mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 69.xml

<div2 id="Ps.lxx" n="lxx" next="Ps.lxxi" prev="Ps.lxix" progress="45.07%" title="Chapter LXIX">
<h2 id="Ps.lxx-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.lxx-p0.2">PSALM LXIX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.lxx-p1">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, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.1-Ps.69.21" parsed="|Ps|69|1|69|21" passage="Ps 69:1-21">ver. 1-21</scripRef>. II. He imprecates the
judgments of God upon his persecutors, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.22-Ps.69.29" parsed="|Ps|69|22|69|29" passage="Ps 69:22-29">ver. 22-29</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.30-Ps.69.36" parsed="|Ps|69|30|69|36" passage="Ps 69:30-36">ver. 30-36</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.4 Bible:Ps.69.9 Bible:Ps.69.21" parsed="|Ps|69|4|0|0;|Ps|69|9|0|0;|Ps|69|21|0|0" passage="Ps 69:4,9,21">ver. 4, 9, 21</scripRef>),
and <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.22" parsed="|Ps|69|22|0|0" passage="Ps 69:22">ver. 22</scripRef> refers to the
enemies of Christ. So that (like the <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.22.1-Ps.22.31" parsed="|Ps|22|1|22|31" passage="Ps 22:1-31">twenty-second psalm</scripRef>) 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.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.lxx-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69" parsed="|Ps|69|0|0|0" passage="Ps 69" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.lxx-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.1-Ps.69.12" parsed="|Ps|69|1|69|12" passage="Ps 69:1-12" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.69.1-Ps.69.12">
<h4 id="Ps.lxx-p1.9">Complaints and Petitions.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.lxx-p1.10">
<p id="Ps.lxx-p2">To the chief musician upon Shoshannim. <i>A psalm</i> of
David.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.lxx-p3">1 Save me, O God; for the waters are come in
unto <i>my</i> soul.   2 I sink in deep mire, where <i>there
is</i> no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods
overflow me.   3 I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried:
mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.   4 They that hate me
without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that
would destroy me, <i>being</i> mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty:
then I restored <i>that</i> which I took not away.   5 O God,
thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.
  6 Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.lxx-p3.1">God</span> of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not
those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.
  7 Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath
covered my face.   8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren,
and an alien unto my mother's children.   9 For the zeal of
thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that
reproached thee are fallen upon me.   10 When I wept, <i>and
chastened</i> my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.  
11 I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to
them.   12 They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I
<i>was</i> the song of the drunkards.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p4">In these verses David complains of his
troubles, intermixing with those complaints some requests for
relief.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p5">I. His complaints are very sad, and he
pours them out before the Lord, as one that hoped thus to ease
himself of a burden that lay very heaven upon him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p6">1. He complains of the deep impressions
that his troubles made upon his spirit (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.1-Ps.69.2" parsed="|Ps|69|1|69|2" passage="Ps 69:1,2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>): "The <i>waters of
affliction,</i> those bitter waters, <i>have come unto my soul,</i>
not only threaten my life, but disquiet my mind; they fill my head
with perplexing cares and my heart with oppressive grief, so that I
cannot enjoy God and myself as I used to do." We shall bear up
under our troubles if we can but keep them from our hearts; but,
when they put us out of the possession of our own souls, our case
is bad. <i>The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity;</i> but
what shall we do when the spirit is wounded? That was David's case
here. His thoughts sought for something to confide in, and with
which to support his hope, but he found nothing: He sunk <i>in deep
mire, where there was no standing,</i> no firm footing; the
considerations that used to support and encourage him now failed
him, or were out of the way, and he was ready to give himself up
for gone. He sought for something to comfort himself with, but
found himself <i>in deep waters</i> that <i>overflowed</i> him,
overwhelmed him; he was like a sinking drowning man, in such
confusion and consternation. This points at Christ's sufferings in
his soul, and the inward agony he was in when he said, <i>Now is my
soul troubled;</i> and, <i>My soul is exceedingly sorrowful;</i>
for it was his soul that he made an offering for sin. And it
instructs us, when we are in affliction, to commit the keeping of
our souls to God, that we may be neither soured with discontent nor
sink into despair.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p7">2. He complains of the long continuance of
his troubles (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.3" parsed="|Ps|69|3|0|0" passage="Ps 69:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>):
<i>I am weary of my crying.</i> Though he could not keep his head
above water, yet he cried to his God, and the more death was in his
view the more life was in his prayers; yet he had not immediately
an answer of peace given in, no, nor so much of that support and
comfort in praying which God's people used to have; so that he was
almost weary of crying, grew hoarse, and his <i>throat</i> so
<i>dried</i> that he could cry no more. Nor had he his wonted
satisfaction in believing, hoping, and expecting relief: <i>My eyes
fail while I wait for my God;</i> he had almost looked his eyes
out, in expectation of deliverance. Yet his pleading this with God
is an indication that he is resolved not to give up believing and
praying. His throat is dried, but his heart is not; his eyes fail,
but his faith does not. Thus our Lord Jesus, on the cross, cried
out, <i>Why hast thou forsaken me?</i> yet, at the same time, he
kept hold of his relation to him: <i>My God, my God.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p8">3. He complains of the malice and multitude
of his enemies, their injustice and cruelty, and the hardships they
put upon him, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.4" parsed="|Ps|69|4|0|0" passage="Ps 69:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
They hated him, they would destroy him, for hatred aims at the
destruction of the person hated; but what was his iniquity, what
was his sin, what provocation had he given them, that they were so
