; Psa 25 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 37 ; 111:112; Psa 119 ; Psa 145 )

5. The Hallelujah Psalms (Psalms 11-113; 115-117; 146-150; to which may be added Psa 135 ) Psalms 113-118 are called “the Egyptian Hallel”

IV. Doctrines of the Psalms

1. The throne of grace and how to approach it by sacrifice, prayer, and praise.

2. The covenant, the basis of worship.

3. The paradoxical assertions of both innocence & guilt.

4. The pardon of sin and justification.

5. The Messiah.

6. The future life, pro and con.

7. The imprecations.

8. Other doctrines.

V. The New Testament use of the Psalms

1. Direct references and quotations in the New Testament.

2. The allusions to the psalms in the New Testament. Certain experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart, such as: (1) his peaceful early life; (2) his persecution by Saul; (3) his being crowned king of the people; (4) the bringing up of the ark; (5) his first great sin; (6) Absalom’s rebellion; (7) his second great sin; (8) the great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 ; (9) the feelings of his old age.

We may classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time, thus:

1. His peaceful early life (Psa 8 ; Psa 19 ; Psa 29 ; Psa 23 )

2. His persecution by Saul (Psa 59 ; Psa 56 ; Psa 34 ; Psa 7 ; Psa 52 ; Psa 120 ; Psa 140 ; Psa 54 ; Psa 57 ; Psa 142 ; Psa 17 ; Psa 18 )

3. Making David King (Psa 27 ; Psa 133 ; Psa 101 )

4. Bringing up the ark (Psa 68 ; Psa 24 ; Psa 132 ; Psa 15 ; Psa 78 ; Psa 96 )

5. His first great sin (Psa 51 ; Psa 32 )

6. Absalom’s rebellion (Psa 41 ; Psa 6 ; Psa 55 ; Psa 109 ; Psa 38 ; Psa 39 ; Psa 3 ; Psa 4 ; Psa 63 ; Psa 42 ; Psa 43 ; Psa 5 ; Psa 62 ; Psa 61 ; Psa 27 )

7. His second great sin (Psa 69 ; Psa 71 ; Psa 102 ; Psa 103 )

8. The great promise made to him in 2Sa 7 (Psa 2 )

9. Feelings of old age (Psa 37 )

The great doctrines of the psalms may be noted as follows: (1) the being and attributes of God; (3) sin, both original and individual; (3) both covenants; (4) the doctrine of justification; (5) concerning the Messiah.

There is a striking analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms. The Pentateuch contains five books of law; the Psalms contain five books of heart responses to the law.

It is interesting to note the historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms. These were controversies about singing uninspired songs, in the Middle Ages. The church would not allow anything to be used but psalms.

The history in Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah is very valuable toward a proper interpretation of the psalms. These books furnish the historical setting for a great many of the psalms which is very indispensable to their proper interpretation.

Professor James Robertson, in the Poetry and Religion of the Psalms constructs a broad and strong argument in favor of the Davidic Psalms, as follows:

1. The age of David furnished promising soil for the growth of poetry.

2. David’s qualifications for composing the psalms make it highly probable that David is the author of the psalms ascribed to him.

3. The arguments against the possibility of ascribing to David any of the hymns in the Hebrew Psalter rests upon assumptions that are thoroughly antibiblical.

The New Testament makes large use of the psalms and we learn much as to their importance in teaching. There are seventy direct quotations in the New Testament from this book, from which we learn that the Scriptures were used extensively in accord with 2Ti 3:16-17 . There are also eleven references to the psalms in the New Testament from which we learn that the New Testament writers were thoroughly imbued with the spirit and teaching of the psalms. Then there are eight allusions ‘to this book in the New Testament from which we gather that the Psalms was one of the divisions of the Old Testament and that they were used in the early church.

QUESTIONS

1. Give a list of the items of information gathered from the titles of the psalms.

2. What is the longest title to any of the psalms and what the items of this title?

3. What parts of these superscriptions most concern us now?

4. What is the historic value, or trustworthiness of these titles?

5. State the argument showing David’s relation to the psalms.

6. What have you to say of the attempt of the destructive critics to rob David of his glory in relation to the Psalter by assigning the Maccabean era as the date of composition?

7. What the obvious aim of this criticism and the necessary result, if it be just?

8. What other authors are named in the titles?

9. Were all the psalms ascribed to Asaph composed by one person?

10. Give the five general outlines of the whole collection, as follows: I. The outline by books II. The outline according to date and authorship III. The outline by groups IV. The outline of doctrines V. The outline by New Testament quotations or allusions.

11. What experiences of David’s life made very deep impressions on his heart?

12. Classify the Davidic Psalms according to these experiences following the order of time.

13. What the great doctrines of the psalms?

14. What analogy between the Pentateuch and the Psalms?

15. What historic controversies concerning the singing of psalms?

16. Of what value is the history in Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, and in Ezra and Nehemiah toward a proper interpretation of the psalms?

17. Give Professor James Robertson’s argument in favor of the Davidic authorship of the psalms.

18. What can you say of the New Testament use of the psalms and what do we learn as to their importance in teaching?

19. What can you say of the New Testament references to the psalms, and from the New Testament references what the impression on the New Testament writers?

20. What can you say of the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament?

XVII

THE MESSIAH IN THE PSALMS

A fine text for this chapter is as follows: “All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Psalms concerning me,” Luk 24:44 . I know of no better way to close my brief treatise on the Psalms than to discuss the subject of the Messiah as revealed in this book.

Attention has been called to the threefold division of the Old Testament cited by our Lord, namely, the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luk 24:44 ), in all of which were the prophecies relating to himself that “must be fulfilled.” It has been shown just what Old Testament books belong to each of these several divisions. The division called the Psalms included many books, styled Holy Writings, and because the Psalms proper was the first book of the division it gave the name to the whole division.

The object of this discussion is to sketch the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah, or rather, to show how nearly a complete picture of our Lord is foredrawn in this one book. Let us understand however with Paul, that all prophecy is but in part (1Co 13:9 ), and that when we fill in on one canvas all the prophecies concerning the Messiah of all the Old Testament divisions, we are far from having a perfect portrait of our Lord. The present purpose is limited to three things:

1. What the book of the Psalms teaches concerning the Messiah.

2. That the New Testament shall authoritatively specify and expound this teaching.

3. That the many messianic predictions scattered over the book and the specifications thereof over the New Testament may be grouped into an orderly analysis, so that by the adjustment of the scattered parts we may have before us a picture of our Lord as foreseen by the psalmists.

In allowing the New Testament to authoritatively specify and expound the predictive features of the book, I am not unmindful of what the so-called “higher critics” urge against the New Testament quotations from the Old Testament and the use made of them. In this discussion, however, these objections are not considered, for sufficient reasons. There is not space for it. Even at the risk of being misjudged I must just now summarily pass all these objections, dismissing them with a single statement upon which the reader may place his own estimate of value. That statement is that in the days of my own infidelity, before this old method of criticism had its new name, I was quite familiar with the most and certainly the strongest of the objections now classified as higher criticism, and have since patiently re-examined them in their widely conflicting restatements under their modern name, and find my faith in the New Testament method of dealing with the Old Testament in no way shattered, but in every way confirmed. God is his own interpreter. The Old Testament as we now have it was in the hands of our Lord. I understand his apostle to declare, substantially, that “every one of these sacred scriptures is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching us what is right to believe and to do, for convincing us what is wrong in faith or practice, for rectifying the wrong when done, that we may be ready at every point, furnished completely, to do every good work, at the right time, in the right manner, and from the proper motive” (2Ti 3:16-17 ).

This New Testament declares that David was a prophet (Act 2:30 ), that he spake by the Holy Spirit (Act 1:16 ), that when the book speaks the Holy Spirit speaks (Heb 3:7 ), and that all its predictive utterances, as sacred Scripture, “must be fulfilled” (Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:16 ). It is not claimed that David wrote all the psalms, but that all are inspired, and that as he was the chief author, the book goes by his name.

It would be a fine thing to make out two lists, as follows:

1. All of the 150 psalms in order from which the New Testament quotes with messianic application.

2. The New Testament quotations, book by book, i.e., Matthew so many, and then the other books in their order.

We would find in neither of these any order as to time, that is, Psa 1 which forecasts an incident in the coming Messiah’s life does not forecast the first incident of his life. And even the New Testament citations are not in exact order as to time and incident of his life. To get the messianic picture before us, therefore, we must put the scattered parts together in their due relation and order, and so construct our own analysis. That is the prime object of this discussion. It is not claimed that the analysis now presented is perfect. It is too much the result of hasty, offhand work by an exceedingly busy man. It will serve, however, as a temporary working model, which any one may subsequently improve. We come at once to the psalmist’s outline of the Messiah.

1. The necessity for a Saviour. This foreseen necessity is a background of the psalmists’ portrait of the Messiah. The necessity consists in (1) man’s sinfulness; (2) his sin; (3) his inability of wisdom and power to recover himself; (4) the insufficiency of legal, typical sacrifices in securing atonement.

The predicate of Paul’s great argument on justification by faith is the universal depravity and guilt of man. He is everywhere corrupt in nature; everywhere an actual transgressor; everywhere under condemnation. But the scriptural proofs of this depravity and sin the apostle draws mainly from the book of the Psalms. In one paragraph of the letter to the Romans (Rom 3:4-18 ), he cites and groups six passages from six divisions of the Psalms (Psa 5:9 ; Psa 10:7 ; Psa 14:1-3 ; Psa 36:1 ; Psa 51:4-6 ; Psa 140:3 ). These passages abundantly prove man’s sinfulness, or natural depravity, and his universal practice of sin.

The predicate also of the same apostle’s great argument for revelation and salvation by a Redeemer is man’s inability of wisdom and power to re-establish communion with God. In one of his letters to the Corinthians he thus commences his argument: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? -For after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach-ing to save them that believe.” He closes this discussion with the broad proposition: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God,” and proves it by a citation from Psa 94:11 : “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.”

In like manner our Lord himself pours scorn on human wisdom and strength by twice citing Psa 8 : “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Mat 11:25-26 ). “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children that were crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” (Mat 21:15-16 ).

But the necessity for a Saviour as foreseen by the psalmist did not stop at man’s depravity, sin, and helplessness. The Jews were trusting in the sacrifices of their law offered on the smoking altar. The inherent weakness of these offerings, their lack of intrinsic merit, their ultimate abolition, their complete fulfilment and supercession by a glorious antitype were foreseen and foreshown in this wonderful prophetic book: I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; And thy burnt offerings are continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, Nor he-goat out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, And the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all of the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; For the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, Or drink the blood of goats? Psa 50:8-13 .

Yet again it speaks in that more striking passage cited in the letter to the Hebrews: “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers, once purged should have no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure: Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God. Saying above, Sacrifice and offering and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein, (the which are offered according to the law), then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Heb 10:1-9 ).

This keen foresight of the temporary character and intrinsic worthlessness of animal sacrifices anticipated similar utterances by the later prophets (Isa 1:10-17 ; Jer 6:20 ; Jer 7:21-23 ; Hos 6:6 ; Amo 5:21 ; Mic 6:6-8 ). Indeed, I may as well state in passing that when the apostle declares, “It is impossible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins,” he lays down a broad principle, just as applicable to baptism and the Lord’s Supper. With reverence I state the principle: Not even God himself by mere appointment can vest in any ordinance, itself lacking intrinsic merit, the power to take away sin. There can be, therefore, in the nature of the case, no sacramental salvation. This would destroy the justice of God in order to exalt his mercy. Clearly the psalmist foresaw that “truth and mercy must meet together” before “righteousness and peace could kiss each other” (Psa 85:10 ). Thus we find as the dark background of the psalmists’ luminous portrait of the Messiah, the necessity for a Saviour.

2. The nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah. In no other prophetic book are the nature, fullness, and blessedness of salvation so clearly seen and so vividly portrayed. Besides others not now enumerated, certainly the psalmists clearly forecast four great elements of salvation:

(1) An atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit offered once for all (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:4-10 ).

(2) Regeneration itself consisting of cleansing, renewal, and justification. We hear his impassioned statement of the necessity of regeneration: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts,” followed by his earnest prayer: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,” and his equally fervent petition: “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psa 51 ). And we hear him again as Paul describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin Psa 32:1 ; Rom 4:6-8 .

(3) Introduction into the heavenly rest (Psa 95:7-11 ; Heb 3:7-19 ; Heb 4:1-11 ). Here is the antitypical Joshua leading spiritual Israel across the Jordan of death into the heavenly Canaan, the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of God. Here we find creation’s original sabbath eclipsed by redemption’s greater sabbath when the Redeemer “entered his rest, ceasing from his own works as God did from his.”

(4) The recovery of all the universal dominion lost by the first Adam and the securement of all possible dominion which the first Adam never attained (Psa 8:5-6 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 ; 1Co 15:24-28 ).

What vast extent then and what blessedness in the salvation foreseen by the psalmists, and to be wrought by the Messiah. Atoning sacrifice of intrinsic merit; regeneration by the Holy Spirit; heavenly rest as an eternal inheritance; and universal dominion shared with Christ!

3. The wondrous person of the Messiah in his dual nature, divine and human.

(1) His divinity,

(a) as God: “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psa 45:6 and Heb 1:8 ) ;

(b) as creator of the heavens and earth, immutable and eternal: Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth; And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end Psa 102:25-27 quoted with slight changes in Heb 1:10-12 .

(c) As owner of the earth: The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein, Psa 24:1 quoted in 1Co 10:26 .

(d) As the Son of God: “Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee” Psa 2:7 ; Heb 1:5 .

