Psalm 86:15

But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

86:8-17 Our God alone possesses almighty power and infinite love. Christ is the way and the truth. And the believing soul will be more desirous to be taught the way and the truth. And the believing soul will be more desirous to be taught the way and the truth of God, in order to walk therein, than to be delivered out of earthly distress. Those who set not the Lord before them, seek after believers' souls; but the compassion, mercy, and truth of God, will be their refuge and consolation. And those whose parents were the servants of the Lord, may urge this as a plea why he should hear and help them. In considering David's experience, and that of the believer, we must not lose sight of Him, who though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion ... - See the notes at Psalm 86:5. The words rendered "long-suffering" mean that there was and would be delay in his anger; that it was not soon excited; that he did not act from passion or sudden resentment; that he endured the conduct of sinners long without rising up to punish them; that he was not quick to take vengeance, but bore with them patiently. On this account the psalmist, though conscious that he was a sinner, hoped and pleaded that God would save him.

Plenteous in ... truth - That is, in faithfulness. When thou hast made a promise, thou wilt faithfully keep it.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

15. Contrasts God with his enemies (compare Ps 86:5).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

To wit, to thy people, and to me in particular; and therefore thou wilt forget and forgive my manifold sins, for which thou mightest justly reject me, and make me to know thy breach of promise; and therefore thou wilt save me from my cruel enemies.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion,.... Or merciful (t), in the most affectionate and tender manner, as a parent to its child, or particularly as a mother to the son of her womb; and is rich and plenteous in his mercy, and freely bestows it; and this was the support of the psalmist under his troubles from his enemies, that though they were cruel the Lord was merciful:

and gracious; so he has been in eternity, as appears by his election of grace, by the covenant of his grace, and the provisions of it in his Son; and so he is in time, as is manifest from his kindness in Christ Jesus, from his justification, pardon, adoption, effectual calling and salvation of his people, which are all of grace;

longsuffering; not only to wicked men, but to his chosen ones; which longsuffering of his is salvation to them; he bears with them, and waits to be gracious to them, to bring them to repentance, and save them, 2 Peter 3:9,

plenteous in mercy; or goodness; See Gill on Psalm 86:5, and truth: in fulfilling promises; see Exodus 34:6, to which these words refer.

(t) "misericors", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c.

Geneva Study Bible

But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. Word for word from Exodus 34:6. With his proud and merciless enemies he contrasts the revealed character of God, as the ground of the prayer which follows. Though he may have deserved punishment, God cannot surely abandon him to them.

longsuffering] Or, slow to anger (R.V.).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion. The appeal is to God's own revelation of himself. He had declared that he was "merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin" (Exodus 34:6, 7); he could not, therefore, desert the psalmist in his need. And gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth (comp. above, ver. 5; and see also Numbers 14:18; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2). Psalm 86:15

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The situation is like that in the Psalms of the time of Saul. The writer is a persecuted one, and in constant peril of his life. He has taken Psalm 86:14 out of the Elohimic Psalm 54:5, and retained the Elohim as a proper name of God (cf. on the other hand Psalm 86:8, Psalm 86:10); he has, however, altered זרים to זרים, which here, as in Isaiah 13:11 (cf. however, ibid. Psalm 25:5), is the alternating word to עריצים. In Psalm 86:15 he supports his petition that follows by Jahve's testimony concerning Himself in Exodus 34:6. The appellation given to himself by the poet in Psalm 86:16 recurs in Psalm 116:16 (cf. Wisd. 9:5). The poet calls himself "the son of Thy handmaid" as having been born into the relation to Him of servant; it is a relationship that has come to him by birth. How beautifully does the Adonaj come in here for the seventh time! He is even from his mother's womb the servant of the sovereign Lord, from whose omnipotence he can therefore also look for a miraculous interposition on his behalf. A "token for good" is a special dispensation, from which it becomes evident to him that God is kindly disposed towards him. לטובה as in the mouth of Nehemiah, Nehemiah 5:19; Nehemiah 13:31; of Ezra 8:22; and also even in Jeremiah and earlier. ויבשׁוּ is just as parenthetical as in Isaiah 26:11.