spiteful towards him? None at all: "<i>They hate me without a
cause;</i> I never did them the least injury, that they should bear
me such ill-will." Our Saviour applies this to himself (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:John.15.25" parsed="|John|15|25|0|0" passage="Joh 15:25">John xv. 25</scripRef>): <i>They hated me
without a cause.</i> We are apt to use this in justification of our
passion against those that hate us, that we never gave them cause
to hate us. But it is rather an argument why we should bear it
patiently, because then we suffer as Christ did, and may then
expect that God will give us redress. "They are <i>my enemies
wrongfully,</i> for I have been no enemy to them." In a world where
unrighteousness reigns so much we must not wonder if we meet with
those that are our enemies wrongfully. Let us take care that we
never do wrong and then we may the better bear it if we receive
wrong. These enemies were not to be despised, but were very
formidable both for their number—<i>They are more than the hairs
of my head</i> (Christ's enemies were numerous; those that came to
seize him were a great multitude; how were those increased that
troubled him!) and for their strength—They <i>are mighty</i> in
authority and power. We are weak, but our enemies are strong; for
<i>we wrestle against principalities and powers. Then I restored
that which I took not away.</i> Applying this to David, it was what
his enemies compelled him to (they made him suffer for that offence
which he had never been guilty of); and it was what he consented
to, that, if possible, he might pacify them and make them to be at
peace with him. He might have insisted upon the laws of justice and
honour, the former not requiring and the latter commonly thought to
forbid the restoring of that which we took not away, for that is to
wrong ourselves both in our wealth and in our reputation. Yet the
case may be such sometimes that it may become our duty. Blessed
Paul, though free from all men, yet, for the honour of Christ and
the edification of the church, made himself a servant to all. But,
applying it to Christ, it is an observable description of the
satisfaction which he made to God for our sin by his blood: <i>Then
he restored that which he took not away;</i> he underwent the
punishment that was due to us, paid our debt, suffered for our
offence. God's glory, in some instances of it, was taken away by
the sin of man; man's honour, and peace, and happiness, were taken
away; it was not he that took them away, and yet by the merit of
his death he restored them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p9">4. He complains of the unkindness of his
friends and relations, and this is a grievance which with an
ingenuous mind cuts as deeply as any (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.8" parsed="|Ps|69|8|0|0" passage="Ps 69:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): "<i>I have become a stranger to
my brethren;</i> they make themselves strange to me and use me as a
stranger, are shy of conversing with me and ashamed to own me."
This was fulfilled in Christ, whose <i>brethren did not believe on
him</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:John.7.5" parsed="|John|7|5|0|0" passage="Joh 7:5">John vii. 5</scripRef>), who
<i>came to his own and his own received him not</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:John.1.11" parsed="|John|1|11|0|0" passage="Joh 1:11">John i. 11</scripRef>), and who was forsaken by
his disciples, whom he had been free with as his brethren.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p10">5. He complains of the contempt that was
put upon him and the reproach with which he was continually loaded.
And in this especially his complaint points at Christ, who for our
sakes submitted to the greatest disgrace and made himself of no
reputation. We having by sin injured God in his honour, Christ made
him satisfaction, not only by divesting himself of the honours due
to an incarnate deity, but by submitting to the greatest dishonours
that could be done to any man. Two things David here takes notice
of as aggravations of the indignities done him:—(1.) The ground
and matter of the reproach, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.10-Ps.69.11" parsed="|Ps|69|10|69|11" passage="Ps 69:10,11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>. They ridiculed him for
that by which he both humbled himself and honoured God. When men
lift up themselves in pride and vain glory they are justly laughed
at for their folly; but David chastened his soul, and clothed
himself with sackcloth, and from his abasing himself they took
occasion to trample upon him. When men dishonour God it is just
that their so doing should turn to their dishonour; but when David,
purely in devotion to God and to testify his respect to him,
<i>wept, and chastened his soul with fasting,</i> and <i>made
sackcloth his garment,</i> as humble penitents used to do, instead
of commending his devotion and recommending it as a great example
of piety, they did all they could both to discourage him in it and
to prevent others from following his good example; for <i>that was
to his reproach.</i> They laughed at him as a fool for mortifying
himself thus; and even for this he <i>became a proverb to them;</i>
they made him the common subject of their banter. We must not think
it strange if we be ill spoken of for that which is well done, and
in which we have reason to hope that we are accepted of God. Our
Lord Jesus was stoned for his good works (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:John.10.32" parsed="|John|10|32|0|0" passage="Joh 10:32">John x. 32</scripRef>), and when he cried, <i>Eli,
Eli—My God, my God,</i> was bantered, as if he called for Elias.
(2.) The persons that reproached him, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.12" parsed="|Ps|69|12|0|0" passage="Ps 69:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. [1.] Even the gravest and the
most honourable, from whom better was expected: <i>Those that sit
in the gate speak against me,</i> and their reproaches pass for the
dictates of senators and the decrees of judges, and are credited
accordingly. [2.] The meanest, and the most despicable, the abjects
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.35.15" parsed="|Ps|35|15|0|0" passage="Ps 35:15">Ps. xxxv. 15</scripRef>), and scum of
the country, the <i>children of fools,</i> yea, the <i>children of
base men,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.30.8" parsed="|Job|30|8|0|0" passage="Job 30:8">Job xxx. 8</scripRef>.
Such drunkards as these make themselves vile, and he was the song
of the drunkards; they made themselves and their companions merry
with him. See the bad consequences of the sin of drunkenness; it
makes men <i>despisers of those that are good,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p10.6" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.3.3" parsed="|2Tim|3|3|0|0" passage="2Ti 3:3">2 Tim. iii. 3</scripRef>. When <i>the king was
made sick with bottles of wine he stretched out his hand with
scorners,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p10.7" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.5" parsed="|Hos|7|5|0|0" passage="Ho 7:5">Hos. vii. 5</scripRef>.