(e) As David’s Lord: The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, Until I make thine enemies thy footstool, Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:41-46 .

(f) As the object of angelic worship: “And let all the angels of God worship him” Psa 97:7 ; Heb 1:6 .

(g) As the Bread of life: And he rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven Psa 78:24 ; interpreted in Joh 6:31-58 . These are but samples which ascribe deity to the Messiah of the psalmists.

(2) His humanity, (a) As the Son of man, or Son of Adam: Psa 8:4-6 , cited in 1Co 15:24-28 ; Eph 1:20-22 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Compare Luke’s genealogy, Luk 3:23-38 . This is the ideal man, or Second Adam, who regains Paradise Lost, who recovers race dominion, in whose image all his spiritual lineage is begotten. 1Co 15:45-49 . (b) As the Son of David: Psa 18:50 ; Psa 89:4 ; Psa 89:29 ; Psa 89:36 ; Psa 132:11 , cited in Luk 1:32 ; Act 13:22-23 ; Rom 1:3 ; 2Ti 2:8 . Perhaps a better statement of the psalmists’ vision of the wonderful person of the Messiah would be: He saw the uncreated Son, the second person of the trinity, in counsel and compact with the Father, arranging in eternity for the salvation of men: Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 . Then he saw this Holy One stoop to be the Son of man: Psa 8:4-6 ; Heb 2:7-9 . Then he was the son of David, and then he saw him rise again to be the Son of God: Psa 2:7 ; Rom 1:3-4 .

4. His offices.

(1) As the one atoning sacrifice (Psa 40:6-8 ; Heb 10:5-7 ).

(2) As the great Prophet, or Preacher (Psa 40:9-10 ; Psa 22:22 ; Heb 2:12 ). Even the method of his teaching by parable was foreseen (Psa 78:2 ; Mat 13:35 ). Equally also the grace, wisdom, and power of his teaching. When the psalmist declares that “Grace is poured into thy lips” (Psa 45:2 ), we need not be startled when we read that all the doctors in the Temple who heard him when only a boy “were astonished at his understanding and answers” (Luk 2:47 ); nor that his home people at Nazareth “all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” (Luk 4:22 ); nor that those of his own country were astonished, and said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” (Mat 13:54 ); nor that the Jews in the Temple marveled, saying, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (Joh 7:15 ) ; nor that the stern officers of the law found their justification in failure to arrest him in the declaration, “Never man spake like this man” (Joh 7:46 ).

(3) As the king (Psa 2:6 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 45:1-17 ; Psa 110:1 ; Mat 22:42-46 ; Act 2:33-36 ; 1Co 15:25 ; Eph 1:20 ; Heb 1:13 ).

(4) As the priest (Psa 110:4 ; Heb 5:5-10 ; Heb 7:1-21 ; Heb 10:12-14 ).

(5) As the final judge. The very sentence of expulsion pronounced upon the finally impenitent by the great judge (Mat 25:41 ) is borrowed from the psalmist’s prophetic words (Psa 6:8 ).

5. Incidents of life. The psalmists not only foresaw the necessity for a Saviour; the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation; the wonderful human-divine person of the Saviour; the offices to be filled by him in the work of salvation, but also many thrilling details of his work in life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is not assumed to cite all these details, but some of the most important are enumerated in order, thus:

(1) The visit, adoration, and gifts of the Magi recorded in Mat 2 are but partial fulfilment of Psa 72:9-10 .

(2) The scripture employed by Satan in the temptation of our Lord (Luk 4:10-11 ) was cited from Psa 91:11-12 and its pertinency not denied.

(3) In accounting for his intense earnestness and the apparently extreme measures adopted by our Lord in his first purification of the Temple (Joh 2:17 ), he cites the messianic zeal predicted in Psa 69:9 .

(4) Alienation from his own family was one of the saddest trials of our Lord’s earthly life. They are slow to understand his mission and to enter into sympathy with him. His self-abnegation and exhaustive toil were regarded by them as evidences of mental aberration, and it seems at one time they were ready to resort to forcible restraint of his freedom) virtually what in our time would be called arrest under a writ of lunacy. While at the last his half-brothers became distinguished preachers of his gospel, for a long while they do not believe on him. And the evidence forces us to the conclusion that his own mother shared with her other sons, in kind though not in degree, the misunderstanding of the supremacy of his mission over family relations. The New Testament record speaks for itself:

Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them. How is it that ye sought me? Knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them Luk 2:48-51 (R.V.).

And when the wine failed, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. Joh 2:3-5 (R.V.).

And there come his mother and his brethren; and standing without; they sent unto him, calling him. And a multitude was sitting about him; and they say unto him. Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answereth them, and saith, Who is my mother and my brethren? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he saith, Behold, my mother and my brethren) For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother Mar 3:31-35 (R.V.).

Now the feast of the Jews, the feast of tabernacles, was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may behold thy works which thou doest. For no man doeth anything in secret, and himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest these things, manifest thyself to the world. For even his brethren did not believe on him. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that its works are evil. Go ye up unto the feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; because my time is not fulfilled. Joh 7:2-9 (R.V.).

These citations from the Revised Version tell their own story. But all that sad story is foreshown in the prophetic psalms. For example: I am become a stranger unto my brethren, And an alien unto my mother’s children. Psa 69:8 .

(5) The triumphal entry into Jerusalem was welcomed by a joyous people shouting a benediction from Psa 118:26 : “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Mat 21:9 ); and the Lord’s lamentation over Jerusalem predicts continued desolation and banishment from his sight until the Jews are ready to repeat that benediction (Mat 23:39 ).

(6) The children’s hosanna in the Temple after its second purgation is declared by our Lord to be a fulfilment of that perfect praise forecast in Psa 8:2 .

(7) The final rejection of our Lord by his own people was also clear in the psalmist’s vision (Psa 118:22 ; Mat 21:42-44 ).

(8) Gethsemane’s baptism of suffering, with its strong crying and tears and prayers was as clear to the psalmist’s prophetic vision as to the evangelist and apostle after it became history (Psa 69:1-4 ; Psa 69:13-20 ; and Mat 26:36-44 ; Heb 5:7 ).

(9) In life-size also before the psalmist was the betrayer of Christ and his doom (Psa 41:9 ; Psa 69:25 ; Psa 109:6-8 ; Joh 13:18 ; Act 1:20 ).

(10) The rage of the people, Jew and Gentile, and the conspiracy of Pilate and Herod are clearly outlined (Psa 2:1-3 ; Act 4:25-27 ).

(11) All the farce of his trial the false accusation, his own marvelous silence; and the inhuman maltreatment to which he was subjected, is foreshown in the prophecy as dramatically as in the history (Mat 26:57-68 ; Mat 27:26-31 ; Psa 27:12 ; Psa 35:15-16 ; Psa 38:3 ; Psa 69:19 ).

The circumstances of his death, many and clear, are distinctly foreseen. He died in the prime of life (Psa 89:45 ; Psa 102:23-24 ). He died by crucifixion (Psa 22:14-17 ; Luk 23 ; 33; Joh 19:23-37 ; Joh 20:27 ). But yet not a bone of his body was broken (Psa 34:20 ; Joh 19:36 ).

The persecution, hatred without a cause, the mockery and insults, are all vividly and dramatically foretold (Psa 22:6-13 ; Psa 35:7 ; Psa 35:12 ; Psa 35:15 ; Psa 35:21 ; Psa 109:25 ).

The parting of his garments and the gambling for his vesture (Psa 22:18 ; Mat 27:35 ).

His intense thirst and the gall and vinegar offered for his drink (Psa 69:21 ; Mat 27:34 ).

In the psalms, too, we hear his prayers for his enemies so remarkably fulfilled in fact (Psa 109:4 ; Luk 23:34 ).

His spiritual death was also before the eye of the psalmist, and the very words which expressed it the psalmist heard. Separation from the Father is spiritual death. The sinner’s substitute must die the sinner’s death, death physical, i.e., separation of soul from body; death spiritual, i.e., separation of the soul from God. The latter is the real death and must precede the former. This death the substitute died when he cried out: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me.” (Psa 22:1 ; Mat 27:46 ).

Emerging from the darkness of that death, which was the hour of the prince of darkness, the psalmist heard him commend his spirit to the Father (Psa_31:35; Luk 23:46 ) showing that while he died the spiritual death, his soul was not permanently abandoned unto hell (Psa 16:8-10 ; Act 2:25 ) so that while he “tasted death” for every man it was not permanent death (Heb 2:9 ).

With equal clearness the psalmist foresaw his resurrection, his triumph over death and hell, his glorious ascension into heaven, and his exaltation at the right hand of God as King of kings and Lord of lords, as a high Driest forever, as invested with universal sovereignty (Psa 16:8-11 ; Psa 24:7-10 ; Psa 68:18 ; Psa 2:6 ; Psa 111:1-4 ; Psa 8:4-6 ; Act 2:25-36 ; Eph 1:19-23 ; Eph 4:8-10 ).

We see, therefore, brethren, when the scattered parts are put together and adjusted, how nearly complete a portrait of our Lord is put upon the prophetic canvas by this inspired limner, the sweet singer of Israel.

QUESTIONS

1. What is a good text for this chapter?

2. What is the threefold division of the Old Testament as cited by our Lord?

3. What is the last division called and why?

4. What is the object of the discussion in this chapter?

5. To what three things is the purpose limited?

6. What especially qualifies the author to meet the objections of the higher critics to allowing the New Testament usage of the Old Testament to determine its meaning and application?

7. What is the author’s conviction relative to the Scriptures?

8. What is the New Testament testimony on the question of inspiration?

9. What is the author’s suggested plan of approach to the study of the Messiah in the Psalms?

10. What the background of the Psalmist’s portrait of the Messiah and of what does it consist?

11. Give the substance of Paul’s discussion of man’s sinfulness.

12. What is the teaching of Jesus on this point?

13. What is the teaching relative to sacrifices?

14. What the nature, extent, and blessedness of the salvation to be wrought by the coming Messiah and what the four great elements of it as forecast by the psalmist?

15. What is the teaching of the psalms relative to the wondrous person of the Messiah? Discuss.

16. What are the offices of the Messiah according to psalms? Discuss each.

17. Cite the more important events of the Messiah’s life according to the vision of the psalmist.

18. What the circumstances of the Messiah’s death and resurrection as foreseen by the psalmist?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Psa 69:1 To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, [A Psalm] of David. Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto [my] soul.

A Psalm of David ] Quando rebellabat Sheba, saith the Syriac, made upon the occasion of Sheba’s rebellion presently after Absalom’s. Hence he cries out, as one almost overwhelmed,

Ver. 1. Save me, O God ] Thou, who delightest to save such as are forsaken of their hopes. The Fathers generally take this psalm to be prophetic touching the passion of Christ, and his praying then to the Father. David had his troubles which gave occasion to the penning of this psalm, but those were all but as a picture and prelude of Christ’s far greater sorrows, Spiritus autem sanctus manifeste se prodit in hoc psalmo.

For the waters are come in unto my soul ] Ever after Noah’s flood, that dismal destruction, great and grievous afflictions were set forth by the rushing in of waters, and overwhelming therewith. God’swrath was poured upon Christ as a mighty torrent of waters, and, therefore, this expression applied to him hath a special emphasis; his soul was heavy even to the death. Fluctus fluctum trudebat, One deep called upon another, &c. Oh the soul of sufferings which his soul then suffered!

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Here it is “To the chief musician, on Shoshannim (lilies),* of David.”

*The music it would seem: see Psa 45 , Psa 50 , Psa 60 .

Whatever be the intrinsic glory of Christ, all scripture shows that His sufferings are the ground of His exaltation. So it is here. This psalm tells of His sufferings, though in a way evidently distinct from Psa 22 : where divine abandonment crowns all, as here human evil is prominent and calls for judgment, instead of the grace which is the answer in that psalm. But He was afflicted in all their affliction, as says the prophet. David was the occasion; yet the Spirit of Christ enters into all their wrong-doing, not only to vindicate God but to give expression to the confession of the godly remnant, who will thus pour out their heart in the latter day, when His wrath shall fall on their oppressors and betrayers.

The psalm which presents the exaltation of Christ is followed by that which expresses His humiliation and sufferings, leading to judgment on His adversaries and the deliverance of His people and land.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 69:1-4

1Save me, O God,

For the waters have threatened my life.

2I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters, and a flood overflows me.

3I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched;

My eyes fail while I wait for my God.

4Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head;

Those who would destroy me are powerful, being wrongfully my enemies;

What I did not steal, I then have to restore.

Psa 69:1-4 This strophe is a prayer for deliverance (BDB 446, KB 448, Hiphil imperative) using several metaphors of distress.

1. the waters have come up to my soul (cf. Psa 69:2 b; Psa 32:6)

2. sink in deep mire (cf. Psa 40:2)

3. no foothold (BDB 765, only here in the OT, similar to imagery in Psa 40:2)

He repeats this prayer in Psa 69:14-15. The Jews lived in semi-arid lands and were afraid of water. Even Solomon manned his fleet with Phoenicians, not Jews. Palestine is notorious for its dangerous flash floods in the rainy season.

Psa 69:1 soul This is literally nephesh (BDB 659). See notes at Psa 3:2 and Gen 35:18 online. Here it may denote neck, but if so, this is rare (see possibly Jon 2:5).

Psa 69:2-3 The fluidity of imagery can be seen in the contrast between too much water in Psa 69:2 and a parched throat in Psa 69:3 (BDB 359, the word is found only here in OT, cf. NIDOTTE, vol. 2, p. 295). Water is a powerful image.

