Psalms 69

Section 2. (Psalms 69:1-36; Psalms 70:1-5; Psalms 71:1-24; Psalms 72:1-20.)Christ’s service of salvation. The four psalms that close the second book show us the salvation-work of Christ once more: first, in the cross as its basis, though in a different aspect from those in which we have seen it before; then in the revival of Israel, as the people of God; and lastly, in the rule of the King over the whole earth in truth and righteousness. Salvation is here seen therefore in its national and earthly aspect, and the view of the Cross in the sixty-ninth psalm agrees with this. In it we have the governmental side of atonement, -the trespass-offering, -as we had in the twenty-second the sin-offering, and in the fortieth the burnt-offering. The seventieth psalm, following this, is (with but some slight changes) the cut-off end of the burnt-offering psalm itself. But into the meaning of all this we shall have to inquire, as we take up these psalms in detail.

Psalms 69:1-36

The Source of salvation. To the chief musician, upon Shoshannim: [a psalm] of David. The sixty-ninth psalm is more frequently referred to in the New Testament than any other, except the twenty-second; and always as fulfilled in relation to the Lord Himself or in the fruits and consequences of His rejection. And it is plain, as Delitzsch says, that “The whole psalm is typically prophetic, in as far as it is a declaration of a history of life and suffering, moulded by God into a factual prediction concerning Jesus Christ, whether it be the story of a king or a prophet; and in as far as the Spirit of prophecy has even moulded the declaration itself into the language of prophecy concerning the future One.” It will not be strange, however, to find, according to the title which we have had already in connection with the forty-fifth psalm; al-shoshannim, “the lilies,” (so different as these are,) Christ is not seen alone, but with those for whom He suffered. There is not merely “a lily,” but “lilies.” For a moment -and it is one of the difficulties of the psalm, -in the twenty-sixth verse, “Thy wounded ones”* are seen, as it were, side by side with “Him whom Thou hast smitten;” and this, with the judgment denounced upon the human persecutors, has been a difficulty in the minds of some in seeing the work of atonement in it at all, though the cross is certainly here, for nowhere else could Christ be smitten of God. But there is no forsaking of God, and “though the fact of smiting is referred to, its expiatory power is not at all treated!”
Now, it is surely true that the deepest suffering of the Cross, and absolutely necessary for atonement, was the forsaking of God (see Leviticus 4:1-35 notes); yet not all the sacrifices speak of this, but only the sin-offering; and that too, only in its first and highest grades. Yet atonement is said to be made by the lower grades also, as well as by the burnt- and trespass-offerings. Then, the burnt-offering psalm closes, as has been already mentioned with the denunciation of judgment upon the rejectors of Christ, which is here appended, as the seventieth psalm. So that the present one may be as well the trespass- as the fortieth, the burnt-offering. Two things are plainly in accordance with this, that the One who here suffers, owns, not “sins,” as in the common version, but “trespasses” and that He restores that which He took not away. This is not simply vicarious penalty, but that restitutive form of it which the trespass-offering presents. Moreover the association of others with the Unique Sufferer here comes not, in what may be called the body of the psalm; but late in it, among the denunciations of the persecutors. Admitting thus in the most distinct way that we have neither the full presentation of atonement, nor the fullness of divine grace flowing forth through this, and that these things are connected together as cause and effect, yet this seems not inconsistent with the character of offering set forth; while the governmental aspect of atonement which it expresses (see Leviticus 5:14 sq., notes) prepares us to find here, more strongly emphasized than elsewhere, the judgment upon rejectors.

1. In the first section we have that identification of Christ with His people which is necessarily involved in vicarious suffering. He is heard in His distress, as the waters of affliction penetrate even to the soul. He is sinking beneath the floods, and into the deep mire where there is no standing ground. The “strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him out of death,” of which the epistle to the Hebrews speaks, is emphasized in what follows; and then the countless enemies, with their causeless enmity, while He is paying the debt due by others, not by Himself, -restoring what He took not away. And here, in the light before God, He sees the awful reality of the evil He has taken upon Him, -hating it, the folly (or impiety) and the trespasses which spring out of this, -with the hatred with which God hates it; even while He owns it His, and bears in His soul the anguish of it. But to this, then, there must be a limit, that those who wait on God in faith and in desire seek Him -Jehovah, God of hosts and God of Israel, their covenant-God through the sacrifice that He is offering -be not put to shame and confusion, in Him in whom are centred all their hopes. For upon His acceptance depends their salvation for whom He stands, their Representative before God. The work accomplished, righteousness in Him can safely appeal to divine righteousness, -and to righteousness in their behalf.
2. In the next section we go back to His previous life among men, to see Him in the constant strife between good and evil in the world, taking His part with God and therefore suffering. “For Thy sake,” He says, “I have borne reproach: shame hath covered my face.” And that not only among strangers; for here was the true Joseph, separated from His brethren, a stranger and an alien, refused as Israel’s Messiah, and to become the Gentiles’ Christ. And yet that dwelling-place of God in Israel, and which His work is to secure for them in a time near at hand, was that for which His zeal devoured Him. Twice He vindicated the holiness of what, until His last decisive rejection by them; He spoke of as His Father’s house, and which He would have cleansed from the abominations which were driving Him away from them. In fact, through evils such as these, that house was already empty; and they well knew it, yet repented not of the evil, nor recognized the Deliverer who would have restored all, but was rejected: “the reproaches of them that reproached Thee,” He says, “fell on Me.” Thus it was then that He became a reproach, because He felt the misery of their condition, wept and fasted in His soul because of it. They looked for power simply to be used on their behalf: they found weakness, for in fact the power that He had He could not use for them.

