Bible Commentaries
Psalms 69

Introduction

THE Psalm is “a prayer of one suffering severely from men, for the sake of God.” The sufferer gives a representation of his misery, Psalms 69:1-4, next intimates that he suffers for the sake of God, that he has drawn upon himself the hatred of his abandoned foes, on account of his zeal for the glory and the pure worship of God, Psalms 69:5-12, prays on this solid foundation that God would deliver him, Psalms 69:13-18, turns back and describes his necessity, and the wickedness of his enemies, Psalms 69:19-21, and thus prepares for the expression of his desire that they may be destroyed, Psalms 69:22-28, intimates, after a short expression of his hope, Psalms 69:29, his resolution to glorify the Lord by rendering thanks, and his hope that the faith of all the pious will be confirmed by his deliverance, Psalms 69:30-33, 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, Psalms 69:34-36.

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, Psalms 35, Psalms 38, Psalms 40 and Psalms 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 Psalms 69:26, as in Psalms 16:10, a plurality which had hitherto been concealed under a unity, comes forward. 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 are conclusive against the idea adopted 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 sufferer suffers for the sake of God, extending to all placed in similar 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 exception of the (Psalms 22) 22d, which is so frequently quoted and applied to Christ, as the one before us, (compare the passages referred to in the exposition), not only by the Apostles, but also by Christ himself;—a fact, the consideration of which ought to be enough to make De Wette ashamed of his opinion: “a Psalm composed in 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 argument against the Messianic view can be drawn from “the execrations directed against the enemies, as inconsistent with the magnanimous and forgiving character of Jesus;” but a very decided one is furnished by the confessions of sin, which can neither be removed by exposition, nor made to refer to imputed 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, and that too, in such a manner as to demand the assumption of the identity [Note: Ewald remarks, and Koester agrees with him, that “our Psalm manifests such a strong similarity, not in the least proceeding from imitation to Psalms 35, 38, 40 that it must have been composed by the same author.” Hitzig says, “The author of the 40 Psalm, whoever he was, must be identically 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.”] of the author, as they all bear the character of originality, have the name of David in their titles. It would be a singular fact, if the author of the titles had ascribed all these Psalms to their real author, and had made them over to the one David. Modern criticism has here a problem which it may attempt to solve.

The arguments against David are not of such weight as to counterbalance this strong evidence. Much stress has been laid on “the reference” to “the captivity,” in Psalms 69:33-36. Even 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 Psalms 69:9, as still standing. [Note: Ewald’s attempt to set aside this troublesome fact, serves only to shew that it is completely impossible to do so.] But, from the correct exposition, 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 asserted that relations such as the one which is here in question, existed for the first time in later days, when the state came to be in a declining condition, and ungodliness was fearfully predominant. 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 formed the deepest ground of his sufferings, in the days of Saul and Absalom. We may compare the mention of the enemies of the Lord, of what it was that exasperated the 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. “On the lilies” indicates the beauty of the subject treated of: compare at Psalms 45. We may understand that by this is meant, either, on comparing with Psalms 45 the righteous, at Psalms 69:28, or the servants of the Lord, at Psalms 69:36, or even the lovely consolations and aids of the Lord, his ישועות , at Psalms 69:1 and Psalms 69:29, on comparing with Psalms 60. The similarity in point of sound between 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.

Verses 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: compare Jeremiah 4:10. Jonah 2:6.

In the first clause of Psalms 69:2, 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 again to the surface.” מעמד is not the partic. Hiph. (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 ( Psalms 69:3) 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 itself,”—the Niph. fr. חרר ), 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 is given in; “the waiting upon my God.” מיחל is the nomin. and not the genitive. The Psalmist goes on as if he had written כליתי עיני .

On “they are more numerous than the hairs of my head,” in Psalms 69:4, 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 quotation in John 15:25, refers to both passages: compare also Psalms 38:19. These verbal references to one another, as they are peculiar to those Davidic Psalms which describe the Righteous one, are manifestly designed to exhibit these Psalms as so many links of one great 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, which, 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.”

Verses 5-12

The sufferer must indeed see in his misery the deserved punishment of his sins, 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, Psalms 69:5-12.

