I. ARDENT APPEAL (1-5). "O Jehovah," Five times. 1. For the Shewing of Mercy (1-3). 2. For the Sparing of Life (4-5). II. ACUTE ANGUISH (6-7). 1. Weariness (6a). 2. Weeping ( 6b ). (Inverted Parallelism.) 3. Wasting (7).
III. ASSURED ANSWER (8-10). "Jehovah," Three times. I. Persecutors Admonished (8). 2. Prayer Accepted (9 ). 3. Persecutors Ashamed (10). SUPERSCRIPT.-A psalm of David. PRIMARY AssoCIATION.-Date cannot be fixed with any certainty, but probably belongs to the period between David's sin with Bath sheba and Absalom' s rebellion. Note the writer's three-fold distress; he was suffering: (a) the Scourge of Dangerous Illness; (b) the Sense of Divine Displeasure; and (c) the Scoffs of Delighted Foes. There is no explicit confession of sin as in xxxviii., which opens with similar words. Suffering and misfortune were popularly regarded as evid ences of commensurate guilt on the part of the sufferer (vide Book of Job), hence when the godly suffered he became an object of scorn to the ungodly; see Ps. xxx. which appears to be a corresponding thanksgiving. Our present psalm is first of the "penitential" psalms so called from early Christian tin1es. The others are Pss. xxxii., xxxviii., Ii., cii., cxxx., and cxliii. PROPHETIC ANTICIPATION.-Herc we get the soul exercise of the suffering Jewish remnant in the last days. Naturally clinging to their covenant privileges, they must be brought to realise that they can expect nothing but the covenant curse. Nothing is left to plead but the mercy of God (4). In this they are upon comn1on ground with the despised Gentile. While the assurance comes that the prayer is heard, there is as yet no entering into the full joy that comes from the knowledge that their sins are put away through the atoning work of Messiah. This comes out in later psahns. Our Lord's appropriation of 3a (c£ John xii. 27) and Sa (c£ Matt. vii. 23) warrants us in regarding the psalm, at least in part, as Messianic, but we must ever remember that our Lord's sufferings at the hand of God were entirely vicarious and only as identifying Himself fully with His sinful people; see Gal. iii. 13. PERSONAL APPLICATION.-Thc displeasure of God against sin is revealed (Rom. i. 18) equally with the fact of His love for sinners (Rom. v. 8). One truth must not be over-emphasised to the detri ment of the other. Those who aug1nent the sufferings of saints under discipline shall suffer shame. In the experience of God's saints, the sun always breaks out after the showers. Do we often
thank God that we live in the Christian age with the glory light of Christ's resurrection dispelling the uncertainties and glo0111 of the departed state? See 2 Tim. i. ro. VERSE NOTES I. Emphasis is upon "Not in anger neither . .. in .. . displeasure," i.e. "do not deal with me beyond the requirements of love's discipline." B " f . "b b d ' h e his r. e gracious unto me, c . 1v. 2; ones pro . synec oc e ror whole body. 3. He was suffering in mind as well as in body, "vexed,"= dismayed; "How long" == fig. aposiopesis. 4. "Return' for he feels as if God had forsaken him (4b). Plea based upon Jd1ovah's declaration concerning Himself, Exod. xxxiv. 7-8. 5. A further plea. God would lose rather than gain by his death. Translate, " ... no commemoration (or, memorial) of Thee, i.e. in the "unclothed" state there is remembrance, but no memorial of God's praise before those still living in the body. Hezekiah alludes to this psalm, Isa. xxxviii. 18-19. For Christians enjoying the light of New Testament revelation, it is hardly possible to realise what the life long slavery to the fear of death (Heb. ii. 15) meant to the faithful Israelite, and the bold struggles of his faith to break the fetters." With him to die was not gain, but real loss (ctr. Phil. i. 21). The Old Testament saints were granted but a very partial revelation of the state after death. They viewed it as a condition in which they were cut off from the blessings which to God's people were the token of His favour. "Sheol" =Gk.Hades, = abode of the spirits of the dead. 6. Br. "every night," as R.V. 7. The appearance of the eyes is a sure indication of the state of one's mental and bodily health; "adversaries"= them that distress me, cf. iii. 1; iv. 1; vii. 4, 6. 8. The shadow now passes from the soul of the psalmist. 9. Note the repeated assertion of faith and in 10, the reasonable assurance concerning foes. 10. "vexed" = dismayed, cf. 2-3. The assailants shall suffer what they caused him to suffer-a just retribution.
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