Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 27:9
Hide not thy face [far] from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
9. Hide not thy face from me (R.V.). A prayer grounded on the divine promise which he has obeyed. Cp. Psa 22:14.
put not &c.] Or, turn not, like the unjust judge who turns the needy from his right (Job 24:4; Isa 10:2; Luk 18:1 ff.).
in anger ] See note on Psa 6:1.
thou hast been my help ] An appeal to past experience. Surely God cannot have changed.
leave me not ] R.V., cast me not off (Psa 94:14; 1Ki 8:57).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hide not thy face far from me – Compare the notes at Psa 4:6. To hide the face is to turn it away with displeasure, as if we would not look on one who has offended us. The favor of God is often expressed by lifting the light of his countenance upon anyone – looking complacently or pleasedly upon him. The reverse of this is expressed by hiding the face, or by turning it away. The word far introduced by the translators does not aid the sense of the passage.
Put not thy servant away in anger – Do not turn me off, or put me away in displeasure. We turn one away, or do not admit him into our presence, with whom we are displeased. The psalmist prayed that he might have free access to God as a Friend.
Thou hast been my help – In days that are past. This he urges as a reason why God should still befriend him. The fact that He had shown mercy to him, that He had treated him as a friend, is urged as a reason why He should now hear his prayers, and show him mercy.
Leave me not – Do not abandon me. This is still a proper ground of pleading with God. We may refer to all His former mercies toward us; we may make mention of those mercies as a reason why He should now interpose and save us. We may, so to speak, remind him of His former favors and friendship, and may plead with Him that He will complete what He has begun, and that, having once admitted us to His favor, He will never leave or forsake us.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 27:9
Hide not Thy face far from me.
Hide not Thy face from me
1. The surpassing worth and excellence of Gods special favour, whereof he would not be deprived (Psa 30:5; Psa 63:3).
2. He knew the displeasure of God was a most heavy and grievous thing, which no creature is able to bear (Psa 76:7).
3. He knew his own guilt of sin, both original (Psa 51:5) and actual (Psa 51:3-4).
4. He was not ignorant of Gods sovereignty over all, whereby He may, even for trial of grace, hide His face, and seem angry with His dearest servants. Uses–
1. For instruction.
(1) See in David what the godly think of the want of Gods favour: that it is a most grievous and bitter thing; as if a father should put away a child in anger, leave him and forsake him.
(2) See here that the true child of God may, for a time, want the feeling of Gods special favour, and remain under the sense of His displeasure (Psa 38:1-2).
(3) See that prayer is a blessed and sanctified means whereby the child of God may comfortably wait for the blessing of Gods favour.
2. For admonition.
(1) That we examine ourselves, how our hearts esteem the want of feeling Gods special love and favour in Christ.
(2) Learn not to be dismayed for the temporary hiding of Gods face or sustaining of His anger. (T. Pierson.)
Thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me.—
A mighty plea
In times of distress it is not well always to have a choice of helpers. For while we are selecting, our danger may have overtaken us. While the fox was considering which way to run, the hounds had seized him; while the sick man was selecting the physician, his disease carried him off. It is well to be shut up to one help, if that help is all we need; as the old proverb hath it: Hobsons choice, that or none. Now, this is the believers condition. And it is well in going to God to have a good plea, such as is provided for us here: Thou hast been my help. A soul in sore distress is in no fit condition to puzzle itself over deep, dark reasonings; it wants a childs plea, just as Dr. Guthrie, when dying, wanted bairns hymns. It is told of a famous Hebrew scholar, Dr. John Duncan of Edinburgh, that he was easily imposed upon; but the imposition never moved him, and he was willing to submit to it for the chance of doing good. He said, I find they know how to get round me; they say, You helped me before ; and I never can resist that: it teaches me how to pray. And do we not like to help our old pensioners? and they know we do. Now, in our text we have:
I. experience gratefully telling her tale. How many of us can and must say, O God, Thou hast been my help? Go over the history of David, and see how often he had cause to say this.
II. necessity pleading experience. She pleads, It is consistent with Thy holiness; it is within Thy power; it is fitting to Thy wisdom; or else all that Thou hast done will be thrown away. Thou art the unchanging God, and to Thy love I appeal. It is the plea of a child to a father, Father, thou hast always fed me: wilt thou let me starve?
III. experience instructing faith. To trust, because God has been your help for so long; and so constantly and so singularly; and with glory to Himself. (C. H Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. Hide not thy face – from me] As my face is towards thee wheresoever I am, so let thy face be turned towards me. In a Persian MS. poem entitled [Persic] Shah we Gudda, “The King and the Beggar,” I have found a remarkable couplet, most strangely and artificially involved, which expresses exactly the same sentiment: –
[Persic]
[Persic]
One meaning of which is: –
OUR face is towards THEE in all our ways;
THY face is towards US in all our intentions. Something similar, though not the same sentiment is in Hafiz, lib. i., gaz. v., cap. 2:-
[Arabic]
[Arabic]
How can we with the disciples turn our face towards
the kaaba,
When our spiritual instructer turns his face towards
the wine-cellar?