1. waters of creation

2. flood

3. necessary annual rain

4. tears

5. necessity for life and health

Psa 69:3-4 Psa 69:3 is figurative language describing sadness and weeping over the situation the psalmist finds himself in (cf. Psa 69:10-11). That situation is described in Psa 69:4.

1. many people (i.e., his people) hate him without cause (cf. Joh 15:25)

2. they want to destroy/kill him

3. they are powerful people (cf. Psa 69:12)

The psalmist asserts that their hatred and attacks are without cause (cf. Psa 69:4 c). He uses this as a way to denote his innocense in all areas related to the Mosaic covenant. He is not claiming sinlessness (cf. Psa 69:5). See SPECIAL TOPIC: BLAMELESS, INNOCENT, GUILTLESS, WITHOUT REPROACH .

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Title. A Psalm. No Hebrew for this.

of David. Relating to the true David, Israel’s Redeemer. Psalm 22 is Christ as the sin offering; Psalm 40 as the whole burnt offering ; and this, Psalm 69 as the trespass offering. Verse prefers to Joh 15:25; verses: Psa 69:14-20 refer to Gethsemane (Mat 26:36-45); Psa 69:21 to the Cross (Mat 27:34, Mat 27:48. Joh 19:29); verses: Psa 69:22-28 to Rom 11:9, Rom 11:10; Rom 69:25 to Judas (Act 1:20).

God. Hebrew. Elohim.

waters. Put by Figure of speech Hypocatastasis (App-6) for great troubles.

come in unto my soul: i.e. threaten my life.

my soul = me (emphatic). Hebrew. nephesh, App-13.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Psa 69:1-36

The sixty-ninth psalm is a Messianic psalm. That is, it is a psalm of prophecy concerning Jesus Christ. And there are many scriptures within the psalm here that make reference to Jesus Christ.

Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for God. They that hate me without cause are more than the hairs of my head: they that would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restore that which I took not away. O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee. Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face ( Psa 69:1-7 ).

Again, referring to Christ. For God’s sake He bore the reproach; shame covered His face.

I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children ( Psa 69:8 ).

It said that His brothers did not believe in Him. They thought that He was crazy, actually.

For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me ( Psa 69:9 ).

Remember when Jesus went into the temple and He saw them making merchandise, and He took and He made a scourge, a whip, and He began to drive out the moneychangers and those that were selling doves. And He said, “Get out of here! You’ve made my Father’s house a den of thieves.” And then they remembered the scripture that was written of Him that said, “The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up.” The zeal for the house of God, it just ate Him up when He saw the terrible things that were being done in the house of God in the name of God. I wonder what would be His reaction today if He should come and visit some of the bingo parties and other functions that have been devised to make money for the church.

“The zeal of Mine house hath eaten Me up. The reproaches of them that reproach Thee fall upon Me.”

When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them. They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of drunkards ( Psa 69:10-12 ).

He is still the song of drunkards. The blasphemy when a person becomes intoxicated so often.

But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation ( Psa 69:13 ).

Some believe that this is actually the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters ( Psa 69:14 ).

You remember He said, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.”

Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Hear me, O LORD; for thy loving-kindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily. Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies. For thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor: mine adversaries are all before thee. Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness ( Psa 69:15-20 ):

The fact that when Jesus was pierced with a sword there came forth blood and water indicates that actually His death was by a heart rupture. The fact that there was water that came forth with the blood indicates death by heart rupture. They broke, “Reproach,” he said, “hath broken my heart. I am full of heaviness.” Also there is something to that bloody sweat that indicates much the same.

and I looked for some to take pity ( Psa 69:20 ),

You remember in the Garden of Gethsemane, and in great heaviness, He sweat as it were, great drops of blood flowing to the ground. “And I looked for some to take pity.” You remember He came back to His disciples, but they were sleeping. “I looked for some to take pity,”

but there was none; for comforters, I found none ( Psa 69:20 ).

“Oh Peter, could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray.” “I looked for someone to have pity. I looked for comforters, but I found none.”

They gave me gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink ( Psa 69:21 ).

You remember that when Jesus cried, “I thirst,” someone took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and put it to His lips.

Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap ( Psa 69:22 ).

Paul quotes this in Romans, the eleventh chapter, concerning Israel.

Let their eyes become darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake ( Psa 69:23 ).

The judgment that should come upon the Jews for the rejection of Jesus.

Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate ( Psa 69:24-25 );

Now in the first chapter of Acts, Peter quotes this as referring to Judas Iscariot. And he puts it together with another psalm, “Let their habitation be desolate and let another take his bishopric.” And so, this is quoted concerning Judas Iscariot by Peter in Acts, chapter 1.

and let none dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom you have smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom you have wounded. Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high. I will praise the name of God with a song, and I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs. The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God. For the LORD heareth the poor, and despise not the prisoners. Let the heaven and the earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moves therein. For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein ( Psa 69:25-36 ). “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

We shall read together at this time a part of the 69th Psalm, and afterwards two passages in the New Testament. Although there is no doubt that this Psalm is intended to describe a very large class of sufferers, but we think it never had its full meaning perfectly carried out, until our blessed Lord and Master suffered at the hands of men. We shall read the Psalm believing that it is full of Christ. It is absolutely certain that we have references here to his advent, his passion, and his resurrection.

To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, a Psalm of David.

Psa 69:1. Save me, O God; for the waters are come into my soul.

The waves have not only teased the bank, but they have dashed over the bulwarks, and there is a flood within, as well as a flood without.

Psa 69:2. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I am come into deep waters where the floods overflow me.

We had this text explained to us last Friday night, when the traveler told us he saw a man sink in the mud, almost swallowed up by it, till by a very desperate grasp of the beat he made his escape. Christ was, as it; were, sucked in by the great deeps of his afflictions, as if he would be swallowed up quickly.

Psa 69:3. I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried:

He had been so long in the garden in that awful agony, with strong crying and tears.

Psa 69:3-4. Mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.

They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: him now in the street being led away to Mount Calvary; a vast multitude has congregated there, all eager to see him die.

Psa 69:4. They that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty:

They have the Roman soldiers at their backs, while the mob applauds them.

Psa 69:4. Then I restored that which I took not away.

Christ did not take away our innocence, nor our safety, nor our honour, but he restored them all to us. He hath made us clean; he hath made us accepted in the Beloved; he hath put a crown of pure gold upon our heads, and set our feet upon a rock.

Psa 69:5. O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.

These words are not applicable to our Lord, except so far as they may refer to our foolishness and to our sin, which we know were all laid on him; except that one commentator says that he is here speaking according to the manner of the people. They called him foolish; they charged him with sin, but he appeals to heaven, Lord, thou knowest whether I have been foolish, whether I have any sins or not. In that sense we might apply it literally to the Saviour.

Psa 69:6. Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those who seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.

Let not the shame of my cross destroy their faith; grant unto them such confidence in me that they may take up thy cross daily, and follow me: that they may even learn to say with my apostle, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Psa 69:7. Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.

It was for his Fathers sake, that he might bring honour to Jehovah, that he thus suffered reproach. Shame hath covered my facethat face which is brighter than the sun, and which angels desire to gaze upon.

Psa 69:8. I am become a stranger unto my brethren,

Peter says he knows me not; all of them have forsaken me.

Psa 69:8-9. And an alien unto my mothers children. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

Every hard word that was spoken of the Father fell upon the Son: the iniquities which were rebellions against Jehovah all fell upon the Man of Nazareth.

Psa 69:10. When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.

That was scandal unto them.

Psa 69:11. I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb unto them.

Just as Michael said of David, How glorious did the King of Israel become in the eyes of his handmaidens. out of mockery, so did they reproach Christ, How glorious was the King of Israel, so daintily arrayed in a peasants robe, or stripped naked upon his cross.

Psa 69:12. They that sit in the gate speak against me;

The judges who there dispensed justice, the merchants who there trade their wares, the idlers who were there to loiter, to hear the news, these speak against me.

Psa 69:12. And I became the song of the drunkard.

They made ballads of him, we may understand that to mean; they issued lampoons; every now and then there came out a caricature.

Psa 69:13-14. But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude or thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

Think you hear your Master as he silently prays this prayer in the streets of Jerusalem; the mob is hooting, but he is praying; women are weeping, and he is weeping, too.

Psa 69:15-20. Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Hear me, O Lord, for thy loving-kindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. And hide not thy face from thy servant; for if am in trouble: hear me speedily. Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies. Thou hast known my reproach and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee.

Reproach hath broken my heart. This is one of the most extraordinary verses in Holy Writ.

Psa 69:20-21. And I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Now, let us read the incidents in the history of Christ, of which this Psalm is a sort of prophecy and exposition.

This exposition consisted of readings from Psa 69:1-21. Mar 15:15-23. Luk 23:26-33.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Psa 69:1-4

PRAYER OF ONE AFFLICTED FOR THE TRUTH

SUPERSCRIPTION: FOR THE CHIEF MUSICIAN; SET TO SHOSHANNIM.

A PSALM OF DAVID.

There is no convincing evidence in the psalm itself that David is not the author, although many scholars assume that David could not have written it. The reasons assigned for such opinions however are unconvincing; and the verses usually cited are capable of other interpretations which we shall note during the study of the text.

Addis thought that, “Maccabean times suit the situation best, but Maccabean origin is incapable of proof. “Kirkpatrick made a sturdy defense of the notion that Jeremiah wrote it, but as far as we can tell nobody agreed with him.

Leupold wrote, “Despite many other possibilities that have been suggested (regarding the authorship), we still feel that the suggestion offered by the Hebrew (superscription) has the most to commend it – `of David.’

The most interesting thing about this psalm is that “More than any other in the whole Psalter, except Psalms 22, this psalm is quoted in the New Testament.

“They hated me without a cause” (Psa 69:4) was quoted by Jesus Christ in Joh 15:25.

“Zeal for thy house shall eat me up” (Psa 69:9) is quoted in Joh 2:17.

“The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me” (Psa 69:9 b), is quoted in Rom 15:3.

“Let their table before them become a snare; and when they are in peace, let it become a trap” (Psa 69:22) is quoted in Rom 11:9.

“Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see” (Psa 69:23) is quoted in Rom 11:10, where the apostle Paul applied it to the hardening of Israel.

“Let their habitation be desolate” (Psa 69:25) is quoted in Act 1:20, where it is applied to Judas Iscariot.

In Rom 11:9, the apostle Paul unequivocally recognized David as the author of this psalm; and our own opinion is that a single word from Paul is worth more than a whole library of critical denials that David wrote it.

“They gave me also gall for my food; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Psa 69:21). Although this verse is not quoted in the New Testament, it is significant that all four of the gospels recorded the giving of vinegar to Christ on the cross (Mat 27:48-50; Mar 15:36; Luk 23:36; and Joh 19:29). It is evident that all of the Gospel writers considered that action of giving Jesus vinegar to drink was a fulfillment in the Anti-Type of what had happened in the Type. Apparently, the motive for giving Christ vinegar on Calvary was different from what seems to be the motive here against David. The action of the Roman soldier who offered Christ vinegar is cited by Dummelow as an act of mercy designed to allay Jesus’ sufferings, a view which this writer has often accepted, but Luke seems to deny this, writing that, “The soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, offering him vinegar” (Luk 23:36).

IS THE PSALM MESSIANIC?

In some degree, it most certainly is, but not in its entirety. The psalmist’s admission of his own sins means that the total poem cannot be applied to Christ; but David was indeed a type of Christ, and many of the things in the life of David find their echo and fulfillment in David’s Greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

THE PSALMIST DESCRIBES HIS SITUATION

Psa 69:1-4

“Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul.

I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing;

I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

I am weary with my crying; my throat is dried:

Mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.

They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head;

They that would cut me off, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty:

That which I took not away I have to restore.”

The language here, at least in part, is figurative, because deep waters and mire simply do not belong in the same situation. To us, this language seems appropriate to the times of David’s fleeing before Saul. It fits that period better than any other with which we are familiar in the life of David. His foes were “mighty,” able to compel him to restore things he had not taken, and who were determined to `cut him off.’ Even the ribald singing against him in the city gates mentioned a little later fits that period better than any other.

“They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head” (Psa 69:4). Why was David hated without a cause? It all started with Saul’s jealous hatred; as the king of Israel, Saul had the ability to marshal all the resources of the kingdom against David; and human nature being what it is, countless people were willing to take sides with Saul against David. Saul’s enmity against David was the only motivation that the people needed to hate David.

The situation regarding the countless people who hated Jesus Christ without cause reflected perfectly the conditions that confronted David. The “false shepherds” of Israel (Zec 11:1-8), the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Herodians, were extremely jealous of the meek and humble Jesus, whose life-style they viciously hated; and their position of leadership in Israel enabled them to rally practically the whole nation to their position of hating the Messiah. An outstanding example of that is their maneuvering the Jerusalem mob to cry out for a choice of Barabbas in the crucifixion scene.

E.M. Zerr:

Psa 69:1. Waters in symbolic language means afflictions. Soul as used here refers to the whole being. David means he is “flooded” with afflictions.

Psa 69:2. This is along the same line as the preceding verse. Mire and waters are used figuratively. No standing means it is all mire with no solid footing.

Psa 69:3. These strong expressions are descriptive of the intense feeling David had because of his many persecutions. He had not lost faith in the Lord, but the flesh is weak and often gives way to sighing and lamentation.

