-
TREASURY OF DAVID
PSALM 69
C.H.
Spurgeon
Psalms
69:1 (PSALMS)
PSALM 69
Title.
To the Chief Musician
upon Shoshannim.
Thus for the second
time
we have a Psalm
entitled
the
lilies.
forty-first they were
golden lilies, dropping sweet smelling
myrrh, and blooming in the fair
gardens
which skirt the ivory palaces: in this we have the
lily among
thorns,
the
lily
of
the
valley,
fair
and
beautiful,
blooming
in
the
garden
of Gethsemane.
A Psalm of
David.
If any enquire,
psalmist this? of himself, or of some
other man?
himself, and of some other
man.
in
discovering;
it
is
the
Crucified
alone
who
can
say,
my
thirst
they
gave
me
vinegar
to
drink.
His
footprints
all
through
this
sorrowful
song
have been pointed out by the Holy
Spirit in the New Testament, and
therefore we believe, and are sure,
that the Son of Man is here. Yet is
seems
to
be
the
intention
of
the
Spirit,
while
he
gives
us
personal
types,
and so shows the likeness to the
firstborn which exists in the heirs of
salvation, to set forth the disparities
between the best of the sons of
men,
and
the
Son
of
God,
for
there
are
verses
here
which
we
dare
not
apply
to our Lord; we almost shudder when we
see our brethren attempting to do
so,
as
for
instance
Ps
69:5.
Especially
do
we
note
the
difference
between
David and the Son of David in the
imprecations of the one against his
enemies,
and
the
prayers
of
the
other
for
them.
We
commence
our
exposition
of this Psalm
with much trembling, for we feel that we are
entering with
our Great High Priest
into the most holy place.
Divisions.
This Psalm consists of two portions of 18 verses
each. These
again
may
each
be
sub
divided
into
three
parts.
Under
the
first
head,
from
Ps
69:1-4,
the
sufferer
spreads
his
complaint
before
God;
then
he
pleads
that
his zeal for God is the cause of his sufferings,
in Ps 69:5-12: and
this
encourages
him
to
plead
for
help
and
deliverance,
from
Ps 69:13-18.
In the second
half of the Psalm he details the injurious conduct
of his
adversaries, from Ps 69:19-21;
calls for their punishment, Ps 69:22-28,
and then returns to prayer, and to a
joyful anticipation of divine
interposition and its results, Ps
69:29-36.
EXPOSITION
Ver.
1. Save me, O God.
strong cries and
tears he offered up prayers and supplications unto
him
that
was
able
to
save
him
from
death,
and
was
heard
in
that
he
feared
(Heb
5:7). Thus David had
prayed, and here his Son and Lord utters the same
cry. This is the second Psalm which
begins with a
the former (Psalm 54) is
but a short summary of this more lengthened
complaint. It is remarkable
that such a
scene of woe
should be presented
to us
immediately after the jubilant ascension hymn of
the last Psalm,
but
this
only
shows
how
interwoven
are
the
glories
and
the
sorrows
of
our
ever blessed Redeemer.
The head which now is crowned with glory is the
same which wore the thorns; he to whom
we pray,
selfsame person who cried,
For
the
waters
are
come
in
unto
my
soul.
Sorrows,
deep,
abounding,
deadly,
had
penetrated
his
inner
nature.
Bodily
anguish
is
not
his
first
complaint;
he
begins
not
with
the
gall
which
embittered
his
lips,
but
with
the
mighty
griefs
which broke into his heart. All the sea outside a
vessel is less
to
be
feared
than
that
which
finds
its
way
into
the
hold.
A
wounded
spirit
who
can
bear.
Our
Lord
in
this
verse
is
seen
before
us
as
a
Jonah,
crying,
about,
even to
the soul.
was doing business
for us on the great waters, at his
Father's command; the stormy wind was
lifting
up
the
waves
thereof,
and
he
went
down
to
the
depths
till
his
soul
was melted because of
trouble. In all this he has sympathy with us, and
is
able
to
succour
us
when
we,
like
Peter,
beginning
to
sink,
cry
to
him,
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Title.
To the Chief
Musician, on the lilies, of David. On the lilies,
points to the beauty of the subject
treated of.
D. W.
Hengstenberg.
Whole
Psalm.
The subject of the Psalm is an
ideal person, representing
the whole
class of religious sufferers. The only individual
in whom the
various traits meet is
Christ. That he is not, however, the exclusive,
or even the immediate subject, is clear
from the confession in Ps 69:5.
There
is
no
Psalm,
except
for
the
twenty-second,
more
distinctly
applied
to him in the New Testament.
Joseph Addison Alexander.
Whole
Psalm.
This has usually been regarded
as a Messianic Psalm. No
portion
of
the
Old
Testament
Scriptures
is
more
frequently
quoted
in
the
New, with
the exception of Psalm 22. When Jesus drives the
buyers and
sellers
from
the
temple
(Joh
2:17),
his
disciples
are
reminded
of
the
words
of Ps 69:9 (first
clause). When it is said (Joh 15:25) that the
enemies
of Jesus hated him without a
cause, and this is looked upon as the
fulfilment
of
Scripture,
the
reference
is
probably
to
verse
4,
though
it
may be also to Ps 35:18. To him, and
the reproach which he endured for
the
sake
of
God,
St.
Paul
refers
the
words
of
this
Psalm,
Ps
69:9
(second
clause):
The
reproaches
of
them
that
reproached
thee
are
fallen
upon
me.
In Ps 69:12 we have a
foreshadowing of the mockery of our Lord by the
soldiers in the praetorium
(Mt 27:27-30); in Ps 69:21, the giving
of
the
vinegar and the gall
found their counterpart in the scenes of the
crucifixion, Mt 27:34. In Joh 19:28,
there is an allusion, probably to
verse
21 of this Psalm, and to Ps 32:15. The imprecation
in Ps 69:25 is
said, in Ac 1:20, to
have been fulfilled in the case of Judas Iscariot,
though, as the words of the Psalm are
plural, the citation is evidently
made
with
some
freedom.
According
to
Ro
11:9-10,
the
rejection of
Israel
may
best
be
described
in
the
words
of
Ps
69:22-23.
J.
J.
Stewart
Perowne.
Whole
Psalm.
This
Psalm
follows
in
striking
connection
with
the
preceding,
and
in
contrast
with
the
glory
of
his
kingdom.
The
two
have
been
compared
to the
transfiguration on the mount, where, after the
manifestation of
Christ in
glory,
there appeared,
also,
Moses and Elias,
and spake of his
decease
which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. The
clearest
anticipation of future glory
must not shut out the conviction, that it
is through much tribulation we must
enter the kingdom.
W.
Wilson.
Whole
Psalm.
Remember this is the fourth
Psalm which declares at length
the
passion
and
resurrection
of
our
Lord.
Through
the
whole
Psalm
Christ
speaks in person. He
prays
for
deliverance by
the Father, because
he has
suffered by the Jews, without cause,
many afflictions and persecutions.
He
supplicates on behalf of his members, that the
hope of the faithful,
resting
on
his
resurrection,
may
not
be
disappointed.
By
the
power
of
his
prescience
he
declares
the
future
events
which
should
occur
to
his
enemies.
Magnus Aurelius
Cassiodorus, circa 468-560.
Whole
Psalm.
In
this
Psalm
the
whole
Christ
speaks;
now
in
his
own
person,
now crying with the voice of his
members to God his Father.
Gerhohus.
Ver.
1.
Save
me,
O
God.
Let
his
distances
be
never
so
great,
he
is
resolved
to cry after the Lord; and if he get
but his head never so little above
water, the Lord shall hear of him. One
would think his discouragements
such as
he were past crying any more;
the
waters
entered into his
soul,
in
deep
waters,
the
streams
running
over
him:
he
sticketh
fast
in
the
mire
where
is
no
standing
(he
is
at
the
very
bottom,
and
there
fast
in
the
mire),
he is
weary of crying;
yet, Ps 69:6,13:
But, Lord, I make my prayers to
thee:
and as he recovers
breath, so breathes out fresh supplications to
the Lord. If men or devils would be
forbidding to pray, as the multitude
sometimes did the poor blind man to cry
after Jesus; yet, as he, so an
importunate
suppliant
cry
so
much
the
more
,
Jesus
thou
Son
of
David,
have mercy on
me.
Thomas Cobbet.
Ver. 1. The waters are come in unto my
soul. What means he by
coming in
unto
his
soul?
