Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 38:9
Lord, all my desire [is] before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.
9. God knows what he needs (Psa 10:17; Mat 6:8).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
9 14. The neglect of friends and the scorn of enemies augment his sufferings.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lord, all my desire is before thee – That is, Thou knowest all that I would ask or that I need. This is the expression of one who felt that his only hope was in God, and that He fully understood the case. There was no need of repeating the request. He was willing to leave the whole case with God.
And my groaning is not hid from thee – My sighing; the expression of my sorrow and anguish. As God certainly heard these sighs, and as He wholly understood the case, David hoped that He would mercifully interpose in his behalf.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 38:9
Lord, all my desire is before Thee; and my groaning is not hid from Thee.
Gods knowledge of our desires
I. We have here A fact that is without exception. The Lord knows all our desires. How great, then, must God be, and how near such knowledge brings us to God.
II. The performance of as important duty. David was in the habit of prayer. He does not speak of his prayer as an unusual thing, or that should make men talk of him as eminently religious. Now, such habitual prayer is our duty. Do not restrain prayer, and remember, the groaning that is directed to God is very often effectual fervent prayer.
III. A state of hallowed privilege. If the text be true of us, then there is no need for anxiety. God will surely do what is best for me.
IV. A large provision of rest for the soul. How quiet a man may be, and ought to be, who can speak thus to God. It is the childlike converse of a man with his God.
V. A comfortable thought for seasons of weakness and discouragement. What a comfort it is to feel that God knows all, that He will accept as real prayer the utterance of a mere groan.
VI. It is also A plea is prayer. I have told Thee all, now do as Thou hast said. (Samuel Martin.)
Desires towards God
We would not pamper weakness till we seem to offer a premium to unbelief; but yet we would feed the feeble in the kings meadows till they become strong in the Lord. If great efforts are put forth to build or endow a hospital, you do not say, Sickness is a desirable thing, for all this money is spent upon comforting and helping those who feel it. Your feelings are quite the contrary: though these sick folk become the object of care, it is not as a reward to them, but as an act of compassion towards them. Let none, therefore, say that the preacher encourages a low state of grace: he encourages it no more than the physician encourages disease when he tries by his care and skill to heal the sick.
I. Desires towards God should be made known to him.
1. Because our whole life ought to be transparent before God. What secrets can there be between a soul convinced of sin and a pardoning God.? Tell Him your fears for the past, your anxieties for the present, and your dreads for the future; tell Him your suspicions of yourself, and your trembling lest you should be deceived. Make all your heart known unto God, and keep back nothing, for much benefit will come to you from being honest with your best Friend.
2. Because it is commanded of God that, we should make our desires known to him. He says that men ought always to pray and not to faint; and again, in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God. Jesus said, Watch and pray, and His apostle said, I will that men pray everywhere. And what is this but to make your desires known to God?
3. It is a great benefit to a man to be able to express his desires, and this is an argument for making them known to God. A glance at some desires would seal their doom, for we should feel them to be unworthy to be presented before the Lord. ]Jut when it is a holy and pure desire, tell it, for it will relieve your heart, it will heighten your estimate of the blessing sought, it will bring you to think over the promises made to such desires, it will thereby strengthen your hope that your desire will be fulfilled, and enable you by faith to obtain it. The prayerful expression of one desire will often quicken further desires, and make a thousand of them where there was but one.
4. A gracious expression of desire before God will often be to you a proof that those desires are right. Thy desire must be a good thing, or thou wouldst not dare to make it known to God; and seeing that it is a good thing, take care thou nurture it well, and cause it to grow by expressing it with thy whole heart before God.
II. Desires towards God are gracious things. Intense groaning desires towards God are in themselves works of grace.
1. For certainly they are associated with other graces. When a man can say, All my desire is towards God, and my heart groans after Him, and yet I find little in myself but these desires, I think we can point to some other good things which are in his heart. Surely humility is apparent enough. Thou takes, a right view of thyself, O man of desires! A lowly esteem hast thou of thyself, and this is well. Aye, and there is faith in thee, for no man heartily desires to believe unless he doth in some measure already believe. There is a measure of believing in every true desire after believing. And thou hast love, too; I am sure of it. Did ever a man desire to love that which he did not love already? Thou hast already some drawings of thy heart Christwards, or else thou wouldst not cry to be more filled with it. He who loves most is the very man who most passionately desires to love more. I am sure, also, that thou hast some hope; for a man does not continue to groan out before his God, and to make his desire known, unless he has some hope that his desire will be satisfied, and that his grief will be assuaged. David lets out the secret of his own hope, for he says in the fifteenth verse, In Thee, O Lord, do I hope. You do not hope anywhere else, do you?
