Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 69:6
Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.
6. Let not those that wait on thee be ashamed through me,
O Lord, Jehovah of hosts:
Let not those that seek thee be brought to dishonour through me, O God of Israel.
Cp. Psa 25:3; Psa 38:15-16. The divine titles are significant. They appeal to God’s sovereignty and to His relation to His people. Surely, since He has the power to prevent it, He cannot leave the true Israel to be the scorn of its foes, as will happen through me, or, in my case, if I am left to perish unregarded.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Let not them that wait on thee – Those who worship thee; those who are thy true friends. True piety is often, in the Scriptures, represented as waiting on the Lord. See Psa 25:3, Psa 25:5; Psa 37:9; Isa 40:31.
Be ashamed for my sake – On account of me; or, in consequence of what I do. Let me not be suffered to do anything that would make them ashamed of me, or ashamed to have it known that I belong to their number. I know that I am a sinner; I know that judgments come justly on me; I know that if left to myself I shall fall into sin, and shall dishonor religion; and I pray, therefore, that I may be kept from acting out the depravity of my heart, and bringing dishonor on the cause that I profess to love. No one who knows the evil of his own heart can fail to see the propriety of this prayer; no one who remembers how often people high in the church, and zealous in their professed piety, fall into sin, and disgrace their profession, can help feeling that what has happened to others may happen to him also, and that he has need of special prayer, and special grace, that he may go down into the grave at last without having brought dishonor upon religion.
Let not those that seek thee – Another phrase to denote people of true piety – as those who are seeking after God; that is, who are desirous of understanding his character, and obtaining his favor.
Be confounded for my sake – Let them not feel disgraced in me; let them not feel it a dishonor to have it said that I am one of their number, or that I profess to be united to them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 69:6
Let not them that wait on Thee, O Lord, be ashamed for my sake.
Esprit de corps
This poet is afraid that if he misbehaves himself people will exalt themselves against God, and say with mocking laughter, These are Thy saints! Even whilst he is sinking he would wish to do it with some grace. Extinction itself may be crowned with a species of honour. Death need not be humiliation. There are men who have so died as to have lived a thousand lives in their last combat. Have we lost esprit de corps? Do you not remember that we are involved in the way in which you bear your troubles? If you do not play the man now the enemy will laugh at the whole Church; he will gladly take you up as a specimen of Gods sustaining grace, and say, This is the man who prayed: how chopfallen now I see how that once proud chin hangs on the collapsing breast: this is prayer! If I do not bear myself heroically in the storm, the enemy will have a right to laugh at this pulpit, and to put his foot of contempt upon this whole ministry. If I play the atheist in the darkness, then may men justly meek what I endeavour to say in the light. The mockery will be directed against God, not against men. Moses felt this; he said, If they go back, they will say Thou thyself wert not able to take us forward; and if saints do not play the hero in the time of real combat and desperate difficulty, when everything is going down, when business is dull, when enemies are strong, when health is quaking, people will blame not them only but God, and say, This is the doing of the Lord; why, what advantage is it that we pray to Him? or what profit have we in waiting upon God? the saint and the dog die in the same agony. Thus we recover ourselves, under the blessing of God, by thinking of others. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. Be ashamed for my sake] The sins of the Jews were a great stumbling-block in the way of the conversion of the Gentiles. They had been the peculiar people of the Lord. “How,” say the Gentiles, “can a pure and holy Being love such people?” They were now punished for their crimes. “How,” say the Gentiles, “can God deal so hardly with those whom he professes to love?” The pious among the captives felt keenly, because this reproach seemed to fall upon their gracious and merciful God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Them that wait on thee, i.e. thy godly people, who rely upon thy promises which thou hast made to all thine in general, and to me in a special manner, wherein they also are concerned.
Ashamed, i.e. frustrated of their just hopes; which will make them ashamed, either to look upon God, or to look upon their enemies, when they shall reproach them for their confidence in God.
For my sake; either,
1. For the sake of my sins last mentioned; let not all good men suffer for my sins. Or,
2. Because of my sad disappointments. For if they see me rejected and forsaken of God, whom they have esteemed a great example of faith, and prayer, and all virtue and piety, they will be exceedingly discouraged by this example; which will tend much to thy dishonour and disservice.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. for my sakeliterally, “inme,” in my confusion and shame.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake,…. Of their expectation of redemption and salvation by the Messiah, they have been waiting upon the Lord for; when they shall see him in suffering circumstances, and even dead and laid in the grave, without any hope of his rising again; which was the case of the two disciples travelling to Emmaus, Lu 24:19; whose trust in him, and expectation of him, as the Redeemer of Israel, were almost gone. The people of God, and believers in Christ, are described by such that “wait on the Lord”; for the coming of Christ, and salvation by him; who would be in danger of being put to shame and in confusion, when they should see him under the power of death and the grave; wherefore in this petition Christ addresses his divine Father as “the Lord God of hosts”, of armies above and below, as God omnipotent; partly to encourage their trust and confidence in him, and partly to encourage his own faith as man, that this petition would be answered;
let not those that seek thee: in the word and ordinances, by prayer and supplication, with all their hearts, in Christ, in whom the Lord is only to be found, and for life and happiness:
be confounded for my sake; that is, through his sufferings and death, as before:
O God of Israel; the covenant God of the spiritual Israel, whom he has chosen, the Messiah redeems, and the Spirit makes Israelites indeed.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6 O Jehovah, Lord of Hosts! let not them that wait for thee be ashamed in me. David declares that he is set forth as an example from which all the people of God may derive matter either of hope or despair. Although he was held in detestation and execrated by the great body of the people, there yet remained a few who were ready to bear just and impartial testimony to his innocence; knowing as they did that he was unrighteously afflicted by his persecutors, that he constantly reposed on the grace and goodness of God, and that no temptations could discourage or prevent him from continuing steadfast in the practice of true godliness. But when they observed the distresses and calamities to which he was notwithstanding subjected, the only conclusion to which they were able to arrive was, that all the pains and labor which he had taken in devoutly serving God were entirely thrown away. As all the instances in which God extends his succor to his servants are so many seals, by which he confirms and gives us assurance of his goodness and grace towards us, the faithful must have been exceedingly discouraged had David been forsaken in the extremity of his distress. The danger of their being thus discouraged he now lays before God; not that God has ever need of being put in mind of any thing, but because he allows us to deal familiarly with him at the throne of grace. The word wait is properly to be understood of hope, and the expression to seek God, of prayer. The connecting of the two together teaches us the profitable lesson, that faith is not all inactive principle, since it is the means of stirring us up to seek God.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Let not them.We again meet the feeling so common in the Psalms (see especially Psa. 44:17-22), that the sufferings of any member of Israel must bring dishonour on the name of Jehovah and on His religion. Here, however, it seems to touch a higher chord of feeling and to approach the true Churchmanshipthe esprit de corps of the Kingdom of Heavenwhich attaches a greater heinousness to the sin because it may harm the brethren. Not only would Jehovah be dishonoured in the sight of the heathen if He seemed to be disregarding His part of the covenant, but for an Israelite to have violated his part brought shame on all Israel.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Ashamed for my sake Literally, ashamed in me. The form of speech is exactly similar to “offended in me.” Mat 11:6. The meaning is, Let not them that wait on thee be turned out of the way on account of my sufferings and apparent abandonment. The humility, poverty, and persecutions of Jesus were the occasion of turning many aside. See Mat 13:21; Mat 13:57; Mat 26:31; Mat 26:33
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Reader! is not this a sweet prayer of Jesus, that none of his redeemed may ever take shame at his cross, but rather glory in it? And observe how the cause of the Father is pointed at in all that belonged to redemption by our adorable Lord; because with God the Father all the grand concerns of redemption originated. Joh 10:17-18 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 69:6 Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.
Ver. 6. Let not them be ashamed for my sake] Give me not up to passions of dishonour, to opprobrious practices, whereby religion might be reproached, or good people reviled and abused, much less staggered and set at a stand by my sufferings.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lord GOD. Hebrew Adonai Jehovah. App-4. .
God of Israel. See note on Isa 29:23.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Let not: Psa 7:7, Psa 25:3, Psa 35:26, Isa 49:23, Luk 24:19-21, Act 4:7
O God of Israel: Psa 72:18, 2Sa 23:3, Act 13:17, Act 13:23
Reciprocal: Psa 22:5 – and were Psa 31:17 – Let me
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 69:6. Let not them that wait on thee The truly pious, who believe thy promises, and look to thee for the fulfilment of them; who are conscious of their own weakness, and of the insufficiency of all human aid, and therefore apply to thee, and trust in thee for the help they want; be ashamed That is, frustrated of their just and reasonable expectations, which would make them ashamed of their past confidence in thee, and either to look up to thee in future, or to look upon their enemies with assurance, when they shall reproach them for their trust in thee; for my sake Because of my sad disappointments. For, if they see me forsaken, they will be discouraged by this example; or, let them not hang down their heads for shame to see me, who am thy worshipper, deserted of thee. He was afraid, if God did not appear for him, it would be a discouragement to other pious people, and give their enemies cause to triumph over them; and it was his earnest desire, whatever became of himself, that all the true people of God might retain their confidence and hope in God, and their boldness in his cause, and neither be discouraged in themselves, nor exposed to contempt from others.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
69:6 Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for {h} my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.
(h) Do not let my evil entreaty of the enemy be an opportunity for the faithful to fall from you.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The psalmist did not want others who trusted in God to feel discouraged by the opposition of his critics. He seems to have had in mind those who stood with him in the decision that had drawn criticism.