Psalms 69

A Plea for Deliverance from Persecution

1

For the [music] director, according to [The] Lilies. Of David.

1 Save me, O God, because waters have come up to [my] neck.

2 I sink in [the] mud of the deep, and there is no foothold. I have come to watery depths, and [the] torrent floods over me.

3 I am weary with my calling [out]; my throat is parched. My eyes are exhausted [in my] waiting for my God.

4 More numerous than the hairs of my head are [those] hating me without a cause. [Those who are] destroying me--my enemies wrongfully-- are mighty. What I did not steal, I then must restore.

5 O God, {you yourself know} my foolishness, and my guilty deeds are not hidden from you.

6 Let those who wait for you not be put to shame because of me, O Lord Yahweh [of] hosts. Let those who seek you not be disgraced because of me, O God of Israel.

7 Because on account of you I have borne reproach; disgrace has covered my face.

8 I have become a stranger to my brothers and a foreigner to my mother's sons,

9 because the zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those reproaching you have fallen on me.

10 When I wept in the fasting of my soul, it became reproaches for me.

11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became for them a byword.

12 Those sitting at [the] gate talk about me [as] also [the] songs of [the] drunkards.

13 But as for me, my prayer [is] to you, O Yahweh, for a favorable time, O God, according to the abundance of your loyal love. Answer me with the faithfulness of your salvation.

14 Deliver me from [the] mud and do not let me sink. Let me be delivered from [those who] hate me and from [the] watery depths.

15 Do not let the torrent of waters flood over me, or [the] deep swallow me, or the pit close its mouth over me.

16 Answer me, O Yahweh, because your loyal love [is] good; according to your abundant mercies, turn to me,

17 and do not hide your face from your servant. Because I am in trouble, answer me quickly.

18 Draw near to my soul; redeem it. Because of my enemies, ransom me.

19 You know my reproach, my shame and my disgrace. {Fully known} to you are all my adversaries.

20 Reproach has broken my heart and I am sick. And I hoped for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.

21 They also gave me gall for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

22 Let their table before them be a trap, and their [times of] peace a snare.

23 Let their eyes be dark so they cannot see, and make their loins continually tremble.

24 Pour out your indignation on them, and let your burning anger overtake them.

25 Let their camp be desolate. Let none dwell in their tents,

26 because they persecute [those] whom you, yourself, have struck, and they tell of the pain of [those] you have wounded.

27 {Add guilt on top of their guilt}, and do not let them {be acquitted}.

28 Let them be blotted out of [the] book of [the] living, and let them not be recorded with [the] righteous.

29 But as for me, [though] I [am] afflicted and pained, your salvation will protect me, O God.

30 I will praise the name of God in song, and magnify him with thanksgiving.

31 For Yahweh it will be better than an ox [or] bull, horned [and] hoofed.

32 [The] afflicted will see [and] rejoice. O God seekers, let your heart revive,

33 because Yahweh hears [the] needy and does not despise his [own who are] prisoners.

34 Let heavens and earth praise him, [the] seas and all that moves in them,

35 because God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it.

36 And the offspring of his servants will inherit it, and [those who] love his name will abide in it.

Psalms 69 Commentary

Chapter 69

David complains of great distress. (1-12) And begs for succour. (13-21) He declares the judgments of God. (22-29) He concludes with joy and praise. (30-36)

Verses 1-12 We should frequently consider the person of the Sufferer here spoken of, and ask why, as well as what he suffered, that, meditating thereon, we may be more humbled for sin, and more convinced of our danger, so that we may feel more gratitude and love, constraining us to live to His glory who died for our salvation. Hence we learn, when in affliction, to commit the keeping of our souls to God, that we may not be soured with discontent, or sink into despair. David was hated wrongfully, but the words far more fully apply to Christ. In a world where unrighteousness reigns so much, we must not wonder if we meet with those that are our enemies wrongfully. Let us take care that we never do wrong; then if we receive wrong, we may the better bear it. By the satisfaction Christ made to God for our sin by his blood, he restored that which he took not away, he paid our debt, suffered for our offences. Even when we can plead Not guilty, as to men's unjust accusations, yet before God we must acknowledge ourselves to deserve all that is brought upon us. All our sins take rise from our foolishness. They are all done in God's sight. David complains of the unkindness of friends and relations. This was fulfilled in Christ, whose brethren did not believe on him, and who was forsaken by his disciples. Christ made satisfaction for us, not only by putting off the honours due to God, but by submitting to the greatest dishonours that could be done to any man. We need not be discouraged if our zeal for the truths, precepts, and worship of God, should provoke some, and cause others to mock our godly sorrow and deadness to the world.

