Psalms 27:13-14(v1)I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living. Wait for Yahweh. Be strong, and let your heart…
Psalms 37:7(v1)Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him. Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who makes wicked plots…
James 5:7-11(v1)Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient…
Psalms 37:23(v2)A man’s steps are established by Yahweh. He delights in his way.
Psalms 119:133(v2)Establish my footsteps in your word. Don’t let any iniquity have dominion over me.
Show all 44 cross-references
Psalms 34:15(v1)Yahweh’s eyes are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry.
Psalms 116:2(v1)Because he has turned his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
Psalms 27:5(v2)For in the day of trouble, he will keep me secretly in his pavilion. In the secret place of his tabernacle, he will hide me. He will lift…
Psalms 130:2(v1)Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions.
Daniel 9:18(v1)My God, turn your ear, and hear. Open your eyes, and see our desolations, and the city which is called by your name; for we do not present…
Psalms 61:2(v2)From the end of the earth, I will call to you when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Matthew 7:24-25(v2)“Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. The rain…
Psalms 33:3(v3)Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully with a shout of joy!
Psalms 71:20(v2)You, who have shown us many and bitter troubles, you will let me live. You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth.
Psalms 103:1-5(v3)Praise Yahweh, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name! Praise Yahweh, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits, who…
Jonah 2:5-6(v2)The waters surrounded me, even to the soul. The deep was around me. The weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the bottoms of…
Psalms 69:2(v2)I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
Psalms 86:13(v2)For your loving kindness is great toward me. You have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol.
Psalms 69:14-15(v2)Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. Don’t let the…
Zechariah 9:11(v2)As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.
Psalms 18:36(v2)You have enlarged my steps under me, My feet have not slipped.
Psalms 34:1-6(v3)I will bless Yahweh at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth. My soul shall boast in Yahweh. The humble shall hear of it and be…
Acts 2:24(v2)whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.
Jeremiah 38:6-12(v2)Then they took Jeremiah and threw him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard. They let down…
Psalms 17:5(v2)My steps have held fast to your paths. My feet have not slipped.
Psalms 18:16-17(v2)He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they…
Psalms 52:6(v3)The righteous also will see it, and fear, and laugh at him, saying,
Psalms 142:6-7(v2)Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. Bring my soul out of prison,…
Psalms 143:3(v2)For the enemy pursues my soul. He has struck my life down to the ground. He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long…
Revelation 5:9-10(v3)They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals: for you were killed, and bought us for God with your…
Psalms 35:27(v3)Let those who favor my righteous cause shout for joy and be glad. Yes, let them say continually, “May Yahweh be magnified, who has pleasure…
Psalms 116:3(v2)The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.
Psalms 144:9(v3)I will sing a new song to you, God. On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you.
Isaiah 12:1-4(v3)In that day you will say, “I will give thanks to you, Yahweh; for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you comfort…
Revelation 14:3(v3)They sing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the one…
Psalms 142:7(v3)Bring my soul out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will be good to me.
Psalms 64:9-10(v3)All mankind shall be afraid. They shall declare the work of God, and shall wisely ponder what he has done. The righteous shall be glad in…
Lamentations 3:53-55(v2)They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone on me. Waters flowed over my head. I said, “I am cut off.” I called on your…
Hosea 3:5(v3)Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and…
Acts 2:27-31(v2)because you will not leave my soul in Hades, neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay. You made known to me the ways of life. You…
Acts 2:31-41(v3)he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul wasn’t left in Hades, and his flesh didn’t see decay. This…
Acts 4:4(v3)But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
Matthew 13:50(v2)and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.”
Isaiah 24:22(v2)They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; and after many days they will be…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (28 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
John Calvin1540 · Public DomainOn vv1–31. In waiting I waited The beginning of this…
1. In waiting I waited The beginning of this psalm is an expression of thanksgiving, in which David relates that he had been delivered, not only from danger, but also from present death. Some are of opinion, but without good reason, that it ought to be understood of sickness. It is rather to be supposed that David here comprehends a multitude of dangers from which he had escaped. He had certainly been more than once exposed to the greatest danger, even of death, so that, with good reason, he might be said to have been swallowed up in the gulf of death, and sunk in the miry clay It, nevertheless, appears that his faith had still continued firm, for he ceased not to trust in God, although the long continuance of the calamity had well nigh exhausted his patience. He tells us, not merely that he had waited, but by the repetition of the same expression, he shows that he had been a long time in anxious suspense. In proportion then as his trial was prolonged, the evidence and proof of his faith in enduring the delay with calmness and equanimity of mind was so much the more apparent. The meaning in short is, that although God delayed his help, yet the heart of David did not faint, or grow weary from delay; but that after he had given, as it were, sufficient proof of his patience, he was at length heard. In his example there is set before us this very useful doctrine, that although God may not forthwith appear for our help, but rather of design keep us in suspense and perplexity, yet we must not lose courage, inasmuch as faith is not thoroughly tried, except by long endurance. The result, too, of which he speaks in terms of praise, ought to inspire us with increased fortitude. God may succor us more slowly than we desire, but, when he seems to take no notice of our condition, or, if we might so speak, when he seems to be inactive or to sleep, this is totally different from deceit: for if we are enabled by the invincible strength and power of faith to endure, the fitting season of our deliverance will at length arrive.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv1–3Though God deferred his help, yet he patiently abode…
Though God deferred his help, yet he patiently abode till he was heard.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv1–3Psa 40:1 « To the chief Musician, A Psalm…
Psa 40:1 « To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. » I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Ver. 1. I waited patiently for the Lord] Heb. In waiting I waited; Diutissime quidem, sed optimo successu; I prayed and waited, I waited and prayed again; persevering in prayer, and begging audience, as Psa 39:12, with which Basil maketh this psalm to cohere; and well he may, for it seemeth to be of the same time and argument with the two former. Est sensus eiusdem cum duobus prioribus. R. Obadiah saith, that David composed this psalm after that he was recovered of his leprosy, Psa 38:7.
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And he inclined unto me] i.e. He began at length to show favour; for he waiteth to be gracious, and well knoweth that desideria dilatione crescant, et cito data vilescant; nothing is lost by holding his people long in request.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv1–3I waited patiently, Heb. in waiting I waited; which…
I waited patiently, Heb. in waiting I waited; which doubling of the word notes that he waited diligently and earnestly, patiently and perseveringly, until God should please to help him. He inclined, or, bowed, to wit, himself, as this very word is rendered, Jdg 16:30; or, his ear, as it is more fully expressed, Psa 17:6; 31:2. Such ellipses or defects are frequent in Scripture, as Psa 3:6; 10:1; Ecc 6:3; 7:15.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v1In these verses we have,
In these verses we have,
I. The great distress and trouble that the psalmist had been in. He had been plunged into a horrible pit and into miry clay (Psa 40:2), out of which he could not work himself, and in which he found himself sinking yet further. He says nothing here either of the sickness of his body or the insults of his enemies, and therefore we have reason to think it was some inward disquiet and perplexity of spirit that was now his greatest grievance. Despondency of spirit under the sense of Gods withdrawings, and prevailing doubts and fears about the eternal state, are indeed a horrible pit and miry clay, and have been so to many a dear child of God.
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II. His humble attendance upon God and his believing expectations from him in those depths: I waited patiently for the Lord, Psa 40:1. Waiting, I waited. He expected relief from no other than from God; the same hand that tears must heal, that smites must bind up (Hos 6:1), or it will never be done. From God he expected relief, and he was big with expectation, not doubting but it would come in due time. There is power enough in God to help the weakest, and grace enough in God to help the unworthiest, of all his people that trust in him. But he waited patiently, which intimates that the relief did not come quickly; yet he doubted not but it would come, and resolved to continue believing, and hoping, and praying, till it did come. Those whose expectation is from God may wait with assurance, but must wait with patience. Now this is very applicable to Christ. His agony, both in the garden and on the cross, was the same continued, and it was a horrible pit and miry clay. Then was his soul troubled and exceedingly sorrowful; but then he prayed, Father, glorify thy name; Father, save me; then he kept hold of his relation to his Father, "My God, my God," and thus waited patiently for him.
III. His comfortable experience of God's goodness to him in his distress, which he records for the honour of God and his own and others' encouragement.
1. God answered his prayers: He inclined unto me and heard my cry. Those that wait patiently for God, though they may wait long, do not wait in vain. Our Lord Jesus was heard in that he feared, Heb 5:7. Nay, he was sure that the Father heard him always.
2. He silenced his fears, and stilled the tumult of his spirits, and gave him a settled peace of conscience (Psa 40:2): "He brought me up out of that horrible pit of despondency and despair, scattered the clouds, and shone brightly upon my soul, with the assurances of his favour; and not only so, but set my feet upon a rock and established my goings." Those that have been under the prevalency of a religious melancholy, and by the grace of God have been relieved, may apply this very feelingly to themselves; they are brought up out of a horrible pit. (1.) The mercy is completed by the setting of their feet upon a rock, where they find firm footing, are as much elevated with the hopes of heaven as they were before cast down with the fears of hell. Christ is the rock on which a poor soul may stand fast, and on whose meditation alone between us and God we can build any solid hopes or satisfaction. (2.) It is continued in the establishment of their goings. Where God has given a stedfast hope he expects there should be a steady regular conversation; and, if that be the blessed fruit of it, we have reason to acknowledge, with abundance of thankfulness, the riches and power of his grace.
3. He filled him with joy, as well as peace, in believing: "He has put a new song in my mouth; he has given me cause to rejoice and a heart to rejoice." He was brought, as it were, into a new world, and that filled his mouth with a new song, even praise to our God; for to his praise and glory must all our songs be sung. Fresh mercies, especially such as we never before received, call for new songs. This is applicable to our Lord Jesus in his reception to paradise, his resurrection from the grave, and his exaltation to the joy and glory set before him; he was brought out of the horrible pit, set upon a rock, and had a new song put into his mouth.
IV. The good improvement that should be made of this instance of God's goodness to David.
1. David's experience would be an encouragement to many to hope in God, and, for that end, he leaves it here upon record: Many shall see, and fear, and trust in the Lord. They shall fear the Lord and his justice, which brought David, and the Son of David, into that horrible pit, and shall say, If this be done to the green tree, what shall be done to the dry? They shall fear the Lord and his goodness, in filling the mouth of David, and the Son of David, with new songs of joy and praise. There is a holy reverent fear of God, which is not only consistent with, but the foundation of, our hope in him. They shall not fear him and shun him, but fear him and trust in him in their greatest straits, not doubting but to find him as able and ready to help as David did in his distress. God's dealings with our Lord Jesus are our great encouragement to trust in God; when it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and put him to grief for our sins, he demanded our debt from him; and when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand, he made it to appear that he had accepted the payment he made and was satisfied with it; and what greater encouragement can we have to fear and worship God and to trust in him?. See Rom 4:25; Rom 5:1, Rom 5:2. The psalmist invites others to make God their hope, as he did, by pronouncing those happy that do so (Psa 40:4): "Blessed is the man that makes the Lord his trust, and him only (that has great and good thoughts of him, and is entirely devoted to him), and respects not the proud, does not do as those do that trust in themselves, nor depends upon those who proudly encourage others to trust in them; for both the one and the other turn aside to lies, as indeed all those do that turn aside from God." This is applicable, particularly, to our faith in Christ. Blessed are those that trust in him, and in his righteousness alone, and respect not the proud Pharisees, that set up their own righteousness in competition with that, that will not be governed by their dictates, nor turn aside to lies, with the unbelieving Jews, who submit not to the righteousness of God, Rom 10:3. Blessed are those that escape this temptation.
2. The joyful sense he had of this mercy led him to observe, with thankfulness, the many other favours he had received from God, Psa 40:5. When God puts new songs into our mouth we must not forget our former songs, but repeat them: "Many, O Lord my God! are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, both for me and others; this is but one of many." Many are the benefits with which we are daily loaded both by the providence and by the grace of God. (1.) They are his works, not only the gifts of his bounty, but the operations of his power. He works for us, he works in us, and thus he favours us with matter, not only for thanks, but for praise. (2.) They are his wonderful works, the contrivance of them admirable, his condescension to us in bestowing them upon us admirable; eternity itself will be short enough to be spent in the admiration of them. (3.) All his wonderful works are the product of his thoughts to us-ward. He does all according to the counsel of his own will (Eph 1:11), the purposes of his grace which he purposed in himself, Eph 3:11. They are the projects of infinite wisdom, the designs of everlasting love (Co1 2:7, Jer 31:3), thoughts of good and not of evil, Jer 29:11. His gifts and callings will therefore be without repentance, because they are not sudden resolves, but the result of his thoughts, his many thoughts, to us-ward. (4.) They are innumerable; they cannot be methodized or reckoned up in order. There is an order in all God's works, but there are so many that present themselves to our view at once that we know not where to begin nor which to name next; the order of them, and their natural references and dependencies, and how the links of the golden chain are joined, are a mystery to us, and what we shall not be able to account for till the veil be rent and the mystery of God finished. Nor can they be counted, not the very heads of them. When we have said the most we can of the wonders of divine love to us we must conclude with an et caetera - and such like, and adore the depth, despairing to find the bottom.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv1–3I waited patiently for the Lord,.... Or "waiting I…
I waited patiently for the Lord,.... Or "waiting I waited" (i); which denotes continuance, constancy, and patience; and which Christ exercised in the garden, when he submitted himself entirely to the will of God; and on the cross, when he continued in sure hope and firm expectation of his help and assistance, though he was for a while forsaken by him; see Isa 50:7;
and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry; both in the garden, by delivering him from fear of death; and on the cross, by upholding, helping, and assisting him, by carrying him through his sufferings and death, and raising him from the dead; see Isa 49:8.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv1–3This psalm is a celebration of God's great goodness…
This psalm is a celebration of God's great goodness to him, and all his people. In it there are some passages which cannot belong to Christ, and some which do not properly belong to David, or to that time and state of the church, but only to Christ, and to the times of the New Testament. He praises God for delivering him out of deep distress, ver. 1-5. Thence takes occasion to speak of the work of our redemption by Christ, ver. 6- 10. Prays for mercy and grace both for himself and for his brethren, ver. 11-17. To the chief musician, A psalm of David.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv1–3The benefit of confidence in God, 1-3.
PSALM XL
The benefit of confidence in God, 1-3.
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The blessedness of those who trust in God, 4, 5.
The termination of the Jewish sacrifices in that of Christ, 6-8.
The psalmist's resolution to publish God's goodness, 9, 10:
he prays to be delivered from evils, 11-13;
against his enemies, 14, 15;
and in behalf of those who are destitute, 16, 17.
NOTES ON PSALM XL
The TITLE, "To the chief Musician," we have already seen, and it contains nothing worthy of particular remark. Concerning the occasion and author of this Psalm there has been a strange and numerous diversity of opinions. I shall not trouble the reader with sentiments which I believe to be ill founded; as I am satisfied the Psalm was composed by David; and about the same time and on the same occasion as the two preceding; with this difference, that here he magnifies God for having bestowed the mercy which he sought there. It is, therefore, a thanksgiving for his recovery from the sore disease by which he was afflicted in his body, and for his restoration to the Divine favour. The sixth, seventh, and eighth verses contain a remarkable prophecy of the incarnation and sacrificial offering of Jesus Christ. From the eleventh to the end contains a new subject and appears to have belonged to another Psalm. It is the same as the seventieth Psalm; only it wants the two first verses.
Verse 1. I waited patiently for the Lord] The two preceding Psalms are proofs of the patience and resignation with which David waited for the mercy of God. The reader is requested to consult the notes on them.
And heard my cry.] The two preceding Psalms show how he prayed and waited; this shows how he succeeded.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv1, 3Psa 40:1-2. I waited patiently for the Lord —…
Psa 40:1-2. I waited patiently for the Lord — Hebrew, קוה קויתי, kavvo kivviti, in waiting I waited, or, in hoping I hoped, which doubling of the word signifies that he waited or hoped diligently and earnestly, patiently and perseveringly, until God should be pleased to help him. And he inclined unto me — Or bowed himself, or his ear: see Jdg 16:30; Psa 17:6; Psa 31:2. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit —
From desperate dangers and calamities, signified by a similar phrase, Psa 18:16; Psa 69:1-2. I was not only on the brink, but in the very bottom of this pit; out of the miry clay — In which my feet stuck fast. As David often compares himself in distress to a sinking and drowning man; so here he compares the affliction from which he had been delivered to that of a man thrown into some loathsome and filthy dungeon. And set my feet upon a rock — A place of strength and safety; and established my goings — Or my steps; that is, kept me from stumbling, or falling again into misery.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv1–3I waited patiently for the Lord - Margin, as…
I waited patiently for the Lord - Margin, as in Hebrew, “In waiting I waited.” That is, “I continued to wait.” It was not a single, momentary act of expectation or hope; it was continuous; or, was persevered in. The idea is, that his prayer was not answered at once, but that it was answered after he had made repeated prayers, or when it seemed as if his prayers would not be answered. It is earnest, persevering prayer that is referred to; it is continued supplication and hope when there seemed to be no answer to prayer, and no prospect that it would be answered.
And he inclined unto me - That is, ultimately he heard and answered me; or he turned himself favorably toward me, as the result of “persevering” prayer. The word “inclined” here means properly “bowed;” that is, he “bent forward” to hearken, or to place his ear near my mouth and to hear me. At first, he seemed as one that would not hear; as one that throws his head backward or turns his head away. Ultimately, however, he bent forward to receive my prayer.
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And heard my cry - The cry or supplication which I made for help; the cry which I directed to him in the depth of my sorrows and my danger, Psa 40:2. As applied to the Redeemer, this would refer to the fact that in his sorrows, in the deep sorrows connected with the work of redemption, he persevered in calling on God, and that God heard him, and raised him up to glory and joy. See Mat 26:36-46. Compare the notes at Heb 5:7. The time supposed to be referred to, is after his sufferings were closed; after his work was done; “after” he rose from the dead. It is the language of grateful remembrance which we may suppose he uttered in the review of the amazing sorrows through which he had passed in making the atonement, and in the recollection that God had kept him in those sorrows, and had brought him up from such a depth of woe to such a height of glory.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures1864 · Public DomainOn v1Psalms 40
Psalms 40
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David
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1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my goings.
3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth,
Even praise unto our God:
Many shall see it, and fear,
And shall trust in the Lord.
4 Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust,
And respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5 Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us-ward:
They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire;
Mine ears hast thou opened:
Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come:
In the volume of the book it is written of me,
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God:
Yea, thy law is within my heart.
9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation:
Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest.
10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart;
I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation;
I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord:
Let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about:
Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of mine head:
Therefore mine heart faileth me.
13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me:
O Lord, make haste to help me.
14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together
That seek after my soul to destroy it;
Let them be driven backward and put to shame
That wish me evil.
15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame
That say unto me, Aha, aha.
16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee:
Let such as love thy salvation
Say continually, The Lord be magnified.
17 But I am poor and needy;
Yet the Lord thinketh upon me:
Thou art my help and my deliverer;
Make no tarrying, O my God.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Its Contents and Composition. The Psalmist narrates (Psa_40:1), how God has graciously accepted his trust and cry for help (Psa_40:2), delivered him from a great danger and given him a new song (Psa_40:3), all for the strengthening of the faith of many. He pronounces those blessed who trust in God (Psa_40:4), and this forms the transition to the mention (Psa_40:5) of the innumerable and unspeakable exhibitions of grace which have been made to the believing, for which God would be thanked, not by external ritual offerings (Psa_40:6), but by willing obedience to the Divine will expressed in the written law (Psa_40:7-8). This the Psalmist, as God knows, has declared as a glad tidings, in the great congregation (Psa_40:9-10). In accordance with this he now prays (Psa_40:11) for the continuance of the Divine protection; for innumerable evils, the consequences of his transgressions, have surrounded him (Psa_40:12); and therefore he prays importunately (Psa_40:13), that God will hasten to his help, and bring his enemies to shame (Psa_40:14), as a punishment for their scorn which they have delighted to heap upon him (Psa_40:15). Those who seek God and love Him, are to rejoice and praise God (Psa_40:16), for though the Psalmist is at present poor and miserable, yet he trusts in God’s assistance firmly and prays to Him urgently (Psa_40:17). It follows from this analysis, that the assertion, that the Psalm is divided into two parts differing from one another in contents and tone, and in part inconsistent with one another, the one part thanksgiving the other prayer, does not accord with the circumstances of the case. It is true the so-called second part (Psa_40:12-17) is found with few alterations in an independent form, as Psalms 70 But this does not prove that two songs originally different have here been subsequently united (Pareau instit, interpr. 330), or that the unity can be maintained only by the supposition that the poet speaks in the name of the people of Israel (Isaki, Rosenm. II.), or the pious members of the people (De Wette). Still less can it be shown, that Psalms 70. was the original, and that it is here imitated and attached as a prayer to a Psalm of thanksgiving (Hupfeld). There are rather in Psalms 70 many signs of its being a fragment. This portion of Psalms 40. moreover, might very easily and properly, owing to its character, have been separated for the special use of the congregation, although hardly by the author himself. The difference of tone in the various groups of this Psalm is sufficiently explained from the difference between narrative, thanksgiving and prayer. Hence arise the unevenness of the strophes and the verses, and dissimilarity in the length of the lines. These characteristics are not disclosed in any particular part, but pervade the whole Psalm. It is difficult to decide respecting the author. It is not necessary that we should be referred to the time of the recovery of the book of the law (Ewald); for it is particularly in the Psalms of David in the time of the persecution by Saul, that many references to the law are found; besides, there are resemblances with Psa_22:25; Psa_25:21; Psa_35:18; Psa_35:21; Psa_35:25. But the most striking similarities are with Psalms 69, and in that Psalm there is so much in favor of its composition by Jeremiah (Hitzig), that even Delitzsch wavers in his judgment. Since both Psalms at any rate, have the same author, and Ps. lxix. contains many important evidences, the decision is to be drawn from a consideration of that Psalm. Here however, we may anticipate the result with the statement that there are weighty reasons in favor of David as the author, only not in the time of his flight before Absalom (Rudinger, Venema, Muntinghe). Hence we hold fast to it, since no decisive reasons have thus far been adduced against it.—The words of Psa_40:6-8, are put in the mouth of Christ by the author of the epistle to the Heb_10:5-7. Most of the earlier interpreters have, therefore, supposed, that Christ here speaks by the mouth of David prophetically of his bringing the offering of his life in his state of humiliation, and therefore they have treated the Psalm either partly or entirely as directly Messianic, so recently Böhl. Hengstenberg has very properly given up this view, which he advocated in the first edition of his Christology. Even the typical interpretation can be maintained only in the freer sense (Calvin, Ruding., Grotius, Cler., et al.) and not in the stricter sense (Stier). The epistle to the Hebrews, really makes a free use of the words in question and one deviating in many respects from the original text (Vid. Moll’s Epist. to the Heb_10:5-7, in Lange’s Commentary). Yet this is on the basis of the recognized typical relation of the Old Covenant to the New Covenant and particularly of the person and history of David. “The words of David, the anointed, yet only after he was on the way to the throne, are so formed by the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of prophecy, that they at the same time sound as the words of another David passing through sufferings to glory, whose offering of himself is the end of the animal offerings and whose person and work are the kernel and star of the roll of the law.” (Delitzsch).
Str. I. Psa_40:1. Waiting I waited.—The Hebrew infin. abs. does not so much strengthen the verbal idea, with which view the firmness, patience, endurance and power of the trust would be expressed (Calvin, Geier, J. H. Mich., Delitzsch, et al.), but rather emphasizes it, whether with a parenetic view (Hengst.), or as an antecedent and in contrast to the consequences mentioned in the second member (Hupfeld).—He inclined unto me.—It is doubtful whether נטה (incline, bow), without an object, is here to be regarded as intransitive (Aben Ezra, J. H. Mich., De Wette, Hengst., Hitzig), the passages cited in favor of this, Gen_38:16; Jdg_16:30, not being entirely parallel, or whether we are to supply “ears” (Hupfeld, Delitzsch), since this combination frequently occurs, yet only with the Hiphil.
Psa_40:2. Pit of destruction—dirt of the mire—rock—made my footsteps firm.—Hitzig derives from the mention of pit, his explanation of the Psalm from the history of Jeremiah, but since even he does not take the rock, which is the usual figure of security (Psa_18:2; Psa_27:5), in a literal sense, his grounds are weak; and the pit with its mire, in which the foot slides and can gain no firm foothold is figurative of danger, as the waters elsewhere (Psa_18:15 and frequently). But it does not follow from this or the circumstance that שׂאון is likewise used of the rushing and roaring of water (Psa_65:7; Jer_17:12 sq.), that we must think here of a rushing depth of water (Hengst.) or a roaring pit (Kimchi, Calvin, Venema, Rosenm.) = pit of roaring water. The meaning: destruction=ruin, is assured from Jer_25:31; Jer_46:17; Psa_35:8.
Psa_40:3. [A new song.—Perowne: “One celebrating with all the power of a recent gratitude a new and signal act of deliverance.” Vid.Psa_33:3.—C. A. B.].—The same alliteration which is found here [יִרְאוּ־וְיִירָאוּ], occurs likewise in Psa_52:6, where it is followed by a clause like Psa_40:4.
Str. II. Psa_40:4. His trust—Related with this clause are Psa_34:8; Psa_52:6; Psa_65:5; Psa_71:5; Psa_91:9; Job_31:24; Isa_20:5; Jer_17:7; so much more are the latter passages to be regarded as re-echoes of this the original passage.—Blusterers and lying apostates—Most interpreters since Aben Ezra and Kimchi take רְהָבים as a plural of an adjective which is not found elsewhere; others after the Sept., Syriac, Jerome, as the plural instead of the usual singular דהם=raging, daring, violent, particularly as a surname of Egypt, with the idea of an external, noisy, boastful bragging of their own power, whereby they mislead others to put their trust in them, which was then shamefully deceived (Hupf.). The שָׂטֵי כָזָב are not those “who incline themselves=turn to lies,” whether we think of real lies (Stier) or idols and magic (Isaki, Kimchi, Hengst.). The verb שׂטה=שׂוט expresses a stronger idea than that of inclining oneself and is not an intransitive. We must, therefore, translate: apostates of lies=lying, faithless apostates (Hupfeld, Delitzsch). A similar form of expression is found in Psalms 59 Hitzig, through the Arabic, refers to those who “shriek lies,” which is more natural than to make the reading שָמֵד and think of the tongue as a whip (Job_5:21; Sir_26:6), because, likewise flexible; because it gossips and because it can likewise smite a person. (Jer_18:18).
Str. III. Psa_40:5. There is no comparison with Thee, (else) would I declare and speak.—Comp. Psa_89:8; Isa_40:18; Job_28:17; Job_28:19. Thus most recent interpreters after Sept., Isaki, Luther. The translation: there is no reckoning of them before thee (Symmach., Chald., Jerome, Kimchi, Calvin, Ruding., Piscator, Geier, Cleric., Rosenm., Stier, Hupf., [A. V.])=they are “unspeakable, innumerable,” is especially opposed by the circumstance that such a reckoning is not usual before God, but before men. It is better to take the following words, in accordance with the accents, either as a parenthesis as Psa_51:16; Psa_55:12, or as a hypothetical consequent to the immediately preceding statement. If we should neglect the accents, it might be an expression of a hypothetical antecedent to the assurance of the impossibility of numbering expressed in the following line (Symmach., Jerome, Isaki, Kimchi, Calvin, Geier). It is inadmissible to take it as a real future (Stier, Hengst.,); for then the statement would be of a real resolution in opposition to the preceding as well as the following statement.
Str. IV. Psa_40:6. Ears hast Thou dug for me, that is created for me instruments for hearing. It is accordingly the business of man to use them in accordance with the Divine will. This may be partly by observing God’s word, partly by following God’s commands=obedience to the will of God expressed in His word. Both references often lead to one another, and the latter is certainly brought about by the former (Deu_29:3; Isa_6:9 sq.; Jer_7:24). That the position of the clause, if it is taken as a parenthesis, would make a change here and emphasize the ears as the organ of a theoretical knowledge (Hupf.), is so much the less to be conceded, as, according to Hupfeld’s own view, parentheses occur frequently in this Psalm. Still less is the reference to the boring through or boring out the ears, parallel with the usual formula; open the ear (Isa_48:8; Isa_1:5), and uncover the ear (1Sa_9:16; 1Sa_20:2; 1Sa_20:12 sq.; 1Sa_22:8; 1Sa_22:17; Job_33:16; Job_36:10; Job_36:15), or; open the eyes (Gen_3:7; Gen_21:9), and uncover the eyes (Num_22:31; Num_24:4; Numbers 16; Psa_119:18), of the impartation or of the impression of knowledge by Divine revelation (Isaki, Calvin, Geier, Venema, Rosenm., De Wette, Stier). For, although the Hebrew verb with the meaning of “dig, bore” may under some circumstances pass
over into that of perfodere (Psa_22:16), yet we would be obliged to expect, in accordance with the parallels adduced, the singular instead of the plural, “ears.” But now, furthermore, the clause is not really parenthetical, but rather the three verbs are entirely parallel in the three lines, and the passage sounds very much like the re-echo of the words of Samuel, 1Sa_15:22. This is partly in favor of its composition by David, partly in favor of a reference to obedience (Geier, Hengst., Von Hofm., Delitzsch). The expression, however, is not a symbolical designation of the obedience of the servant, whose ear was nailed to the door posts of the Lord, by which he obligated himself to remain forever, Exo_21:6; Deu_15:17, (after Geier et al. Hengst. previously, Stier, in part, now Böhl); for there was a special technical expression for this, and moreover only one ear was thus treated (J. D. Mich., Rosenm.). The ancient interpreters explained the plural arbitrarily by reference to the double obedience of Christ, his active and passive obedience, but so, that the congregation, for whom he offered himself, was composed of two parts, Jews and Gentiles. Böhl grants herein a free use of the symbol in question, and appeals moreover to Hos_3:2, for this meaning of בָרָה = make oneself a bond slave by means of boring (after Hengst. Christology, 2 Edit. i. 219), whilst he at the same time disputes the fixedness of a term, techn. Yet he wavers as much in this, as in the explanation of the symbol itself. For if boring, which occurs as a symbol of obedience likewise among the Mesopotamians, Arabs, Lydians, and Carthagenians, means nothing more than that the man who has been bored has open, hearing ears, and thus is to be attentive and obedient (Knobel upon Exo_21:6), it cannot be, at the same time, regarded as a symbol of continued, everlasting servitude (Saalchütz, das mos. Recht, S. 699). At any rate the emphasis in the context of the present passage is not upon the latter but the former point, and therefore the reference to that symbol must be abandoned. The expression originates from the form of the bodily ear. This view renders the use of this passage in Heb_10:5 much easier to understand, in accordance with the enlarged and explanatory translation of the Sept., unless perhaps it is an ancient mistake in copying. The Vulgate has aures, the Itala as likewise the Psalter. Roman., however, corpus.—Burnt offering and sin offering.—The so called spiritual interpretation of the offerings is found not first in Jer_7:21; (comp. Jer_6:20); or Isa_66:3; but already in Isa_1:11; and besides Hos_6:6; Amo_5:21 sq.; Mic_6:6 sq.; Pro_15:8; Pro_21:3; likewise Psa_50:8; Psa_51:17. 1Sa_15:22, may however be regarded as the original passage in accordance with the idea, which was already expressed in the difference between the offerings of Cain and Abel, and which pervades the entire Mosaic legislation. So much the less are we to think here of a revelation of a new truth, but of an observation of the revealed will of God, which requires not an offering divorced from the heart, but obedience and consecration of the entire person, of which the offerings are the figurative expression. “The offerings are named in a twofold respect: a, according to their material, זֵבַח animal offering and מִנְחָה meal offering (including the נֶסֶךְ wine offering, which is the inseparable accompaniment of the Mincha); b, according to their purpose, either as essentially עוִלָה in order to procure Divine favor, or as essentially חַטָּאת (here חֲטָאָה), in order to turn away the Divine displeasure. That זֵבַח and עוֹלַה precede is due to the fact that זֶבַח denotes partially the shelamim offering, and the thank-offering proper, namely, the tôda-shelamim offering belongs to this class, and that עוֹלָה as the offering of worship, προσευχή, which is ever likewise general thanksgiving, ἐυχαριστία, is in natural connection with the shelamim to the thankful.” (Delitzsch).
Psa_40:7. Lo, I am come = here I am, as an expression of the obedient servant ready for the service of his Lord, and standing in this willingness before the Lord, (Num_22:38; 1Sa_3:4; 1Sa_3:8; 2Sa_19:21; Isa_6:8; Mat_8:9). It is not necessary to supply: before Thy face (Hupfeld). The translation: I have consented, namely, to the requirement, Psa_40:6 (Böttcher), is unsuitable.—With the roll of the book, written concerning me.—These words would have to be taken as a parenthesis, if the purpose of the coming were stated. But since this is not stated expressly, this supposition loses its support, so likewise the pretension to erase this line (Olsh.) It is admissible, however, to take Psa_40:7 b as an independent clause = in the roll of the book it is prescribed to me (Hengst., Hupfeld, in a different combination from Rosenm. and Gesenius, from Umbreit and Maurer). It is particularly in connection with the recovery of the Pentateuch (2Ki_22:13) that the construction of כּתב with על occurs in this signification. But really this so-called meaning is only a paraphrase, used in order to simplify it to the understanding. Taken literally, even there the persons are adduced with על, respecting whom it is written, namely, the word of God, obligating them, and binding upon them; they are the ones to whom that which is written refers, Job_13:26. The ancient translation περὶ ἐμοῦ, upon which Heb_10:7 is based, is accordingly altogether unobjectionable. This clause may now be connected likewise in language with the preceding clause, so that the preposition ב expresses the accompaniment, as Psa_66:15 (Umbreit, Ewald, Maurer, et al.) But the book roll with which the Psalmist comes is not the roll of the written leaf, which Jeremiah carried with him (עַלָי = with me) and upon which he had written the prophecy of future redemption, in order to read it to the people, as he himself had “eaten” its contents, Jer_15:16 (Hitzig), but the roll of the law written on skins, Jer_36:2; Jer_36:4; Eze_2:9 (Hupf.), particularly the law respecting the king, Deu_17:14 sq. (Von Hofm., Delitzsch), which the king of Israel was to keep constantly with him. This view explains the transfer of these words about David, who was already anointed king of Israel, but had not yet come into possession of the throne, to Christ, Hebrews 10, as one, for whom it is not necessary to suppose that the idea of the book-roll should be transferred unhistorically to the entire Old Testament and its prophecies. The following explanations: written upon me (Sachs), which means, that the poet is himself the narrative of the wonders of God which have happened to him; or written in me, that is, in my heart (De Wette), are inadmissible. It is first said in Psa_40:8 that David carried the law not only with him, but in himself. For this is a characteristic of the righteous (Psa_37:31, after Deu_6:6; comp. Pro_3:3; Pro_7:3). But this Divine purpose is not fulfilled in the entire people (Isa_51:7) until the time of the Messiah (Jer_31:33). Hengstenberg (Beiträge II. 489 sq.) has proved that the mention of the roll of the law as written upon skins does not lead to a later period of composition. Still less is it necessary to think of a man, who, after the discovery of the law by Hezekiah, went with the roll into the temple (Ewald).
Str. V. Psa_40:9-10. I proclaimed,etc.—The perfects, Psa_40:9-10, do not express continued action (De Wette), but past, yet they refer not to the contents of the new revelation written upon the leaf (Hitzig), but narrate parallel with Psa_40:7, that the Psalmist not only took his position as an obedient servant of Jehovah, and as a personal thank-offering at the disposal of God, but that he has expressed his thanks by proclaiming the praise of Jehovah in the congregation (comp. Ps. 50:24 sq.) This proclamation is designated by the verb בִשֵּר as glad tidings. [Perowne: “Words are heaped upon words to express the eager forwardness of a heart burning to show forth its gratitude. No elaborate description could so well have given us the likeness of one whose ‘life was a thanksgiving.’ ”—C. A. B.]
Str. VI. Psa_40:11. Thou, Jehovah, wilt not shut up Thy mercies,etc.—This verse refers to Psa_40:9 in the use of shut up, and to Psa_40:10 in the use of “grace and truth.” But it does not follow from this, that the so-called first part concludes with Psa_40:11 (Hupfeld); this is opposed by the connection with Psa_40:12 by means of “for,” which it is entirely arbitrary to regard as merely an external and loose connection. But rather the importunity of the prayer for deliverance from present and recent trouble, rising on the basis of thanksgiving for previous deliverances, and basing itself on the assurance of Divine recompense, is grounded on the fact that the transgressions of the Psalmist, which followed him in vengeance, as the wrath of God (Psa_69:25), and the curse (Deu_28:15), have overtaken him, and that there is accordingly no other help than through Jehovah. In the Messianic interpretation these transgressions are explained of those voluntarily taken upon himself by the suffering Messiah, and for the most part made parallel with innumerable evils as the punishment of sins. Both of these ideas are against the text which says that the transgressions of the Psalmist are his own, who feels that he has been seized upon by the innumerable evils which surround him and he has no prospect. This general explanation of the clause, I cannot see, corresponds closely as well with the context as with the wording of the clause. The explanation: I cannot see over them on account of their innumerableness (Hitzig, Hupfeld), corresponds with the former; the interpretation of it from weakened sight, owing to great woe (Luther, Hengst.), corresponds with the latter. This physical inability (1Sa_3:2; 1Sa_4:14; 1Ki_14:4; Job_16:16; Psa_13:3; Psa_38:10), may be a sign that a man’s strength (Psa_38:10), or his heart (Psa_40:13) = courage, composure, joyfulness, have forsaken him, yet however is not to be placed alongside of the latter, and to be explained of the obscuration of consciousness = inconsiderateness (Chald., Stier, Ewald). Least of all are we to think of invisible approach, whereby they overtake him unexpectedly (Hupf. alternately).
Str. VII. Psa_40:13-15. Be pleased.—Although רעה in this meaning and in construction with a following ל and an infinitive, occurs only here (for in the parallel passage in Psalms 70 this word is missing), yet it is indisputable, and refers to Psa_40:8, where the will of God is designated by the noun of the same root. This again is in favor of the connection of both parts of this Psalm and of its antiquity. The cry for help is like Psa_22:19; Psa_38:22; the wish against his deadly enemies, like Psa_35:4; Psa_35:26; the description of their behaviour, like Psa_35:21; Psa_35:25, only that “speak” is followed by “of me,” (properly: with reference to me), which again is missing in Psalms 70, where likewise the usual יָשׁוּבוּ (let them retire) is used instead of יָשֹׁמּוּ (let them become numb, paralyzed with fright). The reason and ground of their numbness is stated in the following verse with על, that shame is their reward (Hitzig, Delitzsch), which is not like the accusative (Hupfeld), which would merely say: on account of their shame (De Wette, Hengstenberg). [For the expression Aha, aha, vid.Psa_35:21; Psa_35:25.—C. A. B.]