The bench of the drunkards is the seat of the scornful. See what is
commonly the lot of the best of men: those that are the praise of
the wise are the song of fools. But it is easy to those that
rightly judge of things to despise being thus despised.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p11">II. His confessions of sin are very serious
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.5" parsed="|Ps|69|5|0|0" passage="Ps 69:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): "<i>O God!
thou knowest my foolishness,</i> what is and what is not; my sins
that I am guilty of are not hidden from thee, and therefore thou
knowest how innocent I am of those crimes which they charge upon
me." Note, Even when, as to men's unjust accusations, we plead
<i>Not guilty,</i> yet, before God, we must acknowledge ourselves
to have deserved all that is brought upon us, and much worse. This
is the genuine confession of a penitent, who knows that he cannot
prosper in covering his sin, and that <i>therefore</i> it is his
wisdom to acknowledge it, because it is naked and open before God.
1. He knows the corruption of our nature: <i>Thou knowest the
foolishness</i> that is bound up in my heart. All our sins take
rise from our foolishness. 2. He knows the transgressions of our
lives; they are not hidden from him, no, not our heart-sins, no,
not those that are committed most secretly. They are all done in
his sight, and are never cast behind his back till they are
repented of and pardoned. This may aptly be applied to Christ, for
he knew no sin, yet he was made sin for us; and God knew it, nor
was it hidden from him, when it pleased the Lord to bruise him and
put him to grief.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p12">III. His supplications are very earnest. 1.
For himself (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.1" parsed="|Ps|69|1|0|0" passage="Ps 69:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>):
"<i>Save me, O God!</i> save me from sinking, from despairing."
Thus Christ was heard in that he feared, for he was saved from
letting fall his undertaking, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.5.7" parsed="|Heb|5|7|0|0" passage="Heb 5:7">Heb. v.
7</scripRef>. 2. For his friends (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.6" parsed="|Ps|69|6|0|0" passage="Ps 69:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): <i>Let not those that wait on
thee, O Lord God of hosts! and that seek thee, O God of Israel!</i>
(under these two characters we ought to seek God, and in seeking
him to wait on him, as the <i>God of hosts,</i> who has all power
to help, and as the <i>God of Israel</i> in covenant with his
people, whom therefore he is engaged in honour and truth to help)
<i>be ashamed and confounded for my sake.</i> This intimates his
fear that if God did not appear for him it would be a
discouragement to all other good people and would give their
enemies occasion to triumph over them, and his earnest desire that
whatever became of him all that seek God, and wait upon him, might
be kept in heart and kept in countenance, and might neither be
discouraged in themselves nor exposed to contempt from others. If
Jesus Christ had not been owned and accepted of his Father in his
sufferings, all that seek God, and wait for him, would have been
ashamed and confounded; but they have confidence towards God, and
in his name come boldly to the throne of grace.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p13">IV. His plea is very powerful, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.7 Bible:Ps.69.9" parsed="|Ps|69|7|0|0;|Ps|69|9|0|0" passage="Ps 69:7,9"><i>v.</i> 7, 9</scripRef>. Reproach was one of
the greatest of his burdens: "Lord, roll away the reproach, and
plead my cause, for, 1. It is for thee that I am reproached, for
serving thee and trusting in thee: <i>For thy sake I have borne
reproach.</i>" Those that are evil spoken of for well-doing may
with a humble confidence leave it to God to <i>bring forth their
righteousness as the light.</i> 2. "It is with thee that I am
reproached: <i>The zeal of thy house has eaten me up,</i> that is,
has made me forget myself, and do that which they wickedly turn to
my reproach. Those that hate thee and thy house for that reason
hate me, because they know how zealously affected I am to it. It is
this that has made them ready to eat me up and has eaten up all the
love and respect I had among them." Those that blasphemed God, and
spoke ill of his word and ways, did therefore reproach David for
believing in his word and walking in his ways. Or it may be
construed as an instance of David's zeal for God's house, that he
resented all the indignities done to God's name as if they had been
done to his own name. He laid to heart all the dishonour done to
God and the contempt cast upon religion; these he laid nearer to
his heart than any outward troubles of his own. And
<i>therefore</i> he had reason to hope God would interest himself
in the reproaches cast upon him, because he had always interested
himself in the reproaches cast upon God. Both the parts of
<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.9" parsed="|Ps|69|9|0|0" passage="Ps 69:9">this verse</scripRef> are applied to
Christ. (1.) It was an instance of his love to his Father that
<i>the zeal of his house did even eat him up</i> when he whipped
the buyers and sellers out of the temple, which reminded his
disciples of this text, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:John.2.17" parsed="|John|2|17|0|0" passage="Joh 2:17">John ii.
17</scripRef>. (2.) It was an instance of his self-denial, and that
he pleased not himself, that the <i>reproaches of those that
reproached God fell upon him</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.15.3" parsed="|Rom|15|3|0|0" passage="Ro 15:3">Rom.
xv. 3</scripRef>), and therein he set us an example.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.lxx-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.13-Ps.69.21" parsed="|Ps|69|13|69|21" passage="Ps 69:13-21" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.69.13-Ps.69.21">
<h4 id="Ps.lxx-p13.6">Complaints and Petitions.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.lxx-p14">13 But as for me, my prayer <i>is</i> unto thee,
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.lxx-p14.1">O Lord</span>, <i>in</i> an acceptable
time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of
thy salvation.   14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not
sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the
deep waters.   15 Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither
let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon
me.   16 Hear me, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.lxx-p14.2">O Lord</span>; for
thy lovingkindness <i>is</i> good: turn unto me according to the
multitude of thy tender mercies.   17 And hide not thy face
from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.   18
Draw nigh unto my soul, <i>and</i> redeem it: deliver me because of
mine enemies.   19 Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame,
and my dishonour: mine adversaries <i>are</i> all before thee.
  20 Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of
heaviness: and I looked <i>for some</i> to take pity, but <i>there
was</i> none; and for comforters, but I found none.   21 They
gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p15">David had been speaking before of the
spiteful reproaches which his enemies cast upon him; here he adds,
<i>But, as for me, my prayer is unto thee.</i> They spoke ill of
him for his fasting and praying, and for that he was made the song
of the drunkards; but, notwithstanding that, he resolves to
continue praying. Note, Though we may be jeered for well-doing, we
must never be jeered out of it. Those can bear but little for God,
and their confessing his name before men, that cannot bear a scoff
and a hard word rather than quit their duty. David's enemies were
very abusive to him, but this was his comfort, that he had a God to
go to, with whom he would lodge his cause. "They think to carry
their cause by insolence and calumny; but I use other methods.
Whatever they do, <i>As for me, my prayer is unto thee, O
Lord!</i>" And it was in an acceptable time, not the less
acceptable for being a time of affliction. God will not drive us
from him, though it is need that drives us to him; nay, it is the
more acceptable, because the misery and distress of God's people
make them so much the more the objects of his pity: it is
seasonable for him to help them when all other helps fail, and they
are undone, and feel that they are undone, if he do not help them.
We find this expression used concerning Christ. <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.49.8" parsed="|Isa|49|8|0|0" passage="Isa 49:8">Isa. xlix. 8</scripRef>, <i>In an acceptable time have I
heard thee.</i> Now observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p16">I. What his requests are. 1. That he might
have a gracious audience given to his complaints, the cry of his
affliction, and the desire of his heart. <i>Hear me</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.13" parsed="|Ps|69|13|0|0" passage="Ps 69:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), and again, <i>Hear me,
O Lord!</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.16" parsed="|Ps|69|16|0|0" passage="Ps 69:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>),
<i>Hear me speedily</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.17" parsed="|Ps|69|17|0|0" passage="Ps 69:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>), not only hear what I say, but grant what I ask.
Christ knew that <i>the Father heard him always,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:John.11.42" parsed="|John|11|42|0|0" passage="Joh 11:42">John xi. 42</scripRef>. 2. That he might be
rescued out of his troubles, might be saved from sinking under the
load of grief (<i>Deliver me out of the mire;</i> let me not stick
in it, so some, but help me out, and <i>set my feet on a rock,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p16.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.40.2" parsed="|Ps|40|2|0|0" passage="Ps 40:2">Ps. xl. 2</scripRef>), might be saved
from his enemies, that they might not swallow him up, nor have
their will against him: "<i>Let me be delivered from those that
hate me,</i> as a lamb from the paw of a lion, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p16.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.14" parsed="|Ps|69|14|0|0" passage="Ps 69:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. Though I have come into deep
waters (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p16.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.2" parsed="|Ps|69|2|0|0" passage="Ps 69:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), where
I am ready to conclude that the floods will overflow me, yet let my
fears be prevented and silenced; let not the waterflood, though it
flow upon me, overflow me, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p16.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.15" parsed="|Ps|69|15|0|0" passage="Ps 69:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>. Let me not fall into the gulf of despair; let not
that deep swallow me up; let not that pit shut her mouth upon me,
for then I am undone." He gave himself up for lost in the beginning
of the psalm; yet now he has his head above water, and is not so
weary of crying as he thought himself. 3. That God would turn to
him (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p16.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.16" parsed="|Ps|69|16|0|0" passage="Ps 69:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), that he
would smile upon him, and not hide his face from him, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p16.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.17" parsed="|Ps|69|17|0|0" passage="Ps 69:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. The tokens of God's
favour to us, and the light of his countenance shining upon us, are
enough to keep our spirits from sinking in the deepest mire of
outward troubles, nor need we desire any more to make us safe and
easy, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p16.11" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.18" parsed="|Ps|69|18|0|0" passage="Ps 69:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. "Draw
nigh to my soul, to manifest thyself to it, and that shall redeem
it."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p17">II. What his pleas are to enforce these
petitions. 1. He pleads God's mercy and truth (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.13" parsed="|Ps|69|13|0|0" passage="Ps 69:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>): <i>In the multitude of thy
mercy hear me.</i> There is mercy in God, a multitude of mercies,
all kinds of mercy, inexhaustible mercy, mercy enough for all,
enough for each; and hence we must take our encouragement in
praying. The truth also of his salvation (the truth of all those
promises of salvation which he has made to those that trust in him)
is a further encouragement. He repeats his argument taken from the
mercy of God: "<i>Hear me,</i> for <i>thy lovingkindness is
good.</i> It is so in itself; it is rich and plentiful and
abundant. It is so in the account of all the saints; it is very
precious to them, it is their life, their joy, their all. O let me
have the benefit of it! Turn to me, <i>according to the multitude
of thy tender mercies,</i>" <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.16" parsed="|Ps|69|16|0|0" passage="Ps 69:16"><i>v.</i>
16</scripRef>. See how highly he speaks of the goodness of God: in
him there are mercies, tender mercies, and a multitude of them. If
we think well of God, and continue to do so under the greatest
hardships, we need not fear but God will do well for us; for <i>he
takes pleasure in those that hope in his mercy,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.147.11" parsed="|Ps|147|11|0|0" passage="Ps 147:11">Ps. cxlvii. 11</scripRef>. 2. He pleads his own
distress and affliction: "<i>Hide not thy face</i> from me, <i>for
I am in trouble</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.17" parsed="|Ps|69|17|0|0" passage="Ps 69:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>), and therefore need thy favour; therefore it will
come seasonably, and therefore I shall know how to value it." He
pleads particularly the reproach he was under and the indignities
that were done him (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p17.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.19" parsed="|Ps|69|19|0|0" passage="Ps 69:19"><i>v.</i>
19</scripRef>): <i>Thou hast known my reproach, my shame, and my
dishonour.</i> See what a stress is laid upon this; for, in the
sufferings of Christ for us, perhaps nothing contributed more to
the satisfaction he made for sin, which had been so injurious to
God in his honour, than the reproach, and shame, and dishonour he
underwent, which God took notice of, and accepted as more than an
equivalent for the everlasting shame and contempt which our sins
had deserved, and therefore we must by repentance take shame to
ourselves and bear the reproach of our youth. And if at any time we
be called out to suffer reproach, and shame, and dishonour, for his
sake, this may be our comfort, that he knows it, and, as he is
before-hand with us, so he will not be behind-hand with us. The
Psalmist speaks the language of an ingenuous nature when he says
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p17.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.20" parsed="|Ps|69|20|0|0" passage="Ps 69:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): <i>Reproach
has broken my heart; I am full of heaviness;</i> for it bears hard
upon one that knows the worth of a good name to be put under a bad
character; but when we consider what an honour it is to be
dishonoured for God, and what a favour to be counted worthy to
suffer shame for his name (as they deemed it, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p17.7" osisRef="Bible:Acts.5.41" parsed="|Acts|5|41|0|0" passage="Ac 5:41">Acts v. 41</scripRef>), we shall see there is no reason
at all why it should sit so heavily or be any heart-breaking to us.
3. He pleads the insolence and cruelty of his enemies (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p17.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.18" parsed="|Ps|69|18|0|0" passage="Ps 69:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): <i>Deliver me because
of my enemies,</i> because they were such as he had before
described them, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p17.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.4" parsed="|Ps|69|4|0|0" passage="Ps 69:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
"<i>My adversaries are all before thee</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p17.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.19" parsed="|Ps|69|19|0|0" passage="Ps 69:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>); thou knowest what sort of men
they are, what danger I am in from them, what enemies they are to
thee, and how much thou art reflected upon in what they do and
design against me." One instance of their barbarity is given
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p17.11" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.21" parsed="|Ps|69|21|0|0" passage="Ps 69:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>): <i>They
gave me gall for my meat</i> (the word signifies a bitter herb, and
is often joined with wormwood) <i>and in my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink.</i> This was literally fulfilled in Christ, and
did so directly point to him that he would not say <i>It is
finished</i> till this was fulfilled; and, in order that his
enemies might have occasion to fulfil it, he said, <i>I thirst,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p17.12" osisRef="Bible:John.19.28-John.19.29" parsed="|John|19|28|19|29" passage="Joh 19:28,29">John xix. 28, 29</scripRef>. Some
think that the hyssop which they put to his mouth with the vinegar
was the bitter herb which they gave him with the vinegar for his
meat. See how particularly the sufferings of Christ were foretold,
which proves the scripture to be the word of God, and how exactly
the predictions were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, which proves him to
be the true Messiah. This is he that should come, and we are to
look for no other. 4. He pleads the unkindness of his friends and
his disappointment in them (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p17.13" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.20" parsed="|Ps|69|20|0|0" passage="Ps 69:20"><i>v.</i>
20</scripRef>): <i>I looked for some to take pity, but there was
none;</i> they all failed him like the brooks in summer. This was
fulfilled in Christ, for in his sufferings all his disciples
forsook him and fled. We cannot expect too little from men
(miserable comforters are they all); nor can we expect too much
from God, for he is the Father of mercy and the God of all comfort
and consolation.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.lxx-p17.14" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.22-Ps.69.29" parsed="|Ps|69|22|69|29" passage="Ps 69:22-29" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.69.22-Ps.69.29">
<h4 id="Ps.lxx-p17.15">Pleading with God; Prophetic
Imprecations.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.lxx-p18">22 Let their table become a snare before them:
and <i>that which should have been</i> for <i>their</i> welfare,
<i>let it become</i> a trap.   23 Let their eyes be darkened,
that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
  24 Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy
wrathful anger take hold of them.   25 Let their habitation be
desolate; <i>and</i> let none dwell in their tents.   26 For
they persecute <i>him</i> whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to
the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.   27 Add iniquity
unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness.
  28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and
not be written with the righteous.   29 But I <i>am</i> poor
and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p19">These imprecations are not David's prayers
against his enemies, but prophecies of the destruction of Christ's
persecutors, especially the Jewish nation, which our Lord himself
foretold with tears, and which was accomplished about forty years
after the death of Christ. The first two verses of this paragraph
are expressly applied to the judgments of God upon the unbelieving
Jews by the apostle (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.22-Ps.69.23 Bible:Rom.11.9-Rom.11.10" parsed="|Ps|69|22|69|23;|Rom|11|9|11|10" passage="Ps 69:22,23,Ro 11:9,10">Rom. xi. 9, 10</scripRef>), and therefore
the whole must look that way. The rejection of the Jews for
rejecting Christ, as it was a signal instance of God's justice and
an earnest of the vengeance which God will at last take on all that
are obstinate in their infidelity, so it was, and continues to be,
a convincing proof of the truth of the Christian religion. One
great objection against it, at first, was, that it set aside the
ceremonial law; but its doing so was effectually justified, and
that objection removed, when God so remarkably set it aside by the
utter destruction of the temple, and the sinking of those, with the
Mosaic economy, that obstinately adhered to it in opposition to the
gospel of Christ. Let us observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p20">I. What the judgments are which should come
upon the crucifiers of Christ; not upon all of them, for there were
those who had a hand in his death and yet repented and found mercy
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.23 Bible:Acts.3.14-Acts.3.15" parsed="|Acts|2|23|0|0;|Acts|3|14|3|15" passage="Ac 2:23,3:14,15">Acts ii. 23; iii. 14,
15</scripRef>), but upon those of them and their successors who
justified it by an obstinate infidelity and rejection of his
gospel, and by an inveterate enmity to his disciples and followers.
See <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.2.15-1Thess.2.16" parsed="|1Thess|2|15|2|16" passage="1Th 2:15,16">1 Thess. ii. 15, 16</scripRef>.
It is here foretold,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p21">1. That their sacrifices and offerings
should be a mischief and prejudice to them (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.22" parsed="|Ps|69|22|0|0" passage="Ps 69:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>): <i>Let their table become a
snare.</i> This may be understood of the altar of the Lord, which
is called <i>his table and theirs</i> because in feasting upon the
sacrifices they were partakers of the altar. This should have been
for their welfare or peace (for they were peace-offerings), but it
became a snare and a trap to them; for by their affection and
adherence to the altar they were held fast in their infidelity and
hardened in their prejudices against Christ, that altar which those
had no right to eat of who continued to serve the tabernacle,
<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.10" parsed="|Heb|13|10|0|0" passage="Heb 13:10">Heb. xiii. 10</scripRef>. Or it may
be understood of their common creature-comforts, even their
necessary food; they had given Christ gall and vinegar, and
therefore justly shall their meat and drink be made gall and
vinegar to them. When the supports of life and delights of sense,
through the corruption of our nature, become an occasion of sin to
us, and are made the food and fuel of our sensuality, then our
table is a snare, which is a good reason why we should never feed
ourselves without fear, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.12" parsed="|Jude|1|12|0|0" passage="Jude 1:12">Jude
12</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p22">2. That they should never have the comfort
either of that knowledge or of that peace which believers are
blessed with in the gospel of Christ (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.23" parsed="|Ps|69|23|0|0" passage="Ps 69:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), that they should be given up,
(1.) To a judicial blindness: <i>Let their eyes be darkened,</i>
that they see not the glory of God in the face of Christ. Their sin
was that they would not see, but shut their eyes against the light,
loving darkness rather; their punishment was that they should not
see, but be given up to their own hearts' lusts, which were
hardening, and the god of this world should be permitted to blind
their minds, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.4.4" parsed="|2Cor|4|4|0|0" passage="2Co 4:4">2 Cor. iv. 4</scripRef>.
This was foretold concerning them (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.10" parsed="|Isa|6|10|0|0" passage="Isa 6:10">Isa. vi. 10</scripRef>), and Christ ratified it,
<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p22.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.13.14-Matt.13.15 Bible:John.12.40" parsed="|Matt|13|14|13|15;|John|12|40|0|0" passage="Mt 13:14,15,Joh 12:40">Matt. xiii. 14, 15; John
xii. 40</scripRef>. (2.) To a judicial terror. There is a gracious
terror, which opens the way to comfort, such as that of Paul
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p22.5" osisRef="Bible:Acts.9.6" parsed="|Acts|9|6|0|0" passage="Ac 9:6">Acts ix. 6</scripRef>); he trembled and
was astonished. But this is a terror that shall never end in peace,
but shall make their loins continually to shake, through horror of
conscience, as Belshazzar, when the joints of his loins were
loosed. "Let them be driven to despair, and filled with constant
confusion." This was fulfilled in the desperate counsels of the
Jews when the Romans came upon them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p23">3. That they should fall and lie under
God's anger and fiery indignation (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.24" parsed="|Ps|69|24|0|0" passage="Ps 69:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>): <i>Pour out thy indignation
upon them.</i> Note, Those who reject God's great salvation
proffered to them may justly fear that his indignation will be
poured out upon them; for those that submit not to the Son of his
love will certainly be made the generation of his wrath. It is the
doom passed on those who believe not in Christ that the <i>wrath of
God abideth on them</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:John.3.36" parsed="|John|3|36|0|0" passage="Joh 3:36">John iii.
36</scripRef>); it takes hold of them, and will never let them go.
Salvation itself will not save those that are not willing to be
ruled by it. Behold the goodness and severity of God!</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p24">4. That their place and nation should be
utterly taken away, the very thing they were afraid of, and to
prevent which, as they pretended, they persecuted Christ (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:John.11.48" parsed="|John|11|48|0|0" passage="Joh 11:48">John xi. 48</scripRef>): <i>Let their
habitation be desolate</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.25" parsed="|Ps|69|25|0|0" passage="Ps 69:25"><i>v.</i>
25</scripRef>), which was fulfilled when their country was laid
waste by the Romans, and <i>Zion, for their sakes, was ploughed as
a field,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p24.3" osisRef="Bible:Mic.3.12" parsed="|Mic|3|12|0|0" passage="Mic 3:12">Mic. iii. 12</scripRef>.
The temple was the house which they were in a particular manner
proud of, but this was <i>left unto them desolate,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p24.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.38" parsed="|Matt|23|38|0|0" passage="Mt 23:38">Matt. xxiii. 38</scripRef>. Yet that is not all;
it ought to be some satisfaction to us, if we be cut off from the
enjoyment of our possessions, that others will have the benefit of
them when we are dislodged: but it is here added, <i>Let none dwell
in their tents,</i> which was remarkably fulfilled in Judah and
Jerusalem, for after the destruction of the Jews it was long ere
the country was inhabited to any purpose. But this is applied
particularly to Judas, by St. Peter, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p24.5" osisRef="Bible:Acts.1.20" parsed="|Acts|1|20|0|0" passage="Ac 1:20">Acts i. 20</scripRef>. For, he being <i>felo de se—a
suicide,</i> we may suppose his estate was confiscated, so that
<i>his habitation was desolate and no man</i> of his own kindred
<i>dwelt therein.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p25">5. That their way to ruin should be
downhill, and nothing should stop them, nor interpose to prevent it
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.27" parsed="|Ps|69|27|0|0" passage="Ps 69:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>): "Lord,
leave them to themselves, to <i>add iniquity to iniquity.</i>"
Those that are bad, if they be given up to their own hearts' lusts,
will certainly be worse; they will add sin to sin, nay, they will