Surely
no
other
than
this:
--that
they
oppressed
his
spirit,
and, as it were,
penetrated into his conscience, raising fears and
perplexities
there,
by
reason
of
his
sins,
which
at
present
put
his
faith
and
hope to some disorder; so that he could not for a
while see to the
comfortable end of his
affliction, but was as one under water, covered
with
his
fears,
as
appears
by
what
follows
(Ps
69:2):
I
sink
in
deep
mire,
where
there
is
no
standing.
He
compares
himself
to
one
in
a
quagmire
that
can feel no ground to bear him up; and,
observe whence his trouble rose,
and
where the waters made their entrance (Ps 69:5): O
God, thou knowest
my
foolishness;
and
my
sins
are
not
hid
from
thee.
This
holy
man
lay
under
some
fresh
guilt,
and
this
made
him
so
uncomfortable
under
his
affliction,
because he saw his sin in the face of
that, and tasted some displeasure
from
God for it in his outward trouble, which made it
so bitter in the
going
down;
and,
therefore,
when
once
he
had
humbled
himself
by
confessing
his sin, and was
able to see the coast clear between heaven and
him, so
as
to
believe
the
pardon
of
his
sin,
and
hope
for
good
news
from
God
again,
he then returns to his sweet temper,
and sings in the same affliction,
where
before he sunk.
William
Gurnall.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Ver. 1. Our trials
like waters.
I. They should be kept
out of the heart.
II. There are,
however, leaks which admit them.
III.
Take note when the hold is filling.
IV. Use the pumps, and cry for help.
Psalms 69:2 (PSALMS)
EXPOSITION
Ver. 2. I sink
in
deep mire.
In
water one might swim, but
in
mud and
mire
all struggling
is hopeless; the mire sucks down its victim.
Where there is no standing. Everything
gave way under the Sufferer; he
could
not get foothold for support--this is a worse fate
than drowning.
Here our Lord pictures
the close, clinging nature of his heart's woes.
filthiness, and the holy
soul of the
Saviour must
have
loathed even that
connection with it which was necessary
for its expiation. His pure and
sensitive
nature
seemed
to
sink
in
it,
for
it
was
not
his
element,
he
was
not like us born and
acclimatised to this great dismal swamp. Here our
Redeemer
became
another
Jeremiah,
of
whom
it
is
recorded
(Jer
38:6)
that
his enemies cast
him into a dungeon wherein
Jeremiah
sunk in the mire.
contrition and
gratitude, as we see in this simile the deep
humiliation
of our Lord.
I
am come into deep waters, where the floods
overflow me. The sorrow
gathers even
greater force; he is as one cast into the sea, the
waters
go
over
his
head.
His
sorrows
were
first
within,
then
around,
and
now
above
him.
Our
Lord
was
no
fainthearted
sentimentalist;
his
were
real
woes,
and
though he bore them
heroically, yet were they terrible even to him.
His
sufferings
were
unlike
all
others
in
degree,
the
waters
were
such
as
soaked
into
the soul; the mire was the mire of the abyss
itself, and the floods
were deep and
overflowing. To us the promise is,
overflow thee,
My soul, thy
Well beloved endured all this for thee. Many
waters could
not quench his love,
neither could the floods drown it; and, because of
this, thou hast the rich benefit of
that covenant assurance,
sworn that the
waters of Noah should no more go over the earth;
so have
I
sworn
that
I
would
not
be
wroth
with
thee,
nor
rebuke
thee.
He
stemmed
the torrent of
almighty wrath, that we might for ever rest in
Jehovah's
love.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Ver. 2. I
sink in deep mire. I was taking a quiet walk along
the banks
(of the Nile), when I came to
a part so soft and miry that I was brought
to a stand, as my foot sank at every
step... Being brought to a stand,
I
hailed the reis to heave to, and take me on board.
One of the men was,
therefore sent in
the small boat; but the river, near the western
side,
was
so
shallow
that
he
could
not
get
the
boat
within
some
distance
of
the
bank.
He,
consequently,
as
is
usual
in
such
cases,
jumped
overboard
that
he
might
carry
me
to
the
boat
on
his
back.
No
sooner,
however,
had
he
sprung
from
the
boat
than
I
heard
him
scream.
I
turned
to
see
what
was
the
matter,
when I found him struggling in the mud.
He was sinking as though in
quicksand;
and the more
he struggled, the faster
and deeper he sank. His
fellow boatmen were not slack. They
quickly saw the dilemma he was in,
and
two of them dashed into the water and swam to the
small boat. I was
almost choked with
terror, and I breathed, or rather gasped, with
difficulty.
reach
the poor
fellow?
he must
inevitably be swallowed up alive!
they
near him! And now, praise the Lord, he grasps
firmly hold. O that
death like grasp of
the side of the boat! But this was not until he
had
sunk
up
to
his
bosom!
Seeing
him
safe,
I
breathed
more
freely;
and
I
feel
that
now,
though
only
relating
the
circumstance,
the
excitement
has
caused
an
increased
and
painful
action
of
the
heart.
How
I
thought
of
poor
David!
Had
he
really
witnessed
a
similar
scene
to
this
literally
when,
speaking
of
the feelings of his soul, spiritually, he said: I
sink in deep mire,
where there is no
standing: I am come into deep waters, where the
floods
overflow
me?
O
what
an
agonizing
state
to
be
in!
and
yet
many
of
my
readers,
I
have
no
doubt,
who
never
witnessed
such
a
scene
literally,
know
something
about
it
spiritually,
as
David
did,
whether
he
had
seen
it
with
his
bodily
eye
or
not.
Well
might
he,
in
the
struggling
of
his
soul,
exclaim:
me out
of the mire, and let me not sink!
Let
me grasp firmly
hold of the
ark, and be pulled safely on board!
Well! just at the right time, just
before the poor fellow's arms (shall I
say his arms of faith?) were
disabled,
swallowed up, deliverance came.
John
Gadsby, in
Wanderings.
Ver. 2. I sink, --there is no standing.
I saw indeed there was cause of
rejoicing for those that held to Jesus;
but as for me, I had cut myself
off
by
my
transgressions,
and
left
myself
neither
foothold,
nor
handhold,
amongst all the stays and props in the
precious word of life. And truly
I did
now feel myself to sink into a gulf, as an house
whose foundation
is destroyed; I did
liken myself, in this condition, unto the case of
a
child
that
was
fallen
into
a
mill
pit,
who,
though
it
could
make
some
shift
to scrabble and sprawl in the water,
yet, because it could find neither
hold
for
hand
nor
foot,
therefore,
at
last,
it
must
die
in
that
condition.
John Bunyan.
Ver.
2.
Mire.
If
the
abyss
be
only
full
of
water,
a
good
swimmer
has
still
the hope or rising
again to the surface.
The Berleb.
Bible.
Ver. 2. Where the
floods overflow me. The plea in effect is this:
Lord,
I am ready to drown; if ever thou
wouldst save a poor perishing servant
of thine, save me: my troubles and
temptations are too deep for me, I am
ready
to
sink
over
head
and
ears
in
them,
and
therefore,
Lord,
reach
hither
thy gracious hand,
and bear up my head above water, lest otherwise I
miscarry.
Especially if such extremities continue, the
continuance of
them may be pleaded.
Thomas Cobbet.
Ver.
2.
The
floods
overflow
me.
The
word
flood
in
these
two
verses
is
the
well
known
Shibboleth
which
the
Ephraimites
were
unable
to
pronounce.
Jud
12:6.
It
occurs
again,
Isa
27:12,
flood
of
the
river.
J.
J.
Stewart
Perowne.
HINTS
TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Ver. 2-3. The
sinner aware of his position, unable to hope,
overwhelmed
with
fear,
finding
no
comfort
in
prayer,
unvisited
with
divine
consolation.
Direct and
console him.
Psalms 69:3
(PSALMS)
EXPOSITION
Ver. 3.
I am weary of my crying. Not of it, but by it,
with it. He had
prayed till he sweat
great drops of blood, and well might physical
weariness intervene.
My
throat is dried, parched, and inflamed. Long
pleading with awful
fervour had
scorched his throat as with flames of fire. Few,
very few,
of his saints follow their
Lord in prayer so far as this. We are, it is
to be feared, more likely to be hoarse
with talking frivolities to men
than
by
pleading
with
God;
yet
our
sinful
nature
demands
more
prayer
than
his
perfect
humanity
might
seem
to
need.