I shall subjoin a higher authority than either: –
,
.
1Pe 3:12.
For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous;
And his ears to their supplication:
And the face of the Lord is upon the workers of evil.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Hide not thy face; which I in obedience to thy command am now seeking.
Put not thy servant away, to wit, from thy face or presence, or from the place of thy worship, from which he either now was or formerly had been driven. Two ways God and he might be parted; either by Gods departure or withdrawing from him, which he might do even in the place of his worship; or by Gods putting him away from his presence. Against the first he seems to direct his prayer in the first clause, and against the latter in this.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. Hide not, c. (Psa 4:6Psa 22:24). Against rejection hepleads former mercy and love.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Hide not thy face [far] from me,…. Yea, not at all from him; for the word “far” is not in the text: this is sometimes the case of the best of men, and was of the psalmist at times, and might be now, notwithstanding his strong expressions of faith and joy in the preceding verses; for frames are very changeable things; and this case is consistent with the everlasting and unchangeable love of God to his people; though they are ready to impute it to wrath and anger, and is what is very cutting and grievous to them; and therefore deprecate it as the psalmist does here,
put not thy servant away in anger; either cast him not away from thy presence, as being angry with him, though there is just reason for it; or suffer him not to go away angry, fretting and murmuring: he makes mention of his relation to God as a servant, as he was; not only by creation as a man, and by his office as a king, but by efficacious grace as a converted man; and this only as descriptive of himself, and as acknowledging his dependence on the Lord, and his obligation to him; but not as a reason why he should be regarded by him, for he knew he was but an unprofitable servant;
thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me: which request, as the rest, he might put up in faith; for God will not leave his people destitute of his presence finally and totally; nor to themselves and the corruptions of their hearts, nor to the temptations of Satan; nor will he forsake the work of his hands, the work of grace upon their hearts; or so forsake them as that they shall perish: and that the Lord would not leave nor forsake him in such sense, the psalmist had reason to conclude; since he had been his help in times past, a present help in time of trouble; and his arm was not shortened, his power was the same to help as ever, and so were his inclination and will; since he could also call unto him, and upon him, as follows:
O God of my salvation; the author both of his temporal, spiritual, and eternal salvation; and what might he not hope for from him? salvation includes all blessings, both for soul and body, for time and eternity.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The requests are now poured forth with all the greater freedom and importunity, that God may be willing to be entreated and invoked. The Hiph. signifies in this passage standing by itself (cf. Job 24:4): to push aside. The clause does not say: be Thou my help (which is impossible on syntactical grounds), nor is it to be taken relatively: Thou who wast my help (for which there is no ground in what precedes); but on the contrary the praet. gives the ground of the request that follows “Thou art my help (lit., Thou has become, or hast ever been) – cast me, then, not away,” and it is, moreover, accented accordingly. Psa 27:10, as we have already observed, does not sound as though it came from the lips of David, of whom it is only said during the time of his persecution by Saul, that at that time he was obliged to part from his parents, 1Sa 22:3. The words certainly might be David’s, if Psa 27:10 would admit of being taken hypothetically, as is done by Ewald, 362, b: should my father and my mother forsake me, yet Jahve will etc. But the entreaty “forsake me not” is naturally followed by the reason: for my father and my mother have forsaken me; and just as naturally does the consolation: but Jahve will take me up, prepare the way for the entreaties which begin anew in Psa 27:11. Whereas, if is taken hypothetically, Psa 27:11 stands disconnectedly in the midst of the surrounding requests. On cf. Jos 20:4.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
9. Hide not thy face from me. The Psalmist elegantly continues the same form of speech, but with a different meaning. The face of God is now employed to describe the sensible effects of his grace and favor: as if it had been said, Lord, make me truly to experience that thou hast been near to me, and let me clearly behold thy power in saving me. We must observe the distinction between the theoretical knowledge derived from the Word of God and what is called the experimental knowledge of his grace. For as God shows himself present in operation, (as they usually speak,) he must first be sought in his Word. The sentence which follows, Cast not away thy servant in thine anger, some Jewish interpreters expound in too forced a manner to mean, Suffer not thy servant to be immersed in the wicked cares of this world, which are nothing but anger and madness. I, however, prefer to translate the Hebrew word נטה, natah, as many translate it, to turn away from, or to remove. Their meaning is more probable who interpret it, Make not thy servant to decline to anger. When a person is utterly forsaken by God, he cannot but be agitated within by murmuring thoughts, and break forth into the manifestations of vexation and anger. If any one think that David now anticipates this temptation, I shall not object, for he was not without reason afraid of impatience, which weakens us and makes us go beyond the bounds of reason. But I keep to the first exposition, as it is confirmed by the two words which follow; and thus the term anger imports a tacit confession of sin; because, although David acknowledges that God might justly cast him off, he deprecates his anger. Moreover, by recalling to mind God’s former favors, he encourages himself to hope for more, and by this argument he moves God to continue his help, and not to leave his work imperfect.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) Far.This is unnecessary and misleading.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. The petitions and deprecations of this verse seem urged by a conscious dread of judgment now possible in view of past sin, and may have a silent pointing back to the one great offence of David’s life, recorded 2 Samuel 11
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Reader, all connections cease but this of Jesus. Hence, when flesh and heart both fail, what an everlasting resource is that, that Christ, is the strength of our heart, and our portion forever. Psa 73:26 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 27:9 Hide not thy face [far] from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
Ver. 9. Hide not thy face far from me ] For then it will be to no purpose for me to seek it; eclipse not thy favour, withhold not thy succour, but meet me; yea, prevent me with thy loving kindness. Tantum velis, et Deus tibi praeoccurret, saith an ancient.
