Psalms 40

This Psalm consists of two parts, differing widely in tone and character. In the first part (Psalms 40:1-11) thanksgiving for deliverance and its true expression in the devotion of obedience to God’s will are the prominent ideas: in the second part (Psalms 40:12-17) the Psalmist is still the victim of a cruel persecution, from which he prays for deliverance. The first part is marked by singular vigour and spirituality; the second part consists mainly of phrases found elsewhere, and Psalms 40:13-17 recur separately in Book ii as Psalms 70. It seems most probable that two Psalms or parts of Psalms have been combined by a compiler, with reference to his own needs or for liturgical purposes, at a time when he himself or the nation looked back upon past deliverance from the midst of present trials. Still it is possible that the author of Psa 40:1-11 himself added Psalms 40:12-17 at a later time under changed circumstances, making use of language which he had employed before in time of distress. There are links of connexion between the two parts. Be pleased (Psalms 40:13) takes up thy good pleasure (Psalms 40:8); taketh thought for me (Psalms 40:17) glances back to thy thoughts to us-ward (Psalms 40:5); they are more (Psalms 40:12) is found in Psalms 40:5 : and such repetition of a word already used in a different connexion is characteristic of the author of the first part: e.g. restrain not thou (Psalms 40:11) corresponds to I will not restrain (Psalms 40:9); thy lovingkindness and thy truth (Psalms 40:11) to the same words in Psalms 40:10. If the Psalm is David’s, it would seem to belong to the later years of his outlaw life, shortly before he became king, rather than to the time of Absalom’s rebellion. It has been well pointed out that the words of Psa 40:6 ff. gain fresh force if they are taken in connexion with 1 Samuel 15:22. The self-devotion of the king after God’s own heart is the exact opposite of the self-will which was the ground of Saul’s rejection. The ascription of the Psalm to Jeremiah rests mainly on the supposed reference of Psa 40:2 to Jeremiah’s imprisonment (Jeremiah 38:6), but the language is certainly figurative and not literal. Some regard the speaker in this, as in the two preceding Psalms, as “either pious Israel personified, or (virtually the same thing) a representative pious Israelite” (Cheyne), who speaks in the name of the nation. But though Israel in later times may well have appropriated to itself the words of the Psalm, the personal origin of it appears to be unmistakable. There is not the slightest hint that the enemies referred to are heathen, or that those who are won by the sight of God’s mercy (Psalms 40:3) are distant nations. The first part falls into four approximately equal stanzas. The following is an outline of the contents. A. i. After long and patient waiting prayer has been answered and occasion given for fresh thanksgiving (Psalms 40:1-3). ii. Once more it has been proved that trust in God is the only source of true happiness. The goodness of God to His people is infinite and incomparable (Psalms 40:4-5). iii. What shall be man’s response to that love? Not material sacrifice, but the service of glad obedience (Psalms 40:6-8). iv. The Psalmist has not failed publicly to confess what God has proved Himself to be, and confidently anticipates the continuance of His favour (Psalms 40:9-11). B. Suddenly the scene changes. The Psalmist represents himself as overwhelmed by afflictions, and pleads for speedy help, and the discomfiture of his malicious enemies. Yet even in the midst of distress his trust remains unshaken (Psalms 40:12-17). This Psalm is one of the Proper Psalms for Good Friday. Its appropriateness is obvious, as describing in Psalms 40:6 ff. the fundamental nature of the sacrifice which was consummated upon the Cross.

Psalms 40:1-3

1–3. The reward of patient waiting upon God.

Psalms 40:2

2. And brought me up out of a pit of destruction, out of the miry slough: And set my feet upon a rock, made firm my steps. A literal reference to Jeremiah’s imprisonment in the dungeon can hardly be intended. The second line, set … rock, makes it plain that the whole verse is to be understood figuratively. He compares his plight to that of a prisoner in a dungeon (Lamentations 3:53; Lamentations 3:55), or even a dead man in the grave (Psalms 28:1; Psalms 88:4; Psalms 88:6); to that of a traveller floundering in a morass, or quicksand. Quagmires, ‘treacherous to the last degree,’ are common in Palestine. Thomson’s Land and the Book, p. 360. Now he has been given firm footing (Psalms 27:5), and the possibility of secure advance (Psalms 17:5; Psalms 37:31).

Psalms 40:3

3. Such deliverance is a fresh theme of praise. Cp. Psalms 33:3. The plural pronoun, ‘our God,’ implies that others were interested in the Psalmist and his fortunes. many shall see it] Omit it, which only weakens the expression. The contemplation of God’s mercy in the deliverance of His servant, and God’s power in the discomfiture of his enemies which that deliverance implies, will inspire a reverent a we, and lead to trust. Cp. Psalms 52:6; and generally, Psalms 22:22 ff.

