Psalms 69

Psalms 69A describes his own condition, Psalms 69:1-4. He represents himself as suffering for God’s sake, Psalms 69:5-12. He therefore prays to be delivered, Psalms 69:13-18. He again describes his suffering, but with more explicit reference to its cause, the malice of his enemies, Psalms 69:19-21. He therefore prays that they may be destroyed, Psalms 69:22-28. He anticipates a favourable answer to his prayers and the happiest effect upon his brethren, Psalms 69:29-33. Nay, he expects to see the same mercy exercised towards the church or chosen people, Psalms 69:34-36.

1. To the Chief Musician. Upon lilies. By David. The lilies probably refers to the delightful consolations and deliverances experienced or hoped for. See above, on Psalms 45:1; Psalms 60:1. The subject of the psalm is an ideal person, representing the whole class of righteous sufferers. The only individual in whom the various traits meet in Christ. That he is not, however, the exclusive or even the immediate subject, is clear from the confession Psalms 69:5. There is no psalm, except the twenty-second, more distinctly applied to him in the New Testament.

2. (Psalms 69:1). Save me, O God, for the waters are come in, even to my soul, i.e. so as to endanger my life. See. Jeremiah 4:10, Jonah 2:6. The figure for extreme distress is the same as in Psalms 40:2.

3. (Psalms 69:2). I have sunk in the mire of the.depth (or deep place) (where) there is no standing; I have come into depths of water, and the flood has overwhelmed me. The image is that of one sunk in the bottom, of a sea or river. Mire of depth is not merely deep mire, but the mire found in a deep place.

4. (Psalms 69:3). I am weary of my crying ; parched is my throat; my eyes fail, waiting for my God. The literal meaning of the first clause is, I am weary in my crying, i.e. have grown weary in the act of calling upon God for help. See above, on Psalms 6:6. Parched, dried, by excessive exertion of the voice, or giving the Hebrew verb the stronger sense which properly belongs to it, inflamed. His eyes are represented as exhausted, worn out, by continued looking for God. See below, Psalms 119:82, and compare Lamentations 4:17. The participle waiting does not agree with eyes, as it might seem to do in English, but with the person to whom they belong, and may be construed absolutely, I waiting (me expectante), i.e. while I wait.

5. (Psalms 69:4). More than the hairs of my head (are) those hating me without cause; strong are my destroyers, my false enemies; what I did not rob, then must I restore. With the first clause compare Psalms 40:12); with the second, Psalms 35:9; Psalms 38:19); with the third, Psalms 35:11, 2 Samuel 16:8. False enemies, literally enemies of falsehood, which may either mean in general perfidious, treacherous, or more specifically, using calumny and falsehood as a means for the attainment of their wicked ends. Then or afterwards, in reference to the previous innocence which he asserts. Though he took nothing at first, yet afterwards he must restore.

6. (Psalms 69:5). O God, thou knowest of (or as to) my foolishness, and my trespasses from thee have not been hid. He does not deny his own demerit in the sight of God, but nevertheless prays to be delivered from destruction. See above, on Psalms 6:1; Psalms 38:3-5; Psalms 40:12. As if he had said, “True, I am a sinner; it is vain to deny it; thou, God, knowest it; but nevertheless,” etc.

7. (Psalms 69:6). Let not them be ashamed in me that wait for thee, Lord, Jehovah, of Hosts; let not them be disgraced in me that seek thee, God of Israel! He prays that the principle laid down in Psalms 25:3 may not be falsified. In me, not merely by me, or because of me, but in me, as the representative of the whole class. Ashamed, disappointed and defeated in their hopes. Wait for thee, for thine appearance and the fulfilment of thy promises. Seek thee, i.e. seek to know thee, and enjoy thy favour.

8. (Psalms 69:7). Because for thee (or thy sake) I have borne reproach, disgrace hash covered my face. In his disgrace all God’s servants must participate, because he is one of them, and as such suffers. With the first clause compare Psalms 44:22, Jeremiah 15:15, with the last, Psalms 44:15.

9. (Psalms 69:8). I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto the sons of my mother. The literal meaning of the first clause is, I have been estranged to (or as to) my brothers. There may be an allusion to the envious treatment of David by the other sons of Jesse. See 1 Samuel 17:28. The loss or alienation of the nearest friends is spoken of as one of the severest trials in Psalms 27:10.

10 (Psalms 69:9). For the zeal of thine house, jealous regard for the honour of the sanctuary, as the visible centre of the true religion, has consumed me, implying an extreme intensity of feeling ; and in consequence of this zeal, the revilings of thy revilers have fallen upon me. That such revilers did exist in David’s time, we learn from 2 Samuel 12:14. The first clause of the verse before us is applied to Christ in John 2:17, and the second in Romans 15:3.