Verses 13-21 Whatever deep waters of affliction or temptation we sink into, whatever floods of trouble or ungodly men seem ready to overwhelm us, let us persevere in prayer to our Lord to save us. The tokens of God's favour to us are enough to keep our spirits from sinking in the deepest outward troubles. If we think well of God, and continue to do so under the greatest hardships, we need not fear but he will do well for us. And if at any time we are called on to suffer reproach and shame, for Christ's sake, this may be our comfort, that he knows it. It bears hard on one that knows the worth of a good name, to be oppressed with a bad one; but when we consider what a favour it is to be accounted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus, we shall see that there is no reason why it should be heart-breaking to us. The sufferings of Christ were here particularly foretold, which proves the Scripture to be the word of God; and how exactly these predictions were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, which proves him to be the true Messiah. The vinegar and the gall given to him, were a faint emblem of that bitter cup which he drank up, that we might drink the cup of salvation. We cannot expect too little from men, miserable comforters are they all; nor can we expect too much from the God of all comfort and consolation.

Verses 22-29 These are prophecies of the destruction of Christ's ( psalms 69:22-23 ) upon the unbelieving Jews, in ( romans 11:9 romans 11:10 ) . When the supports of life and delights of sense, through the corruption of our nature, are made the food and fuel of sin, then our table is a snare. Their sin was, that they would not see, but shut their eyes against the light, loving darkness rather; their punishment was, that they should not see, but should be given up to their own hearts' lusts which hardened them. Those who reject God's great salvation proffered to them, may justly fear that his indignation will be poured out upon them. If men will sin, the Lord will reckon for it. But those that have multiplied to sin, may yet find mercy, through the righteousness of the Mediator. God shuts not out any from that righteousness; the gospel excludes none who do not, by unbelief, shut themselves out. But those who are proud and self-willed, so that they will not come in to God's righteousness, shall have their doom accordingly; they themselves decide it. Let those not expect any benefit thereby, who are not glad to be beholden to it. It is better to be poor and sorrowful, with the blessing of the Lord, than rich and jovial, and under his curse. This may be applied to Christ. He was, when on earth, a man of sorrows that had not where to lay his head; but God exalted him. Let us call upon the Lord, and though poor and sorrowful, guilty and defiled, his salvation will set us up on high.

Verses 30-36 The psalmist concludes the psalm with holy joy and praise, which he began with complaints of his grief. It is a great comfort to us, that humble and thankful praises are more pleasing to God than the most costly, pompous sacrifices. The humble shall look to him, and be glad; those that seek him through Christ shall live and be comforted. God will do great things for the gospel church, in which let all who wish well to it rejoice. A seed shall serve him on earth, and his servants shall inherit his heavenly kingdom. Those that love his name shall dwell before him for ever. He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Arise, thou great Restorer of the ancient places to dwell in, and turn away ungodliness from thy people.

Footnotes

• [a]. The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm; the English verse number is reduced by one
• [b]. Hebrew "soul" or "life"
• [c]. Or, "those who oppose me [with] falsehood"
• [d]. Literally "you, you know"
• [e]. Or "temple"
• [f]. Hebrew "and"
• [g]. Literally "[right] in front of"
• [h]. Or "they put poison in my food"
• [i]. Literally "Give guilt on their guilt"
• [j]. Literally "come into your righteousness"
• [k]. The sense is that of making something inaccessibly high, like a fortress
• [l]. That is, mature and ritually clean
• [m]. Or "live"

Chapter Summary

To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, [A Psalm] of David. Of the word "shoshannim," See Gill on "Ps 45:1," title. The Targum renders it, "concerning the removal of the sanhedrim;" which was about the time of Christ's death. The Talmudists {t} say, that forty years before the destruction of the temple, the sanhedrim removed, they removed from the paved chamber, &c. But it can hardly be thought that David prophesied of this affair; nor of the captivity of the people of Israel, as the Targum, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Arama, and R. Obadiah interpret it: and so Jarchi takes the word "shoshannim" to signify lilies, and applies it to the Israelites, who are as a lily among thorns. But not a body of people, but a single person, is spoken of, and in sorrowful and suffering circumstances; and, if the Jews were not blind, they might see that they are the enemies of the person designed, and the evil men from whom he suffered so much. And indeed what is said of him cannot be said of them, nor of any other person whatever but the Messiah: and that the psalm belongs to Christ, and to the times of the Gospel, is abundantly evident from the citations out of it in the New Testament; as

Psalm 69:4 in John 15:25;
Psalm 69:9 in John 2:17;
Psalm 69:21 in Matthew 27:34;
Psalm 69:22 in Romans 11:9;
Psalm 69:25 in Acts 1:16.

The inscription of the psalm in the Syriac version is, "'a psalm' of David, according to the letter, when Shemuah (Sheba), the son of Bichri, blew a trumpet, and the people ceased from following after him (David); but the prophecy is said concerning those things which the Messiah suffered, and concerning the rejection of the Jews." And Aben Ezra interprets Psalm 69:36 of the days of David, or of the days of the Messiah.

{t} T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 8. 2. & Roshhashanah, fol. 31. 1, 2.