Psalms 40:4-5

4, 5. The blessedness of such a trust.

Psalms 40:5

5. Abundantly hast Thou wrought, even Thou, O Jehovah my God, Thy marvellous works and Thy thoughts to us-ward: There is none to be compared unto Thee. Multa fecisti tu Domine Deus meus mirabilia tua et cogitationes tuas pro nobis. Jerome. Thou is emphatic. Jehovah is contrasted with all such objects of reliance as those mentioned in the preceding verse. His ‘marvellous works’ (Psalms 9:1 note) are the embodiment of His ‘thoughts’ or purposes of love toward His people. Cp. Psalms 92:5; Isaiah 55:8-9; Jeremiah 29:11. The rendering of R.V. marg., there is none to be compared unto thee, an exclamation of reverent wonder (cp. Psalms 89:6; Psalms 71:9), is decidedly preferable to that of the A.V., and that of R.V. text, they cannot be set in order unto thee. The P.B.V. and yet there is no man that ordereth them unto thee (cp. Isaiah 40:14) is improbable. they are moe than can be numbered] Or, than I can tell of (Psalms 26:7). Moe as the comparative of many is an archaism which has disappeared from modern editions of the Bible. The word for they are more may mean they are mightier. Their number and their greatness alike baffle human powers to celebrate. Cp. John 21:25.

Psalms 40:6-8

6–8. True service consists not in material sacrifices but in obedience to the will of God. The stanza is an answer to the implied question, How should man express his gratitude? It affirms the common prophetic doctrine that sacrifice was in itself of no value apart from the dispositions of heart which it was intended to represent. The new commandment of the Exodus was not sacrifice but obedience (Exodus 15:26). See Psalms 50:7 ff; Psalms 51:16 ff.; 1 Samuel 15:22; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:8; Jeremiah 7:21 ff.

Psalms 40:7

7. Then said I] This was his answer when he became aware of God’s requirements. Lo, I come] Rather as R.V., Lo, I am come: (LXX. ἰ ?äïὺἥ ?êù) the servant’s response to his master’s summons (Numbers 22:38; 2 Samuel 19:20): like ‘Behold me,’ or, ‘Here I am’ (Isaiah 6:9). The object of the coming is not expressed, but is clear from the context. in the volume of the book it is written of me] Better, in a roll of a book is it prescribed to me: though the rendering of A.V., which is that of the LXX, is possible. The exact phrase ‘roll of a book’ occurs only in Jeremiah 36:2; Jeremiah 36:4; Ezekiel 2:9; ‘roll’ only in Jeremiah 36; Ezekiel 3:1-3; Zechariah 5:1-2; Ezra 6:2[16]. Cp. however Isaiah 34:4. The context points to Deuteronomy, or at any rate the nucleus of the teaching contained in it, as the book referred to. The absence of the it article seems to emphasise the fact that a written document is referred to (in a book, cp. Hosea 8:12), rather than to single out a particular document as ‘the book’ par excellence, as the A.V. seems to imply. [16] ‘Roll’ in Isaiah 8:1 (A.V.) should be tabiet.

Psalms 40:8

8. I delight] Cp. Psalms 40:6. What is God’s delight is his delight. Contrast the delight of the wicked in evil, Psalms 40:14. thy will] Thy good pleasure: what Thou approvest (Proverbs 15:8; Psalms 19:14). thy law is within my heart] Lit. in the midst of my body, as though God’s law were itself the heart which gives life to his whole being (Psalms 22:14). Such was God’s demand of Israel (Deuteronomy 6:6); such is the characteristic of the righteous (Psalms 37:31; Isaiah 51:7): such is to be the universal condition in the Messianic age (Jeremiah 31:33). The law will be graven not on tablets of stone (Exodus 32:15 f.), but on the tablet of the heart (Proverbs 3:3; Proverbs 7:3). Psalms 40:6-8 a are quoted in Hebrews 10:5-7 according to the LXX[17], with some slight variations. The writer is contrasting Christ’s perfect obedience with the inefficacy of the sacrifices of the Law, and he puts these words into His mouth as the most fitting expression of the purpose of His life. The willing obedience which the Psalmist of old was taught to recognise as the divine requirement for himself and Israel was carried to its completion, was ‘fulfilled,’ in Christ. The variation of the LXX from the Hebrew may seem to present a serious difficulty. But the appropriateness of the quotation does not depend on this particular clause, and the rendering of the LXX, whatever its origin, has in effect a sense analogous to the sense of the original. As the ear is the instrument for receiving the divine command, so the body is the instrument for fulfilling it.