Str. VIII. Psa_40:17. The Lord will care for me.—It is not necessary to adopt the reading חוּשׁה־לּי from Pss. 70:6; 141:1, instead of יַחֲשָׁב־לי, as being the only reading consistent with usage (Venema, Ewald, Hupfeld), and to translate accordingly: Lord, haste to me. The word חשׁב has indeed very different meanings, and here an unusual construction; yet the reference at once to the thoughts of God, Psa_40:5, mentioned by a noun of the same root, which favors the unity of the Psalm, does not leave it doubtful that the reference is neither to regard = value (Rabbins), nor to imputation, namely, of sins (Cocc., Gesen.), but to the thoughts of God in His providential care over those who turn to Him in prayer (the ancient translators and most interpreters).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Sometimes a deliverance from great danger, gives us the first knowledge of how many enemies and how great dangers there are surrounding us here below. But this knowledge should not weaken our thankfulness; and although the song of thanksgiving to the praise of God must be followed immediately by a new petition, the ardor of prayer is the more impressive, and the confidence of being heard is more assured and joyous, the more vital and fresh the experience of the gracious turning of God to the necessity and prayer of him who waits in faith for the help of the Lord.
2. A man who has been delivered by the help of God, is stimulated to a new song by the new experience of grace; but when he on his part is personally confirmed anew in the old covenant of grace, he does not thus acquire any exclusive relation to God with peculiar rights and privileges. He is and remains a member of the congregation, in which God from of old has glorified Himself by innumerable tokens of His favor. Therefore all the people are to be benefited by that which happens to the individual, and they are to let their new song resound to the God of all in united praise, and to the general edification. These benefits are better fitted for this, the more they bear and maintain the character of a gift of God.
3. The thanksgiving which is well-pleasing to God is not in the legal fulfilment of the external offerings and similar performances, rites, and ceremonies, but in obedience to the will of God by the whole person and life. This obedience is declared in particular actions and performances, is represented and illustrated by offerings, symbolized by rites and ceremonies; but all these expressions, representations, and symbols, cannot compensate for the absence of obedience. This symbolical and representative character of all the offerings of the Old Covenant is evidently declared in the roll of the law, which contains the directions for the actions of the people of God. There is no inconsistency therefore in the fact that it is said respecting the offerings expressly ordained by Divine command, that God has not required or desired them. There is no value ascribed to them in the Mosaic law independent of obedience. God’s requirement is directed rather immediately and unconditionally to entire obedience to the Divine will. It is not necessary therefore to suppose a new revelation for the explanation of the thoughts expressed in the text. The will of God has been revealed in the words of God, and God has given men ears to understand them. Whatever is missing is concretely expressed by the inclination and ability of unconditional obedience to completely fulfil the law: in the perfect servant of Jehovah, righteous in disposition and ability to justify many (Isa_53:11). When, now, David, under definite historical circumstances, and with special reference to his royal calling, expresses his joy in the fulfilment of the Divine will, and his readiness to commit his person to the disposal of God, he not only says that obedience is the true offering, and that it has to do with the entire person, but he thus enters historically into the typically prophetical relation to Christ, in which, by the Spirit, his words acquire a meaning which allows, yes, calls forth, a deeper and more comprehensive interpretation within the Old Covenant.
4. The fulfilment of the Divine law is rendered subjectively possible to man, and accomplished, by his taking it up into his soul, and agreeing with his heart to this law which comes to him at first from without and by the ear. Thus the externality and the strangeness of the law are destroyed. Man, then, desires what God desires. He offers his own will in the obedience of faith. But this offering is fulfilled only on the basis of a deliverance which has taken place. The offering has thus essentially the meaning of a thank-offering, and it is not at all propitiatory or justifying, although well-pleasing to God. This relation is expressed likewise in the typical reference of the Psalm.
5. He who is in this relation and has a vital experience of the power and truth of it in his own person, should testify of it by word and deed and help others to hear of it (Rom_10:17), and should particularly proclaim the glad tidings of the righteousness, grace and truth of God, in the congregation. This may likewise be regarded as an offering, and indeed of thanks, yet not merely in the sense of the presentation of words, but, at the same time, with the more particular meaning of sacrifice and personal consecration, which cannot be fulfilled without self-conquest. For, in addition to the natural slothfulness, forgetfulness, unthankfulness, fearfulness, we are to regard not only quietistic inclinations, the disposition to contemplation, the luxury of feeling, but likewise a kind of timidity, dread and shyness of appearing in public, which occur even in men who are spiritually inclined and are decided servants of God. But he who overcomes in this conflict, and ventures to appeal to the testimony of God respecting his readiness to take part in this work, can rely with comforted spirit upon the fact that God will confess those who make Him known before men (Mat_10:32).
6. A true and courageous confessor may, accordingly, rely upon being recognized by God; but the ground on which he bases his confidence is not his personal worth or the deserts of his actions, but the mercy and faithfulness of God. He has the more reason to hold fast to this, as he, with all his piety and devotion to God, and in the calling given him by God, is still not the perfectly righteous one, the sinless servant of God, but rather, in the innumerable sufferings which surround him, he recognizes the deserved punishments of his innumerable transgressions, and, in consequence of this, feels that every natural source of comfort, courage and strength in himself is sealed up. All things depend upon the help of the Lord. He recognizes more thoroughly the indispensableness of this, and experiences the more deeply its urgency, the stronger his feeling of his own misery and entire helplessness, under the painful impressions of the arrogance of his enemies, who are intoxicated with victory. But the deeper the faith in the special providence of God for the individual, is impressed upon the heart of the sufferer, and the firmer the soul is established in confidence in the final victory and the everlasting triumph of the congregation over all its enemies, through the power of God and to the praise of God, and the more this confidence is applied to the personal relation of the oppressed servant of God, the more urgent and sure of being heard is the prayer for the speedy coming of the Lord.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
God not only sends sufferings; but He likewise sends help; He works likewise thankfulness.—Hymns and songs belong to the gifts of God: by these we express our thanks, proclaim God’s glory, edify the congregation.—Our life may be a long history of sufferings and yet constitute an edifying sermon respecting God’s righteousness, grace and truth.—That which comes from the Lord should lead to the Lord.—The kindnesses of God are just as numerous as our sufferings and our transgressions.—We should take to heart what God has done to us and to our people, but not shut it up in our hearts, but let our thanks sound forth not only in words, even though they be expressed in new songs and hymns, but likewise in acts well pleasing to God.—What God does to us. is not an exception, but a confirmation of His special as well as general Providence.—The new songs of the pious contain only the old confession of the congregation of God.—The best thank-offering is the consecration of the entire person to the service of God in the obedience of faith.—God desires energetical thanks for actual help.—By one and the same act God accomplishes our deliverance, the shame of the enemy, the edification of the congregation.—God’s words are not only to come to our ears, but to enter our hearts.—God has given us ears to hear His word; a mouth to confess it; a heart to love it; whence comes the strength to keep it, but from Him? and who is the righteous one, whom he sends to fulfil it?—God shows Himself to be the faithful God to those who trust in Him, confesses those who confess Him; will He neglect you, when you do not neglect Him?—If we would gain God’s help, we must seek God Himself.—Consecration and confession should agree with one another, but both be in accordance with God’s word.—He who cannot wait for the help of God, will never gain it; but he must pray for it and may urge his circumstances in prayer.
Starke: The cross conveys many advantages in itself; for it urges the sufferer to pray, his prayer is heard, he rejoices, praises God, seeks to excite others to praise Him.—Take care that the new song, the gospel, be not sung and preached for your mere amusement, but that it produce in you true fear of God; else it were better that you should never have heard it.—You must not doubt of your sonship and the love of God on account of the postponement of help. He only tries your patience. Christ was a servant in obedience, yet a child of His Father in hearty readiness to do His will. Learn from Him to properly unite both together.—When the word of God comes unto a man in its true power, it cannot long remain concealed, the change of heart soon expresses itself in words and works.—God never lacks the power to help; we need only pray that He will show this power in accordance with His gracious will.
Selnekker: Even the law cannot be understood apart from Christ, for no one knows, what it requires and how to fulfil it.—Dauderstadt: We must draw near to God with humility. David calls himself not a king and prophet, but a poor miserable sinner.—Frisch: See to it, dear soul, that the new song is not sung to thee in vain.—The dear gospel does nothing but good to men and yet it has its enemies.—It is impossible that we should endure the cross and live under it without the consolation of God.—A. Bengel: I come! or I am here! was the symbolum of the Lord Jesus (Mat_5:17; Mat_10:34; Mat_15:24; Mat_18:11; Mar_1:38; Luk_5:32; Luk_9:50; Luk_12:49; Luk_19:10; Joh_6:38 sq.; Joh_9:39; Joh_10:10; Joh_12:46; Joh_18:37). O Soul, let thy Saviour accomplish His design in thee.—Say: Why art thou in the world? Dost thou fulfil the will of God? How long since? How?—Umbreit: The mind of the converted is shown in deep humility and strong confidence.—The will of God is recorded in the roll of the book, but it is the desire of the pious to do it.—Without sincere confession of one’s own misery and internal poverty there is no faith in Divine Providence.—Tholuck: Thanksgiving should be an act, but he who strongly feels it, his words may be a hindrance to him.—Taube: The greatest and truest skill of the Christian is to be able to wait; to learn to wait is the exercise of his entire life.—Poverty and misery, these are our names; yet this dust nature is in God’s gracious thoughts.—There are typical heroes of faith and those who have followed Christ; the Lord Himself is in the midst with His heroic sufferings and sustains both classes with the strength and grace of His all sufficient blessings of redemption.—Deichert: The offerings of a reasonable service well pleasing to God; 1) The incense of prayer before God; 2) the burnt-offering of an entire consecration of the heart to God; 3) the meat-offering of the life and its works in the service of God.
[Matth. Henry: There is power enough in God to help the weakest, and grace enough in God to help the unworthiest of all His people that trust in Him.—There is an order in all God’s works, but they are so many that present themselves to our view at once, that we know not where to begin nor which to name next; the order of them, and their natural references and dependences, and how the links of the golden chain are joined is a mystery to us and what we shall not be able to account for till the veil be rent and the mystery of God finished.—The sight of our sins in their own colors would drive us to distraction if we had not at the same time some sight of a Saviour.—Barnes: All sorrow can be borne when we feel that God has not forgotten us; we may be calm when all the world forsakes us, if we can feel assured that the great and blessed God “thinks” on us, and will never cease to remember us.—Spurgeon: Note the way of salvation, a sight, a fear, a trust! Do you know what these mean by possessing and practising them in your own soul?—God’s thoughts of you are many, let not yours be few in return.—No maze to lose oneself in like the labyrinth of love. How sweet to be outdone, overcome and overwhelmed by the astonishing grace of the Lord our God.—Our Lord’s life was a sermon eloquent beyond compare, and it is heard each day by myriads.—Lord Jesus, grant in all our adversities we may possess like precious faith, and be found like thee, more than conquerors.—C. A. B.].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn v3a new song--(See on Psa 33:3).
a new song--(See on Psa 33:3).
fear, and . . . trust--revere with love and faith.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv1–31. I waited patiently—Hebrew, In waiting, I waited. The…
1. I waited patiently—Hebrew, In waiting, I waited. The long and patient waiting implies an unexplained delay in answering.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv1–31. I waited patiently] Such renderings as I waited,…
1. I waited patiently] Such renderings as I waited, yea I waited, or, I waited waitingly (Vulg. expectans expectavi) are closer to the original. Cp. Psa_38:15; Psa_39:7 : and the confession of the Church in the day of Redemption, Isa_25:9.
he inclined unto me] As it were, ‘bent down towards me.’ To ‘incline’ or ‘bow down the ear’ is the usual phrase (Psa_31:2; Psa_116:2).
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my cry] Cp. Psa_39:12; Psa_18:6.
1–3. The reward of patient waiting upon God.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv1–3(1) I waited patiently.—As the margin shows, this is…
(1) I waited patiently.—As the margin shows, this is expressed by the common Hebrew idiom the infinitive absolute with the preterite. We may nearly express it by repetition: I waited and waited.
Inclined . . .—Either intransitive (comp. Jdg_16:30), or with ellipse of the word “ear,” which usually is found with the verb in this conjugation. (See Psa_17:6; Psa_31:2.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv1–3THE occasion of this psalm is some great deliverance…
THE occasion of this psalm is some great deliverance which has been vouchsafed to the author of it, for which he desires to praise and thank God. Of this deliverance he speaks in vers. 1-3, which form a sort of introduction to the whole. He then passes on to a more general praise of God for all his glorious manifestations of himself in the history of his people (ver. 5). The thought next occurs How is he (the writer) to manifest his gratitude? And this leads to the noble outburst in vers. 6-10. Not by sacrifice and offering, not by a mere legal and formal obedience, but by complete devotion of the inner man as regards himself (vers. 6-8), and constant proclamation of God"s goodness as regards others (vers. 9, 10). The strain then changes. Although recently delivered from some great peril, the psalmist is still encompassed by sufferings and dangers. There are sin and infirmity within (ver. 12), there are cruel enemies without (vers. 14, 15). He therefore (in vers. 11-17) betakes himself to humble supplication for himself (vers. 11, 13, 17) and for the godly generally (ver. 16), that God will be their Helper and Defender, and, above all, will "make no tarrying" (ver. 17).
The author of the psalm, according to the title, was David, and no argument of the least weight has been brought against this view. The occasion may be conjectured to have been his restoration to his throne after the brief usurpation of Absalom. Absalom"s aiders and abettors may be alluded to in ver. 4, and the remnant of his party in ver. 14.
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The psalm falls into three portions:
(1) the introduction (vers. 1-3);
(2) praise of God and promise of obedience (vers. 4-10);
(3) prayer to God (vers. 11-17).
I waited patiently for the Lord; literally, waiting, 1 waited a common Hebrew idiom, when an idea is to be emphasized. No writer enforces upon us more earnestly than David the duty of awaiting God"s pleasure. (Psa_27:14 Psa_37:7 Psa_62:1, 5 69:3, etc.) And he inclined unto me; literally, bent towards me an anthropomorphism, but most expressive. And heard my cry; i.e. answered it gave me what I prayed for.
HOMILIES BY C. CLEMANCE Vers. 1-10. Out of the pit arid on the rock: a song of praise.
The title of the psalm indicates that it is one of David"s: against that no adequate argument has been raised. Therefore, as David"s we regard it. We are called on to a treatment of it in three several topics. In this, the first, we look at it as a song of praise for delivering mercy for delivering mercy experienced by the psalmist himself, who, having written this grateful hymn, hands it "to the chief musician" for use in sanctuary service. Where can our notes of praise for Divine interposition be more appropriately sung than in the fellowship of the saints in the house of the Lord? We are left in doubt, indeed, as to whether the help thus celebrated was temporal or spiritual. Either way, the progression of thought in these ten verses is the same. For homiletical purposes we can scarcely let our remarks run on both lines at once. We shall, therefore, confine our thoughts to one kind of deliverance, viz. that from spiritual distress; while a pulpit expositor will find the progression of thought equally appropriate, should he desire to use it to incite to praise for temporal mercy. But our present theme ispraise for delivering grace.
I HERE IS A CASE OF SORE DISTRESS. (Ver. 2) "A horrible pit;" "the miry clay." Two very striking expressions, which may well represent, figuratively, the wretchedness and peril of a man who is deep down in the mire of sin and guilt, and on whose conscience the load of guilt presses so heavily, that he seems to be sinking to have no standing; as if he must soon be swallowed up in misery and despair.
II THE DISTRESS LEADS TO PRAYER. (Ver. 1) There was a "cry" sent up to God for help. And this help seemed long delayed. There was a prolonged waiting in agony of prayer, that deliverance would come. The Hebrew is not exactly, "I waited patiently," but "waiting, I waited," signifying "I waited long." He who, broken down under conviction of sin, pleads with God for mercy, and will not let him go except he blesses him, such a one shall never wait in vain.
III PRAYER IS ANSWERED, AND DELIVERING GRACE IS VOUCHSAFED. (Ver. 2) How great the change! From sinking in a pit, the psalmist is lifted up and set upon a rock] How apt and beautiful the figure to set forth the change in the penitent"s position, when, after being weighed down by sin, he is lifted up and set firmly on the Rock of Ages!
IV HENCE THERE IS A NEW SONG IN THE MOUTH. (Ver. 3) How often do we read of a new song! The song of redeeming grace is new, superadded to the song of creation. It will be ever new; whether on earth or in heaven, it can never grow old, it can lose none of its freshness and glory!
V AS THE RESULT, THERE IS A TWOFOLD EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE.
1. Surrender of will, heart, life, and all, to God. (Vers. 6-8) "In the roll of the book" it was prescribed that Israel"s king was to fulfil the will of God, and that such fulfilment of the will of God was more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Note: The doctrine here expressed is no mark of a later date than David. (see 1Sa 12 1Sa_15:22 Ps 1 Psa_51:16 Isa_1:11 Jer_7:21 Hos_6:6 Mic_6:1-8)
2. The proclamation of Gods mercy before men. (Vers. 9, 10) There is nothing like the experience of "grace abounding to the chief of sinners," to give power in speaking for God. He who having been first "in the pit," then "on his knees," then "on the Rock," is the man who will have power when he stands "in the pulpit. C.
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH Vers. 1-17. Grace and gratitude.
"Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord, look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged." So said the prophet, (Isa_51:1) and it is good for us betimes to follow this counsel. It will not only teach us humility, but bind us more firmly in love and gratitude to God. It is the depth that proves the height. It is the misery that measures the mercy. It is by the utterness of the ruin that we realize the completeness of the restoration. It is by contemplating the gloom and horrors of the abyss into which we had sunk through sin, that we can best comprehend the wonders of the redemption wrought for us through Jesus Christ. The psalmist dwells upon two things.
I WHAT GOD HAD DONE FOR HIS SERVANT. "Pit;" "clay." These images mark:
1. The greatness of the danger. The pit was "horrible," gloomy and terrible, the place of certain destruction if no help came. (Gen_37:24-27) The clay is called "retry," to indicate that there was no solidity nothing but a foul, seething mass, where no rest could be found. (Jer_38:6)
2. The greatness of the deliverance. It was free in God"s time (ver. 1); complete (ver. 2); joy-inspiring (ver. 3); morally influential (ver. 4); prophetical, typifying and giving promise of many other "wonderful works" of God. (ver. 5; cf. Paul, 1Ti_1:16) It should also be noticed that the deliverance was wrought out
(1) in harmony with eternal righteousness. King Darius was bent on saving Daniel from the den of lions, and "Laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him;" but in vain. The law was against him. The decree which he himself had established bound his hands. He could do nothing. (Dan_6:14-17) But the King of kings is a just God and a Saviour. (Isa_42:21 Rom_3:25, Rom_3:26) Also in harmony with man"s freedom. there is a certain order in the method. Man can do nothing without God, but God will do nothing without man. We are made willing in the day of his power. First there is the cry; then the hearing; then the lifting up; then the setting upon the rock; then the new song and the new service, as the outflow and the expression of the new heart. "By grace are ye saved, through faith". (Eph_2:4-10 Rom_8:29, Rom_8:30)
II WHAT HIS SERVANT WOULD DO FOR GOD. "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord?" is the question of the prophet; and he gives the answer, "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what cloth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?". (Mic_6:6-8) The same great truth had been taught long before by Samuel, "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice". (1Sa_15:22)
1. The sacrifice of the will. Without this all else is vain. There is death, not life; the letter, but not the spirit; the form of godliness, but not the power.
2. The obedience of the life. Whatever way we interpret the obscure phrase, "Mine ears hast thou opened," the meaning seems to be the free and complete surrender of the soul to God. The right disposition leads to the life-devotion. (Rom_12:1 2Co_5:14, 2Co_5:15)
3. The thanksgiving of the heart. Both privately and publicly, in our daffy life before God and before men, we are to serve in the spirit of love and joy. Amidst all the changes and chances of our mortal state, we should continue faithful to him who hath called us that we might show forth his praise. Thus we shall have part with these saints of God"Who carry music in their heart, Through dusky lane and wrangling mart, Plying their daily task with busier feet, Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat? W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-10. Thanksgiving and prayer.
The first part (vers. 1-10) is a thanksgiving, the second part a prayer. The situation is that of one who, on one side, set free from a heavy affliction, is still oppressed on the other. We have all ground for thanksgiving for the past, and for prayer for the present and future. This section may be divided thus: what God had done fur the psalmist and for his country; and what the psalmist had done for God.
I WHAT GOD HAD DONE.
1. For the psalmist.
(1) Delivered him from threatened destruction into great safety. The specific nature of the salvation is not mentioned, But it suggests and describes what Christ dyes in the deliverance of the man who trusts in him, the greatness of the salvation.
(2) The deliverance had filled him with grateful joy. "Put a new song into his mouth." Every new experience of the Divine love should rouse anew the spirit of thanksgiving; it is a new revelation of God"s mercy. His experience is, "Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust.
2. For the Hebrew people as a nation. (Ver. 5) Turns from the goodness of God towards himself to his larger manifestations of himself in the national history. His wonderful thoughts or purposes, and his wonderful deeds on behalf of Israel, are too great and too manifold to be enumerated. But we turn to what God is doing for the world, and say, "God so loved the world," etc.; not only our country, but the whole world. How great a Worker and Thinker God is for the whole universe!
II WHAT THE PSALMIST HAD DONE FOR GOD. (Vers. 6-10) To manifest his gratitude.
1. By his deeds. (Vers. 6-8)
(1) He gives obedience to his Law, instead of seeking to please him by sacrifice. God had opened his ears to hear and his eyes to read his will as prescribed to him in the roll of his book. Obedience better than any ceremonial observance.
(2) His obedience was thus not only intelligent, but came from the heart. The Law was in his heart; he loved obedience.
2. By his words. (Vers. 9, 10) Unwearied in proclaiming to others what Jehovah had done for him.
(1) What he preached. The righteousness, faithfulness, and loving-kindness of God. He preached what he saw in his own history and the history of the nation.
(2) Gratitude gave him courage openly to declare God"s goodness. If he had been ungrateful, or had wanted courage, he might have been tempted to hide God"s dealings among the secrets of his private experience. Every man"s duty to profess his convictions; and to declare that he is on the side of Christ and the Church. S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon1885 · Public DomainOn vv1–3Title. To the Chief Musician. Well might so exceedingly…
Title. To the Chief Musician. Well might so exceedingly precious a Psalm be specially committed to the most skilled of the sacred musicians. The noblest music should be made tributary to a subject so incomparable. The dedication shows that the song was intended for public worship, and was not a merely personal hymn, as its being in the first person singular might lead us to suppose. A Psalm of David. This is conclusive as to the authorship: lifted by the Holy Spirit into the region of prophecy, David was honoured to write concerning a far greater than himself.
Subject. Jesus is evidently here, and although it might not be a violent wresting of language to see both David and his Lord, both Christ and the church, the double comment might involve itself in obscurity, and therefore we shall let the sun shine even though this should conceal the stars. Even if the New Testament were not so express upon it, we should have concluded that David spoke of our Lord in Ps 40:6-9, but the apostle in Heb 10:5-9, puts all conjecture out of court, and confines the meaning to him who came into the world to do the Father's will.
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Division. From Ps 40:1-3, is a personal thanksgiving, followed by a general declaration of Jehovah's goodness to his saints, Ps 40:4-5. In Ps 40:6-10, we have an avowal of dedication to the Lord's will; Ps 40:11-17, contains a prayer for deliverance from pressing trouble, and for the overthrow of enemies.
Ver. 1. I waited patiently for the Lord. Patient waiting upon God was a special characteristic of our Lord Jesus. Impatience never lingered in his heart, much less escaped his lips. All through his agony in the garden, his trial of cruel mockings before Herod and Pilate, and his passion on the tree, he waited in omnipotence of patience. No glance of wrath, no word of murmuring, no deed of vengeance came from God's patient Lamb; he waited and waited on; was patient, and patient to perfection, far excelling all others who have according to their measure glorified God in the fires. Job on the dunghill does not equal Jesus on the cross. The Christ of God wears the imperial crown among the patient. Did the Only Begotten wait, and shall we be petulant and rebellious? And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. Neither Jesus the head, nor any one of the members of his body, shall ever wait upon the Lord in vain. Mark the figure of inclining, as though the suppliant cried out of the lowest depression, and condescending love stooped to hear his feeble moans. What a marvel is it that our Lord Jesus should have to cry as we do, and wait as we do, and should receive the Father's help after the same process of faith and pleading as must be gone through by ourselves! The Saviour's prayers among the midnight mountains and in Gethsemane expound this verse. The Son of David was brought very low, but he rose to victory; and here he teaches us how to conduct our conflicts so as to succeed after the same glorious pattern of triumph. Let us arm ourselves with the same mind; and panoplied in patience, armed with prayer, and girt with faith, let us maintain the Holy War.
Whole Psalm. David's Psalm, or, a Psalm of David;but David's name is here set first, which elsewhere commonly is last: or A Psalm concerning David, that is Christ, who is called David in the prophets: Ho 3:5 Jer 30:9 Eze 34:23 32:24. Of him this Psalm entreateth as the apostle teacheth, Heb 10:5-6, etc. Henry Ainsworth.
Whole Psalm. It is plain, from Ps 40:6-8 of this Psalm, compared with Heb 10:5, that the prophet in speaking in the person of Christ, who, Ps 40:1-5, celebrates the deliverance wrought for his mystical body, the church, by his resurrection from the grave, effecting that of his members from the guilt and dominion of sin; for the abolition of which he declareth, Ps 40:6-8, the inefficacy of the legal sacrifices, and mentions his own inclination to do the will of his Father, and Ps 40:9-10, to preach righteousness to the world. Ps 40:11-13. He represents himself as praying, while under his sufferings, for his own, and his people's salvation; he foretells, Ps 40:14-15, the confusion and desolation of his enemies, and, Ps 40:16, the joy and thankfulness of his disciples and servants; for the speedy accomplishment of which, Ps 40:17, he prefers a petition. George Horne.
Ver. 1. I waited patiently for the Lord: and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. I see that the Lord, suppose he drifts and delays the effect of his servant's prayer, and grants not his desire at the first, yet he hears him. I shall give a certain argument, whereby thou may know that the Lord heareth thee, suppose he delay the effect of thy prayers. Do you continue in prayer? Hast thou his strength given thee to persevere in suiting (petitioning for or praying for) anything? Thou may be assured he heareth; for this is one sure argument that he heareth thee, for naturally our impatience carrieth us to desperation; our suddenness is so great, specially in spiritual troubles, that we cannot continue in suiting. When thou, therefore, continues in suiting, thou may be sure that this strength is furnished of God, and cometh from heaven, and if thou have strength, he letteth thee see that he heareth thy prayer; and suppose he delay the effect and force thereof, yet pray continually. This doctrine is so necessary for the troubled conscience, that I think it is the meetest bridle in the Scripture to refrain our impatience; it is the meetest bit to hold us in continual exercise of patience; for if the heart understand that the Lord hath rejected our prayer altogether, it is not possible to continue in prayer; so when we know that the Lord heareth us, suppose he delay, let us crave patience to abide his good will. Robert Bruce, 1559-1631.
Ver. 1. I waited for the Lord. The infinitive (hwq) being placed first brings the action strongly out: I waited. This strong emphasis on the waiting, has the force of an admonition; it suggests to the sufferer that everything depends on waiting. E. W. Hengstenberg.
Ver. 1. I waited patiently: rather anxiously; the original has it, waiting I waited; a Hebraism which signifies vehement solicitude. Daniel Cresswell.
Ver. 1. I waited. The Saviour endureth his sufferings waitingly, as well as patiently and prayerfully. He "waited for the Lord." He expected help from Jehovah; and he waited for it until it came. James Frame, in "Christ and his Work: an Exposition of Psalm 40." 1869.
Ver. 1. Patiently. Our Lord's patience under suffering was an element of perfection in his work. Had he become impatient as we often do, and lost heart, his atonement would have been vitiated. Well may we rejoice that in the midst of all his temptations, and in the thickest of the battle against sin and Satan, he remained patient and willing to finish the work which his Father had given him to do. James Frame.
Ver. 1. Heard my cry. Our Saviour endured his sufferings prayerfully as well as patiently. James Frame.
Ver. 1.
1. My part praying and waiting.
2. God's part condescension and reply.
A Sermon upon the Fortieth Psalme, preached in the time of Public Fast; in "Sermons by the Rev. ROBERT BRUCE, Minister of Edinburgh, reprinted from the original edition of 1590, and 1591...Edinburgh: printed for the Wodrow Society. 1843."
Christ and his Work: an Exposition of Psalm 40. By JAMES FRAME,
1869.
Psalms 40:2*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv1–3I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined…
Psa_40:1-17
I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
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Waiting for the Lord
There is a Divine law of waiting which has an essential connection with the larger law of giving.
I. In waiting for god we discover our distance from him. God may be near us, and we far off from Him.
II. Waiting fosters the sense of a need which God alone can satisfy. The sense of the depth of guilt must be gained by sounding.
III. Waiting reveals the goodness of God. If the sinner reviews his life, the sense of the Divine mercies is blended by his sense of guilt. He sees the golden roll of the providences of his life. The goodness of God leads him to repentance.
IV. Waiting leads to a discrimination between the form and the spirit of religion (Psa_40:5-8). Every one who has come into covenant with God in his heart, and is now living in covenant with Him, has a book in his hand. It describes his duties and his rights in relation to God; and he promises to make it the guide of his life. As Christ engaged to fulfil the volume of the book as it applied to Him, so we engage to fulfil it as it applies to us.
V. Waiting shows us the importance of an open confession of God. The selfishness of sin is now revealed to us as the inner depth of its guilt. Will you, if God comes now and lifts you out of this pit, confess Him; will you try to live as a secret disciple, or will you publish what He has done for your soul; will you take a public position, and let your light shine? (Monday Club Sermons.)
The Christians patience
Patience, as it is not apathy, is not sluggishness, or indolence. There are circumstances which justify haste. For example, we do not walk, but rush out of a house on fire, or falling, a sudden ruin. Patient waiting for the Lord is quite consistent with boldness in design, and energy and promptitude in action; and only inconsistent with those unbelieving, impetuous, ungovernable, headstrong passions which breed impatience, and lead people be run before Providence instead of waiting on it. Of this let me give you two examples.
I. By contrast illustrate what it is to wait on the Lord.
1. Look at the conduct of Abraham. On his leaving Ur of the Chaldeans to wander a pilgrim in the land of Canaan, God had promised that he should become the father of a great nation. But though the father of the faithful, he formed an unhallowed alliance with an Egyptian; then, with terrible consequences following, he failed to wait patiently for the Lord.
2. Look at the conduct of Rebekah. The Lord had promised that to her younger son Jacob the covenant blessing should be given. But she could not see how this was to be, and so, becoming impatient, she takes steps to anticipate Gods time, and lays her hand on the wheel of Providence. Rash woman! she will hurry on the event, and so contrives that lie and deception on Isaac which blasted for ever their domestic peace. Rebekah and he ran before Providence; they did not wait patiently on the Lord.
II. Look at Davids own example of waiting on the Lord. A merchant in times of bad trade, or other trying circumstances, instead of trusting in God to bring him through his difficulties, or sustain him under them, has recourse to fraud; or a poor man, instead of trusting Providence with the supply of his wants, and committing his children to the care of Him who hears the young ravens cry, hard-pinched and pressed, puts out his hand to steal. But how often David was tempted to impatience. How long he had to wait ere the promise made to him was fulfilled. How faint his hope of ever reaching the throne appeared; yet David hoped in the Lord, and patiently waited Gods way to put him in possession of the kingdom.
III. Consider how we are patiently to wait on God.
1. We are to wait patiently on Providence in the common affairs of life. To the neglect of this may be attributed not a few of the failures that happen in business. People are impatient to get on in life; to acquire a competency; to be rich.
2. We are to wait patiently on God under the trials of life. He who went forth so magnanimously against Goliath turns pale with fear before those who neither had the giants stature nor the giants strength. Where is now the man, whose faith rising with the trial, once said, He that delivered me from the paw of the lion and the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine! But he feigns madness, letting his spittle fall on his beard, playing himself off for a fool. What a contrast to the heroic trust of Daniel, who, after the night spent with the lions, into whose den he had been cast, was able to reply to the anxious king, My God hath sent His angel, and shut the lions mouths that they have not hurt me. And who wait on God piously, prayerfully, patiently in their trials, shall have the same tale to tell; the same experience--He will shut the lions mouths, that they shall not hurt them.
3. We are to wait patiently upon God to complete our sanctification. We cannot be too earnest, too diligent, but we may be too impatient. Take comfort! The kingdom of God cometh not with observation! The river may appear flowing away from the sea, when, but turning round the base of some opposing hill, it is pursuing an onward course. The ship may appear to be standing away from the harbour, when, beating up in the face of adverse winds, she is only stretching off on the other tack, and at every tack making progress shoreward, though to others than seamen she seems to lose it. It is star by star that the hosts of night march out; it is minute by minute that we grow in other things. Here also, then, let us wait patiently for the Lord. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Waiting for the Lord
Some may remember the feeling of disappointment with which in their youth they read the last line of Longfellows Psalm of Life. Learn to labour and to--wait. Any one could understand the difficulty of labour, but how easy if one had only to wait t But experience has taught us a great lesson, that all labour is light compared with the labour, the stress, the suspense and weariness of waiting. The word patiently is not in the Hebrew, but it is implied. Such waiting is full of heroic elements--fortitude, resignation, faith, expectation, perseverance. As long as anything can be gained by effort it will be active, for it is too earnest to sit and rest when it should stand and work; but when the desired good is something beyond its reach, when personal exertion proves unavailing and help from others is impossible, then its agitation will be calmed and its hope invigorated by its determination to wait patiently for the Lord. There are exigencies in life when comfort can come from no other source. The providences of God are often so dark and full of seeming menace that the soul perturbed by them is like the ship in which Paul sailed when no small tempest lay on it, and when for many days neither sun nor star appeared. A drifting soul is in more jeopardy than a drifting ship. Again, patient waiting for the Lord gives solace and strength to the Christian when disheartened by the slow growth of his own spiritual life. Such dissatisfaction with self, when accompanied by longing for a more entire conformity to the Divine image, is the sure evidence of a gracious state, though it be not recognized by the subject of it. To eradicate all that is dark and defiling from the soul, and to cultivate the plants of righteousness until they are laden with their mellow clusters, require not only diligence but time. Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth, etc. So, too, wait patiently for the Lord when discouraged because you see so little fruit of your labour (Psa_126:6). (M. D. Hoge, D. D.)
Reminiscences of a godly life
I. He recollects his personal devotion.
1. The nature of his religious exercise. He waited patiently for the Lord; it was the habit of his soul.
(1) Belief in the Divine existence.
(2) Sense of dependency upon God.
(3) An expectation of good from the Almighty.
2. The result of his religious exercise. He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He came near to me. It is the prayer of the whole life that the Almighty hears and answers. It is not a spasmodic shriek, it is a settled, sacred state of being (Isa_57:15).
II. He recollects divine interpositions. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit. The spiritual state of truly good men.
1. It is a Divinely restored state. From what a wretched state has the sinner been delivered.
(1) State of darkness--a pit. The sun that bathes the world in its brightness breaks not the dense gloom of the pit.
(3) Helplessness. Miry clay--ever sinking into mud of moral corruption, all the faculties of being submerged and held fast.
2. It is a Divinely established state. Hast set my feet upon a rock.
(1) His intellect is established in truth.
(2) His heart is established in love.
(3) His purpose is established in conduct.
3. It is a Divinely progressive state. He has established my goings. Onward! is the watchword of the godly man. The point reached to-day is the starting-point for to-morrow.
4. It is a Divinely happy state. He hath put a new song in my mouth. Godliness is happiness.
5. It is a Divinely influential state. Many shall see it and fear.
(1) Godliness is conspicuous. You cannot conceal the true light.
(2) Godliness is reverenced. And fear.
(3) Godliness is blest. He who lives a godly life becomes unconsciously the influence of bringing others to God.
III. He recollects the happiness of religion (Psa_40:4).
1. True religion is trusting in the Lord, not in man.
2. True religion, because of this, is ever connected with blessedness.
(1) Reason shows this.
(2) History shows this.
(3) Consciousness shows this.
IV. He recollects general interventions of mercy. Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works, etc.
1. They are wonderful. Wonderful in their variety, condescension, forbearing and compassionate love.
2. They are intelligent--not accidental, capricious or impulsive. They are the results and embodiment of thought. All Gods works are thoughts in action.
3. They are innumerable. Can you count the sands on the sea-shore, or the drops that make up the ocean? Then you may sum up the mercies of God to you. (Homilist.)
Patient waiting
It would be far easier, I apprehend, for nine men out of ten to join a storming party trying to take the citadel of the enemy than to lie on a rack or hang on a cross without repining. Yes, patience is a strength; and patience means not merely strength, but wisdom in exercising it. We, the creatures of a day, make one of the nearest approaches that is possible for us to the life of God. St. Augustine has finely said of God, Patiens quia aeternus (Because He lives for ever He can afford to wait). The greatest heroes among men are they who wait patiently. (Canon Liddon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible1887 · Public DomainOn v1Psalms 40
Psalms 40
THE closing verses of this psalm reappear with slight changes as an independent whole in Psalms 70. The question arises whether that is a fragment or this a conglomerate. Modern opinion inclines to the latter alternative, and points in support to the obvious change of tone in the second part. But that change does not coincide with the supposed line of junction, since Psalms 70 begins with our Psa_40:13, and the change begins with Psa_40:12. Cheyne and others are therefore obliged to suppose that Psa_40:12 is the work of a third poet or compiler, who effected a junction thereby. The cumbrousness of the hypothesis of fusion is plain, and its necessity is not apparent, for it is resorted to in order to explain how a psalm which keeps so lofty a level of confidence at first should drop to such keen consciousness of innumerable evils and such faint-heartedness. But surely, such resurrection of apparently dead fears is not uncommon in devout, sensitive souls. They live beneath April skies, not unbroken blue. However many the wonderful works which God has done and however full of thankfulness the singers heart, his deliverance is not complete. The contrast in the two parts of the psalm is true to facts and to the varying aspects of feeling and of faith. Though the latter half gives greater prominence to encompassing evils, they appear but for a moment; and the prayer for deliverance which they force from the psalmist is as triumphant in faith as were the thanksgivings of the former part. In both the ground tone is that of victorious grasp of Gods help, which in the one is regarded in its mighty past acts, and in the other is implored and trusted in for present and future needs. The change of tone is not such as to demand the hypothesis of fusion: The unity is further supported by verbal links between the parts: e.g., the innumerable evils of Psa_40:12 pathetically correspond to the innumerable mercies of Psa_40:5, and the same word for "surpass" occurs in both verses; "be pleased" in Psa_40:13 echoes "Thy pleasure" (will, A.V.) in Psa_40:8; "cares" or thinks (A.V.) in Psa_40:17 is the verb from which the noun rendered purposes (thoughts, A.V.) in Psa_40:5 is derived.
