Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 40:2
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, [and] established my goings.
2. And brought me up out of a pit of destruction, out of the miry slough:
And set my feet upon a rock, made firm my steps.
A literal reference to Jeremiah’s imprisonment in the dungeon can hardly be intended. The second line, set rock, makes it plain that the whole verse is to be understood figuratively. He compares his plight to that of a prisoner in a dungeon (Lam 3:53; Lam 3:55), or even a dead man in the grave (Psa 28:1; Psa 88:4; Psa 88:6); to that of a traveller floundering in a morass, or quicksand. Quagmires, ‘treacherous to the last degree,’ are common in Palestine. Thomson’s Land and the Book, p. 360. Now he has been given firm footing (Psa 27:5), and the possibility of secure advance (Psa 17:5; Psa 37:31).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit – Margin: A pit of noise. The word used here means a pit; a cistern; a prison; a dungeon; a grave. This last signification of the word is found in Psa 28:1; Psa 30:4; Psa 88:4; Isa 38:18; Isa 14:19. It may refer to any calamity – or to trouble, like being in a pit – or it may refer to the grave. The word rendered horrible – sha’on – means properly noise, uproar, tumult, as of waters; of a crowd of men; of war. Then it seems to be used in the sense of desolation or destruction, as applicable to the grave. DeWette understands it here of a pit, a cavern, or an abyss that roars or is tumultuous; that is, that is impassable. Perhaps this is the idea – a cavern, deep and dark, where the waters roar, and which seems to be filled with horrors. So Rosenmuller understands it. The Septuagint renders it: ek lakkou talaiporias, a lake of misery. It is a deep and horrid cavern, where there is no hope of being rescued, or where it would seem that there would be certain destruction.
Out of the miry clay – At the bottom of the pit. Where there was no solid ground – no rock on which to stand. See Jer 38:6; Psa 69:2, Psa 69:14.
And set my feet upon a rock – Where there was firm standing.
And established my goings – Or, fixed my steps. That is, he enabled me to walk as on solid ground; he conducted me along safely, where there was no danger of descending to the pit again or of sinking in the mire. If we understand this of the Redeemer, it refers to that time when, his sorrows ended, and his work of atonement done, it became certain that he would never be exposed again to such dangers, or sink into such a depth of woes, but that his course ever onward would be one of safety and of glory.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 40:2
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay.
Out of the pit
I. His condition.
1. He was sunk in deep and dark depression. He was what we describe as down, brought very low, plunged into great despondency and despair. We very well know what brings men into the pit. Grief can do it, and failure, and a multiplicity of tasks. But, above all, sin takes the lift and buoyancy out of life, and makes it the victim of an appalling gravitation which sucks it into abysmal depths of helplessness and darkness and despair. This is the horrible pit in which we have all been sunk.
2. A second element in the condition of the psalmist is interpreted by the descriptive word horrible, the horrible pit, or, as the margin gives it, the pit of noise. And is not this the modern experience? When a man is in the pit he is addressed by confused and confusing voices. One man calls to us and tells us that our depression is purely imaginary, we are the victims of our own thoughts and dreams. Another declares that we are a little out of sorts, and that the doctor will put us right in a week. A third avers that more need we the Divine than the physician. It is a pit of noise and confusion.
3. A third element in the suppliants depression is described in the phrase, the miry clay. Surely we know the experience in our own life! The ground slips from under our feet. We have no foothold. There is nothing solid, nothing dependable.
II. His resources. I waited patiently. His being was collected, and all fixed in intense expectancy on God.
1. He inclined unto me. The figure is exquisitely helpful. He stretched right out and down to me. His arm was long enough to reach me, even when I was in the deepest pit.
2. And beard my cry. Just as the mother, when the house is filled with company, hears the cry of her babe in the chamber above. Or just as a shepherd hears the faint lone cry of the lost lamb in some ravine on the open moor.
