Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 69:20
Reproach hath broken my heart; 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.
20. hath broken my heart ] Cp. Jer 23:9.
I am full of heaviness ] Or, as R.V. marg., sore sick. A cognate word is frequently used in Jer., e.g. Jer 15:18, A.V. incurable.
and I looked &c.] Or, and I waited for some to sympathise, but there was no one.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Reproach hath broken my heart – The reproaches, the calumnies, the aspersions, the slanders of others, have crushed me. I am not able to bear up under them; I fail under the burden. Distress may become so great that life may sink under it, for many die of what is called a broken heart. Undeserved reproaches will be as likely to produce this result on a sensitive heart as any form of suffering; and there are thousands who are crushed to the earth by such reproaches.
And I am full of heaviness – Or, I am sick; I am weak; I am ill at ease. My strength is gone.
And I looked for some to take pity – Margin, to lament with me. The meaning of the Hebrew word is to pity; to commiserate; to show compassion. Job 2:11; Job 42:11; Isa 51:19; Jer 16:5.
But there was none – There was no one whose heart seemed to be touched with compassion in the case; none who sympathized with me.
And for comforters – For those who would show sympathy for me; who would evince a friendly feeling in my distress.
But I found none – He felt that he was utterly forsaken by mankind. There is no feeling of desolation like that.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 69:20
Reproach hath broken my heart, 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.
My broken-hearted Lord
Did it ever occur to you that there is a vivid contrast between Jesus in His death and that of the noble army of martyrs who died for Him? Jesus shrank from death, was perturbed, agitated and dismayed, as the martyrs were not. Their fortitude was such that they extorted from the lips of dark pagans the exclamation, See how these Christians die. And their bodily agonies were quite as excruciating as were those of our Lord. Rome sharpened all her devices for cruelty in the tortures she inflicted on the Christian confessors. Now, wherefore this difference between the attitude of Jesus and the martyrs, He so distressed, they so dauntless? Compare Pauls exultant word when in near prospect of the bloody axe which was soon to smite his life down to the ground, I am ready, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown; compare that with the agonized cry of Jesus in Gethsemane, Oh, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me. The grass was bedewed with His tears; and flecked with His bloody sweat. The history of man had not witnessed such a dismay. But all this shows that there was some deep mental struggle, some mysterious foreboding, unusual with suffering man. Evidently His sufferings held their seat in, the mysterious pavilion of His nature. His death was to be the equivalent for the sins of guilty millions, so that the real tragedy of Calvary was impervious to human scrutiny, and was chiefly enacted in the internal agitations of the incarnated God. Hence this startling passage, Reproach hath broken my heart. It opens a field of wonders in explanation of the physical cause of our Redeemers death. He died on the cross but not by the cross. He died of a broken heart. In proof see–
I. Our Lords own testimony respecting His death. He said that it was purely voluntary. How could that have been if He had died as the result of His crucifixion?
II. There was not time for death by crucifixion. No vital organ of the body was touched by the tortures of the cross. Hence death came with terrible slowness. But our Lord suffered on the cross for fewer hours than others have for days.
III. The soldiers spear proves that Jesus did not die the ordinary death of the crucified. The highest medical authorities tell us that no other mode of death but rupture of the heart can account for the separation into its primitive parts of the blood which flowed from our Lords pierced side, while that blood yet continues in the body. Nor could He have died from mental fainting and exhaustion. Our Lord was, evidently, physically strong, and He was in perfect health.
IV. What was it broke His heart? The text says it was reproach. No praise is more poignant than that of reproach. To a mind such as that of Jesus it becomes the sorrow of sorrows. But when God inflicts it, in vindication of justice and law, as He did upon Jesus, then what sorrow could be like that? Hence the bitter cry, My God, My God, etc. Oh, how should we hate the sin which thus broke the heart of our Lord. (Thomas Armitage, D. D.)
Self-reproach
1. If we are not on our guard, seasons of leisure may easily degenerate into seasons of unwholesome brooding and unprofitable unhappiness. The wakeful hours of the night are specially liable to this peril; the soul then almost involuntarily becomes the prey of introspection and self-scorn. Every foolish thing that we ever did, every foolish word that we ever spoke, comes to light again to mock and threaten us. It is all deeply distressing. It is the hour and the power of darkness; the sins and follies of years flash upon us in a judgment night.
