Commentaires bibliques

David penned this psalm when he was in affliction; and in it, I. He complains of the great distress and trouble he was in and earnestly begs of God to relieve and succour him, Ps 69:1-21. II. He imprecates the judgments of God upon his persecutors, Ps 69:22-29. III. He concludes with the voice of joy and praise, in an assurance that God would help and succour him, and would do well for the church, Ps 69:30-36. Now, in this, David was a type of Christ, and divers passages in this psalm are applied to Christ in the new Testament and are said to have their accomplishment in him (Ps 69:4,9,21), and Ps 69:22 refers to the enemies of Christ. So that (like the Ps 22:1-31) it begins with the humiliation and ends with the exaltation of Christ, one branch of which was the destruction of the Jewish nation for persecuting him, which the imprecations here are predictions of. In singing this psalm we must have an eye to the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that followed, not forgetting the sufferings of Christians too, and the glory that shall follow them; for it may lead us to think of the ruin reserved for the persecutors and the rest reserved for the persecuted.

This psalm is said in the title to be a psalm of David, but on what occasion it was composed is not there intimated, nor can it be determined from the psalm itself. There is nothing "in" the psalm which is inconsistent with the supposition that it was composed by David; and, in fact, it has, in many respects, a strong resemblance to not a few of his undoubted compositions, as Psalm 6:1-10; Psalm 22; Psalm 25; Psalm 35; Psalm 38. Compare Psalm 42:1-11. On the expression in the title "To the chief Musician," see Notes in the Introduction to Psalm 4:1-8. On the words "upon Shoshannim," see the notes on the Title to Psalm 45.

On what occasion in the life of David the psalm was written cannot now be determined. There were many occasions in his life to which all that is said in the psalm might be applicable, for his was a life of many trials and perils; but the most natural interpretation would be that which ascribes it to the time of the rebellion of Absalom. Some have supposed that it was written at a later period than the time of David. Thus De Wette maintains that the closing verses Psalm 69:34-36 demonstrate that it must have been written in the time of the exile. Rosenmuller coincides with that opinion in regard to those verses, but supposes that they were added to the psalm (as originally composed) by some later author. It will be found, however, on examination of these verses, that there is nothing in them inconsistent with the supposition that the entire psalm was composed by David. The psalm evidently pertains to an individual sufferer; a man who regarded himself as suffering in the cause of religion, or on account of his zeal for the service of God. It is this fact which is laid at the foundation of the psalmist's prayer for the divine intervention. The author is a sufferer in the cause of God and of truth, and he beseeches God, in whose cause he suffers, on that account to interpose in his behalf.

There are several passages in the psalm which are applied in the New Testament to the Messiah and his times; Psalm 69:9, compare John 2:17, and Romans 15:3; Psalm 69:4, compare John 15:25; Psalm 69:21, compare Matthew 27:34, Matthew 27:48 (Mark 15:23, and John 19:29); Psalm 69:25, compare Matthew 23:38, and Acts 1:20. These passages, however, are of so "general" a character that they do not seem to have been designed to refer exclusively to the Messiah, or even to have had "any" original reference to him. The language is such that it "would accurately describe" the events to which it is applied; and the fact that the language is quoted in this manner in the New Testament history does not prove that the psalm had any original reference to the Messiah.

In the psalm, the sufferer first Psalm 69:1-6 describes his condition; he then Psalm 69:7-13 represents himself as suffering in the cause of God or of religion; then Psalm 69:14-18, prays to be delivered from these troubles. In Psalm 69:19-21 he again adverts to his sufferings with a more explicit reference to their cause, the malice of his enemies; and then Psalm 69:22-28 prays that his enemies may be destroyed. He anticipates that his prayer will be heard, and that this will have a favorable effect on others, leading them to praise God Psalm 69:29-33; and this leads him to look forward to the general prosperity of Zion - to the fact that Zion will be delivered out of all its troubles - as laying the foundation for universal praise Psalm 69:34-36.

The psalmist describes his afflicted state, and the wickedness of his adversaries, vv. 1-21; he declares the miseries that should come upon his enemies, Psalm 69:22-28; enlarges on has afflicted state, and expresses his confidence in God, Psalm 69:29-34; prophesies the restoration of the Jews to their own land and temple, Psalm 69:35, Psalm 69:36.

The title is: "To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David." See this title explained on Psalm 45 (note).

The Psalm is supposed to have been written during the captivity, and to have been the work of some Levite Divinely inspired. It is a very fine composition, equal to most in the Psalter. Several portions of it seem to have a reference to our Lord; to his advent passion, resurrection, the vocation of the Gentiles, the establishment of the Christian Church, and the reprobation of the Jews. The ninth verse is quoted by St. John, John 2:17. The twenty-first verse is quoted by St. Matthew, Matthew 27:34, Matthew 27:48; by St. Mark, Mark 15:23; by St. John, John 19:29; and applied to the sufferings of our Lord, in the treatment he received from the Jews. St. Paul quotes the twenty-second as a prophecy of the wickedness of the Jews, and the punishment they were to receive. He quotes the twenty-third verse in the same way. See Isaiah 6:9-10 (note); John 12:39-40 (note); Romans 11:10 (note); 2 Corinthians 3:14 (note). Those portions which the writers of the New Testament apply to our Lord, we may apply also; of others we should be careful.

