Jo Reads The Bible

Psalms 69-71

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Thoughts

Psalm 69

 Save Me, O God. To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David.

  • Set to ‘Lilies’ like Psalm 45

Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
I am weary with my crying out;
my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
with waiting for my God.

  • Water imagery reflects  David feels near drowning.
  • David is at a low point

More in number than the hairs of my head
are those who hate me without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me,
those who attack me with lies.
What I did not steal
must I now restore?

  • David is opposed by many unjust enemies.
  • Lies are central to their attack 

O God, you know my folly;
the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
O Lord GOD of hosts;
let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
O God of Israel.

  • David acknowledges his sins 
  • He prays his failures won’t cause others to stumble.

For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
that dishonor has covered my face.
I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my mother’s sons.
For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you
have fallen on me.

  • David suffers because of his allegiance to God.
  • He feels alienated
  • “Zeal for your house”(quoted in John 2:17).

When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting,
it became my reproach.
When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.
I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
and the drunkards make songs about me.

  • David’s sincere repentance is mocked 
  • Becoming a “byword” means being publicly ridiculed.

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.
At an acceptable time, O God,
in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me
in your saving faithfulness.
Deliver me from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
and from the deep waters.
Let not the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me.

  • David appeals to God’s steadfast love (חֶסֶד, ḥesed) and faithfulness (אֱמֶת, ’emet).
  • The water/pit imagery continues 
  • David trusts God’s timing, “the acceptable time.”

Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
Hide not your face from your servant,
for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
ransom me because of my enemies!

  • Redemption language (גָּאַל, ga’al) 

You know my reproach,
and my shame and my dishonor;
my foes are all known to you.
Reproaches have broken my heart,
so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none.
They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

  • God sees the full extent of David’s pain.
  • “Poison” and “sour wine” may foreshadow Jesus’ crucifixion (Matt 27:34 and John 19:28-29)

Let their own table before them become a snare;
and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
and make their loins tremble continually.
Pour out your indignation upon them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
May their camp be a desolation;
let no one dwell in their tents.

  • David asks for God’s justice against enemies.

For they persecute him whom you have struck down,
and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
Add to them punishment upon punishment;
may they have no acquittal from you.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

  • Enemies mock the suffering of the person God is disciplining 
  • “Book of the living” = God’s divine record 

But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, set me on high!
I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the LORD more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.

  • Despite pain, David chooses worship.
  • “Set me on high” = rescue from his drowning 

When the humble see it they will be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
For the LORD hears the needy
and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

  • David’s deliverance encourages other sufferers.

Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
For God will save Zion
and build up the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

  • Universal/cosmic call to praise: heaven, earth, sea 
  • Future generations (“offspring”) inherit God’s blessings.
Psalm 70

 O Lord, Do Not Delay. To the choirmaster. Of David, for the memorial offering.

Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
O LORD, make haste to help me!
Let them be put to shame and confusion
who seek my life!
Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor
who delight in my hurt!
Let them turn back because of their shame
who say, “Aha, Aha!”

  • Repeated “make haste” shows urgency
  • “Aha, Aha!” אָחָה אָחָה (achah achah) is mockery 

But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
say evermore, “God is great!”

  • enemies wish for harm, God’s people rejoice in Him.
  • Praise (“God is great!”) becomes the natural response of His people. 

But I am poor and needy;
hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O LORD, do not delay!

  • “Poor and needy” reflects humility and dependence
  • David’s confidence rests in God’s identity as our help and deliverer.

Psalm 71

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent

From https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/psalm-71 “We have here THE PRAYER OF THE AGED BELIEVER, who in holy confidence of faith, strengthened by a long and remarkable experience, pleads against his enemies, and asks further blessings for himself.” (Charles Spurgeon)

Of interest in this psalm are the many references and allusions to other psalms.

It is reasonable to think the author of Psalm 71 made study and meditation upon God’s word a priority through his life, and the result is that he naturally used the phrases and vocabulary of the Scriptures to pray and praise.”

In you, O LORD, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!
Be to me a rock of refuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.

  • Repeated “refuge/rock/fortress” shows God’s protection
  • “Continually come” suggests ongoing, daily reliance on God
  • God’s “command to save” shows our rescue is secure

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.

  • Psalmist has trust formed since youth.
  • Praise flows from our history with God

I have been as a portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
My mouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all the day.
Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength is spent.

  • A “portent” = a sign or object of wonder
  • Aging and weakening bring fear o

For my enemies speak concerning me;
those who watch for my life consult together
and say, “God has forsaken him;
pursue and seize him,
for there is none to deliver him.”
O God, be not far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me!

  • Enemies interpret psalmist’s weakness as God’s abandonment.
  • God’s nearness helps quell our fear

May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
who seek my hurt.
But I will hope continually
and will praise you yet more and more.

  • Shame and disgrace are wised towards the enemies
  • Our hope doesn’t fade with age, it increases.

My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all the day,
for their number is past my knowledge.
With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

  • God’s actions  are beyond counting.
  • “Yours alone” emphasizes God as the sole source of salvation.

O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.

  • We should pass  faith on to younger generations.
  • long life not as comfort but as opportunity to testify.
  • Concern:  finishing our mission.

Your righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.

  • God’s righteousness is immeasurable (“reaches the heavens”).
  • “Bring me up from the depths of the earth” = revival/restoration

I will also praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have redeemed.
And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been put to shame and disappointed
who sought to do me hurt.

  • Music as publicly proclaimation of God’s faithfulness.
  • Joy flows from redemption  “my soul which you redeemed.”
  • the redeemed rejoice; the wicked are shamed.

Questions

Application

Psalm 69 is when we are drowning. Whether we are physically suffering or are enduring those mocking us, God’s justice will ultimately vindicate the faithful. Psalm 70 is an urgent prayer for those in crisis. We are always invited to ask God not to delay!  Psalm 71 shows the beauty in lifelong dependance on God. We can look on God’s faithfulness in our youth, and carry out His mission until the grave. 

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