III. His deliverance. He brought me out. That is to say, He lifts me out of my captivity. We cannot struggle out. Struggling will only aggravate our bondage. When we are in the Slough of Despond One comes to us called Help. He set my feet upon a rock. Hitherto I have been in the miry clay, the victim of uncertainties, despondencies and doubts. But now He has enlarged my steps under me, and I find myself upon the highway of the Lord. And He hath established my goings. Thus He not only lifts and confirms me, but He vitalizes my soul. We all know the ease that comes to the feet when we have been trudging through heavy mire and we find ourselves upon a well-made turnpike road. As soon as we come to the good road we say to one another, Now we shall be able to step out. That is the suggestion in the psalmists phrase, and hath established my goings. We are able to step out, nay, to go as those who are marching to Zion! (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)
The supreme change
I. What the grace of God delivers from.
1. A position of degradation–A pit.
2. A position of misery–A horrible pit.
3. A position of danger–The miry clay.
(1) Insecurity.
(2) Helplessness.
(3) Death (Jer 38:9).
II. What the grace of God brings men to.
1. A condition of spiritual elevation–up.
2. A condition of spiritual stability–And set my feet upon a rock.
3. A condition of spiritual advancement–And established my goings.
4. A condition of religious happiness–And He hath put a new song, etc.
III. In effecting this change the divine being and the sinner have their distinct provinces to occupy.
1. The sinner prays–evidencing–
(1) Deep sense of need.
(2) Deep consciousness of helplessness.
(3) Trust in the mercy and power of God.
2. The sinner waits–
(1) In earnest expectation.
(2) In the assurance of help being granted.
3. The Lord inclines His ear and hears the cry.
4. The Lord puts forth His saving power–He brought me up.
IV. Lessons.
1. To believers.
(1) Spiritual elevation no cause for boasting.
(2) Spiritual stability no cause for self-confidence.
(3) Spiritual advancement to be carefully maintained.
(4) Religious happiness to be continued and increased.
2. To unbelievers.
(1) Yours a position of degradation, misery and danger.
(2) This position gradually becoming worse.
(3) Escape is possible by penitential application to God (Hos 13:9). What a future sinners must have if they remain in the pit! What a future sinners may have if they turn to Christi (Julius Brigg.)
Brought up from the horrible pit
This passage has been very frequently, and rightly, used as telling the experience of Gods people. Yet I am not certain that the first verse could be rightly uttered by all of us. Could we say, I waited patiently for the Lord? Might it not be more truthfully said of us, I waited impatiently for the Lord? Alas, patience is still a scarce virtue upon the earth. Therefore, though we may regard the psalm as in a secondary sense belonging to David, in the first instance a greater than David is here. For the first person who uttered these words was the Messiah. Our text, therefore, belongs primarily to Him. Note, then–
I. Our Lords behaviour as here set forth.
1. He waited upon the Lord. He did so all His life, but this waiting became more conspicuous in His passion and death.
2. And patiently. His atonement had not been complete had it been otherwise. No expiation could have been made by an impatient Saviour.
3. And prayerfully. Let Gethsemane tell. Jabbok is outdone by Kidron. See, then, our pattern. Have we waited, and waited thus?
II. Our Lords deliverance.
1. It is represented as a bringing up out of a horrible pit. I have been in the dungeon at Rome in which, according to tradition, Peter and Paul were confined. It was, indeed, a horrible pit, for originally it had no entrance but a round hole in the rock above; and when that was blocked neither light nor fresh air could enter. No being has ever been so cruel to man as man. Man is the worst of monsters to his kind, and his cruel inventions are many. Now, our Lord was like a man put into a pit. Hence he was quite alone. Thus it happened to our Saviour. All His disciples forsook Him and fled. And in total darkness. Midnight brooded over His spirit. And full of distress. The grief and sorrow which He felt can never be described. He felt care upon care, night blackening night. But He was brought up out of all this; at that moment when He said, It is finished; and at the resurrection and by His ascension to the right hand of God. Now His sorrow is ended.