His
prayers
should
shame
us
into
fervour. Our Lord's
supplications were salted with fire, they were hot
with
agony;
and
hence
they
weakened
his
system,
and
made
him
weary
man
and full of
woes.
Mine eyes fail while I wait for my
God. He wanted in his direst distress
nothing more than his God; that would
be all in all to him. Many of us
know
what
watching
and
waiting
mean;
and
we
know
something
of
the
failing
eye when hope is long deferred: but in
all this Jesus bears the palm; no
eyes
ever failed as his did or for so deep a cause. No
painter can ever
depict
those
eyes;
their
pencils
fail
in
every
feature
of
his
all
but
fair
but all marred
countenance, but most of all do they come short
when they
venture
to
pourtray
those
eyes
which
were
fountains
of
tears.
He
knew
both
how to pray and to
watch, and he would have us learn the like. There
are
times
when
we
should
pray
till
the
throat
is
dry,
and
watch
till
the
eyes
grow dim. Only thus can we have
fellowship with him in his sufferings.
What! can we not watch with
him one hour? Does the flesh shrink back? O
cruel flesh to be so tender of thyself,
and so ungenerous to thy Lord!
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Ver. 3. I am weary of my crying. The
word
egy
means properly,
to
gape,
to gasp,
then,
to
become weary.
... but
to
gasp
in his crying,
is not so
much to grow weary
because of
the
great vehemence thereof, but while the
crying lasts, and while he is in the
act, to succumb under the burden of
his
dangerous and shameful calamity.
Hermann Venema.
Ver. 3. I am weary of my crying. He had
cried to God for the ways of man;
he
had cried to
man
of the
ways
of God; he
had not ceased, from his first
beginning
to
teach,
till
he
said
upon
the
cross,
thirst.
His
eyes
had
grown
dim,
and
his
flesh
was
faint
and
weary
with
his
sufferings,
through
the long passion of
his life on earth. He had been waiting in poverty,
and insult, and treachery, and
scourging, and pain, until he cried,
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?
From
Ver. 3.
I am weary of my crying, etc. David is like the
post, who layeth
by three horses as
breathless; his heart, his throat, his eyes...
Objection.
But
I
have
neither
weeping
one
way
or
other,
ordinary
nor
marred.
Answer.
Looking up to heaven, lifting up of the eyes,
goeth for prayer
also in God's books.
Mine eyes fail with looking upward (Ps
69:3). Because, first, prayer is
a
pouring out of the soul to God, and faith will
come out at the eye, in
lieu of another
door:
often affections break
out at the window, when
the
door is closed; as smoke vents at the
window, when the chimney refuses
passage.
Stephen
looked
up
to
heaven
(Ac
7:55.).
He
sent
a
post;
a
greedy,
pitiful, and hungry
look up to Christ, out at the window, at the
nearest
passage,
to
tell
that
a
poor
friend
was
coming
up
to
him.
Second,
I
would
wish no more, if I
were in hell, but to send up a look to heaven.
There
be
many
love
looks
of
the
saints,
lying
up
before
the
throne,
in
the
bosom
of Christ. The
twinkling of thy eyes in prayer are not lost to
Christ;
else Stephen's look, David's
look, should not be registered so many
hundred years in Christ's written
Testament.
Samuel Rutherford, in
Trial and Triumph of Faith.
Ver. 3. Crying.
Meanwhile,
we
see how
the
saints, in
the vicissitudes of
affairs,
even
when
they
are
innocent,
are
not
insensible
and
stony;
they
do
not
despise
the
threatening
perils;
they
become
anxious,
they
cry
and
sigh during their
temptations.
Musculus.
Ver.
3.
Mine
eyes
fail.
O
pitiable
sight!
that
sight
should
fail,
by
which
Jesus saw the multitudes and,
therefore, ascended the mount to give the
precepts of the
New Testament; by which, beholding Peter and
Andrew, he
called them; by which,
looking upon the man sitting at the receipt of
custom, he called and made him an
evangelist; by which, gazing upon the
city,
he
wept
over
it...
With
these
eyes
thou
didst
look
upon
Simon,
when
thou
didst
say,
art
the
son
of
Jonas;
thou
shalt
be
called
Cephas.
With
these eyes thou didst gaze upon the woman who was
a sinner, to whom
thou
didst
say,
faith
hath
saved
thee;
go
in
peace.
Turn
these
eyes
upon
us, and never turn them away from our continual
prayers.
Gerhohus.
Ver. 3. I wait for my God. The hour is
coming when our eyes must fail,
and
be
closed;
but,
even
then,
us
wait
for
our
God;
in
this
respect,
let us die the
death of the righteous person, who died for us;
our last end be like
this.
George Horne.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Ver. 2-3. The sinner aware of his
position, unable to hope, overwhelmed
with
fear,
finding
no
comfort
in
prayer,
unvisited
with
divine
consolation.
Direct and
console him.
Ver. 3.
I.
Here is faith in the midst of trouble: My God.
II. Hope in the midst of
disappointment: Mine eyes
fail, etc.
III. Prayer in the midst of
discouragement: I am weary,
etc.; My
throat, etc. Or,
I. There is praying
beyond prayer: I am weary, etc.
II.
Hoping beyond hope: Mine eyes, etc.
G.
R.
Psalms 69:4
(PSALMS)
EXPOSITION
Ver. 4.
They that hate me. Surprising sin that men should
hate the
altogether lovely one, truly
is it added,
without a cause, for reason there was
none for this senseless enmity.
He
neither blasphemed God,
nor injured man. As Samuel said:
I
taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I
defrauded? Whom have
I
oppressed?
might Jesus enquire.
Besides, he had
not only
done
us no evil, but he had bestowed
countless and priceless benefits. Well
might he demand,
cradle to
his cross, beginning with Herod and not ending
with Judas, he
had foes without number;
and he justly said, they
are
more
than
the
hairs
of
mine
head.
Both
the
civilians
and
the
military,
laics and clerics,
doctors and drunkards, princes and people, set
themselves against the Lord's anointed.
him that the inheritance may be ours,
the
keepers
of
the
Jewish
vineyard;
while
the
Gentiles
outside the
walls
of
the
garden
furnished
the
instruments
for
his
murder,
and
actually
did
the
deed. The hosts of earth and hell, banded
together, made up vast
legions of
antagonists,
none
of whom
had any
just ground for
hating him.
They that would
destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are
mighty.
It was bad that they were many,
but worse that they were mighty. All the
ecclesiastical and military powers of
his country were arrayed against
him.
The might of the Sanhedrin, the mob, and the Roman
legions were
combined in one for
his utter
destruction:
this earth; it is not fit that he
should live,
ferocious
foes.
David's
adversaries
were
on
the
throne
when
he
was
hiding
in
caverns,
and
our
Lord's
enemies
were
the
great
ones
of
the
earth;
while
he,
of whom the world was not worthy, was reproached
of men and despised
of the people.
Then
I
restored
that
which
I
took
not
away.
Though
innocent,
he
was
treated
as guilty. Though David had no share in
plots against Saul, yet he was
held
accountable
for
them.
In
reference
to
our
Lord,
it
may
be
truly
said
that he restores what he took not away;
for he gives back to the injured
honour
of God a recompense, and to man his lost
happiness, though the
insult of the one
and the fall of the other were neither of them, in
any
sense, his doings. Usually, when
the ruler sins the people suffer, but
here the proverb is reversed--the sheep
go astray, and their wanderings
are
laid at the Shepherd's door.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Ver.
4.
Without
a
cause.
In
suffering,
let
not
the
mind
be
disturbed;
for
the
injustice
which
is
done
to
the
innocent
in
his
sufferings,
is
not
laid
to the
charge of the sufferer, but to his who inflicts
suffering... It
is well known what
Tertullian relates
of
Socrates, when his
wife met
him
after
his
condemnation,
and
addresses
him
with
a
woman's
tears:
art
unjustly condemned,
Socrates.
His reply was,
justly?
Lorinus.
Ver. 4.
Then I restored that which I took not away. It was
the great and
blessed work of our Lord
Jesus here upon the earth, to restore what he
took not away. In handling this:
I. Show what it is which was taken
away, and from whom?
II. Wherein it
appears that Christ took it not away.
III. How he restored it?
IV. Why he did so?
V. Use.
I.
What it was which was
taken away, and from whom?
1. There was glory taken from God. Not
his
essential
glory,
nor
any
perfection
of
his
being,
for that cannot be
taken away; but that glory
which
shines
forth
in
the
moral
government
of
his
creatures, and that glory which we are
bound to
give him.
