Psalms 69

Psalms 69. THE Psalm is “a prayer of one suffering severely from men, for the sake of God.” The sufferer gives a representation of his misery, ver. 1-4, next intimates that he suffers for the sake of God, that he has drawn upon himself the hatred of his aban-doned foes, on account of his zeal for the glory and the pure worship of God, ver. 5-12, prays on this solid foundation that God would deliver him, ver. 13-18, turns back and describes his necessity, and the wickedness of his enemies, ver. 19-21, and thus prepares for the expression of his desire that they may be destroyed, ver. 22-28, intimates, after a short expression of his hope, ver. 29, his resolution to glorify the Lord by render ing thanks, and his hope that the faith of all the pious will be confirmed by his deliverance, ver. 30-33, and concludes with the joyful expectation, arising from the revelation of God in his own experience, that God shall deliver Zion and build up the cities of Judah, ver. 34-36. The prayer for the vengeance of God upon the enemies, and likewise the conclusion, are contained in the complete number of seven, which in the last case is divided into a four and a three. The preceding part contains 21 verses, 3 times 7, but there are no farther traces in detail of a formal arrangement. The remarks made on Psalms 22., and also on Psalms 6:35.xxxviii. 40. and 41., as to the subject, are equally applicable here. The Psalm does not refer to any individual sufferer: the speaker is the suffering righteous man; there are no individual references whatever. In ver. 26, as in Psalms 16:10, a plurality which had hitherto been concealed under a unity, comes for-ward.

Calvin ascertained the correct view: “David wrote this Psalm not so much in his own name, as in the person of the whole church, and it is like a glass, in which the common lot of all the pious is placed before our eyes.” The remarks made on Psalms 22. vol. i. p. 361, are conclusive against the idea adopt-ed by many, that the subject of the Psalm is the people. In common with all the Psalms referred to above, there is in this one the appearance of exaggeration in the description of the sufferings.

This, however, is to be accounted for by the circumstance, that the various features which lie scattered in connection with individual sufferers, are brought together in these Psalms into one great martyr-image. The peculiarities which are based here on grounds common to all these Psalms, are: 1st, The copiousness in the description of just judgments upon the enemies, evidently designed to serve as a strong bulwark to the righteous man against despair, in view of their wickedness, by which, in the end, they do nothing more than draw down upon their own guilty heads the terrible vengeance of God: and, 2d, The strong prominence given to the circumstance, that the suf-ferer suffers for the sake of God, extending to all placed in simi-lar circumstances a strong support, on which they may rise to the hope of deliverance. In the New Testament there is no one Psalm, with the except-tion of the 22d, which is so frequently quoted and applied to Christ, as the one before us, (compare the passages referred toin the exposition), not only by the Apostles, but also by Christ himself;-a fact, the consideration of which ought to be enoughto make De Wette ashamed of his opinion: “a Psalm composedin a plaintive style, in an exaggerated tone, and with depraved taste.” Many old expositors have hence been induced to adopt a direct Messianic exposition. But these quotations do by no means justify such an exposition, inasmuch as the Psalm, even though it refer to the suffering-righteous man, is still a prophecy of Christ, in whom the idea of righteousness was personified, and in whose case, the intimate connection spoken of in the Psalm between righteousness and the opposition of sinners, was exemplified in living reality,-as seen in the sufferings which he endured from an ungodly world: compare on Psalms 22. No ar-gument against the Messianic view can be drawn from “the exe-crations directed against the enemies, as inconsistent with the magnanimous and forgiving character of Jesus;” but a very de-cided one is furnished by the confessions of sin, which by this exposition are either lost sight of, or are made to refer to im-puted sin; compare at Psalms 40. Then, it is impossible to disjoin the Psalm from those above quoted.

The title intimates that the Psalm was composed by David. A very weighty argument in favour of this assertion, may be drawn from the fact, that the name of David is inscribed on the titles of all the Psalms which are nearly related in thought and language to this one-related in such a manner as to demand the assumption of the identity a of the author, as they all bear the character of originality.

