Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 69:33
For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.
33. the poor ] R.V. the needy, as Psa 9:18, Jer 20:13, and frequently.
his prisoners ] Though He has cast them into the prison of captivity for their sins, He will not reject their prayers. Cp. Psa 22:24; Psa 102:17; Psa 102:20; Psa 107:10 ff. After the capture of the city in b.c. 597, all the best part of the nation was carried into captivity.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For the Lord heareth the poor – The needy; the humble; the unprotected. The reference is to those who are in circumstances of want and distress. The truth stated here is in accordance with all that is said in the Scriptures. Compare the notes at Psa 34:6. See also Job 5:15; Psa 10:14; Psa 12:5; Psa 35:10; Psa 68:10.
And despiseth not his prisoners – He does not overlook them; he does not treat them as if they were worthy of no attention or regard. The word prisoners here may refer to those who are, as it were, bound by affliction under his own providential dealings; or to those who are oppressed, or are held as captives, or are thrown into prison, on his account. The particular reference here seems to be to David, and to those associated with him, who were straitened or deprived of their freedom in the cause of God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 69:33
For the Lord heareth the poor, and despiseth not His prisoners.
Poor prisoners
The Lord heareth the poor, spiritually poor. Let us notice first what this does not mean, in order to get clearly at what it does mean. I make no hesitation in saying that this consciousness of spiritual poverty is one of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and none can understand it but those who, are experimentally led into the secret. First, it does not mean literal, mental nor moral poverty, but it consists in our sense of our natural, internal, spiritual worthlessness of character. You may be as moral as an angel, and still be destitute of spiritual life in the soul. Therefore the soul not united to Christ is not united to that that can give it access to God; it is not united to that that can bring upon it the approbation of God; it is not united to that that can save it. He died, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. Therefore, while we prize good works, yet none of these things are of any use in the salvation of the soul; salvation is altogether a secret and another thing. Now, we go on to the literal prisoner. Some good people have been cast into prison through what other people have said about them;–they have been slandered and reproached, and it has been believed, and they have been cast into prison; but the Lord despiseth not His prisoners. Joseph was slandered–he was reproached, cast into prison; but the Lord did not despise him; the Lord was with him. And so the Lord turned, in one sense, the dungeon into a paradise; and by and by, when Joseph interpreted the dreams, he was exalted, and realized all that his visions predicted. But there is another class of prisoners, and that is those that get into prison by their own fault. Why, you are never going to say a word in favour of them, are you? Well, if not in favour of them, I can say a word in favour of the Lord; and if He is pleased to say a word in favour of them, I shall not differ from Him. Well, Jonah, you are got into prison, do you think you will ever get out again? You have got there by your own fault. But the Lord watched over him and took care of him, and the sea could not kill him, and the weeds could not kill him. He cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard him, answered and delivered him, and make him accomplish his mission. So the Lord despiseth not His prisoners, even when they get into prison through their own fault. This is a God worth loving, worth worshipping, worth cleaving to. Samson got into prision by his own fault. You are not going to say a word in favour of him, are you? I would rather die Samsons death than I would die the death of the most sleek, the most polished Pharisee under the heavens, because they die, in enmity against God; but Samson died in sweet reconciliation to God, and obtained the victory God intended he should. He got into prison by his own fault: did the Lord leave him and despise him? No. When they were making sport of Samson he cried to God, for He heareth the poor; He despised not His prisoner. Let me be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. He bowed with all his might; the victory was wrought, his soul saved, God glorified; and if we are ashamed of these testimonies of Gods mercy, then I believe God will be ashamed of us. They are His prisoners because they are His people. Let us, then, not boast one over the other, but rather bear one anothers burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. (James Wells.)
Joy for prisoners
With what gratitude and joy should these intimations of hope be received by those who are naturally in so miserable a condition! It is a celebrated story that, when Titus Flaminius, at the public games, proclaimed the liberty of Greece, after it had been conquered by the Romans, the auditors were at first lost in a silent amazement, and then burst out into one continued shout for two hours together, Liberty! Liberty I Me-thinks such joy, and greater than this, should appear amongst miserable sinners when these proclamations for liberty are made. (T. Doddridge.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 33. For the Lord heareth the poor] ebyonim, of the beggars. He perhaps refers here to the case of the captives, many of whom were reduced to the most abject state, so as to be obliged to beg bread from their heathen oppressors.
His prisoners.] The captives, shut up by his judgments in Chaldea, without any civil liberty, like culprits in a prison.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Those who are in prison, or any straits and afflictions for his sake; which is my case, Psa 69:7.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
33. prisonerspeculiarlyliable to be despised.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For the Lord heareth the poor,…. The prayer of the poor, as the Targum; of the poor disciples of Christ, who were together mourning, weeping, and praying, when their Lord was dead, and laid in the sepulchre, Mr 16:10; this epithet agrees with all the followers of Christ, who for the most part are literally poor, and are all of them so in a spiritual sense; they are poor in spirit, and are sensible of it; they are full of wants, and these daily return upon them; wherefore they constantly apply to the throne of grace for help in time of need; and the Lord regards them, his eye is upon them, his heart is towards them, his thoughts are about them, his ears are open to their cries, and his hand is ready to supply their wants;
and despiseth not his prisoners; the same disciples of Christ; who being assembled together, the doors were shut for fear of the Jews,
Joh 20:19; it may be applied to such who are the Lord’s prisoners; that is, for his sake, in a literal sense, as the Apostle Paul is called the prisoner of the Lord, Eph 3:1; and there were many, both under the Old and under the New Testament, that suffered imprisonment for their profession of religion; and these the Lord despises not, though men may, but highly esteems and honours; and it may be understood mystically and spiritually of such as are, in their nature state, prisoner of sin and Satan, and the law, and, when called, are prisoners of hope; these the Lord has a regard unto, and opens the prison doors and sets them at and directs them to the strong hold,
Isa 49:9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(33) For the Lord.This and the following verses evidently bring the psalm within the circle of literature, of which Isa. 65:17 seq., is the noblest examplethe literature inspired by the hope of the restoration and of the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 69:33 For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.
Ver. 33. For the Lord heareth the poor ] He is the poor man’s king, the wronged man’s refuge; Trajan the emperor is renowned for this, that when he was mounted for a battle, he alighted again to bear the complaint of a poor woman that cried unto him for justice (Aeli. Spart.); and our Edward VI for this, that he would appoint certain hours to sit with the master of the requests, only to despatch the causes of the poor. God is much more to be magnified.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
poor = helpless. Hebrew ‘ebyon. See note on Pro 6:11.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the Lord: Psa 10:17, Psa 34:6, Psa 72:12-14, Psa 102:17, Psa 102:20, Isa 66:2, Luk 4:18
his prisoners: Psa 107:10, Psa 146:7, Zec 9:11, Zec 9:12, Act 5:18, Act 5:19, Act 12:4-11, Eph 3:1, Rev 2:10
Reciprocal: Job 10:3 – despise Psa 28:6 – General Psa 35:10 – which Psa 40:17 – I am poor Psa 79:11 – sighing Psa 116:1 – because Psa 118:21 – General Isa 49:9 – to the Jer 20:13 – for Lam 3:34 – all Zec 11:11 – so 1Jo 5:14 – he
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
69:33 For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his {z} prisoners.
(z) For as he delivered his servant David, so will he do for all that are in distress and call on him.