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The attribution of the psalm to David rests solely on the superscription. The contents have no discernible points of connection with known circumstances in his or any other life. Jeremiah has been thought of as the author, on the strength of giving a prosaic literal meaning to the obviously poetical phrase "the pit of destruction" (Psa_40:2). If it is to be taken literally, what is to be made of the "rock" in the next clause? Baethgen and others see the return from Babylon in the glowing metaphors of Psa_40:2, and, in accordance with their conceptions of the evolution of spiritual religion, take the subordination of sacrifice to obedience as a clear token of late date. We may, however, recall 1Sa_15:22, and venture to doubt whether the alleged process of spiritualising has been so clearly established, and its stages dated, as to afford a criterion of the age of a psalm.
In the first part, the current of thought starts from thankfulness for individual deliverances (Psa_40:1-3); widens into contemplation of the blessedness of trust and the riches of Divine mercies (Psa_40:4-5); moved by these and taught what is acceptable to God, it rises to self-consecration as a living sacrifice (Psa_40:6-8); and, finally, pleads for experience of Gods grace in all its forms on the ground of past faithful stewardship in celebrating these (Psa_40:9-11). The second part is one long-drawn cry for help, which admits of no such analysis, though its notes are various.
The first outpouring of the song is one long sentence, of which the clauses follow one another like sunlit ripples, and tell the whole process of the psalmists deliverance. It began with patient waiting; it ended with a new song. The voice first raised in a cry, shrill and yet submissive enough to be heard above, is at last tuned into new forms of uttering the old praise. The two clauses of Psa_40:1 ("I" and "He") set over against each other, as separated by the distance between heaven and earth, the psalmist and his God. He does not begin with his troubles, but with his faith. "Waiting, he waited" for Jehovah; and wherever there is that attitude of tense and continuous but submissive expectance, Gods attitude will be that of bending to meet it. The meek, upturned eye has power to draw His towards itself. That is an axiom of the devout life confirmed by all experience, even if the tokens of deliverance delay their coming. Such expectance, however patient, is not inconsistent with loud crying, but rather finds voice in it. Silent patience and impatient prayer, in too great a hurry to let God take His own time, are equally imperfect. But the cry, "Haste to my help" (Psa_40:13), and the final petition, "My God, delay not," are consistent with true waiting.
The suppliant and God have come closer together in Psa_40:2, which should not be regarded as beginning a new sentence. As in Psalms 18, prayer brings God down to help. His hand reaches to the man prisoned in a pit or struggling in a swamp; he is dragged out, set on a rock, and feels firm ground beneath his feet. Obviously the whole representation is purely figurative, and it is hopelessly flat and prosaic to refer it to Jeremiahs experience. The "many waters" of Psalms 18 are a parallel metaphor. The dangers that threatened the psalmist are described as "a pit of destruction," as if they were a dungeon into which whosoever was thrown would come out no more, or in which, like a wild beast, he has been trapped. They are also likened to a bog or quagmire, in which struggles only sink a man deeper. But the edge of the bog touches rock, and there is firm footing and unhindered walking (here, if only some great lifting power can drag the sinking man out. Gods hand can, and does, because the lips, almost choked with mire, could yet cry. The psalmists extremity of danger was probably much more desperate than is usual in such conditions as ours, so that his cries seem too piercing for us to make our own; but the terrors and conflicts of humanity are nearly constant quantities, though the occasions calling them forth are widely different. If we look deeper into life than its surface, we shall learn that it is not violent "spiritualising" to make these utterances the expression of redeeming grace, since in truth there is but one or other of these two possibilities open for us. Either we flounder in a bottomless bog, or we have our feet on the Rock.
Gods deliverance gives occasion for fresh praise. The psalmist has to add his voice to the great chorus, and this sense of being but one of a multitude, who have been blessed alike and therefore should bless alike, occasions the significant interchange in Psa_40:3 of "my" and "our," which needs no theory of the speaker being the nation to explain it. It is ever a joy to the heart swelling with the sense of Gods mercies to be aware of the many who share the mercies and gratitude. The cry for deliverance is a solo: the song of praise is choral. The psalmist did not need to be hidden to praise; a new song welled from his lips as by inspiration. Silence was more impossible to his glad heart than even to his sorrow. To shriek for help from the bottom of the pit and to be dumb when lifted to the surface is a churls part.
Though the song was new in this singers mouth, as befitted a recipient of deliverances fresh from heaven, the theme was old; but each new voice individualises the commonplaces of religious experience, and repeats them as fresh. And the result of one mans convinced and jubilant voice, giving novelty to old truths because he has verified them in new experiences, will be that "many shall see," as though they behold the deliverance of which they hear, "and shall fear" Jehovah and trust themselves to Him. It was not the psalmists deliverance, but his song, that was to be the agent in this extension of the fear of Jehovah. All great poets have felt that their words would win audience and live. Thus, even apart from consciousness of inspiration, this lofty anticipation of the effect of his words is intelligible, without supposing that their meaning is that the signal deliverance of the nation from captivity would spread among heathens and draw them to Israels faith.
The transition from purely personal experience to more general thoughts is completed in Psa_40:4-5. Just as the psalmist began with telling of his own patient expectance and thence passed on to speak of Gods help, so in these two verses he sets forth the same sequence in terms studiously cast into the most comprehensive form. Happy indeed are they who can translate their own experience into these two truths for all men: that trust is blessedness and that Gods mercies are one long sequence, made up of numberless constituent parts. To have these for ones inmost convictions and to ring them out so clearly and melodiously that many shall be drawn to listen, and then to verify them by their own "seeing," is one reward of patient waiting for Jehovah. That trust must be maintained by resolute resistance to temptations to its opposite. Hence the negative aspect of trust is made prominent in Psa_40:4 b, in which the verb should be rendered "turns not" instead of "respecteth not," as in the A.V. and R.V. The same motion, looked at from opposite sides, may be described in turning to and turning from. Forsaking other confidences is part of the process of making God ones trust. But it is significant that the antithesis is not completely carried out, for those to whom the trustful heart does not turn are not here, as might have been expected, rival objects of trust, but those who put their own trust in false refuges. "The proud" are the class of arrogantly self-reliant people who feel no need of anything but their own strength to lean on. "Deserters to a lie" are those who tail away from Jehovah to put their trust in any creature, since all refuges but Himself will fail. Idols may be included in this thought of a lie, but it is unduly limited if confined to them. Much rather it takes in all false grounds of security. The antithesis fails in accuracy, for the sake of putting emphasis on the prevalence of such mistaken trust, which makes it so much the harder to keep aloof from the multitudes and stand alone in reliance on Jehovah.
Psa_40:5 corresponds with Psa_40:4, in that it sets forth in similar generality the great deeds with which God is wont to answer mans trust. But the personality of the poet breaks very beautifully through the impersonal utterances at two points: once when he names Jehovah as "my God," thus claiming his separate share in the general mercies and his special bond of connection with the Lover of all; and once when he speaks of his own praises, thus recognising the obligation of individual gratitude for general blessings. Each particle of finely comminuted moisture in the rainbow has to flash back the broad sunbeam at its own angle. Gods "wonders and designs" are "realised Divine thoughts and Divine thoughts which are gradually being realised" (Delitzsch). These are wrought and being wrought in multitudes innumerable, and as the psalmist sees the bright, unbroken beams pouring forth from their inexhaustible source, he breaks into an exclamation of adoring wonder at the incomparable greatness of the ever-giving God. "There is none to set beside Thee" is far loftier and more accordant with the tone of the verse than the comparatively flat and incongruous remark that Gods mercies cannot be told to him (A.V. and R.V). A precisely similar exclamation occurs in Psa_71:19, in which Gods incomparable greatness is deduced from the great things which He has done. Happy the singer who has an inexhaustible theme! He is not silenced by the consciousness of the inadequacy of his songs, but rather inspired to the never-ending, ever-beginning, joyful task of uttering some new fragment of that transcendent perfection. Innumerable wonders wrought should be met-by ever-new songs. If they cannot be counted, the more reason for open-eyed observance of them as they come, and for a stream of praise as unbroken as is their bright continuance. If Gods mercies thus baffle enumeration and beggar praise, the question naturally rises, "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits?" Therefore the next turn of thought shows the psalmist as reaching the lofty spiritual conception that heartfelt delight in Gods will is the true response to Gods wonders of love. He soars far above external rites as well as servile obedience to unloved authority, and proclaims the eternal and ultimate truth that what God delights in is mans delight in His will. The great words which rang the knell of Sauls kingship may well have sounded in his successors spirit. Whether they are the source of the language of our psalm or not, they are remarkably similar. "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams," {1Sa_15:23} teaches precisely the same lesson as Psa_40:6-8 of this psalm. The strong negation in Psa_40:6 does not deny the Divine institution of the sacrificial law, but affirms that something much deeper than external sacrifices is the real object of Gods desire. The negation is made emphatic by enumerating the chief kinds of sacrifice. Whether they are bloody or bloodless, whether meant to express consecration or to effect reconciliation, they are none of them the true sacrifices of God. In Psa_40:6 the psalmist is entirely occupied with Gods declarations of His requirements; and he presents these in a remarkable fashion, intercalating the clause, "Ears hast Thou pierced for me," between the two parallel clauses in regard to sacrifice. Why should the connection be thus broken? The fact that God has endowed the psalmist with capacity to apprehend the Divine speech reveals Gods desire concerning him. Just because he has ears to hear, it is clear that God wishes him to hear, and therefore that outward acts of worship cannot be the acknowledgment of mercies in which God delights. The central clause of the verse is embedded in the others, because it deals with a Divine act which, pondered, will be seen to establish their teaching. The whole puts in simple, concrete form a wide principle namely that the possession of capacity for receiving communications of Gods will im poses the duty of loving reception and obedience, and points to inward joyful acceptance of that will as the purest kind of worship.
Psa_40:7 and Psa_40:8 are occupied with the response to Gods requirements thus manifested by His gift of capacity to hear His voice. "Then said I" As soon as he had learned the meaning of his ears he found the right use of his tongue. The thankful heart was moved to swift acceptance of the known will of God. The clearest recognition of His requirements may coexist with resistance to them, and needs the impulse of loving contemplation of Gods unnumbered wonders to vivify it into glad service. "Behold, I am come," is the language of a servant entering his masters presence in obedience to his call. In Psa_40:7 the second clause interrupts just as in Psa_40:6. There the interruption spoke of the organ of receiving Divine messages as to duty; here it speaks of the messages themselves: "In the roll of the book is my duty prescribed for me." The promise implied in giving ears is fulfilled by giving a permanent written law. This man, having ears to hear, has heard, and has not only heard, but welcomed into the inmost recesses of his heart and will, the declared will of God. The word rendered "delight" in Psa_40:8 is the same as is rendered "desire" in Psa_40:6 (A.V); and that rendered by the A.V. and R.V. in Psa_40:8 "will" is properly "good pleasure." Thus Gods delight and mans coincide. Thankful love assimilates the creatures will with the Divine, and so changes tastes and impulses that desire and duty are fused into one. The prescriptions of the book become the delight of the heart. An inward voice directs "Love, and do what Thou wilt"; for a will determined by love cannot but choose to please its Beloved. Liberty consists in freely willing and victoriously doing what we ought, and such liberty belongs to hearts whose supreme delight is to please the God whose numberless wonders have won their love and made their thanksgivings poor. The law written in the heart was the ideal even when a law was written on tables of stone. It was the prophetic promise for the Messianic age. It is fulfilled in the Christian life in the measure of its genuineness. Unless the heart delights in the law, acts of obedience count for very little.
The quotation of Psa_40:7-8, in Heb_10:5-7, is mainly, from the LXX, which has the remarkable rendering of Psa_40:6 b, "A body hast Thou prepared for me." Probably this is meant as paraphrase rather than as translation; and it does represent substantially the idea of the original, since the body is the instrument for fulfilling, just as the ear is the organ for apprehending, the uttered will of God. The value of the psalm for the writer of Hebrews does not depend on that clause, but on the whole representation which it gives of the ideal of the perfectly righteous servants true worship, as involving the setting aside of sacrifice and the decisive pre-eminence of willing obedience. That ideal is fulfilled in Jesus, and really pointed onwards to Him. This use of the quotation does not imply the directly Messianic character of the psalm.
"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," and thus the passage is easy from inward delight in Gods will to public declaration of His character. Every true lover of God is a witness of His sweetness to the world. Since the psalmist had His law hidden in the depths of his being, be could not "hide" His righteousness within his heart, but must magnify it with his tongue. That is a feeble and doubtful love which knows no necessity of utterance. To "love and be silent" is sometimes imperative, but always burdensome; and a heart happy in its love cannot choose but ripple out in music of speech. The psalmist describes himself as a messenger of glad tidings, a true evangelist. The multiplicity of names for the various aspects of Gods character and acts which he heaps together in these verses serves to indicate their manifoldness which he delighted to contemplate, and his long, loving familiarity with them. He sets his treasure in all lights, and views it from all points, as a man will turn a jewel in his hand and get a fresh flash from every facet. "Righteousness," the good news that the Ruler of all is inflexibly just, with a justice which scrupulously meets all creatures needs and becomes penal and awful only to the rejectors of its tender aspect; "faithfulness," the inviolable adherence to every promise; "salvation," the actual fulness of deliverance and well-being flowing from these attributes; "lovingkindness" and "troth," often linked together as expressing at once the warmth and the unchangeableness of the Divine heart-these have been the psalmists themes. Therefore they are his hope; and he is sure that, as he has been their singer, they will be his preservers. Psa_40:11 is not prayer, but bold confidence. It echoes the preceding verse, since "I did not restrain" (Psa_40:9) corresponds with "Thou wilt not restrain," and "Thy lovingkindness and Thy troth" with the mention of the same attributes in Psa_40:10. The psalmist is not so much asserting his claims as giving voice to his faith. He does not so much think that his utterance is deserving of remuneration as that Gods character makes impossible the supposition that he, who had so loved and sung His great name in its manifold glories, should find that name unavailing in his hour of need.
There is an undertone of such felt need even in the confidence of Psa_40:11; and it becomes dominant from Psa_40:12-17, but not so as to overpower the clear note of trust. The difference between the two parts of the psalm is great, but is not to be exaggerated as if it were contrariety. In the former part thanksgiving for deliverance from dangers recently past predominates: in the latter, petition for deliverance from dangers still threatening: but in both the psalmist is exercising the same confidence; and if in the beginning he hymns the praises of God who brought him out of the pit of destruction, in the end he keeps firm hold of Him as His "Help and Deliverer." Similarly, while in the first portion he celebrates the "purposes which are to usward," in the latter he is certain that, needy as he is, Jehovah has "purposes" of kindness to him. The change of tone is not so complete as to negative the original unity, and surely it is not difficult to imagine a situation in which both halves of the psalm should be appropriate. Are there any deliverances in this perilous and incomplete life so entire and permanent that they leave no room for future perils? Must not prevision of coming dangers accompany thankfulness for past escapes? Our Pharaohs are seldom drowned in the Red Sea, and we do not often see their corpses stretched on the sand. The change of tone, of which so much use is made as against the original unity of the psalm, begins with Psa_40:12 : but that verse has a very strong and beautiful link of connection with the previous part, in the description of besetting evils as innumerable. Both words of Psa_40:5 are repeated, that for "surpass" or "are more than" in Psa_40:12 c, that for "number" in a. The heart that has felt how innumerable are Gods thoughts and deeds of love is not utterly reduced to despair, even while it beholds a sea of troubles rolling its white-crested billows shoreward as far as the horizon. The sky stretches beyond them, and the true numberlessness of Gods mercies outdoes the great yet really limited range of apparently numberless sins or sorrows, the consequences of sin. "Mine iniquities have overtaken me" like pursuing foes, and every calamity that held him in its grip was a child of a sin of his. Such consciousness of transgression is not inconsistent with "delight in the law of God after the inward man," as Paul found out, {Rom_7:22-23} but it sets aside the attempt to make this a directly Messianic psalm. "I am not able to see." Such is the only possible rendering, for there is no justification for translating the simple word by "look up." Either the crowd of surrounding calamities prevent the psalmist from seeing anything but themselves, or, more probably, the failure of vital power accompanying his sorrow dims his vision. {Psa_38:10}
From Psa_40:13 onward Psalms 70 repeats this psalm, with unimportant verbal differences. The first of these is the omission of "Be pleased" in Psa_40:13, which binds this second part to the first, and points back to "Thy pleasure" (Psa_40:8). The prayer for the confusion of enemies closely resembles that in Psalms 35, Psa_40:14 being almost identical with Psa_40:4 and Psa_35:26 there, and Psa_40:15 recalling Psa_35:21 of that psalm. The prayer that enemies may fail in their designs is consistent with the most Christlike spirit, and nothing more is asked by the psalmist, but the tinge of satisfaction with which he dwells on their discomfiture, however natural, belongs to the less lofty moral standard of his stage of revelation. He uses extraordinarily forcible words to paint their bewilderment and mortification-may they blush, turn pale, be driven back, be as if paralysed with shame at their baffled malice! The prayer for the gladness of Gods servants and seekers is like Psa_35:27. It asks that fruition as complete as the disappointment of the foesmay be the lot of those whose desires set towards God, and it is prophecy as well as prayer. Seekers after God ever find Him, and are more joyful in possession than they hoped to be while seeking. He alone never eludes search, nor ever disappoints attainment. They who long for His salvation will receive it; and their reception will fill their hearts so full of blessedness that their lips will not be able to refrain from ever-new outbursts of the old praise, "The Lord be magnified."
Very plaintively and touchingly does the low sigh of personal need follow this triumphant intercession for the company of the saints. Its triple elements blend in one believing aspiration, which is not impatience, though it pleads for swift help. "I am afflicted and needy"; there the psalmist turns his eye on his own sore necessity. "Jehovah has purposes for me"; there he turns to God, and links his final petitions with his earlier trust by the repetition of the word by which he described (Psa_40:5) the many gracious designs of God. "My God, delay not"; there he embraces both in one act of faithful longing. His need calls for, and Gods loving counsels ensure, swift response. He who delights when an afflicted and poor man calls Him "my God" will not be slack to vindicate His servants confidence, and magnify His own name. That appeal goes straight to the heart of God.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary1892 · Public DomainOn v1Superscription: “To the Chief Musician, a Psalm of David.”
INTRODUCTION
Superscription: “To the Chief Musician, a Psalm of David.”
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The psalm is addressed to “the Chief Musician,” that he might set it to music for use in public worship. We have no means of determining on what occasion the psalm was written. It does not come within our province to enter into the disputed question of the Messianic character of the psalm. The different opinions which are held on this question are stated by Barnes in loco, and by Professor Stuart in his “Commentary on Hebrews” (Excursus xx.). Both these writers advocate their own view at considerable length. See also Hengstenberg’s Introduction to this psalm. One thing, perhaps, we ought to say, viz., that on the theory adopted by Barnes, “that the psalm had an original and exclusive reference to the Messiah,” it seems to us impossible legitimately and satisfactorily to interpret it.
Homiletically, we shall view the psalm thus:—The Lord’s doings for His servant (Psa_40:1-6); The servant’s offering to his Lord (Psa_40:6-10); and, The servant’s prayer to his Lord (Psa_40:11-17).
THE LORD’S DOINGS FOR HIS SERVANT
(Psa_40:1-5.)
In these verses, we have—
I. A sad situation. The Psalmist represents himself as having been in “an horrible pit,” and in “miry clay.” The situation was one of
1. Darkness. בּוֹר = a pit, a prison, a dungeon, a grave, a deep well. It implies darkness. The sun may be flooding the world with his beams, but in the pit all is midnight darkness. The figure may be used to set forth a state of sin or a state of deep sorrow. Both these states are frequently represented in Scripture by “darkness.” “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light,” &c. “When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.” To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light,” &c “The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.” Et al.
2. Distress. “An horrible pit.” “The word rendered horrible, שָׁאוֹן means properly noise, uproar, tumult, as of waters: of a crowd of men; of war. De Wette understands it here of a pit, a cavern, or an abyss that roars and is tumultuous; that is, that is impassable. Perhaps this is the idea,—a cavern, deep and dark, where the waters roar, and which seems to be filled with horrors.”—Barnes. Hengstenberg takes it to mean, “a deep of raging waters,” “a roaring deep.” In any case, the figure indicates distress. The poet was not only in darkness, but in misery also. Sin is wretchedness. Sin is hell.
3. Helplessness. The Psalmist was in the “miry clay,” the “slimy mud,” where there was no firm footing. He was totally unable to do anything to effect his own deliverance, for he was “sinking in deep mire, and could not stand.” The unrenewed sinner Is helpless in effecting his own deliverance from sin and its consequences. If some strong arm do not come to his rescue, he must continue to sink in the miry clay until he is hopelessly lost. Such is the sad situation of the sinner; his state is one of darkness, distress, helplessness.
II. A great salvation. “I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry,” &c. Of this salvation the poet points out that—
1. It was granted in answer to prayer. The Psalmist prayed. “He heard my cry.” In his darkness, wretchedness, and helplessness, David betook himself to prayer; and though the pit was deep—“a roaring deep”—yet the Lord heard his cry. From the deepest depth the faintest whisper of true prayer will reach to the throne of God, and receive audience of Him. The Psalmist waited. “I waited patiently for the Lord.” Margin: “In waiting I waited.” He continued to wait for the interposition of God. Many prayers are not answered because the suppliant does not wait for the answer—does not expect an answer. David persevered in prayer; he waited expecting the succour and salvation of God. That salvation did not come quickly; but he patiently waited, believing, hoping, praying, expecting its coming.
2. It was complete. “He brought me up also out of,” &c. We have here—
(1) Deliverance. The Psalmist was rescued from his wretched and perilous state. God delivers both from sin and misery all who sincerely seek Him.
(2) Elevation. “Set my feet upon a rock,” far above the waters of the roaring deep. God raises souls from darkness into light, from deep despair into exalted hope, &c.
(3) Establishment. “Set my feet upon a rock,” where I may find firm footing. “Established my goings.” Made my steps firm. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the rock on which the sinner may securely stand. On Him we may build our character, our hopes, &c.
(4) Invigoration. “Established my goings.” The Divine life is not stationary, but progressive. God delivers man from sin, and starts him on the road to holiness and heaven, and invigorates him to tread that road. “They go from strength to strength.” “We follow on to know the Lord.” God bids us “Go forward,” and gives us strength to do so,
3. It was joy-inspiring. “He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.” The Lord had given a new occasion for praise, and by filling the Psalmist’s heart with grateful gladness, had given him the disposition to offer fresh praises unto Him. Salvation is a joyous, a blessed thing. It tunes a man’s life to music. It fills his heart with music, and the world with beauty and song.
4. It was influential. “Many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”
(1) God’s doings on behalf of His people are manifest. “Many shall see.” When a man is converted the change is visible in his life.
(2) God’s doings on behalf of His people command reverence. “And fear.” The fear is reverential. Not dread, but veneration.
(3) God’s doings on behalf of His people encourage others to trust in Him. “And shall trust in the Lord.” As men mark the doings of God on behalf of His people, they have such exhibitions of His faithfulness and goodness and power as lead them in faith to seek His salvation. They see the workings of His grace in their lives, and are led to seek that grace for themselves. “They glorified God in me.” Do our lives testify to the power of Divine grace so that men through us are led to trust in Him?
III. A hearty celebration. The Psalmist celebrates—
1. The blessedness of the man who trusts in the Lord.
(1) He rejects every other object of confidence. “He respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.” Literally: “he looks not to the proud,” he does not expect help or blessing from them. Man, however strong and proud, is not an adequate object of confidence for any creature. He is liable to err, and may be deceived, and may be deceitful himself, and is therefore not sufficient as an object of trust. Neither as regards faithfulness and truth, nor as regards ability and strength, is man an adequate object of trust.
(2) He places his sole confidence in God. “Maketh the Lord his trust.” The Lord is ever mighty to save, and is faithful amid all changes. We may safely trust in Him. Trust in Him is blessed. He who trusts in Him shall never be put to shame, shall realise the most blessed security, shall find his highest expectations more than fulfilled, &c.
2. The wonderful doings of God for man (Psa_40:5). Matthew Henry’s notes on this verse are excellent “Many, Lord my God! are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done both for me and others; this is but one of many. Many are the benefits with which we are daily loaded, both by the providence and by the grace of God.
(1) They are His works, not only the gifts of His bounty, but the operations of His power. He works for us, He works in us, and thus He favours us with matter, not only for thanks, but for praise.
(2) They are His wonderful works, the contrivance of them admirable, His condescension to us in bestowing them upon us admirable; eternity itself will be short enough to be spent in the admiration of them.
(3) All His wonderful works are the product of His thoughts to us-ward. He does all according to the counsel of His own will (Eph_1:11), the purposes of His grace which He purposed in Himself (Eph_3:11). They are the projects of infinite wisdom, the designs of everlasting love (1Co_2:7; Jer_31:3), thoughts of good, and not of evil (Jer_29:11). His gifts and callings will therefore be without repentance, because they are not sudden resolves, but the result of His thoughts, His many thoughts, to us-ward.
(4) They are innumerable; they cannot be methodised, or ‘reckoned up in order.’ There is an order in all God’s works, but there are so many that present themselves to our view at once that we know not where to begin nor which to name next; the order of them and their natural references and dependencies, and how the links of the golden chain are joined, are a mystery to us, and what we shall not be able to account for till the veil be rent and the mystery of God finished. Nor can they be counted, not the very heads of them. When we have said the most we can of the wonders of Divine love to us, we must conclude with an et cœtera—and such like, and adore the depth, despairing to find the bottom.”
CONCLUSION.—
1. To those who have experienced this great salvation. Praise God in a new song, celebrate His glorious deeds, trust Him unfalteringly and fully, and let your life show forth His praise, that “many may see, and fear, and trust in the Lord.”
2. To those who are in the sad state of unrenewed sinners. Your condition is indeed deplorable and dangerous, Do you realise it as such? The Lord waits to rescue you from it. Cry unto Him, wait patiently for Him, and He will incline His ear and save you.
HOPE IN THE SADDEST SITUATION
(Psa_40:1-3.)
If some parts of this psalm are more applicable to the Messiah, other parts, undoubtedly, are more applicable to David. Of himself the Psalmist seems here more immediately to be speaking. Observe—
I. The situation he was in. This was sad indeed.
1. He was fallen low—in a “pit.” How sunk in guilt and corruption is man by nature!
2. He was besmeared, having stuck fast in mire or clay. Sin renders our whole persons the very reverse of comeliness and beauty in the sight of God.
3. He was an outcast—in a “pit,” without communion with society. Thus, too, are all naturally far off from God, separated from His favour and protection.
4. He was miserable—in “an horrible pit.” Oh! what horrors our iniquities bring upon us.”
5. He was in great danger. In a “pit” he could devise no way of escape, so that, to human appearance, his case was hopeless. And no less dangerous is our condition. Ah! what dismal forebodings we have.
II. The devout exercise of his mind. Distressing as the condition of David was, it will be instructive to us if we consider how he acted.
1. He betook himself to prayer. This was a certain mean of succeeding. It is the mean which God expects every weary and heavy-laden sinner to use. Nor can the wisdom of such an appointment be doubted, as constituting a test of our humility and of our obedience.
2. He hoped in His mercy. The Lord, not immediately vouchsafing him an answer, he became more and more urgent, trusting ultimately to find acceptance. He waited for the Lord patiently. Thus, then, it is good to wait, without murmuring, for answers of peace, on carrying our troubles to a throne of grace.
III. The deliverance he obtained. God inclined His ear to Him and heard his cry, and his deliverance was—
1. Elevating. Though before in a pit, in the miry clay of which he found himself sinking yet further, he is now brought up out of it; and not only so, but his feet are set upon a rock. And all who stand upon the Rock Christ Jesus are exalted far above this world, and are brought already to the confines of glory.
2. Establishing. “Established my goings.” Oh! the stability we have by trusting in Christ. We may then defy all the powers of darkness (Mat_16:18).
3. Joyous. “He hath put a new song in my mouth,” &c. This is surely applicable to the believer, who, in fact, has not only cause to rejoice, but a disposition likewise to do so.
4. Encouraging. “Many shall see, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” Yes, all may expect the same mercy as David in a diligent use of the same means. For this glorious example is intended by God to give us hope, however low our state may be, He being always able and always near to deliver us (Jon_2:2-6, et al.)—W. Sleigh.
THE SERVANT’S OFFERING TO HIS LORD
(Psa_40:6-10.)
In this section we pass from the great and gracious doings of God on behalf of the Psalmist to the Psalmist’s expression of his gratitude to God. What offering will he present to his Lord? In what way will he express his gratitude to Him?
I. By obedience to God (Psa_40:6-8).
1. He will not sacrifice material sacrifices instead of obedience. “Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; burnt-offering and sin-offering hast Thou not required.” “The four words employed in this verse—sacrifice, offering, burnt-offering, sin-offering—embrace all the species of sacrifice and offerings known among the Hebrews.”—Barnes. “In what respect it is said here, that God did not wish sacrifices, since He had expressly commanded them, appears from the contrast. Obedience, the willing performance of the Divine command, is set over against presentation of offerings. Offerings, therefore, are rejected in so far as they form a compensation for that, in so far as they would in a manner satisfy, put off God.”—Hengstenberg. Our outward services, offerings of prayer, praise, and material gifts, are of no value in the sight of God, unless they are the expression of the homage of the heart, and are accompanied by obedience of life. (Comp. 1Sa_15:22, and Psa_51:16-17) on the letter passage Dr. Parker says: “We have been led to believe that God does desire sacrifice; that sacrifice is the basis of all atonement, and that without sacrifice approach to God is an impossibility. Were we to pause at this verse
(16), however, and to accept the words in their literal signification, we should come to the conclusion that sacrifice was entirely unnecessary as a condition of communion with the Most High on the part of sinful man. The next verse explains the Psalmist’s meaning. He says, ‘The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.’ This shows that all sacrifice is worthless which is not vitalised by the moral element Where the sacrifice represents a broken spirit, where it sets forth the operations of a contrite heart, it becomes acceptable to God, and useful as a basis of negotiation with Heaven. Where the moral element is present, the physical element will not be forgotten; this is beautifully brought out in the last expression in the psalm. ‘Then shalt Thou be’ ” pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,’ &c. From this it is clear that though sacrifice in itself, without the presence of spiritual feeling, is absolutely worthless in the sight of God, yet where the moral element is present in the form of a broken spirit and a contrite heart, sacrifice will be presented even in its material forms. Thereby the penitent man expresses his love, and fosters his faith, and testifies his gratitude. Blessed be God, in our case it is unnecessary that we provide bullock or burnt-offering. The one final sacrifice has been offered in the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
2. He will render the obedience which God requires. “Then I said: Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is prescribed to me. To do Thy will, my God, I delight, and Thy law is in my inner part.”—(Hengstenberg’s trans.) “The volume or roll-book, is the Pentateuch, which from the first was written on parchment. In the time of David, when no other sacred book existed, every one would at once understand what was meant by the roll-book.” As confirming this interpretation comp. Jos_1:7; 1Ki_2:3; and 2Ki_22:13. David was left in no uncertainty as to what the will of God was. In the Pentateuch God had made known His will, and clearly unfolded His requirements; and the Psalmist resolves that he will obey that will.
3. He will render that obedience heartily. “I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within my heart.” On the law of God in the heart of His people comp. Deu_6:6; Psa_37:31; Pro_7:1-3; and Isa_51:7. “Where matters are as they should be, there the law is not merely prescribed, but inscribed.” “When the law of God is written in our hearts, our duty will be our delight”
4. God had disposed him to render that obedience. Such we take to be the meaning of the words translated, “Mine ears hast Thou opened.” Margin: “digged.” Hengstenberg: “Ears hast Thou dug through for me.” “An indisposition to obey the will of God is often expressed by the fact that the ears are stopped: Zec_7:11; Psa_58:4-5; Pro_21:13. The essential idea is, that this truth has been communicated to him—that God preferred obedience to sacrifice; and that he had been made attentive to that truth, as if he had been before deaf, and his ears had been opened.”—Barnes. Hengstenberg paraphrases the clause: “Thou hast made me hearing, obedient” He says, “The LXX. have rendered the words by σῶμα δὲ κατηρτίσω μοι, but a body hast Thou prepared for me; and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has adopted them, because the thought is not altered by this translation. The contrast there also is the presentation of thanks through the whole life and conduct, in opposition to single and merely external offerings: Thou hast given me a body, so that I willingly serve Thee in the execution of Thy will.” If we render hearty obedience to the will of God, if obedience be pleasurable to us, it is because He has “inclined our heart unto His testimonies.” This hearty, grateful obedience the servant offers to his Lord.
II. By publication of the perfections of God. “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation,” &c., (Psa_40:9-10). Notice—
1. What it is that he announces.
(1) Righteousness. “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation,” i.e., the righteousness which God prescribes for man, and requires from him. “I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart,” i.e., the righteousness which God displays in His dealings with man. “The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.”
(2) Faithfulness. “I have declared Thy faithfulness; I have not concealed Thy truth.” Amid all the mutations of His universe, He changes not. What He hath promised He will perform. He is worthy of the supreme confidence of all His creatures.
(3) Lovingkindness. “I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness.” He had announced God’s mercy towards sinners, His pity towards the wretched, His goodness to all.
(4) Salvation. “I have declared Thy salvation.” He related the deliverances which God had wrought on behalf of His people. He told of His gracious doings on his own behalf.
2. Where he makes his announcement. “In the great congregation.” Barnes objects: “It would be difficult to see how this could be applied to David himself, or on what occasion of his life this could be said of him.” But the word translated “preach” is not to be understood in the limited sense in which that word is now used. Fuerst, in his Lexicon, gives as its meaning in this place—“to announce, to relate, to tell of.” Now David is conspicuous above all the men of his age for having announced in these immortal Psalms the perfections of the character, and the greatness and glory of the works of God. And many of these Psalms, as the superscriptions show, were intended for use “in the great congregation.” So David “preached,” i.e., announced, “righteousness in the great congregation,” &c He made known the glory of the Divine Being, and of His works and ways, in the most public manner, and to the largest audience that he could secure.
CONCLUSION.—What a worthy offering was this which David presented to the Lord! The excellence of this method of expressing his gratitude is seen in this, that:
1. It reveals his appreciation of the Giver as well as of the Gift. He rejoiced not only in the greatness of the benefits he had received, but also in the goodness of the Benefactor. He celebrated not only the gracious dealings of God with him, but also the glory of God in His own character and perfections.
2. It was calculated to confer great benefits on men. He who imparts to man true ideas of the Divine Being is rendering the highest service to his race. David did this in two ways: by celebrating the character and doings of God in sacred song, and by expressing the will of God in a life heartily conformed thereto. The manifestation of God in the life of a good man is of unspeakable value to our world.
For us also the Lord hath done great things. What offering shall we make Him in return? We cannot do better than imitate the Psalmist in this respect
NOTE.—For an exposition of Psa_40:6-10 as applied to the Messiah, see Barnes or Matthew Henry in loco. The exposition of the latter is well arranged and suggestive homiletically.
HE THAT KNOWS GOD WILL CONFESS HIM
(Psa_40:10.)
I propose to speak of—
The necessary openness of a holy experience; or, in other words, the impossibility that the inward revelation of God in the soul could be shut up in it, and remain hid or unacknowledged.
I shall have in view especially two classes of hearers that are widely distinguished one from the other: first, the class who hide the grace of God in their heart undesignedly, or by reason of some undue modesty; and, secondly, the class who, pretending to have it, or consciously having it not, take a pleasure in throwing discredit on all the appropriate expressions of it, such as are made by the open testimony and formal profession of Christ before men.
Where there is a true grace of experience in the heart, it ought to be, must, and will be manifest.
1. A true inward experience or discovery of God in the heart is itself an impulse also of self-manifestation, as all love and gratitude are, wants to speak and declare itself, and will as naturally do it, when it is born, as a child will utter its first cry.
2. The change implied in a true Christian experience, or the revelation of God in the heart, is in its very nature the soul and root of an outward change that is correspondent. It is the righteousness of God revealed within, to be henceforth the actuating spring and power of a righteous and devoted life.
3. If any one purposes beforehand, in his religious endeavours, or in seeking after God, to come into a secret experience and keep it a secret, his endeavour is plainly one that falsifies the very notion of Christian piety, and if he succeeds, or seems to succeed, he only practises a fraud in which he imposes on himself.
4. The grace of God in the heart, unmanifested or kept secret, as many propose that it shall be, even for their whole life, will be certainly stifled and extinguished. Nothing can live that is not permitted to show the signs of life. “If we deny Him, He also will deny us.”
5. This is the express teaching of the gospel, which everywhere and in every possible way calls out the souls renewed in Christ to live an open life of sacrifice and duty, and so to witness a good confession (Mat_19:21; Luk_9:23; Luk_9:26; Joh_15:16; Joh_15:19-20).
6. There is no shade of encouragement given to this notion of salvation by a secret piety in any of the Scripture examples or teachings. The nearest approach to such encouragement anywhere given is that which is afforded by the case of the two senators, Joseph and Nicodemus (Joh_3:1-21; Joh_19:38). They were good as disciples to bury Jesus, but not to save His life or serve Him while living. The most fragrant spices are those that honour one’s life, and not the posthumous odours that embalm His body (Mat_5:14-16).
CONCLUSION.—Notice:
1. The very absurd pretence of those who congratulate themselves on having so much of secret merit, which they even count the more meritorious because they keep it secret. It is not the righteousness of God which they have hidden so carefully, but it is their own—which, after all, is not hid. They do not break out and confess the Lord, simply because He is not in them.
2. The significance of the profession of Christ, when and why, and with what views it should be made. It should be made, because where there is anything to be professed it cannot but be made.… There is no option here, save as all duties are optional, and eternity hangs on the option we make.
3. What value there may be in the discoveries of Christian experience, and the legitimate use they may have in Christian society. Some of the best and holiest impulses ever given to the cause of God in men’s hearts are given by testimonies of Christian experience (Mal_3:16).
4. The true wisdom, in all these matters of holy experience, is to act naturally. If you seem to yourself to have really passed from death unto life, and to have come into God’s peace, interpose no affectations of modesty, no restrictions of mock-prudence, but in true natural modesty and a sound natural discretion testify the grace you have received (Mat_10:32-33).—H. Bushnell, D.D., from” The New Life,” abridged.
THE SERVANT’S PRAYER TO HIS LORD
(Psa_40:11-17.)