Yet in that weakness which they found in Him He could serve them better, and He did -“crucified through weakness.” Yet they understood not this sin which He so lamented; and His sackcloth made Him a “proverb”* to them. They reckoned as ways of men merely, and indeed of evil men, the ways of divine holiness in love which mourned for them. And this contemptuous misunderstanding of Him was found among the elders sitting in the gate, and with the drunkards who made music out of Him: all far from God alike.
3. From these therefore He turns to God; and though in sorrow, yet with the assurance of acceptance. He is in distress, yet doubts not His goodness nor faithfulness; in view of which last He can expect and claim deliverance at His hand. He prays, therefore, for deliverance from that in which He is sinking, and from the enemies that surround Him. He seeks that the flood may not overflow Him; which, as this has already taken place (ver. 2) must mean, not continuously overflow Him, but give place again. So, “let not the deep swallow me up,” implies irrecoverable disaster; and “let not the pit shut her mouth upon me” is similar again in this respect.

The expressions therefore correspond well with that in Hebrews, “to Him that was able to save Him,” not “from,” but “out of death: that is, by resurrection (Hebrews 5:7. Gk.). This was how the Lord was actually answered. He appeals to experience: He has tasted that “loving-kindness” which “is good,” and the “tender mercies,” of which He knows that there are a multitude. And He beseeches that God hide not His face from One who is His servant, in this the hour of His strait: an appeal indeed, when we know what this service that He is fulfilling is. The last verse of this section shows us the extreme point reached. Indeed the two words for redemption used here may seem to present difficulty in any application to the Lord. But there is a redemption by power, as well as by blood, and the application of the first word to the “avenger” (goel from Baal) shows that the latter conception of it is not necessary to the word. It has as its root-thought the demanding back of what has got away from one, and here (as the soul is the life) it is urged that God should intervene in power to restore the life which was His, and had yet passed, or was passing, away. Its restoration would be its “redemption.” The second word also is used for rescuing, setting free, as when it is said that the “people rescued Jonathan, that he died not” (1 Samuel 14:45). In both cases, therefore, it is the kind of redemption we are to consider, rather than the word simply. 4. There are now three verses which as a fourth section speak briefly of His human feelings under the pressure on Him. The reproach, the shame, the dishonor, are all felt and referred to God, as known to Him. His oppressors are before Him. Around there are none to sympathize with or minister comfort to the Sufferer. Yea, “they gave Me gall for My food,” He says; “and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.” This was, as we know, the last indignity before He died: and this was the last scripture that the dying Saviour saw to be unaccomplished, and to fulfill which He uttered aloud His need. These verses, which evidently stand by themselves bring to an end the account of His sufferings, which now manifestly close in death. 5. The solemn denunciation follows, of retribution upon the enemies of Christ and of His people. It will be realized in an entirely different manner according to our conception of the speaker, and of the spirit which breathes in it. If these are the words of mere personal feeling, we shall naturally put them in contrast with the words of Him who at the cross itself prayed for His murderers. This was what was in His heart, and the plea He makes for them, that they knew not what they did, was the sanction of such a prayer. But then there would be those for whom plainly it could no more be uttered.