It would be a singular fact, if the author of the titles had ascribed all these Psalms to their real author, and assigned them to David. Modern criticism has here a problem which it may attempt to solve. The arguments against David are not of such weight as to coun-terbalance such a weighty testimony. Much stress has been laid on “the reference to the captivity,” in ver. 33-36. Even a Ewald remarks, and Kצster agrees with him, that “our Psalm manifests such a strong similarity, not in the least proceeding from imitation to Psalms 35:38 :; Psalms 35:40. that it must have been composed by the same author.” Hitzig says, “The author of the 40. Psalm, whoever he was, must be identi-cally the same with the author of the 69.” In reference to Psalms 6:22:31 :the same remarks are manifestly applicable: compare the exposition,-Hitzig: “The similarity between 69:32 and 22:26, can only be explained by the assumption, that they have been the product of the same mind.“though there were really such a reference in these verses, it would be necessary to set it aside by ascribing this portion of the Psalm to a later author. For the temple is spoken of in verse 9, as still standing.a But, according to a correct exposi-tion, it is manifest, that these verses contain nothing more than a general expression of hope of salvation for Israel, and of the removal of all troubles, such as those of which David saw so much with his own eyes, in the days of Saul and Absalom. We must certainly consider it as singular, when it is further as-serted that relations such as the one which is here so prominent, existed for the first time in later days, when the state came to be in a declining condition, and ungodliness was fearfully pre-dominant. These relations were certainly in those days very distinctly marked; and the history of Jeremiah, for example, is altogether one peculiarly well fitted to represent to us the situation of the subject of our Psalm. But, in point of fact, the condition of the world, as far as the troubles of the godly are concerned, has been substantially the same in all ages, ever since the days of Cain and Abel, (compare Matthew 23:35); and in these matters it is preposterous to attempt to define year and day.

David had sufficient opportunity, from personal experience, to know as much of this condition as to enable him to generalize what had come under his own immediate notice. It was his fear of God, his zeal for the glory of God and for the purity of the worship of God, that was the real cause of his sufferings, in the days of Saul and Absalom. We may compare the mention of the enemies of the Lord, who at the same time were the bitter enemies of David, in 2 Samuel 12:14, and of " the enemies” and “the revengeful,” in Psalms 8:2. Should it be maintained, that the execrations upon the enemies, are what one would not have expected from David, it will be sufficient to read 1 Samuel 26:19, 2 Samuel 3:29, and other passages. Title. To the chief Musician, on the lilies, by David. “Onthe lilies” indicates the beauty of the subject treated of: com-pare at Psalms 45. We may understand that by this is meant, either, on comparing with Psalms 45. the righteous, at ver. 28, or the servants of the Lord, at verse 36, or even the lovely consola-tions and aids of the Lord, his ישועות, at verse 1 and 29, ona Ewald’s attempt to set aside this troublesome fact, serves only to shew that it is completely impossible to do so.comparing with Psalms 60. The similarity in point of sound be-tween שושנים and הושיעני, with which the Psalm begins, is perhaps not accidental, but was designed by the Psalmist to serve as an index, pointing to the true interpretation of a title which proceeded from himself.

Psalms 69:1-4

First, in ver. 1-4, the complaint. Ver. 1. Help, O God, for the water goes into my soul. Ver. 2. I sink in the slime of the deep, where there is no bottom, I have come into deep waters and the flood covers me over. Ver. 3. I have wearied myself with crying, my throat is hoarse, my eyes fail while I wait for my God. Ver. 4. Those who hate me without cause are more in number than the hairs upon my head, my destroyers, my lying enemies are mighty, I shall restore that which I did not take away.-In reference to the figure of water in the first and following verses, compare at Psalms 40:2. When one is covered over with water, the water comes into his soul = his life: com-pare Jeremiah 4:10. Jonah 2:6.-In the first clause of ver. 2, the יון, which occurs only here and in Psalms 40:2, is not “a slimy cistern,” but “the slime of deep water.” This is evident from מצולה, the deep, the abyss, which is always used of “the deep sea,” and from the parallelism in the second clause. The Berleb. Bible: “If the abyss be only full of water, a good swimmer has still the hope of rising to the surface.” מעמד is not the partic. Hoph. (in that case איני would have accompanied it), but a noun formed from it.-On “I am wearied in my crying,” (that is, “with it,"-the effect existing in the cause), in the 3d verse, compare Psalms 6:6, “I am weary with my groaning.” The crying also is referred to, “in my throat is burnt,” “has inflamed it-self,"-the Niph. fr. הרר, as the exciting cause.