2. There
was righteousness, holiness, and
happiness taken from man also. (1)
There was a
loss
of
righteousness
to
the
guilty
sinner;
(2)
of
holiness to the polluted sinner: (3) of
happiness to the miserable sinner.
II.
Wherein it appears that
Christ did not take away
those things from either.
1.
It
is
plain,
as
to
God,
he
never
took
away
any
glory from him; for he never did
anything
dishonourable, or offensive to
God. Joh 8:29;
Isa 50:5 Lu 1:35.
2.
It
is
also
clear, as
to
man,
that
he
took
not
away any
righteousness, holiness, or happiness
from him. He was not such a fountain of
guilt,
pollution,
and
misery,
as
the
first
Adam
had
been,
but the contrary.
3.
The
Scripture,
therefore,
speaks
of
Christ's
being
cut
off,
but
not
for
himself,
Da
9:26;
1Pe
3:18 Isa 53:4-5.
4.
The
innocency
of
Christ
was
conspicuous
in
his
very sufferings. Though
they found no cause of
death in him,
yet desired they Pilate that he
should
be slain. Ac 13:28.
III.
How did Christ restore those things
which he took
not
away?
In general, by his active and
passive
obedience.
1.
Christ's
doing
the
will
of
God
in
such
a
manner
as he
did it, was a greater honour to God than
ever had been, or could be done before.
2. Christ's suffering of the will of
God, made
a considerable addition to
the glory of God,
which had been
impaired by the sin of man, Heb
5:8;
Joh 17:4 13:31.
3.
Christ
hath
provided
for
the
justification
of
the
sinner
by
the
obedience
which
he
fulfilled,
Ro 5:8.
4. Christ communicates that grace which
is
necessary for our sanctification
also.
5. Christ hath merited for us a
present
blessedness in this world.
6.
Jesus
Christ
hath
procured
for
us
a
more
full
and absolute
blessedness in the world to come.
IV.
Why did Jesus Christ make it his work
to restore
what he took not
away?
1.
It
was
a
necessary
work,
a
work
which
must
be
done, in order to his being a Saviour.
2.
It
was
a
work
impossible
for
any
mere
creature
to do; so that if
Christ did not, it could not
be done by
any person besides him.
Timothy
Cruso's Sermon.
Ver.
4.
Then
I
restored
that
which
I
took
not
away.
Rosenmueller
observes,
that this seems to be a proverbial
sentence, to denote an innocent man
unjustly
treated.
According
to
the
law,
if
a
man
stole
and
killed,
or
sold
an ox, he was to restore five oxen; or
a sheep, he was to restore four;
and if
the ox or sheep was found alive, he was to restore
two. Hence, to
oblige a man to restore
when he had taken nothing, was the greatest
injustice.
Ex
22:1-5.
Ainsworth
observes,
that
though
it
may
be
taken
for
all unjust criminations, whereof David
and Christ were innocent, yet in
special,
it
was
verified
in
Christ,
who,
in
the
form
of
God,
thought
it not robbery to be
equal with God,
witnessing
himself
to
be
the
Son
of
God,
he
was
put
to
death
by
the
Jews.
Joh 19:7.
Benjamin
Boothroyd.
Ver. 4. I
restored that which I took not away. The devil
took away by
arrogating in heaven what
was not his, when he boasted that he was like
the
Most
High,
and
for
this
he
pays
a
righteous
penalty...
Adam
also
took
away
what
was
not
his
own,
when,
by
the
enticement
of
the
devil,
will
be
as
gods,
sought
after
a
likeness
to
God,
by
yielding
to
the
deception
of the woman. But the Lord Jesus
thought it not robbery to be equal with
God... And yet his enemies said,
himself the Son of
God.
Gerhohus.
Ver. 4. I restored that which I took
not away. What a blessed verse is
here!
Amidst all the opposition and contradiction of
sinners against
himself, Jesus
manifested that character, by which Jehovah had
pointed
him
out
to
the
church
by
the
prophet;
shalt
raise
up
the
foundations
of
many
generations;
and
thou
shalt
be
called,
the
repairer
of
the
breach,
the restorer of
paths to dwell in.
restored? Nay, all
that was lost. Adam by sin had done all that he
could
to
take
away
God's
glory,
and
with
it
his
own
glory
and
happiness.
He
had
robbed God of his glory,
God's law of its due, himself of God's image,
and
of
God's
favour.
Sin
had
brought
in
death,
spiritual
and
eternal;
and
he
and
all
his
descendants
stood
tremblingly
exposed
to
everlasting
misery.
All these and more
Jesus restored. As man's Surety and man's
Representative, and called to it by the
authority of Jehovah, the Lord
Christ
restored to God his glory, and to man God's image
of favour; and
having destroyed sin,
death, hell, and the grave, he restored to his
redeemed
a
better
paradise
than
our
nature
had
lost!
Hail,
oh,
thou
blessed
Restorer of all our
long lost privileges.
Robert
Hawker.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Ver. 4. Jesus as the Restorer, the
Christian imitating him in the same
office;
Christianity
a
power
which
will
do
this
for
the
whole
race
in
due
season.
Psalms
69:5 (PSALMS)
EXPOSITION
Ver. 5. O God, thou knowest my
foolishness. David might well say this,
but not David's Lord; unless it be
understood as an appeal to God as to
his
freedom
from
the
folly
which
men
imputed
to
him
when
they
said
he
was
mad.
That
which
was
foolishness
to
men
was
superlative
wisdom
before
God.
How
often
might
we
use
these
words
in
their
natural
sense,
and
if
we
were
not such
fools as to be blind to our own folly, this
confession would be
frequently
on
our
lips.
When
we
feel
that
we
have
been
foolish
we
are
not,
therefore, to cease from
prayer, but rather
to be
more
eager and fervent
in
it. Fools had good need consult with the
infinitely wise.
And
my
sins
are
not
hid
from
thee.
They
cannot
be
hid
with
any fig
leaves
of mine; only the
covering which thou wilt bring me can conceal
their
nakedness
and
mine.
It
ought
to
render
confession
easy,
when
we
are
assured
that all is known
already. That prayer which has no confession in it
may
please
a
Pharisee's
pride,
but
will
never
bring
down
justification.
They
who
have
never
seen
their
sins
in
the
light
of
God's
omniscience
are
quite
unable to appeal to
that omniscience in proof of their piety. He who
can
say,
Thou
knowest
my
foolishness,
is
the
only
man
who
can
add,
thou
knowest
that I love thee.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Ver. 5. Thou
knowest. The knowledge of God is of a double use
to pious
men. The first is, as we
observe in this place, to console the innocent:
the second is, to make them
circumspect, since all their thoughts, and
words, and deeds are under the very eye
of God.
Musculus.
Ver. 5. Thou knowest my offences, etc.,
that is to say, that I am not an
offender. This verse is not a
confession of sin, but a protestation of
innocence, The writer
maintains
that he
is a sufferer, not for
his
sins,
but
for
his
piety.
See
Ps
69:7,
etc.
George
R.
Noyes,
in
New
Translation
of the Book of Psalms, with
Notes,
1846.
Ver. 5. My sins are not hid from thee.
The sins of those for whom Christ
died,
by
being
imputed
to
him,
no
doubt
became
his
in
the
eyes
of
the
law,
in such a sense as to make him
answerable for them. But the Scriptures,
be
it
observed,
while
they
speak
of
him
as
for
our
transgressions,
and
bruised
for
our
iniquities,
as
our
sins
in
his
own
body
on
the
tree,
if
afraid
to
use
any
forms
of
expression
which
would
even
seem
to derogate from his immaculate purity, never
speak of the sins of
those for whom he
died as his
own
sins.
James Anderson's Note to Calvin
in loc.
Ver.
5.
My
sins
are
not
hid.
Not
as
the
first
Adam,
do
I,
the
second
Adam,
hide
myself
or
my
sins,
especially
in
thy
sight,
O
God;
but
lifted
up
upon
the
cross
I
suffered
without
the
gate
for
sins
in
such
a
way,
that
I
desire
that
my
sins
should be conspicuous to every
creature in heaven, earth,
and
hell--
my
sins
which, as they refer to
my person, are marked with no
taint,
and,
as
they
pertain
to
my
people
believing
in
me,
are
blotted
out
by my
blood.
Gerhohus.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Ver.
5.
Our
foolishness.