The possession of a body implies the duty of service, in the same way that the possession of hearing implies the duty of obedience. See Bp. Westcott’s note. [17] The reading of the LXX is σῶμαδὲκατηρτίσωμοι, a body didst thou Prepare for me. This reading is attested by the Vulgate. Aures in the Gallican Psalter is a correction. καταρτίζεσθαι occurs in the LXX as the rendering of several Hebrew words, and might easily have been chosen to represent the obscure thou hart dug. ‘Body’ for ‘ears’ may then have been a free paraphrase. But the reading may have originated in an ancient corruption of the Greek text. Through a repetition of the final ϲ of the preceding word and the change of Ⲱ ?ⲧ ?ⲓ ?Ⲁ ? into Ⲱ ?Ⲙ ?Ⲁ ?, Ⲏ ?θελⲎ ?Ⲥ ?Ⲁ ?Ⲥ ?ωⲦ ?ⲓ ?ⲁ ? might easily have become Ⲏ ?θελⲎ ?Ⲥ ?Ⲁ ?Ⲥ ?Ⲥ ?ωⲘ ?Ⲁ ?.

Psalms 40:9-11

9–11. Beside the sacrifice of himself, he has not failed to render the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, by the fullest public proclamation of Jehovah’s goodness, which he trusts he will still continue to experience.

Psalms 40:10

10. Neither indolence nor ingratitude nor fear of man has deterred him from openly celebrating those fundamental attributes of the divine character which have been once more manifested in his deliverance. For thy righteousness, see Psalms 5:8, note; for lovingkindness, faithfulness, righteousness, cp. Psalms 36:5-7; Psalms 36:10; for truth and salvation, Psalms 25:5; lovingkindness and truth, Psalms 25:10.

Psalms 40:11

11. Thou, O Jehovah, wilt not restrain Thy tender mercies from me, Thy lovingkindness and thy truth shall continually guard me. The words are not a prayer but an expression of confidence in the certainty of God’s response (Matthew 10:32). Thou is emphatic. God on His part will not fail. The double correspondence with Psalms 40:9-10 should be noted. As he has not restrained his lips, so, he trusts, God will not restrain His tender mercies: as he has not ceased to acknowledge God’s lovingkindness and truth, so that lovingkindness and truth will not cease to protect him. Cp. Psalms 25:21; Psalms 61:7; Isaiah 63:15.

Psalms 40:12-17

12–17. The scene is changed. The sky is overclouded. Supplication for speedy help in time of danger takes the place of joyous thanksgiving.

Psalms 40:13

13. Psalms 40:13-17 recur as Psalms 70, with some verbal variations. Be pleased] An echo of ‘thy good pleasure’ (‘thy will’) in Psalms 40:8. The word is omitted in Psalms 70, and in the first line, though not in the second, God is substituted for Lord, according to the usual rule in Book II See Introd., p. lv f. make haste to hell me] Cp. Psalms 38:22; Psalms 22:19.

Psalms 40:14

14. The whole verse is a repetition, with variations, of Psalms 35:4; Psalms 35:26 (cp. Psalms 38:12); and v. 5-17 recall v. 21, 25, 27, 10 of the same Psalm. Together and to destroy it are omitted in Psalms 70:2. let them be driven backward &c.] Render, as in Psalms 35; Let them be turned back and brought to dishonour That delight in my hurt. Contrast Psalms 35:27 with the last line.

Psalms 40:15

15. R.V., Let them be desolate (Lamentations 1:16) by reason of their shame, the defeat of their malicious plans: or, less probably, let them be astonished (Leviticus 26:32) for a reward of their shame, at the shame which is their recompense. Psalms 70:4 reads let them turn back, as in Psalms 6:10. The difference of reading probably arose out of the confusion of sound or form between M and B (ιωξε—ιωαε). Aha, aha] The exclamation of malicious pleasure at another’s misfortune. Cp. Psalms 35:21; Psalms 35:25.

Psalms 40:16

16. Cp. Psalms 35:27. The discomfiture of the wicked gives occasion for the righteous to rejoice in God, not merely because they are set free from persecution, but because they see in it the proof of God’s righteous sovereignty and the unfolding of His purposes of salvation. such as love thy salvation] Cp. Psalms 40:10 : and the corresponding N.T. thought in 2 Timothy 4:8.

Psalms 40:17

17. The Psalmist reverts to his own need, but in calm assurance that he is not forgotten. But I, who am afflicted and needy:— The Lord will take thought for me. For afflicted and needy, see Psalms 9:18; Psalms 35:10; Psalms 37:14; Psalms 86:1; Psalms 109:22. With will take thought for me, cp. Psalms 40:5 (thoughts): Jonah 1:6. Psalms 70:5 reads O God, make haste unto me, probably an alteration suggested by the parallelism, make no tarrying. My help, as in Psalms 27:9 : my deliverer, as in Psalms 18:2; Psalms 18:48 (a different word from deliver in Psalms 40:13). make no tarrying] Cp. Daniel’s prayer, Daniel 9:19 (A.V. defer not); and the promise, Isaiah 46:13