2. A second figure is used to tell of His grief. Out of the miry clay. In such horrible pits the imprisoned wretch often found himself sinking in the mire. And our blessed Lord found when He was suffering for us that everything appeared to give way beneath Him. But He was brought up like Jonah was from the deeps. And He was set on a rock. He stands on a firm foundation in all that He does for us. Judgment and truth confirm His ways. When He saves He has a right to save. And His goings are established for continuance, certainty, victory. Best of all, there is a new song in His mouth, In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee. The song of heaven is the song of Moses and the Lamb.
III. The Lords reward. Many–not all, but many–shall see it and fear, etc. They shall, for He hath the key of all hearts. They shall see; see Him as their Saviour, and shall fear. It makes men fear to see a bleeding Christ. And best of all, they shall trust in the Lord.
IV. The Lords likeness in his people. All this may be repeated in them. Like sorrow, but let there be like waiting, and there shall be like deliverance. Sinner sinking in guilt, He can deliver you. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
History of the souls salvation
I. The believers safety.
1. The author of it. The Lord (Psa 25:5).
2. The nature of it. On a rock (Psa 27:5).
3. The individual realization of it. My feet (Psa 31:8; 2Ti 1:12).
II. The believers walk.
1. A firm footing. Feet on a rock. Wherein we stand (Rom 5:2).
2. Steady progress (Psa 37:23; Psa 16:11). Established my goings.
3. Safe keeping (1Sa 2:9; Jud 1:24).
III. The believers sons.
1. The song of reconciliation (Isa 12:1).
2. The song of deliverance (Exo 15:1-19).
3. The song of victory (2Ch 20:17-26).
IV. The believers influence.
1. Many shall see it (Mat 5:16).
2. Many shall fear (Act 2:37; Act 2:43).
3. Many shall trust in the Lord (Act 2:41). (E. H. Hopkins)
The pit of destruction
It is possible that the reference may be to a mode of hunting, anciently practised in the East, and still practised in some parts of the East, in the interior of Africa, and in some of the Polynesian Islands. When a dangerous wild animal was to be captured, a largo hole was dug in the ground. At the bottom of the pit thus dug a goat was placed as bait, and the opening of the pit was covered with light branches and foliage. The wild animal, attracted by the bleating of the goat, made a spring in the dark for the goat, fell through the branches, and was securely trapped. From this point of view David had fallen, or been tempted into, a pit of sin; and had been plucked by the mercy of God from the clinging mire of its bottom and the slippery clay of its sides, and placed upon the sure foothold of a rock.
And set my feet upon a rock and established my goings.—
Fixity and progress
What a strange contradiction–rest and movement, fixedness and pliability, stedfastness and variation. How can a man be made to run by his fixedness? How can his power of motion be increased by that which is supposed to rivet him to the spot? In all things of the spirit, is it not ever so? Is not the rapidity of my movement always in proportion to the rootedness of my conviction? The firmer is my rock, the more established are my goings. It is the resting soul which flies. I have no wings until I have a fixed heart. The dove that descends upon the Jordan must first light upon the Son of Man. Is it not written (Isa 40:31)? What is that but to say that the rock makes the outgoing? I never do such work as when I am at rest. It is the calm within makes the power without. The soul whose works have followed it is the spirit of the man who has rested from his labours. (G. Matheson, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. A horrible pit] Literally, the sounding pit; where nothing was heard except the howlings of wild beasts, or the hollow sounds of winds reverberated and broken from the craggy sides and roof.
The miry clay] Where the longer I stayed the deeper I sank, and was utterly unable to save myself. The Syriac and Arabic translate “The pit of perdition, and the mud of corruption.” These are figurative expressions to point out the dreary, dismal, ruinous state of sin and guilt, and the utter inability of a condemned sinner to save himself either from the guilt of his conscience, or the corruption of his heart.