11. (Psalms 69:10). And I wept (away) my soul, or wept myself away, in fasting, and (even that) was for revilings to me, even that became a subject of malignant mockery against me. That weeping and fasting, as natural concomitants, were not unknown to David’s experience in real life, appears from 2 Samuel 12:16; 2 Samuel 12:21-22. The first clause likewise admits of this construction: and I wept, my soul (was) in fasting, i.e. fasted. But this, though it agrees well with the Hebrew usage which represents fasting as a mortification of the soul (see above, on Psalms 35:13), is neither so natural nor so striking as the first construction above given, which is found in an anonymous translation of the Psalms, published by Bagster, London, 1830.

12. (Psalms 69:11). And I gave, put on (as) my clothing, sackcloth, and was to them, in consequence, for a comparison, a proverb, by-word, or became a by-word to them. See above, on Psalms 35:13, and Psalms 44:14. The context makes it probable that the mourning described in this and the preceding verse was not in reference to his own sufferings merely, but to the sins of the whole people.

13. (Psalms 69:12). They think of me, imagine things against me, they who sit in the gate; (they imagine) songs, lampoons or satires, they who drink strong drink. The gate meant is that of the city, where the oriental courts and markets were held. Hence some suppose the sense to be, that even in the place of serious business, they indulged their spiteful mirth at my expense. But it seems more natural to make the sitters in the gate mean simply those frequenting public places. See above, on Psalms 4:7, and compare Joshua 20:4, Rth 4:2, Lamentations 5:14.

14. (Psalms 69:13). And I, but as for me, in contradistinction from these mockers, my prayer (is) to thee, I pray to thee in spite of their derision, O Jehovah; (let there come or let there be) a time of acceptance, in the abundance of thy mercy; answer me, grant my petition, in the truth of thy salvation, or thy truth of salvation, in the exercise of that fidelity which secures the salvation of all who trust it. Compare Isaiah 49:8; Isaiah 61:2.

15. (Psalms 69:14). Deliver me from the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from my haters, from the depths of water. He here returns to the figures in Psalms 69:1, where profound suffering is described as submersion under water and in mire. The meaning of the figure is explained in the last clause of the verse before us by the addition of a literal expression.

16. (Psalms 69:15). Let not the flood overwhelm me, and let not the deep swallow me, and let not the well (or pit) shut its mouth upon me. In the earnestness of his entreaty, he passes from the figure of a sea or stream to that of a well or cistern, the idea common to both being that of deep water.

17. (Psalms 69:16) Answer me, grant my prayer, Jehovah; for good (or as we should say, great) is thy mercy; according to the multitude of thy compassions, turn to me, or towards me, implying that his looks were before averted. See above, on Psalms 4:6; Psalms 13:1.

18. (Psalms 69:17.) And hide not thy face from thy servant, for (there is) distress to me, I am distressed, make haste, answer me, i.e. grant me what I ask without delay,

19. (Psalms 69:18). Draw nigh unto my soul, to me whose soul or life is threatened, ransom it, rescue it from ruin; because (or for the sake) of my enemies, redeem me, so that they may not triumph in my fall. See above, on Psalms 13:4, and with the first clause compare Psalms 22:1.

20. (Psalms 69:19). Thou knowest, literally hast known, as a thing of long standing, my reproach, the contempt of which I am the object, and my shame and my disgrace; before thee, in thy sight and known to thee, (are) all my adversaries, persecutors or oppressors, not their persons merely, or their conduct in general, but their treatment of me. The conviction that God knows all involves a persuasion that he will do justice to both parties. See above, on Psalms 1:6.

21. (Psalms 69:20). Reproach, including calumny and insult, hath broken my heart, a common figure for extreme distress, and I am sick, sick at heart or sick in spirit, but without excluding the idea of corporeal suffering, as the effect, or as a part, of his distress; and I have waited for pity, literally mourning., i.e. sympathy, condolence, on the part of my cruel enemies, and it is not, or there is none, and for comforters, (those) comforting, and have not found (them). With the phrase, I am sick, compare Psalms 6:2.

22. (Psalms 69:21). And, so far from pitying me they have aggravated my distress, for they have given in my food, or as my food, gall, here put for the extreme of bitterness, and for my thirst, i.e. to slake it, or at (the time of) my thirst, in my thirst, when I thirst, they give me vinegar to drink. Gall and vinegar are here put together to denote the most unpalatable forms of food and drink. The passion of our Lord was providentially so ordered as to furnish a remarkable coincidence with this verse. The Romans were accustomed to give sour wine with an infusion of myrrh to convicts on the cross, for the :purpose of deadening the pain. This practice was adhered to in our Saviour’s case (Mark 15:23).