Put not thy servant away in anger
Thou hast been my help, leave me not, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4.
of. Genitive of Origin. App-17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 27:9-10
Psa 27:9-10
“Hide not thy face from me;
Put not thy servant away in anger:
Thou hast been my help;
Cast me not off, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then Jehovah will take me up.”
“Put not thy servant away in anger” (Psa 27:9). “David here views himself as God’s servant, feeling that he could not live without the sunshine of God’s love. The putting away of a servant in wrath would be an expression of the utmost disapproval.
“When my father and my mother forsake me” (Psa 27:10). The RSV falsely renders this, “For my father and my mother have forsaken me,” perhaps with a view of supporting the denial of some that David wrote this psalm. Certainly there is no biblical record of any such thing ever having befallen David; and we do not think it ever happened. Can it be imagined that any parents would desert a son who became King?
Gaebelein affirmed that, “The Hebrews allows the translation of these words:
“For had my father and my mother forsaken me,
Then had Jehovah taken me up.
Rawlinson also agreed with this. He wrote:
“We are not to gather from this that David’s father and mother had forsaken him. They were probably dead at the time of the rebellion of Absalom. What David means is that even if forsaken by his nearest and dearest, he would not be forsaken by God. The expression is proverbial.”
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 27:9. No man can literally see God’s face and live (Exo 33:20). The expression used so frequently by David partakes of some of the figurative meanings of the word. It is from PANIM and has been rendered in the Authorized Version by anger 3 times, countenance 30, edge 1, face 356, favor 4, forefront 4, forepart 4, form 1, former time 1, front 2, heaviness 1, looks 2, mouth 1, old time 1, person 20, presence 75, prospect 6, sight 40, state 1, time past 1, times past 1, upside 2. With such a field of meanings we know that we should not be too technical in applying the word. It would be reasonable to conclude that David wished to receive the spiritual smile of the Lord. He felt the need of such an influence while combatting the enemies.
Psa 27:10. There is no evidence that David ever had any trouble with his parents. The idea was that he regarded the Lord as being more dependable than even his own flesh-and blood relations. Such comparison to one’s blood relatives is found else where in the Bible (Pro 18:24).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Hide: Psa 13:1, Psa 44:24, Psa 69:17, Psa 102:2, Psa 143:7, Isa 59:2
put: Psa 51:11, Isa 50:1
thou: Psa 71:5, Psa 71:6, Psa 71:17, Psa 71:18, 1Sa 7:12, Isa 46:3, Isa 46:4, 2Co 1:9, 2Co 1:10, 2Ti 4:17, 2Ti 4:18
leave: Psa 38:21, Psa 119:121, 1Ch 28:9, Jer 32:40, Heb 13:5
O God: Psa 24:5, Psa 38:21, Psa 38:22, Psa 88:1
Reciprocal: Deu 31:17 – hide my face Jdg 6:13 – forsaken us 1Ch 16:11 – seek his 2Ch 32:31 – left him Job 34:29 – when he hideth Psa 10:1 – hidest Psa 80:19 – cause Isa 54:8 – I hid Jer 14:9 – leave Mar 15:34 – why Heb 13:6 – The Lord
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 27:9. Hide not thy face far from me Which, in obedience to thy command, I am now seeking. Let me never want the reviving sense of thy favour; love me, and give me to know that thou lovest me. Put not thy servant away in anger Namely, from thy face or presence, or from the place of thy worship. Two ways God and he might be parted, either by Gods withdrawing himself from him, which he might do even in the place of his worship; or by Gods putting him away from the place of his worship. Against the first he seems to pray in the first clause, and against the latter in this.