Psalm 6:10














For the significance of the title of this psalm, see the Exposition. An expositor well remarks that the confessed uncertainty on the part of the best Hebrew scholars as to the meaning or many of the titles is a striking proof of their antiquity, since it shows that the clue thereto is lost in oblivion. This psalm belongs to those specified under the first head of our introductory homily, as one of those in which we have the strugglings and wrestlings of a saint in devotional exercises; not the words of God to man, but the words of man to God, and as such they must be studied. We must not fall into the anachronism to which in our last homily we referred, of interpreting a psalm like this as if it had been written in full New Testament light; for we shall see. as we proceed abundant indication of the contrary. Yet there is here a priceless record of an early believer's experience, from which troubled souls through all time may draw an abundance of comfort. Here are - a moan, a prayer, a plea, an issue.

I. THE MOAN. It is not that of an impenitent man; at the same time, it bears no very clear indication of being a penitential wail over sin. It is the plaint of one who is overwhelmed with sorrow - with sorrow that has come upon him through his enemies. So intense is his anguish that it haunts him by night and by day; it exhausts his frame, consumes his spirit. Note the various expressions: "withered away," "bones vexed," "sore vexed," "weary with groaning," "make my bed to swim," "water my couch with my tears," eyes dim" "eyesight wasting away," etc. What caused such overwhelming sorrow, we cannot tell. But this is of no consequence. The point to be noted is this - there are not unfrequently times in the experience of God's people when some care, or trouble, or perplexity is felt, and that so severe that they are haunted by it night and day; they cannot shake it off; and they cannot, even when at prayer, forget it. What are they to do? Let them not try to forget it; let them turn their prayers in that direction, so that the perplexity and the prayer are concurrent and not contrary forces. This is what the psalmist did. This is what we should do.

"Give others the sunshine; tell Jesus the rest."

II. THE PRAYER. It is twofold.

1. Deprecatory. (Ver. 1, "Rebuke me not," etc.; "nor chasten me in thine hot displeasure.") Here is one of the traces of the Old Testament saints' thinking about God: they regarded their afflictions as indications of God's anger. We are now taught rather to regard them as a part of the gracious training which our Father sees that we need. The sharpest trials often force out the most fervid prayers; yet, at the same time, we are permitted to cry to our Father to ask him to deal gently with us, and to "throw away his rod," since "love will do the work."

2. Supplicatory. "Mercy," "healing," "deliverance," "salvation," - for these he pleads. Probably his yearning is mainly for temporal relief and deliverance from his foes. But we, under similar circumstances, as we know more than the psalmist did, should rise higher than he could. We should regard temporal deliverances as entirely subordinate to the higher spiritual improvement, which ought to be earnestly prayed for as the result of every trial. We should always be more anxious to have our trials sanctified than to have them removed.

III. THE PLEA. This also is twofold.

1. The psalmist feels that his burden is so great, it will soon bring him to the grave, if not removed. Hence he says, "In death there is no remembrance of thee; and in Sheol who shall give thee thanks?" Here is another proof that, in dealing with this specimen of the devotion of an Old Testament saint, we have to do with one to whom, as yet, life and immortality had not been brought to light; to whom death was but the passage to a dim and gloomy state of being; although, as we shall see in dealing with Psalm 16., 17., there was the hope of an awakening. Still, "Sheol," the all-demanding realm, was not as yet lit up with gospel light. The Greek word "Hades" and the Hebrew word "Sheol" both refer to the state after death, though under different symbolic expressions. Historically, there are three conceptions of Hades, or Sheol.

(1) The pagan: all gloom and no hope.

(2) The Hebrew: gloom, with hope of a blest awaking in the morning.

(3) The Christian: no gloom at all, so far as the godly are concerned. Absent from the body; at home with the Lord. Hence we cannot now adopt ver. 5 of this prayer, knowing that our Lord Jesus Christ died for us, that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him; that hence our death is the gateway to rest, and that the time of our departure may be peacefully left in wiser hands than ours.

2. The psalmist grounds a second plea on the loving-kindness of God. This is better, surer ground (ver. 4). Very often is this plea used. It cannot be used too often. It takes hold of God's strength.