Though in itself not cruel, but the contrary, it formed part of the great process of murderous persecution, On the part of the Roman soldiery it may have been an act of kindness; but considered as an act of the unbelieving Jews, it was giving gall and vinegar to one already overwhelmed with anguish. And so Matthew, in accordance with his general method, represents it as a verification of this passage (Matthew 27:34). He does not contradict Mark’s account before referred to, but merely intimates, that the wine and myrrh thus offered were to be regarded as identical with the gall and vinegar of this prediction. And in order to prevent the coincidence from being overlooked, our Lord, before he died, complained of thirst and vinegar was administered. (Matthew 27:48, John 19:28). The word translated food in the first clause occurs only here, and its verbal root only in the history of David (2 Samuel 12:17; 2 Samuel 13:6; 2 Samuel 13:10).

23. (Psalms 69:22). Let their table before them, at which they eat and where they are accustomed to enjoy themselves, be for (or become) a snare, an occasion of unexpected danger, and to those secure, thinking themselves safe, (let it be for, or become) a trap. The first word in the last clause is the plural of one meaning peace, but seems to be here used, as in Psalms 55:20, for those who are at peace, at ease, tranquil and secure. Compare 1 Thessalonians 5:3. The ancient versions give it the equally appropriate sense of for requitals, i. e. in recompence of their transgressions. But although this sense may be deduced from the Hebrew verbal root, and belongs to several collateral derivatives, it has no existence in the usage of the one before us.

The circuitous construction in the English version is not only forced, but wholly unnecessary. The imprecations in this verse and those following it are revolting only when considered as the expression of malignant selfishness. If uttered by God, they shock no reader’s sensibilities, nor should they, when considered as the language of an ideal person, representing the whole class of righteous sufferers, and particularly Him who, though he prayed for his murderers while dying (Luke 23:34), had before applied the words of this very passage to the unbelieving Jews (Matthew 23:38), as Paul did afterwards (Romans 11:9-10). The general doctrine of providential retribution, far from being confined to tke Old Testament, is distinctly taught in many of our Saviour’s parables. See Matthew 21:41; Matthew 22:7; Matthew 24:51.

24. (Psalms 69:23). Let their eyes darken, i.e. be or grow dark, from seeing, so as not to see, and their loins do thou cause to bend, give way, or swerve, i.e. paralyse their strength. See above, on Psalms 66:9. The first clause probably does not refer to blindness, but either to the dimness of the eyes in death, or to darkness as a figure for calamity in general.

25. (Psalms 69:24). Pour upon them thine anger, and let the heat of thy wrath, thy hot wrath, overtake them, reach them after they have long seemed to escape it and expected to escape it still.

26. (Psalms 69:25). Let their home be desolated, in their tents may there be no one dwelling, or let no one dwell. The word translated home seems properly to mean an enclosure, with special reference, perhaps, to an encampment or collection of tents (Genesis 25:16, Numbers 21:10). The translation castle in the English version of the places just referred to, and that of palace in the margin of the one before us, seem entirely conjectural. The Septuagint here has a Greek word, meaning a place to pass the night in, especially for flocks and herds, and thence transferred to farm or country houses. This expression is retained in Acts 1:20, where the verse before us is quoted, in connection with Psalms 109:8, and applied to Judas Iscariot, not as an individual merely, but as a type and representative of the Jewish people, in their malignant and perfidious enmity to Christ.

This does not prove our Lord to be the exclusive subject of the whole psalm, a conclusion forbidden by the confession of sin in Psalms 69:5 above; but it does shew that He is not only one, but the chief member, nay the great type and representative, of the whole class of innocent sufferers at the hands of wicked enemies. See also Matthew 23:38.

27. (Psalms 69:26). For (those) whom thou hast smitten they persecute, have persecuted heretofore and do so still; and as to the grief of thy wounded, they tell or talk. The pronoun in the first clause is emphatic, “thou and not man, or man only as thy blind unconscious instrument.” Compare 2 Samuel 16:11-12, Job 19:21-22. The same persons are described as thy wounded, the original expression having commonly the sense of mortally wounded, and being therefore often rendered slain. See Isa. l66:16, Jeremiah 25:33. The preposition before grief denotes the theme or subject, as it does with the same verb in Psalms 2:7. To tell about it or talk of it is to make it the subject of unfeeling or derisive comment. See above, on Psalms 41:8.