2. Another proof that they are gracious is that they come from God. Now, as God can say of all that He creates, It is very good, I come to the conclusion that these groaning desires after God are very good. They are not great, nor strong, but they are gracious. There is water in a drop as well as in the sea, there is life in a gnat as well as in an elephant, there is light in a beam as well as in the sun, and so is there grace in a desire as truly as in complete sanctification.
3. Holy desires are a great test of character: a test of eminent value. You inquire, Can you judge a mans character by his desires? 1 answer, yes. I will give you the other side of the question that you may see our own side all the more clearly. You may certainly judge a bad man by his desires. Here is a man who desires to be a thief. Well, he is a thief in heart and spirit. Who would trust him in his house now that he knows that he groans to rob and steal? Let us, then, measure out justice in our own case by the rule which we allow towards others. If you have an earnest, agonizing desire towards that which is right, even though through the infirmity of the flesh and the corruption of your nature you do not reach to the height of your desire, yet that desire is a test of your character. The main set of the current determines its direction: the main bent of the desire is the test of the life.
III. Desires towards God are carefully observed by him. God has a quick eye to spy out anything that is good in His people; if there is but one speck of soundness, if there is a single mark of grace, if there is any remaining token of spiritual life, though it be only a faint desire, though it be only a dolorous groan, the Father sees it, and records it, casting the evil behind His back, and refusing to behold it.
IV. Earnest desires towards, God will be fulfilled.
1. These desires are of Gods creation, and you cannot imagine that God would create desires in us which He will not satisfy. Why, look even in nature, if He gives the beast hunger and thirst He provides for it the grass upon the mountains and the streams that flow among the valleys. If, then, He Himself has put in you a desire after Himself, He will give you Himself. If He has made you long after pardon, purity, eternal salvation, He means to give you these.
2. Remember, O desiring man, that already you have a blessing. When our Divine Master was on the mountain-side the benedictions which He pronounced were no word blessings, but they were full of weight and meaning, and among the rest of them is this–Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed while they hunger, blessed while they thirst. Yes, they are already blessed, and there is this at the back of it, for they shall be filled.
3. And we may be sure that God will hear the desires which He has Himself created, because He loves to gratify right desires. It is said of Him in nature, Thou openest Thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. Doth God care for sparrows in the bush, for minnows in the brook, for midges in the air, for tiny things in a drop of stagnant water, and will He fail to satisfy the longings of His own children? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Our groaning not hid from God
The wistful look of a dumb creature, or a moan of pain, is a prayer to a merciful man. Man deals tenderly with those who are robbed of the organs of expression. He watches with sedulous earnestness each faint indication of pain or need, that he may be ready with his ministry. Is the ear of God more dull, think you, than mans, to these unutterable groanings; or is this human pity and sympathy the faint and finite image of an infinite pity and sympathy which are waiting to respond to us there? Pity which, great as may be the power of prayer which words can frame, finds in the longing that is too deep for words, the groaning that is too sad for tears, an appeal which is irresistible, and would even endure the sharpness of death rather than that such a suppliant should be sent empty away.
I. The efficacy of prayer.
1. It cleans and purifies the desires. The effort to utter them before God in prayer is a purification. Many a mixed desire which lies confusedly in the mind, filling it with distress, gets purified by the effort. The bringing it into Gods presence is like bringing a mass of rank vegetation into the sunlight. Leave it there awhile. The pure fire of Gods presence kills all that is noxious in the desire, all that is born of worldliness and lust.