Wherein
it
appears
generally,
how
it
may
display
itself in
individuals, what it occasions, and what are the
divine
provisions to meet it.
Ver. 5.
I. God's knowledge
of sin is an inducement to repent.
1.
Because
it
is
foolish
to
endeavour
to
hide
any
sin from him.
2. Because it is impossible to confess
all our
sin to him. II. It is an
encouragement to hope
for pardon.
1.
Because,
in
the
full
knowledge
of
sin,
he
has
declared
himself to be merciful and ready to
forgive.
2.
Because
he
has
made
provision
for
pardon,
not
according to our knowledge of sin, but
his own.
Psalms 69:6 (PSALMS)
EXPOSITION
Ver. 6. Let not
them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be
ashamed
for
my
sake.
If
he
were
deserted,
others
who
were
walking
in
the
same
path
of
faith would be discouraged and disappointed.
Unbelievers are ready
enough to catch
at anything which may turn humble faith into
ridicule,
therefore, O God of all the
armies of Israel, let not my case cause the
enemy to blaspheme--such is the spirit
of this verse. Our blessed Lord
ever
had a tender concern for his people, and would not
have his own
oppression of spirit
become a source of discouragement to them.
Let not those that seek thee be
confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.
He appealed to the
Lord of
hosts
by
his power
to help him, and now
to the
God of Israel by his covenant
faithfulness to come to the rescue. If the
captain
of
the
host
fail,
how
will
it
fare
with
the
rank
and
file?
If
David
flee,
what
will
his
followers
do?
If
the
king
of
believers
shall
find
his
faith
unrewarded, how will
the
feeble ones
hold on their
way? Our Lord's
behaviour
during
his
sharpest
agonies
is
no
cause
of
shame
to
us;
he
wept,
for he was man, but he murmured not,
for he was sinless man; he cried,
Father,
if
it
be
possible,
let
this
cup
pass
from
me;
he
was
human,
but he added,
humanity
was
without taint
of
rebellion.
In
the
depths
of
tribulation
no
repining word escaped him, for there
was no repining in his heart. The
Lord
of martyrs witnessed a good confession. He was
strengthened in the
hour of peril, and
came off more than a conqueror, as we also shall
do,
if we hold fast our confidence even
to the end.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND
QUAINT SAYINGS
Ver. 6. Let not them
that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed
for my sake, etc. This says, that
unless the carriage and deportment of
the godly man redounds to the comfort
of all the rest of the godly, it
in
some way tends to the discredit of the godly.
Since this is the case,
when they slip
aside, or carry not aright; since they are all in
hazard
of doing so, it should be matter
of affecting and afflicting exercise,
lest
they
do
so.
Fellow
professors
are
ashamed
of
the
person
that
walketh
not aright; they are
ashamed that ever they should have been in company
or fellowship with him; they are
ashamed that ever such a person should
have owned such a cause, and that ever
such a thing should have befallen
a
professor of such a cause; and, besides, they are
weakened by him in
their hopes of
persevering for themselves. Again, they are in
hazard of
being
a discredit to all the godly, because, say they,
it seems the Lord
has granted no
peremptory promise, as to the manner of their
final
perseverance; and corruption
enough remains in them still, to overturn
all their stock of grace, if they get
not present renewed influences.
William
Guthrie.
1620-1655.
Ver. 6.
Ashamed for my sake. I pray that they may
not be
confounded
by
external enemies with their boundless
insults and reproaches, because
they
seem to be the worshippers of a God crucified and
dead, and are
themselves
like
dead
men,
and
lie
rotting
before
his
sepulchre,
as
if
their
good name were gone.
Rather let my enemies who do not wish me to live
be
terror stricken at my angelic
countenance, and fall like the dead.
Gerhohus.
Ver.
6. For my sake.
yb
: more
exactly, in me. In these words the voice
of the Sponsor of his people's peace is
clearly audible. The prayer of
the
Sufferer
has
its
answer
in
the
declarative
testimony
which now
forms
the basis of the gospel:
confounded.
Arthur
Pridham.
Ver.
6.
Because
I,
for
their
sakes,
do
at
thy
command
bear
that
shame
which
they
should
else
have
done,
Lord,
take
it
off
from
them,
because
thou
hast
laid it upon me; so it expressly
follows, Ps 69:7: Because for thy sake
I have borne reproach; shame hath
covered my face.
Thomas
Goodwin.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
None.
Psalms 69:7 (PSALMS)
EXPOSITION
Ver. 7. Because
for
thy sake
I
have borne reproach.
Because
he undertook
to do the Father's will,
and teach his truth, the people were angry;
because he declared himself to be the
Son of God, the priesthood raved.
They
could
find
no
real
fault
in
him,
but
were
forced
to
hatch
up
a
lying
accusation
before
they
could
commence
their
sham
trial
of
him.
The
bottom
of the quarrel was, that God was with
him, and he with God, while the
Scribes
and Pharisees sought only their own honour.
Reproach is at all
times
very
cutting
to
a
man
of
integrity,
and
it
must
have
come
with
acute
force
upon one of so unsullied a character as our Lord;
yet see, how he
turns
to
his
God,
and
finds
his
consolation
in
the
fact
that
he
is
enduring
all
for
his
Father's
sake.
The
like
comfort
belongs
to
all
misrepresented
and
persecuted saints.
Shame
hath
covered
my
face.
Men
condemned
to
die
frequently
had
their
faces
covered as they were dragged away from
the judge's seat, as was the case
with
the wicked Haman in Es 7:8: after this fashion
they first covered
our
Lord
with
a
veil
of
opprobrious
accusation,
and
then
hurried
him
away
to be crucified.
Moreover, they passed him through the trial of
cruel
mockings, besmeared his face with
spittle, and covered it with bruises,
so
that
Pilate's
Homo
called
the
world's
attention
to
an
unexampled
spectacle of woe
and shame. The stripping on the cross must also
have
suffused
the
Redeemer's
face
with
a
modest
blush,
as
he
hung
there
exposed
to
the
cruel
gaze
of
a
ribald
multitude.
Ah,
blessed
Lord,
it
was
our
shame
which thou wast made to
bear!
Nothing more
deserves to be
reproached
and
despised
than
sin,
and
lo,
when
thou
wast
made
sin
for
us
thou
wast
called
to
endure
abuse
and
scorn.
Blessed
be
thy
name
it
is
over
now, but
we
owe
thee more than heart can
conceive for thine amazing stoop of love.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Ver. 7. Shame hath covered my face. It
is a great question whether shame
or
death
be
the
greater
evil.
There
have
been
those
who
have
rather
chosen
death, and have wiped off a dishonour
with their blood. So Saul slew
himself
rather than he
would fall into
the hands of
the
Philistines, who
would have insulted
over him, and mocked him as they did Samson. So
that
king (Jer 38:19) rather chose to
lose his country, life and all, than to
be given to the Jews, his subjects, to
be mocked of them... Confusion of
face
is one of the greatest miseries that hell itself
is set forth unto
us by. There is
nothing that a noble nature more abhors than
shame, for
honour is a spark of God's
image; and the more of God's image there is
in any one, the more is shame abhorred
by him, which is the debasing of
it,
and
so
the
greater
and
more
noble
any
one's
spirit,
the
more
he
avoids
it.
To
a
base,
low
spirit,
indeed,
shame
is
nothing;
but
to
a
great
spirit
(as to David), than to have his
nothing more grievous. And the greater
glory any loseth, the greater is
his
shame. What must it be then to Christ, who because
he was to satisfy
God
in
point
of
honour
debased
by
man's
sin,
therefore
of
all
punishments
besides, he suffered most of shame; it
being also (as was said) one of
the
greatest punishments in hell. And Christ, as he
assumed other
infirmities
of
our
nature,
that
made
him
passible
in
other
things--
as
to
be sensible of hunger,
want of sleep, bodily torments, of unkindness,
contempt, so likewise of disgrace and
shame. He took that infirmity as
well
as
fear;
and
though
he
had
a
strength
to
bear
and
despise
it
(as
the
author
of the Hebrews speaks), yet none was ever more
sensible of it. As
the delicacy of the
temper of his body made him more sensible of pains
than ever any
man was, so the greatness of his spirit made him
more
apprehensive of the evil of shame
than ever any was. So likewise the
infinite love and candour
of
his spirit
towards mankind made
him take in
with
answerable
grief
the
unkindness
and
injuries
which
they
heaped
upon
him.
Thomas
Goodwin.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
None.
