Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 69:5

O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.

5, 6. Chastisement is not undeserved; but he commits himself to the mercy of the Omniscient, and pleads for a hearing on the ground that the cause of all God’s servants is bound up with his cause. If he is abandoned they must be discouraged and exposed to the contempt of the world.

Thou is emphatic. Similar appeals to God’s omniscience are characteristic of Jeremiah (ch. Jer 12:3; Jer 15:15; Jer 17:16; Psa 18:23). Sin is designated as ‘foolishness’ in Psa 38:5, where, as here, the Psalmist acknowledges that his sufferings are the chastisement of his sin. This is the only other passage in which the word occurs, except in the Book of Proverbs, where it is common.

sins ] Lit. guiltinesses; cp. Psa 68:21.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

O God, thou knowest my foolishness – The errors and follies of my life. Though conscious of innocence in this case – though he felt that his enemies hated him without cause, and that they took what belonged to him and not to them, yet he was not insensible to the fact that he was a sinner, and he was not unwilling to confess before God, that, however conscious of uprightness he might be in his dealings toward people, yet toward God, he was a sinful man. From him he deserved all that had come upon him. Indeed the very calamities which had been permitted to come upon him were proof to his own mind that he was a sinner, and served, as they were doubtless designed, to turn his mind to that fact, and to humble him. The effect of calamities coming upon us, as reminding us of the fact that we are sinners, is often referred to in the Psalms. See Psa 38:2-4; Psa 40:12.

And my sins are not hid from thee – Margin, guiltiness. The word used here has always attached to it the idea of guilt. The meaning is, that God knew all his life; and that however unjust the conduct of men toward him might be when they treated him as if he had wronged them, yet considered as a part of the dealings of God, or as having been suffered to come upon him from God, all that had occurred was right, for it was a proper expression of the divine displeasure against his sins. We may feel that we have not wronged our fellow-men; yet even the treatment which we receive from them, however unjust so far as they are concerned, may be regarded as deserved by us at the hand of God, and as proper on his part as an expression of his displeasure for our transgressions against him, and as a proof that we are sinners. Trial never comes to us from any quarter except as founded on the fact that we are sinners; and even where there is entire innocence toward our fellow-men, God may make use of their passions to rebuke and discipline us for our sins toward himself.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Psa 69:5

O God, Thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from Thee.

Gods knowledge of sin

I. God must have knowledge of mans sin. Because–

1. He is infinite in knowledge.

2. He is everywhere present.

3. He is everywhere perceiving.

4. He is ever reading the heart.

5. He knows what is yet to be.

You are all books, and every page is open to the eye of the great Reader, who reads you from the first letter to the last. There is nothing which any man here can possibly conceal from God. It is so, it must be so; if God be God, He knows my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from Him.

II. Now, let us just turn the current of our thought while I ask, concerning Gods knowledge of mans sin, after what fashion is it? If God knows, in what particular way does He know?

1. It is complete knowledge; the Lord knows us altogether. I must confess that I cower down beneath that thought. That the Lord should know my public service is sufficiently awe-striking; but that He should know my private thoughts, ah! this sinks me into the very dust!

2. It is the knowledge of a holy being.

3. It is an abiding knowledge.

4. It is an eternal knowledge.

III. What then?

1. How frivolous must those be who never think about it t

2. What care this ought to work in us!

3. What holy trembling this ought to put in us! (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 5. Thou knowest my foolishness] Though we have been brought into captivity in consequence of the crimes of our fathers, yet we have guilt enough of our own to merit a continuation of our miseries. How can such words as are in this verse be attributed to our blessed Lord, however they may be twisted or turned?

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This is added, either,

1. As a proof of his innocency, which he had now asserted by way of appeal to God. Do thou, O Lord, judge between me and them, whether I be guilty of those rallies and sins which they lay to my charge. And such appeals indeed David useth, Psa 7:3,4, and elsewhere; but then they are delivered in form of a supposition, and not a positive assertion, as this is. Or rather,

2. As an exception to what he last said. But, O Lord, although I have been innocent to mine enemies, and have given them no cause to hate or persecute me, as they do; yet I must confess I am guilty of many sins and follies against thee, and have given thee just cause to punish me, and to give me up into their hands, and to deny or delay thine help unto me. By foolishness he means sin, as he explains it, which is commonly so called in Scripture; or by his

foolishness he means lesser sins, committed through ignorance or inconsiderateness, and by sins those of a grosser nature.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

5. This may be regarded as anappeal, vindicating his innocence, as if he had said, “Ifsinful, thou knowest,” &c. Though David’s conditionas a sufferer may typify Christ’s, without requiringthat a parallel be found in character.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

O God, thou knowest my foolishness,…. Not that there was real foolishness in him, who, as man, from his infancy was filled with wisdom, and increased in it; and, as Mediator, had the spirit of wisdom on him, and the treasures of wisdom in him; and, as a divine Person, he is the Wisdom of God, and the only wise God; and, as in our nature, there was no foolishness in his heart, nor in his words, nor in his actions: but this is to be understood either of what was accounted so by others; he and his followers were reckoned foolish and illiterate men, and the Gospel preached by him and his apostles was foolishness to them that perished; or of what he was charged with by his enemies; even with immorality, heresy, blasphemy, and sedition; of all which he was innocent, and therefore could appeal to his divine Father, who knows all things, that he was clear of all such folly; for it may be rendered, “thou knowest as to my foolishness” x, with respect to what he was charged with, that there was none in him; or else it regards the foolishness of his people imputed to him, the sin that folly of follies, together with all the foolishness in the heart, lip, and lives of his people, before and after conversion; these were all reckoned to him, and reckoned by him, as his own in some sense; and which is confirmed by what follows:

and my sins are not hid from thee; meaning not any committed by him; for then he could not have said what he does in Ps 69:4; but the sins of his people imputed to him, which be calls his own,