This prayer of the poet suggests the following observations—
I. The most assured confidence in God is not regarded by His servant as a substitute for prayer. In the previous portion of the psalm, David has expressed unshaken and unlimited confidence in God, yet here we find him confessing his sins, complaining of his troubles, and seeking relief from God. Thankfulness and trust are foundations for prayer. Hengstenberg points out that the relation of the” withhold not Thou Thy tender mercies” to the “I have not refrained,” in Psa_40:9, suggests “the doctrine that the measure of the further salvation proceeds according to the measure of thankfulness for the earlier.” And “the words ‘Let Thy loving-kindness and Thy truth continually preserve me’ point back to ‘I will not conceal Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth,’ with which the Psalmist had closed his promise of thanksgiving. That we will not conceal God’s lovingkindness and truth, is the sure means, but also the indispensable condition of its further manifestation in our experience.” Thankfulness and trust, so far from precluding the necessity of prayer, are incentives and encouragements to its exercise. The man of assured faith will be a man of frequent prayer.
II. A true servant of God may fall into many sins. “Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me,” &c. There is great force in the expressions used by the Psalmist in this verse. He seems to have had a deep and painful impression of his sins. He makes mention of
1. Their number. “They are more than the hairs of mine head. “When we think of sins of infirmity and imperfection, and sins of omission, and secret sins of thought and feeling, to the awakened conscience they appear altogether innumerable.
2. Their grasp. “Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me”. His sins had seized him, arrested him, “as the bailiff does the poor debtor.” Sin with its dark memories and in its dire consequences frequently holds a man as with an iron grip.
3. Their effect. “I am not able to look up, … my heart faileth me.” “The idea here is not that he was unable to look up, but that the calamities which came upon him were so heavy and severe as to make his sight dim or deprive him of vision.”—Barnes. Luther: “My sight gives way under great sorrow.” Hengstenberg: “The heart is here not exactly the feeling, spirit, but is rather considered as the seat of the powers of life. ‘My strength faileth me,’ in Psa_38:10, is parallel.”
If this confession of sin and its results seem exaggerated, let it be remembered that an awakened and sensitive conscience detects and grieves for sins when the hardened conscience would not discover any sin at all.
“That the Psalmist speaks here of his numerous offences, and treats of his suffering as the righteous punishment of these, forms an irrefragable proof against the direct Messianic exposition.”—Hengstenberg.
III. If a true servant of God fall into sin, the penalty of his sin will surely come upon him. “Innumerable evils have compassed me about.” God’s laws, with the penalties annexed to every breach of them, are universal in their operation. They are not respecters of persons. In the case of no one is this more conspicuous than in the life of David. His sin with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah, in their consequences, never ceased to darken and trouble his life even to its very close. “Whoso” (saint or sinner) “breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.”
IV. A servant of God suffering the penalty of his sin may seek deliverance from God. “Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me.” An essential condition of deliverance is that he who seeks it shall have come to feel the heinousness of the sin for which suffers.
Where the sinfulness of the sin is deeply realised, the penalty has in great part, at least, accomplished its end. But when any one seeks to be rid of the suffering without loathing the sin, it is clear that in him suffering has not yet accomplished its end. But in what way does God deliver His people from the evils of their sins?
1. By removing the guilt and the consciousness of it. That we have grieved a holy and generous Father is the sorest part of our suffering. God takes that away by the assurance of forgiveness.
2. By removing the penalty. Sometimes in answer to prayer God sees fit to remove or to mitigate the sufferings which have come upon his people as the result of their sins.
3. By imparting grace and patience to bear the penalty. If He remove not the penalty, He will take the bitterness out of it, and give us strength to bear it.
It is a great thing to be able to go to Him and seek relief and deliverance. The approach to Him in itself is helpful And He will certainly grant to us an answer,—wise, gracious, and satisfactory.
The Psalmist’s prayer for help is marked by great urgency. “O Lord, make haste to help me.” “Make no tarrying, O my God.” Great suffering and a deep sense of need make us earnest and urgent in prayer. They do not utter themselves in long, rhetorical petitions, but in brief, expressive, heaven-reaching cries.
V. In his prayer the servant of God has reference not to himself alone, but to others also.
1. Here is a reference to his enemies. “Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it,” &c. (Psa_40:14; Psa_40:16). The enemies of the Psalmist seem to have been many, and to have manifested their animosity in different ways. Here are—
(1) The actively hostile; “them that seek after my soul to destroy it.”
(2) The evil disposed; “them that wish me evil.”
(3) The mockers; “them that say unto me, Aha, Aha.” He prays for the discomfiture of all these. “There is no sin in the wish that the wicked may not be successful in their plans, and may not be suffered to injure us.”—Barnes.
2. Here is a reference to the godly. “Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee; let such as love Thy salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified.” There is a beautiful connection between the character indicated and the blessing sought. They that seek the Lord shall find Him, and finding Him shall rejoice and be glad in Him. For the seeker the joy of becoming the finder. They that love His salvation shall realise it so fully as to be filled with praise and to cry, “The Lord be magnified.” May they so continuously realise His saving grace as to have cause for continually exalting and glorifying God.
VI. The servant of God in his deepest distress confides in the Lord God. “I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me,” &c. (For an exposition of this verse see the homiletic sketch on it given below.)
CONCLUSION.—Amid both the sins and the sufferings of life, let the servants of God have recourse to Him in prayer.
THE HOLD OF SIN
(Psa_40:12.)
A course of sin is a course of lawlessness. Certain liberty may be enjoyed, but penal consequences are sure to follow. “Innumerable evils have compassed me about.” Sin takes hold upon the sinner by violence and force. Justice arrests and brings him before the tribunal.
Sin takes hold upon men—
I. By its power. It overcomes them, subdues them by habits, and keeps them bound in captivity and degradation. “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.”
II. By an accusing conscience. All men have a conscience, speaking in stillness, or thundering in power—watching and weighing all they do,—a monitor in their bosom—a witness for God. “The candle of the Lord searching all their inward parts.”
III. By its evil consequences. Fear, shame, and liability to punishment—the curse and condemnation of a broken law. The sinner carries within his bosom a prediction, a foretaste of the judgment to come. The terrors of hell get hold upon him, and there is no deliverance but in Christ. “He Himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree—redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” He can save from sin and its consequences.—J. W. in “The Study.”
MAN’S NEED AND GOD’S THOUGHT
(Psa_40:17.)
“I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.”
We regard these words as the expression of a humble, trustful heart under a sense of need. We have here,
I. An acknowledgment of human need. “I am poor and needy.” In the world there is much physical poverty and need. That is bad. Much mental poverty: that is worse. Much spiritual poverty: that is worst of all. Better to be Lazarus at the gate than the rich man in the palace. Some who are spiritually impoverished are quite unconscious of it They are paupers, yet they imagine themselves millionaires. They say that they are “rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” Most deplorable!
1. This need is an evidence of sin. A loving Creator, having “unsearchable riches,” would not make His creatures poor and needy. Some disarrangement of His order must have taken place. Spiritual bankruptcy cannot be a result of the plans of the Infinite and all-generous Spirit.
2. The consciousness of this need is a condition of its removal. When men fall asleep in the frost and snow by reason of cold, and become insensible unto the cold, they sleep the sleep of death. While they feel the cold they will strive to preserve vital heat, and so repel the cold. The sense of this poverty is the first step to its removal. Until we feel our hunger we shall never seek the living bread.
3. The confession of this need is well-pleasing to God. It indicates a true estimate of ourselves, and humility before God. When we think of our low attainments, and those to which we are called, how poor are we! When we consider our mean acquisitions, and the “unsearchable riches,” how poor are we!
II. An expression of confidence in God. “The Lord thinketh upon me. “There is something very cheering and strengthening in this. I am lonely and sad and weary; but I think of some loving one, perhaps hundreds of miles away, who is thinking kindly of me, and I am refreshed, comforted, strengthened.
God thinks of me, of all men, of every man. We think and speak of the particular and the general, of the individual and the collective body. We cannot at once think of many particulars, or of many individuals, as such; so we think of persons collectively, and of particulars as classified. But the Infinite Mind has no such limitations. Amid the millions of creatures that depend upon His care and are the recipients of His bounty, not one escapes His notice. Superintending the universe, He also numbers the very hairs of the head of every one of His people.
“The Lord thinketh upon me.” He cares for every individual; for thee, as though in all His universe He had no other to care for. “Ah! that may be true,” say you, “of David, a king, and sacred poet, and man highly favoured of God; but does He so think of me, a poor, low, unworthy one?” To doubt it is to “limit the Holy One of Israel.” “The Lord thinketh upon me;” then, He knows my need. He sees our exact circumstances and condition, and consequent need. He knows the precise character of my poverty, and will remove it by communicating the precise treasures which I lack.
“The Lord thinketh upon me;” then, He will supply my need. His thought is neither purposeless nor resultless. His thoughts receive embodiment. His thought of us indicates care for us, and results in provision for us. Wherever the sense of poverty and need is, there may the assurance of the Divine thought and care also be. If we are hungering after Him, most assuredly He is thinking of us individually.
Examples of His care for individuals abound. Daniel in the lions’ den, Joseph in prison, Peter in prison, and our own experience.
In this thought of God of us and for us we have:—
1. What a solace in loneliness!
2. What a comfort in the day of sorrow!
3. What an inspiration for Christian work!
4. What an assurance of victory in death!
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible1900 · Public DomainOn v1I. Consider the "new songs" already put into the…
Psa 40:3
I. Consider the "new songs" already put into the mouths of Christians. (1) Coming to Christ and conversion to God are materials for a "new song." (2) Few leave the Lord’s Table after their first communion without a new song in their mouth of praise to their God. (3) God in springtime renews the face of the earth, and there are corresponding renewings of our spiritual life. (4) A good hope when first given is a new song; and this good hope when renewed, when made more alive and effectual, is a new song.
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II. Grand and glorious new songs are in our future. There is the song of victory over death. The first moment after death will put a new song in our mouth, and as certainly—more certainly—our entrance to heaven will do the same.
III. Let the text excite us to go through life with songs. Let us sing that which God gives us to sing. In plain words, let us acknowledge our obligations to "the Father of all mercies" and the God of all consolation; and let us so acknowledge them as to awaken praise to our God. We are all called to be singers, and we are called to sing new songs.
S. Martin, Comfort in Trouble, p. 106.
References: Psa 40:3.—J. Stalker, The New Song, p. 9. Psa 40:4.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx., No. 1784. Psa 40:5.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 273. Psa 40:6-8.—E. Irving, Sermons, vol. i., p. 1.
Psa 40:5-12
So then there are two series of things which cannot be numbered—God’s mercies and man’s sin.
I. If we keep these two things close together in cur contemplations, they suggest for us very forcibly the greatest mystery in the universe, and throw a little light upon it. The difficulty of difficulties, the one insoluble problem, is, Given a good and perfect God, where does sorrow come from? and where is there any pain? Must it not be that the innumerable sum of God’s mercies has not to have subtracted from it, but added to it, the sum, which also at intervals appears to us innumerable, of our sorrows and our burdens? "All things work together for good;" and God’s innumerable mercies include the whole sum-total of our sorrows.
II. Notice how the blending of these two thoughts together heightens the impression of each. God’s mercies never seem so fair, so wonderful, as when they are looked at in conjunction with man’s sin. Man’s sin never seems so foul and hideous as when it is looked at close against God’s mercies.
III. The keeping of these two thoughts together should lead us all to conscious penitence.
IV. Looking at these two numberless series together will bring into the deepest penitence a joyful confidence.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, July 16th, 1885.
Psa 40:7
I. When did Christ say these words? To what date does "then" refer? No numbers can reckon up the ages back, and no mind can fathom the depth of that eternity past since Christ’s advent-note was first heard, when the "decree" was written in that volume, and that act of our Lord’s dedication of Himself for man took place. For ever and for ever He said, "I come." The word translated "I come" literally means "I am come." So that, in the language that is used here, there is the very mystery of the eternal, omnipresent now which makes Godhead. It is always past; it is always present; it is always future. "I come."
II. In the archives of eternity the mystery has stood for ages. "Lo, I come." Our first parents had scarcely fallen before it met them in the sacrifice of the daily altar. It was shadowed in the law of Moses; it was the note of the Angel in the wilderness, the Angel of the Church, the Lord Jesus. John the Baptist heard it in the desert, and the heavenly host sang it on the hills of Bethlehem. Every day and every hour it is heard in every believer’s soul; and stretching on now to greater things yet to come, it is the clear trumpet-note of the whole Church’s hope, "Lo, I come."
III. The words carry with them another truth: Wherever there is difficulty, wherever there is sin, or sorrow, or need, in proportion as the -difficulty, sin, sorrow, need, become extreme, there Jesus comes. It is not one, but a long series of advents, Jesus coming nearer to us and we, as we are drawn, coming a little nearer to Him, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. It is so the work is done, and it is so that the union becomes established between a sinner and Christ, that union which can never be broken for ever and for ever.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 4th series, p. 88.
References: Psa 40:7.—J. Vaughan, Children’s Sermons, 5th series, p. 60; H. Scott Holland, Logic and Life, p. no.
Psa 40:7-8
It is quite evident that the sense which Christ had in His mission to this world before He came was one of pleasure. And unless you are to believe that every anticipation of Christ could be different from its reality, then you must rest in the conclusion that the preponderance of Christ’s mission was delight. There are three stages which make a trial, and these three stages rise up to a climax. First, you go through it, but you go through it recoilingly; you go through it very hardly. Next, you sustain it; and, by God’s grace, it is quite endurable. And after that you rise quite above it. Is not the last the truest and best offering to God? Now see it in Christ. From the cradle to the grave the grief-pangs were immeasurable. Nevertheless, above and beyond it, there was in its own pure level a joy, and that joy soared on in the immensity of its own unassailable repose, and the meeting of that agony and that joy was the peace, the delight of peace. It is not to the sorrow of Christ alone that we owe everything; but it is also to the spirit, the essential spirit, with which He bore it, the holy rapture of obedience which He exhibited, without which obedience is not obedience in God’s sight. Notice: (1) The date of the delight. It was when the whole Mosaic ceremonial was passing away as altogether insufficient. Law was Christ’s, for He lived to supply its deficiency and to fulfil its purpose. (2) From the Law the mind of Christ rose to the will. Law is generally negative; will is always positive. Law may be, and is, transient; will is eternal. His Father’s will was His work, His delight, His ecstasy. (3) God’s will and Christ’s will it was that there should be a Church—an ordered, sanctified body which should encircle Him for ever, to reflect His image and to set forth His praise. (4) The far end of Christ was the glory of the Father. If God was honoured, Christ was happy. The thing was wrapped up in His very nature. It had become a necessity.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 6th series, p. 146.
Reference: Psa 40:8, Psa 40:9.—J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages of the Psalms, p. 100.
Psa 40:8
There can be no reasonable doubt whose words these are. Even if the internal evidence were not sufficient, the reference to them in the tenth chapter of Hebrews shows conclusively that they are spoken by Jesus "when He cometh into the world." The words indicate the great rule of Christ’s earthly life: what He was continually thinking about and planning to follow, what guided Him through the scenes of this world as truly and as constantly as a ship is guided by her helm. Further, they indicate the delight which it gave Him to follow this rule. There was no sense of pain in doing it; on the contrary, there was in it the pleasure which attends all free, spontaneous activity; nay, there was pleasure rising to delight in its highest elevation. The delight of Jesus in doing the Father’s will we see alike in what He did and in what He suffered. In what light did that will present itself to Him, so that, while He obeyed it with such profound submission, He felt in so doing such intense delight?
I. In the first place, He felt that intrinsically its claims were overwhelming. They were such as to admit of no rival and no compromise. To the mind of Jesus the Divine claims were infinitely sacred, august beyond conception, never to be tampered with; all things vile and horrible were concentrated in the spirit that refused absolute submission to the will of God.
II. The Divine will was very dear to Jesus from its connection with the work and the reward of redemption. Mark here the bearing of an unselfish end on an unselfish rule of life. The purpose for which Christ lived and died was unselfish—to bless others with eternal life; and the fondness with which He cherished this unselfish end exalted the unselfish rule. Living in the joy of the coming blessedness of His people, He could serenely and contentedly bow to that will by which their glory was secured.
III. Yet again, there was delight from the very fact that there could be no collision between the Father’s will and His own. His human will, in all its deliberate and final actings, was absorbed by God; and this in itself was peace.
W. Blaikie, Glimpses of the Inner Life of our Lord, p. 29.
References: Psalm 45—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 1; J. G. Murphy, Book of Daniel, p. 44.
Psa 40:9-10
I. The Psalmist speaks here rather of the mind with which the Son of God should come than of the end for which He should come. He speaks of that obedience, which healed our disobedience, as the cause, the life, the soul, of His sacrifice rather than of the sacrifice itself. He exhibits the Atonement in the act of obedience.
II. It is on this very side that He, our Saviour, sets Himself forth as our example. We, too, as many as have been made members of Him, have been sent into the world to accomplish in ourselves and to discharge in the order of His creation a certain will of God; and in the knowledge and accomplishment of that will lies our salvation and the secret of our predestination.
III. This then is the secret of the choice of life: to learn what, among the manifold duties of His great household, God, in the eternal purpose of His love, willed each one of us to discharge. To have discovered this and to have placed ourselves in that path, conforming ourselves therein to the will of God, is to have taken, by God’s grace, a decisive step in the way of salvation. For it is to have chosen the will of God and united our own to His; it is to answer the purpose of God for us; it is to be under the guidance of the All-wise, the protection of the Almighty.
E. B. Pusey, Sermons Preached before the University of Oxford, p. 437.
I. Notice the evident fact that a true inward experience, or discovery of God in the heart, is itself an impulse also of self-manifestation, as all love and gratitude are. It is in all cases the instinct of a new heart, in its experience of God, to acknowledge Him.
II. The change implied in a true Christian experience, or the revelation of God in the heart, is in its very nature the soul and root of an outward change that is correspondent. The faith implanted is a faith that works in appropriate demonstrations, and must as certainly work as a living heart must beat or pulsate.
III. If any one proposes beforehand, in his religious endeavours or in seeking after God, to come into a secret experience or keep it secret, his endeavour is plainly one that falsifies the very notion of Christian piety; and if he succeeds, or seems to succeed, he only practises a fraud, in which he imposes on himself.
IV. The grace of God in the heart unmanifested or kept secret, as many propose that it shall be, even for their whole life, will be certainly stifled and extinguished.
V. The Gospel everywhere and in every possible way calls out the souls renewed in Christ to live an open life of sacrifice and duty, and so to witness a good confession. "Come and follow Me" is the word of Jesus. "Deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow Me."
VI. There is no shade of encouragement given to this notion of salvation by secret piety in any of the Scripture examples or teachings. The real disciple is thought of as a man who stands for his Master, and is willing to die for his Master. "Ye are the light of the world," and the light of the world is lighted up to shine.
H. Bushnell, The New Life, p. 361.
References: Psa 40:16.—T. Rees, Welsh Pulpit of To-day, p. 364. Psa 40:17.—Warburton, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 133; G. Bainton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 369.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant1903 · Public DomainOn v1The one obedience by which many are made righteous.
The one obedience by which many are made righteous.
To the chief musician: a psalm of David.
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The fortieth psalm has plainly for its theme that one perfect obedience of the Man, Christ Jesus, which sets aside and replaces all the sacrifices of the law, -is therefore that in which the believer finds acceptance before God, the obedience whereby many are made righteous. And this, though essentially what all offerings speak, is what the burnt-offering explicitly brings before us. The sin-offering shows the place of distance and wrath from God necessitated by the holiness of God, if atonement is to be wrought by it. The trespass-offering presents the thought of restitution, the amends made by it to the government of God. The peace-offering dwells upon the effect, the breach repaired, peace made, communion with God enjoyed. But the burnt-offering alone exhibits the voluntariness of the offering, the perfection of the sacrifice in its inner reality, the full trial according to divine holiness, the Offerer being in view as well as the offering, and the sweet savor resulting. It is thus the offering which fulfills the purpose of the altar, and gives it its character as the "altar of burnt-offering," being indeed that which goes up to God continually upon it.
1. The psalm divides into two parts, the first of which gives us the blessed obedience itself; the second, the contrasted consequences for friends and enemies: the world being thus indeed divided necessarily by the reception or rejection of that which in its own intent is peace to all. This is seen also in the psalm that follows, as already noted, but in a different manner, as will be realized on taking them up.
(a) The first section gives us, according to what we have seen to be so commonly the manner in the Psalms, the deliverance out of the sorrows which the rest of the psalm then takes up and describes. Jehovah’s faithfulness and sufficiency are here the theme: manifested in answer to the patient endurance of One who has been in the very "pit of destruction," but to be delivered out of it necessarily by this very faithfulness. He leaves his case wholly in Jehovah’s hands. All is to be determined by Him, and thus effectually and forever.
Self-deliverance is indeed impossible for any beside Himself, in this place into which He has come. The "miry clay" would prevent any effort of this kind being effectual. But this patient Sufferer meditates no escape. The deliverance being of God, will be for the bringing of many to the blessedness of confidence in Jehovah, and to delight in His wondrous ways. "We believe," says the apostle, "on Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead: who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification" (Rom 4:24-25). This resurrection of Christ identifies God with this suffering Saviour, and bears witness to the salvation as complete and accepted. Where those blessed feet have found the "rock," the feet of every poor sinner may find it now. His resurrection is the clearing from guilt of all those whose sins He bore, and has borne away. He is in heaven, all the shadow passed from His blessed face, and the glory of God shining there instead. What a "gospel" is this "glory of Christ"* for one who apprehends its meaning!
{*As 2Co 4:4 should be translated. The translators have rendered it as a mere Hebraism, "glorious gospel," instead of "gospel of the glory," as the Revised Version rightly gives it.}
And thus the song of the Risen One is truly a "new song" begun: the song of accomplished redemption, -of God able to tell out all His heart, and having told it out, awaking the eternal echoes with His praise, "many shall see it and fear, and put their trust in Jehovah." Now, how blessed is the man that does so! And how blessed will be his portion in those dark days of prophecy which the Psalms continually look on to, when "the proud and those who turn aside to lies" will be found on every side! the days of Antichrist, "the liar" (1Jn 2:22), and of the "strong delusion" to be sent on those who "believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2Th 2:11-12).
This section ends with the joyful ascription to God of wondrous works, and gracious "thoughts to usward," quite beyond utterance. It reminds us of John’s similar declaration as to the works of Christ, which, "were they all written every one, even the world would not contain the books that should be written." Suitable, indeed, to awaken such thoughts, that interposition in behalf of men which both the psalmist and the evangelist have before them. It is the theme of eternity, and time is all too narrow for it.
(b) We now go back to see the path that led into these depths, and the principle which carried Him on and sustained Him in it to the end. We find it is a path of service and testimony to God, which reminds us of the characteristic bullock of the burnt-offering. The ox we know to be the type of the patient laborer (1Co 9:9-10). And here first we have that reference to the sacrificial offerings, the true meaning of which is so perfectly in contrast with that given it by so many of the blind critics of the day, who see in it the disclaiming of the divine institution of sacrifice in Israel. Leave out Christ indeed out of the passage, -make it simply David, or some nameless Maccabean writer, or any one else you please, -then the consequences of this unbelief will naturally follow, and darkness result from leaving out the light. But we may well take the apostle’s application, with the consistent unity which the whole psalm gains by it, as a sufficient justification for the omission of all the reasoning on that side. It is true that the One personated by the psalmist here does represent Jehovah as having no delight in "sacrifice and offering"; but it is because He has in view, not the fragmentary and spotted obedience of any ordinary man, but the glorious Antitype of these sacrifices, who could say in a sense no other could, "ears hast Thou digged for Me," and anticipate thus the time when "burnt-offering and sin-offering" would be no more required. To put the past for the future is the common style of Old Testament prophecy; and the preceding "ears hast Thou digged for Me" is of course as much a past of this kind as is that which follows it.
The apostle accepts the reading (or interpretation) of the Septuagint, "A body hast Thou prepared Me," as at least the fair equivalent of the Hebrew here. The "ears digged" are to hear the divine Word; the "body prepared" is to do service with. In either case it is the perfect humanity that is before us of One in whom was no taint of evil, and no consequence of sin inherent. The reference in the Hebrew seems not to be to the bored ear of perpetual service, as in Exo 21:1-36 although it is Christ that is typified there, surely, and the line of truth is here so remarkably akin. But the expression is not the same in this case, and we have the plural and not the singular, while "a body hast Thou prepared Me" could not be derived from, or given as the rendering of, such an expression as this. It is generally agreed therefore that "ears hast Thou digged for Me" speaks in fact of creative gift. And yet it is surely true that this perfect humanity, this body prepared, is in fact the sign of a service which is not taken to be given up again. Man the Lord is still; and Man He will ever be. And this truth conveys to our hearts the precious assurance of His desire to be near us, with us, and to serve us still. Thus this difference seems after all to be scarcely in result a difference.
The ears are digged, the body is prepared: He then presents Himself for the accomplishment of the divine purpose, according to all that Scripture had foreshown of Him. The point of time -"then said I" -can only be, as the context shows, after manhood has been assumed. The words spoken also show this: not, as in the common version, "Lo, I come," but, as in the revised, "Lo, I am come."* He is already in the world, in the scene in which the purpose of God is to be fulfilled by Him, and signifies thus that He takes up His mission. The words that follow do not, I believe, refer to the book of divine counsels for eternity, (counsels which, however, are sufficiently declared by them,) but to the volume of inspiration which He opens for us: "in the volume of the book," He says, "it is written of ME." That is, "This very institution of sacrifice, in which, in the mere ceremonial fulfillment of it, Thou couldst have no delight, -this is written of Me: I am the One to whom it looked forward; my work is its true fulfillment."
{* Bathi; in the Septuagint and the Epistle to the Hebrews, heko, not erkomai.}
This surely completes the thought as to the insufficiency, and now the abrogation, of these legal sacrifices, while it puts honor upon them by showing their divine end. A most important statement it is, and from lips so manifestly inspired of God, that this law of sacrifice was written with regard to Christ! And this links with the next verse as plainly: "I delight to do Thy pleasure, My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart." No doubt, this cannot be confined to the law of sacrifice, and yet it shows, as connected with what has gone before, what in fact the will of God which He came to do has specially in contemplation here: as the apostle applies it, "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb 10:10).
How this declares the way in which the Lord yielded Himself to the will of God as witnessed in Scripture! showing us at once the Author of those ritual observances held by many now in such dishonor, while at the same time giving them their true significance and power. It is the same glorious Person of whom we read in the gospels, saying to His disciples, "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer." and then, "after they had sung a hymn," going forth to that suffering by which the passover was to be fulfilled.
His public testimony corresponded with this inmost desire of His heart. Spite of the pressure of evil, righteousness in Him uttered itself aloud, and the world hated Him because He bare testimony of it that its deeds were evil. "I have preached righteousness," He says, "in the great congregation: lo, I have not withheld my lips, Jehovah, Thou knowest."
But most of all, it was to God He bare witness. "I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation: I have not hid Thy righteousness and Thy truth from the great congregation." Such was He then for whom man decreed as His reward the cross; and for whom God’s good pleasure meant also the cross! God and man strangely at one in this, with yet most opposite thoughts and purposes; while He, with perfect consciousness of it all, moved onward toward the place which Satan alone -and he, with the knowledge which men had not, of His personal glory -would have forbidden Him!
(c) Behold Him then in the "pit of destruction"! there where innumerable evils press upon Him, and that as the righteous wrath of God upon iniquities as innumerable! He is suffering for that which, as He apprehends it, lying with its hideous shadow over Him, its awful weight pressing Him down, makes His heart fail, and His eyes unable to look up. These iniquities He confesses as His own, while yet He can appeal, not only to God’s "loving-kindness," but to His "truth," to deliver Him. We can understand this of the Sin-bearer alone. The two verses that come together in this section of the psalm are both needful in order to explain the character of what is here. It is One of whom indeed the Levitical law of sacrifice was written; whose perfect obedience in the sinner’s place sets it aside by complete and glorious fulfillment once for all. The salvation of which He had testified is here wrought out; God glorified, sin utterly condemned, in that which in the place of utter abandonment brings in the testimony to His righteousness and love. Righteousness and love can therefore come in in answer, and in behalf of those for whom this sacrifice is offered.
2. The second part of the psalm presents the contrasted consequences of this glorious work, according as men accept or are found in hostility towards it. The repetition of this part, with very slight changes, as an independent psalm (Psa 70:1-5), will be better considered when we shall have reached it; but it was to be expected that the fact of this repetition should awaken conjecture, as it has done. But all is so perfectly in place, that there is not the least need to concern ourselves about it. There it follows the trespass-offering psalm, as here it forms the last part of the psalm of burnt-offering, -occupying thus an analogous place in regard to the corresponding view of the Lord’s work, and answering to the last ten verses of the sin-offering psalm (the twenty-second).
We have here first the cry to Jehovah, the Unchangeable, the appeal being to His faithfulness as such, as we have seen before. Thereupon the Speaker realizes the confusion of His enemies, and sees the utter shame of those that mock at Him. On the contrary, those that seek God shall be joyful in Him, and those that love His salvation glorify His Name. He is poor and needy, yet the Lord hath regard to Him; and He concludes with a confident appeal for speedy deliverance.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow1909 · Public DomainOn v1This Ps. falls into two well-marked divisions, which many…
This Ps. falls into two well-marked divisions, which many think to have been originally separate Pss. In Psa_40:1-11 the writer recalls with thankfulness how God has heard his prayers and delivered him from trouble (Psa_40:1-4), declares the greatness of God's mercies (Psa_40:5), presents himself as a living sacrifice (Psa_40:6-8), and desires the continuance of God's blessing on account of his fearless witness for righteousness (Psa_40:9-11). In Psa_40:12-17, on the other hand, the Psalmist is in distress, both from sin (Psa_40:12) and from persecution (Psa_40:14-15). He pleads for the speedy confusion of his enemies, and for the deliverance both of himself and of all who seek God (Psa_40:13-17). This part of the Ps. resembles Psalms 35. Psa_40:13-17 are reproduced with some variations as Psalms 70. Psa_40:6-7 are applied to Christ in Heb_10:5-9. The Ps. is probably a national Psalm. In it the nation, or the church, rather than the individual, is speaking. The horrible pit will then be the pit of exile, and the new song will be that sung for deliverance from exile and restitution to the home-land. This is one of the Pss. for Good Friday.
2. Pit.. clay] The combination of these figures for trouble is illustrated by the dungeon, with mire at the bottom, into which Jeremiah was cast (Jer_38:6). A rock] a place of firmness and security.
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3. A new song] a song of praise for new mercies: see on Psa_33:3.
6. Sacrifice and offering, etc.] a striking recognition that spiritual service, even in OT. times, is more than all forms of worship: see 1Sa_15:22. Mine ears hast thou opened] to understand the true requirements of the Law. The boring of the ears in token of perpetual servitude (Exo_21:6; Deu_15:7) is not here referred to. LXX has, 'a body hast thou prepared me,' and is followed in the quotation in Heb_10:5.
7. RV 'Lo, I am come,' the Psalmist's personal consecration to God's service: see Isa_6:9. In the volume of the book it is written of me] rather, 'in the roll of the book it is prescribed to me.' The words are a parenthesis, and the reference is probably to Deuteronomy (see 2Ki_22:8.), with its spiritual and inward view of obedience. The writer to the Hebrews rightly recognises that Christ's obedience perfectly fulfilled this ideal of devoted surrender to God's will.
9. In the great congregation] among the people assembled at some festival.
10. Have not hid, etc.] In a good sense God's law is hidden in his heart (Psa_40:8, cp. Psa_119:11), but here he means that he has not concealed his convictions from cowardice.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield1917 · Public DomainOn vv1, 3I waited
I waited
The 40th Psalm speaks of Messiah, Jehovah’s Servant, obedient unto death. The Psalm begins with the joy of Christ in resurrection (Psa 40:1; Psa 40:2). He has been in the horrible pit of the grave, but has been brought up. Psa 40:3-5 are His resurrection testimony, His "new song." Psa 40:6-7 are retrospective. When sacrifice and offering had become abominable because of the wickedness of the people Isa 1:10-15 then the obedient Servant came to make the pure offering; Psa 40:7-17; Heb 10:5-17. See Psalms 41, next in order of the Messianic Psalms.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein1922 · Public DomainOn v1Psalm 40
Psalm 40
Christ the Obedient One and the Fruit of His Work
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1. The path of the Obedient One (Psa 40:1-12)
2. His prayer and His comfort (Psa 40:13-17)
Psa 40:1-12. The Fortieth and Forty-first Psalms are Messianic. Our Redeemer and Israel’s Redeemer is blessedly revealed in them both and with the testimony to Him the first book of the Psalms closes. Psa 40:1-17 begins with what may be termed “Christ’s resurrection song.” He came and went as the sin-bearer into the horrible pit (Hebrew: the pit of destruction) and the miry clay, and the power of God brought Him out, raised Him from the dead, set His feet upon a rock and established His goings (His ascension). A new song is put into His mouth, “even praise unto our God.” It is the song of redemption which He sings first and all who believe on Him join in that song. That is why we read “our God.” The many who shall see it are those who trust in Him who was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. And who can tell out the wonderful works He has done in redemption; “they are more than can be numbered.” Psa 40:6-8 are quoted in Heb 10:1-39. The ears opened, literally “digged ears,” refers us to Exo 21:1-36. The New Testament quotes the Septuagint translation, made undoubtedly with the sanction of the Holy Spirit, “a body hast Thou prepared Me.” In Psa 40:13-17 we hear Him pray as the sin-bearer of His people, as we hear Him say in Psa 40:12 that the sins He bore are more than the hairs upon His head. The doom of those who reject and despise Him, and the blessing of all who love His salvation are likewise mentioned.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v1Prophecy of Christ’s Suffering and Prophetic Office.
Prophecy of Christ’s Suffering and Prophetic Office.
To the chief musician, for performance in liturgical services, a psalm of David, the Messiah Himself speaking through his mouth and pen. Cf Heb 10:5-7.
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v. 1. I waited patiently for the Lord, literally, "Waiting, I waited for Jehovah," the expression denoting the long siege of patient waiting for the help which the Messiah confidently expected; and He inclined unto Me, bowing down to Him in gracious tenderness, and heard My cry, as it was sent up to Him with such fervent insistence.
v. 2. He brought Me up also out of an horrible pit, where He was wasting away with sufferings, out of the miry clay, into which He was sinking down, apparently to His destruction, and set My feet upon a rock, upon a solid foundation, and established My goings, making His steps firm, permitting Him to walk in security. In this way the Messiah’s trust in the God of His salvation, in His heavenly Father, appeared even in the midst of His sufferings.
v. 3. And He hath put a new song in My mouth, a special psalm of thanksgiving intended particularly for this occasion, even praise unto our God, for this wonderful exhibition of His mercy; many shall see it, be informed of this wonderful deliverance, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord, with reverence and awe of His mercy and grace. From this fact a general truth is now deduced.
v. 4. Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, who sets Jehovah as his confidence alone, and respecteth not the proud, turning to them for help, nor such as turn aside to lies, to the false idols and vanities of this life, to everything that men foolishly make the basis of their hope and trust outside of Jehovah. The speaker now, in the joy of His deliverance, includes Himself with the entire congregation of believers in exalting the mercies of Jehovah.
v. 5. Many, O Lord, My God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, not only those pertaining to the creation, but especially to the redemption of the world, and Thy thoughts, the marvelous plans of His mercy, which are to us-ward; they cannot be reckoned up, set forth properly, in order unto Thee, on account of their bewildering mass, or, there is none that can be compared to Thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Thus the Messiah, in a prophetic summary, declares the greatness of God, spreads the proper understanding of His name, and leads many to the knowledge of, and the belief in, Jehovah, the God of salvation.
v. 6. Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire, God does not ask for, and takes no pleasure in, mere outward offerings, in a mechanical form of worship, whether such sacrifices are in the form of thank and peace-offerings, intended to establish a closer fellowship with God, or in burnt offerings and sin-offerings, which are made to atone for sins; Mine ears hast Thou opened, literally, "ears hast Thou digged for Me," preparing His ears for hearing and heeding His will, in a true form of worship; burnt offering and sin-offering hast Thou not required, for all such outward forms of worship have value only in the measure of their flowing out of true faith, 1Sa 15:22.
v. 7. Then said I, Lo, I come, a solemn announcement of the Messiah’s coming into the world, Mal 3:1; in the Volume of the Book, in the roll of parchment which is Holy Writ, the one wonderful Book of all times, Joh 5:37, it is written of Me.
v. 8. I delight to do Thy will, O My God, to carry out the pleasure of God’s merciful counsel for the salvation of mankind; yea, Thy Law is within My heart; because the will of God filled His whole being, therefore the Messiah was ready to undertake the great task of preparing eternal redemption for all men. The entire ministry of Christ, but especially His great Passion, shows the. perfection of His willing obedience. And now the Messiah, delivered out of the dreary pit of suffering and death and exalted on high, testifies to the Word of His truth in the past and in the present.
v. 9. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation, declaring and proclaiming it through the mouth of His servants. Lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, Thou knowest, He had not closed them up and kept them shut, but had made known God’s faithfulness and salvation, His mercy and truth, Joh 1:14, these being the benefits resulting from His completed Passion.
v. 10. I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart, namely, that which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, Rom 3:22; I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation; I have not concealed Thy loving-kindness and Thy truth from the great congregation. Having thus set forth the everlasting truth of the Gospel, the Messiah returns to the bitter complaint of the days of His suffering.
v. 11. Withhold not Thou Thy tender mercies from me, O Lord; let Thy loving-kindness and Thy truth continually preserve me. It is the cry of a poor and stricken sinner whom the punishment of God has overtaken, who is tortured by the consciousness of his guilt; for Christ was the full Substitute for mankind, making the misery and the curse resting upon men His own.
v. 12. For innumerable evils have compassed me about, attacking Him on all sides like countless hordes of bitter enemies; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, having overtaken him like a victorious army, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head, for they were the countless millions which had been committed by all men; therefore my heart faileth me, it has forsaken Him, leaving Him weak and powerless in His misery.
v. 13. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me, haste being necessary because He was in such depths of oppression.
v. 14. Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it, for all the enemies of mankind were pursuing Him with all the curse, wrath, and damnation which the countless sins of men deserved; let them be driven backward and put to shame, covered with disgrace, that wish me evil.
v. 15. Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame, utterly stunned and dazed, that say unto me, Aha, aha! in sneering derision in an attempt to frustrate His work of redemption. The wonderful plans of God for our salvation are revealed in this passage in all their surpassing glory. The enemies cannot hinder the salvation of mankind, and all their attempts to do so result but in their own downfall.
v. 16. Let all those that seek Thee, with hearts filled with faith, rejoice and be glad in Thee, finding comfort in God, their Savior; let such as love Thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified, in a glorious hymn of thanksgiving.
v. 17. But I am poor and needy, in misery on account of the load of human guilt resting upon Him; yet the Lord, the All-powerful, thinketh upon Me, taking care of Him in His trouble; Thou art My help and My Deliverer; make no tarrying, O My God! With the faith in Jesus Christ and His salvation for all mankind in our hearts, we may find comfort in all troubles of this earthly life and victoriously cope with all our enemies.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv1, 3General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
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For the chief musician
"This is for the director of music to use in worship."