Ver. 5. O God, thou knowest my foolishness, and mine iniquities are not hid from thee. Ver. 6. Let not those who wait on thee be put to shame for my sake, O Lord God, God of hosts; let not those who seek thee 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 for 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.

Psalms 69:6 is generally understood as a protestation 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 words which 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, it is manifest that the words are to be taken in their most obvious sense, ( my foolishness, my iniquities, comp. Psalms 69:19), 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 connection between the ( Psalms 69:5) 5th and ( Psalms 69:6) 6th verses is not outwardly marked. As regards the sense, there is, in Psalms 69:5 an “indeed,” and in Psalms 69:6 a “but:” “My suffering is indeed deserved, but thou canst not let me perish, because in me all thy faithful people would be put to shame.” The דע with ל , is to know in reference to something, or about something.

On Psalms 69:6 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 destroyed. 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 scandal. Calvin: “He represents to God this danger, not because he stands in need of being reminded, but because he encourages us to deal in confidence with him.”

In Psalms 69:7, the sufferer lays the foundation 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 their interests are inseparably bound up with his. In reference to the עליך , for thy sake, compare at Psalms 44:22, and Jeremiah 15:15. The ( Psalms 69:9) 9th verse here gives the 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 Psalms 69:7 follows in Psalms 69:8 and Psalms 69:9; the expansion of “I bear reproach,” in Psalms 69:8, where the magnitude of the reproach is indicated by the individualizing feature, that even the nearest relatives draw back afraid, (compare at Psalms 38:11, this David himself had probably, in the time of Saul, experienced 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 Psalms 69:9. 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 estranged 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 persecution and death from the adversaries;” but to its inward intensity,—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 hypocrites: compare, for example, Psalms 4:5, Psalms 15, Psalms 24, Psalms 40:6, Psalms 51:16-17. 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 Romans 15:3.

In Psalms 69:10-12, the sufferer individualizes and enlarges still farther upon the thought, that his zeal for the house of the Lord had drawn upon him the reproaches of the open ungodly and of the hypocritical world. The repetition in Psalms 69:10 out of Psalms 69:9, points to this relation. The fasting and weeping are united here as they are in 2 Samuel 12:16, 2 Samuel 12:21-22, 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, repenting for his people, in order to prevail upon God to pity him, and to mitigate the threatened judgment. But this, his holy mourning, which should lead all to repentance, is made the subject of profane ridicule by the enemies of God. The connection with Psalms 69:9 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 Psalms 69:11 compare Psalms 35:13, and in reference to משל at Psalms 44:1.

The שיח with ב , means here, as always, to think upon. That it is a thinking with a view to sallies of wit at the expense of the rueful enthusiasts, the holy, or would-be-holy hanger of the head, is manifest from the connection with what goes before, and still more clearly from the second clause, where ישיחו requires to be added. The gate was the place for the transaction of serious business: compare Lamentations 5:14. Ruth 4:1-2, 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.”

Verses 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 a more extended form, Psalms 69:13-18, and in close dependance on the description of the distress in Psalms 69:1-3: 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 Psalms 69:13, the אני is emphatically placed first, as in Psalms 35:13 and 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 Isaiah 61:2, where, in opposition to “a year of grace,” there is “a day of vengeance.” Psalms 69:16 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 Psalms 69:14, the “out of deep waters,” taken from the ( Psalms 69:2) 2d verse, is explained by the preceding “from those that hate me:” compare at Psalms 18:4.

In Psalms 69:15, the “well” is a figurative expression, as “the pit,” בור at Psalms 40:2, for “deep water:” the well shuts its mouth 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, Psalms 69:16, 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 Psalms 69:13. טוב 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 Psalms 69:18, compare “be not far from me,” in Psalms 22:11. My soul, exposed to danger: compare Psalms 69:1. 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.”

Verses 19-21

In Psalms 69:19-21, 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, Psalms 69:19 and Psalms 69:22, It is a great consolation in unmerited sufferings, when reflections on the omniscience of God take full possession of the soul.

The נוש in Psalms 69:20 =אנש , to be sick: compare Psalms 6:2.

