Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 69
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Psalms 69
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Psalms 69
"Save me, O God; For the waters are come in unto my soul." — Psalms 69:1 (ASV)
The waters ... — For this common and obvious figure of a “sea of troubles,” compare Psalm 18:4; Psalms 18:16; Psalms 32:6; Psalms 42:7.
"I am weary with my crying; my throat is dried: Mine eyes fail while I wait for my God." — Psalms 69:3 (ASV)
Crying. —Better, calling, i.e., on God in prayer. For a similar picture of utter dejection, compare to Psalms 22:15. The following English lines have caught the feeling of these verses:
“How have I knelt with arms of my aspiring
Lifted all night in irresponsive air,
Dazed and amazed with overmuch desiring,
Blank with the utter agony of prayer.”
St. Paul, by F. Myers.
"They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head: They that would cut me off, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: That which I took not away I have to restore." — Psalms 69:4 (ASV)
They that would destroy me ... — Properly, my exterminators. It seems like hypercriticism to object to this as too strong a word. It is a very allowable prolepsis. At the same time, the parallelism would be improved by adopting, as Ewald suggests, the Syriac reading “my enemies without are more numerous than my bones,” and the construction would be the same as in Psalm 40:12.
Wrongfully. — Better, without cause. Compare to Psalm 35:19.
Then I restored. — Rather, what I did not steal I must then restore, possibly a proverbial saying to express harsh and unjust treatment. Compare to Psalm 35:11; Jeremiah 15:10.
"O God, thou knowest my foolishness; And my sins are not hid from thee." — Psalms 69:5 (ASV)
My foolishness. —This does not conflict with a true Messianic application of the Psalm, but is fatal to that which would see in the author not an imperfect type, but a prophetic mouthpiece of Christ.
"Let not them that wait for thee be put to shame through me, O Lord Jehovah of hosts: Let not those that seek thee be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel." — Psalms 69:6 (ASV)
Let not them. —We again encounter the feeling so common in the Psalms , that the sufferings of any member of Israel must bring dishonor on the name of Jehovah and on His religion. Here, however, it seems to touch a higher chord of feeling and to approach the true Churchmanship—the esprit de corps of the Kingdom of Heaven—which attaches a greater heinousness to the sin because it may harm the brethren. Not only would Jehovah be dishonored in the sight of the heathen if He seemed to be disregarding His part of the covenant, but for an Israelite to have violated his part brought shame on all Israel.
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