2. Much may be done to check the morbid element of our reflective and introspective hours. It is a wise thing to keep the soul interested in large thoughts and causes, to preserve a general intellectual and spiritual sanity by entering heartily into the facts and interests of practical life. But when these dark moods threaten to prevail, is not the grand specific a profound faith in the reality of the Divine grace and forgiveness? I believe in the forgiveness of sins. Surely the doleful hours of self-reproach are signs of our defective trust in the Divine promise and faithfulness! If our sins are cast into the depths of the sea, to be remembered against us no more for ever, why are we dredging in the depths, bringing up mire, and dirt, and obscure, slimy things far better left in the land of darkness and forgetfulness? (W. L. Watkinson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Hath broken my heart: for reproach is most grievous to the most generous and noble souls; and besides, this was the highest degree and the worst kind of reproach, being cast upon him for Gods sake, and upon God also for his sake.
None, i.e. few or none, as that word is frequently used, both in sacred and profane writers. For whether you understand it of David, or of Christ, there were some who pitied both of them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Reproach hath broken my heart,…. This was his case when his soul was exceeding sorrowful unto death, and his heart like wax melted in the midst of his bows is, Mt 26:38;
and I am full of heaviness; as he was in the garden, Mr 14:33; or, “very sick, [yea], incurably sick”, as the word g signifies; see
2Sa 12:15. For what cure is there for a broken heart?
and I looked [for some] to take pity, but [there was] none; and for comforters, but I found none: his disciples forsook him and fled; the priests, scribes, and common people, that attended him at the cross, mocking him; the thieves that were crucified with him reviled him; and his Father hid his face from him; only a few women stood afar off and lamented.
g “adeo ut afficiar aegritudine”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “dolui vel aegritudine affectus sum”, Gejerus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
20. Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am afflicted. He expresses more distinctly not only that he was confounded, or ashamed at the sad aspect which he presented of having been deserted, but that he was well nigh overwhelmed with sorrow by lying so long under reproach and shame. Whence it is evident that he did not overcome this sorrow without a struggle; and that the reason why he so firmly withstood the waves of temptations was, not because they did not reach his heart, but because, being sorely smitten, he made resistance with a corresponding degree of intrepidity. He states, as an additional aggravation of his distress, that every office of humanity was withheld from him: that there was nobody who had compassion upon him, or to whom he could disburden his griefs. Some take the word נוד , nud, for to tell or recount; and undoubtedly when we pour out our complaints to our friends, it affords some alleviation to our distress. Thus he employs as an argument for obtaining mercy from God, the consideration that he was deprived of all aid and comfort from his fellow-men.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(20) I am full of heaviness.Rather, I am sick. The word here used (with its cognates), as well as that rendered pity in the next clause, are favourite words with Jeremiah, as also are the figures of the next verse. (See Jer. 8:14; Jer. 9:15; Jer. 23:15.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. To take pity To bemoan me, or lament with me. The passage is elliptical, but the idea is clearly that he expected sympathy some one to sorrow with him and found none. For this sense of the word see Job 2:11; Job 42:11; also Jer 48:17, where it is rendered mourn and bemoan. David was cut off from the sympathy of kindness; but more emphatically so was Messiah in his sufferings, who is here typified. See Joh 16:32; Isa 53:3; Isa 63:5
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 69:20. Reproach hath broken my heart Dr. Delaney observes, that there were two circumstances of distress which attended upon David’s fall, not sufficiently considered, though they are beyond all question the greatest and the severest which human nature can suffer: the first is, the distress that he endured on account of the obloquy and reproach brought upon the true religion, and the truly religious, by his guilt: and the second, the reproach and endless insults brought upon himself, even by his repentance and humiliation before God and the world. Both these, says he, are fully set forth in the present psalm, from Psa 69:3-20. Let any ingenuous man, who feels for virtue, and is not feared to shame, put the question to himself: I appeal to his own heart, whether he would not infinitely rather die than endure the state there described: In one day forsaken by his friends, scorned by his enemies, insulted by his inferiors; the scoff of libertines, and the song of sots! What then must we think of the fortitude and magnanimity of that man who could endure all this for a series of years? Or rather, how shall we adore that unfailing mercy and all-sufficient goodness, which could support him thus, under the quickest sense of shame and infamy, and the deepest compunctions of conscience; which could enable him to bear up steadily against guilt, infamy, and the evil world united, from a principle of true religion! and in the end even rejoice in his sad estate; as he plainly perceived it must tend finally to promote the true interest of virtue, and the glory of God; that is, must finally tend to promote that interest, which was the great governing principle and main purpose of his life! Life of David, book 4: chap. 3.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 69:20 Reproach hath broken my heart; 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.
