Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 102:17
He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.
He will regard the prayer – literally, He looks upon, or he turns himself to their prayer. He does not any longer seem to turn away from them and disregard them. He shows by thus building up Zion that he does regard prayer; that he hears the supplications of his people. There is no higher proof that prayer is heard than that which is often furnished in a revival of pure religion. All such revivals, like that on the day of Pentecost (Act 2:1 ff), are usually preceded, as that was Act 1:13-14, by special prayer; in those revivals there are often most manifest and clear answers to prayer for the conversion of individuals; to prayer for a blessing on a preached gospel; to prayer for particular relatives and friends.
Of the destitute – literally, of the poor. The word – arar – occurs only here and in Jer 17:6, where it is rendered heath: He shall be like the heath in the desert. The word, according to its etymology, means naked; then, poor, stripped of everything, impoverished, wholly destitute. It would thus be eminently applicable to the poor exiles in Babylon; it is as applicable to sinners pleading with God, and to the people of God themselves, destitute of everything like self-righteousness, and feeling that they have nothing in themselves, but that they are wholly dependent on the mercy of God. Compare Rev 3:17.
And not despise their prayer – Not treat it with contempt; not pass it by unheard. This is stated as one of the reasons why the nations would be struck with awe – that God, the infinite God, would hear the prayers of those who were so poor, so powerless, so friendless. There is, in fact, nothing more suited to excite wonder than that God does hear the prayer of poor, lost, sinful man.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 102:17
He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.
Good news for the destitute
Trumpets are sounding, banners are displayed, princes and nobles glitter in their array, and the King appears in His glory. But who is this whose mournful wail disturbs the harmony? Whence comes this ragged mendicant who bows before the Prince? Surely he will be dragged away by the soldiery, or cast into prison by the warders, for daring to pollute so grand a ceremonial by sash wretched presumption! But see, the King hears him, the sound of the trumpet has not drowned the voice of the destitute. His Majesty listens to him while he asks an alms, and in matchless compassion pities all his groans. Who is this King but Jehovah?
I. The spiritual pauper. The spiritual pauper is, in our text, described as destitute, and you may take the word in its extreme sense–the spiritually poor man is not only positively but utterly, thoroughly, terribly destitute. He is destitute of all wealth of merit or possession of righteousness. He is so far from claiming anything like merit that he loathes the very thought of self-righteousness, feeling himself to be guilty, undeserving, ill-deserving, and hell-deserving, meriting only to be banished from the presence of God for ever. There is a kind of destitution which is bearable. A man may be quite penniless, but he may be so accustomed to it that he does not care; he may even be more happy in rags and filth than in any other condition. Have you ever seen the lazzaroni of Naples? Notwithstanding all their attempts to move your compassion, they generally fail after you have once seen them lying on their backs in the sun, amusing themselves the livelong day. You feel sure that beggary is their natural element; they are perfectly satisfied to be mendicants like their fathers, and to bring up their sons to the profession. The ease of poverty suits their constitutions. But the spiritual pauper is not a member of this free and easy lazzaroni club by any manner of means, he is destitute of content. The poverty which is upon him is one which he cannot endure, or for a moment rest under; it is a heavy yoke to him, he sighs and cries under it. He is hungering and thirsting after righteousness.
II. His suitable occupation. He has taken to begging, and it is a very fitting occupation for him, indeed there is nothing else he can do. Blessed is that soul which is shut up to prayer. When you stand as a condemned criminal at the bar, and plead Guilty, guilty, guilty, then you stand where God can look upon you with an eye of pity, and can save you. The trade of begging is one which is most suitable for a spiritual pauper, because, if he cannot do anything else, I warrant you be can do this right well. They say in London that many of our beggars are mere actors, they mimic distress; if so they do it uncommonly well, and are splendid imitations. But I will venture to say this, that nobody will ask help so well as the man whose distress is real; he needs no one to teach him, starvation is his tutor. Take away his diffidence, and give him courage enough, and his distress will make him eloquent. Still, perhaps, there will be some here who say, I do not feel in a fit state to ask for mercy. It is your unfitness that is your fitness. Your poverty fits you for alms, your sickness fits you for the physician, your being nothing fits you to have Christ made all in all to you; your emptiness is all He wants, that He may fill it with all the fulness of His grace. Take to begging; that is the way to be rich towards God.
III. The mendicants very natural fear. He is afraid that the great King will despise his prayer, or will not regard it, and he is afraid of this, first, from the greatness and holiness of God to whom he addresses himself. Can He look on worthless me? Infinite, and yet listen to my sigh; eternal, and yet catch my tears? Can it be? Many are a long while in distress of soul, because they do not remember that there is a Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus. God is thus glorious, but he is not far from any of us; for there is one who is God, and at the same time a man like ourselves, even Jesus, who has compassion on the ignorant, and on those that are out of the way. Cease ye then to fear, for the gulf is bridged. You may approach the Lord, for Jesus has paved the way The same fear takes another shape. Trembling souls are afraid that God can never look upon them in love, because their prayer itself is so unworthy of notice. Ah, yes; but the Lord looketh at the heart, and he does not regard the eloquence nor the style of prayer after the manner of man. Cry on, and look away to Jesus, and you shall find all your destitute soul wants, and one of these days you who have learned to pray shall learn to praise and bless the prayer-answering God who did not suffer the soul of the destitute to perish. The Lord visit you at this moment and give you peace!