<i>add rebellion to their sin,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.34.37" parsed="|Job|34|37|0|0" passage="Job 34:37">Job xxxiv. 37</scripRef>. It is said of the Jews that
they <i>filled up their sin always,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.2.16" parsed="|1Thess|2|16|0|0" passage="1Th 2:16">1 Thess. ii. 16</scripRef>. <i>Add the punishment of
iniquity to their iniquity</i> (so some read it), for the same word
signifies both sin and punishment, so close is their connexion. If
men will sin, God will reckon for it. But those that have
multiplied to sin may yet find mercy, for God multiplies to pardon,
through the righteousness of the Mediator; and therefore, that they
might be precluded from all hopes of mercy, he adds, <i>Let them
not come into thy righteousness,</i> to receive the benefit of the
righteousness of God, which is by faith in a Mediator, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p25.4" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.9" parsed="|Phil|3|9|0|0" passage="Php 3:9">Phil. iii. 9</scripRef>. Not that God shuts out
any from that righteousness, for the gospel excludes none that do
not by their unbelief exclude themselves; but let them be left to
take their own course and they will never come into this
government; for being ignorant of the demands of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish the merit of their own,
they <i>have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of
God,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p25.5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.3" parsed="|Rom|10|3|0|0" passage="Ro 10:3">Rom. x. 3</scripRef>. And
those that are so proud and self-willed that they will not come
into God's righteousness shall have their doom accordingly; they
themselves have decided it: they <i>shall not come into his
righteousness.</i> Let not those expect any benefit by it that are
not willing and glad to be beholden to it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p26">6. That they should be cut off from all
hopes of happiness (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.28" parsed="|Ps|69|28|0|0" passage="Ps 69:28"><i>v.</i>
28</scripRef>): <i>Let them be blotted out of the book of the
living;</i> let them not be suffered to live any longer, since, the
longer they live, the more mischief they do. Multitudes of the
unbelieving Jews fell by sword and famine, and none of those who
had embraced the Christian faith perished among them; the nation,
as a nation, was blotted out, and became not a people. Many
understand it of their rejection from God's covenant and all the
privileges of it; that is <i>the book of the living:</i> "Let the
commonwealth of Israel itself, Israel according to the flesh, now
become alienated from that covenant of promise which hitherto it
has had the monopoly of. Let it appear that they were never written
in the Lamb's book of life, but reprobate silver let <i>men call
them, because the Lord has rejected them.</i> Let them <i>not be
written with the righteous;</i> that is, let them not have a place
in the congregation of the saints when they shall all be gathered
in the general assembly of those whose names are written in
heaven," <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.1.5" parsed="|Ps|1|5|0|0" passage="Ps 1:5">Ps. i. 5</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p27">II. What the sin is for which these
dreadful judgments should be brought upon them (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.26" parsed="|Ps|69|26|0|0" passage="Ps 69:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>): <i>They persecute him whom
thou hast smitten, and talk to the grief of thy wounded.</i> 1.
Christ was he whom God had smitten, for <i>it pleased the Lord to
bruise him,</i> and he was esteemed <i>stricken, smitten of God,
and afflicted,</i> and therefore men <i>hid their faces from
him,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p27.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.3-Isa.53.4 Bible:Isa.53.10" parsed="|Isa|53|3|53|4;|Isa|53|10|0|0" passage="Isa 53:3,4,10">Isa. liii. 3, 4,
10</scripRef>. They persecuted him with a rage reaching up to
heaven; they cried, <i>Crucify him, crucify him.</i> Compare that
of St. Peter with this, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p27.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.23" parsed="|Acts|2|23|0|0" passage="Ac 2:23">Acts ii.
23</scripRef>. Though he was <i>delivered by the counsel and
foreknowledge of God,</i> it was <i>with wicked hands that they
crucified and slew him.</i> They talked to the grief of the Lord
Jesus when he was upon the cross, saying, <i>He trusted in God, let
him deliver him,</i> than which nothing could be said more
grieving. 2. The suffering saints were God's wounded, wounded in
his cause and for his sake, and them they persecuted, and <i>talked
to their grief.</i> For these things <i>wrath came upon them to the
uttermost,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p27.4" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.2.16" parsed="|1Thess|2|16|0|0" passage="1Th 2:16">1 Thess. ii.
16</scripRef>; and see <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p27.5" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.34-Matt.23.36" parsed="|Matt|23|34|23|36" passage="Mt 23:34-36">Matt. xxiii.
34</scripRef>, &amp;c. This may be understood more generally, and
it teaches us that nothing is more provoking to God than to insult
over those whom he has smitten, and to add affliction to the
afflicted, upon which it justly follows here, <i>Add iniquity to
iniquity;</i> see <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p27.6" osisRef="Bible:Zech.1.15" parsed="|Zech|1|15|0|0" passage="Zec 1:15">Zech. i.
15</scripRef>. Those that are of a wounded spirit, under trouble
and fear about their spiritual state, ought to be very tenderly
dealt with, and care must be taken not to <i>talk to their grief
and not to make the heart of the righteous sad.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p28">III. What the psalmist thinks of himself in
the midst of all (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.29" parsed="|Ps|69|29|0|0" passage="Ps 69:29"><i>v.</i>
29</scripRef>): "<i>But I am poor and sorrowful;</i> that is the
worst of my case, under outward afflictions, yet <i>written among
the righteous,</i> and not under God's indignation as they are." It
is better to be poor and sorrowful, with the blessing of God, than
rich and jovial and under his curse. For those who come into God's
righteousness shall soon see an end of their poverty and sorrow,
and his salvation shall set them up on high, which is the thing
that David here prays for, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p28.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.61.10" parsed="|Isa|61|10|0|0" passage="Isa 61:10">Isa. lxi.
