Psalms 69 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Psalm 69

Save Me, O God

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David.

69:1   Save me, O God!
    For the waters have come up to my neck.¹
2   I sink in deep mire,
    where there is no foothold;
  I have come into deep waters,
    and the flood sweeps over me.
3   I am weary with my crying out;
    my throat is parched.
  My eyes grow dim
    with waiting for my God.
4   More in number than the hairs of my head
    are those who hate me without cause;
  mighty are those who would destroy me,
    those who attack me with lies.
  What I did not steal
    must I now restore?
5   O God, you know my folly;
    the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
6   Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
    O Lord GOD of hosts;
  let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
    O God of Israel.
7   For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
    that dishonor has covered my face.
8   I have become a stranger to my brothers,
    an alien to my mother’s sons.
9   For zeal for your house has consumed me,
    and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
10   When I wept and humbled² my soul with fasting,
    it became my reproach.
11   When I made sackcloth my clothing,
    I became a byword to them.
12   I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
    and the drunkards make songs about me.
13   But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.
    At an acceptable time, O God,
    in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
14   Deliver me
    from sinking in the mire;
  let me be delivered from my enemies
    and from the deep waters.
15   Let not the flood sweep over me,
    or the deep swallow me up,
    or the pit close its mouth over me.
16   Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good;
    according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
17   Hide not your face from your servant,
    for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
18   Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
    ransom me because of my enemies!
19   You know my reproach,
    and my shame and my dishonor;
    my foes are all known to you.
20   Reproaches have broken my heart,
    so that I am in despair.
  I looked for pity, but there was none,
    and for comforters, but I found none.
21   They gave me poison for food,
    and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
22   Let their own table before them become a snare;
    and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.³
23   Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
    and make their loins tremble continually.
24   Pour out your indignation upon them,
    and let your burning anger overtake them.
25   May their camp be a desolation;
    let no one dwell in their tents.
26   For they persecute him whom you have struck down,
    and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
27   Add to them punishment upon punishment;
    may they have no acquittal from you.⁴
28   Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
    let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
29   But I am afflicted and in pain;
    let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
30   I will praise the name of God with a song;
    I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31   This will please the LORD more than an ox
    or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32   When the humble see it they will be glad;
    you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
33   For the LORD hears the needy
    and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
34   Let heaven and earth praise him,
    the seas and everything that moves in them.
35   For God will save Zion
    and build up the cities of Judah,
  and people shall dwell there and possess it;
36     the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
    and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

Footnotes

[1] 69:1 Or waters threaten my life
[2] 69:10 Hebrew lacks and humbled
[3] 69:22 Hebrew; a slight revocalization yields (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Jerome) a snare, and retribution and a trap
[4] 69:27 Hebrew may they not come into your righteousness

Commentary

The suffering of the godly; speaking esp. of Christ's suffering. Ps 22 refers to the physical suffering; this psalm speaks of shame and disgrace.

v1: Save me, O God! A fitting summary; the problem is from man; the solution is God.

v2-3: Deep distress; miry depths, deep waters, floods which engulf; Christ described His own suffering as a baptism.

v4: The reality of unjust suffering. This is suffering 'in extremis.' Notice these words and phrases; 'more in number than the hairs of my head;' 'without cause;' 'destroy;' 'mighty;' 'lies.' Whilst the testimony might be considered hyperbole, it is nevertheless consistent and severe.

The picture of Christ therefore is very strong, for He was hated without a cause. He restored what He had not stolen. His reward from man was hatred and reproach.

v5-7: The godly man maintained his spiritual attitude;

first he is conscious of personal failings;
then he is concerned for the well being of others; he does not want his experienced to stumble others.

His desire is to honour God whatever the cost (2 Tim 3.12); the way of commitment and obedience is the way of suffering and persecution. The link between persecution and obedience is not accidental.

v8: See Ps 55.12-14; the specific context may have been when David had to flee from Absalom (2 Sam 15).

v9: The psalmist's desire; he desires God's glory above all. This desire leads him into suffering. Words here were used of the Lord Jesus in John 2.17. This is not just a fatalistic receiving of hardship, but a deliberate identification with God, and a willingness to suffer for His Name's sake.

v10-12: His spiritual desires are despised. He was hated by religious people and drunkards alike. No wonder David prayed, "Do not let me fall into the hand of man." (2 Sam 24.14)

v13: David's response is to trust in God, praying to the faithful one. God hears our prayers, whatever our circumstances.

v14-15: See v2; "rescue me!" The same phrases are used; the mire, deep waters, flood engulfing.

v16-18: In the desperate situation, the psalmist depends on God's ways.

v19-21: 'You know my experience!' he cries out to God. 'All my enemies are before me, but all my enemies are before You.' God was involved intimately in the situation.

Man brought scorn, disgrace, shame; men do hit those who are down. They brought bitterness; see Luke 11.11-13; for God only gives good gifts.

v22-28: The prayer about the wicked; the prayer is for God to bring His judgment; that is right, for He is just. A persecuted man might react in the heat of his anger and sorrow; but God's wrath is always controlled and fair.

Verse 26 points us to Christ, the One whom God wounded and hurt.

Verse 28 refers to the book of God, which Moses mentions in Ex 28.28. By NT times, many held that God had three books; a book of life, a book of death, and a book of 'yet to be decided.' Revelation draws this subject to a close, ending futile human speculation. In writing to the Church in Sardis, the apostle confirms that those who belong to Christ will not be blotted out of God's book of life (Rev 3.5).

v29: The need of God's salvation, and confidence that it would come.

v30-31: Devotion preferred above ritual; David had learned this truth.

v32-33: The testimony to others, as they see God's deliverance in David's life, they will take encouragement. When others are blessed, let us not become jealous, but truly grateful.

v34-36: God's ultimate, eternal victory; this is achieved through Christ's sufferings, not in spite of them.