The eyes fail: lose their power of vision, when a person keeps them long on the stretch, fixed upon a distant object, in hope of it coming nearer, till the outlines become better defined. The Berleb.

Bible: “Just as it happens to those who look for a long time steadily at “any thing, so is such a soul sensible of its own weakness, the eye of its faith becomes weaker and weaker.” Compare Psalms 119:82, Lamentations 4:17. The cause of the crying isgiven in; “the waiting upon my God.” מיהל is the nomin. and not the genitive. The Psalmist goes on as if he had written עיני כליתי.�On “they are more numerous than the hairs of my head,” in ver. 4, compare Psalms 40:12. “Who hate me without cause,” and “my lying enemies,” occur connected together exactly in the same way, in Psalms 35:19 : the quota-tion in Jo. x v. 25, refers to both passages: compare also Ps. 38:19. These verbal references to one another, as they are peculiar to those Davidic Psalms which describe the Right-eous One, are manifestly designed to exhibit these Psalms as so many links of one common chain, or parts of one great picture. The expression, “I shall replace what I did not take away,” is, like the similar expression, “they ask me what I do not know,” in Psalms 35:11, to be understood neither historically nor figuratively, nor proverbially, but as an individualizing trait, descriptive of what, in the circumstances, might really occur. David experienced something similar when Shimei said to him, 2 Samuel 16:8, “The Lord. recompenses on thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose room thou hast been made king, and the Lord gives the kingdom into the hand of thy son Absalom.”

Psalms 69:5-12

The sufferer must indeed see in his misery the punishment which his sins have deserved, but yet, notwithstanding this, he can claim the assistance of God; because not to deliver him would be as much as to put to shame all the faithful, as he is suffering for the sake of God, ver. 5-7-12.-Ver. 5. O God, thou knowest my foolishness, and mine iniquities are not hid from thee. Ver. 6. Let me not be put to shame who wait on thee, O Lord God, God of hosts; those who seek thee shall not be put to shame in me, O God of Israel. Ver. 7. Because for thy sake I bear reproach, shame covers my face. Ver. 8. I was strange to my brethren, and estranged from the sons of my mother. Ver. 9.

For the zeal of thy house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach thee have fallen upon me. Ver. 10. And I weep, my soul fasts, and it is turned to my reproach. Ver. 11. I have put on sackcloth, and I serve them for a proverb. Ver. 12.

