Psalmen 69:21 Kommentar

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.

They gave me also gall for my meat,.... Either some bitter herb mentioned with wormwood and hemlock, Deu 29:18; or the gall of some animal The Targum renders it, "the gall of the heads of serpents:'' the poison of some serpents is in their heads, and the word that is here used signifies the head; see Deu 32:33. This was literally fulfilled in Christ, Mat 27:34; and showed that he bore the curse of the law; that being given to him for food, which was not fit to be eaten; thereby intimating, that he deserved not to have the common food and necessaries of life; which is the case of those in whose place and stead he suffered: and this may be a rebuke to such who, through fulness and affluence, are apt to slight and contemn some of the good creatures of God, which ought to be received with thanksgiving; let them remember the gall that was given Christ for meat. And this may serve to reconcile poor Christians to that mean fare and low way of living they are obliged to; though they, have but a dinner of herbs, or bread and water, it is better fare than their Lord's; it is not gall; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink; Christ, when on the cross, was athirst, which was occasioned by a fever that usually attended persons in his circumstances; see Psa 22:15; and, that this Scripture might be fulfilled, he signified it, saying, "I thirst"; upon which vinegar was given to him, as all the evangelists relate; Mat 27:48. This shows the truth of Christ's human nature; that it was a true and real body that he assumed, which was subject to hunger and thirst, and was supported by food and drink, as our bodies are; also the truth of divine revelation; since such a minute circumstance as this, predicted so many hundred years ago, should, after so long a time, be exactly fulfilled; and likewise the truth of the Messiahship of Jesus, in whom this, and every thing else said Messiah, in the Law, the Prophets, and the book of Psalms, were fully accomplished; and therefore it may be strongly concluded that this is he of whom they spoke. Moreover, this expresses the inhumanity of the enemies of Christ, to use him in this manner, when he was suffering and dying; see Pro 31:6.

A second time, in fact, let us show that Christ has already come, [as foretold] through the prophets, and has suffered, and has already been received back in the heavens and will come from there according to the predictions prophesied. For, after his advent, we read, according to Daniel, that the city itself had to be destroyed; and we recognize that it has indeed happened. For the Scripture says that "the city and the holy place are simultaneously destroyed together with the leader"—undoubtedly [that Leader] who was to come "from Bethlehem" and from the tribe of "Judah." Whence, again, it is manifest that "the city must simultaneously be destroyed" at the time when its "Leader" had to suffer in it, [as foretold] through the Scriptures of the prophets, who say, "I have outstretched my hands the whole day to a rebellious people who contradict me, who walk in a way that is not good, but after their own sins." And in the Psalms, David says, "They pierced my hands and feet: they counted all my bones; they themselves, moreover, stare and gloat over me, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." David did not suffer these things so as to seem to have spoken properly of himself but of Christ who was crucified.

Christ did not speak deceitfully but displayed all justice and humility. He did not suffer that kind of death [crucifixion] for anything he had done but so that those things that the prophets had predicted would happen to him through you as the very Spirit of Christ already foretold in the Psalms, saying, "They repaid me evil instead of good"; "What I had not taken, I repaid"; "They pierced my hands and feet"; "They put gall in my drink, and they satisfied my thirst with vinegar"; and "They cast lots for my clothing." The other things that you would commit against him have also been foretold. He patiently endured and suffered all those things not for anything he had done but so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled that were spoken by the prophets.

However, we must know that Psalm 68 [LXX], which contains the statement, "The zeal of your house has devoured me," and a little later "They gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink," both having been recorded in the Gospels, is placed in the mouth of Christ, indicating no change in the person of the speaker.

And furthermore David said concerning his passion, “For my food they gave gall, and for my thirst they did give me vinegar to drink.”

And they gave Him gall to drink, and this to insult Him, but He would not. But another saith, that having tasted it, He said, "It is finished." And what meaneth, "It is finished?" The prophecy was fulfilled concerning Him. "For they gave me," it is said, "gall for my meat, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." But neither doth that evangelist indicate that He drank, for merely to taste differs not from not drinking, but hath one and the same signification.

Psalm 68 [LXX] also includes in its title the words "for the things that will be entirely changed." This psalm sings of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, assuming to himself even certain words of his members, that is, of his faithful. For he himself did not have any sin, but he carried our sins; thus the psalm says "and my offenses are not hidden from you." Here is written and foretold what we read in the Gospel as having happened: "And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." In him, therefore, the old events have been changed that the title of the psalm predicted were to be changed.

Then [the Evangelist] continues: "Afterwards Jesus, knowing that all things were accomplished, that Scripture might be accomplished, says, 'I thirst.' Now there was a vessel set here full of vinegar, and putting a sponge full of vinegar around [a stalk of] hyssop, they raised it to his lips. When therefore Jesus had taken the vinegar, he said, 'It is finished.' And, bowing his head, he delivered over his spirit." Who can so organize what he does as this man organized what he suffered? But the man, the Mediator of God and man, the man about whom one reads that it was foretold: "And he is a man and who can know him?" For the men through whom these things happened did know the man [to be] God. For he who was hidden as God was apparent as man; he who was apparent suffered these things and he who was hidden, the very same One, organized all these things. Therefore he saw that all the things were finished that were necessary to be done before he took the vinegar and delivered over his spirit; and that this too might be accomplished that Scripture had foretold, "And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink," he said, "I thirst," as though he were to say, "In doing this you have fallen short; give what you are." For indeed the Jews themselves were the vinegar, deteriorating from the wine of the patriarchs and prophets, and, as it were, filled from a full vessel, from the iniquity of this world, having their heart like a sponge, deceitful, so to speak, in its cavernous and tortuous hiding places. But the hyssop around which they put the sponge full of vinegar, because it is a lowly herb and cleanses the breast, we take appropriately as the lowliness of Christ that they surrounded and thought they had come round to thwarting. And in regard to this is also that [place] in the psalm, "You will sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed." For we are cleansed by the lowliness of Christ, because unless "he had humbled himself, made obedient even to the death of the cross," his blood assuredly would not have been poured out for the remission of sins, that is, for our cleansing.

For it was proclaimed beforehand by the very same prophets that they [Jews] would not understand, because it was necessary for other things to be fulfilled, and by a hidden and just decree of God, for due punishment to be paid in accordance with their merits. For, indeed, he whom they crucified, he to whom they gave gall and vinegar—although he was hanging on the cross—he said to the Father, for the sake of those whom he would have led from the darkness into the light, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." But, for the sake of the others whom he was to abandon for more hidden causes, he said long before through the prophet, "And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table become as a snare before them, and a recompense and a stumbling block. Let their eyes be darkened that they see not; and their back you always bend down." Therefore, they roam about anywhere and everywhere, their darkened eyes a most remarkable proof for our cause, so that through them our arguments are upheld at the very time that this same people is rejected.

You have truly and in very many places read something that pertains to the detestable wickedness of your crime and to the voluntary suffering of the Lord. He himself speaks through Isaiah: “I gave my back to the scourges, my cheeks to striking hands; my face I did not shield from the insult of spittle.” He says through David, “They put gall in my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” On yet another occasion, he says through David, “Many dogs surround me, a pack of evildoers closes in on me. They have pierced my hands and my feet, they have numbered all my bones. They watched me carefully and examined me. They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothes.” Lest only the kind of your crime might seem to be predicted and the power of the crucified one not foretold, you certainly did not read that the Lord descended from the cross. You did, however, read, “The Lord has reigned from the 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).

Instead of such, his enemies increase his pain by giving him most distasteful food and drink. The Psalmist may have thus described by figure what Christ found in reality (compare Joh 19:29-30).