A psalm of David
Possible meanings are 1) David wrote the psalm or 2) the psalm is about David or 3) the psalm is in the style of David's psalms.
I waited patiently for Yahweh
This means the writer was waiting for Yahweh to help him.
he listened to me ... heard my cry
These mean the same thing, and can be combined into one statement. AT: "he listened to me when I called out to him" (See: Doublet)
out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay
These two metaphors mean the same thing. The writer's danger is spoken of as if it was a deadly pit full of mud. This emphasizes the danger. AT: "from being trapped in a horrible pit full of sticky mud" (See: Parallelism and Metaphor)
he set my feet on a rock
Here "my feet" refers to the writer, and "a rock" refers a place of safety. AT: "he provided safety for me" (See: Synecdoche and Metonymy)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v1Ps 40 This psalm includes a thanksgiving song (40:1-10)…
Ps 40 This psalm includes a thanksgiving song (40:1-10) followed by a lament (40:11-17). The thanksgiving song includes the reason for the thanksgiving (40:1-5), an affirmation of commitment (40:6-8), and a public testimony of God’s character (40:7-10). The lament concerns the psalmist’s troubles because of his sins (40:11-12) and is followed by two prayers for vindication (40:13-15, 17).
40:1-5 The psalmist thanks the Lord for his rescue and testifies that God can be trusted.
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. In waiting I waited The beginning of this…
1. In waiting I waited The beginning of this psalm is an expression of thanksgiving, in which David relates that he had been delivered, not only from danger, but also from present death. Some are of opinion, but without good reason, that it ought to be understood of sickness. It is rather to be supposed that David here comprehends a multitude of dangers from which he had escaped. He had certainly been more than once exposed to the greatest danger, even of death, so that, with good reason, he might be said to have been swallowed up in the gulf of death, and sunk in the miry clay It, nevertheless, appears that his faith had still continued firm, for he ceased not to trust in God, although the long continuance of the calamity had well nigh exhausted his patience. He tells us, not merely that he had waited, but by the repetition of the same expression, he shows that he had been a long time in anxious suspense. In proportion then as his trial was prolonged, the evidence and proof of his faith in enduring the delay with calmness and equanimity of mind was so much the more apparent. The meaning in short is, that although God delayed his help, yet the heart of David did not faint, or grow weary from delay; but that after he had given, as it were, sufficient proof of his patience, he was at length heard. In his example there is set before us this very useful doctrine, that although God may not forthwith appear for our help, but rather of design keep us in suspense and perplexity, yet we must not lose courage, inasmuch as faith is not thoroughly tried, except by long endurance. The result, too, of which he speaks in terms of praise, ought to inspire us with increased fortitude. God may succor us more slowly than we desire, but, when he seems to take no notice of our condition, or, if we might so speak, when he seems to be inactive or to sleep, this is totally different from deceit: for if we are enabled by the invincible strength and power of faith to endure, the fitting season of our deliverance will at length arrive.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Though God deferred his help, yet he patiently abode…
Though God deferred his help, yet he patiently abode till he was heard.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Psa 40:1 « To the chief Musician, A Psalm…
Psa 40:1 « To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. » I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Ver. 1. I waited patiently for the Lord] Heb. In waiting I waited; Diutissime quidem, sed optimo successu; I prayed and waited, I waited and prayed again; persevering in prayer, and begging audience, as Psa 39:12, with which Basil maketh this psalm to cohere; and well he may, for it seemeth to be of the same time and argument with the two former. Est sensus eiusdem cum duobus prioribus. R. Obadiah saith, that David composed this psalm after that he was recovered of his leprosy, Psa 38:7.
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And he inclined unto me] i.e. He began at length to show favour; for he waiteth to be gracious, and well knoweth that desideria dilatione crescant, et cito data vilescant; nothing is lost by holding his people long in request.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–3 I waited patiently, Heb. in waiting I waited; which…
I waited patiently, Heb. in waiting I waited; which doubling of the word notes that he waited diligently and earnestly, patiently and perseveringly, until God should please to help him. He inclined, or, bowed, to wit, himself, as this very word is rendered, Jdg 16:30; or, his ear, as it is more fully expressed, Psa 17:6; 31:2. Such ellipses or defects are frequent in Scripture, as Psa 3:6; 10:1; Ecc 6:3; 7:15.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 In these verses we have,
In these verses we have,
I. The great distress and trouble that the psalmist had been in. He had been plunged into a horrible pit and into miry clay (Psa 40:2), out of which he could not work himself, and in which he found himself sinking yet further. He says nothing here either of the sickness of his body or the insults of his enemies, and therefore we have reason to think it was some inward disquiet and perplexity of spirit that was now his greatest grievance. Despondency of spirit under the sense of Gods withdrawings, and prevailing doubts and fears about the eternal state, are indeed a horrible pit and miry clay, and have been so to many a dear child of God.
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II. His humble attendance upon God and his believing expectations from him in those depths: I waited patiently for the Lord, Psa 40:1. Waiting, I waited. He expected relief from no other than from God; the same hand that tears must heal, that smites must bind up (Hos 6:1), or it will never be done. From God he expected relief, and he was big with expectation, not doubting but it would come in due time. There is power enough in God to help the weakest, and grace enough in God to help the unworthiest, of all his people that trust in him. But he waited patiently, which intimates that the relief did not come quickly; yet he doubted not but it would come, and resolved to continue believing, and hoping, and praying, till it did come. Those whose expectation is from God may wait with assurance, but must wait with patience. Now this is very applicable to Christ. His agony, both in the garden and on the cross, was the same continued, and it was a horrible pit and miry clay. Then was his soul troubled and exceedingly sorrowful; but then he prayed, Father, glorify thy name; Father, save me; then he kept hold of his relation to his Father, "My God, my God," and thus waited patiently for him.
III. His comfortable experience of God's goodness to him in his distress, which he records for the honour of God and his own and others' encouragement.
1. God answered his prayers: He inclined unto me and heard my cry. Those that wait patiently for God, though they may wait long, do not wait in vain. Our Lord Jesus was heard in that he feared, Heb 5:7. Nay, he was sure that the Father heard him always.
2. He silenced his fears, and stilled the tumult of his spirits, and gave him a settled peace of conscience (Psa 40:2): "He brought me up out of that horrible pit of despondency and despair, scattered the clouds, and shone brightly upon my soul, with the assurances of his favour; and not only so, but set my feet upon a rock and established my goings." Those that have been under the prevalency of a religious melancholy, and by the grace of God have been relieved, may apply this very feelingly to themselves; they are brought up out of a horrible pit. (1.) The mercy is completed by the setting of their feet upon a rock, where they find firm footing, are as much elevated with the hopes of heaven as they were before cast down with the fears of hell. Christ is the rock on which a poor soul may stand fast, and on whose meditation alone between us and God we can build any solid hopes or satisfaction. (2.) It is continued in the establishment of their goings. Where God has given a stedfast hope he expects there should be a steady regular conversation; and, if that be the blessed fruit of it, we have reason to acknowledge, with abundance of thankfulness, the riches and power of his grace.
3. He filled him with joy, as well as peace, in believing: "He has put a new song in my mouth; he has given me cause to rejoice and a heart to rejoice." He was brought, as it were, into a new world, and that filled his mouth with a new song, even praise to our God; for to his praise and glory must all our songs be sung. Fresh mercies, especially such as we never before received, call for new songs. This is applicable to our Lord Jesus in his reception to paradise, his resurrection from the grave, and his exaltation to the joy and glory set before him; he was brought out of the horrible pit, set upon a rock, and had a new song put into his mouth.
IV. The good improvement that should be made of this instance of God's goodness to David.
1. David's experience would be an encouragement to many to hope in God, and, for that end, he leaves it here upon record: Many shall see, and fear, and trust in the Lord. They shall fear the Lord and his justice, which brought David, and the Son of David, into that horrible pit, and shall say, If this be done to the green tree, what shall be done to the dry? They shall fear the Lord and his goodness, in filling the mouth of David, and the Son of David, with new songs of joy and praise. There is a holy reverent fear of God, which is not only consistent with, but the foundation of, our hope in him. They shall not fear him and shun him, but fear him and trust in him in their greatest straits, not doubting but to find him as able and ready to help as David did in his distress. God's dealings with our Lord Jesus are our great encouragement to trust in God; when it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and put him to grief for our sins, he demanded our debt from him; and when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand, he made it to appear that he had accepted the payment he made and was satisfied with it; and what greater encouragement can we have to fear and worship God and to trust in him?. See Rom 4:25; Rom 5:1, Rom 5:2. The psalmist invites others to make God their hope, as he did, by pronouncing those happy that do so (Psa 40:4): "Blessed is the man that makes the Lord his trust, and him only (that has great and good thoughts of him, and is entirely devoted to him), and respects not the proud, does not do as those do that trust in themselves, nor depends upon those who proudly encourage others to trust in them; for both the one and the other turn aside to lies, as indeed all those do that turn aside from God." This is applicable, particularly, to our faith in Christ. Blessed are those that trust in him, and in his righteousness alone, and respect not the proud Pharisees, that set up their own righteousness in competition with that, that will not be governed by their dictates, nor turn aside to lies, with the unbelieving Jews, who submit not to the righteousness of God, Rom 10:3. Blessed are those that escape this temptation.
2. The joyful sense he had of this mercy led him to observe, with thankfulness, the many other favours he had received from God, Psa 40:5. When God puts new songs into our mouth we must not forget our former songs, but repeat them: "Many, O Lord my God! are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, both for me and others; this is but one of many." Many are the benefits with which we are daily loaded both by the providence and by the grace of God. (1.) They are his works, not only the gifts of his bounty, but the operations of his power. He works for us, he works in us, and thus he favours us with matter, not only for thanks, but for praise. (2.) They are his wonderful works, the contrivance of them admirable, his condescension to us in bestowing them upon us admirable; eternity itself will be short enough to be spent in the admiration of them. (3.) All his wonderful works are the product of his thoughts to us-ward. He does all according to the counsel of his own will (Eph 1:11), the purposes of his grace which he purposed in himself, Eph 3:11. They are the projects of infinite wisdom, the designs of everlasting love (Co1 2:7, Jer 31:3), thoughts of good and not of evil, Jer 29:11. His gifts and callings will therefore be without repentance, because they are not sudden resolves, but the result of his thoughts, his many thoughts, to us-ward. (4.) They are innumerable; they cannot be methodized or reckoned up in order. There is an order in all God's works, but there are so many that present themselves to our view at once that we know not where to begin nor which to name next; the order of them, and their natural references and dependencies, and how the links of the golden chain are joined, are a mystery to us, and what we shall not be able to account for till the veil be rent and the mystery of God finished. Nor can they be counted, not the very heads of them. When we have said the most we can of the wonders of divine love to us we must conclude with an et caetera - and such like, and adore the depth, despairing to find the bottom.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–3 I waited patiently for the Lord,.... Or "waiting I…
I waited patiently for the Lord,.... Or "waiting I waited" (i); which denotes continuance, constancy, and patience; and which Christ exercised in the garden, when he submitted himself entirely to the will of God; and on the cross, when he continued in sure hope and firm expectation of his help and assistance, though he was for a while forsaken by him; see Isa 50:7;
and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry; both in the garden, by delivering him from fear of death; and on the cross, by upholding, helping, and assisting him, by carrying him through his sufferings and death, and raising him from the dead; see Isa 49:8.
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(i) "expectando expectavi", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus Musculus, Rivetus, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–3 This psalm is a celebration of God's great goodness…
This psalm is a celebration of God's great goodness to him, and all his people. In it there are some passages which cannot belong to Christ, and some which do not properly belong to David, or to that time and state of the church, but only to Christ, and to the times of the New Testament. He praises God for delivering him out of deep distress, ver. 1-5. Thence takes occasion to speak of the work of our redemption by Christ, ver. 6- 10. Prays for mercy and grace both for himself and for his brethren, ver. 11-17. To the chief musician, A psalm of David.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–3 The benefit of confidence in God, 1-3.
PSALM XL
The benefit of confidence in God, 1-3.
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The blessedness of those who trust in God, 4, 5.
The termination of the Jewish sacrifices in that of Christ, 6-8.
The psalmist's resolution to publish God's goodness, 9, 10:
he prays to be delivered from evils, 11-13;
against his enemies, 14, 15;
and in behalf of those who are destitute, 16, 17.
NOTES ON PSALM XL
The TITLE, "To the chief Musician," we have already seen, and it contains nothing worthy of particular remark. Concerning the occasion and author of this Psalm there has been a strange and numerous diversity of opinions. I shall not trouble the reader with sentiments which I believe to be ill founded; as I am satisfied the Psalm was composed by David; and about the same time and on the same occasion as the two preceding; with this difference, that here he magnifies God for having bestowed the mercy which he sought there. It is, therefore, a thanksgiving for his recovery from the sore disease by which he was afflicted in his body, and for his restoration to the Divine favour. The sixth, seventh, and eighth verses contain a remarkable prophecy of the incarnation and sacrificial offering of Jesus Christ. From the eleventh to the end contains a new subject and appears to have belonged to another Psalm. It is the same as the seventieth Psalm; only it wants the two first verses.
Verse 1. I waited patiently for the Lord] The two preceding Psalms are proofs of the patience and resignation with which David waited for the mercy of God. The reader is requested to consult the notes on them.
And heard my cry.] The two preceding Psalms show how he prayed and waited; this shows how he succeeded.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Psa 40:1-2. I waited patiently for the Lord —…
Psa 40:1-2. I waited patiently for the Lord — Hebrew, קוה קויתי, kavvo kivviti, in waiting I waited, or, in hoping I hoped, which doubling of the word signifies that he waited or hoped diligently and earnestly, patiently and perseveringly, until God should be pleased to help him. And he inclined unto me — Or bowed himself, or his ear: see Jdg 16:30; Psa 17:6; Psa 31:2. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit —
From desperate dangers and calamities, signified by a similar phrase, Psa 18:16; Psa 69:1-2. I was not only on the brink, but in the very bottom of this pit; out of the miry clay — In which my feet stuck fast. As David often compares himself in distress to a sinking and drowning man; so here he compares the affliction from which he had been delivered to that of a man thrown into some loathsome and filthy dungeon. And set my feet upon a rock — A place of strength and safety; and established my goings — Or my steps; that is, kept me from stumbling, or falling again into misery.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–3 I waited patiently for the Lord - Margin, as…
I waited patiently for the Lord - Margin, as in Hebrew, “In waiting I waited.” That is, “I continued to wait.” It was not a single, momentary act of expectation or hope; it was continuous; or, was persevered in. The idea is, that his prayer was not answered at once, but that it was answered after he had made repeated prayers, or when it seemed as if his prayers would not be answered. It is earnest, persevering prayer that is referred to; it is continued supplication and hope when there seemed to be no answer to prayer, and no prospect that it would be answered.
And he inclined unto me - That is, ultimately he heard and answered me; or he turned himself favorably toward me, as the result of “persevering” prayer. The word “inclined” here means properly “bowed;” that is, he “bent forward” to hearken, or to place his ear near my mouth and to hear me. At first, he seemed as one that would not hear; as one that throws his head backward or turns his head away. Ultimately, however, he bent forward to receive my prayer.
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And heard my cry - The cry or supplication which I made for help; the cry which I directed to him in the depth of my sorrows and my danger, Psa 40:2. As applied to the Redeemer, this would refer to the fact that in his sorrows, in the deep sorrows connected with the work of redemption, he persevered in calling on God, and that God heard him, and raised him up to glory and joy. See Mat 26:36-46. Compare the notes at Heb 5:7. The time supposed to be referred to, is after his sufferings were closed; after his work was done; “after” he rose from the dead. It is the language of grateful remembrance which we may suppose he uttered in the review of the amazing sorrows through which he had passed in making the atonement, and in the recollection that God had kept him in those sorrows, and had brought him up from such a depth of woe to such a height of glory.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 40
Psalms 40
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David
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1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my goings.
3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth,
Even praise unto our God:
Many shall see it, and fear,
And shall trust in the Lord.
4 Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust,
And respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5 Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which are to us-ward:
They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them,
They are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire;
Mine ears hast thou opened:
Burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come:
In the volume of the book it is written of me,
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God:
Yea, thy law is within my heart.
9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation:
Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest.
10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart;
I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation;
I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord:
Let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about:
Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up;
They are more than the hairs of mine head:
Therefore mine heart faileth me.
13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me:
O Lord, make haste to help me.
14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together
That seek after my soul to destroy it;
Let them be driven backward and put to shame
That wish me evil.
15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame
That say unto me, Aha, aha.
16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee:
Let such as love thy salvation
Say continually, The Lord be magnified.
17 But I am poor and needy;
Yet the Lord thinketh upon me:
Thou art my help and my deliverer;
Make no tarrying, O my God.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Its Contents and Composition. The Psalmist narrates (Psa_40:1), how God has graciously accepted his trust and cry for help (Psa_40:2), delivered him from a great danger and given him a new song (Psa_40:3), all for the strengthening of the faith of many. He pronounces those blessed who trust in God (Psa_40:4), and this forms the transition to the mention (Psa_40:5) of the innumerable and unspeakable exhibitions of grace which have been made to the believing, for which God would be thanked, not by external ritual offerings (Psa_40:6), but by willing obedience to the Divine will expressed in the written law (Psa_40:7-8). This the Psalmist, as God knows, has declared as a glad tidings, in the great congregation (Psa_40:9-10). In accordance with this he now prays (Psa_40:11) for the continuance of the Divine protection; for innumerable evils, the consequences of his transgressions, have surrounded him (Psa_40:12); and therefore he prays importunately (Psa_40:13), that God will hasten to his help, and bring his enemies to shame (Psa_40:14), as a punishment for their scorn which they have delighted to heap upon him (Psa_40:15). Those who seek God and love Him, are to rejoice and praise God (Psa_40:16), for though the Psalmist is at present poor and miserable, yet he trusts in God’s assistance firmly and prays to Him urgently (Psa_40:17). It follows from this analysis, that the assertion, that the Psalm is divided into two parts differing from one another in contents and tone, and in part inconsistent with one another, the one part thanksgiving the other prayer, does not accord with the circumstances of the case. It is true the so-called second part (Psa_40:12-17) is found with few alterations in an independent form, as Psalms 70 But this does not prove that two songs originally different have here been subsequently united (Pareau instit, interpr. 330), or that the unity can be maintained only by the supposition that the poet speaks in the name of the people of Israel (Isaki, Rosenm. II.), or the pious members of the people (De Wette). Still less can it be shown, that Psalms 70. was the original, and that it is here imitated and attached as a prayer to a Psalm of thanksgiving (Hupfeld). There are rather in Psalms 70 many signs of its being a fragment. This portion of Psalms 40. moreover, might very easily and properly, owing to its character, have been separated for the special use of the congregation, although hardly by the author himself. The difference of tone in the various groups of this Psalm is sufficiently explained from the difference between narrative, thanksgiving and prayer. Hence arise the unevenness of the strophes and the verses, and dissimilarity in the length of the lines. These characteristics are not disclosed in any particular part, but pervade the whole Psalm. It is difficult to decide respecting the author. It is not necessary that we should be referred to the time of the recovery of the book of the law (Ewald); for it is particularly in the Psalms of David in the time of the persecution by Saul, that many references to the law are found; besides, there are resemblances with Psa_22:25; Psa_25:21; Psa_35:18; Psa_35:21; Psa_35:25. But the most striking similarities are with Psalms 69, and in that Psalm there is so much in favor of its composition by Jeremiah (Hitzig), that even Delitzsch wavers in his judgment. Since both Psalms at any rate, have the same author, and Ps. lxix. contains many important evidences, the decision is to be drawn from a consideration of that Psalm. Here however, we may anticipate the result with the statement that there are weighty reasons in favor of David as the author, only not in the time of his flight before Absalom (Rudinger, Venema, Muntinghe). Hence we hold fast to it, since no decisive reasons have thus far been adduced against it.—The words of Psa_40:6-8, are put in the mouth of Christ by the author of the epistle to the Heb_10:5-7. Most of the earlier interpreters have, therefore, supposed, that Christ here speaks by the mouth of David prophetically of his bringing the offering of his life in his state of humiliation, and therefore they have treated the Psalm either partly or entirely as directly Messianic, so recently Böhl. Hengstenberg has very properly given up this view, which he advocated in the first edition of his Christology. Even the typical interpretation can be maintained only in the freer sense (Calvin, Ruding., Grotius, Cler., et al.) and not in the stricter sense (Stier). The epistle to the Hebrews, really makes a free use of the words in question and one deviating in many respects from the original text (Vid. Moll’s Epist. to the Heb_10:5-7, in Lange’s Commentary). Yet this is on the basis of the recognized typical relation of the Old Covenant to the New Covenant and particularly of the person and history of David. “The words of David, the anointed, yet only after he was on the way to the throne, are so formed by the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of prophecy, that they at the same time sound as the words of another David passing through sufferings to glory, whose offering of himself is the end of the animal offerings and whose person and work are the kernel and star of the roll of the law.” (Delitzsch).
Str. I. Psa_40:1. Waiting I waited.—The Hebrew infin. abs. does not so much strengthen the verbal idea, with which view the firmness, patience, endurance and power of the trust would be expressed (Calvin, Geier, J. H. Mich., Delitzsch, et al.), but rather emphasizes it, whether with a parenetic view (Hengst.), or as an antecedent and in contrast to the consequences mentioned in the second member (Hupfeld).—He inclined unto me.—It is doubtful whether נטה (incline, bow), without an object, is here to be regarded as intransitive (Aben Ezra, J. H. Mich., De Wette, Hengst., Hitzig), the passages cited in favor of this, Gen_38:16; Jdg_16:30, not being entirely parallel, or whether we are to supply “ears” (Hupfeld, Delitzsch), since this combination frequently occurs, yet only with the Hiphil.
Psa_40:2. Pit of destruction—dirt of the mire—rock—made my footsteps firm.—Hitzig derives from the mention of pit, his explanation of the Psalm from the history of Jeremiah, but since even he does not take the rock, which is the usual figure of security (Psa_18:2; Psa_27:5), in a literal sense, his grounds are weak; and the pit with its mire, in which the foot slides and can gain no firm foothold is figurative of danger, as the waters elsewhere (Psa_18:15 and frequently). But it does not follow from this or the circumstance that שׂאון is likewise used of the rushing and roaring of water (Psa_65:7; Jer_17:12 sq.), that we must think here of a rushing depth of water (Hengst.) or a roaring pit (Kimchi, Calvin, Venema, Rosenm.) = pit of roaring water. The meaning: destruction=ruin, is assured from Jer_25:31; Jer_46:17; Psa_35:8.
Psa_40:3. [A new song.—Perowne: “One celebrating with all the power of a recent gratitude a new and signal act of deliverance.” Vid.Psa_33:3.—C. A. B.].—The same alliteration which is found here [יִרְאוּ־וְיִירָאוּ], occurs likewise in Psa_52:6, where it is followed by a clause like Psa_40:4.
Str. II. Psa_40:4. His trust—Related with this clause are Psa_34:8; Psa_52:6; Psa_65:5; Psa_71:5; Psa_91:9; Job_31:24; Isa_20:5; Jer_17:7; so much more are the latter passages to be regarded as re-echoes of this the original passage.—Blusterers and lying apostates—Most interpreters since Aben Ezra and Kimchi take רְהָבים as a plural of an adjective which is not found elsewhere; others after the Sept., Syriac, Jerome, as the plural instead of the usual singular דהם=raging, daring, violent, particularly as a surname of Egypt, with the idea of an external, noisy, boastful bragging of their own power, whereby they mislead others to put their trust in them, which was then shamefully deceived (Hupf.). The שָׂטֵי כָזָב are not those “who incline themselves=turn to lies,” whether we think of real lies (Stier) or idols and magic (Isaki, Kimchi, Hengst.). The verb שׂטה=שׂוט expresses a stronger idea than that of inclining oneself and is not an intransitive. We must, therefore, translate: apostates of lies=lying, faithless apostates (Hupfeld, Delitzsch). A similar form of expression is found in Psalms 59 Hitzig, through the Arabic, refers to those who “shriek lies,” which is more natural than to make the reading שָמֵד and think of the tongue as a whip (Job_5:21; Sir_26:6), because, likewise flexible; because it gossips and because it can likewise smite a person. (Jer_18:18).
Str. III. Psa_40:5. There is no comparison with Thee, (else) would I declare and speak.—Comp. Psa_89:8; Isa_40:18; Job_28:17; Job_28:19. Thus most recent interpreters after Sept., Isaki, Luther. The translation: there is no reckoning of them before thee (Symmach., Chald., Jerome, Kimchi, Calvin, Ruding., Piscator, Geier, Cleric., Rosenm., Stier, Hupf., [A. V.])=they are “unspeakable, innumerable,” is especially opposed by the circumstance that such a reckoning is not usual before God, but before men. It is better to take the following words, in accordance with the accents, either as a parenthesis as Psa_51:16; Psa_55:12, or as a hypothetical consequent to the immediately preceding statement. If we should neglect the accents, it might be an expression of a hypothetical antecedent to the assurance of the impossibility of numbering expressed in the following line (Symmach., Jerome, Isaki, Kimchi, Calvin, Geier). It is inadmissible to take it as a real future (Stier, Hengst.,); for then the statement would be of a real resolution in opposition to the preceding as well as the following statement.
Str. IV. Psa_40:6. Ears hast Thou dug for me, that is created for me instruments for hearing. It is accordingly the business of man to use them in accordance with the Divine will. This may be partly by observing God’s word, partly by following God’s commands=obedience to the will of God expressed in His word. Both references often lead to one another, and the latter is certainly brought about by the former (Deu_29:3; Isa_6:9 sq.; Jer_7:24). That the position of the clause, if it is taken as a parenthesis, would make a change here and emphasize the ears as the organ of a theoretical knowledge (Hupf.), is so much the less to be conceded, as, according to Hupfeld’s own view, parentheses occur frequently in this Psalm. Still less is the reference to the boring through or boring out the ears, parallel with the usual formula; open the ear (Isa_48:8; Isa_1:5), and uncover the ear (1Sa_9:16; 1Sa_20:2; 1Sa_20:12 sq.; 1Sa_22:8; 1Sa_22:17; Job_33:16; Job_36:10; Job_36:15), or; open the eyes (Gen_3:7; Gen_21:9), and uncover the eyes (Num_22:31; Num_24:4; Numbers 16; Psa_119:18), of the impartation or of the impression of knowledge by Divine revelation (Isaki, Calvin, Geier, Venema, Rosenm., De Wette, Stier). For, although the Hebrew verb with the meaning of “dig, bore” may under some circumstances pass
over into that of perfodere (Psa_22:16), yet we would be obliged to expect, in accordance with the parallels adduced, the singular instead of the plural, “ears.” But now, furthermore, the clause is not really parenthetical, but rather the three verbs are entirely parallel in the three lines, and the passage sounds very much like the re-echo of the words of Samuel, 1Sa_15:22. This is partly in favor of its composition by David, partly in favor of a reference to obedience (Geier, Hengst., Von Hofm., Delitzsch). The expression, however, is not a symbolical designation of the obedience of the servant, whose ear was nailed to the door posts of the Lord, by which he obligated himself to remain forever, Exo_21:6; Deu_15:17, (after Geier et al. Hengst. previously, Stier, in part, now Böhl); for there was a special technical expression for this, and moreover only one ear was thus treated (J. D. Mich., Rosenm.). The ancient interpreters explained the plural arbitrarily by reference to the double obedience of Christ, his active and passive obedience, but so, that the congregation, for whom he offered himself, was composed of two parts, Jews and Gentiles. Böhl grants herein a free use of the symbol in question, and appeals moreover to Hos_3:2, for this meaning of בָרָה = make oneself a bond slave by means of boring (after Hengst. Christology, 2 Edit. i. 219), whilst he at the same time disputes the fixedness of a term, techn. Yet he wavers as much in this, as in the explanation of the symbol itself. For if boring, which occurs as a symbol of obedience likewise among the Mesopotamians, Arabs, Lydians, and Carthagenians, means nothing more than that the man who has been bored has open, hearing ears, and thus is to be attentive and obedient (Knobel upon Exo_21:6), it cannot be, at the same time, regarded as a symbol of continued, everlasting servitude (Saalchütz, das mos. Recht, S. 699). At any rate the emphasis in the context of the present passage is not upon the latter but the former point, and therefore the reference to that symbol must be abandoned. The expression originates from the form of the bodily ear. This view renders the use of this passage in Heb_10:5 much easier to understand, in accordance with the enlarged and explanatory translation of the Sept., unless perhaps it is an ancient mistake in copying. The Vulgate has aures, the Itala as likewise the Psalter. Roman., however, corpus.—Burnt offering and sin offering.—The so called spiritual interpretation of the offerings is found not first in Jer_7:21; (comp. Jer_6:20); or Isa_66:3; but already in Isa_1:11; and besides Hos_6:6; Amo_5:21 sq.; Mic_6:6 sq.; Pro_15:8; Pro_21:3; likewise Psa_50:8; Psa_51:17. 1Sa_15:22, may however be regarded as the original passage in accordance with the idea, which was already expressed in the difference between the offerings of Cain and Abel, and which pervades the entire Mosaic legislation. So much the less are we to think here of a revelation of a new truth, but of an observation of the revealed will of God, which requires not an offering divorced from the heart, but obedience and consecration of the entire person, of which the offerings are the figurative expression. “The offerings are named in a twofold respect: a, according to their material, זֵבַח animal offering and מִנְחָה meal offering (including the נֶסֶךְ wine offering, which is the inseparable accompaniment of the Mincha); b, according to their purpose, either as essentially עוִלָה in order to procure Divine favor, or as essentially חַטָּאת (here חֲטָאָה), in order to turn away the Divine displeasure. That זֵבַח and עוֹלַה precede is due to the fact that זֶבַח denotes partially the shelamim offering, and the thank-offering proper, namely, the tôda-shelamim offering belongs to this class, and that עוֹלָה as the offering of worship, προσευχή, which is ever likewise general thanksgiving, ἐυχαριστία, is in natural connection with the shelamim to the thankful.” (Delitzsch).
Psa_40:7. Lo, I am come = here I am, as an expression of the obedient servant ready for the service of his Lord, and standing in this willingness before the Lord, (Num_22:38; 1Sa_3:4; 1Sa_3:8; 2Sa_19:21; Isa_6:8; Mat_8:9). It is not necessary to supply: before Thy face (Hupfeld). The translation: I have consented, namely, to the requirement, Psa_40:6 (Böttcher), is unsuitable.—With the roll of the book, written concerning me.—These words would have to be taken as a parenthesis, if the purpose of the coming were stated. But since this is not stated expressly, this supposition loses its support, so likewise the pretension to erase this line (Olsh.) It is admissible, however, to take Psa_40:7 b as an independent clause = in the roll of the book it is prescribed to me (Hengst., Hupfeld, in a different combination from Rosenm. and Gesenius, from Umbreit and Maurer). It is particularly in connection with the recovery of the Pentateuch (2Ki_22:13) that the construction of כּתב with על occurs in this signification. But really this so-called meaning is only a paraphrase, used in order to simplify it to the understanding. Taken literally, even there the persons are adduced with על, respecting whom it is written, namely, the word of God, obligating them, and binding upon them; they are the ones to whom that which is written refers, Job_13:26. The ancient translation περὶ ἐμοῦ, upon which Heb_10:7 is based, is accordingly altogether unobjectionable. This clause may now be connected likewise in language with the preceding clause, so that the preposition ב expresses the accompaniment, as Psa_66:15 (Umbreit, Ewald, Maurer, et al.) But the book roll with which the Psalmist comes is not the roll of the written leaf, which Jeremiah carried with him (עַלָי = with me) and upon which he had written the prophecy of future redemption, in order to read it to the people, as he himself had “eaten” its contents, Jer_15:16 (Hitzig), but the roll of the law written on skins, Jer_36:2; Jer_36:4; Eze_2:9 (Hupf.), particularly the law respecting the king, Deu_17:14 sq. (Von Hofm., Delitzsch), which the king of Israel was to keep constantly with him. This view explains the transfer of these words about David, who was already anointed king of Israel, but had not yet come into possession of the throne, to Christ, Hebrews 10, as one, for whom it is not necessary to suppose that the idea of the book-roll should be transferred unhistorically to the entire Old Testament and its prophecies. The following explanations: written upon me (Sachs), which means, that the poet is himself the narrative of the wonders of God which have happened to him; or written in me, that is, in my heart (De Wette), are inadmissible. It is first said in Psa_40:8 that David carried the law not only with him, but in himself. For this is a characteristic of the righteous (Psa_37:31, after Deu_6:6; comp. Pro_3:3; Pro_7:3). But this Divine purpose is not fulfilled in the entire people (Isa_51:7) until the time of the Messiah (Jer_31:33). Hengstenberg (Beiträge II. 489 sq.) has proved that the mention of the roll of the law as written upon skins does not lead to a later period of composition. Still less is it necessary to think of a man, who, after the discovery of the law by Hezekiah, went with the roll into the temple (Ewald).
Str. V. Psa_40:9-10. I proclaimed,etc.—The perfects, Psa_40:9-10, do not express continued action (De Wette), but past, yet they refer not to the contents of the new revelation written upon the leaf (Hitzig), but narrate parallel with Psa_40:7, that the Psalmist not only took his position as an obedient servant of Jehovah, and as a personal thank-offering at the disposal of God, but that he has expressed his thanks by proclaiming the praise of Jehovah in the congregation (comp. Ps. 50:24 sq.) This proclamation is designated by the verb בִשֵּר as glad tidings. [Perowne: “Words are heaped upon words to express the eager forwardness of a heart burning to show forth its gratitude. No elaborate description could so well have given us the likeness of one whose ‘life was a thanksgiving.’ ”—C. A. B.]
Str. VI. Psa_40:11. Thou, Jehovah, wilt not shut up Thy mercies,etc.—This verse refers to Psa_40:9 in the use of shut up, and to Psa_40:10 in the use of “grace and truth.” But it does not follow from this, that the so-called first part concludes with Psa_40:11 (Hupfeld); this is opposed by the connection with Psa_40:12 by means of “for,” which it is entirely arbitrary to regard as merely an external and loose connection. But rather the importunity of the prayer for deliverance from present and recent trouble, rising on the basis of thanksgiving for previous deliverances, and basing itself on the assurance of Divine recompense, is grounded on the fact that the transgressions of the Psalmist, which followed him in vengeance, as the wrath of God (Psa_69:25), and the curse (Deu_28:15), have overtaken him, and that there is accordingly no other help than through Jehovah. In the Messianic interpretation these transgressions are explained of those voluntarily taken upon himself by the suffering Messiah, and for the most part made parallel with innumerable evils as the punishment of sins. Both of these ideas are against the text which says that the transgressions of the Psalmist are his own, who feels that he has been seized upon by the innumerable evils which surround him and he has no prospect. This general explanation of the clause, I cannot see, corresponds closely as well with the context as with the wording of the clause. The explanation: I cannot see over them on account of their innumerableness (Hitzig, Hupfeld), corresponds with the former; the interpretation of it from weakened sight, owing to great woe (Luther, Hengst.), corresponds with the latter. This physical inability (1Sa_3:2; 1Sa_4:14; 1Ki_14:4; Job_16:16; Psa_13:3; Psa_38:10), may be a sign that a man’s strength (Psa_38:10), or his heart (Psa_40:13) = courage, composure, joyfulness, have forsaken him, yet however is not to be placed alongside of the latter, and to be explained of the obscuration of consciousness = inconsiderateness (Chald., Stier, Ewald). Least of all are we to think of invisible approach, whereby they overtake him unexpectedly (Hupf. alternately).
Str. VII. Psa_40:13-15. Be pleased.—Although רעה in this meaning and in construction with a following ל and an infinitive, occurs only here (for in the parallel passage in Psalms 70 this word is missing), yet it is indisputable, and refers to Psa_40:8, where the will of God is designated by the noun of the same root. This again is in favor of the connection of both parts of this Psalm and of its antiquity. The cry for help is like Psa_22:19; Psa_38:22; the wish against his deadly enemies, like Psa_35:4; Psa_35:26; the description of their behaviour, like Psa_35:21; Psa_35:25, only that “speak” is followed by “of me,” (properly: with reference to me), which again is missing in Psalms 70, where likewise the usual יָשׁוּבוּ (let them retire) is used instead of יָשֹׁמּוּ (let them become numb, paralyzed with fright). The reason and ground of their numbness is stated in the following verse with על, that shame is their reward (Hitzig, Delitzsch), which is not like the accusative (Hupfeld), which would merely say: on account of their shame (De Wette, Hengstenberg). [For the expression Aha, aha, vid.Psa_35:21; Psa_35:25.—C. A. B.]
Str. VIII. Psa_40:17. The Lord will care for me.—It is not necessary to adopt the reading חוּשׁה־לּי from Pss. 70:6; 141:1, instead of יַחֲשָׁב־לי, as being the only reading consistent with usage (Venema, Ewald, Hupfeld), and to translate accordingly: Lord, haste to me. The word חשׁב has indeed very different meanings, and here an unusual construction; yet the reference at once to the thoughts of God, Psa_40:5, mentioned by a noun of the same root, which favors the unity of the Psalm, does not leave it doubtful that the reference is neither to regard = value (Rabbins), nor to imputation, namely, of sins (Cocc., Gesen.), but to the thoughts of God in His providential care over those who turn to Him in prayer (the ancient translators and most interpreters).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Sometimes a deliverance from great danger, gives us the first knowledge of how many enemies and how great dangers there are surrounding us here below. But this knowledge should not weaken our thankfulness; and although the song of thanksgiving to the praise of God must be followed immediately by a new petition, the ardor of prayer is the more impressive, and the confidence of being heard is more assured and joyous, the more vital and fresh the experience of the gracious turning of God to the necessity and prayer of him who waits in faith for the help of the Lord.
2. A man who has been delivered by the help of God, is stimulated to a new song by the new experience of grace; but when he on his part is personally confirmed anew in the old covenant of grace, he does not thus acquire any exclusive relation to God with peculiar rights and privileges. He is and remains a member of the congregation, in which God from of old has glorified Himself by innumerable tokens of His favor. Therefore all the people are to be benefited by that which happens to the individual, and they are to let their new song resound to the God of all in united praise, and to the general edification. These benefits are better fitted for this, the more they bear and maintain the character of a gift of God.