They think upon me who sit in the gate, and on songs the drunkards.–Ver. 5. is generally understood. as a protesta-tion of innocence on the part of the sufferer: “thou knowest whether I am chargeable or not,” that is, “that I am not.” But a reference to Psalms 38:3-5, especially to the wordswhich occur there, “because of my foolishness”-the אולת only in that Psalm and this passage-and to Psalms 6:1; Psalms 40:12; Psalms 41:4, makes it manifest that the words are to be taken in their most obvious sense, (my foolishness, my iniquities, comp. ver. 19), as an acknowledgment of guilt on the part of the Psalmist, which, according to the just judgment of God, had brought upon him the unjust persecution of his enemies. The connec-tion between the 5th and 6th verses is not outwardly apparent. In reality, in verse 5 there is an “indeed,” and in verse 6 a “but:” “My suffering is indeed deserved, but thou canst not let me perish, because in me all thy faithful people would beput to shame.” The ידע with ל, is to know in reference to something, or about something.-On verse 6. compare on Psalms 25:3, “those who wait on thee shall not be ashamed, those shall be put to shame who act perfidiously without a cause.” This position would be annihilated were the sufferer to be de-stroyed. For in him as their representative, or in his case, through his fate, all who wait on God would at the same time be put to shame. The names of God point to his omnipotence, which guarantees the power, and to his relation to Israel, which guarantees the will to prevent such a consummation. Calvin: “He represents this danger before God, not because he stands in need of being reminded, but because he encourages us to deal in confidence with him."-In verse 7, the sufferer lays the foun-dation for his assertion that all who fear God would be put to shame by his destruction: he suffers for the sake of God; and this is a sure proof, that he belongs to their number, and that in his case that of all the fearers of God is at the same timedecided. In reference to the עליך, for thy sake, compare at Psalms 44:22, and Jeremiah 15:15. The 9th verse here serves as a commentary.

On “it covers my face,” compare at Psalms 44:16. In reference to the prominence given to reproach, Calvin: “which is more bitter to an honourable man than to suffer a hundred deaths.

For many will be found ready to suffer death, who cannot bear reproach."-The more full expansion of ver. 7 follows in verses 8 and 9; the expansion of “I bear re-proach,” in verse 8, where the magnitude of the reproach is indicated by the individualizing feature, that even the nearest relatives draw back from aversion, (compare at Psalms 38:11, this David himself had probably, in the time of Saul, expe-rienced in a painful manner, Psalms 27:10, if even his parents forsook him what had he to expect from his brethren, who were less likely to understand him, and 1 Samuel 17:28;) next the expansion of “for thy sake,” in verse 9. The two clauses of the verse do not stand in synonymous parallelism, but are to be thus explained: zeal for thy house hath consumed me, and for this reason, the reproaches of those who reproach thee, have fallen upon me, i. e. even my nearest relatives are estrang-ed from me, because, in consequence of my burning zeal for the house of God, the reproaches of his enemies have assailed me, and covered me with shame. “It consumes me,” does not refer at all to the outward consequences of zeal,-according to Stier, “it brings upon me loss, inasmuch as it has drawn upon me per-secution and death from the adversaries;” but to its inward in-tensity,-it wears me away, as Luther says, “I am zealous almost to death,” and in accordance with John 2:17 : This is manifest from the parallel passage, Psalms 119:139, “My zeal consumes me, that my enemies forget thy words.” It is clear from Isaiah 1:11, and following verses, what we are to understand by zeal for the house of the Lord,-the temple, as the centre of the whole Israelitish religion. Samuel was zealous for the house of the Lord, when he said to Saul, “behold, obedience is better than sacrifice.” David himself displayed this zeal, when he inculcated the utter uselessness of merely outward offerings, and of the whole of mere outward worship, and when he cried out procul profani to all hy-pocrites: compare, for example, Psalms 4:5; Psalms 15:24:6; Psalms 51:16; Psalms 51:17. Every one who is animated with this burning zeal for the house of God, will naturally draw upon himself the reproaches of all the enemies of God. The first half of the verse is quoted in John 2:17, and the second half in Rona. xv, 3.-In ver. 10-12, the sufferer individualizes and enlarges still farther upon the thought, that his zeal for the house of the Lord had drawn upon him the re-proaches of the open ungodly and of the hypocritical world. The repetition in verse 10 out of verse 9, points to this relation.

