Psalm 69:2 Komentář

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 (v. 1-21). II. He imprecates the judgments of God upon his persecutors (Psa 69:22-29). III. He concludes with the voice of joy and praise, in an assurance that God would help and succour him, and would do well for the church (Psa 69:30-36). Now, in this, David was a type of Christ, and divers passages in this psalm are applied to Christ in the new Testament and are said to have their accomplishment in him (Psa 69:4, Psa 69:9, Psa 69:21), and Psa 69:22 refers to the enemies of Christ. So that (like the twenty-second psalm) 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. To the chief musician upon Shoshannim. A psalm of David.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 69 To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, A Psalm of David. Of the word "shoshannim", See Gill on Psa 45:1, title. The Targum renders it, "concerning the removal of the sanhedrim;'' which was about the time of Christ's death. The Talmudists (t) say, that forty years before the destruction of the temple, the sanhedrim removed, they removed from the paved chamber, &c. But it can hardly be thought that David prophesied of this affair; nor of the captivity of the people of Israel, as the Targum, Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Arama, and R. Obadiah interpret it: and so Jarchi takes the word "shoshannim" to signify lilies, and applies it to the Israelites, who are as a lily among thorns. But not a body of people, but a single person, is spoken of, and in sorrowful and suffering circumstances; and, if the Jews were not blind, they might see that they are the enemies of the person designed, and the evil men from whom he suffered so much. And indeed what is said of him cannot be said of them, nor of any other person whatever but the Messiah: and that the psalm belongs to Christ, and to the times of the Gospel, is abundantly evident from the citations out of it in the New Testament; as Psa 69:4 in Joh 15:25; Psa 69:9 in Joh 2:17; Psa 69:21 in Mat 27:34; Psa 69:22 in Rom 11:9; Psa 69:25 in Act 1:16. The inscription of the psalm in the Syriac version is, ""a psalm" of David, according to the letter, when Shemuah (Sheba), the son of Bichri, blew a trumpet, and the people ceased from following after him (David); but the prophecy is said concerning those things which the Messiah suffered, and concerning the rejection of the Jews.'' And Aben Ezra interprets Psa 69:36 of the days of David, or of the days of the Messiah. (t) T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 8. 2. & Roshhashanah, fol. 31. 1, 2.

I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing,.... Which signifies not despair of mind, but difficult and distressed circumstances; the Messiah now bearing the filthy sins of his people, and the punishment of them, and so was got into the horrible pit, the mire and clay; See Gill on Psa 40:2; I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me: as afflictions are often compared to waters in Scripture, Christ's sorrows and sufferings are very aptly signified by deep waters and overflowing floods; and therefore rightly called a baptism, as by himself, Luk 12:50, when he was as one immersed in and overwhelmed with water.

On the first occasion we nearly perished of hunger and thirst while we were wandering about in the desert [without food] for five days and five nights. On the second occasion we traveled over savage, rugged mountains until our feet were pierced by the stones, and we suffered very great pain and very nearly had to yield up our souls. On the third occasion we sank in the mud several times more than waist deep, and there was none to help [us], and we cried out the words of the blessed David, “Save me, O God, for the waters have come even to my soul. I have sunk into a dark abyss, wherein is no place on which to stand. Save me from the mire so that I do not sink.” On the fourth occasion a great flood burst on us at the time when the Nile floods, and we walked about in the water, and we sank down very nearly to the nostrils [of the animal that we rode], and we cried out and said, “Drown us not, O Lord, in a whirlpool of waters, and let not the abyss swallow us up, and let not the pit close its mouth over us.”

"Fixed I am in the clay of the deep, and there is no substance" [Psalm 69:2]. What called the clay? Is it those very persons that have persecuted? For out of clay man has been made. [Genesis 2:7] But these men by falling from righteousness have become the clay of the deep, and whosoever shall not have consented to them persecuting and desiring to draw him to iniquity, out of his clay does make gold. For the clay of the same shall merit to be converted into a heavenly form, and to be made associate of those of whom says the Title of the Psalm, "in behalf of them that shall be changed." But at the time when these were the clay of the deep, I stuck in them: that is, they held Me, prevailed against Me, killed Me. "Fixed" then "I am in the clay of the deep, and there is no substance." What is this, "there is no substance"? Can it be that clay itself is not a substance? What is then, "fixed I am"? Can it be that Christ has thus stuck? Or has He stuck, and was not, as has been said in the book of Job, "the earth delivered into the hands of the ungodly man"? [Job 9:24] Was He fixed in body, because it could be held, and suffered even crucifixion? For unless with nails He had been fixed, crucified He had not been. Whence then "there is no substance"? Is that clay not a substance? But we shall understand, if it be possible, what is, "and there is no substance," if first we shall have understood what is a substance. For there is substance spoken of even of riches, as we say, he has substance, and he has lost substance....

Previously, you see, when [Christ] was showing us an example of humility in the flesh, it was said with reference to his passion that the waves of the sea rose mightily against him, to which he yielded voluntarily for our sakes, so fulfilling the prophecy, "I came into the depth of the sea, and the tempest overwhelmed me." Thus he did not rebut the false witnesses or the savage roar of the crowd, "Have him crucified!" He did not use his power to quell the raging hearts and stop the mouths of the furious mob, but he bore it all with patience. They did to him whatever they wanted, because "he became obedient unto death, even death on a cross."

Upon Shoshannim--(See on Psa 45:1, title). Mingling the language of prayer and complaint, the sufferer, whose condition is here set forth, pleads for God's help as one suffering in His cause, implores the divine retribution on his malicious enemies, and, viewing his deliverance as sure, promises praise by himself, and others, to whom God will extend like blessings. This Psalm is referred to seven times in the New Testament as prophetical of Christ and the gospel times. Although the character in which the Psalmist appears to some in Psa 69:5 is that of a sinner, yet his condition as a sufferer innocent of alleged crimes sustains the typical character of the composition, and it may be therefore regarded throughout, as the twenty-second, as typically expressive of the feelings of our Saviour in the flesh. (Psa. 69:1-36) (Compare Psa 40:2). come in unto my soul--literally, "come even to my soul," endanger my life by drowning (Jon 2:5).