Psa 69:4. More than the hairs is a figure of speech used for emphasis. It is something like Gen 13:16; Gen 22:17. David never did resent any punishment that was due him, but these people were hating him without a cause. Although he had been falsely accused of fraud, he gave to his ac. cusers the property they claimed. In other words, rather than cause unnecessary friction he was willing to suffer himself to be defrauded as Paul taught in 1Co 6:7.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Perhaps in no psalm in the whole psalter is the sense of sorrow profounder or more intense than in this. The soul of the singer pours itself out in unrestrained abandonment to the overwhelming and terrible grief which consumes it.

The first half is occupied wholly with a statement of the terrible consciousness. There is first a cry of distress, piercing and passionate (verses Psa 69:1-6). The circumstances described are of helpless whelming in waters and mire. Yet the chief agony is that God seems to be neglectful of the cry, and a fear fills the heart lest others should be harmed through what they see of the hopelessness and helplessness of his suffering.

In the next movement the singer declares that this suffering has come in the path of loyalty to God (verses Psa 69:7-12).

Following this declaration, the cry for succor is repeated with new emphasis and passion (verses Psa 69:13-18). This part of the psalm reveals the condition into which the men of faith sometimes are brought. Yet it contains suggestion of a sorrow profounder than any save One had experienced. Nothing can be conceived more overwhelming than the strange and inexplicable suffering resulting from loyalty to God and zeal for His honor. Undeserved reproach is the most stupendous grief possible to the sensitive soul. Yet even throughout this whole movement, expressive of such intense grief, there is an undertone of confidence in God.

In the presence of that God whose loving-kindness the singer has declared to be good he continues to pour out his complaint. Suddenly the song becomes a passionate cry for vengeance. It is a false view of things which criticises this cry as being unworthy of a man familiar with God. It is really the expression of a righteous desire for judgment against essential wrong. The method which he has described as being used by his adversaries violated the essential and fundamental order of the divine Kingdom. For the sake of that order, and the vindication of God, there must be a place for retribution and vengeance. The passion passes, and a prayer follows which merges into praise, and culminates in a great affirmation of confidence in God.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

a Cry out of Deep Waters

Psa 69:1-17

This psalm and the Psa 22:1-31 are quoted most often in the New Testament as referring to our Lord. Psa 69:1-36 is very sad. Throughout we detect a heart-break. There are many grounds on which the sufferer bases his plea for salvation. First, his imminent danger from inrushing waters and the deep mire like that in which Jeremiah sank. There are also failing strength, the dried throat, and the drooping eyes. Mighty foes, too, who hate wrongfully, are plotting his ruin. The consciousness of sin and the dread that others may be made ashamed through his failure, are also bitter ingredients in his cup. And in addition he bore the reproach of those who hated God. What a combination of misery! In some, though not in all, of these sources of grief, our Savior had a share, and therefore He can be a sympathizing High Priest.

But out of his misery the psalmist builds his altar of prayer. His plea is in Gods loving-kindness and tender mercies. Here is the master-argument with God. He can do no other than redeem the soul that clings to Him with such unfaltering faith. It reminds us of the olden resolve, Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him, Job 13:15, and also recalls the persistence of the Syrophenician woman, Mar 7:26. Such souls need not fear that they can be cast away.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Psa 69:23

We are familiar with the comments that are often made on inspired words like these. “What a spirit,” men say, “is here! How unlike the mild, tender, charitable spirit of our Master, Christ! How unfit to be repeated by Christians who have been taught in the school of Christ!” This, and the like of this, is what is said, and it proceeds upon two leading mistakes. (1) The first is that the New Testament was meant somehow to abrogate the Old. (2) The second is that God’s love is in some kind of way the antagonist of His justice; that He cannot be really just without ceasing to love; that He cannot love without trifling with His instinct of justice. Let us remember that, in the verse before us, we are listening, not to David, but to the perfectly righteous Being in whose person David sings. Here we have a sentence which has nothing to do with human passion, which is based on the most certain laws which govern the moral world. The sentence is a penal judgment uttered against those who have been sinners against the light vouchsafed to them.

I. God does under certain circumstances make the very blessings which He bestows instruments of punishment. A time comes when long unfaithfulness provokes this sentence on a nation, a Church, a soul. By the figure of “a table” is meant a supply of necessary nourishment, whether of soul or body. The table which God prepared before David in the presence of his enemies was the food which sustained his physical life, the grace which sustained the life of his spirit. The table which is spread out before associations of men-before nations, before Churches-is the sum total of material, moral, mental, and spiritual nourishment which God sets before them in the course of their history. The table becomes a snare when the blessings which God gives become sources of corruption and of demoralisation, when that which was intended to raise and to invigorate does really, through the faithlessness or perverseness of the man or the society, serve only to weaken or depress.

II. This is exactly what happened to the great majority of the Jewish people in the days of our Lord and Hi’s Apostles. One by one the spiritual senses which should have led Israel to recognise the Christ were numbed or destroyed. A perverse insensibility to the voice of God made God’s best gifts the instruments of Israel’s ruin.

III. This verse applies to the religious life of the individual Christian. Every Christian has a certain endowment of blessings, what the Psalmist calls a “table.” Every Christian has to fulfil a certain predestined course. He has a work to do-a work which God’s gifts enable him to do-before he dies. Resistance to truth, to duty, may bring upon us this penal judgment. In the life of the soul, not to go forward is to go back. Unknown to ourselves, our religious life may be tainted with half-heartedness and insincerity. The dread sentence may have gone forth in heaven, “Let the things that should have been for his wealth be made to him an occasion of falling.” It need not be so with any for whom Jesus Christ has died.

H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 894.

References: Psa 69:23.-J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 3rd series, p. 88. Psa 69:33.-J. N. Norton, Every Sunday, p. 265. Psalm 69-J. Hammond, Expositor, 1st series, vol. iv., p. 225. Psa 70:4.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 1013. Psa 70:5.-Ibid., No. 1018. Psa 70:2-4.-G. G. Bradley, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 241. Psa 71:3.-Sermons for Boys and Girls, p. 107; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi., No. 1858. Psa 71:9.-J. Baldwin Brown, Old Testament Outlines, p. 121, and Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 241; F. E. Paget, Helps and Hindrances to the Christian Life, vol. ii., p. 45. Psa 71:14.-Spurgeon, Sermons, No. 998. Psa 71:15.-J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages of the Psalms, p. 198.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

Psalm 69-72

Psalm 69

The Suffering and Rejected Christ

1. Hated without a cause (Psa 69:1-6)

2. Bearing reproach (Psa 69:7-12)

3. His own prayer (Psa 69:13-21)

4. The retribution (Psa 69:22-28)

5. His exaltation and the glory (Psa 69:29-36)

Psalm 69-72 go together and lead us prophetically from the suffering and rejected Christ to the glory of His kingdom in the Seventy-second Psalm. The Sixty-ninth Psalm, like the Forty-fifth, bears the inscription, upon Shoshanim (lilies). It concerns Christ and indirectly also the people who suffer for His sake. The Spirit of God in the New Testament quotes this Psalm repeatedly. See Psa 69:4 and Joh 15:25; Psa 69:9 and Joh 2:17 and Rom 15:3; Psa 69:22-23 and Rom 11:9-10; Psa 69:25 and Act 1:20. Psa 69:21 was literally fulfilled as we find from the Gospels, Mat 27:34; Mat 27:48; Mar 15:23; Mar 15:36; Luk 23:36 and Joh 19:28-30. No further evidence is needed that the Lord Jesus Christ in His suffering and rejection is here described. Yet the critical school attempts to deny the prophetic aspect. Referring to Psa 69:21 and what the Gospels say about our Lords words, I thirst that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, Prof. Davidson saith in the Century Bible the fulfilment of Scripture referred to must not be understood as the accomplishment of a direct prophecy. And again in commenting on Psa 69:22-23, quoted by the Spirit of God in Rom 11:1-36, the same professor declares, These imprecations are among the darkest and fiercest in the Psalter. The gulf which separates these verses from Father forgive them, marks the impassable limits of typology. But it does not in the least. The words apply to the nation as righteous retribution from the side of God after they rejected His Son. In His heart there is still the same love, for they are still beloved for the Fathers sake. But these imprecations also belong rightly into the lips of the remnant against the antichristian oppressors of the last days. Well may we read the Psalm and think of all His suffering and sorrow in our behalf. The Psalm ends with His praise, the exaltation and victory of the Christ who died for the ungodly.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

Shoshannim (See Scofield “Psa 45:1”).

Save me, O God

The N.T. quotations from, and references to, this Psalm indicate in what way it adumbrates Christ. It is the psalm of His humiliation and rejection Psa 69:4; Psa 69:7; Psa 69:8; Psa 69:10-12. Psa 69:14-20 may well describe the exercises of His holy soul in Gethsemane Mat 26:36-45 while Psa 69:21 is a direct reference to the cross; Mat 27:34; Mat 27:48; Joh 19:28. The imprecatory verses Psa 69:22-28 are connected Rom 11:9; Rom 11:10 with the present judicial blindness of Israel, Psa 69:25 having special reference to Judas. Act 1:20 who is thus made typical of his generation, which shared his guilt.

See Psalms 72, next in order of the Messianic Psalms.

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

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

Reciprocal: Lev 1:15 – wring off his head Lev 5:11 – no oil Job 22:11 – abundance Job 30:19 – cast me Psa 22:11 – Be not Psa 32:6 – in the floods Psa 45:1 – Shoshannim Psa 88:17 – They Psa 93:3 – The floods Psa 102:1 – overwhelmed Psa 118:25 – Save Psa 130:1 – Out of Psa 144:7 – deliver me Jer 12:5 – swelling Jon 2:5 – General Mat 14:30 – Lord Mat 20:18 – and the Mat 26:24 – Son of man goeth Mat 26:36 – while Mat 26:42 – the second Mat 26:54 – General Mar 9:12 – he must Mar 14:21 – goeth Mar 14:33 – and began Mar 14:49 – but Luk 8:24 – Master Luk 9:22 – General Luk 18:31 – and Luk 22:22 – truly Luk 24:26 – General Luk 24:44 – in the psalms Joh 12:27 – is Act 3:18 – all 1Co 15:3 – according Heb 5:7 – when 1Pe 1:11 – the sufferings

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

The Psalm of the Trespass Offering

Psa 69:1-21

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

The 69th Psalm, which we are to study today, is one of those great Calvary Psalms which stir our souls. Like other Psalms there are some things in it of an historical message, but the Psalm can meet its fulfillment only in our greater David, even in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The heading of the Psalm says: “David complaineth of his afflictions, he prayeth for deliverance, he praiseth God with thanksgiving.” These headings, however, have been added by the fingers of men. We do not deny that there are certain truths in the headings, but we do say emphatically that the Psalm has a far wider meaning. There are things here which David could not have said about himself.

Beside this, certain verses in this Psalm are quoted in the New Testament as being fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is our conclusion: When we read the Psalms we must remember that David was a Prophet, and that he was speaking, as he was moved by the Spirit, of the Lord Jesus. Did not Christ on the Emmaus Road bring out of the Psalms things referring to Himself? Does not the New Testament say that the Holy Ghost spake “by the mouth of His servant, David”? Let us give you an example of what we mean.

Apart from the Holy Ghost, David could never have written the words, “They gave Me also gall for My meat; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.” We know that David did not say this of himself, but they referred to the Lord Jesus Christ as centuries later He hung on the Cross.

On the other hand David never prayed with such maledictions against his enemies as we find in this Psalm beginning with Psa 69:22, These words were fulfilled, not upon David’s immediate enemies, but upon Israel because they crucified the Lord on the Cross, and upon these, also, the Romans, who abetted the crucifixion and actually drove the nails.

It was Israel, nationally, and not David’s enemies, whose table became a snare, whose eyes were darkened, and whose loins were made to shake.

It was upon national Israel that God poured out His indignation, and let His wrathful anger take hold of them. It was their habitation which became desolation. All these things will be developed as this study proceeds.

What we wish to do, is to impress the fact that this Psalm, as other Psalms, has a direct reference to Christ and to things to come. If we are going to read the Psalms as a mere historical Book, teaching us David’s personal heartthrobs, prayers, praise; or even his curses upon his enemies; we are going to miss the message of God. The Book of Psalms should be studied as one of the most marvelously prophetic Books of the Bible. Only thus can we comprehend its message.

I. CHRIST OVERWHELMED WITH WATERS OF JUDGMENT (Psa 69:1-2)

Let us in our mind’s eye imagine the Lord Jesus Christ approaching the hill that is lone and gray, in that land far away. Let us see the Cross lying prone upon the ground, “Hark! I hear the dull blow of the hammer swung low; They are nailing my Lord to the Tree.”

Let us now see the Cross raised, and see it fall into the orifice which was dug for it. The people surge about the Cross. They wag their heads. They cry out against Him as our Lord hangs there. Darkness begins to gather. God hides His face. The burden of a world’s sin overwhelms Him as He dies a substitutionary death. With this vision of the Cross before us let us notice thoughtfully God’s foreshadowing of that hour through His Prophet, David, as described in our key verses.

Our text says, “The waters are come in unto My soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow Me.” When waters are used typically in the Word of God, they speak of overwhelming grief and sorrow.

The Lord wrote to His saints: “When thou passest through the waters * * they shall not overflow thee.” Waters suggest “peoples,” “tongues” and “nations.” They represent here the surgings of the multitudes as they came against the Son of God.

The waters were deep as they rolled against our Saviour. We are reminded of the flood, and how the waters deluged the whole earth. Those waters anticipated these waters of His sorrow.

We are reminded of the waters which passed over Jonah, when he said, “The floods compassed me about: all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over me.” He said, “The waters compassed me about, even to the soul.” So it was with our Lord Jesus Christ. He was overwhelmed with the waves of God’s wrath, as He bore our sins upon the Tree.