Set my feet upon a rock] Thou hast changed my state from guilt to pardon; from corruption to holiness; in consequence of which my goings are established. I have now power over all sin, and can walk steadily in the way that leads to God’s kingdom.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Out of an horrible pit; or, out of a sounding pit so called either from the clamours of men or beasts falling into it; or from the many waters which fall down into it, not without a great noise. I was not only upon the brink, but in the very bottom of the pit, i.e. in desperate dangers and calamities, as this phrase signifies, Psa 18:16; 69:1,2.
Out of the miry clay; in which my feet stuck fast.
Upon a rock; a place of strength and safety.
My goings, or, my steps, i.e. kept me from stumbling or falling into mischief.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit,…. Which, with the following phrase,
out of the miry clay, expresses the state and condition Christ was in at the time of his bloody sweat, his crucifixion, and his lying in “sheol”, the pit or grave, sometimes rendered hell, which these figurative phrases fitly signify; when it is observed, that he was made sin, and had the sins of all his people on him; and, as the type of Joshua, was clothed with their filthy garments; he might be truly said to be in the miry clay; and also that he was made a curse for them, and bore the wrath of God in their room and stead; and was forsaken by his God and Father, and so endured both the punishment of loss and sense, and what was tantamount to the sufferings of the damned in hell; see
Ps 69:1; to which may be added the noisy insults of malignant men, and the infernal fiends, who surrounded him on the cross; when he was in an horrible, or “noisy pit”, as the words may be rendered k, the allusion being to subterraneous caverns or pits, in which the falls of water make so horrible a noise as is intolerable; or to deep pits, into which anything cast makes a great sound: and the issue of all this was, that he was laid in the pit of the grave, and held under the power and with the cords of death; from all which he was delivered when he was raised from the dead, justified in the Spirit, and glorified in the human nature by his God and Father;
and set my feet upon a rock; on Mount Zion in heaven, whither he was carried up after his resurrection; where he will remain until his second coming, being set down at the right hand of God, in a most stable, firm, and unalterable state, as well as an honourable one; for he will die no more, and death shall no more have dominion over him;
[and] established my goings; in treading the path of life, which was shown him at his resurrection; in passing through the air, the territory of Satan, at his ascension; and in his entrance into his glory, and making his way to his Father’s right hand and throne.
k “e cisterna sonitus”, Pagninus, Montanus; “strepitus”, Vatablus, the Targum Kimchi and to the same purpose Musculus, Cocceius, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “out of the pit of sounding calamity”, Ainsworth.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. And he drew me out of the roaring pit. Some translate, from the pit of desolation, (80) because the verb שאה, shaah, from which the noun שאום, shaon, is derived, signifies to destroy or to waste, as well as to resound or echo. But it is more appropriate to consider that there is here an allusion to the deep gulfs, where the waters gush with a tumultuous force. (81) By this similitude he shows that he was placed in as imminent peril of death as if he had been cast into a deep pit, roaring with the impetuous rage of waters. To the same purpose also is the similitude of the miry clay, by which he intimates that he had been so nearly overwhelmed by the weight of his calamities, that it was no easy matter to extricate him from them. Next, there follows a sudden and incredible change, by which he makes manifest to all the greatness of the grace which had been bestowed upon him. He declares that his feet were set upon a rock, whereas formerly he had been overwhelmed with water; and that his steps were established or upheld, whereas before they were not only unsteady and slippery, but were also stuck fast in the mire.
(80) The Septuagint reads, “ Εχ λάχχου ταλαιπωρίας.” — “Out of a pit of misery;” and Ainsworth, “the pit of sounding calamity,” or “dungeon of tumultuous desolation, which,” says he, “echoed and resounded with dreadful noises.” “The sufferings of the Psalmist,” observes Bishop Mant, “are here described under the image of a dark subterraneous cavern from which there was no emerging; and where roaring cataracts of water broke in upon him, overwhelming him on every side, till, as it is expressed in the 18 psalm, ‘God sent from above and took him, and drew him out of many waters.’”