Divine love itself would have to affirm the righteous doom of those who respond to it but with hatred, and this is the character of those before us* here. Hence there is nothing incongruous in this being the language of the Saviour Himself, though not historically His utterance; nay, it is its being His that makes it all so perfectly and manifestly right. In the words of no other is the truth of retribution so strongly emphasized as in His own. Who so competent to speak of it as He who had come down to save men from it? Who could warn so solemnly as He who is the incarnation of divine love itself? Does not that same love speak here when it is heard saying, Let that be, which as the sentence of the Throne at last will actually be? There is this difference, however, which may be pleaded: that the judgment is in fact that which overtakes men here, and (except by implication) it does not reach into eternity. This is, as we know, the character of Old Testament judgments generally. They are such as come upon men here, the visible witnesses of that which is invisible and eternal. But that alters nothing as to their essential nature, while it gives an additional reason why it should be brought before us in this manner. The visible government of God on earth, even though clouds and darkness are about it, has its attestations and evidences as that which (to use the words of a noted unbeliever) “makes for righteousness.” And the dealings of God with Israel in their disobedience and rejection of Christ are a special example of this kind. Thus God’s dealings with men on earth are fitly to be put before us as anticipations and pledges of what in a coming day will come out more manifestly. Thus we cannot put the Christ of the Old Testament in contrast with the Christ of the New. The grace of the gospel itself exhibits its glory against a background of “eternal judgment.” And we need no apology for the language of the psalm, though we may need an explanation of it. If it were not a judgment Christ Himself could affirm; then there could be no justification of it at all, from any lower platform. It would be but the language of human passion and infirmity, susceptible of no further interpretation than as that, and to be left to the condemnation of the enlightened conscience. The snare of peace and prosperity is what is first insisted on: not, of course, the mere well-filled table of a glutton or an epicure, but this as the image of that enjoyment of present things which for the carnal shuts out what is spiritual and eternal. Thus it is indeed a trap and a snare. How busy, even among Christians, is Satan in shutting out the things of God just by the occupation with and pressure of things which in themselves may not be evil, but which we have not learned to connect with God and to use for God. Alas for the secular part of our lives which in the stealthiest fashion filches away from us so much of “what is really life” (1 Timothy 6:19 : “the life which is life indeed,” R.V.). And for the man whose heart is set on earthly things, what a silken snare is their possession! We murmur at the evils and miseries that face us everywhere; but what would it be if men were fed to the full! Judgment may come as well in the smiling abundance which fattens and narrows the heart, as in the rougher fashion in which it is easier to discern it. The time yet comes in which the eyes darken, and that in which was men’s confidence is removed. Then the “loins” begin to “shake.” The dread of the unseen, never anything else but a dread, comes upon them. God begins to be manifested, but in wrath which lays hold upon the guilty. Presently a desolate camp in the desert, a “wall,” as the idea is, -a mockery of protection for the feebleness that sought once to it for shelter, but is gone; the tents there, but empty; -becomes the figure of their doom: themselves, where are they? These four verses bring us to the natural pause in a septenary series, as this is. The last three unveil, as usual, the spiritual meaning. The fifth gives the reason according to divine government; and here alone it is -in a most fitting place, surely, -we see that there are other sufferers than the One great figure here. The part of the guilty ones whose judgment is here detailed, -their part in the Cross was only persecution: with the divine mystery of it, to which we owe all our blessing, they had naught to do. Yet that “they have persecuted Him whom Thou hast smitten,” adds surely to the horror of their crime, -a crime for which they would in this very fact seek its justification rather. Why should they not persecute where God had smitten?

When that cry that God had forsaken Him reached the ears of those who stood round the cross, would it not indeed seem like such a justification? They had done as they would, and no intervention of God had come in for Him: God had not smitten them, but Him! Just so do things conspire often to seal the delusion of those who invite delusion. Is it not a sign of such a judicial sentence recorded against them as the next verse speaks of, -their iniquity imputed as iniquity, so that they are given over to what they have chosen? All divine grace is to them now but as the utterance of parables which may have more than one interpretation, and be fatally misconstrued. The association of others with the Lord in this respect, or the mention of them side by side with Him, need not, as I think, be of any special difficulty here. They are not associated with Him in that which was His atoning work, but only in the persecution by His enemies, which could not possibly have wrought this. It was important, on the other hand, to bring them in, just because the actual persecution of the Lord Himself belonged to one generation only by the necessity of the case, but the persecution of His people is, in one way or other, repeated through all generations. In convicting of this guilt, it was important to show that these things are by the Lord Himself classed together: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou ME?” Moreover, there is a difference in the experiences: “Thy wounded ones” is not just the same as “whom Thou hast smitten”; and nothing but the parallelism found in the poetry of Scripture could have suggested the rendering of the former as the common version has given it. But the parallel does not require to be carried to this extent. “Add iniquity to their iniquity” is not also the necessary rendering of the twenty-seventh verse and the moral argument seems against it in any way that this can be explained. The word is not “add,” but literally “give,” which may be rendered “put,” and which in Jonah 1:14 is used for, “lay not upon us innocent blood,” that is, “impute” it not. We may safely translate it here, “impute iniquity according to their iniquity,” -reckon it for what it is. They have reached in fact the limit of forbearance: let the judgment now proceed. In the next verse, therefore, it is argued that the death-penalty is their desert: “let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written (enrolled) among the righteous.” The victory of Christ and righteousness is now briefly celebrated. It is the victory of God, and His Name is declared and glorified in it. The One who was just now the poor and sorrowful One is set on high; and the song of praise begins with the voice of Christ Himself, filled with the joy of God being magnified in the testimony of this deliverance. What does it not imply of joy that shall never end, that work accepted, sin put away, death annulled, Satan overcome! Now has come the substance of the past shadows. The sacrifices are replaced by that which pleases God better than all these.

Balm for the afflicted is here; the seekers of God have a heart-reviving message: for the poor are not neglected by Him, and the prisoners -though justly suffering -are not despised by His grace, when they turn to Him. It is the gospel already beginning to be heard in the synagogue of Nazareth (Luke 4:18-19). Heaven and earth, with the seas and all that are therein, are bidden therefore to praise the Lord together: for Zion shall be saved, the throne of His kingdom upon earth, and the witness of its salvation. Judah too (the worshiper) shall have his cities rebuilt, and dwell in them. And the inheritance shall be for the seed of Jehovah’s servants, and for the lovers of His Name. Amen.