II. CHRIST HATED WITHOUT A CAUSE (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 wrongfully, are mighty.” Some one may object, saying that the enemies of Christ who were at the Cross were not more than the hairs of His head. However, there were multitudes of unseen Satanic hosts likewise around that Cross.

Besides, there were innumerable people down through the ages who had shown toward our Saviour the same spirit of hate that was shown that crucifixion day.

That which we wish to particularly stress, however, is not the fact that He was hated, “hated without a cause.”

Who, being innocent, has ever suffered as He suffered? They found no fault in Him, and yet they crucified Him. There were none who could convince Him of sin, and yet He was made sin for us. He went among the people doing good: He healed the sick, He fed the hungry, and gave words of cheer to the brokenhearted. He caused the lame to leap, He cast out demons, He raised the dead, He gave sight to the blind eyes. Why should they have hated Him? He lived for their good, served their interests and then He died for their salvation.

After Pilate had heard all the accusations of the people against the Lord Jesus, he said, “I find no fault in this Man.” The Lord, Himself, said, “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father. But this cometh to pass, that the Word might be fulfilled that is written in their Law, They hated Me without a cause.”

III. CHRIST, THE BEARER OF THE SINS OF OTHERS (Psa 69:7)

The Psalmist now is anticipating the substitutionary work of the Cross. The reproach and the shame which He bore, and which covered His face was ours. Here are words of the Prophet David. They are words which could be said of the Lord alone: “Because for Thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered My face.”

We remember how it is written, “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame.” What was that shame? What was the reproach of that Cross?

It was this: Christ the Holy One, reckoned among sinners. “He was numbered with the transgressors.”

It was this: Christ, the Giver of peace and rest, hung upon the Cross with His body bruised until His face was more marred than any man, and His form more than the sons of men. When we think of His unnatural position, the inflamed wounds, the exposed nerves: when we think of the blood from the thorns matting His heavy, long hair; when we see blood dripping from hands, and feet, and bruised back; when we behold the mocking, mad mob which surged against Him, we begin to understand something of the shame and reproach of that Cross.

It was this: they spat upon Him; they cried against Him; they defamed Him. It was this: that the Father hid His face, and darkness hung over the Cross, all because the Son of God was reckoned as a sinner in our behalf, and made sin for us.

There is no doubt that the 69th Psalm in our key verse refers to Christ bearing this shame and this suffering in our stead. Read it again: “The reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen upon Me.” We wonder if we are willing to step under the shame of that hour. As the reproach against God fell on our Lord, are we willing for the reproach of our Lord to fall upon us? Shall we bear it?

IV. CHRIST AN ALIEN TO HIS MOTHER’S CHILDREN (Psa 69:8)

“I am become a stranger unto My brethren, and an alien unto My mother’s children.” This Scripture opens up a vista of Christ’s family life that few, perhaps, have understood. “I am become a stranger unto My brethren” might refer to His people, Israel, because Christ was after the flesh, a son of Abraham.

The expression, “An alien unto My mother’s children” cannot, however, be so interpreted. We must remember that while Christ Himself was begotten by the Holy Ghost and born of the virgin Mary, there were other children who came unto that home by natural generation. James, Joses, and Judas, were sons of Mary and Joseph. There were also daughters, born to Joseph by Mary. Their names are not given.

As Mary and Joseph’s children grew up, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was older than they, became isolated by them. Perhaps there was something whispered around which cast a question mark around Christ’s birth; and these rumors may have come to the ears of these three boys, and the girls. There certainly was a “mystery” that hung over the conception of Jesus. Of all of this we cannot speak definitely however, without contradiction, Jesus Christ was an alien to His mother’s children. They treated Him as though He was not one of them.

Have you ever read this further Scripture? “I was a reproach among all Mine enemies: but especially among My neighbours, and a fear to Mine acquaintance: they that did see Me without fled from Me. I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against Me, they devised to take away My life” (Psa 31:1-24).

The slander which was against our Lord, no doubt, had to do with the fact that He was born of a virgin. Mary could not reply to a mocking populace as to how the Spirit of God had come upon her, and as to how the Christ was begotten of the Holy One.

Alas, there are those today who deny the virginity of Mary and her immaculate conception; and some of these are supposedly among His friends.

V. CHRIST WAS EATEN UP WITH THE ZEAL OF HIS HOUSE (Psa 69:9-10)

“For the zeal of Thine House hath eaten Me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen upon Me.”

It is in the 2nd chapter of John that we read the story of Christ entering the Temple in Jerusalem and driving out the sellers of oxen, of sheep and of doves.

It was there that the Lord overturned the tables of the money-changers, and with a whip, or scourge of small cord, drove out the men who had defamed His Father’s House. The remarkable thing about this is the statement, that “His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of Thine House hath eaten Me up.” This statement in John’s Gospel makes certain that the words of our key verses refer to Christ.

No one ever loved Jerusalem as Christ loved it. No one ever loved the Temple as He did. When He saw what was done in His Father’s House, He could no longer restrain Himself. He bore the shame, the maledictions centered against Himself without a word; however, when He saw that Israel had set herself against the Father, and the Father’s House, it overwhelmed Him with grief. Can you imagine the zeal of His heart toward the House of His God? as He drove out the money changers?

Let us go to another scene. Now we stand with the Lord on the hill, that overlooks the city of Jerusalem. Looking down we see the beloved city, of which the Holy Spirit wrote: “Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.” It is the city of God, and its inhabitants are the people of God.

Strange throbbings come into our souls! We see tears running down the face of our Lord. He is weeping”! Then, He lifts up His voice, and, perhaps, with extended hands He cries, “If “thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.” Christ went on as He wept to tell of Israel being trodden down of the enemy. Surely His heart beat for His people. We can almost see Him there. Like Jeremiah, he cried: “How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!” Like Hosea, He cried, “How shall I give thee up, O Ephraim?” Yes, the zeal of His Father’s House ate Him up.

VI. CHRIST UPON THE CROSS (Psa 69:21)

There are so many wonderful things in this Psalm that we are loathe to omit any of them. This one we must not overlook. Psa 69:21 says: “They gave Me also gall for My meat; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.”

We know how this was fulfilled, and how Christ, when He had tasted the gall and the vinegar refused to drink it. Preceding this expression in the Psalms, we have the pitiful prayer of Christ as He lifts His voice toward the Father: “O God, in the multitude of Thy mercy hear Me, in the truth of Thy salvation. Deliver Me out of the mire, and let Me not sink: let Me be delivered from them that hate Me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the waterflood overflow Me, neither let the deep swallow Me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon Me.”

The Lord Jesus felt utterly consumed with physical weariness and weakness. The powers of darkness were sweeping against Him. The floods of wrath were overflowing Him. Even God was hiding His face.

It was about this time that the Lord entered into the deepest expression of His anguish upon Calvary. He was being reckoned sin for us; our iniquities were upon Him; our transgressions were weighing Him down. Then, mid the gloom, He cried, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

It was in this hour that some of those at the foot of the Cross took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar and put it on a reed. Others mocked Him, saying, “This Man calleth for Elias”! “Let us see whether Elias will come to save Him.”

As we drink of the cup of the New Testament (covenant) of His Blood, let us never forget that He refused the sponge of vinegar mixed with gall, that He might drink the cup of death for every man.

VII. CHRIST’S RESURRECTION AND EXALTATION (Psa 69:30; Psa 69:35)

We could not leave this Psalm without giving its final picture of exaltation, which describes Christ risen from the dead, and sees Him enthroned as King over Israel, reigning in Zion.

Psa 69:30 says, “I will praise the Name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.”

From the darkness of Calvary we pass into the glory and light of the paeans of praise, which crown His resurrection. How wonderful! He says the humble shall see this, and be glad.

While disciples still wept, and the women still mourned on that memorable resurrection day, the Lord’s angels, full of joy and gladness announced Christ’s being raised from the dead. The angels were amazed, and said unto the women: “Why weepest thou?” “He is not here, but is risen.”

Afterward the Lord Jesus met the women and said to them, “All hail!” That is to say, “All joy!” Truly the shadows had passed! The darkness of Calvary was gone!

Had Christ remained in the gloom of that tomb we had been forever of all men the most miserable. Our faith would have been gone; our hope shattered.

However, with Christ risen we are begotten again unto a more lively Hope. The joy-bells ring; the songs of praise and thanksgiving sound: All those who name His Name, magnify and bless Him.

There is another picture in Psa 69:35 and Psa 69:36 : “For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. The seed also of His servants shall inherit it: and they that love His Name shall dwell therein.” Next to the contrast of the suffering’s of Christ, with His glory; stands the contrast of the perfidy and shame of Israel, with her national salvation and restoration. The people who once gathered around that Cross and cried, “Away with Him,” shall yet seek His face. The nations who once crucified Him, will yet crown Him. Christ shall yet reign in Zion!

AN ILLUSTRATION

SUBSTITUTION TAUGHT

A young man was asked when he first trusted in Christ and was saved. His answer was, “When the bee stung mother.” When he was a little boy he was playing before the door, while his mother was working inside. Suddenly a bee came buzzing at the door, and he ran in to his mother, followed by the bee. She hid him behind her. The bee fastened on her bare arm and stung her severely. She turned round, took her little boy, and showed him her arm. There was the place where she was stung, and there was the bee slowly crawling up her arm. “You need not fear the bee now, Willie,” she said, “for it has no sting. It cannot hurt you. Its sting is here.” She showed her little boy a black speck sticking in the wound. And then she took him on her knee, and told him how the sinner, pursued by God’s broken Law, by death whose sting is sin, could find no shelter save behind the Cross of Christ; while in that spotless One who hung there was plunged the fatal sting; to Him was meted out the wrath, the stripes, the bruises, the wounds, which were the sinner’s due, so that now all the sinner has to do is to look, and death is harmless, because all its sting has been exhausted in Christ, all its dark waters dried up in Him, and nothing now remains but to bow in thankfulness and praise to the One who is mighty to save. “Christ also suffered for sins once, the Righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God.”-The Ram’s Horn.

Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

The Source of salvation.

To the chief musician, upon Shoshannim: [a psalm] of David.

The sixty-ninth psalm is more frequently referred to in the New Testament than any other, except the twenty-second; and always as fulfilled in relation to the Lord Himself or in the fruits and consequences of His rejection. And it is plain, as Delitzsch says, that “The whole psalm is typically prophetic, in as far as it is a declaration of a history of life and suffering, moulded by God into a factual prediction concerning Jesus Christ, whether it be the story of a king or a prophet; and in as far as the Spirit of prophecy has even moulded the declaration itself into the language of prophecy concerning the future One.”

It will not be strange, however, to find, according to the title which we have had already in connection with the forty-fifth psalm; al-shoshannim, “the lilies,” (so different as these are,) Christ is not seen alone, but with those for whom He suffered. There is not merely “a lily,” but “lilies.” For a moment -and it is one of the difficulties of the psalm, -in the twenty-sixth verse, “Thy wounded ones”* are seen, as it were, side by side with “Him whom Thou hast smitten;” and this, with the judgment denounced upon the human persecutors, has been a difficulty in the minds of some in seeing the work of atonement in it at all, though the cross is certainly here, for nowhere else could Christ be smitten of God. But there is no forsaking of God, and “though the fact of smiting is referred to, its expiatory power is not at all treated!”

{*One Hebrew MS. is referred to by Coleman, as well as the Syriac version, (which is perhaps as old as the first century A.D.), as having the singular “him,” in both places.}

Now, it is surely true that the deepest suffering of the Cross, and absolutely necessary for atonement, was the forsaking of God (see Lev 4:1-35 notes); yet not all the sacrifices speak of this, but only the sin-offering; and that too, only in its first and highest grades. Yet atonement is said to be made by the lower grades also, as well as by the burnt- and trespass-offerings.

Then, the burnt-offering psalm closes, as has been already mentioned with the denunciation of judgment upon the rejectors of Christ, which is here appended, as the seventieth psalm. So that the present one may be as well the trespass- as the fortieth, the burnt-offering. Two things are plainly in accordance with this, that the One who here suffers, owns, not “sins,” as in the common version, but “trespasses” and that He restores that which He took not away. This is not simply vicarious penalty, but that restitutive form of it which the trespass-offering presents.

Moreover the association of others with the Unique Sufferer here comes not, in what may be called the body of the psalm; but late in it, among the denunciations of the persecutors.

Admitting thus in the most distinct way that we have neither the full presentation of atonement, nor the fullness of divine grace flowing forth through this, and that these things are connected together as cause and effect, yet this seems not inconsistent with the character of offering set forth; while the governmental aspect of atonement which it expresses (see Lev 5:14 sq., notes) prepares us to find here, more strongly emphasized than elsewhere, the judgment upon rejectors.

1. In the first section we have that identification of Christ with His people which is necessarily involved in vicarious suffering. He is heard in His distress, as the waters of affliction penetrate even to the soul. He is sinking beneath the floods, and into the deep mire where there is no standing ground. The “strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him out of death,” of which the epistle to the Hebrews speaks, is emphasized in what follows; and then the countless enemies, with their causeless enmity, while He is paying the debt due by others, not by Himself, -restoring what He took not away.

And here, in the light before God, He sees the awful reality of the evil He has taken upon Him, -hating it, the folly (or impiety) and the trespasses which spring out of this, -with the hatred with which God hates it; even while He owns it His, and bears in His soul the anguish of it.

But to this, then, there must be a limit, that those who wait on God in faith and in desire seek Him -Jehovah, God of hosts and God of Israel, their covenant-God through the sacrifice that He is offering -be not put to shame and confusion, in Him in whom are centred all their hopes. For upon His acceptance depends their salvation for whom He stands, their Representative before God. The work accomplished, righteousness in Him can safely appeal to divine righteousness, -and to righteousness in their behalf.