II. The second clause opens a yet deeper depth. There are groanings which cannot become prayers, and my groaning is not hid from they. Would that I could pray! is the language, in moments of deep religious feeling, of many a vain, selfish, worldly, or lustful heart; I should feel then that the battle was really gained. There are times when the effort to pray seems almost impious. A kind of dull despair weighs on the spirit, and crushes down all its energies. When I would do good, evil is present with me, O miserable man that I am. What help can there be, what hope, for such an one as I? Brethren, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. But there is a mightier thing still; something that lodges a more resistless appeal in the very heart of the Divine compassion: it is the pain that cannot tell its misery in a prayer. It is a blessed thing for me that God heareth and answereth prayer; more blessed still, that My groaning is not hid from Thee. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. Lord, all my desire is before thee] I long for nothing so much as thy favour; and for this my heart is continually going out after thee. Instead of Adonai, Lord, several of Dr. Kennicott’s MSS. have Yehovah.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I do not utter all these complaints, nor roar out, that thou mayst hear and know them, for thou hearest and knowest even my lowest groans; yea, mine inward desires, and all my necessities. And therefore, I pray thee, pity and deliver me, as I trust thou wilt do.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. That God can hear (Ro8:26).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Lord, all my desire [is] before thee,…. To be delivered from his afflictions, to have a discovery and application of pardoning grace, and to have communion with his God: the desire of his soul was unto these things; and it was some satisfaction to him that it was before the Lord, and known unto him, before whom all things are naked and open;
and my groaning is not hid from thee; under the weight of his affliction, the burden of his sin, and which he expressed in prayer to the Lord, and which is often done with groanings which cannot be uttered: but even these are known and understood by the Lord.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 38:10-15) Having thus bewailed his suffering before God, he goes on in a somewhat calmer tone: it is the calm of weariness, but also of the rescue which shows itself from afar. He has complained, but not as if it were necessary for him first of all to make God acquainted with his suffering; the Omniscient One is directly cognisant of (has directly before Him, , like in Psa 18:25) every wish that his suffering extorts from him, and even his softer sighing does not escape His knowledge. The sufferer does not say this so much with the view of comforting himself with this thought, as of exciting God’s compassion. Hence he even goes on to draw the piteous picture of his condition: his heart is in a state of violent rotary motion, or only of violent, quickly repeated contraction and expansion ( Psychol. S. 252; tr. p. 297), that is to say, a state of violent palpitation ( , Pealal according to Ges. 55, 3). Strength of which the heart is the centre (Psa 40:13) has left him, and the light of his eyes, even of these (by attraction for , since the light of the eyes is not contrasted with anything else), is not with him, but has become lost to him by weeping, watching, and fever. Those who love him and are friendly towards him have placed themselves far from his stroke ( nega` , the touch of God’s hand of wrath), merely looking on (Oba 1:11), therefore, in a position hostile (2Sa 18:13) rather than friendly. , far away, but within the range of vision, within sight, Gen 21:16; Deu 32:52. The words , which introduce a pentastich into a Psalm that is tetrastichic throughout, have the appearance of being a gloss or various reading: = , 2Ki 2:7. His enemies, however, endeavour to take advantage of his fall and helplessness, in order to give him his final death-blow. (with the dageshed)
(Note: The various reading in Norzi rests upon a misapprehended passage of Abulwald ( Rikma, p. 166).)
describes what they have planned in consequence of the position he is in. The substance of their words is , utter destruction (vid., Psa 5:10); to this end it is , deceit upon deceit, malice upon malice, that they unceasingly hatch with heart and mouth. In the consciousness of his sin he is obliged to be silent, and, renouncing all self-help, to abandon his cause to God. Consciousness of guilt and resignation close his lips, so that he is not able, nor does he wish, to refute the false charges of his enemies; he has no , counter-evidence wherewith to vindicate himself. It is not to be rendered: “just as one dumb opens not his mouth;” is only a preposition, not a conjunction, and it is just here, in Psa 38:14, Psa 38:15, that the manifest proofs in support of this are found.
