Psalm 69:16

Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

69:13-21 Whatever deep waters of affliction or temptation we sink into, whatever floods of trouble or ungodly men seem ready to overwhelm us, let us persevere in prayer to our Lord to save us. The tokens of God's favour to us are enough to keep our spirits from sinking in the deepest outward troubles. If we think well of God, and continue to do so under the greatest hardships, we need not fear but he will do well for us. And if at any time we are called on to suffer reproach and shame, for Christ's sake, this may be our comfort, that he knows it. It bears hard on one that knows the worth of a good name, to be oppressed with a bad one; but when we consider what a favour it is to be accounted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus, we shall see that there is no reason why it should be heart-breaking to us. The sufferings of Christ were here particularly foretold, which proves the Scripture to be the word of God; and how exactly these predictions were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, which proves him to be the true Messiah. The vinegar and the gall given to him, were a faint emblem of that bitter cup which he drank up, that we might drink the cup of salvation. We cannot expect too little from men, miserable comforters are they all; nor can we expect too much from the God of all comfort and consolation.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hear me, O L RD, for thy lovingkindness is good - Thy mercy - thy favor - is good; that is, it is ample, abundant, great: it delights in deeds of mercy; in acts of benevolence. This was the only ground of his plea; and this was enough. Compare Psalm 63:3.

Turn unto me - Incline thine ear unto me; turn not away, but be favorable to me.

According to the multitude of thy tender mercies - See the notes at Psalm 51:1. He felt that he had occasion for the exercise of "all" the mercy of God; that the case was one which could be reached only by the exercise of the highest kindness and compassion.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16-18. These earnest terms are often used, and the address to God, as indifferent or averse, is found in Ps 3:7; 22:24; 27:9, &c.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Is good, i.e. is eminently and unspeakably good; the positive degree being put for the superlative, as it is Luke 1:28 1 Corinthians 12:23, &c. It is most ready to communicate itself to indigent and miserable creatures.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Hear me, O Lord; for thy lovingkindness is good,.... His lovingkindness to him, not only as his Son, but as Mediator; and which is a love of complacency and delight, and was from eternity, and will be to eternity: and this is "good", as appears by the effects and evidences of it; such as putting all things into his hands, showing him all that he does, concealing and keeping nothing from him, appointing him to be the Saviour of his people, the Head of the church, and the Judge of the world; and this lovingkindness shown to him is a reason why he might expect to be heard by his God and Father; see John 17:24; and the loving kindness of God to his people, and the members of Christ, is also good: it arises from the good will and pleasure of God; it is pleasantly and delightfully good to the saints, who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, and have had his love shed abroad in their hearts; it is profitably good unto them; it has prepared and laid up good things for them, both for time and eternity, even all the blessings of grace and goodness: it has promised good things unto them in covenant, and it gives Christ, and all good things along with him; it has a good influence on the graces of the Spirit, faith, hope, and love, to encourage them; and engages believers to a cheerful obedience to all the divine commands; to which may be added the duration of it, it lasts for ever: and it is so good, that it is better than any temporal good thing without it; it is better than life, and all the comforts of it, Psalm 63:3;

turn unto me, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies; his divine Father had turned away his face from him, and turned his fury upon him; he had awoke his sword of justice against him, pointed it at him, and thrust it into him; and now, satisfaction being made, he desires he would turn unto him in a way of grace and favour; that he would have respect unto him, and look upon him with his paternal countenance, and in a kind and tender manner, as well pleased with him, and with his righteousness and sacrifice. Of the phrase, "according to the multitude of that tender mercies"; see Gill on Psalm 51:1.

Geneva Study Bible

Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. Hear me] Answer me.

for thy lovingkindness is good] So Psalm 109:21.