Psalms 69:8 (PSALMS)
EXPOSITION
Ver. 8. I am
become a stranger unto my brethren. The Jews his
brethren
in race rejected him, his
family his brethren by blood were offended at
him, his disciples his brethren in
spirit forsook him and fled; one of
them sold him, and another denied him
with oaths and cursings. Alas, my
Lord,
what pangs must have smitten thy loving heart to
be thus forsaken
by
those
who
should
have
loved
thee,
defended
thee,
and,
if
need
be,
died
for
thee.
And
an
alien
unto
my
mother's
children.
These
were
the
nearest
of
relatives,
the children of a
father with many wives felt the tie of
consanguinity
but loosely, but children
of the same mother owned the band of love; yet
our
Lord
found
his
nearest
and
dearest
ones
ashamed
to
own
him.
As
David's
brethren envied him, and spake evil of
him, so our Lord's relatives by
birth
were jealous of him, and his best beloved
followers in the hour of
his
agony
were
afraid
to
be
known
as
having
any
connection
with
him.
These
were
sharp arrows of the mighty in the soul of Jesus,
the most tender of
friends. May none of
us ever act as if we were strangers to him; never
may we treat him as if he were an alien
to us: rather let us resolve to
be
crucified with him, and may grace turn the resolve
into fact.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND
QUAINT SAYINGS
Ver.
8.
A
stranger
unto
my
brethren.
Unless
this
aversion
of
his
brethren
had
pained
him,
he
would
not
have
complained
of
it.
It
would
not
have
pained
him
unless he had felt a special affection for them.
Musculus.
Ver.
8. In the east where polygamy prevails, the
husband is a stern and
unfeeling
despot;
his
harem
a
group
of
trembling
slaves;
and
the
children,
while
they
regard
their
common
father
with
indifference
or
terror,
cling
to their own mother with
the fondest affection, as the only part, as the
only parent, in whom they feel an
interest. Hence it greatly aggravated
the affliction of David that he had
become an alien unto his mother's
children: the enmity of the other
children of his father, the children
of
his father's other wives, gave him less concern.
W. Greenfield, in
Comprehensive Bible.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Ver. 8-9.
I. A grievous
trial.
II. An honourable reason for
it: for Christ's sake.
III. Consoling
supports under it.
Psalms
69:9 (PSALMS)
EXPOSITION
Ver.
9.
For
the
zeal
of
thine
house
hath
eaten
me
up.
His
burning
ardour,
like
the
flame
of
a
candle,
fed
on
his
strength
and
consumed
it.
His
heart,
like a sharp sword,
cut through the scabbard. Some men are eaten up
with
lechery,
others
with covetousness,
and
a
third
class
with
pride,
but
the
master passion with our
great leader was the glory of God, jealousy for
his name, and love to the divine
family. Zeal for God is so little
understood
by
men
of
the
world,
that
it
always
draws
down
opposition
upon
those who are inspired with it; they
are sure to be accused of sinister
motives,
or
of
hypocrisy,
or
of
being
out
of
their
senses.
When
zeal
eats
us up, ungodly men seek to eat us up
too, and this was preeminently the
case
with our Lord, because his holy jealousy was
preeminent. With more
than a seraph's
fire he glowed, and consumed himself with his
fervour.
And
the
reproaches
of
them
that
reproached
thee
have
fallen
upon
me.
Those
who
habitually
blaspheme
God
now
curse
me
instead.
I
have
become
the
butt
for arrows intended for
the Lord himself. Thus the Great Mediator was,
in this respect, a substitute for God
as well as for man, he bore the
reproaches aimed at the one, as well as
the sins committed by the other.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Ver. 9. For the
zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. He who
recollects
that the Scriptures speak of
a
a
the low state of his own
feeling, than to suspect the propriety of
sentiments
the
most
rational
and
scriptural,
merely
because
they
rise
to
a
pitch
that
he
has
never
reached.
The
Sacred
Oracles
afford
no
countenance
to the
supposition that devotional feelings are to the
condemned as
visionary and enthusiastic
merely on account of their intenseness and
elevation;
provided
they
be
of
the
right
kind,
and
spring
from
legitimate
sources,
they
never
teach
us
to
suspect
they
can
be
carried
too
far.
David
danced
before
the
Lord
with
all
his
might,
and
when
he
was
reproached
for
degrading
himself
in
the
eyes
of
his
people
by
indulging
in
such
transports,
he
replied,
this
be
vile,
I
will
yet
make
myself
more
vile.
That
the
objects
which
interest
the
heart
in
religion
are
infinitely
more
durable
and
important than all others will not be disputed;
and why should it be
deemed irrational
to be affected by them in a degree somewhat
suitable
to their value?
Robert Hall.
1764-1831.
Ver. 9. The zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up. Consider the examples
of
the
saints
of
old,
who
have
taken
heaven
by
force.
David
broke
his
sleep
for
meditation.
Ps
119:148.
His
violence
for
heaven
was
boiled
up
to
zeal,
Ps 119:139:
(
epekteinomenoz
)
unto those things which were
before.
signifies
to
stretch
out
the
neck,
a
metaphor
taken
from
racers
that
strain
every
limb,
and
reach
forward
to
lay
hold
upon
the
prize.
We
read
of
Anna,
a
prophetess
(Lu
2:37);
departed
not
from
the
temple,
but
served
God
with
fastings and prayers night and day.
the
Lord's
vineyard.
When
his
friends
persuaded
him
for
his
health's
sake
to remit a little of his labour, saith
he,
me idle when he
comes?
said
of
holy
Bradford,
preaching,
reading,
and
prayer,
was
his
whole
life.
I rejoice, said bishop Jewel, that my
body is exhausted in the labours
of
my
holy
calling.
How
violent
were
the
blessed
martyrs!
They
wore
their
fetters as ornaments, they snatched up
torments as crowns, and embraced
the
flames
as
cheerfully
as
Elijah
did
the
fiery
chariot
that
came
to
fetch
him
to
heaven.
Let
racks,
fires,
pullies,
and
all
manner
of
torments
come,
so
I may win Christ, said Ignatius. These pious souls
blood.
How
should
this
provoke
our
zeal!
Write
after
these
fair
copies.
Thomas
Watson.
Ver. 9. The zeal of
thine house hath eaten me up. Zeal in and for true
religion is a praise worthy
thing.
Was
David
zealous?
it may then become
a
royal
spirit.
Was
Christ
our
Saviour
zealous?
it
may
become
an
heroical
spirit.
Albeit,
zeal
is
out
of
grace
with
most
men
who
sit
still,
and
love
to be at quiet rest; yet it is no
disgrace to any generous spirit that
is
regenerate,
to
have
the
zeal
of
God's
house
to
eat
him
up.
It
is
a
slander
to
call
it
folly.
Was
not
zealous
David
wiser
than
his
teachers,
than
his
enemies,
than the aged?
Lukewarm men call it
fury; God's Spirit
names it
a
imputation of
indiscretion, rashness, puritanism, or headiness?
Was it
David's
rashness?
It
was
fervency
in
religion.
Was
Christ
indiscreet?
The
wisdom
of
his
Father.
Festus
called
Paul
mad,
with
a
loud
voice
(Ac
26:24),
when
he
spake
but
words
of
truth
and
soberness
(Ac
26:25).
Christ's
kinsmen
thought that he was
beside himself. Mr 3:21. Was the judgment of such
stolid men any disparagement to our
Saviour's zeal? Nay, it is a
commendation.
To root
out
evil from,
and to
establish good in,
the house
of
God
is
a
good
thing.
Ga
4:18.
Thomas
Wilson,
in
Sermon
preached
before
sundry of the
Honourable
House of Commons,
Zion.
1641.
Ver.
9. Zeal, reproaches. Grace never rises to so great
a height as it
does in times of
persecution. Suffering times are a Christian's
harvest
times. Let me instance
in that grace
of zeal: I
remember Moulin speaking
of
the French Protestants, saith,
Scriptures, we burn with
zeal to be
reading of them;
but now persecution
is over,
our Bibles are like old almanacs,
frowns, threatenings, oppositions, and
persecutions that a Christian
meets
with in a way of holiness, do but raise his zeal
and courage to a
greater
height.