(Note: The passages brought forward by Hupfeld in support of the use of as a conjunction, viz., Psa 90:5; Psa 125:1; Isa 53:7; Isa 61:11, are invalid; the passage that seems most to favour it is Oba 1:16, but in this instance the expression is elliptical, being equivalent to , like , Isa 65:1, = . It is only (Arab. kma ) that can be used as a conjunction; but (Arab. k) is always a preposition in ancient Hebrew just as in Syriac and Arabic (vid., Fleischer in the Hallische Allgem. Lit. Zeitschr. 1843, Bd. iv. S. 117ff.). It is not until the mediaeval synagogal poetry (vid., Zunz, Synagogal-poesie des Mittelalters, S. 121, 381f.) that it is admissible to use it as a conjunction (e.g., , when he had found), just as it also occurs in Himjaritic, according to Osiander’s deciphering of the inscriptions. The verbal clause appended to the word to which this , instar , is prefixed is for the most part an attributive clause as above, but sometimes even a circumstantial clause (Arab. hal ), as in Psa 38:14; cf. Sur. lxii. 5: “as the likeness of an ass carrying books.”)
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
9 O Lord! thou knowest all my desire. He adds this, not so much in respect of God, as to strengthen himself in the hope of obtaining some alleviation of his trouble, and thus to animate himself to persevering prayer. It may be explained in a twofold sense, either as denoting his confident assurance that his prayers and groanings were heard by the Lord, or a simple declaration that he had poured out before God all his cares and troubles; but the meaning is substantially the same: for as long as men entertain any doubt whether their groanings have come up before God, they are kept in constant disquietude and dread, which so fetters and holds captive their minds, that they cannot elevate their souls to God. On the contrary, a firm persuasion that our groanings do not vanish away in their ascent to God, but that he graciously hears them, and familiarly listens to them, produces promptitude and alacrity in engaging in prayer. It might, therefore, prove no small ground of encouragement to David, that he approached God, not with a doubting and trembling heart, but strengthened and encouraged by the assurance of which we have spoken, and of which he himself speaks in another place, that his tears were laid up in God’s bottle, (Psa 56:8.) In order that we may obtain access to God, we must believe that he is “a rewarder of them that diligently seek him,” as the apostle states in his Epistle to the Hebrews, (Heb 11:6.) But I rather approve of the other interpretation, That David here declares that he had disburdened all his sorrows into the bosom of God. The reason why the greater part of men derive no profit from complaining grievously in their sorrow is, that they direct not their prayers and sighs to God. David, then, in order to encourage himself in the assured conviction that God will be his deliverer, says, that he had always been a witness of his sorrows, and was well acquainted with them, because he had neither indulged in a fretful spirit, nor poured out into the air his complaints and howlings as the unbelieving are wont to do, but had spread out before God himself all the desires of his heart.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) All my desire.Notice the clutch at the thought of divine justice, as the clutch of a drowning man amid that sea of trouble.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. In a subdued tone the psalmist now proceeds to speak (9-15) of his trust in God, and of the effect which his affliction had wrought on friends and enemies.
All my desire is before thee He had laid his cause before God for moral and judicial judgment, and rested it there.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2). He Looks to His Sovereign Lord Amidst Even the Desertion of His Friends and Loved Ones ( Psa 38:9-14 ).
Up to this point the Psalmist’s emphasis has been on his own personal state. It is his state of heart that is the concern of his covenant God. But now he turns his thoughts outwards towards the outer world and its attitude towards him, and it is therefore to his ‘Sovereign Lord’ (adonai) that he now looks, the One Who rules over the affairs of men (although still as the One Who loves him and is concerned about him).
He knows that his Lord knows what is happening to him, and he reminds Him of the number of people who are against him, even those whom he knows should be there to support him, all adding to his sense of sin. And they have deserted him and he is left friendless apart from his Lord. However he refuses to condemn them. Indeed he will not even rebuke them, for he knows that YHWH his Sovereign Lord is with him, and He will be his help.
Psa 38:9-10
‘Lord, all my desire is before you,
And my groaning is not hid from you.
My heart throbs,
My strength fails me,
As for the light of my eyes,
It also is gone from me.
Almost at the end of his tether he yet knows that his Lord is aware of his situation. It is this that sustains him. He can say to Him, ‘You know the way that I take’ (Job 23:10), and be aware that it is true. For he is confident that his Sovereign Lord knows all his desires, and is aware of all his groanings. He recognises that God is aware how fast his heart is beating, and that God knows that his strength is failing him. Indeed God must surely recognise that the light has gone from his eyes and that he is, as it were, struggling in the darkness.
Psa 38:11-12
‘My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague,
And my kinsmen stand afar off.