IV. THE ISSUE.

1. The psalmist receives an answer to his prayer. (See Psalm 34:6.) Thousands can say the same. "The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping."

2. Consequently, there is:

(1) New confidence Godward (ver. 9). "The Lord will receive my prayer." As he has done in the past, so he will continue to do. New courage manward (ver. 10, Revised Version). Yea, by prayer the spirit is calmed. Trouble is turned to rest, fear to bravery, and despair to hope. Note: How much care and worry good people would save themselves if they did but take all their troubles to God at once, without waiting till they obtained such hold upon them l

(2) It is infinitely better to tell God everything, than to go about moaning and groaning to our fellows! God knows all. He never misunderstands us. He knows exactly how to help us. He will help us, at the right moment, in the best way, and to the full extent of our need; yea, he will do "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." - C.

Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed.
A difficulty is often felt in reading or repeating these imprecations. These denunciations are appalling, withering. Are they not essentially personal, the breathing of a Jewish spirit of revenge, and in no sense Christian and universal?

1. I can find no difficulty in granting that the Old Testament spirit was a harder and a sterner spirit than that of the New. The emblem of the New Testament is the cross, which signifies passive endurance. The emblem of the Old Testament is the sword. As the Spirit of God freely uses individual thought, style and expression, overruling them so as to bring out His own higher meaning, I should not be surprised to find occasional phrases of a fiercer and an angrier complexion than any which occur in the New Testament, and which I should interpret with a different signification from that which their utterer designed. We need not consider these imprecatory Psalms as the utterance of David's longing for personal revenge It is very singular that each of the Psalms in which the strongest imprecatory passages are found contains also gentle undertones, breathings of beneficent love.

2. When under the old covenant, earthly prosperity was the portion of the wicked, and earthly adversity of the pious, the whole moral government of God seemed to be veiled in clouds and darkness. Now, when all seems troubled, we can look up and behold by faith the glory that shall be revealed. "God is patient because He is eternal." Man is impatient when he is not assured of his immortality.

3. We must interpret every book by the mind of the author. If so, we must apply this to the Bible and to the Psalms. The real author is the Holy Spirit. "The prophet seems to speak as if in prayer — when he sees that which will certainly come — showing that the known counsel of God, which He has firmly and immutably fixed, should not displease us." Conceive a created spirit enlarged so as to embrace the will of God in relation to all the children of men — a spirit looking from the margin of an eternal world upon the petty histories of the past, purified from personal hatred, partiality, and prejudice, measuring all things by the counsels of God, such a spirit could say without a taint of personal revenge, "let all mine enemies be ashamed." Turn to two passages of the New Testament (Luke 9:49, and sequel). We think of St. John as a man of angelic, or at least of feminine, gentleness. But in his nature, as in the blue sky of his native Galilee, there were sudden storms and fierce lightning flashes. As yet the brothers knew not Jesus thoroughly. They would build up by force the kingdom whose walls are cemented, not by "blood and iron," but by love. Such is the spirit of intolerance, which would in one age offer to God the hideous thing called by a fearful profanation an auto-da-fe; which in another would rivet the chains of penal laws upon a population; in another, with the cant of toleration upon its lips, stamp out an unpopular minority by rubrics and definitions. Is there any intolerance in the gospel? For answer see 2 John 10. To deny that Jesus was the God-Man was to question His legitimacy and impugn His truth. Pagan toleration has been invidiously compared with Christian intolerance. But pagan toleration is a conclusion drawn from the false premises that all religions are about equally true; while Christian persecution is a conclusion falsely drawn from the true principle of the exclusiveness of true religion. Commend the spirit of tolerance to all whom our Church tolerates. Amidst much that is depressing there is one happy sign of our times. There are tokens that Churches sundered hitherto are yearning to be one. A day is coming, even on the earth, when the inward unity of Christ's redeemed shall manifest itself outwardly; when the prayer of our High priest shall he fulfilled, "that they all may be one."

(W. Alexander, D. D.).

O Lord my God, in Thee do I put my trust.
I. THE APPEAL (vers. 1, 2, 6). A petition for freedom and deliverance from his persecutors, in which he desires God to be attentive to him, because of the relation between them, and because he trusted Him: and he also desires God to be benevolent, because he was in danger of death, having many enemies.

II. HIS REASONS. He makes protestation of his innocency, and appeals to God's justice. He wants God to do justice both to him and to the wicked. The close of the Psalm is a doxology, — thanks that a true, just, and merciful God would judge for the righteous, save those who are true of heart, establish the just, and take revenge upon the wicked; for this, says David, "I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness."

(William Nicholson, D. D.)

This Psalm consisteth principally of three parts. In the first part he prayeth for deliverance from his enemies, setting out his innocence and upright dealing toward them (vers. 1-5). In the second he prayeth against his enemies, declaring what good shall come to his children by the overthrow of the wicked (vers. 6-10). In the third he pronounceth God's judgment against the ungodly, which, being once manifested, he promises to yield hearty thanks unto the Lord (vers. 11-17). Learn that trust and confidence in God is always necessary to them that pray to Him; for otherwise all our supplications are but lip labour, and lost. Also, we learn to pray for deliverance from our persecutors, or else we might justly be accounted betrayers of ourselves. Many of God's children may stand upon their innocency to men-ward, and say in their measure — which of you can convict me of sin, but not before God. We may sometimes pray against some enemies of the Church, but we should make God's promises (general or particular) the ground of our prayers. When men will not judge rightly we may by prayer refer our causes to Him who hath no respect of persons. Vers. 12, 13 declare what mischievous minds the wicked carry toward the godly, and what means they will work to accomplish their naughtiness; and that should teach us wisdom and circumspection, that we fall not into their nets.

(Thomas Wilcocks.)

It is reported of tigers that they enter into a rage on the scent of fragrant spices: so do ungodly men at the blessed savour of godliness. I have read of some barbarous nations, who when the sun shines hot upon them, they shoot up their arrows against it: so do wicked men at the light and heat of godliness. There is a natural antipathy between the spirits of godly men and the wicked (Genesis 3:15).

(Jeremiah Burroughs.)

Homilist.
David's conduct indicates three things.

I. EARNEST APPLICATION. In the midst of his trial he looks to heaven. In his supplication, see —

1. A strong confidence in God as ever accessible; equal to all emergencies; large enough to receive all sufferers; immutable amidst the revolution of ages.

2. A terrible sense of danger. "Lest he tear my soul like a lion."

3. A deep consciousness of innocence. "If there be iniquity in my hands."

4. An earnest invocation for help. "Arise, O Lord, lift up Thyself." His ideas of God throughout this Psalm are very anthropomorphic. In this invocation he has respect for three things —

(1)The spiritual good of his country;

(2)the administrative justice of God;

(3)the universal extension of wickedness.

II. DEVOUT MEDITATIONS (vers. 10-16).

1. On the character of God; as a friend of the just; an enemy of the wicked, whose opposition is constant, terrible, and avoidable.

2. On the condition of sinners. He regards his position as

(1)painfully laborious;

(2)abortively laborious;

(3)self-ruinously laborious.

III. REVERENT ADORATION. Note —

1. The character in which he worships the Almighty. As righteous and as supreme.

2. The spirit with which he worships the Almighty. "I will sing praise." Song is the language of happiness. True worship is happiness. All happy spirits worship, and worship is song.

(Homilist.)

I. PRAYER (1, 2). If David desired deliverance from his foes, how much more do we need deliverance from our arch enemy (1 Peter 5:8, 9).

II. PROTESTATION (3-5). (1 Samuel 24; 1 Samuel 26). So far had he been from the offence they charged him with.

III. AN APPEAL (6-9). By a bold metaphor he attributes the success of his foes to some temporary abdication on God's part of His throne, and he entreats Him to reassume His throne and give His decisions, as Eastern judges are wont to do, in the midst of the people standing around.

IV. PREDICTION (10-16). Evil recoils like a boomerang on those who set it in motion. Ralph the Rover perished at the Incheape Rock. The huntsman at eventide falls into the pit prepared in the morning for his prey.