[See comments on Ps 40:12]: these must be known to his divine Father, since he is God omniscient, and since he laid them upon him, and he made satisfaction for them to him; and which he observes to enforce his petition, Ps 69:1; with this compare Isa 53:11.

x “tu nosti ut res se habeat quoad stultitiam meam”, Gussetius, p. 312.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

5. O God! thou knowest my foolishness Augustine has labored to little purpose to show in what way these words are applicable to Christ; and at length he transfers to his members that which could not properly be said of the Head. (72) David here uses the language of irony; and by this mode of expressing himself he meant to intimate, that, overwhelmed with the unrighteous judgments of men, he betakes himself to God, and implores him to appear as the defender of his cause. This is much more emphatic than if he had affirmed plainly, and without figure, that his integrity was known to God. In this way he administers a sharp rebuke to his enemies, and as it were looks down with a noble contempt upon the calumnious speeches which they uttered against him; as Jeremiah does when he says,

“

O Lord! thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived.” (Psa 20:7)

Some ignorant people put a violent construction on these words of Jeremiah, as if they implied that he was actually deceived; whereas he is rather to be understood as deriding with bitter sarcasm his calumniators, who, in speaking evil of him, were chargeable with reproaching and blaspheming God himself. David in like manner, in the passage before us, as a means of preserving himself from succumbing under the perverse judgments of men, appeals to God as the judge of his cause; and possessing as he did the approving testimony of a good conscience, he regards in a great measure with indifference the unjust estimate which men might form of his character. It were indeed desirable that our integrity should also be acknowledged and approved of by men, and that not so much on our own account as for the edification of our brethren. But if, after we have done all in our power to make men form a favorable opinion respecting us, they misconstruct and pervert every good word which we utter, and every good action which we perform, we ought to maintain such greatness of mind as boldly to despise the world and all false accusers, resting contented with the judgment of God and with that alone; for those who are over anxious about maintaining their good name cannot but often experience fainting of heart. Let us be always ready to satisfy men; but if they refuse to listen to what we have to say in self-vindication, let us proceed in our course through evil report as well as good report, following the example of Paul where he fearlessly appeals to the judgment of God,

“

who will bring to light the hidden things of dark,” (1Co 4:5)

(72) According to Augustine, the Messiah, when he says “my foolishness” and “my iniquities,” speaks of the sins of men which were imputed to him, and for which he suffered and died under the curse of the law, which treated him as if he had been a sinner, in consequence of the sins thus imputed to him. A similar interpretation is given by Bishops Horsley and Horne, as well as many others. “The Messiah,” says the first of these critics, “here, as in many places, may speak of the follies and crimes of men, for which he had made himself answerable as his own.” Admitting, as we are disposed to do, although Calvin takes an opposite view, that the passage is applicable to Christ, it may be doubted whether this is the correct interpretation. The sins of those for whom Christ died, by being imputed to him, no doubt became his in the eye of the law, in such a sense as to make him answerable for them. But the Scriptures, be it observed, while they speak of him as “wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities,” and as “bearing our sins in his own body on the tree,” as if afraid to use any forms of expression which would even seem to derogate from his immaculate purity, never speak of the sins of those for whom he died as his own sins. What Horsley adds, as an additional explanation, is very unguarded. “Perhaps,” says he, “He who, although he was without sin, was yet tempted in all points like up to us, might, in his humility, speak of the incitement of the passions in his own mind as weakness and fault, making confession of it before the Father.” Nothing, doubtless, was farther from the mind of the prelate than to teach any thing inconsistent with the perfect holiness of the Son of God; and he expressly warns that “he was without sin;” but the language which he employs is scarcely consistent with this position, and it can convey no idea on the subject except an erroneous one. “The prince of this world cometh,” said Jesus to his disciples, “and hath nothing in me” — hath nothing in me, that is, to use the words of Dr Doddridge, “no guilt of mine to give him power over me; nor any inward corruption, to take part with his temptations.” The explanation of the text, which appears to be the most natural and consistent, is that which considers the Savior as solemnly appealing to the Father in vindication of his innocence. His enemies falsely charged him with crimes, and made these charges the ground of their cruel and malignant proceedings against him. The Divine Sufferer, therefore, with confidence appeals to God, saying, Thou, who art the omniscient and all-righteous Judge, knowest that I am innocent of the crimes laid to my charge, and I invoke thee to plead my cause. This interpretation, which is adopted by many eminent critics, as Dr Boothroyd, Dr Morrison, Walford, and others, is strongly supported by the context. The preceding verse contains strong assertions of his innocence; and it was very natural to accompany these with an appeal from the falsehood and calumny of men, to the all-seeing and righteous Judge of the universe.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(5) My foolishness.This does not conflict with a true Messianic application of the Psalm, but is fatal to that which would see in the author not an imperfect type, but a prophetic mouthpiece of Christ.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

5. Thou knowest my foolishness Suddenly complaint turns to confession. Suffering connects with remembered sin, which, though now forgiven, still develops its consequences. David never fully recovered from the deadly effects of the great sin of his life. “He does not attempt to assert his innocence before God, but that his enemies are unjust and malicious in their attacks.” Perowne.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments