Psalm 70:1

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

A.M. 2981. — B.C. 1023.

This Psalm is copied almost word for word from the 40th, from Psalm 40:13 to the end; and, perhaps, it is for this reason entitled, A Psalm to bring to remembrance. For it may sometimes be of use to pray over again the prayers which we have formerly made to God on like occasions. David here prays that God would send help to him, shame to his enemies, and joy to his friends. The reader will find in the notes on Psalms 40 th all that is necessary for the elucidation of this Psalm.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

70:1-5 The speedy destruction of the wicked, and the preservation of the godly. - This psalm is almost the same as the last five verses of #Ps 40". While here we behold Jesus Christ set forth in poverty and distress, we also see him denouncing just and fearful punishment on his Jewish, heathen, and antichristian enemies; and pleading for the joy and happiness of his friends, to his Father's honour. Let us apply these things to our own troubled circumstances, and in a believing manner bring them, and the sinful causes thereof, to our remembrance. Urgent trials should always awake fervent prayers.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Make haste - These words are supplied by our translators. The first word in Psalm 40:13, rendered "be pleased," is here omitted in the original. The psalm in the Hebrew begins abruptly - "O God, to deliver me," - leaving the impression that this is a fragment - a fragment commencing without even the care necessary to make the grammatical construction complete.

O God - Hebrew, אלהים 'Elohiym. In the corresponding place in Psalm 40:13 the word is "Yahweh." Why the change was made is unknown. The remainder of the verse is the same as in Psalm 40.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

PSALM 70

Ps 70:1-5. This corresponds to [606]Ps 40:13-17 with a very few variations, as "turn back" (Ps 70:3) for "desolate," and "make haste unto me" (Ps 70:5) for "thinketh upon me." It forms a suitable appendix to the preceding, and is called "a Psalm to bring to remembrance," as the thirty-eighth [see on [607]Ps 38:1, title].

The Treasury of David

1 Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Lord.

2 Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt.

3 Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha.

4 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.

5 But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying.

Psalm 70:1

This is the second Psalm which is a repetition of another, the former being Psalm 53:1-6, which was a rehearsal of Psalm 14:1-7. The present differs from Psalm 40:13-17 at the outset, for that begins with, "Be pleased," and this, in our version, more urgently with, "Make haste;" or, as in the Hebrew, with an abrupt and broken cry, "O God, to deliver me; O Lord, to help me hasten." It is not forbidden us, in hours of dire distress, to ask for speed on God's part in his coming to rescue us. The only other difference between this and Psalm 40:13, is the putting of Elohim in the beginning of the verse for Jehovah, but why this is done, we know not; perhaps, the guesses of the critics are correct, but perhaps they are not. As we have the words of this Psalm twice in the letter, let them be doubly with us in spirit. It is most meet that we should day by day cry to God for deliverance and help; our frailty and our many dangers render this a perpetual necessity.

Psalm 70:2

Here the words, "together," and, "to destroy it," which occur in Psalm 40 are omitted: a man in haste uses no more words than are actually necessary. His enemies desired to put his faith to shame, and he eagerly entreats that they may be disappointed, and themselves covered with confusion. It shall certainly be so; if not sooner, yet at that dread day When the wicked shall awake to shame and everlasting contempt. "Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt;" turned back and driven back are merely the variations of the translators, When men labour to turn others back from the right road, it is God's retaliation to drive them back from the point they are aiming at.

Psalm 70:3

"Let them be turned back." This is a milder term than that used in Psalm 40, where he cries, "let them be desolate." Had growing years matured and mellowed the Psalmist's spirit? To be "turned back," however, may come to the same thing as to be "desolate;" disappointed malice is the nearest akin to desolation that can well be conceived. "For a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha." They thought to shame the godly, but it was their shame, and shall be their shame for ever. How fond men are of taunts, and if they are meaningless "Ahas," more like animal cries than human words, it matters nothing, so long as they are a vent for scorn and sting the victim. Rest assured, the enemies of Christ and his people shall have wages for their work; they shall be paid in their own coin; they loved scoffing, and they shall be filled with it - yea, they shall become a proverb and a by-word for ever.

Psalm 70:4

Anger against enemies must not make us forget our friends, for it is better to preserve a single citizen of Zion, than to kill a thousand enemies. "Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee." All true worshippers, though as yet in the humble ranks of seekers, shall have cause for joy. Even though the seeking commence in darkness, it shall bring light with it. "And let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified" Those who have tasted divine grace, and are therefore, wedded to it, are a somewhat more advanced race, and these shall not only feel joy, but shall with holy constancy and perseverance tell abroad their joy, and call upon men to glorify God. The doxology, "Let the Lord's name be magnified," is infinitely more manly and ennobling than the dog's bark of "Aha, aha."

Psalm 70:5

continued...THE ARGUMENT

The contents of this Psalm are almost all to be found Psalm 40:13, &c. Nor is it strange that they are here repeated, because the same or like occasions were oft repeated; and David’s returning distresses might well make him sometimes repeat the same words. And as these things were joined with many other passages in Psalm 40, so they are distinctly repeated, as a form of prayer, which himself or others might use in such a condition. What is necessary for the understanding of this Psalm, the reader may find See Poole "Psalm 40:1", etc.

David prayeth to God for speedy help, to the shame of his enemies, Psalm 70:1-3, the joy of the godly, and the magnifying of his name, Psalm 70:4,5.

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Make haste, O God, to deliver me,.... The phrase, "make haste", is supplied from the following clause in Psalm 40:13; it is, "be pleased, O Lord", or "Jehovah". The Targum renders it, "to deliver us"; very wrongly;

make haste to help me, O Lord; See Gill on Psalm 22:19.

Geneva Study Bible

<A Psalm of David, to bring {a} to remembrance.>> Make {b} haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD.

(a) Which might put him in remembrance of his deliverance.

(b) He teaches us to be earnest in prayer even though God seems to delay: for at his time he will hear us.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1. Make haste] The words, as the italics indicate, are not in the Hebrew; and as the text stands, we must either supply make haste from the next line, or render according to the Heb. idiom found in Isaiah 38:20, God is ready to deliver me. But probably the first word of the verse as it stands in Psalm 40:13 should be restored, Be pleased. This word would be a link of connexion with Psalm 69:13, in a time when thou pleasest. make haste to help me] Cp. Psalm 22:19; Psalm 38:22.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 1. - Make haste, O God, to deliver me. In Psalm 40:13 we find, "Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;" and this would seem to be the right way of supplying the ellipse here. Make haste to help me, O Lord. Psalm 70:1

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

We see at once at the very beginning, in the omission of the רצה (Psalm 40:14), that what we have here before us is a fragment of Psalm 40, and perhaps a fragment that only accidentally came to have an independent existence. The להצּילני, which was under the government of רצה, now belongs to הוּשׁה, and the construction is without example elsewhere. In Psalm 70:3 ( equals Psalm 40:15) יחד and לספּותהּ are given up entirely; the original is more full-toned and soaring. Instead of ישׁמּוּ, torpescant, Psalm 70:4 has ישׁוּבוּ, recedant (as in Psalm 6:11, cf. Psalm 9:18), which is all the more flat for coming after יסגו אחור. In Psalm 70:4, after ויאמרים the לי, which cannot here (cf. on the contrary, Psalm 35:21) be dispensed with, is wanting.