(F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

I. THE CONDITIONS OF TRUST IN GOD.

1. We must lay to heart the glorious truth of the everlasting love of God towards us, and realise that He is our reconciled Father in Christ.

2. We must ever seek to do His will. We cannot "rest in the calm sun glow of His face" if we are not earnestly seeking to do the things that please Him.

3. We must not trust in ourselves. The pride of the human heart is great, hence we are unwilling to confess our inability to keep God's commandments.

4. We must not trust in others. Asa's end a warning against trusting in an arm of flesh (2 Chronicles 16:12, 13).

II. WE OUGHT TO TRUST IN GOD.

1. In times of loneliness and depression (John 16:32; Psalm 56:3).

2. Times of danger, difficulty, and temptation. God is our refuge (Psalm 57:1); our guide (Psalm 48:14); God is faithful (1 Corinthians 10:13).

III. THE RESULT OF TRUST IN GOD.

1. Blessedness (Psalms 84:12).

2. Perfect peace (Isaiah 26:8).

(J. P. Wright.)

People
David, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
7, Ashamed, Benjamite, Cush, David, Deeply, Disgrace, Disgraced, Dismayed, Disquieted, Enemies, Exceedingly, Greatly, Jehova, Moment, Psalm, Return, Sang, Shame, Shamed, Shiggaion, Sore, Sorely, Sudden, Suddenly, Tremble, Troubled, Turn, Vexed
Outline
1. David's complaint in his sickness
8. He triumphs over his enemies

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 6:10

     5836   disgrace
     5947   shame

Library
The Life of Mr. James Renwick.
Mr. James Renwick was born in the parish of Glencairn in Nithsdale, Feb. 15, 1662. His parents though not rich, yet were exemplary for piety. His father Andrew Renwick (a weaver to trade) and his mother Elizabeth Corsan, had several children before Mr. James, who died young; for which when his mother was pouring forth her motherly grief, her husband used to comfort her with declaring, that he was well satisfied to have children, whether they lived or died, young or old, providing they might be heirs
John Howie—Biographia Scoticana (Scots Worthies)

Weep Not.
"Weine nicht!" "The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping."--Psalm 6:8. [3]B. Schmolk transl., Sarah Findlater, 1854 Weep not--Jesus lives on high, O sad and wearied one! If thou with the burden sigh, Of grief thou canst not shun, Trust Him still, Soon there will Roses in the thicket stand, Goshen smile in Egypt's land. Weep not--Jesus thinks of thee When all beside forget, And on thee so lovingly His faithfulness has set, That though all Ruin'd fall, Every thing on earth be shaken, Thou wilt
Jane Borthwick—Hymns from the Land of Luther

Pleading for Mercy. Ps 6

John Newton—Olney Hymns

"O Save Me for Thy Mercies' Sake. " --Ps. vi. 4
"O save me for thy mercies' sake."--Ps. vi. 4. Mercy alone can meet my case; For mercy, Lord, I cry;-- Jesus! Redeemer! show thy face In mercy, or I die. Save me, for none beside can save; At thy command I tread, With failing step, life's stormy wave; The wave goes o'er my head. I perish, and my doom were just; But wilt thou leave me? No: I hold Thee fast, my hope, my trust, I will not let Thee go. Still sure to me Thy promise stands, And ever must abide; Behold it written on Thy hands, And graven
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

Letters of St. Bernard
I To Malachy. 1141.[924] (Epistle 341.) To the venerable lord and most blessed father, Malachy, by the grace of God archbishop of the Irish, legate of the Apostolic See, Brother Bernard called to be abbot of Clairvaux, [desiring] to find grace with the Lord. 1. Amid the manifold anxieties and cares of my heart,[925] by the multitude of which my soul is sore vexed,[926] the brothers coming from a far country[927] that they may serve the Lord,[928] thy letter, and thy staff, they comfort
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