Michal's
scoffing
at
David
did
but
inflame
and
raise
his
zeal:
as fire in the winter
burns the hotter, by an
antiperistasiv
because of
the
coldness
of
the
air;
so
in
the
winter
of
affliction
and
persecution,
that
divine
fire,
the
zeal
of
a
Christian,
burns
so
much
the
hotter,
and
flames
forth so much the
more vehemently and strongly. In times of greatest
affliction and persecution for
holiness' sake, a Christian hath, first,
a good captain to
lead and
encourage
him; secondly, a
righteous
cause to
prompt
and embolden him; thirdly, a gracious God to
relieve and succour
him;
fourthly,
a
glorious
heaven
to
receive
and
reward
him;
and,
certainly,
these things
cannot but mightily raise him and inflame him
under the
greatest opposition and
persecution. These things will keep him from
fearing,
fawning,
fainting,
sinking,
or
flying
in
a
stormy
day;
yea,
these
things
will make his face like the face of an adamant, as
God's promised
to
make
Ezekiel's.
Eze
3:7-9,
and
Job
41:24.
Now
an
adamant
is
the
hardest
of stones, it is
harder than a flint, yea, it is harder than the
nether
millstone. The naturalists
(Pliny) observe, that the hardness of this
stone is unspeakable: the fire cannot
burn it, nor so much as heat it
through, nor the hammer cannot break
it, nor the water cannot dissolve
it,
and,
therefore,
the
Greeks
call
it
an
adamant
from
its
untameableness;
and in all storms the adamant shrinks
not, it shrinks not, it fears not,
it
changeth not its hue; let the times be what they
will, the adamant is
still the same. In
times of persecution, a good cause, a good God,
and
a
good
conscience
will
make
a
Christian
like
an
adamant,
it
will
make
him
invincible and
unchangeable. When one desired to know what kind
of man
Basil was, there was presented
to him in a dream, saith the history, a
pillar of fire with this motto,
Talis est Basilius,
Basil is
such a one,
he is all on a light fire
for God. Persecutions will but set a Christian
all on a light fire for God.
Thomas Brooks.
Ver.
9.
Eaten
me
up. The
verb
means,
not
only
eat
up,
to
devour,
fire. And the
radical import of the Hebrew word for zeal seems
to be
eat into, corrode, as
fire.
Bible
generally
applied
to
the
fervent
or
ardent
affections
of
the
human
frame;
the
effects
of
which
are
well
known
to
be
ever
like
those
of
fire,
corroding and
consuming. And, accordingly, the poets, both
ancient and
modern,
abound
with
descriptions
of
these
ardent
and
consuming
affections,
taken from fire
and its effects.
Richard
Mant.
Ver. 9. Eaten me up.
He who is zealous in his religion, or ardent in
his
attachments, is said to be eaten
up.
to leave
his
home
for
ever;
he
is
to
walk
barefoot
to
the
Ganges
for
the
salvation
of
his soul: his zeal has eaten him up.
J.
Roberts' Oriental
Illustrations.
Ver. 9. The reproaches of them that
reproached thee are fallen upon me.
We
should, if it were possible, labour to wipe off
all the reproach of
Christ, and take it
upon ourselves that we might rather be spit upon
and
contemned than Christ. It was a
brave speech of Ambrose,
would
please
God
to
turn
all
the
adversaries
from
the
church
upon
himself,
and
let
them
satisfy
their
thirst
with
his
blood:
this
is
a
true
Christian
heart. And,
therefore, if it be for our sakes, and we have
anything in
the business by which
Christ is reproached, we should be willing rather
to sacrifice ourselves, than that
Christ should be reproached; and as
Jonah, when he knew that the tempest
rose for his sake, says he,
me
into the sea;
so Nazianzen,
when
contention rose
about
him, says
he,
Christ should
suffer for me.
Jeremiah
Burroughs.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Ver. 8-9.
I. A grievous trial.
II. An honourable reason
for it: for Christ's sake.
III.
Consoling supports under it.
Ver. 9.
I. The object of zeal: thy house; thy
Zion; thy
Church.
II. The
degree of zeal: hath eaten me up. Our Lord was
consumed by his own zeal. So Paul: And
I if I be
offered up, etc.
III. The manifestation of zeal: The
reproaches, etc.; of
thy justice; of
thy law; of thy moral government; of
thy lovingkindness.
etc.
G. R.
Psalms 69:10 (PSALMS)
EXPOSITION
Ver. 10. When I
wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was
to my
reproach.
Having
resolved
to
hate
him,
everything
he
did
was
made
a
fresh
reason
for
reviling.
If
he
ate
and
drank
as
others,
he
was
a
man
gluttonous
and
a
winebibber;
if
he
wept
himself
away
and
wore
himself
out
with
fasting,
then he had a devil and was mad.
Nothing is more cruel than prejudice,
its
eye
colours
all
with
the
medium
through
which
it
looks,
and
its
tongue
rails at all indiscriminately. Our
Saviour wept much in secret for our
sins, and no doubt his private soul
chastening on our behalf were very
frequent. Lone mountains and desert
places saw repeated agonies, which,
if
they could disclose them, would astonish us
indeed. The emaciation
which these
exercises wrought in our Lord made him appear
nearly fifty
years
old
when
he
was
but
little
over
thirty;
this
which
was
to
his
honour
was
used as a matter of reproach against him.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Ver. 10. When I
wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was
to my
reproach.
Behold
here,
virtue
is
accounted
vice;
truth,
blasphemy;
wisdom,
folly.
Behold,
the
peace
maker
of
the
world
is
judged
a
seditious
person;
the fulfiller of the
law, a breaker of the law; our Saviour, a sinner;
our God, a devil.
O poor
troubled
heart! wherefore
dost thou weakly
wail
for any injury or abuse that is offered
to thee? God handleth thee no
otherwise
in this world than he handled his only Son, who
hath pledged
thee in this bitter
potion; not only taking essay thereof, but
drinking
to thee a full draught. It is
not only a comfort, but a glory, to be a
partner and fellow sufferer with
Christ, who delighteth also to see in
us
some
representation
of
himself.
Dogs
bark
not
at
those
whom
they
know,
and
with
whom
they
are
familiar;
but
against
strangers
they
usually
bark;
not always for any
hurt which they feel or fear, but commonly by
nature
or depraved custom. How then
canst thou be a stranger to the world, if
it dost not molest thee; if it detracts
not from thee?
Sir John Hayward
(1560-1627), in
Soul.
Ver. 10.
There is nothing so well meant, but it may be ill
interpreted.
Simon Patrick.
Ver. 10-11. That Christ was derided and
scoffed at is plain, from Mark
5; for,
when he said,
him to scorn;
the
Pharisees,
who
were
covetous
heard
all
these
things,
and
they
derided
him.
the
high priests, and many others.
Robert
Bellarmine.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Ver. 10-12. A
prophecy.
I. Of the Saviour's tears:
When I wept.
II. Of his fasting.
III. Of reproach.
IV. Of
his humiliation: I made sackcloth, etc.
V. Of the perversion of his words: as,
this temple,
VI. Of the
opposition of the Pharisees, and rulers: They
that sit in the
gate, etc.
VII. Of the contempt of the
lowest of the people: I was
the song,
etc.
G. R.
Psalms 69:11 (PSALMS)
EXPOSITION
Ver. 11. I made
sackcloth also
my garment.
This
David did literally,
but
we have no reason to believe that
Jesus did. In a spiritual sense he, as
one filled with grief, was always a
sackcloth wearer.
And I became a
proverb to them. He was ridiculed as
sorrow sit.
more
general scorn. To interweave one's name into a
mocking proverb is
the highest stretch
of malice, and to insult one's acts of devotion is
to add profanity to cruelty.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Ver. 10-11. See Psalms on
Ver. 11. I made sackcloth also my
garment, etc. Though we nowhere read
that
Jesus
put
on
sackcloth
on
any
occasion,
yet
it
is
not
improbable
that
he did; besides, the
phrase
may
only intend
that he mourned
and sorrowed
at certain times, as persons
do
when they put on
sackcloth;
moreover, as
the
common garb of his forerunner was raiment of
camel's hair, with a
leathern
girdle;
it
is
very
likely
his
own
was
very
mean,
suitable
to
his
condition,
who,
though
he
was
rich,
for
our
sakes
became
poor.
And
I
became
a
proverb
to
them;
a
byword;
so
that,
when
they
saw
any
person
in
sackcloth
or
in
vile
raiment,
behold,
such
an
one
looks
like
Jesus
of
Nazareth.
John
Gill.
Ver. 11. I
became a proverb. Two things are usually implied
when a man
is said to be a byword.