Ver. 20. Reproach hath broken mine heart, &c. ] He knew his own innocence, and yet it much grieved him to be so defamed; for he knew that a good man should be as much as might be not only without fault, but without suspicion of a fault, as Augustus Caesar was wont to say of his house. Howsoever, it is happy that a true Christian hath always his cordial by him, 2Co 1:12 . Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience.
And I looked for some to take pity
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Psa 69:20-21
20Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick.
And I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
And for comforters, but I found none.
21They also gave me gall for my food
And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Psa 69:20-21 The Hebrew word for gall (Psa 69:21) is poison (BDB 912 II), but can refer to bad wine (cf. Deu 32:32). It is the LXX that changed it to gall or bile (green chol). In context this poison and vinegar refer to the insults of the psalmist’s antagonists (i.e., covenant partners, close friends, and family, cf. Psa 69:8).
This strophe is quoted in Mat 27:34 as being fulfilled in Jesus’ crucifixion. Psa 69:21 b is alluded to in Mar 15:23; Luk 23:36; Joh 19:28-30. This Psalm and Psalms 22 are the two OT allusions and quotes that the NT uses of Jesus’ crucifixion experience.
These Psalms are not predictive but typological. See notes at Psalms 22. Psa 69:22-28 does not fit Jesus’ attitudes or words from the cross.
Psa 69:20 I am so sick This verb (BDB 633, KB 683) is found only here in the OT. The BDB suggests sick but KB suggests incurable; NJB has passed cure. Possibly it means in despair (cf. NRSV, TEV, JPSOA). If sick, then Psa 69:29 is a parallel.
Psa 69:21 vinegar This term (BDB 330) refers to a cheap wine (cf. Num 6:3). See Special Topic: Alcohol and Alcoholism .
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
some. Aramaean, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulg, read “one”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Reproach: Psa 42:10, Psa 123:4, Heb 11:36
I am: Psa 42:6, Mat 26:37, Mat 26:38, Joh 12:27
I looked: Isa 63:5, Mar 14:37, Mar 14:50
take pity: Heb. to lament with me
but there: Psa 142:4, Joh 16:32, 2Ti 4:16, 2Ti 4:17
comforters: Job 16:2, Job 19:21, Job 19:22, Mat 26:56
Reciprocal: Job 19:13 – put my brethren Psa 22:6 – a reproach Psa 31:11 – I was Psa 55:4 – My Psa 89:50 – General Psa 102:4 – heart Psa 102:8 – Mine Psa 109:16 – slay Psa 109:25 – a reproach Pro 18:3 – General Ecc 4:1 – they had Isa 51:19 – who shall Isa 53:3 – despised Jer 15:5 – For who Lam 3:30 – filled Mat 26:31 – and the Mat 27:29 – platted Mat 27:39 – reviled Mar 15:19 – they smote Mar 15:29 – they Luk 10:31 – he passed Luk 23:11 – set Rom 15:3 – The Phi 2:26 – full Heb 11:26 – the reproach Heb 12:2 – despising 1Pe 1:6 – ye are
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
69:20 Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and {q} I looked [for some] to take pity, but [there was] none; and for comforters, but I found none.
(q) He shows men that it is vain to put our trust in men in our great necessity, but that our comfort only depends on God: for man increases our sorrows, then diminishes them, Joh 19:29.