3. The thanksgiving which is well-pleasing to God is not in the legal fulfilment of the external offerings and similar performances, rites, and ceremonies, but in obedience to the will of God by the whole person and life. This obedience is declared in particular actions and performances, is represented and illustrated by offerings, symbolized by rites and ceremonies; but all these expressions, representations, and symbols, cannot compensate for the absence of obedience. This symbolical and representative character of all the offerings of the Old Covenant is evidently declared in the roll of the law, which contains the directions for the actions of the people of God. There is no inconsistency therefore in the fact that it is said respecting the offerings expressly ordained by Divine command, that God has not required or desired them. There is no value ascribed to them in the Mosaic law independent of obedience. God’s requirement is directed rather immediately and unconditionally to entire obedience to the Divine will. It is not necessary therefore to suppose a new revelation for the explanation of the thoughts expressed in the text. The will of God has been revealed in the words of God, and God has given men ears to understand them. Whatever is missing is concretely expressed by the inclination and ability of unconditional obedience to completely fulfil the law: in the perfect servant of Jehovah, righteous in disposition and ability to justify many (Isa_53:11). When, now, David, under definite historical circumstances, and with special reference to his royal calling, expresses his joy in the fulfilment of the Divine will, and his readiness to commit his person to the disposal of God, he not only says that obedience is the true offering, and that it has to do with the entire person, but he thus enters historically into the typically prophetical relation to Christ, in which, by the Spirit, his words acquire a meaning which allows, yes, calls forth, a deeper and more comprehensive interpretation within the Old Covenant.
4. The fulfilment of the Divine law is rendered subjectively possible to man, and accomplished, by his taking it up into his soul, and agreeing with his heart to this law which comes to him at first from without and by the ear. Thus the externality and the strangeness of the law are destroyed. Man, then, desires what God desires. He offers his own will in the obedience of faith. But this offering is fulfilled only on the basis of a deliverance which has taken place. The offering has thus essentially the meaning of a thank-offering, and it is not at all propitiatory or justifying, although well-pleasing to God. This relation is expressed likewise in the typical reference of the Psalm.
5. He who is in this relation and has a vital experience of the power and truth of it in his own person, should testify of it by word and deed and help others to hear of it (Rom_10:17), and should particularly proclaim the glad tidings of the righteousness, grace and truth of God, in the congregation. This may likewise be regarded as an offering, and indeed of thanks, yet not merely in the sense of the presentation of words, but, at the same time, with the more particular meaning of sacrifice and personal consecration, which cannot be fulfilled without self-conquest. For, in addition to the natural slothfulness, forgetfulness, unthankfulness, fearfulness, we are to regard not only quietistic inclinations, the disposition to contemplation, the luxury of feeling, but likewise a kind of timidity, dread and shyness of appearing in public, which occur even in men who are spiritually inclined and are decided servants of God. But he who overcomes in this conflict, and ventures to appeal to the testimony of God respecting his readiness to take part in this work, can rely with comforted spirit upon the fact that God will confess those who make Him known before men (Mat_10:32).
6. A true and courageous confessor may, accordingly, rely upon being recognized by God; but the ground on which he bases his confidence is not his personal worth or the deserts of his actions, but the mercy and faithfulness of God. He has the more reason to hold fast to this, as he, with all his piety and devotion to God, and in the calling given him by God, is still not the perfectly righteous one, the sinless servant of God, but rather, in the innumerable sufferings which surround him, he recognizes the deserved punishments of his innumerable transgressions, and, in consequence of this, feels that every natural source of comfort, courage and strength in himself is sealed up. All things depend upon the help of the Lord. He recognizes more thoroughly the indispensableness of this, and experiences the more deeply its urgency, the stronger his feeling of his own misery and entire helplessness, under the painful impressions of the arrogance of his enemies, who are intoxicated with victory. But the deeper the faith in the special providence of God for the individual, is impressed upon the heart of the sufferer, and the firmer the soul is established in confidence in the final victory and the everlasting triumph of the congregation over all its enemies, through the power of God and to the praise of God, and the more this confidence is applied to the personal relation of the oppressed servant of God, the more urgent and sure of being heard is the prayer for the speedy coming of the Lord.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
God not only sends sufferings; but He likewise sends help; He works likewise thankfulness.—Hymns and songs belong to the gifts of God: by these we express our thanks, proclaim God’s glory, edify the congregation.—Our life may be a long history of sufferings and yet constitute an edifying sermon respecting God’s righteousness, grace and truth.—That which comes from the Lord should lead to the Lord.—The kindnesses of God are just as numerous as our sufferings and our transgressions.—We should take to heart what God has done to us and to our people, but not shut it up in our hearts, but let our thanks sound forth not only in words, even though they be expressed in new songs and hymns, but likewise in acts well pleasing to God.—What God does to us. is not an exception, but a confirmation of His special as well as general Providence.—The new songs of the pious contain only the old confession of the congregation of God.—The best thank-offering is the consecration of the entire person to the service of God in the obedience of faith.—God desires energetical thanks for actual help.—By one and the same act God accomplishes our deliverance, the shame of the enemy, the edification of the congregation.—God’s words are not only to come to our ears, but to enter our hearts.—God has given us ears to hear His word; a mouth to confess it; a heart to love it; whence comes the strength to keep it, but from Him? and who is the righteous one, whom he sends to fulfil it?—God shows Himself to be the faithful God to those who trust in Him, confesses those who confess Him; will He neglect you, when you do not neglect Him?—If we would gain God’s help, we must seek God Himself.—Consecration and confession should agree with one another, but both be in accordance with God’s word.—He who cannot wait for the help of God, will never gain it; but he must pray for it and may urge his circumstances in prayer.
Starke: The cross conveys many advantages in itself; for it urges the sufferer to pray, his prayer is heard, he rejoices, praises God, seeks to excite others to praise Him.—Take care that the new song, the gospel, be not sung and preached for your mere amusement, but that it produce in you true fear of God; else it were better that you should never have heard it.—You must not doubt of your sonship and the love of God on account of the postponement of help. He only tries your patience. Christ was a servant in obedience, yet a child of His Father in hearty readiness to do His will. Learn from Him to properly unite both together.—When the word of God comes unto a man in its true power, it cannot long remain concealed, the change of heart soon expresses itself in words and works.—God never lacks the power to help; we need only pray that He will show this power in accordance with His gracious will.
Selnekker: Even the law cannot be understood apart from Christ, for no one knows, what it requires and how to fulfil it.—Dauderstadt: We must draw near to God with humility. David calls himself not a king and prophet, but a poor miserable sinner.—Frisch: See to it, dear soul, that the new song is not sung to thee in vain.—The dear gospel does nothing but good to men and yet it has its enemies.—It is impossible that we should endure the cross and live under it without the consolation of God.—A. Bengel: I come! or I am here! was the symbolum of the Lord Jesus (Mat_5:17; Mat_10:34; Mat_15:24; Mat_18:11; Mar_1:38; Luk_5:32; Luk_9:50; Luk_12:49; Luk_19:10; Joh_6:38 sq.; Joh_9:39; Joh_10:10; Joh_12:46; Joh_18:37). O Soul, let thy Saviour accomplish His design in thee.—Say: Why art thou in the world? Dost thou fulfil the will of God? How long since? How?—Umbreit: The mind of the converted is shown in deep humility and strong confidence.—The will of God is recorded in the roll of the book, but it is the desire of the pious to do it.—Without sincere confession of one’s own misery and internal poverty there is no faith in Divine Providence.—Tholuck: Thanksgiving should be an act, but he who strongly feels it, his words may be a hindrance to him.—Taube: The greatest and truest skill of the Christian is to be able to wait; to learn to wait is the exercise of his entire life.—Poverty and misery, these are our names; yet this dust nature is in God’s gracious thoughts.—There are typical heroes of faith and those who have followed Christ; the Lord Himself is in the midst with His heroic sufferings and sustains both classes with the strength and grace of His all sufficient blessings of redemption.—Deichert: The offerings of a reasonable service well pleasing to God; 1) The incense of prayer before God; 2) the burnt-offering of an entire consecration of the heart to God; 3) the meat-offering of the life and its works in the service of God.
[Matth. Henry: There is power enough in God to help the weakest, and grace enough in God to help the unworthiest of all His people that trust in Him.—There is an order in all God’s works, but they are so many that present themselves to our view at once, that we know not where to begin nor which to name next; the order of them, and their natural references and dependences, and how the links of the golden chain are joined is a mystery to us and what we shall not be able to account for till the veil be rent and the mystery of God finished.—The sight of our sins in their own colors would drive us to distraction if we had not at the same time some sight of a Saviour.—Barnes: All sorrow can be borne when we feel that God has not forgotten us; we may be calm when all the world forsakes us, if we can feel assured that the great and blessed God “thinks” on us, and will never cease to remember us.—Spurgeon: Note the way of salvation, a sight, a fear, a trust! Do you know what these mean by possessing and practising them in your own soul?—God’s thoughts of you are many, let not yours be few in return.—No maze to lose oneself in like the labyrinth of love. How sweet to be outdone, overcome and overwhelmed by the astonishing grace of the Lord our God.—Our Lord’s life was a sermon eloquent beyond compare, and it is heard each day by myriads.—Lord Jesus, grant in all our adversities we may possess like precious faith, and be found like thee, more than conquerors.—C. A. B.].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v3 a new song--(See on Psa 33:3).
a new song--(See on Psa 33:3).
fear, and . . . trust--revere with love and faith.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. I waited patiently—Hebrew, In waiting, I waited. The…
1. I waited patiently—Hebrew, In waiting, I waited. The long and patient waiting implies an unexplained delay in answering.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. I waited patiently] Such renderings as I waited,…
1. I waited patiently] Such renderings as I waited, yea I waited, or, I waited waitingly (Vulg. expectans expectavi) are closer to the original. Cp. Psa_38:15; Psa_39:7 : and the confession of the Church in the day of Redemption, Isa_25:9.
he inclined unto me] As it were, ‘bent down towards me.’ To ‘incline’ or ‘bow down the ear’ is the usual phrase (Psa_31:2; Psa_116:2).
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my cry] Cp. Psa_39:12; Psa_18:6.
1–3. The reward of patient waiting upon God.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 (1) I waited patiently.—As the margin shows, this is…
(1) I waited patiently.—As the margin shows, this is expressed by the common Hebrew idiom the infinitive absolute with the preterite. We may nearly express it by repetition: I waited and waited.
Inclined . . .—Either intransitive (comp. Jdg_16:30), or with ellipse of the word “ear,” which usually is found with the verb in this conjugation. (See Psa_17:6; Psa_31:2.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–3 THE occasion of this psalm is some great deliverance…
THE occasion of this psalm is some great deliverance which has been vouchsafed to the author of it, for which he desires to praise and thank God. Of this deliverance he speaks in vers. 1-3, which form a sort of introduction to the whole. He then passes on to a more general praise of God for all his glorious manifestations of himself in the history of his people (ver. 5). The thought next occurs How is he (the writer) to manifest his gratitude? And this leads to the noble outburst in vers. 6-10. Not by sacrifice and offering, not by a mere legal and formal obedience, but by complete devotion of the inner man as regards himself (vers. 6-8), and constant proclamation of God"s goodness as regards others (vers. 9, 10). The strain then changes. Although recently delivered from some great peril, the psalmist is still encompassed by sufferings and dangers. There are sin and infirmity within (ver. 12), there are cruel enemies without (vers. 14, 15). He therefore (in vers. 11-17) betakes himself to humble supplication for himself (vers. 11, 13, 17) and for the godly generally (ver. 16), that God will be their Helper and Defender, and, above all, will "make no tarrying" (ver. 17).
The author of the psalm, according to the title, was David, and no argument of the least weight has been brought against this view. The occasion may be conjectured to have been his restoration to his throne after the brief usurpation of Absalom. Absalom"s aiders and abettors may be alluded to in ver. 4, and the remnant of his party in ver. 14.
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The psalm falls into three portions:
(1) the introduction (vers. 1-3);
(2) praise of God and promise of obedience (vers. 4-10);
(3) prayer to God (vers. 11-17).
I waited patiently for the Lord; literally, waiting, 1 waited a common Hebrew idiom, when an idea is to be emphasized. No writer enforces upon us more earnestly than David the duty of awaiting God"s pleasure. (Psa_27:14 Psa_37:7 Psa_62:1, 5 69:3, etc.) And he inclined unto me; literally, bent towards me an anthropomorphism, but most expressive. And heard my cry; i.e. answered it gave me what I prayed for.
HOMILIES BY C. CLEMANCE Vers. 1-10. Out of the pit arid on the rock: a song of praise.
The title of the psalm indicates that it is one of David"s: against that no adequate argument has been raised. Therefore, as David"s we regard it. We are called on to a treatment of it in three several topics. In this, the first, we look at it as a song of praise for delivering mercy for delivering mercy experienced by the psalmist himself, who, having written this grateful hymn, hands it "to the chief musician" for use in sanctuary service. Where can our notes of praise for Divine interposition be more appropriately sung than in the fellowship of the saints in the house of the Lord? We are left in doubt, indeed, as to whether the help thus celebrated was temporal or spiritual. Either way, the progression of thought in these ten verses is the same. For homiletical purposes we can scarcely let our remarks run on both lines at once. We shall, therefore, confine our thoughts to one kind of deliverance, viz. that from spiritual distress; while a pulpit expositor will find the progression of thought equally appropriate, should he desire to use it to incite to praise for temporal mercy. But our present theme ispraise for delivering grace.
I HERE IS A CASE OF SORE DISTRESS. (Ver. 2) "A horrible pit;" "the miry clay." Two very striking expressions, which may well represent, figuratively, the wretchedness and peril of a man who is deep down in the mire of sin and guilt, and on whose conscience the load of guilt presses so heavily, that he seems to be sinking to have no standing; as if he must soon be swallowed up in misery and despair.
II THE DISTRESS LEADS TO PRAYER. (Ver. 1) There was a "cry" sent up to God for help. And this help seemed long delayed. There was a prolonged waiting in agony of prayer, that deliverance would come. The Hebrew is not exactly, "I waited patiently," but "waiting, I waited," signifying "I waited long." He who, broken down under conviction of sin, pleads with God for mercy, and will not let him go except he blesses him, such a one shall never wait in vain.
III PRAYER IS ANSWERED, AND DELIVERING GRACE IS VOUCHSAFED. (Ver. 2) How great the change! From sinking in a pit, the psalmist is lifted up and set upon a rock] How apt and beautiful the figure to set forth the change in the penitent"s position, when, after being weighed down by sin, he is lifted up and set firmly on the Rock of Ages!
IV HENCE THERE IS A NEW SONG IN THE MOUTH. (Ver. 3) How often do we read of a new song! The song of redeeming grace is new, superadded to the song of creation. It will be ever new; whether on earth or in heaven, it can never grow old, it can lose none of its freshness and glory!
V AS THE RESULT, THERE IS A TWOFOLD EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE.
1. Surrender of will, heart, life, and all, to God. (Vers. 6-8) "In the roll of the book" it was prescribed that Israel"s king was to fulfil the will of God, and that such fulfilment of the will of God was more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Note: The doctrine here expressed is no mark of a later date than David. (see 1Sa 12 1Sa_15:22 Ps 1 Psa_51:16 Isa_1:11 Jer_7:21 Hos_6:6 Mic_6:1-8)
2. The proclamation of Gods mercy before men. (Vers. 9, 10) There is nothing like the experience of "grace abounding to the chief of sinners," to give power in speaking for God. He who having been first "in the pit," then "on his knees," then "on the Rock," is the man who will have power when he stands "in the pulpit. C.
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH Vers. 1-17. Grace and gratitude.
"Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord, look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged." So said the prophet, (Isa_51:1) and it is good for us betimes to follow this counsel. It will not only teach us humility, but bind us more firmly in love and gratitude to God. It is the depth that proves the height. It is the misery that measures the mercy. It is by the utterness of the ruin that we realize the completeness of the restoration. It is by contemplating the gloom and horrors of the abyss into which we had sunk through sin, that we can best comprehend the wonders of the redemption wrought for us through Jesus Christ. The psalmist dwells upon two things.
I WHAT GOD HAD DONE FOR HIS SERVANT. "Pit;" "clay." These images mark:
1. The greatness of the danger. The pit was "horrible," gloomy and terrible, the place of certain destruction if no help came. (Gen_37:24-27) The clay is called "retry," to indicate that there was no solidity nothing but a foul, seething mass, where no rest could be found. (Jer_38:6)
2. The greatness of the deliverance. It was free in God"s time (ver. 1); complete (ver. 2); joy-inspiring (ver. 3); morally influential (ver. 4); prophetical, typifying and giving promise of many other "wonderful works" of God. (ver. 5; cf. Paul, 1Ti_1:16) It should also be noticed that the deliverance was wrought out
(1) in harmony with eternal righteousness. King Darius was bent on saving Daniel from the den of lions, and "Laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him;" but in vain. The law was against him. The decree which he himself had established bound his hands. He could do nothing. (Dan_6:14-17) But the King of kings is a just God and a Saviour. (Isa_42:21 Rom_3:25, Rom_3:26) Also in harmony with man"s freedom. there is a certain order in the method. Man can do nothing without God, but God will do nothing without man. We are made willing in the day of his power. First there is the cry; then the hearing; then the lifting up; then the setting upon the rock; then the new song and the new service, as the outflow and the expression of the new heart. "By grace are ye saved, through faith". (Eph_2:4-10 Rom_8:29, Rom_8:30)
II WHAT HIS SERVANT WOULD DO FOR GOD. "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord?" is the question of the prophet; and he gives the answer, "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what cloth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?". (Mic_6:6-8) The same great truth had been taught long before by Samuel, "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice". (1Sa_15:22)
1. The sacrifice of the will. Without this all else is vain. There is death, not life; the letter, but not the spirit; the form of godliness, but not the power.
2. The obedience of the life. Whatever way we interpret the obscure phrase, "Mine ears hast thou opened," the meaning seems to be the free and complete surrender of the soul to God. The right disposition leads to the life-devotion. (Rom_12:1 2Co_5:14, 2Co_5:15)
3. The thanksgiving of the heart. Both privately and publicly, in our daffy life before God and before men, we are to serve in the spirit of love and joy. Amidst all the changes and chances of our mortal state, we should continue faithful to him who hath called us that we might show forth his praise. Thus we shall have part with these saints of God"Who carry music in their heart, Through dusky lane and wrangling mart, Plying their daily task with busier feet, Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat? W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-10. Thanksgiving and prayer.
The first part (vers. 1-10) is a thanksgiving, the second part a prayer. The situation is that of one who, on one side, set free from a heavy affliction, is still oppressed on the other. We have all ground for thanksgiving for the past, and for prayer for the present and future. This section may be divided thus: what God had done fur the psalmist and for his country; and what the psalmist had done for God.
I WHAT GOD HAD DONE.
1. For the psalmist.
(1) Delivered him from threatened destruction into great safety. The specific nature of the salvation is not mentioned, But it suggests and describes what Christ dyes in the deliverance of the man who trusts in him, the greatness of the salvation.
(2) The deliverance had filled him with grateful joy. "Put a new song into his mouth." Every new experience of the Divine love should rouse anew the spirit of thanksgiving; it is a new revelation of God"s mercy. His experience is, "Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust.
2. For the Hebrew people as a nation. (Ver. 5) Turns from the goodness of God towards himself to his larger manifestations of himself in the national history. His wonderful thoughts or purposes, and his wonderful deeds on behalf of Israel, are too great and too manifold to be enumerated. But we turn to what God is doing for the world, and say, "God so loved the world," etc.; not only our country, but the whole world. How great a Worker and Thinker God is for the whole universe!
II WHAT THE PSALMIST HAD DONE FOR GOD. (Vers. 6-10) To manifest his gratitude.
1. By his deeds. (Vers. 6-8)
(1) He gives obedience to his Law, instead of seeking to please him by sacrifice. God had opened his ears to hear and his eyes to read his will as prescribed to him in the roll of his book. Obedience better than any ceremonial observance.
(2) His obedience was thus not only intelligent, but came from the heart. The Law was in his heart; he loved obedience.
2. By his words. (Vers. 9, 10) Unwearied in proclaiming to others what Jehovah had done for him.
(1) What he preached. The righteousness, faithfulness, and loving-kindness of God. He preached what he saw in his own history and the history of the nation.
(2) Gratitude gave him courage openly to declare God"s goodness. If he had been ungrateful, or had wanted courage, he might have been tempted to hide God"s dealings among the secrets of his private experience. Every man"s duty to profess his convictions; and to declare that he is on the side of Christ and the Church. S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Title. To the Chief Musician. Well might so exceedingly…
Title. To the Chief Musician. Well might so exceedingly precious a Psalm be specially committed to the most skilled of the sacred musicians. The noblest music should be made tributary to a subject so incomparable. The dedication shows that the song was intended for public worship, and was not a merely personal hymn, as its being in the first person singular might lead us to suppose. A Psalm of David. This is conclusive as to the authorship: lifted by the Holy Spirit into the region of prophecy, David was honoured to write concerning a far greater than himself.
Subject. Jesus is evidently here, and although it might not be a violent wresting of language to see both David and his Lord, both Christ and the church, the double comment might involve itself in obscurity, and therefore we shall let the sun shine even though this should conceal the stars. Even if the New Testament were not so express upon it, we should have concluded that David spoke of our Lord in Ps 40:6-9, but the apostle in Heb 10:5-9, puts all conjecture out of court, and confines the meaning to him who came into the world to do the Father's will.
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Division. From Ps 40:1-3, is a personal thanksgiving, followed by a general declaration of Jehovah's goodness to his saints, Ps 40:4-5. In Ps 40:6-10, we have an avowal of dedication to the Lord's will; Ps 40:11-17, contains a prayer for deliverance from pressing trouble, and for the overthrow of enemies.
Ver. 1. I waited patiently for the Lord. Patient waiting upon God was a special characteristic of our Lord Jesus. Impatience never lingered in his heart, much less escaped his lips. All through his agony in the garden, his trial of cruel mockings before Herod and Pilate, and his passion on the tree, he waited in omnipotence of patience. No glance of wrath, no word of murmuring, no deed of vengeance came from God's patient Lamb; he waited and waited on; was patient, and patient to perfection, far excelling all others who have according to their measure glorified God in the fires. Job on the dunghill does not equal Jesus on the cross. The Christ of God wears the imperial crown among the patient. Did the Only Begotten wait, and shall we be petulant and rebellious? And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. Neither Jesus the head, nor any one of the members of his body, shall ever wait upon the Lord in vain. Mark the figure of inclining, as though the suppliant cried out of the lowest depression, and condescending love stooped to hear his feeble moans. What a marvel is it that our Lord Jesus should have to cry as we do, and wait as we do, and should receive the Father's help after the same process of faith and pleading as must be gone through by ourselves! The Saviour's prayers among the midnight mountains and in Gethsemane expound this verse. The Son of David was brought very low, but he rose to victory; and here he teaches us how to conduct our conflicts so as to succeed after the same glorious pattern of triumph. Let us arm ourselves with the same mind; and panoplied in patience, armed with prayer, and girt with faith, let us maintain the Holy War.
Whole Psalm. David's Psalm, or, a Psalm of David;but David's name is here set first, which elsewhere commonly is last: or A Psalm concerning David, that is Christ, who is called David in the prophets: Ho 3:5 Jer 30:9 Eze 34:23 32:24. Of him this Psalm entreateth as the apostle teacheth, Heb 10:5-6, etc. Henry Ainsworth.
Whole Psalm. It is plain, from Ps 40:6-8 of this Psalm, compared with Heb 10:5, that the prophet in speaking in the person of Christ, who, Ps 40:1-5, celebrates the deliverance wrought for his mystical body, the church, by his resurrection from the grave, effecting that of his members from the guilt and dominion of sin; for the abolition of which he declareth, Ps 40:6-8, the inefficacy of the legal sacrifices, and mentions his own inclination to do the will of his Father, and Ps 40:9-10, to preach righteousness to the world. Ps 40:11-13. He represents himself as praying, while under his sufferings, for his own, and his people's salvation; he foretells, Ps 40:14-15, the confusion and desolation of his enemies, and, Ps 40:16, the joy and thankfulness of his disciples and servants; for the speedy accomplishment of which, Ps 40:17, he prefers a petition. George Horne.
Ver. 1. I waited patiently for the Lord: and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. I see that the Lord, suppose he drifts and delays the effect of his servant's prayer, and grants not his desire at the first, yet he hears him. I shall give a certain argument, whereby thou may know that the Lord heareth thee, suppose he delay the effect of thy prayers. Do you continue in prayer? Hast thou his strength given thee to persevere in suiting (petitioning for or praying for) anything? Thou may be assured he heareth; for this is one sure argument that he heareth thee, for naturally our impatience carrieth us to desperation; our suddenness is so great, specially in spiritual troubles, that we cannot continue in suiting. When thou, therefore, continues in suiting, thou may be sure that this strength is furnished of God, and cometh from heaven, and if thou have strength, he letteth thee see that he heareth thy prayer; and suppose he delay the effect and force thereof, yet pray continually. This doctrine is so necessary for the troubled conscience, that I think it is the meetest bridle in the Scripture to refrain our impatience; it is the meetest bit to hold us in continual exercise of patience; for if the heart understand that the Lord hath rejected our prayer altogether, it is not possible to continue in prayer; so when we know that the Lord heareth us, suppose he delay, let us crave patience to abide his good will. Robert Bruce, 1559-1631.
Ver. 1. I waited for the Lord. The infinitive (hwq) being placed first brings the action strongly out: I waited. This strong emphasis on the waiting, has the force of an admonition; it suggests to the sufferer that everything depends on waiting. E. W. Hengstenberg.
Ver. 1. I waited patiently: rather anxiously; the original has it, waiting I waited; a Hebraism which signifies vehement solicitude. Daniel Cresswell.
Ver. 1. I waited. The Saviour endureth his sufferings waitingly, as well as patiently and prayerfully. He "waited for the Lord." He expected help from Jehovah; and he waited for it until it came. James Frame, in "Christ and his Work: an Exposition of Psalm 40." 1869.
Ver. 1. Patiently. Our Lord's patience under suffering was an element of perfection in his work. Had he become impatient as we often do, and lost heart, his atonement would have been vitiated. Well may we rejoice that in the midst of all his temptations, and in the thickest of the battle against sin and Satan, he remained patient and willing to finish the work which his Father had given him to do. James Frame.
Ver. 1. Heard my cry. Our Saviour endured his sufferings prayerfully as well as patiently. James Frame.
Ver. 1.
1. My part praying and waiting.
2. God's part condescension and reply.
A Sermon upon the Fortieth Psalme, preached in the time of Public Fast; in "Sermons by the Rev. ROBERT BRUCE, Minister of Edinburgh, reprinted from the original edition of 1590, and 1591...Edinburgh: printed for the Wodrow Society. 1843."
Christ and his Work: an Exposition of Psalm 40. By JAMES FRAME,
1869.
Psalms 40:2*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1–3 I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined…
Psa_40:1-17
I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
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Waiting for the Lord
There is a Divine law of waiting which has an essential connection with the larger law of giving.
I. In waiting for god we discover our distance from him. God may be near us, and we far off from Him.
II. Waiting fosters the sense of a need which God alone can satisfy. The sense of the depth of guilt must be gained by sounding.
III. Waiting reveals the goodness of God. If the sinner reviews his life, the sense of the Divine mercies is blended by his sense of guilt. He sees the golden roll of the providences of his life. The goodness of God leads him to repentance.
IV. Waiting leads to a discrimination between the form and the spirit of religion (Psa_40:5-8). Every one who has come into covenant with God in his heart, and is now living in covenant with Him, has a book in his hand. It describes his duties and his rights in relation to God; and he promises to make it the guide of his life. As Christ engaged to fulfil the volume of the book as it applied to Him, so we engage to fulfil it as it applies to us.
V. Waiting shows us the importance of an open confession of God. The selfishness of sin is now revealed to us as the inner depth of its guilt. Will you, if God comes now and lifts you out of this pit, confess Him; will you try to live as a secret disciple, or will you publish what He has done for your soul; will you take a public position, and let your light shine? (Monday Club Sermons.)
The Christians patience
Patience, as it is not apathy, is not sluggishness, or indolence. There are circumstances which justify haste. For example, we do not walk, but rush out of a house on fire, or falling, a sudden ruin. Patient waiting for the Lord is quite consistent with boldness in design, and energy and promptitude in action; and only inconsistent with those unbelieving, impetuous, ungovernable, headstrong passions which breed impatience, and lead people be run before Providence instead of waiting on it. Of this let me give you two examples.
I. By contrast illustrate what it is to wait on the Lord.
1. Look at the conduct of Abraham. On his leaving Ur of the Chaldeans to wander a pilgrim in the land of Canaan, God had promised that he should become the father of a great nation. But though the father of the faithful, he formed an unhallowed alliance with an Egyptian; then, with terrible consequences following, he failed to wait patiently for the Lord.
2. Look at the conduct of Rebekah. The Lord had promised that to her younger son Jacob the covenant blessing should be given. But she could not see how this was to be, and so, becoming impatient, she takes steps to anticipate Gods time, and lays her hand on the wheel of Providence. Rash woman! she will hurry on the event, and so contrives that lie and deception on Isaac which blasted for ever their domestic peace. Rebekah and he ran before Providence; they did not wait patiently on the Lord.
II. Look at Davids own example of waiting on the Lord. A merchant in times of bad trade, or other trying circumstances, instead of trusting in God to bring him through his difficulties, or sustain him under them, has recourse to fraud; or a poor man, instead of trusting Providence with the supply of his wants, and committing his children to the care of Him who hears the young ravens cry, hard-pinched and pressed, puts out his hand to steal. But how often David was tempted to impatience. How long he had to wait ere the promise made to him was fulfilled. How faint his hope of ever reaching the throne appeared; yet David hoped in the Lord, and patiently waited Gods way to put him in possession of the kingdom.
III. Consider how we are patiently to wait on God.
1. We are to wait patiently on Providence in the common affairs of life. To the neglect of this may be attributed not a few of the failures that happen in business. People are impatient to get on in life; to acquire a competency; to be rich.
2. We are to wait patiently on God under the trials of life. He who went forth so magnanimously against Goliath turns pale with fear before those who neither had the giants stature nor the giants strength. Where is now the man, whose faith rising with the trial, once said, He that delivered me from the paw of the lion and the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine! But he feigns madness, letting his spittle fall on his beard, playing himself off for a fool. What a contrast to the heroic trust of Daniel, who, after the night spent with the lions, into whose den he had been cast, was able to reply to the anxious king, My God hath sent His angel, and shut the lions mouths that they have not hurt me. And who wait on God piously, prayerfully, patiently in their trials, shall have the same tale to tell; the same experience--He will shut the lions mouths, that they shall not hurt them.
3. We are to wait patiently upon God to complete our sanctification. We cannot be too earnest, too diligent, but we may be too impatient. Take comfort! The kingdom of God cometh not with observation! The river may appear flowing away from the sea, when, but turning round the base of some opposing hill, it is pursuing an onward course. The ship may appear to be standing away from the harbour, when, beating up in the face of adverse winds, she is only stretching off on the other tack, and at every tack making progress shoreward, though to others than seamen she seems to lose it. It is star by star that the hosts of night march out; it is minute by minute that we grow in other things. Here also, then, let us wait patiently for the Lord. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Waiting for the Lord
Some may remember the feeling of disappointment with which in their youth they read the last line of Longfellows Psalm of Life. Learn to labour and to--wait. Any one could understand the difficulty of labour, but how easy if one had only to wait t But experience has taught us a great lesson, that all labour is light compared with the labour, the stress, the suspense and weariness of waiting. The word patiently is not in the Hebrew, but it is implied. Such waiting is full of heroic elements--fortitude, resignation, faith, expectation, perseverance. As long as anything can be gained by effort it will be active, for it is too earnest to sit and rest when it should stand and work; but when the desired good is something beyond its reach, when personal exertion proves unavailing and help from others is impossible, then its agitation will be calmed and its hope invigorated by its determination to wait patiently for the Lord. There are exigencies in life when comfort can come from no other source. The providences of God are often so dark and full of seeming menace that the soul perturbed by them is like the ship in which Paul sailed when no small tempest lay on it, and when for many days neither sun nor star appeared. A drifting soul is in more jeopardy than a drifting ship. Again, patient waiting for the Lord gives solace and strength to the Christian when disheartened by the slow growth of his own spiritual life. Such dissatisfaction with self, when accompanied by longing for a more entire conformity to the Divine image, is the sure evidence of a gracious state, though it be not recognized by the subject of it. To eradicate all that is dark and defiling from the soul, and to cultivate the plants of righteousness until they are laden with their mellow clusters, require not only diligence but time. Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth, etc. So, too, wait patiently for the Lord when discouraged because you see so little fruit of your labour (Psa_126:6). (M. D. Hoge, D. D.)
Reminiscences of a godly life
I. He recollects his personal devotion.
1. The nature of his religious exercise. He waited patiently for the Lord; it was the habit of his soul.
(1) Belief in the Divine existence.
(2) Sense of dependency upon God.
(3) An expectation of good from the Almighty.
2. The result of his religious exercise. He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He came near to me. It is the prayer of the whole life that the Almighty hears and answers. It is not a spasmodic shriek, it is a settled, sacred state of being (Isa_57:15).
II. He recollects divine interpositions. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit. The spiritual state of truly good men.
1. It is a Divinely restored state. From what a wretched state has the sinner been delivered.
(1) State of darkness--a pit. The sun that bathes the world in its brightness breaks not the dense gloom of the pit.
(2) Misery--horrible pit--cold, black, dense, tumultuous.
(3) Helplessness. Miry clay--ever sinking into mud of moral corruption, all the faculties of being submerged and held fast.
2. It is a Divinely established state. Hast set my feet upon a rock.
(1) His intellect is established in truth.
(2) His heart is established in love.
(3) His purpose is established in conduct.
3. It is a Divinely progressive state. He has established my goings. Onward! is the watchword of the godly man. The point reached to-day is the starting-point for to-morrow.
4. It is a Divinely happy state. He hath put a new song in my mouth. Godliness is happiness.
5. It is a Divinely influential state. Many shall see it and fear.
(1) Godliness is conspicuous. You cannot conceal the true light.
(2) Godliness is reverenced. And fear.
(3) Godliness is blest. He who lives a godly life becomes unconsciously the influence of bringing others to God.
III. He recollects the happiness of religion (Psa_40:4).
1. True religion is trusting in the Lord, not in man.
2. True religion, because of this, is ever connected with blessedness.
(1) Reason shows this.
(2) History shows this.
(3) Consciousness shows this.
IV. He recollects general interventions of mercy. Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works, etc.
1. They are wonderful. Wonderful in their variety, condescension, forbearing and compassionate love.
2. They are intelligent--not accidental, capricious or impulsive. They are the results and embodiment of thought. All Gods works are thoughts in action.
3. They are innumerable. Can you count the sands on the sea-shore, or the drops that make up the ocean? Then you may sum up the mercies of God to you. (Homilist.)
Patient waiting
It would be far easier, I apprehend, for nine men out of ten to join a storming party trying to take the citadel of the enemy than to lie on a rack or hang on a cross without repining. Yes, patience is a strength; and patience means not merely strength, but wisdom in exercising it. We, the creatures of a day, make one of the nearest approaches that is possible for us to the life of God. St. Augustine has finely said of God, Patiens quia aeternus (Because He lives for ever He can afford to wait). The greatest heroes among men are they who wait patiently. (Canon Liddon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Psalms 40
Psalms 40
THE closing verses of this psalm reappear with slight changes as an independent whole in Psalms 70. The question arises whether that is a fragment or this a conglomerate. Modern opinion inclines to the latter alternative, and points in support to the obvious change of tone in the second part. But that change does not coincide with the supposed line of junction, since Psalms 70 begins with our Psa_40:13, and the change begins with Psa_40:12. Cheyne and others are therefore obliged to suppose that Psa_40:12 is the work of a third poet or compiler, who effected a junction thereby. The cumbrousness of the hypothesis of fusion is plain, and its necessity is not apparent, for it is resorted to in order to explain how a psalm which keeps so lofty a level of confidence at first should drop to such keen consciousness of innumerable evils and such faint-heartedness. But surely, such resurrection of apparently dead fears is not uncommon in devout, sensitive souls. They live beneath April skies, not unbroken blue. However many the wonderful works which God has done and however full of thankfulness the singers heart, his deliverance is not complete. The contrast in the two parts of the psalm is true to facts and to the varying aspects of feeling and of faith. Though the latter half gives greater prominence to encompassing evils, they appear but for a moment; and the prayer for deliverance which they force from the psalmist is as triumphant in faith as were the thanksgivings of the former part. In both the ground tone is that of victorious grasp of Gods help, which in the one is regarded in its mighty past acts, and in the other is implored and trusted in for present and future needs. The change of tone is not such as to demand the hypothesis of fusion: The unity is further supported by verbal links between the parts: e.g., the innumerable evils of Psa_40:12 pathetically correspond to the innumerable mercies of Psa_40:5, and the same word for "surpass" occurs in both verses; "be pleased" in Psa_40:13 echoes "Thy pleasure" (will, A.V.) in Psa_40:8; "cares" or thinks (A.V.) in Psa_40:17 is the verb from which the noun rendered purposes (thoughts, A.V.) in Psa_40:5 is derived.
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The attribution of the psalm to David rests solely on the superscription. The contents have no discernible points of connection with known circumstances in his or any other life. Jeremiah has been thought of as the author, on the strength of giving a prosaic literal meaning to the obviously poetical phrase "the pit of destruction" (Psa_40:2). If it is to be taken literally, what is to be made of the "rock" in the next clause? Baethgen and others see the return from Babylon in the glowing metaphors of Psa_40:2, and, in accordance with their conceptions of the evolution of spiritual religion, take the subordination of sacrifice to obedience as a clear token of late date. We may, however, recall 1Sa_15:22, and venture to doubt whether the alleged process of spiritualising has been so clearly established, and its stages dated, as to afford a criterion of the age of a psalm.
In the first part, the current of thought starts from thankfulness for individual deliverances (Psa_40:1-3); widens into contemplation of the blessedness of trust and the riches of Divine mercies (Psa_40:4-5); moved by these and taught what is acceptable to God, it rises to self-consecration as a living sacrifice (Psa_40:6-8); and, finally, pleads for experience of Gods grace in all its forms on the ground of past faithful stewardship in celebrating these (Psa_40:9-11). The second part is one long-drawn cry for help, which admits of no such analysis, though its notes are various.