The fasting and weeping are united here as they are in 2 Samuel 12:16; 2 Samuel 12:21; 2 Samuel 12:22, where also they come from the lips of David. The fasting there is expressive of repentance, as it is at Psalms 35:13. The sufferer represents himself here as mourning, repent-ing for his people, in order to prevail upon God to pity him, and to mitigate the threatened judgment. But this, his holy mourn-ing, which should lead all to repentance, is made the subject of profane ridicule by the enemies of God. The connection with ver. 9 is decisive against the assumption that the Psalmist is speaking of mourning over his own sufferings. The soul appears also in the law as having particularly to do with fasting: compare at Psalms 35:13.-On verse 11 compare Psalms 35:13, and in re-ference to משל at Psalms 44:1. The שיה with ב, means here, as always, to think upon. That it is a thinking with a view to sal-lies of wit at the expense of the rueful enthusiasts, the holy, orwould-be-holy, who hang the head, is manifest from the connec-tion with what goes before, and still more clearly from the second clause, where ישיהו requires to be added.

The gate was the place for the transaction of serious business: compare Lamentations 5:14. Rth 4:1; Rth 4:2, Joshua 20:4. Stier is therefore correct: tam in concessibus seriis quam ludicris. The gate is never spoken of as “the place of social rest.”

Psalms 69:13-18

The preceding prayer was followed by the basis on which it rests, viz.: the greatness of the trouble, and the circumstance that the sufferer had been brought into it for the sake of God. Now is the time for the prayer to come in again in an ex-panded form, ver. 13-18, and in close dependance on the de-scription of the distress in ver. 1-3: inasmuch as I have been brought into such distress for thy sake, do thou deliver me out of the slime, &c. Ver. 13. But I pray to thee, O Lord! a time of grace, O Lord, through the fulness of thy compassion! hear me through thy delivering truth. Ver. 14. Deliver me out of the slime, and let me not sink, let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Ver. 15. Let not the water flood overflow me, and let not the deep swallow me up, and let not the well shut its mouth upon me. Ver. 16. Hear me, O Lord, for good is thy compassion, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, turn thou to me. Ver. 17. And conceal not thy face from thy servant, for I am in trouble, make haste and hear me. Ver. 18. Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it, set me free because of mine enemies.-In ver. 13. the אני is empha-tically placed first, as in Psalms 35:13; Psalms 41:12. The עת is not the accus. at the time, (עת is never thus used), but the nom.: (“may it be, or may there come) a time of grace.” A time of grace is a time when God makes his grace known: compare Isaiah 49:8, where the parallel expression is a “day of salvation,” and 61:2, where, in opposition to “a year of grace,” there is “a day of vengeance.” Verse 16 furnishes a commentary, (comp. Psalms 71:2) on ב, through, in virtue of. “Through thy salvation-sending truth,” (according to which thou fulfillest the prophecies given to thy people), of the third clause, is parallel to “through the fulness of thy compassion,” of the second.-In verse 14, the “out of deep waters,” taken from the 2d verse, is explained by the preceding “from those that hate me:” compare at Psalms 18:4. -In verse 15, the “well” is a figurative expression, as “the pit,” בור at Psalms 40:2, for “deep water:” the well shuts itsmouth over him whom the billows overwhelm. The connection will not permit us to entertain the idea of a cistern and its lid. The word, moreover, has not this sense.-The Compassion of God, verse 16, is good, because it is great: compare the parallel expression, “according to the fulness of thy tender mercy,” and “the fulness of thy compassion,” in ver. 13. עוב never has the sense of “great.” Calvin: “It is certainly a very difficult thing to represent God as gracious to us, at a time when he is angry, and as near at hand, when he is far away."-On “draw nigh,” in verse 18, compare “be not far from me,” in Psalms 22:11. My soul, exposed to danger: compare verse 1. Psalms 13:4, “lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against me, mine adversaries rejoice not, when I fail,” furnishes a commentary on “because of mine enemies.”

