Psalm 69:29 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.

But I am poor and sorrowful,.... The Messiah was poor in a literal sense, as it was foretold he should, Zac 9:9; so he was in his private life; born of poor parents, and brought up in a mean way: and in his public life, having no certain dwelling place, and ministered to by others; and when on the cross, being stripped of his garments; and nothing to eat and drink but gall and vinegar; and nothing to leave to his mother, but commits her to the care of his beloved disciple. Though this phrase in general may denote the low estate of Christ in his humiliation, being in the form of a servant, humbled and obedient to death; and the character of "sorrowful" well agrees with him, who was a man of sorrows all his days; and in the garden his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; and when on the cross he had sorrow enough; what with the sins of his people on him, the flouts and jeers of his enemies at him; the pains of body he endured, the wrath of God, the hidings of his face, and the curses of his righteous law. After this declaration of his low and distressed state, a petition follows: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high: meaning either the salvation of the Lord's people, so called, because concerted and appointed of God, and is what he sent his Son to effect, and he approves of; this being wrought out was the way and, means of the exaltation of Christ; both by his divine Father, who on this account exalted him at his right hand; and by his people, who exalt him in their hearts, and with their tongues, and give him all the glory of their salvation. Or else this means the salvation of Christ out of the hands of all his enemies, whom he conquered on the cross; and particularly death, from which he was saved by his resurrection, and was the first step to his exaltation and glory; after which he ascended on high, and sat down at the right hand of God; where no mere creature, angels or men, were ever admitted; and where angels, principalities, and powers, are subject to him. The whole may be rendered thus; "though I am poor and sorrowful, thy salvation, O God, will set me up on high" (o); and so is expressive of the Messiah's faith in his resurrection and exaltation, notwithstanding his sorrows and sufferings; on account of which he determines to praise the Lord, as follows. (o) "elevabit me", Pagninus, Montanus; so Gejerus, Michaelis.

"Let them be blotted out from the book of the living" [Psalm 69:29]. For had they been some time written therein? Brethren, we must not so take it, as that God writes any one in the book of life, and blots him out. If a man said, "What I have written I have written," [John 19:22] concerning the title where it had been written, "King of the Jews:" does God write any one, and blot him out? He foreknows, He has predestined all before the foundation of the world that are to reign with His Son in life everlasting. [Romans 8:29] These He has written down, these same the Book of Life does contain. Lastly, in the Apocalypse, what says the Spirit of God, when the same Scripture was speaking of the oppressions that should be from Antichrist? "There shall give consent to him all they that have not been written in the book of life." [Revelation 13:8] So then without doubt they will not consent that have been written. How then are these men blotted out from that book wherein they were never written? This has been said according to their own hope, because they thought of themselves that they were written. What is, "let them be blotted out from the book of life"? Even to themselves let it be evident, that they were not there. By this method of speaking has been said in another Psalm, "There shall fall from Your side a thousand, and tens of thousands from on Your right hand:" that is, many men shall be offended, even out of that number who thought that they would sit with You, even out of that number who thought that they would stand at Your right hand, being severed from the left-hand goats: [Matthew 25:33] not that when any one has there stood, he shall afterwards fall, or when any one with Him has sat, he shall be cast away; but that many men were to fall into scandal, who already thought themselves to be there, that is, many that thought that they would sit with You, many that hoped that they would stand at the right hand, will themselves fall. So then here also they that hoped as though by the merit of their own righteousness themselves to have been written in the book of God, they to whom is said, "Search the Scriptures, wherein ye think yourselves to have life eternal:" [John 5:39] when their condemnation shall have been brought even to their own knowledge, shall be effaced from the book of the living, they shall know themselves not to be there. For the verse which follows, explains what has been said: "And with just men let them not be written." I have said then "Let them be effaced," according to their hope: but according to Your justice I say what?

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).

poor and sorrowful--the afflicted pious, often denoted by such terms (compare Psa 10:17; Psa 12:5). set me . . . high--out of danger.