28. (Psalms 69:27). Give (or place) iniquity upon iniquity, and let them not come into thy righteousness. Luther and others understand the first clause as a prayer that sin may be made the punishment of sin (Romans 1:28). But there seems to be rather an allusion to the double sense of the equivocal term, which properly denotes sin as such or in itself considered, but sometimes seems to mean sin considered in its consequences or effects. Thus understood, it is a prayer that sin may be followed by the natural effects of sin. The righteousness of God is that which he bestows by the judicial act of justification, including pardon. To come into it is to come into possession or enjoyment of it, to become a sharer in it.

29. (Psalms 69:28). Let them be blotted from the book of life (or of the living), and with the righteous let them not be written, registered, enrolled. The book is not here a figure for the memory, as in Psalms 56:8, but for the divine decree. The primary idea is that of a register containing the names of those who are to live or be preserved alive. The figure is Mosaic, being evidently borrowed from Exodus 32:32. The translation living, which is given in the ancient versions, is favoured by the parallel expression righteous (men), if not by the analogy of Psa 27:13; Psalms 52:5. But the abstract version life is equally appropriate, and is recommended by the use of the phrase book of life in the New Testament with reference to the future state. See Philippians 4:3, Revelation 20:15.

30. (Psalms 69:29). And I (am) afflicted and suffering; let thy salvation, 0 God, set me on high, beyond the reach of danger, which is tantamount to saying, in a place of safety. See above, on Psalms 20:1; Psalms 59:1. The verb might also be translated as a future proper, expressive of a confident anticipation, thy salvation will secure me. But it seems more natural to understand it as a prayer for himself, subjoined to the foregoing series of prayers for the destruction of his enemies. As if he had said, “Remember, Lord, that I am suffering, and interpose for my deliverance, as well as for their punishment.”

31. (Psalms 69:30). I will praise the name of God with song, or in a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. Here, as in many other cases, the certainty of the event is indicated by an expressed determination to thank God for it. See above, on Psalms 5:7.

32. (Psalms 69:31). And it shall be better to Jehovah, this shall please him more, than ox (or) bullock horned (and) hoofed. The contrast is not between material and spiritual offerings, but between a legitimate offering of both kinds and the mere oblation of a beast, as an opus operation of intrinsic virtue, or as if God could take delight in hoofs and horns, which are therefore contemptuously specified. See above, on Psalms 40:6; Psalms 50:8; Psalms 51:16. The last words are highly idiomatic, and scarcely susceptible of close translation, the original forms being those of active participles, horning, hoofing, i.e. having or producing horns and hoofs.

33. (Psalms 69:32). The humble see and rejoice, literally have seen and will rejoice, in my deliverance (even ye) that seek God, seekers of God, and may your heart live! May you be revived and cheered by witnessing this exhibition of God’s power and goodness! The wish that it may be so includes a promise that it shall be, as in Psalms 22:26, where the form of expression is the same.

34. (Psalms 69:33). For hearkening, habitually listening, (is) Jehovah to the poor, i.e. the poor among his people; the righteous, pious, or believing poor; nd his prisoners, those imprisoned in affliction by himself, or by human oppressors for his sake, he hath not despised, and therefore never will. The general inference here drawn from the speaker’s own experience is the same as in Psalms 22:24 above.

35. (Psalms 69:34). Let heaven and earth praise him, seas and everything creeping in them, i.e. moving with an animal or vital motion. In the particular mercy experienced by himself he sees a pledge of gifts deserving and demanding universal praise.

36. (Psalms 69:35). For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah, and they shall dwell in them and possess them. He who is thus faithful to the the individual believer must be faithful to the whole church. It is characteristic of the ancient saints to regard every personal mercy as a pledge of greater favours to the body of God’s people. This is peculiarly appropriate in such a case as this, where the words are those of an ideal person representing a whole class, and that a class including, as its most conspicuous member, the Messiah himself. There is no need of supposing an allusion, either prophetical or historical, to the restoration of the Jews from Babylon, the rather as the temple is referred to in Psalms 69:9, as still standing. They in the last clause are the poor of Psa 69:33, i.e. the righteous or God’s people.

37. (Psalms 69:36). And the seed of his servants shall inherit it, i.e. Judah or the land of promise, and the lovers of his name, of his revealed perfections, shall dwell (quietly and safely) in it. The foregoing promises are not restricted to a single generation, but extend to the remotest posterity. Inherit it, possess it by hereditary right from generation to generation. As temporal and spiritual blessings were inseparably blended in the old dispensation, the promise of perpetual possession and abode in Palestine is merely the costume in which that of everlasting favour to the church is clothed in the Old Testament.