(81) “Un marveilleux bruit.” — Fr. “A marvellous noise.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) Horrible pit.The rendering of the margin, pit of noise, takes shan in its primary sense, as in Isa. 17:12, Psa. 65:7, and the idea of a noise of rushing water suits this passage. Most commentators, however, take it here in the sense the cognate bears in Psa. 35:8, destruction. The LXX. and Vulg. have misery.
Miry clay.The word translated clay (comp. Psa. 69:2) is from a root meaning to boil up, or ferment. (One of its derivatives means wine.) Hence froth, or slime. LXX., ilus; Vulg., fx. A verse of R. Brownings perhaps expresses the poets image:
It frothed by,
A black eddy, bespate with flakes and fumes.
Rock.The common image of security (Psa. 18:2; Psa. 27:5), the occurrence of which makes it probable that the pit and clay are also not realities, but emblems of confusion and danger.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Horrible pit The first word may be translated noise, in which sense we get the idea of a deep “pit” which resounds at the least noise; or it may be rendered desolation, a “pit” of desolation. The latter is the probable idea.
Miry clay Or, clay of the mire, Psa 69:2 gives the idea of thick mud. The “pit” itself is a description of a prison, into which the felon might have been lowered by cords, as in Jer 38:6; Isa 24:22 a condition which the prisoner could not long survive.
Feet upon a rock The most perfect contrast to the “miry clay.”
Established my goings Gave me a firm and sure footing, as opposed to the “miry” bottom of the “pit.” The figure denotes safety and prosperity. Psa 37:31; Psa 73:2; Pro 14:15
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 40:2. Out of an horrible pit As David often compares himself in distress to a sinking and drowning man; so here he compares the affliction from which he had been relieved, to that of a man thrown into some loathsome and nauseous dungeon, with much filth in it; such a one, we will suppose, as Jeremiah was cast into, chap. Psa 38:6. Mudge, observing that this is a metaphorical way of speaking familiar to the sacred writers, adds, “Though, perhaps, it may here be literal, and Jeremiah the author of the psalm after he had been delivered from his dungeon.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, [and] established my goings.
Ver. 2. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit ] E puteo sonitus, ut Isa 51:14 , out of a noiseful pit, where there is a continual hurry by the great tall of waters into it: he meaneth out of dreadful dangers, out of a desperate disease, saith R. Obadiah; who also by rock here understandeth perfect health, Sanitatem in corpore, sanctitatem in corde.
Out of the miry clay
And established my goings
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
brought = hath brought.
rock. Hebrew. sela’. See notes on Psa 18:1, Psa 18:2.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
brought: Psa 18:16, Psa 18:17, Psa 71:20, Psa 86:13, Psa 116:3, Psa 142:6, Psa 142:7, Psa 143:3, Isa 24:22, Jon 2:5, Jon 2:6, Zec 9:11, Act 2:24, Act 2:27-31
horrible pit: Heb. pit of noise, Mat 13:50
the miry: Psa 69:2, Psa 69:14, Psa 69:15, Jer 38:6-12, Lam 3:53-55
set: Psa 27:5, Psa 61:2, Mat 7:24, Mat 7:25
established: Psa 17:5, Psa 18:36, Psa 37:23, Psa 119:133
Reciprocal: Gen 37:24 – the pit 1Sa 30:6 – David Job 14:14 – all the days Job 33:24 – Deliver Job 33:30 – To bring Psa 6:9 – hath heard Psa 7:9 – but Psa 18:19 – brought Psa 26:12 – My Psa 30:3 – brought Psa 30:7 – made Psa 37:24 – Though Psa 37:31 – steps Psa 66:12 – but thou Psa 88:6 – lowest Psa 130:1 – Out of Pro 4:26 – let all thy ways be established Pro 13:12 – when Isa 38:17 – in love to my soul delivered it from the pit Lam 3:55 – General Act 9:11 – for
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
40:2 He brought me up also out of an {b} horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, [and] established my goings.
(b) He has delivered me from great dangers.