Those also who seek after my life lay snares for me,
And those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things,
And meditate deceits all the day long.’
He knows that God is aware that his friends and relations have deserted him. That those who had professed to love him, including even his own kinsmen, are standing at a distance, not wanting to be associated with him because they see him as a political hazard, or even as being plague-ridden (whether really or symbolically). No one is ready to step in, in order to protect him. No one wants to be involved in a ticklish situation. It is an experience that many a man of God engaged in controversy has had to face when others have been fearful of standing with him.
And meanwhile his enemies are laying snares in order to entrap him. And they have as their aim the taking of his life. He knows that they are slandering him, and speaking mischievous things about him. That lies and false rumours abound on their lips. And he is aware that all day long they plan their deceitful tactics in order to discredit him. It is clear that they are out to get him, no matter what evil methods they have to use.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 38:9 Lord, all my desire [is] before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.
Ver. 9. Lord, all my desire is before thee ] Confused desires, broken requests, if from a broken spirit, are upon the file of heaven, and stand before God till they may have an answer.
And my groaning is not hid from thee
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 38:9-12
9Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my sighing is not hidden from You.
10My heart throbs, my strength fails me;
And the light of my eyes, even that has gone from me.
11My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague;
And my kinsmen stand afar off.
12Those who seek my life lay snares for me;
And those who seek to injure me have threatened destruction,
And they devise treachery all day long.
Psa 38:9-12 This strophe also describes the author’s terrible condition.
1. his condition
a. his desire (i.e. prayer) is before YHWH (i.e., for forgiveness and restoration of fellowship)
b. his sighing is known to YHWH, cf. Psa 31:10
2. his physical condition
a. heart throbs BDB 695, KB 749, Niphal perfect
b. strength fails BDB 736, KB 806, Qal perfect
c. eyes fail no verbs; this is not referring to blindness but is an idiom for the lack of health, joy, peace, cf. Psa 13:3; 1Sa 14:29; Ezr 9:8
3. interpersonal issues
a. loved ones stand aloof
b. friends stand aloof
c. kinsmen stand far off
d. enemies seek his death
(1) lay snares
(2) threaten destruction
(3) devise treachery all day long; the verb BDB 211, KB 237, is lit. groan. The psalmist groans (BDB 980, Psa 38:8) but the wicked devise (cf. Pro 24:2).
Psa 38:11
NASB, NKJVplague
NRSV, JPSOAaffliction
TEVsores
NJBdisease
REBsickness
The word (BDB 619) means stroke/wound, plague, or mark.
1. plague cf. Gen 12:17; Exo 11:1; 1Ki 8:37-38; 2Ch 6:28-29; Psa 39:10; Psa 91:10
2. leprosy (OT sense) Leviticus 13-14; Deu 24:8
3. wound Deu 17:8; Deu 21:5; Isa 53:8
4. discipline (for children) 2Sa 7:14; Psa 89:32; Pro 6:23
Most words have multiple usages or else human vocabulary would be impossible to know and use. When an interpreter comes to a context, they seek the meaning intended by the original author and understandable to the hearers/readers of that day. This context is a divinely given physical manifestation of His displeasure over human sin. The punishment is meant to restore the person to faith. In this verse the parallelism suggests that the physical punishment frightened those who saw it, even close friends and relatives.
Therefore, in coming to a choice, several items are in play.
1. What physical manifestation?
2. Why the manifestation?
3. Why the response from others close by?
4. Is it figurative or literal?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
LORD *. Primitive text was Jehovah. One of the 134 emendations of the Sopherim. App-32.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Lord: Instead of adonay, “Lord,” several manuscripts read yehowah, “Jehovah.”
groaning: Psa 102:5, Psa 102:20, Joh 1:48, Rom 8:22, Rom 8:23, Rom 8:26, Rom 8:27, 2Co 5:2
Reciprocal: Psa 6:6 – I am Psa 69:5 – hid Psa 69:19 – mine Mat 6:8 – your Luk 8:47 – when 2Co 7:11 – vehement
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
His sufferings had also affected others. The Lord knew his condition (Psa 38:9-10), his friends were avoiding him (Psa 38:11), and his enemies were taking advantage of his weakness. They were trying to disparage and destroy him.