2. In the next section we go back to His previous life among men, to see Him in the constant strife between good and evil in the world, taking His part with God and therefore suffering. “For Thy sake,” He says, “I have borne reproach: shame hath covered my face.” And that not only among strangers; for here was the true Joseph, separated from His brethren, a stranger and an alien, refused as Israel’s Messiah, and to become the Gentiles’ Christ. And yet that dwelling-place of God in Israel, and which His work is to secure for them in a time near at hand, was that for which His zeal devoured Him. Twice He vindicated the holiness of what, until His last decisive rejection by them; He spoke of as His Father’s house, and which He would have cleansed from the abominations which were driving Him away from them. In fact, through evils such as these, that house was already empty; and they well knew it, yet repented not of the evil, nor recognized the Deliverer who would have restored all, but was rejected: “the reproaches of them that reproached Thee,” He says, “fell on Me.” Thus it was then that He became a reproach, because He felt the misery of their condition, wept and fasted in His soul because of it. They looked for power simply to be used on their behalf: they found weakness, for in fact the power that He had He could not use for them. Yet in that weakness which they found in Him He could serve them better, and He did -“crucified through weakness.” Yet they understood not this sin which He so lamented; and His sackcloth made Him a “proverb”* to them. They reckoned as ways of men merely, and indeed of evil men, the ways of divine holiness in love which mourned for them. And this contemptuous misunderstanding of Him was found among the elders sitting in the gate, and with the drunkards who made music out of Him: all far from God alike.

{*Notice how the “proverb” has to do with divine government, the moral of God’s ways with men: to which” I suppose” every proverb can be referred. The book of Proverbs thus comes under the number five” as the verse does here.}

3. From these therefore He turns to God; and though in sorrow, yet with the assurance of acceptance. He is in distress, yet doubts not His goodness nor faithfulness; in view of which last He can expect and claim deliverance at His hand. He prays, therefore, for deliverance from that in which He is sinking, and from the enemies that surround Him. He seeks that the flood may not overflow Him; which, as this has already taken place (ver. 2) must mean, not continuously overflow Him, but give place again. So, “let not the deep swallow me up,” implies irrecoverable disaster; and “let not the pit shut her mouth upon me” is similar again in this respect. The expressions therefore correspond well with that in Hebrews, “to Him that was able to save Him,” not “from,” but “out of death: that is, by resurrection (Heb 5:7. Gk.). This was how the Lord was actually answered.

He appeals to experience: He has tasted that “loving-kindness” which “is good,” and the “tender mercies,” of which He knows that there are a multitude. And He beseeches that God hide not His face from One who is His servant, in this the hour of His strait: an appeal indeed, when we know what this service that He is fulfilling is.

The last verse of this section shows us the extreme point reached. Indeed the two words for redemption used here may seem to present difficulty in any application to the Lord. But there is a redemption by power, as well as by blood, and the application of the first word to the “avenger” (goel from Baal) shows that the latter conception of it is not necessary to the word. It has as its root-thought the demanding back of what has got away from one, and here (as the soul is the life) it is urged that God should intervene in power to restore the life which was His, and had yet passed, or was passing, away. Its restoration would be its “redemption.”

The second word also is used for rescuing, setting free, as when it is said that the “people rescued Jonathan, that he died not” (1Sa 14:45). In both cases, therefore, it is the kind of redemption we are to consider, rather than the word simply.

4. There are now three verses which as a fourth section speak briefly of His human feelings under the pressure on Him. The reproach, the shame, the dishonor, are all felt and referred to God, as known to Him. His oppressors are before Him. Around there are none to sympathize with or minister comfort to the Sufferer. Yea, “they gave Me gall for My food,” He says; “and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.” This was, as we know, the last indignity before He died: and this was the last scripture that the dying Saviour saw to be unaccomplished, and to fulfill which He uttered aloud His need. These verses, which evidently stand by themselves bring to an end the account of His sufferings, which now manifestly close in death.

5. The solemn denunciation follows, of retribution upon the enemies of Christ and of His people. It will be realized in an entirely different manner according to our conception of the speaker, and of the spirit which breathes in it. If these are the words of mere personal feeling, we shall naturally put them in contrast with the words of Him who at the cross itself prayed for His murderers. This was what was in His heart, and the plea He makes for them, that they knew not what they did, was the sanction of such a prayer. But then there would be those for whom plainly it could no more be uttered. Divine love itself would have to affirm the righteous doom of those who respond to it but with hatred, and this is the character of those before us* here. Hence there is nothing incongruous in this being the language of the Saviour Himself, though not historically His utterance; nay, it is its being His that makes it all so perfectly and manifestly right. In the words of no other is the truth of retribution so strongly emphasized as in His own. Who so competent to speak of it as He who had come down to save men from it? Who could warn so solemnly as He who is the incarnation of divine love itself? Does not that same love speak here when it is heard saying, Let that be, which as the sentence of the Throne at last will actually be?

There is this difference, however, which may be pleaded: that the judgment is in fact that which overtakes men here, and (except by implication) it does not reach into eternity. This is, as we know, the character of Old Testament judgments generally. They are such as come upon men here, the visible witnesses of that which is invisible and eternal. But that alters nothing as to their essential nature, while it gives an additional reason why it should be brought before us in this manner. The visible government of God on earth, even though clouds and darkness are about it, has its attestations and evidences as that which (to use the words of a noted unbeliever) “makes for righteousness.” And the dealings of God with Israel in their disobedience and rejection of Christ are a special example of this kind. Thus God’s dealings with men on earth are fitly to be put before us as anticipations and pledges of what in a coming day will come out more manifestly.

Thus we cannot put the Christ of the Old Testament in contrast with the Christ of the New. The grace of the gospel itself exhibits its glory against a background of “eternal judgment.” And we need no apology for the language of the psalm, though we may need an explanation of it. If it were not a judgment Christ Himself could affirm; then there could be no justification of it at all, from any lower platform. It would be but the language of human passion and infirmity, susceptible of no further interpretation than as that, and to be left to the condemnation of the enlightened conscience.

The snare of peace and prosperity is what is first insisted on: not, of course, the mere well-filled table of a glutton or an epicure, but this as the image of that enjoyment of present things which for the carnal shuts out what is spiritual and eternal. Thus it is indeed a trap and a snare. How busy, even among Christians, is Satan in shutting out the things of God just by the occupation with and pressure of things which in themselves may not be evil, but which we have not learned to connect with God and to use for God. Alas for the secular part of our lives which in the stealthiest fashion filches away from us so much of “what is really life” (1Ti 6:19 : “the life which is life indeed,” R.V.). And for the man whose heart is set on earthly things, what a silken snare is their possession! We murmur at the evils and miseries that face us everywhere; but what would it be if men were fed to the full! Judgment may come as well in the smiling abundance which fattens and narrows the heart, as in the rougher fashion in which it is easier to discern it.

The time yet comes in which the eyes darken, and that in which was men’s confidence is removed. Then the “loins” begin to “shake.” The dread of the unseen, never anything else but a dread, comes upon them. God begins to be manifested, but in wrath which lays hold upon the guilty. Presently a desolate camp in the desert, a “wall,” as the idea is, -a mockery of protection for the feebleness that sought once to it for shelter, but is gone; the tents there, but empty; -becomes the figure of their doom: themselves, where are they?

These four verses bring us to the natural pause in a septenary series, as this is. The last three unveil, as usual, the spiritual meaning. The fifth gives the reason according to divine government; and here alone it is -in a most fitting place, surely, -we see that there are other sufferers than the One great figure here. The part of the guilty ones whose judgment is here detailed, -their part in the Cross was only persecution: with the divine mystery of it, to which we owe all our blessing, they had naught to do. Yet that “they have persecuted Him whom Thou hast smitten,” adds surely to the horror of their crime, -a crime for which they would in this very fact seek its justification rather. Why should they not persecute where God had smitten? When that cry that God had forsaken Him reached the ears of those who stood round the cross, would it not indeed seem like such a justification? They had done as they would, and no intervention of God had come in for Him: God had not smitten them, but Him! Just so do things conspire often to seal the delusion of those who invite delusion. Is it not a sign of such a judicial sentence recorded against them as the next verse speaks of, -their iniquity imputed as iniquity, so that they are given over to what they have chosen? All divine grace is to them now but as the utterance of parables which may have more than one interpretation, and be fatally misconstrued.

The association of others with the Lord in this respect, or the mention of them side by side with Him, need not, as I think, be of any special difficulty here. They are not associated with Him in that which was His atoning work, but only in the persecution by His enemies, which could not possibly have wrought this. It was important, on the other hand, to bring them in, just because the actual persecution of the Lord Himself belonged to one generation only by the necessity of the case, but the persecution of His people is, in one way or other, repeated through all generations. In convicting of this guilt, it was important to show that these things are by the Lord Himself classed together: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou ME?”

Moreover, there is a difference in the experiences: “Thy wounded ones” is not just the same as “whom Thou hast smitten”; and nothing but the parallelism found in the poetry of Scripture could have suggested the rendering of the former as the common version has given it. But the parallel does not require to be carried to this extent.

“Add iniquity to their iniquity” is not also the necessary rendering of the twenty-seventh verse and the moral argument seems against it in any way that this can be explained. The word is not “add,” but literally “give,” which may be rendered “put,” and which in Jon 1:14 is used for, “lay not upon us innocent blood,” that is, “impute” it not. We may safely translate it here, “impute iniquity according to their iniquity,” -reckon it for what it is. They have reached in fact the limit of forbearance: let the judgment now proceed. In the next verse, therefore, it is argued that the death-penalty is their desert: “let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written (enrolled) among the righteous.”

The victory of Christ and righteousness is now briefly celebrated. It is the victory of God, and His Name is declared and glorified in it. The One who was just now the poor and sorrowful One is set on high; and the song of praise begins with the voice of Christ Himself, filled with the joy of God being magnified in the testimony of this deliverance. What does it not imply of joy that shall never end, that work accepted, sin put away, death annulled, Satan overcome! Now has come the substance of the past shadows. The sacrifices are replaced by that which pleases God better than all these. Balm for the afflicted is here; the seekers of God have a heart-reviving message: for the poor are not neglected by Him, and the prisoners -though justly suffering -are not despised by His grace, when they turn to Him. It is the gospel already beginning to be heard in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luk 4:18-19).

Heaven and earth, with the seas and all that are therein, are bidden therefore to praise the Lord together: for Zion shall be saved, the throne of His kingdom upon earth, and the witness of its salvation. Judah too (the worshiper) shall have his cities rebuilt, and dwell in them. And the inheritance shall be for the seed of Jehovah’s servants, and for the lovers of His Name. Amen.

Fuente: Grant’s Numerical Bible Notes and Commentary

Psa 69:1-2. Save me, O God O most mighty God, in whom alone I trust for safety, deliver me from these distresses; for the waters Of tribulation; are come unto my soul Have reached my vital parts, so that I am ready to expire, and my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. I sink in deep mire Hebrew, , in the mud of the deep. I am not in the shallows, or nigh the bank, but in the middle and deepest parts, and sinking in the very mire which is at the bottom of the waters. Where there is no standing No firm and sure footing, but I sink deeper and deeper, and without thy speedy and almighty help I shall be overwhelmed and perish.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Chaldee paraphrase ascribes this psalm to David, and with great care regards it as highly prophetic of the Messiah. St. Paul therefore knew the high authority he had, in quoting it against the Jews. Rom 11:9. We never heard of this psalm being written in Babylon, till we heard of Arianism.

Psa 69:5. Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness. Our version errs here by copying the Latin. All the first critics read the text subjunctively. Thou knowest whether the accusation of folly which is brought against me be true. So Beza in his Psalms. Claude likewise: Tu connois si l accusation de folie donc ils me chargent est veritable.

Psa 69:8. I am become a stranger unto my brethren. When David fell under odium, his friends stood aloof; yea, his mothers children were afraid, and slow to own him. It was the fear of Saul that first drove them to his camp. All this was true of Christ, in a much higher sense.

Psa 69:12. They that sit in the gate, the chamber, but oftener the open area of justice, where the elders of the city sat to hear complaints. Among the cannaille, the dregs of the wicked, he was the drunkards song. A spirit of wicked joy seized them, when they heard that David was undone.

Psa 69:21. They gave me gallvinegar to drink; the usual potion to benumb the pains and tortures of a violent execution. Therefore David in his troubles saw in the Spirit the sufferings of Christ. Joh 19:28-29. Mat 27:48.

Psa 69:22. Let their table become a snare; yea, a trap to them. The Jews after our Saviours time, having rebelled against the Lord, rebelled also against the Romans. Under pretence of a great passover they attracted the young men from Galilee to Jerusalem, and involved them in their rebellion. Literally then did their table become a snare to them.

Psa 69:25. Let their habitation be desolate. tirah, Let their palaces, their castles, their mansions be desolate. This literally happened to Davids enemies, after the battle on Gilboa, and extensively so after the Romans burned Jerusalem.

Psa 69:27. Add iniquity to their iniquity; that is, add one affliction in close succession after another. Among the ancients afflictions and sins were words of similar import, as in Psa 103:3.

Psa 69:28. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living. The Jews were very exact in keeping genealogies of their families: to be blotted out, in the lowest sense, was to be cut off by temporal death. Among the Romans it was a species of outlawry, as in Exo 32:32. But the Lord in his heavenly temple has a higher record. Let us not trouble our heads here about mysteries that belong to God alone, but pray that our name may be written in his book, and that we may have a copy of it in our own heart.