turn unto me &c.] According to the abundance of thy compassions turn thee unto me. Cp. Psalm 51:1 note; Lamentations 3:32. ‘Turning’ or ‘looking’ unto him (Psalm 25:16; Psalm 119:132) is the opposite of that ‘hiding of God’s face’ which he deprecates in the next verse.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - Hear me, O Lord, for thy loving kindness is good (comp. ver. 13). Turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. The psalmist implies that God's face had been for some time turned away from him, and begs to be restored to favour. Psalm 69:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In this second part the petition by which the first is as it were encircled, is continued; the peril grows greater the longer it lasts, and with it the importunity of the cry for help. The figure of sinking in the mire or mud and in the depths of the pit (בּאר, Psalm 55:24, cf. בור, Psalm 40:3) is again taken up, and so studiously wrought out, that the impression forces itself upon one that the poet is here describing something that has really taken place. The combination "from those who hate me and from the depths of the waters" shows that "the depths of the waters" is not a merely rhetorical figure; and the form of the prayer: let not the pit (the well-pit or covered tank) close (תּאטּר with Dagesh in the Teth, in order to guard against its being read תּאטר; cf. on the signification of אטּר, clausus equals claudus, scil. manu) its mouth (i.e., its upper opening) upon me, exceeds the limits of anything that can be allowed to mere rhetoric. "Let not the water-flood overflow me" is intended to say, since it has, according to Psalm 69:3, already happened, let it not go further to my entire destruction. The "answer me" in Psalm 69:17 is based upon the plea that God's loving-kindness is טּוב, i.e., good, absolutely good (as in the kindred passion-Psalm, Psalm 109:21), better than all besides (Psalm 63:4), the means of healing or salvation from all evil. On Psalm 69:17 cf. Psalm 51:3, Lamentations 3:32. In Psalm 69:18 the prayer is based upon the painful situation of the poet, which urgently calls for speedy help (מהר beside the imperative, Psalm 102:3; Psalm 143:7; Genesis 19:22; Esther 6:10, is certainly itself not an imperative like הרב, Psalm 51:4, but an adverbial infinitive as in Psalm 79:8). קרבה, or, in order to ensure the pronunciation ḳorbah in distinction from ḳārbah, Deuteronomy 15:9, קרבה (in Baer,

(Note: Originally - was the sign for every kind of o6, hence the Masora includes the חטוף also under the name קמץ חטף; vid., Luther. Zeitschrift, 1863, S. 412,f., cf. Wright, Genesis, p. xxix.))

is imperat. Kal; cf. the fulfilment in Lamentations 3:57. The reason assigned, "because of mine enemies," as in Psalm 5:9; Psalm 27:11, and frequently, is to be understood according to Psalm 13:5 : the honour of the all-holy One cannot suffer the enemies of the righteous to triumph over him.

(Note: Both נפשׁי and איבי, contrary to logical interpunction, are marked with Munach; the former ought properly to have Dech, and the latter Mugrash. But since neither the Athnach-word nor the Silluk-word has two syllables preceding the tone syllable, the accents are transformed according to Accentuationssystem, xviii. 2, 4.)

The accumulation of synonyms in Psalm 69:20 is Jeremiah's custom, Jeremiah 13:14; Jeremiah 21:5, Jeremiah 21:7; Jeremiah 32:37, and is found also in Psalm 31 (Psalm 31:10) and Psalm 44 (Psalm 44:4, Psalm 44:17, Psalm 44:25). On הרפּה שׁברה לבּי, cf. Psalm 51:19, Jeremiah 23:9. The ἅπαξ γεγραμ, ואנוּשׁה (historical tense), from נוּשׁ, is explained by ענוּשׁ from אנשׁ, sickly, dangerously ill, evil-disposed, which is a favourite word in Jeremiah. Moreover נוּד in the signification of manifesting pity, not found elsewhere in the Psalter, is common in Jeremiah, e.g., Psalm 15:5; it signifies originally to nod to any one as a sign of a pity that sympathizes with him and recognises the magnitude of the evil. "To give wormwood for meat and מי־ראשׁ to drink" is a Jeremianic (Jeremiah 8:14; Jeremiah 9:14; Jeremiah 23:15) designation for inflicting the extreme of pain and anguish upon one. ראשׁ (רושׁ) signifies first of all a poisonous plant with an umbellated head of flower or a capitate fruit; but then, since bitter and poisonous are interchangeable notions in the Semitic languages, it signifies gall as the bitterest of the bitter. The lxx renders: καὶ ἔδωκαν εἰς τὸ βρῶμά μου χολήν, καὶ εἰς τὴν δίψαν μου ἐπότισάν με ὄξος. Certainly נתן בּ can mean to put something into something, to mix something with it, but the parallel word לצמאי (for my thirst, i.e., for the quenching of it, Nehemiah 9:15, Nehemiah 9:20) favours the supposition that the בּ of בּברוּתי is Beth essentiae, after which Luther renders: "they give me gall to eat." The ἅπαξ γεγραμ. בּרוּת (Lamentations 4:10 בּרות) signifies βρῶσις, from בּרה, βιβρώσκειν (root βορ, Sanscrit gar, Latin vor-are).