10</scripRef>. This may be applied to Christ. He was, in his
humiliation, poor and sorrowful, a man of sorrows, and that had not
where to lay his head. But God highly exalted him; the salvation
wrought for him, the salvation wrought by him, <i>set him up on
high, far above all principalities and powers.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.lxx-p28.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.30-Ps.69.36" parsed="|Ps|69|30|69|36" passage="Ps 69:30-36" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.69.30-Ps.69.36">
<h4 id="Ps.lxx-p28.4">Comfort for the Persecuted; Thanksgiving and
Praise.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.lxx-p29">30 I will praise the name of God with a song,
and will magnify him with thanksgiving.   31 <i>This</i> also
shall please the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.lxx-p29.1">Lord</span> better than an
ox <i>or</i> bullock that hath horns and hoofs.   32 The
humble shall see <i>this, and</i> be glad: and your heart shall
live that seek God.   33 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.lxx-p29.2">Lord</span> heareth the poor, and despiseth not his
prisoners.   34 Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas,
and every thing that moveth therein.   35 For God will save
Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell
there, and have it in possession.   36 The seed also of his
servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell
therein.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p30">The psalmist here, both as a type of Christ
and as an example to Christians, concludes a psalm with holy joy
and praise which he began with complaints and remonstrances of his
griefs.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p31">I. He resolves to praise God himself, not
doubting but that therein he should be accepted of him (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p31.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.30-Ps.69.31" parsed="|Ps|69|30|69|31" passage="Ps 69:30,31"><i>v.</i> 30, 31</scripRef>): "<i>I will
praise the name of God,</i> not only with my heart, but with my
song, and <i>magnify him with thanksgiving;</i>" for he is pleased
to reckon himself magnified by the thankful praises of his people.
It is intimated that all Christians ought to glorify God with their
praises, <i>in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.</i> And
<i>this shall please the Lord,</i> through Christ the Mediator of
our praises as well as of our prayers, better than the most
valuable of the legal sacrifices (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p31.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.31" parsed="|Ps|69|31|0|0" passage="Ps 69:31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>), <i>an ox or bullock.</i> This
is a plain intimation that in the days of the Messiah an end should
be put, not only to the sacrifices of atonement, but to those of
praise and acknowledgment which were instituted by the ceremonial
law; and, instead of them, spiritual sacrifices of praise and
thanksgiving are accepted—the calves of our lips, not the calves
of the stall, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p31.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.15" parsed="|Heb|13|15|0|0" passage="Heb 13:15">Heb. xiii.
15</scripRef>. It is a great comfort to us that humble and thankful
praises are more pleasing to God than the most costly pompous
sacrifices are or ever were.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p32">II. He encourages other good people to
rejoice in God and continue seeking him (<scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.32-Ps.69.33" parsed="|Ps|69|32|69|33" passage="Ps 69:32,33"><i>v.</i> 32, 33</scripRef>): <i>The humble shall see
this and be glad.</i> They shall observe, to their comfort, 1. The
experiences of the saints. They shall see how ready God is to hear
the poor when they cry to him, and to give them that which they
call upon him for, how far he is from despising his prisoners;
though men despise them, he favours them with his gracious visits
and will find a time to enlarge them. <i>The humble shall see this
and be glad,</i> not only because when one member is honoured all
the members rejoice with it, but because it is an encouragement to
them in their straits and difficulties to trust in God. It shall
revive the hearts of those who seek God to see more seals and
subscriptions to this truth, that Jacob's God never said to Jacob's
seed, <i>Seek you me in vain.</i> 2. The exaltation of the Saviour,
for of him the psalmist had been speaking, and of himself as a type
of him. When his sorrows are over, and he enters into the joy that
was set before him, when he is heard and discharged from his
imprisonment in the grave, the humble shall look upon it and be
glad, and those that seek God through Christ shall live and be
comforted, concluding that, if they suffer with him, they shall
also reign with him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxx-p33">III. He calls upon all the creatures to
praise God, the heaven, and earth, and sea, and the inhabitants of
each, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p33.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.34" parsed="|Ps|69|34|0|0" passage="Ps 69:34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>. Heaven
and earth, and the hosts of both, were made by him, and therefore
<i>let heaven and earth praise him.</i> Angels in heaven, and
saints on earth, may each of them in their respective habitations
furnish themselves with matter enough for constant praise. Let the
fishes of the sea, though mute to a proverb, praise the Lord, for
the sea is his, and he made it. The praises of the world must be
offered for God's favours to his church, <scripRef id="Ps.lxx-p33.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.35-Ps.69.36" parsed="|Ps|69|35|69|36" passage="Ps 69:35,36"><i>v.</i> 35, 36</scripRef>. For God will save Zion,
the holy mountain, where his service was kept up. He will save all
that are sanctified and set apart to him, all that employ
themselves in his worship, and all those over whom Christ reigns;
for he was King upon the holy hill of Zion. He has mercy in store
for the cities of Judah, of which tribe Christ was. God will do
great things for the gospel church, in which let all that wish well
to it rejoice. For, 1. It shall be peopled and inhabited. There
shall be added to it such as shall be saved. <i>The cities of Judah
shall be built,</i> particular churches shall be formed and
incorporated according to the gospel model, that there may be a
remnant to <i>dwell there</i> and to <i>have it in possession,</i>
to enjoy the privileges conferred upon it and to pay the tributes
and services required from it. Those that love his name, that have
a kindness for religion in general, shall embrace the Christian
religion, and take their place in the Christian church; they shall
dwell therein, as citizens, and of the household of God 2. It shall
be perpetuated and inherited. Christianity was not to be <i>res
unius ætatis—a transitory thin.</i> No: <i>The seed of his
servants shall inherit it.</i> God will secure and raise up for
himself a seed to serve him, and they shall inherit the privileges
of their fathers; for the promise is to you and your children, as
it was of old. <i>I will be a God to thee, and thy seed after
thee.</i> The land of promise shall never be lost for want of
heirs, for God <i>can out of stones raise up children unto
Abraham</i> and will do so rather than the entail shall be cut off.
David shall never want a man to stand before him. The Redeemer
shall see his seed, and prolong his days in them, till the mystery
of God shall be finished and the mystical body completed. And since
the holy seed is the substance of the world, and if that were all
gathered in the world would be at an end quickly, it is just that
for this assurance of the preservation of it heaven and earth
should praise him.</p>
</div></div2>