Psalms 69:19-21

In verses 19-21, the Psalmist turns back to the description of his trouble, and of the wickedness of his enemies, for the purpose of laying a foundation for the second group of petitions, which are directed to righteous judgment upon his enemies. The three verses of this paragraph are connected with the seven of the following, and form together one decade.-Ver. 19. Thou knowest my reproach and my shame, and my dishonour; mine adversaries are all before thee. Ver. 20. Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am sick, and I wait for sympathy, and there is none, and for comforters, and I find none. Ver. 21. And they give me gall to eat, and in my thirst they give me vinegar to drink.-As God knows the sufferings of the righteous man, he cannot but avert them, and as he knows the wickedness of his enemies, he cannot but judge them, ver. 19 and 22, It is a great consolation in unmerited sufferings, when reflections on the om-niscience of God take full possession of the soul.-The נוש in verse 20 = אנש, to be sick: compare Psalms 6:2.�After the ene-mies had succeeded so far with the sufferer as to have wounded him in body and mind, they might have been supposed to have become terrified at the work of their own hands, and to have changed their hatred into sympathy. But their unfeeling heart aggravates his misery: instead of giving him cordials in his sickness, which they should have done, they gave him gall and vinegar.-The בברותי, (compare the cognate noun and verb in 2 Samuel 12:17; 2 Samuel 13:6; 2 Samuel 13:19), is not “in my food,” but “for my food,” according to the second clause, where the vinegar is the drink itself, and not some bad substance mixed with it. The ראש occurs undoubtedly, and is generally allowed to do so, inthe general sense of “something very bitter,” in Deuteronomy 32:32; Deuteronomy 32:33, Job 20:6 : the assumed special sense of “some particular bitter and poisonous root,” is not necessarily demanded by any of the remaining passages: the general sense is everywhere suit-able; “bitterness and melancholy” suit very well together.a In all probability, the word, according to Psalms 141:4, Ezekiel 30:23, and Son 4:13, is to be explained by “the head of bitternesses,” or “something bitter as gall.” Several times ראש has the kindred sense of poisonous, which in the Old Tes-tament is frequently connected with bitterness. But the con-nection with vinegar makes it manifest that it is only the senseof “something bitter” which it bears here. The לצמאי is pro-perly “for my thirst.” Vinegar quenches thirst, but in an un-pleasant way. Two circumstances at the crucifixion of our Lord stand in reference to this verse. First, “they gave him vinegar to drink mixed with gall, and when he had tasted he would not drink it,” Matthew 32:34. Matthew, in his usual way, refers to theological views in his narrative of the drink: always keeping his eye on the prophecies of the Old Testament, he speaks of vinegar and gall for the purpose of rendering the fulfilment of the passage in the Psalms more manifest.

Mark again, 15:23, according to his usual way, looks rather at the outward quality of the drink: it was, according to him (sour) wine mixed with myrrh, the usual drink of malefactors. This drink, as given to malefactors, was a kindness, but as given to the personification of suffering righteousness, it was a severe and bitter mortification. Second, Jesus cried, according to John xis. 28, (compare Matthew 28:48), when he knew that every thing was accomplished that the scripture might be fulfilled, “I thirst,” and after this there was vinegar given him to drink. The dying Saviour, in fulfilment of this passage, cried “I thirst:” the action was a symbolical one, embodying the figure of the Psalm.a Goussett remarks: “as ראש is applied to so many kinds of subjects, it seems properly to denote no one kind in particular, but any one in which the quality resides.”

Psalms 69:22-28

In Ver. 22-28 we have the wish for righteous judgment on the enemies, and the prayers for the same.-Ver. 22. May their table before them become a snare, and to those who feel secure, let there be a fall. Ver. 23. May their eyes become dark, that they do not see, and may their loins continually shake. Ver. 24. Scatter upon them thy wrath, and may the hot fire of thy indignation reach them. Ver. 25. May their habitation be desolate, and may no one dwell in their tents. Ver. 26. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and they talk of the pain of those who are pierced through by thee. Ver. 27. Give iniquity upon their iniquity, and let them not come to thy righteousness. Ver. 28. May they be blotted out of the book of the living, and may they not be written with the righteous.–That in reference to this paragraph, we cannot entertain the idea of “a zeal which belongs to the Old but not to the New Testament,” and that the Psalmist does not stand in need of the generosity of those who would frame an excuse for his “too sensitive heart,” is obvious, apart from general considerations, from the fact, that the Saviour in his last moments, emphatically referred to the Psalm, the peculiar character of which is unquestionably taken from this paragraph, that, in Matthew 23:38, he quoted the 25th verse as descriptive of the desolation which was to come upon Judah, that the same verse, in Acts 1:20, is quoted by Peter as fulfilled in Judas, Judah’s type, and that Paul, in Romans 11:9; Romans 11:10, finds in verses 22 and 23, a prophecy of the fate of the Jews. The wish for divine judgment on ungodly wicked-ness, can be considered as objectionable, only if we are prepar-ed to deny this judgment itself, in manifest contradiction to the New, no less than to the Old Testament: compare, for example, Matthew 21:41, 22:7, 24:51.