REFLECTIONS.

We here find David in the deep waters of persecution and trouble, and more copious in his grief than in any other psalm. As usual he looks forward, with his wounded soul and weeping eyes, to the Messiah. He became so absorbed in the spirit of faith and afflicted piety, as to describe his Lords sorrows more than his own. So the Saviour was pleased to weep in his tears, and grieve in his grief. Hence this psalm is six times cited in the new testament. The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Joh 2:17. The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. Rom 15:2. Let their table be made a snare and a trap to them. Rom 11:9. Let his habitation be desolate. Act 1:20. And the offering our Saviour vinegar and gall on the cross. Christ also sunk in the mire of Gethsemane; he was weary and exhausted with offering strong cries and tears to God; he was hated without a cause; he was a stranger to his brethren, for they believed not on him; the zeal of Gods house did eat him up, not only when he purified the temple, but by a life of doing good. In a word, the rulers who sat in the gate, slandered him by the foulest names, and would not scruple to make him their song in wine. How striking and impressive is this portrait of our Saviours anguish. How singularly was David led to enlarge on his own sorrows, that he might correctly describe the sufferings of his Lord.

In this psalm we have Davids fervent prayer; and the more to move the divine compassion, he paints the particulars of his grief, from the thirteenth to the twenty second verse, in new shades, and repeats his supplications by appeals, to the gracious character of God. Oh how sublime and fervent are the aspirations of his soul. Prayers so urged become impetuous, the suppliant becomes more meet for salvation, and mercy yields to the entreaties of distress. So the Saviour repeated his prayer in the garden, going forward about a stone-cast, while the disciples slept; so he was left alone, and his own arm brought salvation. So he tasted the gall, he died, he sunk into the pit, but the grave could not so shut her mouth as to retain him.

We have the sentence which David in the spirit of prophecy passed on his enemies. When reading the whole of Augustines City of God, I particularly remarked this passagethat Davids imprecations on his enemies are not spoken with a view to desire their destruction, but are a species of prophetic denunciations. We nowhere read that the Benjamites fell victims to their table; but we know that Judas received the sop at supper. What is still more remarkable, when the Jews had formed the plot to throw off the Roman yoke, they invited all the able young men to the passover that year, and instigated them to the rebellion, in which most of them perished. And when they would not see the light of our Saviours ministry and miracles, God in just retribution blinded their understanding, and hardened their hearts. He poured his indignation upon them, and made their habitations desolate: they wickedly expelled the christians from their city by persecution, and God expelled them with the sword. He added to them iniquity to iniquity, when he brought on that generation the blood of all the righteous, shed from Abel to Christ; and thus, as a nation, he blotted them out from the book of the living. Surely that man must be as blind as the Jews themselves, who does not see that David spake of sorrows and of judgments superior to his own.

We have the psalmists confidence and gratitude. He praised the Lord with a song of salvation; and praise of this kind was more acceptable than sacrifice, which was about to be abolished. Yea, he invites heaven and earth to praise the Lord; and the gentile world did praise him on their conversion, and a new song was sung by all the angels in heaven. Rev 5:9. The Lord will preserve his Zion, and make her an eternal excellency. Thus we see here, as in Psalms 22., from sorrow he rises to joy, and launches forth by faith to speak of the Messiahs kingdom and glory. Thus shall all our tears be turned to joy, and all our sighs to songs of praise.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

LXIX. A Prayer for Deliverance and Revenge.The author was a pious Jew, burning with zeal for the purity of the Temple worship (Psa 69:9). He was a representative man, so that the reproaches of those that reproached Yahweh fell upon him. If he was defeated, the pious throughout Israel would lose hope. He was in great danger of his life, and that from his fellow-Jews (Psa 69:8). Maccabean times suit the situation best, though Maccabean origin is incapable of proof. Cf., e.g., the career of Alcimus (pp. 382, 607) the Hellenised High Priest as related in 1 Maccabees 9, where ho is said to have pulled down the wall of the inner court of the sanctuary. The Psalmist, when he wrote, was apparently excluded from Temple service, for he is content to offer the sacrifice of praise, confident that such a spiritual offering will please God better than the slaughter of a dumb beast.

Psa 69:2-4. Cry for Help.The poet suffers metaphorically what Jeremiah (Jeremiah 38) suffered literally.

Psa 69:4. while I wait: read, from waiting (LXX). Read also, I (emphatic) had to restore that which I took not away.

Psa 69:5-12. The Psalmist acknowledges his sin before God, but it is his virtue, not his fault, which has brought ruin upon him.

Psa 69:13-18. Prayer for deliverance.

Psa 69:13. in an acceptable time: read, do thou accept me. The time was the reverse of acceptable.

Psa 69:19-28. The Psalmists suffering and thirst for vengeance.

Psa 69:22 b. Read and let their peace-offerings become a trap.

Psa 69:26 b. Read, They add to the affliction of thy wounded ones (LXX). This may refer to the defeat and death of Judas Maccabus and his men.

Psa 69:27. into thy righteousness: i.e. into the assembly of those whom God declares righteous.

Psa 69:28. the book of life: the burgess roll of citizens of the Kingdom of God.

Psa 69:29-33. The Psalmists confidence and gratitude.

The whole Ps. is intensely individual: it depicts the agony of a lonely soul. But the compiler of the Psalter has added the three final verses, in which the popular desire for the restoration of the county towns of Judah and the faith of the pious in the God of the whole earth, find expression.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

PSALM 69

The personal sufferings of Christ when entering into the distress of the godly in Israel, brought upon them by reason of the sins of the nation, and for which, in the government of God, they are smitten.

The experiences described in the psalm, though applicable to others, are only fully entered into by Christ. Seeing that the experiences can be known in measure by others, it becomes plain why the sufferings stop short of atonement, with the consequent forsaking of God which Christ alone can endure, as set forth in Psalm 22.

Moreover, the sufferings depicted, while known in part during the lifetime of the Lord, yet culminate upon the cross, for there alone could the Lord be said to be smitten of God. But while the smiting of God, as the portion of Israel, is entered into, yet the suffering from the enmity of the guilty Jewish nation is prominent. Such wickedness merits judgment; hence in the psalm there is the call for judgment, rather than looking for the grace that brings blessing to man.

Nevertheless the judgment of the guilty nation prepares the way for the restoration of Israel with which the psalm closes.

(vv. 1-3) The opening verses present the Lord’s personal sufferings on the cross. Later in the psalm we hear of the enmity of man that was endured in the path that led to the cross. Here the extreme suffering is first brought before us – that which the Lord endured in His own soul. All that which the godly in Israel felt in measure, He felt fully, as only a perfect Man could. The nation had no standing before God; into this position the Lord entered in spirit on the cross. Yet in this position the remnant were waiting for God; and this confidence was perfectly expressed by Christ, who, in the midst of His distress, can say, I wait for my God.

(v. 4) The hatred of the Jewish nation towards the godly remnant was perfectly felt by the Lord on the cross. His infinite perfection enabled Him to say in an absolute way that they hated Him without a cause, and those who sought to destroy Him were wrongfully His enemies. Moreover, His enemies were many and were strong. With Him He had to meet, not simply the enmity of an individual, but, at the Cross the hatred of a nation, led by its powerful leaders. Of Him the proverbial expression was true, I restored that which I took not away. As one has said this is equivalent to saying, ‘I am treated as guilty, though I was innocent’ (cp. Jer 15:10).

(v. 5) From the raging of the nations that surround the cross the holy Sufferer turns to God. Israel was suffering under the government of God for sins. Into this suffering the Lord enters. He can appeal to God as knowing the real occasion of His sufferings – the sins of the nation – which He confesses as if they were His own. Here, however, it is the confession of sins, not the judgment of sins that makes atonement as in Psalm 22.

(v. 6) He waits upon God (v. 3); but there are others who wait on the Lord of hosts. For such He looks to God that they may not be put to shame and confusion, through the sufferings of the One to whom they looked for redemption (cp. Luk 24:19-24).

(vv. 7-12) Now we are permitted to see the sufferings of the Lord in the path that led to the cross. Because of His faithfulness to God He suffered reproach and shame from a world that loved darkness rather than light.

Moreover, in His own country, and in His own house, He was treated as a stranger and an alien (Mat 13:54-58).

Furthermore, the zeal of God’s house, that led Him on two occasions to cleanse that house, brought Him into reproach with men whose hatred of God was vented upon Christ (Joh 2:13-17; Luk 19:45-48).

If He wept and fasted in soul as He foresaw the misery their sins would bring upon the nation, it was turned to His reproach. Outside their city He wept over the very sinners who, inside the city, were plotting to take His life (Luk 19:41-48). If the sins of the nation made Him the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, the very sorrows, symbolized by the sackcloth, became the occasion of men using Him as a proverb to warn others from following in His steps. His public protest against ungodliness drew out the hatred of the leaders – those who sat in the gate; and made Him the subject of ridicule by the abandoned, for He was the song of the drunkard.

(vv. 13-19) The Lord has recounted His sufferings from man. We are now permitted to see that they become the occasion for manifesting the perfection of His confidence in God. There was nothing in Him, as with us, to betray Him into an expression of resentment, or exasperation. The wickedness of men only turns Him to God. As for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord. He turns to God with all the consciousness that He is heard, for He turns to God in an acceptable time. When suffering for sin from the hands of God, we know from Psalm 22, that He cried and was not heard. Here, where the sufferings from the hands of men are in view, His cry is accepted. His confidence in the unbounded mercy, and in the truth of God’s saving power, is undimmed by all that He is passing through. He looks to God for deliverance from His distress, from those that hate Him, and from death.

He speaks as One who knows by experience the loving-kindness of the Lord, and the greatness of His tender mercies, and as One who needs these mercies as the servant of Jehovah surrounded by enemies. His consolation is that all is known to God. The One with the loving-kindness and the mercies, is the One who knows His reproach, His shame, His dishonour; His very adversaries are all before God.

(vv. 20-21) Thus he looks to God alone in the day when the reproaches of men had broken His heart. To look elsewhere for comfort were useless, for in this world there were none to take pity. He looked, indeed, for some to take pity, for some to comfort, but He found none. So far from pity and comfort, they only answered His cry with gall and vinegar.

(vv. 22-28) The rejection of the grace of the Savior, and the causeless hatred that nailed Him to the cross, leaves man exposed to judgment, for they have rejected the only One who could shelter from judgment. Thus there follows the call for retributive judgment to fall upon those who had shown themselves to be the causeless enemies of Christ. It is a judgment that overtakes men in this world, though by implication it may indeed lead to eternal judgment. Of this judgment the Lord warned the city of Jerusalem, instructed His disciples, and admonished the daughters of Jerusalem (Luk 19:42-44; Luk 21:20-24; Luk 23:28-31).

The world’s earthly prosperity will become its snare; and with the failure of all that men trusted in, the world will be plunged into darkness of mind. Not knowing how to act there will come upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity. Their loins will continually shake, Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. God’s indignation will be poured out upon them, and their habitation will be destroyed. Their house will be left desolate, their city trodden down of the Gentiles.

The judgment that overtakes men is because of the unpitying cruelty which delighted in persecuting One whom God had smitten. In this suffering others have their share. The very grief of those who are wounded in spirit by the sin of the nation becomes the occasion to draw out the persecution of that nation. The rejection of the grace of Christ is the crowning sin that is added to their iniquities. Such can have no part in the righteousness of God that brings salvation, no part in the book of life, nor in the portion of the righteous.

(vv. 29-31) If, however, the sufferings of Christ at the hands of men lead to judgment of the nation, they will also have a glorious answer in the exaltation of Christ. Therefore, though poor and sorrowful, the Lord can say, Let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high. With His exaltation there will be praise to God, in which Christ will take the lead, and which will replace the sacrifices of old.

(vv. 32-36) If the Lord leads the praise, the lowly followers of Christ that seek God, will be glad as they see the answer to the cry of the needy, and learn that, though men may persecute, yet the Lord will not despise His captive people.

Further the praise that commences with the exalted Messiah will be taken up by heaven and earth, the seas and everything that moves therein. Zion will be saved, the cities of Judah re-established and re-inhabited, and the children of the servants of Jehovah will inherit the land. They that love His Name shall dwell therein.

Thus we learn that while the suffering of Christ from the guilty nation brings judgment upon the nation, it also leads to the exaltation of Christ. Furthermore the execution of judgment upon the nation prepares the way for the blessing of the godly remnant and the restoration of Israel.

Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible

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.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Psalms 69

In this imprecatory psalm of individual lament, 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 labeled this psalm "indirectly messianic" because, while it does not specifically predict Messiah, Messiah fulfilled what the writer expressed (cf. Psalms 16; Psalms 22; Psalms 34; Psalms 40; Psalms 41; Psalms 109). [Note: Chisholm, "A Theology . . .," pp. 290-91.] After Psalms 110, 22, this is the third most frequently quoted psalm in the New Testament.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Psa 69:1-36

THE Davidic authorship of this psalm is evidently untenable, if for no other reason, yet because of the state of things presupposed in Psa 69:35. The supposition that Jeremiah was the author has more in its favour than in the case of many of the modern attributions of psalms to him, even if, as seems most probable, the references to sinking in deep mire and the like are metaphorical. Cheyne fixes on the period preceding Nehemiahs first journey to Jerusalem as the earliest possible date for this psalm and its kindred ones. {Psa 22:1-31, Psa 35:1-28, and Psa 40:13-17} Baethgen follows Olshausen in assigning the psalm to the Maccabean period. The one point which seems absolutely certain is that David was not its author.