The first outpouring of the song is one long sentence, of which the clauses follow one another like sunlit ripples, and tell the whole process of the psalmists deliverance. It began with patient waiting; it ended with a new song. The voice first raised in a cry, shrill and yet submissive enough to be heard above, is at last tuned into new forms of uttering the old praise. The two clauses of Psa_40:1 ("I" and "He") set over against each other, as separated by the distance between heaven and earth, the psalmist and his God. He does not begin with his troubles, but with his faith. "Waiting, he waited" for Jehovah; and wherever there is that attitude of tense and continuous but submissive expectance, Gods attitude will be that of bending to meet it. The meek, upturned eye has power to draw His towards itself. That is an axiom of the devout life confirmed by all experience, even if the tokens of deliverance delay their coming. Such expectance, however patient, is not inconsistent with loud crying, but rather finds voice in it. Silent patience and impatient prayer, in too great a hurry to let God take His own time, are equally imperfect. But the cry, "Haste to my help" (Psa_40:13), and the final petition, "My God, delay not," are consistent with true waiting.
The suppliant and God have come closer together in Psa_40:2, which should not be regarded as beginning a new sentence. As in Psalms 18, prayer brings God down to help. His hand reaches to the man prisoned in a pit or struggling in a swamp; he is dragged out, set on a rock, and feels firm ground beneath his feet. Obviously the whole representation is purely figurative, and it is hopelessly flat and prosaic to refer it to Jeremiahs experience. The "many waters" of Psalms 18 are a parallel metaphor. The dangers that threatened the psalmist are described as "a pit of destruction," as if they were a dungeon into which whosoever was thrown would come out no more, or in which, like a wild beast, he has been trapped. They are also likened to a bog or quagmire, in which struggles only sink a man deeper. But the edge of the bog touches rock, and there is firm footing and unhindered walking (here, if only some great lifting power can drag the sinking man out. Gods hand can, and does, because the lips, almost choked with mire, could yet cry. The psalmists extremity of danger was probably much more desperate than is usual in such conditions as ours, so that his cries seem too piercing for us to make our own; but the terrors and conflicts of humanity are nearly constant quantities, though the occasions calling them forth are widely different. If we look deeper into life than its surface, we shall learn that it is not violent "spiritualising" to make these utterances the expression of redeeming grace, since in truth there is but one or other of these two possibilities open for us. Either we flounder in a bottomless bog, or we have our feet on the Rock.
Gods deliverance gives occasion for fresh praise. The psalmist has to add his voice to the great chorus, and this sense of being but one of a multitude, who have been blessed alike and therefore should bless alike, occasions the significant interchange in Psa_40:3 of "my" and "our," which needs no theory of the speaker being the nation to explain it. It is ever a joy to the heart swelling with the sense of Gods mercies to be aware of the many who share the mercies and gratitude. The cry for deliverance is a solo: the song of praise is choral. The psalmist did not need to be hidden to praise; a new song welled from his lips as by inspiration. Silence was more impossible to his glad heart than even to his sorrow. To shriek for help from the bottom of the pit and to be dumb when lifted to the surface is a churls part.
Though the song was new in this singers mouth, as befitted a recipient of deliverances fresh from heaven, the theme was old; but each new voice individualises the commonplaces of religious experience, and repeats them as fresh. And the result of one mans convinced and jubilant voice, giving novelty to old truths because he has verified them in new experiences, will be that "many shall see," as though they behold the deliverance of which they hear, "and shall fear" Jehovah and trust themselves to Him. It was not the psalmists deliverance, but his song, that was to be the agent in this extension of the fear of Jehovah. All great poets have felt that their words would win audience and live. Thus, even apart from consciousness of inspiration, this lofty anticipation of the effect of his words is intelligible, without supposing that their meaning is that the signal deliverance of the nation from captivity would spread among heathens and draw them to Israels faith.
The transition from purely personal experience to more general thoughts is completed in Psa_40:4-5. Just as the psalmist began with telling of his own patient expectance and thence passed on to speak of Gods help, so in these two verses he sets forth the same sequence in terms studiously cast into the most comprehensive form. Happy indeed are they who can translate their own experience into these two truths for all men: that trust is blessedness and that Gods mercies are one long sequence, made up of numberless constituent parts. To have these for ones inmost convictions and to ring them out so clearly and melodiously that many shall be drawn to listen, and then to verify them by their own "seeing," is one reward of patient waiting for Jehovah. That trust must be maintained by resolute resistance to temptations to its opposite. Hence the negative aspect of trust is made prominent in Psa_40:4 b, in which the verb should be rendered "turns not" instead of "respecteth not," as in the A.V. and R.V. The same motion, looked at from opposite sides, may be described in turning to and turning from. Forsaking other confidences is part of the process of making God ones trust. But it is significant that the antithesis is not completely carried out, for those to whom the trustful heart does not turn are not here, as might have been expected, rival objects of trust, but those who put their own trust in false refuges. "The proud" are the class of arrogantly self-reliant people who feel no need of anything but their own strength to lean on. "Deserters to a lie" are those who tail away from Jehovah to put their trust in any creature, since all refuges but Himself will fail. Idols may be included in this thought of a lie, but it is unduly limited if confined to them. Much rather it takes in all false grounds of security. The antithesis fails in accuracy, for the sake of putting emphasis on the prevalence of such mistaken trust, which makes it so much the harder to keep aloof from the multitudes and stand alone in reliance on Jehovah.
Psa_40:5 corresponds with Psa_40:4, in that it sets forth in similar generality the great deeds with which God is wont to answer mans trust. But the personality of the poet breaks very beautifully through the impersonal utterances at two points: once when he names Jehovah as "my God," thus claiming his separate share in the general mercies and his special bond of connection with the Lover of all; and once when he speaks of his own praises, thus recognising the obligation of individual gratitude for general blessings. Each particle of finely comminuted moisture in the rainbow has to flash back the broad sunbeam at its own angle. Gods "wonders and designs" are "realised Divine thoughts and Divine thoughts which are gradually being realised" (Delitzsch). These are wrought and being wrought in multitudes innumerable, and as the psalmist sees the bright, unbroken beams pouring forth from their inexhaustible source, he breaks into an exclamation of adoring wonder at the incomparable greatness of the ever-giving God. "There is none to set beside Thee" is far loftier and more accordant with the tone of the verse than the comparatively flat and incongruous remark that Gods mercies cannot be told to him (A.V. and R.V). A precisely similar exclamation occurs in Psa_71:19, in which Gods incomparable greatness is deduced from the great things which He has done. Happy the singer who has an inexhaustible theme! He is not silenced by the consciousness of the inadequacy of his songs, but rather inspired to the never-ending, ever-beginning, joyful task of uttering some new fragment of that transcendent perfection. Innumerable wonders wrought should be met-by ever-new songs. If they cannot be counted, the more reason for open-eyed observance of them as they come, and for a stream of praise as unbroken as is their bright continuance. If Gods mercies thus baffle enumeration and beggar praise, the question naturally rises, "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits?" Therefore the next turn of thought shows the psalmist as reaching the lofty spiritual conception that heartfelt delight in Gods will is the true response to Gods wonders of love. He soars far above external rites as well as servile obedience to unloved authority, and proclaims the eternal and ultimate truth that what God delights in is mans delight in His will. The great words which rang the knell of Sauls kingship may well have sounded in his successors spirit. Whether they are the source of the language of our psalm or not, they are remarkably similar. "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams," {1Sa_15:23} teaches precisely the same lesson as Psa_40:6-8 of this psalm. The strong negation in Psa_40:6 does not deny the Divine institution of the sacrificial law, but affirms that something much deeper than external sacrifices is the real object of Gods desire. The negation is made emphatic by enumerating the chief kinds of sacrifice. Whether they are bloody or bloodless, whether meant to express consecration or to effect reconciliation, they are none of them the true sacrifices of God. In Psa_40:6 the psalmist is entirely occupied with Gods declarations of His requirements; and he presents these in a remarkable fashion, intercalating the clause, "Ears hast Thou pierced for me," between the two parallel clauses in regard to sacrifice. Why should the connection be thus broken? The fact that God has endowed the psalmist with capacity to apprehend the Divine speech reveals Gods desire concerning him. Just because he has ears to hear, it is clear that God wishes him to hear, and therefore that outward acts of worship cannot be the acknowledgment of mercies in which God delights. The central clause of the verse is embedded in the others, because it deals with a Divine act which, pondered, will be seen to establish their teaching. The whole puts in simple, concrete form a wide principle namely that the possession of capacity for receiving communications of Gods will im poses the duty of loving reception and obedience, and points to inward joyful acceptance of that will as the purest kind of worship.
Psa_40:7 and Psa_40:8 are occupied with the response to Gods requirements thus manifested by His gift of capacity to hear His voice. "Then said I" As soon as he had learned the meaning of his ears he found the right use of his tongue. The thankful heart was moved to swift acceptance of the known will of God. The clearest recognition of His requirements may coexist with resistance to them, and needs the impulse of loving contemplation of Gods unnumbered wonders to vivify it into glad service. "Behold, I am come," is the language of a servant entering his masters presence in obedience to his call. In Psa_40:7 the second clause interrupts just as in Psa_40:6. There the interruption spoke of the organ of receiving Divine messages as to duty; here it speaks of the messages themselves: "In the roll of the book is my duty prescribed for me." The promise implied in giving ears is fulfilled by giving a permanent written law. This man, having ears to hear, has heard, and has not only heard, but welcomed into the inmost recesses of his heart and will, the declared will of God. The word rendered "delight" in Psa_40:8 is the same as is rendered "desire" in Psa_40:6 (A.V); and that rendered by the A.V. and R.V. in Psa_40:8 "will" is properly "good pleasure." Thus Gods delight and mans coincide. Thankful love assimilates the creatures will with the Divine, and so changes tastes and impulses that desire and duty are fused into one. The prescriptions of the book become the delight of the heart. An inward voice directs "Love, and do what Thou wilt"; for a will determined by love cannot but choose to please its Beloved. Liberty consists in freely willing and victoriously doing what we ought, and such liberty belongs to hearts whose supreme delight is to please the God whose numberless wonders have won their love and made their thanksgivings poor. The law written in the heart was the ideal even when a law was written on tables of stone. It was the prophetic promise for the Messianic age. It is fulfilled in the Christian life in the measure of its genuineness. Unless the heart delights in the law, acts of obedience count for very little.
The quotation of Psa_40:7-8, in Heb_10:5-7, is mainly, from the LXX, which has the remarkable rendering of Psa_40:6 b, "A body hast Thou prepared for me." Probably this is meant as paraphrase rather than as translation; and it does represent substantially the idea of the original, since the body is the instrument for fulfilling, just as the ear is the organ for apprehending, the uttered will of God. The value of the psalm for the writer of Hebrews does not depend on that clause, but on the whole representation which it gives of the ideal of the perfectly righteous servants true worship, as involving the setting aside of sacrifice and the decisive pre-eminence of willing obedience. That ideal is fulfilled in Jesus, and really pointed onwards to Him. This use of the quotation does not imply the directly Messianic character of the psalm.
"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," and thus the passage is easy from inward delight in Gods will to public declaration of His character. Every true lover of God is a witness of His sweetness to the world. Since the psalmist had His law hidden in the depths of his being, be could not "hide" His righteousness within his heart, but must magnify it with his tongue. That is a feeble and doubtful love which knows no necessity of utterance. To "love and be silent" is sometimes imperative, but always burdensome; and a heart happy in its love cannot choose but ripple out in music of speech. The psalmist describes himself as a messenger of glad tidings, a true evangelist. The multiplicity of names for the various aspects of Gods character and acts which he heaps together in these verses serves to indicate their manifoldness which he delighted to contemplate, and his long, loving familiarity with them. He sets his treasure in all lights, and views it from all points, as a man will turn a jewel in his hand and get a fresh flash from every facet. "Righteousness," the good news that the Ruler of all is inflexibly just, with a justice which scrupulously meets all creatures needs and becomes penal and awful only to the rejectors of its tender aspect; "faithfulness," the inviolable adherence to every promise; "salvation," the actual fulness of deliverance and well-being flowing from these attributes; "lovingkindness" and "troth," often linked together as expressing at once the warmth and the unchangeableness of the Divine heart-these have been the psalmists themes. Therefore they are his hope; and he is sure that, as he has been their singer, they will be his preservers. Psa_40:11 is not prayer, but bold confidence. It echoes the preceding verse, since "I did not restrain" (Psa_40:9) corresponds with "Thou wilt not restrain," and "Thy lovingkindness and Thy troth" with the mention of the same attributes in Psa_40:10. The psalmist is not so much asserting his claims as giving voice to his faith. He does not so much think that his utterance is deserving of remuneration as that Gods character makes impossible the supposition that he, who had so loved and sung His great name in its manifold glories, should find that name unavailing in his hour of need.
There is an undertone of such felt need even in the confidence of Psa_40:11; and it becomes dominant from Psa_40:12-17, but not so as to overpower the clear note of trust. The difference between the two parts of the psalm is great, but is not to be exaggerated as if it were contrariety. In the former part thanksgiving for deliverance from dangers recently past predominates: in the latter, petition for deliverance from dangers still threatening: but in both the psalmist is exercising the same confidence; and if in the beginning he hymns the praises of God who brought him out of the pit of destruction, in the end he keeps firm hold of Him as His "Help and Deliverer." Similarly, while in the first portion he celebrates the "purposes which are to usward," in the latter he is certain that, needy as he is, Jehovah has "purposes" of kindness to him. The change of tone is not so complete as to negative the original unity, and surely it is not difficult to imagine a situation in which both halves of the psalm should be appropriate. Are there any deliverances in this perilous and incomplete life so entire and permanent that they leave no room for future perils? Must not prevision of coming dangers accompany thankfulness for past escapes? Our Pharaohs are seldom drowned in the Red Sea, and we do not often see their corpses stretched on the sand. The change of tone, of which so much use is made as against the original unity of the psalm, begins with Psa_40:12 : but that verse has a very strong and beautiful link of connection with the previous part, in the description of besetting evils as innumerable. Both words of Psa_40:5 are repeated, that for "surpass" or "are more than" in Psa_40:12 c, that for "number" in a. The heart that has felt how innumerable are Gods thoughts and deeds of love is not utterly reduced to despair, even while it beholds a sea of troubles rolling its white-crested billows shoreward as far as the horizon. The sky stretches beyond them, and the true numberlessness of Gods mercies outdoes the great yet really limited range of apparently numberless sins or sorrows, the consequences of sin. "Mine iniquities have overtaken me" like pursuing foes, and every calamity that held him in its grip was a child of a sin of his. Such consciousness of transgression is not inconsistent with "delight in the law of God after the inward man," as Paul found out, {Rom_7:22-23} but it sets aside the attempt to make this a directly Messianic psalm. "I am not able to see." Such is the only possible rendering, for there is no justification for translating the simple word by "look up." Either the crowd of surrounding calamities prevent the psalmist from seeing anything but themselves, or, more probably, the failure of vital power accompanying his sorrow dims his vision. {Psa_38:10}
From Psa_40:13 onward Psalms 70 repeats this psalm, with unimportant verbal differences. The first of these is the omission of "Be pleased" in Psa_40:13, which binds this second part to the first, and points back to "Thy pleasure" (Psa_40:8). The prayer for the confusion of enemies closely resembles that in Psalms 35, Psa_40:14 being almost identical with Psa_40:4 and Psa_35:26 there, and Psa_40:15 recalling Psa_35:21 of that psalm. The prayer that enemies may fail in their designs is consistent with the most Christlike spirit, and nothing more is asked by the psalmist, but the tinge of satisfaction with which he dwells on their discomfiture, however natural, belongs to the less lofty moral standard of his stage of revelation. He uses extraordinarily forcible words to paint their bewilderment and mortification-may they blush, turn pale, be driven back, be as if paralysed with shame at their baffled malice! The prayer for the gladness of Gods servants and seekers is like Psa_35:27. It asks that fruition as complete as the disappointment of the foesmay be the lot of those whose desires set towards God, and it is prophecy as well as prayer. Seekers after God ever find Him, and are more joyful in possession than they hoped to be while seeking. He alone never eludes search, nor ever disappoints attainment. They who long for His salvation will receive it; and their reception will fill their hearts so full of blessedness that their lips will not be able to refrain from ever-new outbursts of the old praise, "The Lord be magnified."
Very plaintively and touchingly does the low sigh of personal need follow this triumphant intercession for the company of the saints. Its triple elements blend in one believing aspiration, which is not impatience, though it pleads for swift help. "I am afflicted and needy"; there the psalmist turns his eye on his own sore necessity. "Jehovah has purposes for me"; there he turns to God, and links his final petitions with his earlier trust by the repetition of the word by which he described (Psa_40:5) the many gracious designs of God. "My God, delay not"; there he embraces both in one act of faithful longing. His need calls for, and Gods loving counsels ensure, swift response. He who delights when an afflicted and poor man calls Him "my God" will not be slack to vindicate His servants confidence, and magnify His own name. That appeal goes straight to the heart of God.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Superscription: “To the Chief Musician, a Psalm of David.”
INTRODUCTION
Superscription: “To the Chief Musician, a Psalm of David.”
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The psalm is addressed to “the Chief Musician,” that he might set it to music for use in public worship. We have no means of determining on what occasion the psalm was written. It does not come within our province to enter into the disputed question of the Messianic character of the psalm. The different opinions which are held on this question are stated by Barnes in loco, and by Professor Stuart in his “Commentary on Hebrews” (Excursus xx.). Both these writers advocate their own view at considerable length. See also Hengstenberg’s Introduction to this psalm. One thing, perhaps, we ought to say, viz., that on the theory adopted by Barnes, “that the psalm had an original and exclusive reference to the Messiah,” it seems to us impossible legitimately and satisfactorily to interpret it.
Homiletically, we shall view the psalm thus:—The Lord’s doings for His servant (Psa_40:1-6); The servant’s offering to his Lord (Psa_40:6-10); and, The servant’s prayer to his Lord (Psa_40:11-17).
THE LORD’S DOINGS FOR HIS SERVANT
(Psa_40:1-5.)
In these verses, we have—
I. A sad situation. The Psalmist represents himself as having been in “an horrible pit,” and in “miry clay.” The situation was one of
1. Darkness. בּוֹר = a pit, a prison, a dungeon, a grave, a deep well. It implies darkness. The sun may be flooding the world with his beams, but in the pit all is midnight darkness. The figure may be used to set forth a state of sin or a state of deep sorrow. Both these states are frequently represented in Scripture by “darkness.” “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light,” &c. “When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.” To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light,” &c “The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.” Et al.
2. Distress. “An horrible pit.” “The word rendered horrible, שָׁאוֹן means properly noise, uproar, tumult, as of waters: of a crowd of men; of war. De Wette understands it here of a pit, a cavern, or an abyss that roars and is tumultuous; that is, that is impassable. Perhaps this is the idea,—a cavern, deep and dark, where the waters roar, and which seems to be filled with horrors.”—Barnes. Hengstenberg takes it to mean, “a deep of raging waters,” “a roaring deep.” In any case, the figure indicates distress. The poet was not only in darkness, but in misery also. Sin is wretchedness. Sin is hell.
3. Helplessness. The Psalmist was in the “miry clay,” the “slimy mud,” where there was no firm footing. He was totally unable to do anything to effect his own deliverance, for he was “sinking in deep mire, and could not stand.” The unrenewed sinner Is helpless in effecting his own deliverance from sin and its consequences. If some strong arm do not come to his rescue, he must continue to sink in the miry clay until he is hopelessly lost. Such is the sad situation of the sinner; his state is one of darkness, distress, helplessness.
II. A great salvation. “I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry,” &c. Of this salvation the poet points out that—
1. It was granted in answer to prayer. The Psalmist prayed. “He heard my cry.” In his darkness, wretchedness, and helplessness, David betook himself to prayer; and though the pit was deep—“a roaring deep”—yet the Lord heard his cry. From the deepest depth the faintest whisper of true prayer will reach to the throne of God, and receive audience of Him. The Psalmist waited. “I waited patiently for the Lord.” Margin: “In waiting I waited.” He continued to wait for the interposition of God. Many prayers are not answered because the suppliant does not wait for the answer—does not expect an answer. David persevered in prayer; he waited expecting the succour and salvation of God. That salvation did not come quickly; but he patiently waited, believing, hoping, praying, expecting its coming.
2. It was complete. “He brought me up also out of,” &c. We have here—
(1) Deliverance. The Psalmist was rescued from his wretched and perilous state. God delivers both from sin and misery all who sincerely seek Him.
(2) Elevation. “Set my feet upon a rock,” far above the waters of the roaring deep. God raises souls from darkness into light, from deep despair into exalted hope, &c.
(3) Establishment. “Set my feet upon a rock,” where I may find firm footing. “Established my goings.” Made my steps firm. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the rock on which the sinner may securely stand. On Him we may build our character, our hopes, &c.
(4) Invigoration. “Established my goings.” The Divine life is not stationary, but progressive. God delivers man from sin, and starts him on the road to holiness and heaven, and invigorates him to tread that road. “They go from strength to strength.” “We follow on to know the Lord.” God bids us “Go forward,” and gives us strength to do so,
3. It was joy-inspiring. “He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.” The Lord had given a new occasion for praise, and by filling the Psalmist’s heart with grateful gladness, had given him the disposition to offer fresh praises unto Him. Salvation is a joyous, a blessed thing. It tunes a man’s life to music. It fills his heart with music, and the world with beauty and song.
4. It was influential. “Many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”
(1) God’s doings on behalf of His people are manifest. “Many shall see.” When a man is converted the change is visible in his life.
(2) God’s doings on behalf of His people command reverence. “And fear.” The fear is reverential. Not dread, but veneration.
(3) God’s doings on behalf of His people encourage others to trust in Him. “And shall trust in the Lord.” As men mark the doings of God on behalf of His people, they have such exhibitions of His faithfulness and goodness and power as lead them in faith to seek His salvation. They see the workings of His grace in their lives, and are led to seek that grace for themselves. “They glorified God in me.” Do our lives testify to the power of Divine grace so that men through us are led to trust in Him?
III. A hearty celebration. The Psalmist celebrates—
1. The blessedness of the man who trusts in the Lord.
(1) He rejects every other object of confidence. “He respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.” Literally: “he looks not to the proud,” he does not expect help or blessing from them. Man, however strong and proud, is not an adequate object of confidence for any creature. He is liable to err, and may be deceived, and may be deceitful himself, and is therefore not sufficient as an object of trust. Neither as regards faithfulness and truth, nor as regards ability and strength, is man an adequate object of trust.
(2) He places his sole confidence in God. “Maketh the Lord his trust.” The Lord is ever mighty to save, and is faithful amid all changes. We may safely trust in Him. Trust in Him is blessed. He who trusts in Him shall never be put to shame, shall realise the most blessed security, shall find his highest expectations more than fulfilled, &c.
2. The wonderful doings of God for man (Psa_40:5). Matthew Henry’s notes on this verse are excellent “Many, Lord my God! are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done both for me and others; this is but one of many. Many are the benefits with which we are daily loaded, both by the providence and by the grace of God.
(1) They are His works, not only the gifts of His bounty, but the operations of His power. He works for us, He works in us, and thus He favours us with matter, not only for thanks, but for praise.
(2) They are His wonderful works, the contrivance of them admirable, His condescension to us in bestowing them upon us admirable; eternity itself will be short enough to be spent in the admiration of them.
(3) All His wonderful works are the product of His thoughts to us-ward. He does all according to the counsel of His own will (Eph_1:11), the purposes of His grace which He purposed in Himself (Eph_3:11). They are the projects of infinite wisdom, the designs of everlasting love (1Co_2:7; Jer_31:3), thoughts of good, and not of evil (Jer_29:11). His gifts and callings will therefore be without repentance, because they are not sudden resolves, but the result of His thoughts, His many thoughts, to us-ward.
(4) They are innumerable; they cannot be methodised, or ‘reckoned up in order.’ There is an order in all God’s works, but there are so many that present themselves to our view at once that we know not where to begin nor which to name next; the order of them and their natural references and dependencies, and how the links of the golden chain are joined, are a mystery to us, and what we shall not be able to account for till the veil be rent and the mystery of God finished. Nor can they be counted, not the very heads of them. When we have said the most we can of the wonders of Divine love to us, we must conclude with an et cœtera—and such like, and adore the depth, despairing to find the bottom.”
CONCLUSION.—
1. To those who have experienced this great salvation. Praise God in a new song, celebrate His glorious deeds, trust Him unfalteringly and fully, and let your life show forth His praise, that “many may see, and fear, and trust in the Lord.”
2. To those who are in the sad state of unrenewed sinners. Your condition is indeed deplorable and dangerous, Do you realise it as such? The Lord waits to rescue you from it. Cry unto Him, wait patiently for Him, and He will incline His ear and save you.
HOPE IN THE SADDEST SITUATION
(Psa_40:1-3.)
If some parts of this psalm are more applicable to the Messiah, other parts, undoubtedly, are more applicable to David. Of himself the Psalmist seems here more immediately to be speaking. Observe—
I. The situation he was in. This was sad indeed.
1. He was fallen low—in a “pit.” How sunk in guilt and corruption is man by nature!
2. He was besmeared, having stuck fast in mire or clay. Sin renders our whole persons the very reverse of comeliness and beauty in the sight of God.
3. He was an outcast—in a “pit,” without communion with society. Thus, too, are all naturally far off from God, separated from His favour and protection.
4. He was miserable—in “an horrible pit.” Oh! what horrors our iniquities bring upon us.”
5. He was in great danger. In a “pit” he could devise no way of escape, so that, to human appearance, his case was hopeless. And no less dangerous is our condition. Ah! what dismal forebodings we have.
II. The devout exercise of his mind. Distressing as the condition of David was, it will be instructive to us if we consider how he acted.
1. He betook himself to prayer. This was a certain mean of succeeding. It is the mean which God expects every weary and heavy-laden sinner to use. Nor can the wisdom of such an appointment be doubted, as constituting a test of our humility and of our obedience.
2. He hoped in His mercy. The Lord, not immediately vouchsafing him an answer, he became more and more urgent, trusting ultimately to find acceptance. He waited for the Lord patiently. Thus, then, it is good to wait, without murmuring, for answers of peace, on carrying our troubles to a throne of grace.
III. The deliverance he obtained. God inclined His ear to Him and heard his cry, and his deliverance was—
1. Elevating. Though before in a pit, in the miry clay of which he found himself sinking yet further, he is now brought up out of it; and not only so, but his feet are set upon a rock. And all who stand upon the Rock Christ Jesus are exalted far above this world, and are brought already to the confines of glory.
2. Establishing. “Established my goings.” Oh! the stability we have by trusting in Christ. We may then defy all the powers of darkness (Mat_16:18).
3. Joyous. “He hath put a new song in my mouth,” &c. This is surely applicable to the believer, who, in fact, has not only cause to rejoice, but a disposition likewise to do so.
4. Encouraging. “Many shall see, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” Yes, all may expect the same mercy as David in a diligent use of the same means. For this glorious example is intended by God to give us hope, however low our state may be, He being always able and always near to deliver us (Jon_2:2-6, et al.)—W. Sleigh.
THE SERVANT’S OFFERING TO HIS LORD
(Psa_40:6-10.)
In this section we pass from the great and gracious doings of God on behalf of the Psalmist to the Psalmist’s expression of his gratitude to God. What offering will he present to his Lord? In what way will he express his gratitude to Him?
I. By obedience to God (Psa_40:6-8).
1. He will not sacrifice material sacrifices instead of obedience. “Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; burnt-offering and sin-offering hast Thou not required.” “The four words employed in this verse—sacrifice, offering, burnt-offering, sin-offering—embrace all the species of sacrifice and offerings known among the Hebrews.”—Barnes. “In what respect it is said here, that God did not wish sacrifices, since He had expressly commanded them, appears from the contrast. Obedience, the willing performance of the Divine command, is set over against presentation of offerings. Offerings, therefore, are rejected in so far as they form a compensation for that, in so far as they would in a manner satisfy, put off God.”—Hengstenberg. Our outward services, offerings of prayer, praise, and material gifts, are of no value in the sight of God, unless they are the expression of the homage of the heart, and are accompanied by obedience of life. (Comp. 1Sa_15:22, and Psa_51:16-17) on the letter passage Dr. Parker says: “We have been led to believe that God does desire sacrifice; that sacrifice is the basis of all atonement, and that without sacrifice approach to God is an impossibility. Were we to pause at this verse
(16), however, and to accept the words in their literal signification, we should come to the conclusion that sacrifice was entirely unnecessary as a condition of communion with the Most High on the part of sinful man. The next verse explains the Psalmist’s meaning. He says, ‘The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.’ This shows that all sacrifice is worthless which is not vitalised by the moral element Where the sacrifice represents a broken spirit, where it sets forth the operations of a contrite heart, it becomes acceptable to God, and useful as a basis of negotiation with Heaven. Where the moral element is present, the physical element will not be forgotten; this is beautifully brought out in the last expression in the psalm. ‘Then shalt Thou be’ ” pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,’ &c. From this it is clear that though sacrifice in itself, without the presence of spiritual feeling, is absolutely worthless in the sight of God, yet where the moral element is present in the form of a broken spirit and a contrite heart, sacrifice will be presented even in its material forms. Thereby the penitent man expresses his love, and fosters his faith, and testifies his gratitude. Blessed be God, in our case it is unnecessary that we provide bullock or burnt-offering. The one final sacrifice has been offered in the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
2. He will render the obedience which God requires. “Then I said: Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is prescribed to me. To do Thy will, my God, I delight, and Thy law is in my inner part.”—(Hengstenberg’s trans.) “The volume or roll-book, is the Pentateuch, which from the first was written on parchment. In the time of David, when no other sacred book existed, every one would at once understand what was meant by the roll-book.” As confirming this interpretation comp. Jos_1:7; 1Ki_2:3; and 2Ki_22:13. David was left in no uncertainty as to what the will of God was. In the Pentateuch God had made known His will, and clearly unfolded His requirements; and the Psalmist resolves that he will obey that will.
3. He will render that obedience heartily. “I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within my heart.” On the law of God in the heart of His people comp. Deu_6:6; Psa_37:31; Pro_7:1-3; and Isa_51:7. “Where matters are as they should be, there the law is not merely prescribed, but inscribed.” “When the law of God is written in our hearts, our duty will be our delight”
4. God had disposed him to render that obedience. Such we take to be the meaning of the words translated, “Mine ears hast Thou opened.” Margin: “digged.” Hengstenberg: “Ears hast Thou dug through for me.” “An indisposition to obey the will of God is often expressed by the fact that the ears are stopped: Zec_7:11; Psa_58:4-5; Pro_21:13. The essential idea is, that this truth has been communicated to him—that God preferred obedience to sacrifice; and that he had been made attentive to that truth, as if he had been before deaf, and his ears had been opened.”—Barnes. Hengstenberg paraphrases the clause: “Thou hast made me hearing, obedient” He says, “The LXX. have rendered the words by σῶμα δὲ κατηρτίσω μοι, but a body hast Thou prepared for me; and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has adopted them, because the thought is not altered by this translation. The contrast there also is the presentation of thanks through the whole life and conduct, in opposition to single and merely external offerings: Thou hast given me a body, so that I willingly serve Thee in the execution of Thy will.” If we render hearty obedience to the will of God, if obedience be pleasurable to us, it is because He has “inclined our heart unto His testimonies.” This hearty, grateful obedience the servant offers to his Lord.
II. By publication of the perfections of God. “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation,” &c., (Psa_40:9-10). Notice—
1. What it is that he announces.
(1) Righteousness. “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation,” i.e., the righteousness which God prescribes for man, and requires from him. “I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart,” i.e., the righteousness which God displays in His dealings with man. “The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.”
(2) Faithfulness. “I have declared Thy faithfulness; I have not concealed Thy truth.” Amid all the mutations of His universe, He changes not. What He hath promised He will perform. He is worthy of the supreme confidence of all His creatures.
(3) Lovingkindness. “I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness.” He had announced God’s mercy towards sinners, His pity towards the wretched, His goodness to all.
(4) Salvation. “I have declared Thy salvation.” He related the deliverances which God had wrought on behalf of His people. He told of His gracious doings on his own behalf.
2. Where he makes his announcement. “In the great congregation.” Barnes objects: “It would be difficult to see how this could be applied to David himself, or on what occasion of his life this could be said of him.” But the word translated “preach” is not to be understood in the limited sense in which that word is now used. Fuerst, in his Lexicon, gives as its meaning in this place—“to announce, to relate, to tell of.” Now David is conspicuous above all the men of his age for having announced in these immortal Psalms the perfections of the character, and the greatness and glory of the works of God. And many of these Psalms, as the superscriptions show, were intended for use “in the great congregation.” So David “preached,” i.e., announced, “righteousness in the great congregation,” &c He made known the glory of the Divine Being, and of His works and ways, in the most public manner, and to the largest audience that he could secure.
CONCLUSION.—What a worthy offering was this which David presented to the Lord! The excellence of this method of expressing his gratitude is seen in this, that:
1. It reveals his appreciation of the Giver as well as of the Gift. He rejoiced not only in the greatness of the benefits he had received, but also in the goodness of the Benefactor. He celebrated not only the gracious dealings of God with him, but also the glory of God in His own character and perfections.
2. It was calculated to confer great benefits on men. He who imparts to man true ideas of the Divine Being is rendering the highest service to his race. David did this in two ways: by celebrating the character and doings of God in sacred song, and by expressing the will of God in a life heartily conformed thereto. The manifestation of God in the life of a good man is of unspeakable value to our world.
For us also the Lord hath done great things. What offering shall we make Him in return? We cannot do better than imitate the Psalmist in this respect
NOTE.—For an exposition of Psa_40:6-10 as applied to the Messiah, see Barnes or Matthew Henry in loco. The exposition of the latter is well arranged and suggestive homiletically.
HE THAT KNOWS GOD WILL CONFESS HIM
(Psa_40:10.)
I propose to speak of—
The necessary openness of a holy experience; or, in other words, the impossibility that the inward revelation of God in the soul could be shut up in it, and remain hid or unacknowledged.
I shall have in view especially two classes of hearers that are widely distinguished one from the other: first, the class who hide the grace of God in their heart undesignedly, or by reason of some undue modesty; and, secondly, the class who, pretending to have it, or consciously having it not, take a pleasure in throwing discredit on all the appropriate expressions of it, such as are made by the open testimony and formal profession of Christ before men.
Where there is a true grace of experience in the heart, it ought to be, must, and will be manifest.
1. A true inward experience or discovery of God in the heart is itself an impulse also of self-manifestation, as all love and gratitude are, wants to speak and declare itself, and will as naturally do it, when it is born, as a child will utter its first cry.
2. The change implied in a true Christian experience, or the revelation of God in the heart, is in its very nature the soul and root of an outward change that is correspondent. It is the righteousness of God revealed within, to be henceforth the actuating spring and power of a righteous and devoted life.
3. If any one purposes beforehand, in his religious endeavours, or in seeking after God, to come into a secret experience and keep it a secret, his endeavour is plainly one that falsifies the very notion of Christian piety, and if he succeeds, or seems to succeed, he only practises a fraud in which he imposes on himself.
4. The grace of God in the heart, unmanifested or kept secret, as many propose that it shall be, even for their whole life, will be certainly stifled and extinguished. Nothing can live that is not permitted to show the signs of life. “If we deny Him, He also will deny us.”
5. This is the express teaching of the gospel, which everywhere and in every possible way calls out the souls renewed in Christ to live an open life of sacrifice and duty, and so to witness a good confession (Mat_19:21; Luk_9:23; Luk_9:26; Joh_15:16; Joh_15:19-20).
6. There is no shade of encouragement given to this notion of salvation by a secret piety in any of the Scripture examples or teachings. The nearest approach to such encouragement anywhere given is that which is afforded by the case of the two senators, Joseph and Nicodemus (Joh_3:1-21; Joh_19:38). They were good as disciples to bury Jesus, but not to save His life or serve Him while living. The most fragrant spices are those that honour one’s life, and not the posthumous odours that embalm His body (Mat_5:14-16).
CONCLUSION.—Notice:
1. The very absurd pretence of those who congratulate themselves on having so much of secret merit, which they even count the more meritorious because they keep it secret. It is not the righteousness of God which they have hidden so carefully, but it is their own—which, after all, is not hid. They do not break out and confess the Lord, simply because He is not in them.
2. The significance of the profession of Christ, when and why, and with what views it should be made. It should be made, because where there is anything to be professed it cannot but be made.… There is no option here, save as all duties are optional, and eternity hangs on the option we make.
3. What value there may be in the discoveries of Christian experience, and the legitimate use they may have in Christian society. Some of the best and holiest impulses ever given to the cause of God in men’s hearts are given by testimonies of Christian experience (Mal_3:16).
4. The true wisdom, in all these matters of holy experience, is to act naturally. If you seem to yourself to have really passed from death unto life, and to have come into God’s peace, interpose no affectations of modesty, no restrictions of mock-prudence, but in true natural modesty and a sound natural discretion testify the grace you have received (Mat_10:32-33).—H. Bushnell, D.D., from” The New Life,” abridged.
THE SERVANT’S PRAYER TO HIS LORD
(Psa_40:11-17.)
This prayer of the poet suggests the following observations—
I. The most assured confidence in God is not regarded by His servant as a substitute for prayer. In the previous portion of the psalm, David has expressed unshaken and unlimited confidence in God, yet here we find him confessing his sins, complaining of his troubles, and seeking relief from God. Thankfulness and trust are foundations for prayer. Hengstenberg points out that the relation of the” withhold not Thou Thy tender mercies” to the “I have not refrained,” in Psa_40:9, suggests “the doctrine that the measure of the further salvation proceeds according to the measure of thankfulness for the earlier.” And “the words ‘Let Thy loving-kindness and Thy truth continually preserve me’ point back to ‘I will not conceal Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth,’ with which the Psalmist had closed his promise of thanksgiving. That we will not conceal God’s lovingkindness and truth, is the sure means, but also the indispensable condition of its further manifestation in our experience.” Thankfulness and trust, so far from precluding the necessity of prayer, are incentives and encouragements to its exercise. The man of assured faith will be a man of frequent prayer.
II. A true servant of God may fall into many sins. “Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me,” &c. There is great force in the expressions used by the Psalmist in this verse. He seems to have had a deep and painful impression of his sins. He makes mention of
1. Their number. “They are more than the hairs of mine head. “When we think of sins of infirmity and imperfection, and sins of omission, and secret sins of thought and feeling, to the awakened conscience they appear altogether innumerable.
2. Their grasp. “Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me”. His sins had seized him, arrested him, “as the bailiff does the poor debtor.” Sin with its dark memories and in its dire consequences frequently holds a man as with an iron grip.
3. Their effect. “I am not able to look up, … my heart faileth me.” “The idea here is not that he was unable to look up, but that the calamities which came upon him were so heavy and severe as to make his sight dim or deprive him of vision.”—Barnes. Luther: “My sight gives way under great sorrow.” Hengstenberg: “The heart is here not exactly the feeling, spirit, but is rather considered as the seat of the powers of life. ‘My strength faileth me,’ in Psa_38:10, is parallel.”