Assuredly, it becomes us to approach passages of scripture such as the one now before us with fear and trembling: and assuredly, in ungodly lips, they may be used in a very ungodly Manner. Luther: “After the ex-ample of a Peter, Paul, James, David and Elisha, assuredly thou mayest curse in the name of God, and thereby perform an ac-ceptable service to God.” Calvin: “There is need of wisdomto make a distinction between the reprobate, and those who are still within the reach of salvation; of purity, that every one be not partial to his own self; and of moderation, which inclines the spirit to quiet patience.”–In ver. 22, the sense is: because they have aggravated my misery by terrible wickedness, therefore may their happiness, (their table, their richly furnish-ed table, compare Psalms 23:5, with reference to the figure of the preceding verse), become the cause of their destruction. Calvin: “This vengeance of God, should fill us with no small degree of alarm, as the Holy Ghost says that all the blessings of life become fraught with death to the reprobate.” Theשלום, properly a noun, is used here as an adjective, as it is in Psalms 55:20, “who are altogether at peace:” compare 1 Thess. v. 3.-In ver. 26, those pierced of the Lord, according to the parallelism, and according to Isaiah 66:16, and Jerem. 25:33, “those pierced through by him,” or, “those wounded even to death,” are those who are severely distressed, namely, those who are so by the wicked, (comp. 2 Samuel 16:11, where David says, “let him curse, for the Lord has bid him”); for in the whole Psalm there is no mention made of any other suffering, except that inflicted by the enemies: comp. “by those who hate me,” in ver. 14. Regardless of “res sacra miser,” (comp. Job 19:21; Job 19:22, “have pity upon me, ye, my friends, for the hand of the Lord has afflicted me: wherefore will ye persecute me, as God?”) they persecute when they should help, and rejoice, when they should mourn:-as the Jews, when Pilate brought forth Jesus to them, instead of being affected by the sight of his sufferings, and led to the thought of Luk 23:31, cried out, “crucify him, cru-cify him.” On ספר with ל, compare at Psalms 2:7. The connection and the parallel passage, Psalms 41:8, shew that, they talk of the pain, in the sense of triumphing, exulting, exhorting one another, to com-plete their work by giving the sufferer the last blow.-The first clause of ver. 27 is to be explained: give transgression, in its consequences, (compare at Psalms 40:12) upon their transgressions, as the punishment: compare Jeremiah 18:23, “Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me, forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight.” It is manifest, for example, from Romans 2:6, ss., that the Psalmist is not praying, merely as his sufferings may prompt him, but is utter-ing at the same time the language of prophecy. Many expositors understand the words of an increase of iniquity and punishment. Luther: “Let them fall into one sin after another.” But there is no parallel passage in favour of this sense; and the second clause here, and the following verse, are altogether against it, where the language refers to the judgment, and the visitation of the guilt of the wicked by God, and not to an an increase of this. בוא with ב signifies always, “to come in to any thing,” and here, as in Exodus 16:7, in the sense of “to be partaker of.” Righteous-ness is here, as it frequently is, not an inherent quality, but the gift of God: compare Psalms 24:5; Psalms 132:9. The man whose sins God visits, is shut out from his righteousness.-“To be blotted out of the book of life,” verse 28, of which mention is first made in Exodus 32:32, is to be devoted to death, withreference to the early and sudden death threatened to the wick-ed in the law: compare Psalms 37:29. The book of life refers here to temporal, but in the New Testament to eternal life: Philippians 4:3, Revelation 20:15. “To be written with the righteous” is the parallel clause. For the righteous are written in the book of life, are ordained to life.