First, that he is in a very low condition: some
men
are
so
high
that
the
tongues
of
the
common
people
dare
not
climb
over
them, but where the
hedge is low every man goes over. Secondly, that
he
is in a despised condition; to be a
byword, carries a reflection of
disgrace.
He
that
is
much
spoken
of,
in
this
sense,
is
ill
spoken
of;
and
he is quite lost in the opinion of men,
who is thus found in their
discourse...
Hence,
observe,
great
sufferers
in
many
things
of
this
world,
are
the
common
subject
of
discourses,
and
often
the
subject
of disgrace.
Such
evils
as
few
men
have
felt
or
seen,
all
men
will
be
speaking
of.
Great
sorrows, especially if
they be the
sorrows of
great men, are
turned into
songs,
and
poetry
plays
its
part
with
the
saddest
disasters...
Holy
David
met with this measure
from men in the day of his sorrows: When I wept,
and chastened my soul with fasting,
that was to my reproach. I made
sackcloth also my garment; and I became
a proverb (or a byword) to them.
In the
next verse he tells us in detail who did this:
They that sit in
the gate (that is,
great ones) speak against me, and I was the song
of
the drunkard, that is, of the common
sort.
Joseph Caryl.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Ver. 10-12. A prophecy.
I.
Of the Saviour's tears: When I wept.
II. Of his fasting.
III. Of
reproach.
IV. Of his humiliation: I
made sackcloth, etc.
V. Of the
perversion of his words: as,
this
temple,
VI. Of the opposition of the
Pharisees, and rulers: They
that sit
in the gate, etc.
VII. Of the contempt
of the lowest of the people: I was
the
song, etc.
G. R.
Ver. 11. Proverbial sayings of a
scoffing character.
Psalms 69:12 (PSALMS)
EXPOSITION
Ver.
12.
They
that
sit
in
the
gate
speak
against
me.
The
ordinary
gossips
who
meet
at
the
city
gates
for
idle
talk
make
me
their
theme,
the
business
men who there resort for trade forget
their merchandise to slander me,
and
even the beggars who wait at men's doors for alms
contribute their
share of insult to the
heap of infamy.
And
I
was
the
song
of
the
drunkard.
The
ungodly
know
no
merrier
jest
than
that in which the name
of the holy is traduced. The flavour of slander
is piquant, and gives a relish to the
revellers' wine. The character of
the
man
of
Nazareth
was
so
far
above
the
appreciation
of
the
men
of
strength
to mingle strong
drink, it was so much out of their way and above
their
thoughts,
that
it
is
no
wonder
it
seemed
to
them
ridiculous,
and
therefore
well
adapted
to
create
laughter
over
their
cups.
The
saints
are
ever
choice
subjects
for
satire.
Butler's
Hudibras
owed
more
of
its
popularity
to
its
irreligious banter than
to any intrinsic cleverness. To this day the
tavern makes rare fun of the
tabernacle, and the ale bench is the seat
of
the
scorner.
What
a
wonder
of
condescension
is
here
that
he
who
is
the
adoration
of
angels
should
stoop
to
be
the
song
of
drunkards!
What
amazing
sin that he whom
seraphs worship with veiled faces should be a
scornful
proverb among the most
abandoned of men.
The
ruler's scoff, the drunkard's
song.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT
SAYINGS
Ver.
12.
They
that
sit
in
the
gate:
i.e.,
as
it
is
generally
interpreted,
the judges or
chief persons of the state; for the gates of
cities were
the places of judicature.
But Hillary interprets this of those who sat
to
beg
at
the
gates
of
the
city;
which
seems
a
more
probable
interpretation,
better to
agree with the design of the psalmist, and to suit
with the
drunkards, mentioned in the
next clause.
Samuel Burder.
Ver.
12.
They
that
sit
in
the
gate.
The
magistrates
at
the
gate.
Literally,
at
the
gate;
sitting
to
determine
causes.
John
Mason
Good.
Ver. 12. I
was the song of the drunkards. Holy walking is the
drunkard's
song,
as David was; and so preciseness and
strictness of walking is
ordinarily:
the world cannot bear the burning and shining
conversations
of some of the saints;
they are so cuttingly reproved by them, that with
those
heathens,
they
curse
the
sun,
that
by
its
shining
doth
scorch
them.
It
is
no
new
thing;
the
seed
of
the
serpent
did
always
persecute
the
seed
of the woman; and he
that was born after the flesh, persecutes him that
was born after the spirit; even so it
is now, saith the apostle; and so
it is
now, may we say. Ishmael mocked Isaac, and is it
not so still? Or,
if
it
be
not
so
bold
a
sin
as
formerly,
it
is
because
the
times,
not
sinner's
hearts, are
changed; they malign them still, watch for their
halting:
John
Murcot.
Ver.
12.
I
was
the
song
of
the
drunkards.
When
magistrates
discountenance
true religion, then it becometh a
matter of derision to rascals, and to
every base villain without control, and
a table talk to every tippler.
The
shame of the cross is more grievous than the rest
of the trouble of
it:
this
is
the
fourth
time
that
the
shame
of
the
cross
is
presented
unto
God, in these last four verses: I was
the song of the drunkards; after
complaining of his being reproached and
being
made a proverb.
David
Dickson.
Ver. 12. There is a tavern, or profane
mirth, in drinking, and roaring,
and
revelling, and instead of another minstrel, David
must be
the song
of the
drunkards;
nor
can the
Philistines be merry unless Samson be
made
the fool in the play (Jud 16:25):
and servants of God
Mr.
Greenham saith),
tell how
to
be
merry;
then
the
Devil
is
merry
with
them
for
company.
But
what?
Not
merry
without
abusing
their
host?
This
some
must
dearly
pay
for,
when
a reckoning is called for; or, they
rather called to make it. Then they
will be off from their merry pins, and
will find that this was very far
from
being
the
of
the
Holy
Ghost,
and
whereby
that
good
Spirit
and our Comforter was grieved, and holiness
scoffed and laughed
at.
Anthony Tuckney (1599-1670), in
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE
PREACHER
Ver. 10-12. A prophecy.
I. Of the Saviour's tears: When I wept.
II. Of his fasting.
III. Of
reproach.
IV. Of his humiliation: I
made sackcloth, etc.
V. Of the
perversion of his words: as,
this
temple,
VI. Of the opposition of the
Pharisees, and rulers: They
that sit
in the gate, etc.
VII. Of the contempt of the lowest of
the people: I was
the song, etc.
G. R.
Psalms 69:13 (PSALMS)
EXPOSITION
Ver.
13.
But
as
for
me,
my
prayer
is
unto
thee,
O
Lord.
He
turned
to
Jehovah
in prayer as being
the most natural thing for the godly to do in
their
distress.
To
whom
should
a
child
turn
but
to
his
father.
He
did
not
answer
them;
like
a
sheep
before
her
shearers
he
was
dumb
to
them,
but
he
opened
his mouth unto the
Lord his God, for he would hear and deliver.
In an acceptable time. It was a time of
rejection with man, but of
acceptance
with
God.
Sin
ruled
on
earth,
but
grace
reigned
in
heaven.
There
is to each of us an accepted time, and
woe to us if we suffer it to glide
away
unimproved.
God's
time
must
be
our
time,
or
it
will
come
to
pass
that,
when time closes, we shall look in vain
for space for repentance. Our
Lord's
prayers were well timed, and always met with
acceptance.
O God, in the multitude of
thy mercy hear me. Even the perfect one makes
his appeal to the rich mercy of God,
much more should we. To misery no
attribute is more sweet than mercy, and
when sorrows multiply, the
multitude of
mercy is much prized. When enemies are more than
the hairs
of
our
head,
they
are
yet
to
be
numbered,
but
God's
mercies
are
altogether
innumerable, and
let it never be forgotten that every one of them
is an
available and powerful argument
in the hand of faith.
In
the
truth
of
thy
salvation.
faithfulness
is
a
further
mighty
plea.
therefore he is asked
to manifest it, and make all men see his fidelity
to his promise. Our Lord teaches us
here the sacred art of wrestling in
prayer, and ordering our cause with
arguments; and he also indicates to
us
that the nature of God is the great treasury of
strong reasons, which
shall be to us
most prevalent in supplication.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Ver. 13. But as for me, my prayer, etc.
The phrase is full of emphasis;
And I,
my prayer to thee:
that is, such am I
altogether, this is my main
occupation;
as
it
is
in
Ps
109:4:
And
I,
a
prayer;
this
was
my
employment,
this ever my
only refuge, this my present help and remedy.
Venema.