IV. Our text affords to the destitute beggar a most comfortable assurance. He will regard the prayer of the destitute. God, in order that destitute sinners should never doubt His willingness to hear their prayers, has left this on record, with a very special note appended to it: This shall be written for the generation to come, and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. You see the Lord not only said that He would regard the prayer of the destitute, but He added, This shall be written, because, when a poor soul is in doubt and fear, there is nothing like having it in black and white. God has said it, but, says He, they shall not merely go by their ears, they shall see with their eyes. This shall be written. When a man brings my own handwriting to me and says, You promised me, and there is the writing, I cannot get away from it; and how shall the Lord draw back from what He has said, This shall be written for the generation to come? Oh, it must stand true. Be of good courage, poor seeking sinner, God will hear you. Remember, too, that when the Lord Jesus Christ was on earth, He used to choose for His associates the destitute. This man receiveth sinners, said they, and eateth with them. Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinners for to hear Him. Jesus cast out none when He was here; He will cast out none that come to Him now. Remember, in the matter of praying, that God loves to hear sinners pray. We may be quite sure of that, because He teaches them how to pray. Do not be afraid, therefore, to pour out those broken sentences which God the Holy Spirit has taught you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. The prayer of the destitute] haarar of him who is laid in utter ruin, who is entirely wasted.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Of the destitute, i.e. of his poor forsaken, despised people in Babylon.
Not despise, i.e. will accept and answer.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15-17. God’s favor to the Churchwill affect her persecutors with fear.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He will regard the prayer of the destitute,…. Of the destitute of human help and support, protection and defence; as the church in the wilderness; of the “poor”, as the Syriac and Arabic versions, both in spirit and in purse; of the “humble”, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin: the word c signifies a low shrub or plant; it is rendered, the heath in the wilderness, Jer 17:6 and designs the saints in their low and afflicted state, during the reign of antichrist, and while the witnesses prophesy in sackcloth; these are the elect that pray day and night, and give the Lord no rest till he establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth; and the prayers of these are regarded and looked to by the Lord; his eyes are upon and his ears are open to these praying ones; and all the glorious things which shall be done for the church of God will be in consequence of their prayers:
and not despise their prayer; not reject it with contempt and abhorrence; more is intended than is expressed: the meaning is, that he will receive it with pleasure, and return an answer to it; the prayer of these poor destitute ones is delightful to him, Pr 15:8.
c “eorum, qui sunt veluti myricae”, Pagninus, Vatablus, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17 He hath regarded the prayer of the solitary It is worthy of notice, that the deliverance of the chosen tribes is ascribed to the prayers of the faithful. God’s mercy was indeed the sole cause which led him to deliver his Church, according as he had graciously promised this blessing to her; but to stir up true believers to greater earnestness in prayer, he promises that what he has purposed to do of his own good pleasure, he will grant in answer to their requests. Nor is there any inconsistency between these two truths, that God preserves the Church in the exercise of his free mercy, and that he preserves her in answer to the prayers of his people; for as their prayers are connected with the free promises, the effect of the former depends entirely upon the latter. When it is said, that the prayers of the solitary were heard, it is not to be understood of one man only, (for in the clause immediately following, the plural number is used;) but all the Jews, so long as they remained ejected from their own country, and lived as exiles in a strange land, are called solitary, because, although the countries of Assyria and Chaldea were remarkably fertile and delightful, yet these wretched captives, as I have previously observed, wandered there as in a wilderness. And as at that time this solitary people obtained favor by sighing, so now when the faithful are scattered, and are without their regular assemblies, the Lord will hear their groanings in this desolate dispersion, provided they all with one consent, and with unfeigned faith, earnestly breathe after the restoration of the Church.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) The destitute.Literally, the naked one. Here the exiled people, stripped of home and religious rites. The word is only found once more, in Jer. 17:6 (comp. Jer. 48:6 for a kindred form), where it is translated heath, and in Arabic it is to this day the name of a stunted bush that grows in Palestine.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. The prayer of the destitute Although the deliverance of the exiles was signally the work of God, and promised, yet they were to pray for it as a condition of fulfilment. Jer 29:12-13; Eze 36:37; Dan 9:2-3.
Destitute Literally, Naked. The word denotes utter poverty and helplessness. Yet God despises not their prayer.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 102:17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.
Ver. 17. He will regard the prayer of the destitute ] Heb. of the poor shrub that is in the wilderness, trod upon by beasts, unregarded, worthless; heath, juniper, wild tamarisk, Humilesque myricae (Virg.). Tremellius rendereth it Nudatissimi; others Excitantis se, the prayer of one that stirreth up himself to take hold of God, and thereby prevaileth with him. I came for thy prayer, saith the angel to Daniel, Psa 10:12 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
He will: Psa 9:18, Psa 72:12, Deu 4:29, Deu 32:36, Neh 1:6, Neh 1:11, Neh 2:1-8, Jer 29:11-14, Dan 9:3-21
not despise: Psa 22:24, Psa 69:23
Reciprocal: Gen 19:21 – I Num 21:3 – hearkened 2Ki 1:13 – O man of God Job 35:13 – regard Psa 9:12 – he forgetteth Psa 10:17 – cause Psa 35:10 – which Psa 51:17 – thou Psa 65:2 – thou Psa 69:33 – the Lord Psa 86:1 – for I am Psa 109:22 – For I Psa 136:23 – remembered Psa 140:12 – the Lord Psa 141:8 – leave not my soul destitute Son 8:1 – yea Isa 41:17 – the poor Jer 29:12 – General Eze 36:37 – I will yet Luk 1:48 – regarded Luk 18:1 – that Joh 6:37 – I will