Psalms 69:29

In the 29th verse, by an easy transition, as the prayer rests on such a solid basis, hope takes the place of prayer:-And I am miserable and a sufferer, thy salvation, O God, will exalt me. “And I” marks the opposition to the enemies devoted to destruction in spite of their prosperity. The chief thought is in the second clause, which should in reality be preceded by a “but,” just as the first clause should have an “indeed.” On שגב, compare at Psalms 20:1; Psalms 59:1.

Psalms 69:30-36

The confidence of deliverance gives rise, in the last strophe, to the resolution to give thanks, ver. 30 and 31, to the hope that this deliverance will strengthen the faith of all the righteous, ver. 32 and 33, and finally, in ver. 34-36, to the lively hope of Zion’s salvation, a pledge of which the Psalmist sees in his own, which, in the exercise of faith, he has come to anticipate as certain. The threefold consequences of the anticipated deliverance of the Psalmist, are peculiarly well-fitted to prevail upon God, to whom the praise of his own people, the confirming of the righteous, and the enlivening of the hope of Zion’s deliverance, cannot but be well pleasing, to grant this deliverance.-Ver. 30.I will praise the name of God in a song, and exalt him with songs of praise. Ver. 31. This will please the Lord better than bulls, bullocks with horns and hoofs. Ver. 32. The meek shall see it and rejoice, ye who seek God, may your heart live. Ver. 33. For the Lord hears the needy, and does not despise his fet-tered ones. Ver. 34. May the heaven and earth praise him, the sea, and every thing which moveth therein. Ver. 35. For God shall deliver Zion, and build up the cities of Judah, and they dwell there, and they occupy it. Ver. 36. And the seed of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell therein.-In the 31st verse, the inward offering of the heart- believer is opposed to the merely outward offering of the hypo-crite: compare at Psalms 50:51. Where such spiritual thank-offer-ings are to be expected, God cannot be otherwise than inclined to help. The predicates of the bullocks-the מפריס, accord-ing to the analogy of מקרין, not cleaving the hoofs, as Leviticus 11:4, but having hoofs, as Leviticus 11:3, and other passages-set before our eyes the whole brute creation, and intimate that such a mere material offering cannot be an object well-pleasing to God, who is a spirit. All bodily service belongs to the same class with bullocks that have horns and hoofs.-On the second half of ver. 32 compare the exactly parallel passage Psalms 22:26.-On verse 33, “for, as my example shews, &c.”, compare Psalms 22:24. The fettered ones of the Lord” are either those whom he has fettered, that is, visited with severe suffering, according to verse 26, or those who are fettered for his sake, according to verse 7. -In the 34th and following verses, the Psalmist beholds in the special deliverance vouchsafed to him, a pledge of a deliver-ance of a general character, and in the distinction made by God between him and his enemies, security for the victory of the whole church of God, and for the salvation to be imparted to her. God helps Zion, verse 35, inasmuch as he overthrows the wicked, by whom he is assailed, and rebuilds the cities of Judah which they had laid waste: compare on Psalms 51:18. The mention. made of the temple in verse 9, shews that we are not to think of a destruction such as happened during the Babylonish capti-vity, but only of such destructions as happened, for example, in the time of Saul. The subject to “dwell there”, is the needy of verse 33, “the suffering righteous men”: compare verse 36. What is here said of the dwelling of the righteous” is the op-posite of what is said in verse 25.-On verse 36 compare Isaiah 65:9. Calvin: “Although that land, until the appearance of Christ, was given to the chosen people, yet must we still remember that it was the type of our heavenly native land, and that therefore what is here written of the protection of the church is more truly fulfilled at the present day”.