Bible Commentaries

BOOK II.—PSS. XLII.-LXXII.

Psalms 42-83 are Elohistic, i.e. they use the word God (Elohim) and avoid the proper name Yahweh, probably from motives of reverence. Here and there, however, the name Yahweh has crept into the text by a natural slip of the scribes.

LXIX. A Prayer for Deliverance and Revenge.—The author was a pious Jew, burning with zeal for the purity of the Temple worship (Psalms 69:9). He was a representative man, so that the reproaches of those that reproached Yahweh fell upon him. If he was defeated, the pious throughout Israel would lose hope. He was in great danger of his life, and that from his fellow-Jews (Psalms 69:8). Maccabean times suit the situation best, though Maccabean origin is incapable of proof. Cf., e.g., the career of Alcimus (pp. 382, 607) the Hellenised High Priest as related in 1 Maccabees 9, where ho is said to have pulled down the wall of the inner court of the sanctuary. The Psalmist, when he wrote, was apparently excluded from Temple service, for he is content to offer the sacrifice of praise, confident that such a spiritual offering will please God better than the slaughter of a dumb beast.

Psalms 69:2-4. Cry for Help.—The poet suffers metaphorically what Jeremiah (Jeremiah 38) suffered literally.

Psalms 69:4. while I wait: read, "from waiting" (LXX). Read also, "I (emphatic) had to restore that which I took not away."

Psalms 69:5-12. The Psalmist acknowledges his sin before God, but it is his virtue, not his fault, which has brought ruin upon him.

Psalms 69:13-18. Prayer for deliverance.

Psalms 69:13. in an acceptable time: read, "do thou accept me." The time was the reverse of acceptable.

Psalms 69:19-28. The Psalmist's suffering and thirst for vengeance.

Psalms 69:22 b. Read "and let their peace-offerings become a trap."

Psalms 69:26 b. Read, "They add to the affliction of thy wounded ones" (LXX). This may refer to the defeat and death of Judas Maccabus and his men.

Psalms 69:27. into thy righteousness: i.e. into the assembly of those whom God declares righteous.

Psalms 69:28. the book of life: the burgess roll of citizens of the Kingdom of God.

Psalms 69:29-33. The Psalmist's confidence and gratitude.

The whole Ps. is intensely individual: it depicts the agony of a lonely soul. But the compiler of the Psalter has added the three final verses, in which the popular desire for the restoration of the county towns of Judah and the faith of the pious in the God of the whole earth, find expression.