INTRODUCTION TO Psalm 69

To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David. Of the word "shoshannim", See Gill on Psalm 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.

LXIX.

If we cannot identify the author of this psalm with any other known individual, we must certainly set aside the traditional ascription to David. Psalm 69:10-12, cannot by any ingenuity be worked into his known history. Psalm 69:20 does not give a picture of David’s condition at any time, for he always found a Nathan or a Barzillai even in his darkest hour. The conclusion (see Note Psalm 69:33), if not, as some think, a liturgical addition of a later date than the rest of the psalm, speaking as it does the language of past exile times, is another argument against the inscription. It also makes against an opinion shared by many critics, that refers this, together with Psalms 10, &c., to Jeremiah. The real author is lost in the general sufferings of these victims of religious persecution (Psalm 69:9), for whom he speaks (Psalm 69:6.) The expression of this affliction is certainly figurative—and never has grief found a more copious imagery—and therefore we cannot fix the precise nature of the persecution. There appear, however, to have been two parties in Israel itself, one zealous for the national religion, the other indifferent to it, or even scornful of it (Psalm 69:9-13). It is on the latter that the fierce torrent of invective that begins with Psalm 69:22 is poured—an invective we can best appreciate, if we cannot excuse it, by remembering that it was the outcome, not of personal hatred, but of religious exclusiveness. Except Psalms 22, no other hymn from ancient Israel supplied more for quotation and application to the young Christian community, when searching deep into the recognised sacred writings of their nation to prove that the despised and suffering one was the Christ. That in so doing they fastened on accidental coincidences, and altogether ignored the impassable distance between one who could be the mouthpiece of such terrible curses and Jesus Christ, need not blind us to the illustration which is thrown on Him and His life by the suffering and endurance of this, as of all martyrs in a right cause. The psalm falls into stanzas, but not all of equal length. The parallelism is varied by triplets.

Title.—See title Psalms 4, 45

This plaintive cry for help falls into two divisions, each of which may be subdivided into three stanzas.

i. The Psalmist entreats God to rescue him from the deadly foes who beset him (Psalm 69:1-6). He urges as the ground of his prayer that it is for God’s sake that he is being persecuted (Psalm 69:7-12); and then with more strenuous insistence repeats his cry for help (Psalm 69:13-18).

ii. Once more he lays before God all the inhumanity of his persecutors (Psalm 69:19-21); and, goaded by the recollection of their behaviour, imprecates upon them the judgement they deserve (Psalm 69:22-28). Regaining his calmness, he looks forward with confidence to his deliverance and consequent thanksgiving; and concludes with a call to universal praise for the redemption and restoration of Zion which God will assuredly accomplish (Psalm 69:29-36).

The name of David stands in the title, but though the Psalm may have been taken from a collection bearing his name, it is impossible to suppose that it was written by him. To what period of his life could Psalm 69:8 ff. refer, or how can Psalm 69:33 ff. be connected with his reign? These latter verses, which cannot be detached from the Psalm as a later liturgical addition, point decidedly to the Exile, or to the closing years of the kingdom, when Jehoiachin and the flower of the population of Judah had already been carried into captivity (b.c. 597), and the final downfall of the state was imminent. The latter alternative is the most probable; and the circumstances, ideas, and language of the Psalmist so remarkably resemble those of Jeremiah, that it has been conjectured with much plausibility that he was the author of the Psalm. It is not indeed to be supposed that the metaphorical expressions of Psalm 69:1-2; Psalm 69:14-15 are a literal description of his sufferings in the dungeon of Malchiah, (ch. Psalm 38:6 ff.), or that the Psalm was composed as he lay there, though the language may have been partly suggested by his treatment upon that occasion; and it is of course impossible positively to affirm that it was written by him; but it is certainly to the Book of Jeremiah that we must turn for the most vivid illustration of the circumstances and the feelings of the Psalmist. If Jeremiah was not the author, it must have been some prophet of a kindred temper of mind under very similar circumstances.

(1) The general situation of the Psalmist corresponds remarkably to that of Jeremiah as he describes it himself in chaps. Jeremiah 11:18 ff., Jeremiah 12:1 ff., Jeremiah 15:10 ff., Jeremiah 17:12 ff., Jeremiah 18:18 ff., Jeremiah 20:7 ff., and elsewhere. His words, “Know that for thy sake I bear reproach” (Jeremiah 15:15), might be taken as the motto of the Psalm. Like Jeremiah, the Psalmist is the victim of contempt which crushes his spirits and hostility which threatens his life. His persecutors are not heathen foreigners, but godless fellow-countrymen; and even his own relations have deserted him.

(2) The Psalmist’s imprecations of judgement on his enemies find a close parallel in the passages already referred to: and the prediction of the restoration of Judah with which the Psalm closes is a brief summary of Jeremiah’s prophecies collected in chaps. 30–33. The Psalmist’s intense depression of spirit and sudden changes of feeling are very characteristic of Jeremiah. Cp. e.g., Jeremiah 20:13.

