To the chief musician, on Shoshannim. A psalm of David
69:Title Shoshannim probably indicated the tune to be used when singing this psalm. It means “Lilies”.⚜
69
📚Save me, O God,for the waters have come into
my soul.
69:1 This wonderful psalm is often quoted in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus applied v 4 to Himself in John 15:25. Verse 9 is applied to Him in John 2:17; and Rom 15:3; and v 21 in Matt 27:34. David wrote of both himself and the Lord Jesus, of his own sufferings and those of Jesus too. How can we sort these sayings out? How can we tell which refer to David and which to the Lord Jesus, and which to both of them? (These same questions can be asked of some other Psalms as well.) These questions are not always easy to answer, but perhaps a good rule is, see the Lord Jesus where you can, see David where you must, see both Jesus and David where possible. \fp We cannot see Jesus in v 5, for He was never foolish, never sinned, and so had no personal guilt. But it is easy to see David there. And the prayers against the wicked in verses 22-28 do not sound like the one who prayed for His enemies in Luke 23:34 (though actually He prayed there for those who did not know what they were doing, not for those who did know). Other expressions in this can hardly fit David’s experience. The Holy Spirit of God inspired him to write words that were beyond his experience and were prophecies of the Messiah. \fp Verses 1-3 speak of extreme peril and helplessness. Certainly David had experienced such times (Ps 40:2; 18:16-17; 6:6). But could these words possibly fit the experience of the Lord Jesus? Was He not God incarnate? Could He ever be described as in such danger He could not help Himself? Understand that He laid aside His divine glory, power, and privileges and became a man obedient to death (Phil 2:5-8). He Himself said He could do nothing by Himself (John 5:19, 30), and that included saving Himself from death. He could not because He knew it was God the Father’s will for Him and He would not oppose God’s will in anything. Thus we have the mention of His tears and agonizing prayers (Luke 22:41-44; Heb 5:7). So these verses beautifully fit His experience as He faced the cross. Remember that He voluntarily put Himself in this position, and that He did it all for us.⚜
2 📚I sink in deep mire,
where there is no standing.
I have come into deep waters,
where the floods overflow me.
3 📚I am weary of my crying.
My throat is dried up;
my eyes fail while I wait for my God.
4 📚Those who hate me without
a cause are more than the hairs
of my head.
Those who would destroy me,
my enemies wrongfully, are mighty.
I had to restore what I did not steal.
69:4 David was hated by King Saul and many others. The Lord Jesus was hated by nearly all the Jewish leaders of His day and by the world as a whole (John 15:18, 24, 25).⚜
5 📚O God, you know my foolishness,
and my sins are not hidden from you.
6 📚Do not let those who wait for you,
O Lord God of hosts 📖,
be ashamed for my sake.
Do not let those who seek you be
disgraced for my sake,
O God of Israel.
7 📚Because for your sake
I have borne scorn;
shame has covered my face.
8 📚I have become a stranger
to my brethren,
and an alien to my mother’s
children.
9 📚For the zeal of your house has
eaten me up,
and the scorn of those who scorned
you have fallen on me.
69:9 John 2:17. This is one reason Jesus was scorned and dishonored and treated as a stranger by His own people. Some people are extremely zealous for making money, for gaining power, for their own honor, or for other things of this world, but they cannot stand anyone who is zealous for the one true God. They call it fanaticism. They cannot understand anyone caring that much about God’s house, God’s work, God’s honor. They are blind and ignorant about the importance of these things. The Lord Jesus had so much zeal for God He was consumed by it. Jesus also became the object of insults the ungodly aimed at God.⚜
10 📚When I wept, and humbled
my soul with fasting,
I was scorned for that.
11 📚Also I made sackcloth 📖
my clothing,
and I became a byword
to them.
69:10-11 Isa 53:3. Nothing the Lord Jesus did could please the ungodly. Even His mourning and weeping for them was a reason to them to insult Him.⚜
12 📚Those who sit in the gate 📖 speak
against me,
and I am the song
of the drunkards.
13 📚But as for me, my prayer is to you,
O LORD, in the acceptable time.
O God, in the greatness
of your mercy,
hear me, in the truth of your
salvation.
14 📚Deliver me out of the mire,
and let me not sink.
Let me be delivered from those
who hate me,
and out of the deep waters.
15 📚Do not let the flood water
overflow me,
nor the deep swallow me up,
and do not let the pit shut its
mouth on me.
69:15 This was a prayer that death would not be able to hold Him. Gloriously fulfilled in Christ’s resurrection (Acts 2:24).⚜
16 📚Hear me, O LORD,
for your loving kindness is good.
Turn to me in accordance with the
abundance of your tender mercies.
17 📚And do not hide your face
from your servant,
for I am in trouble.
Hear me quickly.
18 📚Draw near to my soul,
and redeem it.
Rescue me because of my enemies.
69:13-18 Compare Ps 22:19-21. A prayer most suitable to David, to the Lord Jesus, and to many others since in great danger and distress, a prayer God the Father delighted to answer.⚜
19 📚You have known my reproach,
and my shame, and my dishonour.
My adversaries are all
before you.
20 📚Scorn has broken my heart,
and I am full of heaviness.
And I looked for someone
to take pity,
but there was no one,
and for comforters, but I found none.
69:20 The Lord Jesus died with a broken heart, deserted, scorned, insulted. Some were shocked but who had compassion? Who shed with Him a friendly tear?⚜
21 📚They also gave me gall
for my food,
and in my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink.
69:21 Matt 27:34, 48. The most unpalatable of food and drink was given to the sufferer. This verse in this psalm was the last prophecy in the Old Testament fulfilled before Jesus died (John 19:28-30). The Lord Jesus came with a feast of good things for mankind. They gave Him their worst in return.⚜
22 📚Let their table before them
become a snare,
and let what should have
been for their
welfare become a trap.
23 📚Let their eyes be darkened,
so that they can not see,
and make their loins shake
continually.
24 📚Pour out your indignation
on them,
and let your burning anger take hold
of them.
25 📚Let their habitation be desolate,
and let no one live in their tents.
26 📚For they persecute the one
whom you have struck,
and talk of the grief of those
whom you have wounded.
27 📚Ascribe wickedness to their
wickedness,
and let them not come into your
righteousness.
28 📚Let them be blotted out
of the book of the living 📖,
and not be written with
the righteous.
69:22-28 Note at Ps 35:8. Though these verses seem at variance with Luke 23:34 (but we should understand whom Jesus referred to in Luke 23:34), the Holy Spirit inspired David, a man under the law, to write them to show the just vengeance of God that was to overtake the people who caused the death of the Son of God. Though there is reason to think that the Lord Jesus did not offer these prayers in His life and death, He knew, of course, they were in this psalm and would be answered. He taught this by parable (Matt 21:38-41; 22:6-7), and by plain words (Matt 23:33-36).
Paul applied vs 22,23 to the unbelieving Jews of his day (Rom 11:9-10). Peter applied v 25 to Judas Iscariot the betrayer of Jesus (Acts 1:20). And Jesus applied it to the Jews in general (Matt 23:38). In these verses we see a cry for perfect justice to prevail. And prevail it did, and will (see Ps 18:25-26; 2 Thess 1:6). They fed Jesus gall and vinegar – their tables will become a snare. They tried to put out the light of God – their eyes will be darkened. They tried to shake the Lord Jesus and laid many stripes on His back – their loins will shake. They poured anger on the Son of God – God’s anger will be poured on them.⚜
69:27-28 The people referred to here never were partakers of God’s righteousness as Abraham their father was (Gen 15:6). They had never come into the register of the righteous. That is, they had never trusted God, never been saved. The first part of verse 28 does not mean that the saved, those who are counted righteous, can fall away and be lost. This would be contrary to the teachings of the Bible in many other places (John 5:24; 6:37-40; 10:28; Rom 5:9-10; 1 Pet 1:4-5).⚜
29 📚But I am poor
and sorrowful.
Let your salvation, O God,
set me up on high.
30 📚I will praise the name of God
with a song,
and will exalt him with thanksgiving 📖.
31 📚And this will please
the LORD better than offering an ox
or bull that has
horns and hoofs.
69:30-31 Worthy indeed is the God of such wonders. Jesus praises Him. Shall we not? What better “offering” than praise?⚜
32 📚The humble will see this, and
be glad;
and you who seek God,
your heart will live 📖.
69:32 It is the poor, especially the “poor in spirit” (Matt 5:3), and not the proud, who will be able to enter into this with a true heart. And all things will come to those who humbly seek God. The heart is kept alive in the process.⚜
33 📚For the LORD hears the poor,
and does not despise his prisoners 📖.
69:33 God hears the humble, godly poor, not the wicked poor simply because they are poor.⚜
34 📚May the heaven and earth
praise him,
the seas, and everything that
moves in them.
35 📚For God will save Zion
and will build the
cities of Judah,
that they may live there
and possess it.
36 📚And the offspring of his servants
will inherit it,
and those who love his name
will live in it.