If this confession of sin and its results seem exaggerated, let it be remembered that an awakened and sensitive conscience detects and grieves for sins when the hardened conscience would not discover any sin at all.
“That the Psalmist speaks here of his numerous offences, and treats of his suffering as the righteous punishment of these, forms an irrefragable proof against the direct Messianic exposition.”—Hengstenberg.
III. If a true servant of God fall into sin, the penalty of his sin will surely come upon him. “Innumerable evils have compassed me about.” God’s laws, with the penalties annexed to every breach of them, are universal in their operation. They are not respecters of persons. In the case of no one is this more conspicuous than in the life of David. His sin with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah, in their consequences, never ceased to darken and trouble his life even to its very close. “Whoso” (saint or sinner) “breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.”
IV. A servant of God suffering the penalty of his sin may seek deliverance from God. “Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me.” An essential condition of deliverance is that he who seeks it shall have come to feel the heinousness of the sin for which suffers.
Where the sinfulness of the sin is deeply realised, the penalty has in great part, at least, accomplished its end. But when any one seeks to be rid of the suffering without loathing the sin, it is clear that in him suffering has not yet accomplished its end. But in what way does God deliver His people from the evils of their sins?
1. By removing the guilt and the consciousness of it. That we have grieved a holy and generous Father is the sorest part of our suffering. God takes that away by the assurance of forgiveness.
2. By removing the penalty. Sometimes in answer to prayer God sees fit to remove or to mitigate the sufferings which have come upon his people as the result of their sins.
3. By imparting grace and patience to bear the penalty. If He remove not the penalty, He will take the bitterness out of it, and give us strength to bear it.
It is a great thing to be able to go to Him and seek relief and deliverance. The approach to Him in itself is helpful And He will certainly grant to us an answer,—wise, gracious, and satisfactory.
The Psalmist’s prayer for help is marked by great urgency. “O Lord, make haste to help me.” “Make no tarrying, O my God.” Great suffering and a deep sense of need make us earnest and urgent in prayer. They do not utter themselves in long, rhetorical petitions, but in brief, expressive, heaven-reaching cries.
V. In his prayer the servant of God has reference not to himself alone, but to others also.
1. Here is a reference to his enemies. “Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it,” &c. (Psa_40:14; Psa_40:16). The enemies of the Psalmist seem to have been many, and to have manifested their animosity in different ways. Here are—
(1) The actively hostile; “them that seek after my soul to destroy it.”
(2) The evil disposed; “them that wish me evil.”
(3) The mockers; “them that say unto me, Aha, Aha.” He prays for the discomfiture of all these. “There is no sin in the wish that the wicked may not be successful in their plans, and may not be suffered to injure us.”—Barnes.
2. Here is a reference to the godly. “Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee; let such as love Thy salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified.” There is a beautiful connection between the character indicated and the blessing sought. They that seek the Lord shall find Him, and finding Him shall rejoice and be glad in Him. For the seeker the joy of becoming the finder. They that love His salvation shall realise it so fully as to be filled with praise and to cry, “The Lord be magnified.” May they so continuously realise His saving grace as to have cause for continually exalting and glorifying God.
VI. The servant of God in his deepest distress confides in the Lord God. “I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me,” &c. (For an exposition of this verse see the homiletic sketch on it given below.)
CONCLUSION.—Amid both the sins and the sufferings of life, let the servants of God have recourse to Him in prayer.
THE HOLD OF SIN
(Psa_40:12.)
A course of sin is a course of lawlessness. Certain liberty may be enjoyed, but penal consequences are sure to follow. “Innumerable evils have compassed me about.” Sin takes hold upon the sinner by violence and force. Justice arrests and brings him before the tribunal.
Sin takes hold upon men—
I. By its power. It overcomes them, subdues them by habits, and keeps them bound in captivity and degradation. “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.”
II. By an accusing conscience. All men have a conscience, speaking in stillness, or thundering in power—watching and weighing all they do,—a monitor in their bosom—a witness for God. “The candle of the Lord searching all their inward parts.”
III. By its evil consequences. Fear, shame, and liability to punishment—the curse and condemnation of a broken law. The sinner carries within his bosom a prediction, a foretaste of the judgment to come. The terrors of hell get hold upon him, and there is no deliverance but in Christ. “He Himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree—redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” He can save from sin and its consequences.—J. W. in “The Study.”
MAN’S NEED AND GOD’S THOUGHT
(Psa_40:17.)
“I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.”
We regard these words as the expression of a humble, trustful heart under a sense of need. We have here,
I. An acknowledgment of human need. “I am poor and needy.” In the world there is much physical poverty and need. That is bad. Much mental poverty: that is worse. Much spiritual poverty: that is worst of all. Better to be Lazarus at the gate than the rich man in the palace. Some who are spiritually impoverished are quite unconscious of it They are paupers, yet they imagine themselves millionaires. They say that they are “rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” Most deplorable!
1. This need is an evidence of sin. A loving Creator, having “unsearchable riches,” would not make His creatures poor and needy. Some disarrangement of His order must have taken place. Spiritual bankruptcy cannot be a result of the plans of the Infinite and all-generous Spirit.
2. The consciousness of this need is a condition of its removal. When men fall asleep in the frost and snow by reason of cold, and become insensible unto the cold, they sleep the sleep of death. While they feel the cold they will strive to preserve vital heat, and so repel the cold. The sense of this poverty is the first step to its removal. Until we feel our hunger we shall never seek the living bread.
3. The confession of this need is well-pleasing to God. It indicates a true estimate of ourselves, and humility before God. When we think of our low attainments, and those to which we are called, how poor are we! When we consider our mean acquisitions, and the “unsearchable riches,” how poor are we!
II. An expression of confidence in God. “The Lord thinketh upon me. “There is something very cheering and strengthening in this. I am lonely and sad and weary; but I think of some loving one, perhaps hundreds of miles away, who is thinking kindly of me, and I am refreshed, comforted, strengthened.
God thinks of me, of all men, of every man. We think and speak of the particular and the general, of the individual and the collective body. We cannot at once think of many particulars, or of many individuals, as such; so we think of persons collectively, and of particulars as classified. But the Infinite Mind has no such limitations. Amid the millions of creatures that depend upon His care and are the recipients of His bounty, not one escapes His notice. Superintending the universe, He also numbers the very hairs of the head of every one of His people.
“The Lord thinketh upon me.” He cares for every individual; for thee, as though in all His universe He had no other to care for. “Ah! that may be true,” say you, “of David, a king, and sacred poet, and man highly favoured of God; but does He so think of me, a poor, low, unworthy one?” To doubt it is to “limit the Holy One of Israel.” “The Lord thinketh upon me;” then, He knows my need. He sees our exact circumstances and condition, and consequent need. He knows the precise character of my poverty, and will remove it by communicating the precise treasures which I lack.
“The Lord thinketh upon me;” then, He will supply my need. His thought is neither purposeless nor resultless. His thoughts receive embodiment. His thought of us indicates care for us, and results in provision for us. Wherever the sense of poverty and need is, there may the assurance of the Divine thought and care also be. If we are hungering after Him, most assuredly He is thinking of us individually.
Examples of His care for individuals abound. Daniel in the lions’ den, Joseph in prison, Peter in prison, and our own experience.
In this thought of God of us and for us we have:—
1. What a solace in loneliness!
2. What a comfort in the day of sorrow!
3. What an inspiration for Christian work!
4. What an assurance of victory in death!
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 I. Consider the "new songs" already put into the…
Psa 40:3
I. Consider the "new songs" already put into the mouths of Christians. (1) Coming to Christ and conversion to God are materials for a "new song." (2) Few leave the Lord’s Table after their first communion without a new song in their mouth of praise to their God. (3) God in springtime renews the face of the earth, and there are corresponding renewings of our spiritual life. (4) A good hope when first given is a new song; and this good hope when renewed, when made more alive and effectual, is a new song.
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II. Grand and glorious new songs are in our future. There is the song of victory over death. The first moment after death will put a new song in our mouth, and as certainly—more certainly—our entrance to heaven will do the same.
III. Let the text excite us to go through life with songs. Let us sing that which God gives us to sing. In plain words, let us acknowledge our obligations to "the Father of all mercies" and the God of all consolation; and let us so acknowledge them as to awaken praise to our God. We are all called to be singers, and we are called to sing new songs.
S. Martin, Comfort in Trouble, p. 106.
References: Psa 40:3.—J. Stalker, The New Song, p. 9. Psa 40:4.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx., No. 1784. Psa 40:5.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 273. Psa 40:6-8.—E. Irving, Sermons, vol. i., p. 1.
Psa 40:5-12
So then there are two series of things which cannot be numbered—God’s mercies and man’s sin.
I. If we keep these two things close together in cur contemplations, they suggest for us very forcibly the greatest mystery in the universe, and throw a little light upon it. The difficulty of difficulties, the one insoluble problem, is, Given a good and perfect God, where does sorrow come from? and where is there any pain? Must it not be that the innumerable sum of God’s mercies has not to have subtracted from it, but added to it, the sum, which also at intervals appears to us innumerable, of our sorrows and our burdens? "All things work together for good;" and God’s innumerable mercies include the whole sum-total of our sorrows.
II. Notice how the blending of these two thoughts together heightens the impression of each. God’s mercies never seem so fair, so wonderful, as when they are looked at in conjunction with man’s sin. Man’s sin never seems so foul and hideous as when it is looked at close against God’s mercies.
III. The keeping of these two thoughts together should lead us all to conscious penitence.
IV. Looking at these two numberless series together will bring into the deepest penitence a joyful confidence.
A. Maclaren, Christian Commonwealth, July 16th, 1885.
Psa 40:7
I. When did Christ say these words? To what date does "then" refer? No numbers can reckon up the ages back, and no mind can fathom the depth of that eternity past since Christ’s advent-note was first heard, when the "decree" was written in that volume, and that act of our Lord’s dedication of Himself for man took place. For ever and for ever He said, "I come." The word translated "I come" literally means "I am come." So that, in the language that is used here, there is the very mystery of the eternal, omnipresent now which makes Godhead. It is always past; it is always present; it is always future. "I come."
II. In the archives of eternity the mystery has stood for ages. "Lo, I come." Our first parents had scarcely fallen before it met them in the sacrifice of the daily altar. It was shadowed in the law of Moses; it was the note of the Angel in the wilderness, the Angel of the Church, the Lord Jesus. John the Baptist heard it in the desert, and the heavenly host sang it on the hills of Bethlehem. Every day and every hour it is heard in every believer’s soul; and stretching on now to greater things yet to come, it is the clear trumpet-note of the whole Church’s hope, "Lo, I come."
III. The words carry with them another truth: Wherever there is difficulty, wherever there is sin, or sorrow, or need, in proportion as the -difficulty, sin, sorrow, need, become extreme, there Jesus comes. It is not one, but a long series of advents, Jesus coming nearer to us and we, as we are drawn, coming a little nearer to Him, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. It is so the work is done, and it is so that the union becomes established between a sinner and Christ, that union which can never be broken for ever and for ever.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 4th series, p. 88.
References: Psa 40:7.—J. Vaughan, Children’s Sermons, 5th series, p. 60; H. Scott Holland, Logic and Life, p. no.
Psa 40:7-8
It is quite evident that the sense which Christ had in His mission to this world before He came was one of pleasure. And unless you are to believe that every anticipation of Christ could be different from its reality, then you must rest in the conclusion that the preponderance of Christ’s mission was delight. There are three stages which make a trial, and these three stages rise up to a climax. First, you go through it, but you go through it recoilingly; you go through it very hardly. Next, you sustain it; and, by God’s grace, it is quite endurable. And after that you rise quite above it. Is not the last the truest and best offering to God? Now see it in Christ. From the cradle to the grave the grief-pangs were immeasurable. Nevertheless, above and beyond it, there was in its own pure level a joy, and that joy soared on in the immensity of its own unassailable repose, and the meeting of that agony and that joy was the peace, the delight of peace. It is not to the sorrow of Christ alone that we owe everything; but it is also to the spirit, the essential spirit, with which He bore it, the holy rapture of obedience which He exhibited, without which obedience is not obedience in God’s sight. Notice: (1) The date of the delight. It was when the whole Mosaic ceremonial was passing away as altogether insufficient. Law was Christ’s, for He lived to supply its deficiency and to fulfil its purpose. (2) From the Law the mind of Christ rose to the will. Law is generally negative; will is always positive. Law may be, and is, transient; will is eternal. His Father’s will was His work, His delight, His ecstasy. (3) God’s will and Christ’s will it was that there should be a Church—an ordered, sanctified body which should encircle Him for ever, to reflect His image and to set forth His praise. (4) The far end of Christ was the glory of the Father. If God was honoured, Christ was happy. The thing was wrapped up in His very nature. It had become a necessity.
J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 6th series, p. 146.
Reference: Psa 40:8, Psa 40:9.—J. M. Neale, Sermons on Passages of the Psalms, p. 100.
Psa 40:8
There can be no reasonable doubt whose words these are. Even if the internal evidence were not sufficient, the reference to them in the tenth chapter of Hebrews shows conclusively that they are spoken by Jesus "when He cometh into the world." The words indicate the great rule of Christ’s earthly life: what He was continually thinking about and planning to follow, what guided Him through the scenes of this world as truly and as constantly as a ship is guided by her helm. Further, they indicate the delight which it gave Him to follow this rule. There was no sense of pain in doing it; on the contrary, there was in it the pleasure which attends all free, spontaneous activity; nay, there was pleasure rising to delight in its highest elevation. The delight of Jesus in doing the Father’s will we see alike in what He did and in what He suffered. In what light did that will present itself to Him, so that, while He obeyed it with such profound submission, He felt in so doing such intense delight?
I. In the first place, He felt that intrinsically its claims were overwhelming. They were such as to admit of no rival and no compromise. To the mind of Jesus the Divine claims were infinitely sacred, august beyond conception, never to be tampered with; all things vile and horrible were concentrated in the spirit that refused absolute submission to the will of God.
II. The Divine will was very dear to Jesus from its connection with the work and the reward of redemption. Mark here the bearing of an unselfish end on an unselfish rule of life. The purpose for which Christ lived and died was unselfish—to bless others with eternal life; and the fondness with which He cherished this unselfish end exalted the unselfish rule. Living in the joy of the coming blessedness of His people, He could serenely and contentedly bow to that will by which their glory was secured.
III. Yet again, there was delight from the very fact that there could be no collision between the Father’s will and His own. His human will, in all its deliberate and final actings, was absorbed by God; and this in itself was peace.
W. Blaikie, Glimpses of the Inner Life of our Lord, p. 29.
References: Psalm 45—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 1; J. G. Murphy, Book of Daniel, p. 44.
Psa 40:9-10
I. The Psalmist speaks here rather of the mind with which the Son of God should come than of the end for which He should come. He speaks of that obedience, which healed our disobedience, as the cause, the life, the soul, of His sacrifice rather than of the sacrifice itself. He exhibits the Atonement in the act of obedience.
II. It is on this very side that He, our Saviour, sets Himself forth as our example. We, too, as many as have been made members of Him, have been sent into the world to accomplish in ourselves and to discharge in the order of His creation a certain will of God; and in the knowledge and accomplishment of that will lies our salvation and the secret of our predestination.
III. This then is the secret of the choice of life: to learn what, among the manifold duties of His great household, God, in the eternal purpose of His love, willed each one of us to discharge. To have discovered this and to have placed ourselves in that path, conforming ourselves therein to the will of God, is to have taken, by God’s grace, a decisive step in the way of salvation. For it is to have chosen the will of God and united our own to His; it is to answer the purpose of God for us; it is to be under the guidance of the All-wise, the protection of the Almighty.
E. B. Pusey, Sermons Preached before the University of Oxford, p. 437.
Reference: Psa 40:9, Psa 40:10.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 977.
Psa 40:10
The necessary openness of a holy experience.
I. Notice the evident fact that a true inward experience, or discovery of God in the heart, is itself an impulse also of self-manifestation, as all love and gratitude are. It is in all cases the instinct of a new heart, in its experience of God, to acknowledge Him.
II. The change implied in a true Christian experience, or the revelation of God in the heart, is in its very nature the soul and root of an outward change that is correspondent. The faith implanted is a faith that works in appropriate demonstrations, and must as certainly work as a living heart must beat or pulsate.
III. If any one proposes beforehand, in his religious endeavours or in seeking after God, to come into a secret experience or keep it secret, his endeavour is plainly one that falsifies the very notion of Christian piety; and if he succeeds, or seems to succeed, he only practises a fraud, in which he imposes on himself.
IV. The grace of God in the heart unmanifested or kept secret, as many propose that it shall be, even for their whole life, will be certainly stifled and extinguished.
V. The Gospel everywhere and in every possible way calls out the souls renewed in Christ to live an open life of sacrifice and duty, and so to witness a good confession. "Come and follow Me" is the word of Jesus. "Deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow Me."
VI. There is no shade of encouragement given to this notion of salvation by secret piety in any of the Scripture examples or teachings. The real disciple is thought of as a man who stands for his Master, and is willing to die for his Master. "Ye are the light of the world," and the light of the world is lighted up to shine.
H. Bushnell, The New Life, p. 361.
References: Psa 40:16.—T. Rees, Welsh Pulpit of To-day, p. 364. Psa 40:17.—Warburton, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 133; G. Bainton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 369.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 The one obedience by which many are made righteous.
The one obedience by which many are made righteous.
To the chief musician: a psalm of David.
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The fortieth psalm has plainly for its theme that one perfect obedience of the Man, Christ Jesus, which sets aside and replaces all the sacrifices of the law, -is therefore that in which the believer finds acceptance before God, the obedience whereby many are made righteous. And this, though essentially what all offerings speak, is what the burnt-offering explicitly brings before us. The sin-offering shows the place of distance and wrath from God necessitated by the holiness of God, if atonement is to be wrought by it. The trespass-offering presents the thought of restitution, the amends made by it to the government of God. The peace-offering dwells upon the effect, the breach repaired, peace made, communion with God enjoyed. But the burnt-offering alone exhibits the voluntariness of the offering, the perfection of the sacrifice in its inner reality, the full trial according to divine holiness, the Offerer being in view as well as the offering, and the sweet savor resulting. It is thus the offering which fulfills the purpose of the altar, and gives it its character as the "altar of burnt-offering," being indeed that which goes up to God continually upon it.
1. The psalm divides into two parts, the first of which gives us the blessed obedience itself; the second, the contrasted consequences for friends and enemies: the world being thus indeed divided necessarily by the reception or rejection of that which in its own intent is peace to all. This is seen also in the psalm that follows, as already noted, but in a different manner, as will be realized on taking them up.
(a) The first section gives us, according to what we have seen to be so commonly the manner in the Psalms, the deliverance out of the sorrows which the rest of the psalm then takes up and describes. Jehovah’s faithfulness and sufficiency are here the theme: manifested in answer to the patient endurance of One who has been in the very "pit of destruction," but to be delivered out of it necessarily by this very faithfulness. He leaves his case wholly in Jehovah’s hands. All is to be determined by Him, and thus effectually and forever.
Self-deliverance is indeed impossible for any beside Himself, in this place into which He has come. The "miry clay" would prevent any effort of this kind being effectual. But this patient Sufferer meditates no escape. The deliverance being of God, will be for the bringing of many to the blessedness of confidence in Jehovah, and to delight in His wondrous ways. "We believe," says the apostle, "on Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead: who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification" (Rom 4:24-25). This resurrection of Christ identifies God with this suffering Saviour, and bears witness to the salvation as complete and accepted. Where those blessed feet have found the "rock," the feet of every poor sinner may find it now. His resurrection is the clearing from guilt of all those whose sins He bore, and has borne away. He is in heaven, all the shadow passed from His blessed face, and the glory of God shining there instead. What a "gospel" is this "glory of Christ"* for one who apprehends its meaning!
{*As 2Co 4:4 should be translated. The translators have rendered it as a mere Hebraism, "glorious gospel," instead of "gospel of the glory," as the Revised Version rightly gives it.}
And thus the song of the Risen One is truly a "new song" begun: the song of accomplished redemption, -of God able to tell out all His heart, and having told it out, awaking the eternal echoes with His praise, "many shall see it and fear, and put their trust in Jehovah." Now, how blessed is the man that does so! And how blessed will be his portion in those dark days of prophecy which the Psalms continually look on to, when "the proud and those who turn aside to lies" will be found on every side! the days of Antichrist, "the liar" (1Jn 2:22), and of the "strong delusion" to be sent on those who "believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2Th 2:11-12).
This section ends with the joyful ascription to God of wondrous works, and gracious "thoughts to usward," quite beyond utterance. It reminds us of John’s similar declaration as to the works of Christ, which, "were they all written every one, even the world would not contain the books that should be written." Suitable, indeed, to awaken such thoughts, that interposition in behalf of men which both the psalmist and the evangelist have before them. It is the theme of eternity, and time is all too narrow for it.
(b) We now go back to see the path that led into these depths, and the principle which carried Him on and sustained Him in it to the end. We find it is a path of service and testimony to God, which reminds us of the characteristic bullock of the burnt-offering. The ox we know to be the type of the patient laborer (1Co 9:9-10). And here first we have that reference to the sacrificial offerings, the true meaning of which is so perfectly in contrast with that given it by so many of the blind critics of the day, who see in it the disclaiming of the divine institution of sacrifice in Israel. Leave out Christ indeed out of the passage, -make it simply David, or some nameless Maccabean writer, or any one else you please, -then the consequences of this unbelief will naturally follow, and darkness result from leaving out the light. But we may well take the apostle’s application, with the consistent unity which the whole psalm gains by it, as a sufficient justification for the omission of all the reasoning on that side. It is true that the One personated by the psalmist here does represent Jehovah as having no delight in "sacrifice and offering"; but it is because He has in view, not the fragmentary and spotted obedience of any ordinary man, but the glorious Antitype of these sacrifices, who could say in a sense no other could, "ears hast Thou digged for Me," and anticipate thus the time when "burnt-offering and sin-offering" would be no more required. To put the past for the future is the common style of Old Testament prophecy; and the preceding "ears hast Thou digged for Me" is of course as much a past of this kind as is that which follows it.
The apostle accepts the reading (or interpretation) of the Septuagint, "A body hast Thou prepared Me," as at least the fair equivalent of the Hebrew here. The "ears digged" are to hear the divine Word; the "body prepared" is to do service with. In either case it is the perfect humanity that is before us of One in whom was no taint of evil, and no consequence of sin inherent. The reference in the Hebrew seems not to be to the bored ear of perpetual service, as in Exo 21:1-36 although it is Christ that is typified there, surely, and the line of truth is here so remarkably akin. But the expression is not the same in this case, and we have the plural and not the singular, while "a body hast Thou prepared Me" could not be derived from, or given as the rendering of, such an expression as this. It is generally agreed therefore that "ears hast Thou digged for Me" speaks in fact of creative gift. And yet it is surely true that this perfect humanity, this body prepared, is in fact the sign of a service which is not taken to be given up again. Man the Lord is still; and Man He will ever be. And this truth conveys to our hearts the precious assurance of His desire to be near us, with us, and to serve us still. Thus this difference seems after all to be scarcely in result a difference.
The ears are digged, the body is prepared: He then presents Himself for the accomplishment of the divine purpose, according to all that Scripture had foreshown of Him. The point of time -"then said I" -can only be, as the context shows, after manhood has been assumed. The words spoken also show this: not, as in the common version, "Lo, I come," but, as in the revised, "Lo, I am come."* He is already in the world, in the scene in which the purpose of God is to be fulfilled by Him, and signifies thus that He takes up His mission. The words that follow do not, I believe, refer to the book of divine counsels for eternity, (counsels which, however, are sufficiently declared by them,) but to the volume of inspiration which He opens for us: "in the volume of the book," He says, "it is written of ME." That is, "This very institution of sacrifice, in which, in the mere ceremonial fulfillment of it, Thou couldst have no delight, -this is written of Me: I am the One to whom it looked forward; my work is its true fulfillment."
{* Bathi; in the Septuagint and the Epistle to the Hebrews, heko, not erkomai.}
This surely completes the thought as to the insufficiency, and now the abrogation, of these legal sacrifices, while it puts honor upon them by showing their divine end. A most important statement it is, and from lips so manifestly inspired of God, that this law of sacrifice was written with regard to Christ! And this links with the next verse as plainly: "I delight to do Thy pleasure, My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart." No doubt, this cannot be confined to the law of sacrifice, and yet it shows, as connected with what has gone before, what in fact the will of God which He came to do has specially in contemplation here: as the apostle applies it, "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb 10:10).
How this declares the way in which the Lord yielded Himself to the will of God as witnessed in Scripture! showing us at once the Author of those ritual observances held by many now in such dishonor, while at the same time giving them their true significance and power. It is the same glorious Person of whom we read in the gospels, saying to His disciples, "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer." and then, "after they had sung a hymn," going forth to that suffering by which the passover was to be fulfilled.
His public testimony corresponded with this inmost desire of His heart. Spite of the pressure of evil, righteousness in Him uttered itself aloud, and the world hated Him because He bare testimony of it that its deeds were evil. "I have preached righteousness," He says, "in the great congregation: lo, I have not withheld my lips, Jehovah, Thou knowest."
But most of all, it was to God He bare witness. "I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation: I have not hid Thy righteousness and Thy truth from the great congregation." Such was He then for whom man decreed as His reward the cross; and for whom God’s good pleasure meant also the cross! God and man strangely at one in this, with yet most opposite thoughts and purposes; while He, with perfect consciousness of it all, moved onward toward the place which Satan alone -and he, with the knowledge which men had not, of His personal glory -would have forbidden Him!
(c) Behold Him then in the "pit of destruction"! there where innumerable evils press upon Him, and that as the righteous wrath of God upon iniquities as innumerable! He is suffering for that which, as He apprehends it, lying with its hideous shadow over Him, its awful weight pressing Him down, makes His heart fail, and His eyes unable to look up. These iniquities He confesses as His own, while yet He can appeal, not only to God’s "loving-kindness," but to His "truth," to deliver Him. We can understand this of the Sin-bearer alone. The two verses that come together in this section of the psalm are both needful in order to explain the character of what is here. It is One of whom indeed the Levitical law of sacrifice was written; whose perfect obedience in the sinner’s place sets it aside by complete and glorious fulfillment once for all. The salvation of which He had testified is here wrought out; God glorified, sin utterly condemned, in that which in the place of utter abandonment brings in the testimony to His righteousness and love. Righteousness and love can therefore come in in answer, and in behalf of those for whom this sacrifice is offered.
2. The second part of the psalm presents the contrasted consequences of this glorious work, according as men accept or are found in hostility towards it. The repetition of this part, with very slight changes, as an independent psalm (Psa 70:1-5), will be better considered when we shall have reached it; but it was to be expected that the fact of this repetition should awaken conjecture, as it has done. But all is so perfectly in place, that there is not the least need to concern ourselves about it. There it follows the trespass-offering psalm, as here it forms the last part of the psalm of burnt-offering, -occupying thus an analogous place in regard to the corresponding view of the Lord’s work, and answering to the last ten verses of the sin-offering psalm (the twenty-second).
We have here first the cry to Jehovah, the Unchangeable, the appeal being to His faithfulness as such, as we have seen before. Thereupon the Speaker realizes the confusion of His enemies, and sees the utter shame of those that mock at Him. On the contrary, those that seek God shall be joyful in Him, and those that love His salvation glorify His Name. He is poor and needy, yet the Lord hath regard to Him; and He concludes with a confident appeal for speedy deliverance.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 This Ps. falls into two well-marked divisions, which many…
This Ps. falls into two well-marked divisions, which many think to have been originally separate Pss. In Psa_40:1-11 the writer recalls with thankfulness how God has heard his prayers and delivered him from trouble (Psa_40:1-4), declares the greatness of God's mercies (Psa_40:5), presents himself as a living sacrifice (Psa_40:6-8), and desires the continuance of God's blessing on account of his fearless witness for righteousness (Psa_40:9-11). In Psa_40:12-17, on the other hand, the Psalmist is in distress, both from sin (Psa_40:12) and from persecution (Psa_40:14-15). He pleads for the speedy confusion of his enemies, and for the deliverance both of himself and of all who seek God (Psa_40:13-17). This part of the Ps. resembles Psalms 35. Psa_40:13-17 are reproduced with some variations as Psalms 70. Psa_40:6-7 are applied to Christ in Heb_10:5-9. The Ps. is probably a national Psalm. In it the nation, or the church, rather than the individual, is speaking. The horrible pit will then be the pit of exile, and the new song will be that sung for deliverance from exile and restitution to the home-land. This is one of the Pss. for Good Friday.
2. Pit.. clay] The combination of these figures for trouble is illustrated by the dungeon, with mire at the bottom, into which Jeremiah was cast (Jer_38:6). A rock] a place of firmness and security.
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3. A new song] a song of praise for new mercies: see on Psa_33:3.
6. Sacrifice and offering, etc.] a striking recognition that spiritual service, even in OT. times, is more than all forms of worship: see 1Sa_15:22. Mine ears hast thou opened] to understand the true requirements of the Law. The boring of the ears in token of perpetual servitude (Exo_21:6; Deu_15:7) is not here referred to. LXX has, 'a body hast thou prepared me,' and is followed in the quotation in Heb_10:5.
7. RV 'Lo, I am come,' the Psalmist's personal consecration to God's service: see Isa_6:9. In the volume of the book it is written of me] rather, 'in the roll of the book it is prescribed to me.' The words are a parenthesis, and the reference is probably to Deuteronomy (see 2Ki_22:8.), with its spiritual and inward view of obedience. The writer to the Hebrews rightly recognises that Christ's obedience perfectly fulfilled this ideal of devoted surrender to God's will.
9. In the great congregation] among the people assembled at some festival.
10. Have not hid, etc.] In a good sense God's law is hidden in his heart (Psa_40:8, cp. Psa_119:11), but here he means that he has not concealed his convictions from cowardice.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 I waited
I waited
The 40th Psalm speaks of Messiah, Jehovah’s Servant, obedient unto death. The Psalm begins with the joy of Christ in resurrection (Psa 40:1; Psa 40:2). He has been in the horrible pit of the grave, but has been brought up. Psa 40:3-5 are His resurrection testimony, His "new song." Psa 40:6-7 are retrospective. When sacrifice and offering had become abominable because of the wickedness of the people Isa 1:10-15 then the obedient Servant came to make the pure offering; Psa 40:7-17; Heb 10:5-17. See Psalms 41, next in order of the Messianic Psalms.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Psalm 40
Psalm 40
Christ the Obedient One and the Fruit of His Work
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1. The path of the Obedient One (Psa 40:1-12)
2. His prayer and His comfort (Psa 40:13-17)
Psa 40:1-12. The Fortieth and Forty-first Psalms are Messianic. Our Redeemer and Israel’s Redeemer is blessedly revealed in them both and with the testimony to Him the first book of the Psalms closes. Psa 40:1-17 begins with what may be termed “Christ’s resurrection song.” He came and went as the sin-bearer into the horrible pit (Hebrew: the pit of destruction) and the miry clay, and the power of God brought Him out, raised Him from the dead, set His feet upon a rock and established His goings (His ascension). A new song is put into His mouth, “even praise unto our God.” It is the song of redemption which He sings first and all who believe on Him join in that song. That is why we read “our God.” The many who shall see it are those who trust in Him who was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. And who can tell out the wonderful works He has done in redemption; “they are more than can be numbered.” Psa 40:6-8 are quoted in Heb 10:1-39. The ears opened, literally “digged ears,” refers us to Exo 21:1-36. The New Testament quotes the Septuagint translation, made undoubtedly with the sanction of the Holy Spirit, “a body hast Thou prepared Me.” In Psa 40:13-17 we hear Him pray as the sin-bearer of His people, as we hear Him say in Psa 40:12 that the sins He bore are more than the hairs upon His head. The doom of those who reject and despise Him, and the blessing of all who love His salvation are likewise mentioned.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 Prophecy of Christ’s Suffering and Prophetic Office.
Prophecy of Christ’s Suffering and Prophetic Office.
To the chief musician, for performance in liturgical services, a psalm of David, the Messiah Himself speaking through his mouth and pen. Cf Heb 10:5-7.
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v. 1. I waited patiently for the Lord, literally, "Waiting, I waited for Jehovah," the expression denoting the long siege of patient waiting for the help which the Messiah confidently expected; and He inclined unto Me, bowing down to Him in gracious tenderness, and heard My cry, as it was sent up to Him with such fervent insistence.
v. 2. He brought Me up also out of an horrible pit, where He was wasting away with sufferings, out of the miry clay, into which He was sinking down, apparently to His destruction, and set My feet upon a rock, upon a solid foundation, and established My goings, making His steps firm, permitting Him to walk in security. In this way the Messiah’s trust in the God of His salvation, in His heavenly Father, appeared even in the midst of His sufferings.
v. 3. And He hath put a new song in My mouth, a special psalm of thanksgiving intended particularly for this occasion, even praise unto our God, for this wonderful exhibition of His mercy; many shall see it, be informed of this wonderful deliverance, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord, with reverence and awe of His mercy and grace. From this fact a general truth is now deduced.
v. 4. Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, who sets Jehovah as his confidence alone, and respecteth not the proud, turning to them for help, nor such as turn aside to lies, to the false idols and vanities of this life, to everything that men foolishly make the basis of their hope and trust outside of Jehovah. The speaker now, in the joy of His deliverance, includes Himself with the entire congregation of believers in exalting the mercies of Jehovah.
v. 5. Many, O Lord, My God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, not only those pertaining to the creation, but especially to the redemption of the world, and Thy thoughts, the marvelous plans of His mercy, which are to us-ward; they cannot be reckoned up, set forth properly, in order unto Thee, on account of their bewildering mass, or, there is none that can be compared to Thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Thus the Messiah, in a prophetic summary, declares the greatness of God, spreads the proper understanding of His name, and leads many to the knowledge of, and the belief in, Jehovah, the God of salvation.
v. 6. Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire, God does not ask for, and takes no pleasure in, mere outward offerings, in a mechanical form of worship, whether such sacrifices are in the form of thank and peace-offerings, intended to establish a closer fellowship with God, or in burnt offerings and sin-offerings, which are made to atone for sins; Mine ears hast Thou opened, literally, "ears hast Thou digged for Me," preparing His ears for hearing and heeding His will, in a true form of worship; burnt offering and sin-offering hast Thou not required, for all such outward forms of worship have value only in the measure of their flowing out of true faith, 1Sa 15:22.
v. 7. Then said I, Lo, I come, a solemn announcement of the Messiah’s coming into the world, Mal 3:1; in the Volume of the Book, in the roll of parchment which is Holy Writ, the one wonderful Book of all times, Joh 5:37, it is written of Me.
v. 8. I delight to do Thy will, O My God, to carry out the pleasure of God’s merciful counsel for the salvation of mankind; yea, Thy Law is within My heart; because the will of God filled His whole being, therefore the Messiah was ready to undertake the great task of preparing eternal redemption for all men. The entire ministry of Christ, but especially His great Passion, shows the. perfection of His willing obedience. And now the Messiah, delivered out of the dreary pit of suffering and death and exalted on high, testifies to the Word of His truth in the past and in the present.
v. 9. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation, declaring and proclaiming it through the mouth of His servants. Lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, Thou knowest, He had not closed them up and kept them shut, but had made known God’s faithfulness and salvation, His mercy and truth, Joh 1:14, these being the benefits resulting from His completed Passion.
v. 10. I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart, namely, that which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, Rom 3:22; I have declared Thy faithfulness and Thy salvation; I have not concealed Thy loving-kindness and Thy truth from the great congregation. Having thus set forth the everlasting truth of the Gospel, the Messiah returns to the bitter complaint of the days of His suffering.
v. 11. Withhold not Thou Thy tender mercies from me, O Lord; let Thy loving-kindness and Thy truth continually preserve me. It is the cry of a poor and stricken sinner whom the punishment of God has overtaken, who is tortured by the consciousness of his guilt; for Christ was the full Substitute for mankind, making the misery and the curse resting upon men His own.
v. 12. For innumerable evils have compassed me about, attacking Him on all sides like countless hordes of bitter enemies; mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, having overtaken him like a victorious army, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head, for they were the countless millions which had been committed by all men; therefore my heart faileth me, it has forsaken Him, leaving Him weak and powerless in His misery.
v. 13. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me, haste being necessary because He was in such depths of oppression.
v. 14. Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it, for all the enemies of mankind were pursuing Him with all the curse, wrath, and damnation which the countless sins of men deserved; let them be driven backward and put to shame, covered with disgrace, that wish me evil.
v. 15. Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame, utterly stunned and dazed, that say unto me, Aha, aha! in sneering derision in an attempt to frustrate His work of redemption. The wonderful plans of God for our salvation are revealed in this passage in all their surpassing glory. The enemies cannot hinder the salvation of mankind, and all their attempts to do so result but in their own downfall.
v. 16. Let all those that seek Thee, with hearts filled with faith, rejoice and be glad in Thee, finding comfort in God, their Savior; let such as love Thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified, in a glorious hymn of thanksgiving.
v. 17. But I am poor and needy, in misery on account of the load of human guilt resting upon Him; yet the Lord, the All-powerful, thinketh upon Me, taking care of Him in His trouble; Thou art My help and My Deliverer; make no tarrying, O My God! With the faith in Jesus Christ and His salvation for all mankind in our hearts, we may find comfort in all troubles of this earthly life and victoriously cope with all our enemies.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
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For the chief musician
"This is for the director of music to use in worship."
A psalm of David
Possible meanings are 1) David wrote the psalm or 2) the psalm is about David or 3) the psalm is in the style of David's psalms.
I waited patiently for Yahweh
This means the writer was waiting for Yahweh to help him.
he listened to me ... heard my cry
These mean the same thing, and can be combined into one statement. AT: "he listened to me when I called out to him" (See: Doublet)
out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay
These two metaphors mean the same thing. The writer's danger is spoken of as if it was a deadly pit full of mud. This emphasizes the danger. AT: "from being trapped in a horrible pit full of sticky mud" (See: Parallelism and Metaphor)
he set my feet on a rock
Here "my feet" refers to the writer, and "a rock" refers a place of safety. AT: "he provided safety for me" (See: Synecdoche and Metonymy)
translationWords
psalm
David
patient
Yahweh
pit
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v1 Ps 40 This psalm includes a thanksgiving song (40:1-10)…
Ps 40 This psalm includes a thanksgiving song (40:1-10) followed by a lament (40:11-17). The thanksgiving song includes the reason for the thanksgiving (40:1-5), an affirmation of commitment (40:6-8), and a public testimony of God’s character (40:7-10). The lament concerns the psalmist’s troubles because of his sins (40:11-12) and is followed by two prayers for vindication (40:13-15, 17).
40:1-5 The psalmist thanks the Lord for his rescue and testifies that God can be trusted.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.