The Tears of the Penitent.
Adversity had taught David self-restraint, had braced his soul, had driven him to grasp firmly the hand of God. And prosperity had seemed for nearly twenty years but to perfect the lessons. Gratitude had followed deliverance, and the sunshine after the rain had brought out the fragrance of devotion and the blossoms of glad songs. A good man, and still more a man of David's age at the date of his great crime, seldom falls so low, unless there has been previous, perhaps unconscious, relaxation of the
Alexander Maclaren—The Life of David

If Then to Sin, that Others May not Commit a Worse Sin...
21. If then to sin, that others may not commit a worse sin, either against us or against any, without doubt we ought not; it is to be considered in that which Lot did, whether it be an example which we ought to imitate, or rather one which we ought to avoid. For it seems meet to be more looked into and noted, that, when so horrible an evil from the most flagitious impiety of the Sodomites was impending over his guests, which he wished to ward off and was not able, to such a degree may even that just
St. Augustine—Against Lying

Out of the Deep of Suffering and Sorrow.
Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul: I am come into deep waters; so that the floods run over me.--Ps. lxix. 1, 2. I am brought into so great trouble and misery: that I go mourning all the day long.--Ps. xxxviii. 6. The sorrows of my heart are enlarged: Oh! bring Thou me out of my distress.--Ps. xxv. 17. The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping: the Lord will receive my prayer.--Ps. vi. 8. In the multitude of the sorrows which I had in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed
Charles Kingsley—Out of the Deep

Epistle xxxix. To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria.
To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Gregory to Eulogius, &c. As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country (Prov. xxv. 25). But what can be good news to me, so far as concerns the behoof of holy Church, but to hear of the health and safety of your to me most sweet Holiness, who, from your perception of the light of truth, both illuminate the same Church with the word of preaching, and mould it to a better way by the example of your manners? As often, too, as I recall in
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Epistle xv. To George, Presbyter.
To George, Presbyter. Gregory to George, Presbyter, and to Theodore, deacon, of the Church of Constantinople. Mindful of your goodness and charity, I greatly blame myself, that I gave you leave to return so soon: but, since I saw you pressing me importunately once and again for leave to go, I considered that it might be a serious matter for your Love to tarry with us longer. But, after I had learnt that you had lingered so long on your journey owing to the winter season, I confess that I was sorry
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Epistle Xlvi. To Isacius, Bishop of Jerusalem .
To Isacius, Bishop of Jerusalem [159] . Gregory to Isacius, &c. In keeping with the truth of history, what means the fact that at the time of the flood the human race outside the ark dies, but within the ark is preserved unto life, but what we see plainly now, namely that all the unfaithful perish under the wave of their sin, while the unity of holy Church, like the compactness of the ark, keeps her faithful ones in faith and in charity? And this ark in truth is compacted of incorruptible timber,
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Rules to be Observed in Singing of Psalms.
1. Beware of singing divine psalms for an ordinary recreation, as do men of impure spirits, who sing holy psalms intermingled with profane ballads: They are God's word: take them not in thy mouth in vain. 2. Remember to sing David's psalms with David's spirit (Matt. xxii. 43.) 3. Practise St. Paul's rule--"I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing with the understanding also." (1 Cor. xiv. 15.) 4. As you sing uncover your heads (1 Cor. xi. 4), and behave yourselves in comely reverence as in the
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Motives to Holy Mourning
Let me exhort Christians to holy mourning. I now persuade to such a mourning as will prepare the soul for blessedness. Oh that our hearts were spiritual limbecs, distilling the water of holy tears! Christ's doves weep. They that escape shall be like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity' (Ezekiel 7:16). There are several divine motives to holy mourning: 1 Tears cannot be put to a better use. If you weep for outward losses, you lose your tears. It is like a shower
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Epistle Lxiv. To Augustine, Bishop of the Angli .
To Augustine, Bishop of the Angli [174] . Here begins the epistle of the blessed Gregory pope of the city of Rome, in exposition of various matters, which he sent into transmarine Saxony to Augustine, whom he had himself sent in his own stead to preach. Preface.--Through my most beloved son Laurentius, the presbyter, and Peter the monk, I received thy Fraternity's letter, in which thou hast been at pains to question me on many points. But, inasmuch as my aforesaid sons found me afflicted with the
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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