(3) The language of the Psalm is full of coincidences with the language of Jeremiah, which will be pointed out in the notes.

In such a case proof is impossible, but it will give point and reality to the Psalm, if we hear in it the voice of the martyr-prophet to whom was assigned the bitter task of delivering God’s message to a hardened and impenitent people, by whom it was received with indifference or open contempt: who, while divinely strengthened to deliver that message with unflinching courage, and inspired to look forward with unshaken faith to the rise of a nobler order out of the ruins of the old, yet in moments of human weakness almost lost his own personal trust in God, and became the prey of impatience and despair[33].

[33] The writer would refer to his Doctrine of the Prophets, Lect. XI., for a sketch of the life and work of Jeremiah.

No Psalm, with the exception of Psalms 22, is so frequently quoted in the N.T. The experience of the Psalmist (Psalm 69:4) was ‘fulfilled’ in the causeless hatred of the Jews for the Son of God (John 15:25). The consuming zeal of Jesus for the honour of His Father’s desecrated house brought the words of Psalm 69:9 to the minds of His disciples (John 2:17): and the rest of the same verse is applied by St Paul to Christ, Who pleased not Himself, but voluntarily bore the reproaches intended for God (Romans 15:3). The words of Psalm 69:25 are combined with those of Psalm 109:8 in Acts 1:20, to describe the doom of the traitor; and Psalm 69:22-23 are applied in Romans 11:9 ff. to the rejection of apostate Israel. The physical sufferings of the Psalmist (Psalm 69:21) foreshadowed those of Christ (St John 19:28 f.); and though he does not expressly quote it, the passage seems to have been in the mind of St Matthew (Matthew 27:34; Matthew 27:48) in his description of the Passion. Psalm 69:12; Psalm 69:20 point forward to the mockery (Matthew 27:27 ff.); and as we read Psalm 69:26. in the light of Isaiah 53 and Zechariah 13:7, its typical significance is obvious.

Yet the Psalm is not prediction but description, and much of it is plainly not applicable to Christ. The confession of sin in Psalm 69:5, and the imprecations of vengeance (Psalm 69:22 ff.), are wholly unsuited to the meek and sinless Jesus. It is prophetic only inasmuch as the experience of each suffering servant of God who endured reproach and persecution for God’s sake under the old covenant was in some measure a type and foreshadowing of the experience of the true and perfect Servant of the Lord. Even the details of their lives were shaped so as to correspond to details in the life of Christ: and these details serve to attract attention and to point to the inner correspondence by which He gathered up and ‘fulfilled’ the experience of the saints and servants of God who had gone before. Jeremiah was a type of Christ: but he and others like him were but partial and imperfect types: there was much in their lives and characters which shewed that they were men compassed with infirmity: but in the antitype the imperfections disappear, and the true Son of Man, the perfect Servant of the Lord, stands revealed. On the ‘Passion Psalms’ in general see Introd. pp. lxxix f.

For a discussion of the imprecations of Psalm 69:21 ff., which startle and shock the Christian reader, see Introd. pp. lxxxviii ff. Here it may suffice to remark that if the reader would be fair to Jeremiah (or the unknown author) he must endeavour to realise the intense provocation to which Jeremiah was subjected. He must remember that they are to be judged by the standard of the Law, and not by the spirit of the Gospel. He must bear in mind that they are not merely or mainly the utterance of personal vindictiveness, but the expression of a burning desire for the manifestation of the righteous judgement of God upon those who resisted His will and persecuted His servants.

This Psalm should be compared with Psalms 22, 40; it has also points of connexion with Psalms 31, 38, 44; and in its imprecations it stands midway between Psalms 35, 109.

Its typical character explains its selection as a Proper Psalm for Good Friday.

On the title For the Chief Musician; set to Shoshannim, i.e. lilies, see note on the title of Psalms 45.

Ps 69:1-36.

Upon Shoshannim--(See on

Ps 45:1,

title). Mingling the language of prayer and complaint, the sufferer, whose condition is here set forth, pleads for God's help as one suffering in His cause, implores the divine retribution on his malicious enemies, and, viewing his deliverance as sure, promises praise by himself, and others, to whom God will extend like blessings. This Psalm is referred to seven times in the New Testament as prophetical of Christ and the gospel times. Although the character in which the Psalmist appears to some in

Ps 69:5

is that of a sinner, yet his condition as a sufferer innocent of alleged crimes sustains the typical character of the composition, and it may be therefore regarded throughout, as the twenty-second, as typically expressive of the feelings of our Saviour in the flesh.

1, 2. (Compare

Ps 40:2).

come in unto my soul--literally, "come even to my soul," endanger my life by drowning

(Jon 2:5).

Save me, O God - That is, Interpose and deliver me from the dangers which have come upon me.

For the waters are come in unto my soul - So as to endanger my life. Waters, deep, raging, overwhelming, are images of calamity or danger. See the notes at Psalm 32:6. Compare Psalm 42:7.