It falls into two equal parts (Psa 69:1-18 and Psa 69:19-36). In the former part three turns of thought or feeling may be traced: Psa 69:1-6 being mainly a cry for Divine help, with plaintive spreading out of the psalmists extremity of need; Psa 69:7-12 basing the prayer on the fact that his sufferings flow from his religion; and Psa 69:13-18 being a stream of petitions for deliverance, with continuous allusion to the description of his trials in Psa 69:1-6. The second part (Psa 69:19-36), begins with renewed description of the psalmists affliction (Psa 69:19-21), and thence passes to invocation of Gods justice on his foes (Psa 69:22-28), which takes the place of the direct petitions for deliverance in the first part. The whole closes with trustful anticipation of answers to prayer, which will call forth praise from ever-widening circles, – first from the psalmist himself; then from the oppressed righteous; and, finally, from heaven, earth, and sea.

The numerous citations of this psalm in the New Testament have led many commentators to maintain its directly Messianic character. But its confessions of sin and imprecations of vengeance are equally incompatible with that view. It as Messianic as typical rather than as prophetic, exhibiting a history, whether of king, prophet, righteous man, or personified nation, in which the same principles are at work as are manifest in their supreme energy and highest form in the Prince of righteous sufferers. But the correspondence of such a detail as giving gall and vinegar, with the history of Jesus, carries us beyond the region of types, and is a witness that Gods Spirit shaped the utterances of the psalmist for a purpose unknown to himself, and worked in like manner on the rude soldiers, whose clumsy mockery and clumsy kindness fulfilled ancient words. There is surely something more here than coincidence or similarity between the experience of one righteous sufferer and another. If Jesus cried “I thirst” in order to bring about the “fulfilment” of one verse of our psalm, His doing so is of a piece with some other acts of His which were distinct claims to be the Messiah of prophecy; but His wish could not influence the soldiers to fulfil the psalm.

The first note is petition and spreading out of the piteous story of the psalmists need. The burdened heart finds some ease in describing how heavy its burden is and the devout heart receives some foretaste of longed for help in the act of telling God how sorely His help is needed. He who knows all our trouble is glad to have us tell it to Him, since it is thereby lightened, and our faith in Him is thereby increased. Sins confessed are wholly cancelled, and troubles spoken to God are more than half calmed. The psalmist begins with metaphors in Psa 69:1-2, and translates these into grim prose in Psa 69:3-4, and then, with acknowledgment of sinfulness, cries for Gods intervention in Psa 69:5-6. It is flat and prosaic to take the expressions in Psa 69:1-2, literally, as if they described an experience like Jeremiahs in the miry pit. Nor can the literal application be carried through; for the image of “waters coming in unto the soul” brings up an entirely different set of circumstances from that of sinking in mud in a pit. The one describes trouble as rushing in upon a man, like a deluge which has burst its banks and overwhelms him; the other paints it as yielding and tenacious, affording no firm spot to stand on, but sucking him up in its filthy, stifling slime. No water was in Jeremiahs pit. The two figures are incompatible in reality, and can only be blended in imagination. What they mean is put without metaphor in Psa 69:3-4. The psalmist is “weary with calling” on God; his throat is dry with much prayer; his eyes ache and are dim with upward gazing for help which lingers. Yet he does not cease to call, and still prays with his parched throat, and keeps the weary eyes steadfastly fixed, as the psalm shows. It is no small triumph of patient faith to wait for tarrying help. Psa 69:4 tells why he thus cries. He is compassed by a crowd of enemies. Two things especially characterise these-their numbers, and their gratuitous hatred. As to the former, they are described as more numerous than the hairs of the psalmists head. The parallelism of clauses recommends the textual alteration which substitutes for the unnecessary word “my destroyers” the appropriate expression “more than my bones,” which is found in some old versions. Causeless hatred is the portion of the righteous in all ages; and our Lord points to Himself as experiencing it in utmost measure, {Joh 15:25} inasmuch as He, the perfectly righteous One, must take into His own history all the bitterness which is infused into the cup of those who fear God and love the right, by a generation who are out of sympathy with them.

The same experience, in forms varying according to the spirit of the times, is realised still in all who have the mind of Christ in them. As long as the world is a world, it will have some contempt mingling with its constrained respect for goodness, some hostility, now expressed by light shafts of mockery and ridicule, now by heavier and more hurtful missiles, for Christs true servants. The ancient “Woe” for those of whom all men speak well is in force today. The “hatred” is “without a cause,” in so far as its cherishers have received no hurt, and its objects desire only their enemies good; but its cause lies deep in the irreconcilable antagonism of life principles and aims between those who follow Christ and those who do not.

The psalmist had to bear unjust charges, and to make restitution of what he had never taken. Causeless hatred justified itself by false accusations, and innocence had but to bear silently and to save life at the expense of being robbed in the name of justice.

He turns from enemies to God. But his profession of innocence assumes a touching and unusual form. He does not, as might be expected, say, “Thou knowest my guiltlessness,” but, “Thou knowest my foolishness.” A true heart, while conscious of innocence in regard to men, and of having done nothing to evoke their enmity, is, even in the act of searching itself, arrested by the consciousness of its many sins in Gods sight, and will confess these the more penitently, because it stands upright before men, and asserts its freedom from all crime against them. In so far as mens hatred is Gods instrument, it inflicts merited chastisement. That does not excuse men; but it needs to be acknowledged by the sufferer, if things are to be right between him and God. Then, after such confession, he can pray, as this psalmist does, that Gods mercy may deliver him, so that others who, like him, wait on God may not be disheartened or swept from their confidence, by the spectacle of his vain hopes and unanswered cries. The psalmist has a strong consciousness of his representative character, and, as in so many other psalms, thinks that his experience is of wide significance as a witness for God. This consciousness points to something special in his position, whether we find the specialty in his office, or in the supposed personification of the nation, or in poetic consciousness heightened by the sense of being an organ of Gods Spirit. In a much inferior degree, the lowliest devout man may feel the same; for there are none whose experiences of God as answering prayer may not be a light of hope to some souls sitting in the dark. In Psa 69:7-12 the prayer for deliverance is urged on the ground that the singers sufferings are the result of his devotion. Psa 44:13-22 may be compared, and Jer 15:15 is an even closer parallel. Fasting and sackcloth are mentioned again together in Psa 35:13; and Lam 3:14 and Job 30:9 resemble Psa 69:12 b. Surrounded by a godless generation, the psalmists earnestness of faith and concern for Gods honour made him an object of dislike, a target for drunken ridicule. These broke the strong ties of kindred, and acted as separating forces more strongly than brotherhood did, as a uniting one. “Zeal for Gods house” presupposes the existence of the Temple, and also either its neglect or its desecration. That sunken condition of the sanctuary distressed the psalmist more than personal calamity, and it was the departure of Israel from God that made him clothe himself in sackcloth and fast and weep. But so far had deterioration gone that his mourning and its cause supplied materials for tipsy mirth, and his name became a by word and a butt for malicious gossip. The whole picture is that of the standing experience of the godly among the godless. The Perfect Example of devotion and communion had to pass through these waters where they ran deepest and chilliest, but all who have His Spirit have their share of the same fate.

The last division of this first part (Psa 69:13-18) begins by setting in strong contrast the psalmists prayer and the drunkards song. He is sure that his cry will be heard, and so he calls the present time “a time of favour,” and appeals, as often in the Psalter, to the multitude of Gods lovingkindnesses and the faithfulness of His promise of salvation. Such a pleading with God on the ground of His manifested character is heard in Psa 69:13-16, thus inclosing, as it were, the prayer for deliverance in a wrapping of reminders to God of His own name. The petitions here echo the description of peril in the former part-mire and watery depths-and add another kindred image in that of the “pit shutting her mouth” over the suppliant. He is plunged in a deep dungeon, well-shaped; and if a stone is rolled on to its opening, his last gleam of daylight will be gone, and he will be buried alive. Beautifully do the pleas from Gods character and those from the petitioners sore need alternate, the latter predominating in Psa 69:17-18. His thoughts pass from his own desperate condition to Gods mercy, and from Gods mercy to his own condition, and he has the reward of faith, in that he finds in his straits reasons for his assurance that this is a time of favour, as well as pleas to urge with God. They make the black backing which turns his soul into a mirror, reflecting Gods promises in its trust.

The second part of the psalm (Psa 69:19-36) has, like the former, three main divisions. The first of these, like Psa 69:1-6, is mainly a renewed spreading before God of the psalmists trouble (Psa 69:19-21). Rooted sorrows are not plucked up by one effort. This recrudescence of fear breaking in upon the newly won serenity of faith is true to nature. On some parts of our coasts, where a narrow outlet binders the free run of the tide, a second high water follows the first after an hour or so; and often a similar bar to the flowing away of fears brings them back in full rush after they had begun to sink. The psalmist had appealed to Gods knowledge of His “foolishness” as indorsing his protestations of innocence towards men. He now (Psa 69:19) appeals to His knowledge of his distresses, as indorsing his pitiful plaints. His soul is too deeply moved now to use metaphors, He speaks no more of mire and flood, but we hear the moan of a broken heart, and that wail which sounds sad across the centuries and wakes echoes in many solitary hearts. The psalmists eyes had failed, while he looked upwards for a God whose coming seemed slow; but they had looked yet more wearily and vainly for human pity and comforters, and found none. Instead of pity He had received only aggravation of misery. Such seems to be the force of giving gall for food, and vinegar to His thirst. The precise meaning of the word rendered “gall” is uncertain, but the general idea of something bitter is sufficient. That was all that His foes would give Him when hungry; and vinegar, which would make Him more thirsty still, was all that they proffered for His thirst. Such was their sympathy and comforting. According to Matthew, the potion of “wine (or vinegar) mingled with gall” was offered to and rejected by Jesus, before being fastened to the cross. He does not expressly quote the psalm, but probably refers to it. John, on the other hand, does tell us that Jesus, “that the scripture might be accomplished, said, I thirst,” and sees its fulfilment in the kindly act of moistening the parched lips. The evangelists expression does not necessarily imply that a desire to fulfil the scripture was our Lords motive. Crucifixion was accompanied with torturing thirst, which wrung that last complaint from Jesus. But the evangelist discerns a Divine purpose behind the utterance of Jesus human weakness: and it is surely less difficult, for anyone who believes in supernatural revelation at all to believe that the words of the psalmist were shaped by a higher power, and the hands of the Roman soldiers moved by another impulse than their own, than to believe that this minute correspondence of psalm and gospel is merely accidental.

But the immediately succeeding section warns us against pushing the Messianic character of the psalm too far, for these fearful imprecations cannot have any analogies in Christs words (Psa 69:22-28). The form of the wish in “Let their table become a snare” is explained by remembering that the Eastern table was often a leather flap laid on the ground, which the psalmist desires may start up as a snare, and close upon the feasters as they sit round it secure. Disease, continual terror, dimmed eyes, paralysed or quaking loins, ruin falling on their homes, and desolation round their encampment, so that they have no descendants, are the least of the evils invoked. The psalmists desires go further than all this corporeal and material disaster. He prays that iniquity may be added to their iniquity-i.e., that they may be held guilty of sin after sin; and that they may have no portion in Gods righteousness-i.e., in the gifts which flow from His adherence to His covenant.

The climax of all these maledictions is that awful wish that the persecutors may be blotted out of the book of life or of the living. True, the high New Testament conception of that book, according to which it is the burgess roll of the citizens of the New Jerusalem, the possessors of eternal life, does not plainly belong to it in Old Testament usage, in which it means apparently the register of those living on earth. But to blot names therefrom is not only to kill, but to exclude from the national community, and so from all the privileges of the people of God. The psalmist desires for his foes the accumulation of all the ills that flesh is heir to, the extirpation of their families and their absolute exclusion from the company of the living and the righteous. It is impossible to bring such utterances into harmony with the teachings of Jesus, and the attempt to vindicate them ignores plain facts and does violence to plain words. Better far to let them stand as a monument of the earlier stage of Gods progressive revelation, and discern clearly the advance which Christian ethics has made on them.

The psalm ends with glad anticipations of deliverance and vows of thanksgiving. The psalmist is sure that Gods salvation will lift him high above his enemies, and as sure that then he will be as grateful as he is now earnest in prayer, and surest of all that his thankful voice will sound sweeter in Gods ear than any sacrifice would smell in His nostrils. There is no contempt of sacrifices expressed in “horned and hoofed,” but simply the idea of maturity which fits the animal to be offered.

The single voice of praise will be caught up, the singer thinks, by a great chorus of those who would have been struck dumb with confusion if his prayer had not been answered (Psa 69:6), and who, in like manner, are gladdened by seeing his deliverance. The grace bestowed on one brings thanksgivings from many, which redound to the glory of God. The sudden transition in Psa 69:32 b to direct address to the seekers after God, as if they stood beside the solitary singer, gives vividness to the anticipation. The insertion of “behold” is warranted, and tells what revives the beholders hearts. The seekers after God feel the pulse of a quicker life throbbing, when they see the wonders wrought through prayer. The singers thoughts go beyond his own deliverance to that of Israel. “His captives” is most naturally understood as referring to the exiled nation. And this wider manifestation of Gods restoring power will evoke praise from a wider circle, even from heaven, earth, and sea. The circumstances contemplated in Psa 69:33-36 are evidently those of a captivity. Gods people are in bondage, the cities of Judah are in ruins, the inhabitants scattered far from their homes. The only reason for taking the closing verses as being a liturgical addition is unwillingness to admit exilic or post-exilic psalms. But these verses cannot be fairly interpreted without recognising that they presuppose that Israel is in bondage, or at least on the verge of it. The circumstances of Jeremiahs life and times coincide closely with those of the psalmist.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary