Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 69:7
Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.
7. So Jeremiah pleads, “Know that for thy sake I bear reproach” (Jer 15:15). shame &c.] cp. Psa 44:15.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
7 12. Such discouragement must be the inevitable consequence if he is abandoned, for it is for God’s sake that he is persecuted and defamed. Comp. the plea of the nation in Psa 44:14 ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Because for thy sake I have borne reproach – In thy cause; in defense of thy truth; because I have professed to be a friend of God. The true reason why these calamities have come upon me is that I have been thy professed friend, and have endeavored to do my duty to thee. The reproach connected with religion in a world of sin, or where true religion is hated, has fallen on me.
Shame hath covered my face – The idea here is not that he had himself been ashamed of religion or of the service of God, but that he had suffered shame, derision, reproach among people for his professed attachment to the truth. Compare Psa 44:15-16.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 69:7-8
For Thy sake I have borne reproach.
Suffering torture for Christs sake
An echo of the Boxer risings in China was heard in the address of Dr. Whitfield Guinness. In July, 1900, the little party with which he was connected was shut up in Honan, and as the speaker detailed those days of anxiety until deliverance came, many were deeply impressed. After leaving the city, thirteen days were spent hiding in the cabin of a boat. Time after time the boat was examined by the customs officials, who, in the order of Gods providence, failed to detect the presence of Englishmen. To indicate the genuineness of the Honanese converts, the speaker told a pathetic story. In a few weeks after one of the converts had been baptized, the Boxers pillaged his home, and securing the mans hands behind him, drew him up by a rope to the roof. While thus suspended the man was asked to recant. On refusing, the poor fellow was subjected to horrible tortures and suffering. Some time afterwards Dr. Guinness put to him the question, Was it worth while to suffer like that for Jesus sake? The man replied, Worth while! I would go through it all again to-morrow for His sake.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. For thy sake I have borne reproach] The Gentiles have said, “Why such an obstinate attachment to the worship of a Being who treats you so rigorously, and who interests not himself in your comfort and deliverance?” And in these cuttting reproaches some of the ungodly Jews took a part: “I am an alien to my mother’s children.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For thy sake; for my trust in thy promise, and obedience to thy commands, and zeal for thy glory, and against all wickedness; all which they turn into matter of derision and reproach.
My face; in which mans majesty and glory is most evident, which I am in a manner ashamed to show amongst men.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7-12. This plea contemplates hisrelation to God as a sufferer in His cause. Reproach, domesticestrangement (Mar 3:21; Joh 7:5),exhaustion in God’s service (Joh2:17), revilings and taunts of base men were the sufferings.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Because for thy sake I have borne reproach,…. Being reckoned a sinner, called a deceiver, said to be a Samaritan, and to have a devil; with many other reproaches, which he bore patiently for the sake of the word and worship of God, and for the sake of the glory of God, which he all along sought; and to repair the loss of it, which was sustained through the sin of man;
shame hath covered my face; when he was spit upon by some, and smote by others with a rod upon his cheek; and when he was blindfolded, and bid to prophesy who smote him; see Isa 50:6.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
7 For on thy account I have suffered reproach He now expresses more distinctly what he had stated ironically in the fifth verse, where he asserts that his faults were not hidden from God. Nay, he proceeds farther, declaring not only that the evil treatment which he met with from his enemies was unjust and altogether unmerited, but also that his cause was really God’s cause, since whatever he had undertaken and engaged in was expressly in obedience to the command of God. Saul no doubt had other reasons, or at least other pretences, for persecuting David; but as the hatred which he entertained against him most unquestionably proceeded from God’s having called and anointed him to be king, David here justly protests that it was not for any wickedness which he had committed, but because he had obeyed God, that men in general disapproved of and rashly condemned him. It is a source of great consolation to true believers when they can protest that they have the warrant and call of God for whatever they undertake or engage in. If we are hated by the world for making a public confession of the faith, a thing which we are to expect, it being evident from observation that the wicked ordinarily are never more fierce than when they assault the truth of God and the true religion, we have ground to entertain double confidence. (74) We also learn from this passage how monstrous is the malice of men, who convert into a ground for reproach and reprehension the zeal for the Divine glory by which true believers are animated. (75) But it is well for us that God not only wipes away the reproaches with which the wicked load us, but also so ennobles them, that they surpass all the honors and triumphs of the world. The Psalmist farther aggravates his complaint by the additional circumstance, that he was cruelly cast off by his own relations and friends; from which we are taught, that when by our devotedness to the cause of religion we cannot avoid exciting the displeasure of our brethren against us, it is our duty simply to follow God, and not to confer with flesh and blood.
(74) That is, the confidence arising from the reflection that we are, in the first place, suffering unjustly; and, secondly, that we are suffering in the cause of God.
(75) “ Qui convertissent en diffame et blasme le desir que les fideles ont de sa gloire.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) Because.Better, for.
For thy sake.It is plain from Psa. 69:9 that these words can only mean that the reproach under which the psalmist (or the community of which he was the spokesman) laboured was borne in the cause of religion. (Comp. Jer. 15:15.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. Because for thy sake The true point of the temptation to weak faith, deprecated Psa 69:6, is here fully brought out. My sufferings are not for my faults, as between me and my enemies, but for thy sake. Rom 15:3. I suffer because I am innocent, because I love God and hate sin. As applied to Christ how true! Fidelity to all the will of God provoked the hatred and hostility of the world. See on Psa 69:4; Joh 7:7; Joh 15:24
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 69:7. For thy sake i.e. “Merely because I adhere to thee, and will use no unlawful means to right myself.” See 1Sa 24:10; 1Sa 24:22.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 69:7 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.
Ver. 7. Because for thy sake I have borne reproach ] Whatever mine enemies pretend, they strike at thee, Lord, through my sides; and for thy sake alone it is that I am so bespattled, that I am even ashamed to look any one in the face. The most innocent may, upon the fulness of an aspersion, be put out of countenance.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 69:7-12
Psa 69:7-12
THE CAUSE OF DAVID’S SUFFERING
“Because for thy sake I have borne reproach;
Shame hath covered my face.
I am become a stranger to my brethren,
And an alien to my mother’s children.
For the zeal of thy house hath eaten me up;
And the reproaches of them that reproach thee are fallen upon me.
When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting,
That was to my reproach.
When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword unto them.
They that sit in the gate talk of me;
And I am the song of the drunkards.”
“For thy sake I have borne reproach” (Psa 69:7). In all probability, this sheds light upon the reason behind Saul’s malignant enmity against David. David’s devout life, indicated by the fasting and wearing of sackcloth (Psa 69:10-11) on appropriate occasions would have been construed by a man of Saul’s temperament as an open rebuke of his life-style. Also, in the fight against Goliath, David had refused to wear Saul’s armor, thus denying Saul any share in the victory. No wonder Saul hated him.
“Stranger unto my brethren … alien unto my mother’s children” (Psa 69:8). This is easily understood. David, was classified by the king as an outlaw, and the object of an all-out hunt, as of a wild animal; and therefore David’s brothers would have been mortally afraid either to help him or to be seen in his presence … This situation, as far as we know, cannot be referred to any other period of the life of David, except that during his flight from Saul’s implacable jealousy.
“The zeal of thy house hath eaten me up” (Psa 69:9). Now, upon this verse is laid the burden of declaring some other authorship besides that of David. But why? It fits David perfectly. Of course, “house” here is not a reference to the temple (constructed in the next generation), as we have repeatedly pointed out. As in many other scriptural references, the reference here is to the tabernacle. Had David been zealous for that? Certainly! Where did he take the sword of Goliath following his God-given victory over the Giant of Gath? He took it to the Lord’s house, the tabernacle where Abimelech was the high priest. That action, along with the sackcloth, the fasting, and the other acts of devotion that went along with such things adequately establish the truth that David did indeed exhibit a genuine “zeal for God’s house.”
How had it eaten him up? It had precipitated the murder of the high priest and his entire family (close friends of David), and it had launched Saul’s entire army, or some large contingent of it, in their ruthless hunt to seek out and kill David. Now, where is there anything else that suits what is said here any better than that?
“Fasting … sackcloth” (Psa 69:10-11). We have commented on these above.
“I am the song of drunkards” (Psa 69:12). Various readings of these words are: “Those sitting in the gate composed a song against me; winebibbers made me a theme for their lyrics; playing on stringed instruments, drunkards and carousers sang of me”
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 69:7. David set an example of the courage he desired others to manifest. He had endured the reproaches of the enemies because of his love for God.
Psa 69:8-9. Again the inspired mind saw a fitting place to make a prediction of an experience that was to come upon the illustrious descendant of David. Unknown to him (perhaps) he passed from his own experiences to those of Christ, and the prediction is cited in Joh 2:16 and Rom 15:3.
Psa 69:10. This means that his enemies reproached or made fun of David when they saw him grieving over his persecutions.
Psa 69:11. Sackcloth is a coarse fabric of which gunny sacks are made. It was worn in ancient times when the person was undergoing a period of grief or anxiety. When the enemies saw it they spoke in proverbs about it. That is, they made him the target for their jeers and tried to humiliate him.
Psa 69:12. This verse names persons of two opposite ranks. Those who sat in the gate were representative men because that was the point for diplomatic conversations. Of course it is understood that drunkards were of the very inferior rank. Both of these classes showed disrespect for David in his afflictions or persecutions.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Because: Psa 22:6-8, Psa 44:22, Jer 15:15, Joh 15:21-24
shame: Isa 50:6, Isa 53:3, Mat 26:67, Mat 26:68, Mat 27:29, Mat 27:30, Mat 27:38-44, Luk 23:11, Luk 23:35-37, Heb 12:2
Reciprocal: 2Sa 6:16 – despised 2Sa 6:20 – Michal 1Ch 15:29 – she despised Psa 22:5 – and were Psa 31:17 – Let me Psa 44:15 – covered Psa 69:19 – my reproach Isa 49:7 – to him whom man despiseth Jer 51:51 – shame Oba 1:10 – shame Mat 27:39 – reviled Mar 15:29 – they Luk 22:63 – mocked Heb 11:26 – the reproach Rev 2:3 – hast borne
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 69:7-9. Because for thy sake For my trust in thy promises, obedience to thy commands, and zeal for thy glory; because I adhere to thee, and will use no unlawful means to right myself; I have borne reproach For they turn all these things into matter of contempt and derision. I am become a stranger to my brethren, &c. They behave themselves toward me as if I were a perfect stranger, or a man of another country and religion. For the zeal of thy house That fervent love which I have for thy house and service, and glory, and people; hath eaten me up Exhausted my spirits. And this is the reason of that alienation of my brethren and others from me, because there is a great difference and contrariety in our dispositions, desires, and designs. For they regard not thy service and glory, nor the concerns of religion; but are wholly taken up with the world, and the cares and pursuits of it. And the reproaches of them that reproached thee That spoke contemptuously or wickedly of thy name, or providence, or truth, or worship, and service; are fallen upon me I have been as deeply affected with thy reproaches as with my own. This whole verse, though truly belonging to David, yet was also directed by the Spirit of God in him to a higher use, to represent the disposition and condition of Christ, in whom this was more truly and fully accomplished than in David; and to whom, therefore, it is applied in the New Testament, the first part of it, Joh 2:17, and the latter, Rom 15:3.