After the enemies 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, in the general sense of “something very bitter,” in Deuteronomy 32:32-33, 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 suitable; “bitterness and melancholy” suit very well together. [Note: 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.”] In all probability, the word, according to Psalms 141:4, Ezekiel 30:23, and Song of Solomon 4:13, is to be explained by “the head of bitterness,” or “something bitter as gall.” Several times ראש has the kindred sense of poisonous, which in the Old Testament is frequently connected with bitterness. But the connection with vinegar makes it manifest that it is only the sense of “something bitter” which it bears here. The לצמאי is properly “for my thirst.” Vinegar quenches thirst, but in an unpleasant 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 27:34. 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, Mark 15:23, according to his 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 19:28, (compare Matt. 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.

Verses 22-28

In Psalms 69:22-28 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 their peace, their 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 Testament but not to the religion which commands us to love our enemies,” 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 ( Psalms 69:25) 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 11:9-10, finds in Psalms 69:22 and Psalms 69:23, a prophecy of the fate of the Jews. The wish for divine judgment on ungodly wickedness, can be considered as objectionable, only if we are prepared to deny this judgment itself, in manifest contradiction to the New, no less than to the Old Testament: compare, for example, Matthew 21:41, Matthew 22:7, Matthew 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 example of a Peter, Paul, James, David and Elisha, assuredly thou mayest curse in the name of God, and thereby perform an acceptable service to God.” Calvin: “There is need of wisdom to 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 Psalms 69:22, the sense is: because they have aggravated my misery with terrible wickedness, therefore may their happiness, (their table, their richly furnished 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.” The שלום , properly a noun, is used here as an adjective, as it is in Psalms 55:20, “who are altogether at peace:” compare 1 Thessalonians 5:3.

In Psalms 69:26, those pierced of the Lord, according to the parallelism, and according to Isaiah 66:16, and Jeremiah 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 Psalms 69:14. Regardless of “ res sacra miser,” (comp. Job 19:21-22, “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 awakened by the sight of his sufferings, ( Luke 23:31), cried out, “crucify him, crucify 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 complete their work by giving the sufferer the last blow.

The first clause of Psalms 69:27 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, that the Psalmist is not praying, merely as his sufferings may prompt him, but is uttering 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 against it, where the language refers to the judgment, and the visitation of the guilt of the wicked by God, and to an increase of these. 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.” Righteousness 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,” Psalms 69:28, of which mention is first made in Exodus 32:32, is to be devoted to death, with reference to the early and sudden death threatened to the wicked in the law: compare Psalms 37:29. The book of life refers here to temporal, but in the New Testament to eternal life: Php_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.

Verse 29

In the ( Psalms 69:29) 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, shall 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.

Verses 30-36

The confidence of deliverance gives rise, in the last strophe, to the resolution to give thanks, Psalms 69:30 and Psalms 69:31, to the hope that this deliverance shall strengthen the faith of all the righteous, Psalms 69:32 and Psalms 69:33, and finally, in Psalms 69:34-36, 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 fettered 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 hypocrite: compare at Psalms 50, Psalms 51. Where such spiritual thank-offerings are to be expected, God cannot be otherwise than inclined to help. The predicates of the bullocks—the מפרים , according to the analogy of מקרין , not cleaving the hoofs, as Leviticus 11:4, but having hoofs, as Leviticus 11:3, and other passages—represent 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 Psalms 69:32 compare the exactly parallel passage Psalms 22:26.

On Psalms 69:33, “ for, as my example shows, &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 Psalms 69:26, or those who are fettered for his sake, according to Psalms 69:7.

In the ( Psalms 69:34) 34th and following verses, the Psalmist beholds in the special deliverance vouchsafed to him, a pledge of a deliverance 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, Psalms 69:35, inasmuch as he overthrows the wicked, by whom it is assailed, without distinction as to whether they belong outwardly to Israel or not, an in this way rebuilds the cities of Judah which they laid waste: compare on Psalms 51:18. The mention made of the temple in Psalms 69:9, shows that we are not to think of a destruction such as happened during the Babylonish captivity, but only of such destructions as were occasioned for example by Saul. The subject to “dwell there”, is the needy of Psalms 69:33, “the suffering righteous men”: compare Psalms 69:36. What is here said of the dwelling of the righteous” is the opposite of what is said in verse 25.

On Psalms 69:36 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”.