1 To the Overseer, by David. -- `To cause to remember.' O God, to deliver me, O Jehovah, for my help, haste.
Be pleased, O Jehovah, to deliver me, O Jehovah, for my help make haste. They are ashamed and confounded together, Who are seeking my soul to destroy it, They are turned backward, And are ashamed, who are desiring my evil. They are desolate because of their shame, Who are saying to me, `Aha, aha.' All seeking Thee rejoice and are glad in Thee, Those loving Thy salvation say continually, `Jehovah is magnified.' And I `am' poor and needy, The Lord doth devise for me. My help and my deliverer `art' Thou, O my God, tarry Thou not.
A Psalm of David, `To cause to remember.' Jehovah, in Thy wrath reprove me not, Nor in Thy fury chastise me.
And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, `Let me choose, I pray thee, twelve thousand men, and I arise and pursue after David to-night, and come upon him, and he weary and feeble-handed, and I have caused him to tremble, and all the people have fled who `are' with him, and I have smitten the king by himself, and I bring back all the people unto thee -- as the turning back of the whole `is' the man whom thou art seeking -- all the people are peace. And the thing is right in the eyes of Absalom, and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel. And Absalom saith, `Call, I pray thee, also for Hushai the Archite, and we hear what `is' in his mouth -- even he.' And Hushai cometh in unto Absalom, and Absalom speaketh unto him, saying, `According to this word hath Ahithophel spoken; do we do his word? if not, thou -- speak thou.' And Hushai saith unto Absalom, `Not good `is' the counsel that Ahithophel hath counselled at this time.' And Hushai saith, `Thou hast known thy father and his men, that they `are' heroes, and they are bitter in soul as a bereaved bear in a field, and thy father `is' a man of war, and doth not lodge with the people; lo, now, he is hidden in one of the pits, or in one of the places, and it hath been, at the falling among them at the commencement, that the hearer hath heard, and said, There hath been a slaughter among the people who `are' after Absalom; and he also, the son of valour, whose heart `is' as the heart of the lion, doth utterly melt, for all Israel doth know that thy father is a hero, and sons of valour `are' those with him. `So that I have counselled: Let all Israel be diligently gathered unto thee, from Dan even unto Beer-Sheba, as the sand that `is' by the sea for multitude, and thou thyself art going in the midst; and we have come in unto him in one of the places where he is found, and we `are' upon him as the dew falleth on the ground, and there hath not been left of him and of all the men who `are' with him even one. And if unto a city he is gathered, then they have caused all Israel to bear unto that city ropes, and we have drawn it unto the brook till that there hath not been found there even a stone.' And Absalom saith -- and all the men of Israel -- `Better `is' the counsel of Hushai the Archite than the counsel of Ahithophel;' and Jehovah willed to make void the good counsel of Ahithophel for the sake of Jehovah's bringing unto Absalom the evil. And Hushai saith unto Zadok and unto Abiathar the priests, `Thus and thus hath Ahithophel counselled Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and thus I have counselled; and now, send hastily, and declare to David, saying, Lodge not to-night in the plains of the wilderness, and also, certainly pass over, lest there be a swallowing up of the king and of all the people who are with him.' And Jonathan and Ahimaaz are standing at En-Rogel, and the maid-servant hath gone and declared to them -- and they go and have declared `it' to king David -- for they are not able to be seen to go in to the city. And a youth seeth them, and declareth to Absalom; and they go on both of them hastily, and come in unto the house of a man in Bahurim, and he hath a well in his court, and they go down there, and the woman taketh and spreadeth the covering over the face of the well, and spreadeth on it the ground corn, and the thing hath not been known. And the servants of Absalom come in unto the woman to the house, and say, `Where `are' Ahimaaz and Jonathan?' and the woman saith to them, `They passed over the brook of water;' and they seek, and have not found, and turn back to Jerusalem. And it cometh to pass, after their going on, that they come up out of the well, and go and declare to king David, and say unto David, `Rise ye, and pass over hastily the waters, for thus hath Ahithophel counselled against you.'
Be near unto my soul -- redeem it, Because of mine enemies ransom me.
O God, be not far from me, O my God, for my help make haste.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » John Gill's Exposition of the Bible » Commentary on Psalms 70
Commentary on Psalms 70 John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 70
To the chief Musician, cf15I A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. This psalm, according to Kimchi, was composed by David when he fled from Saul, or from Absalom; so Theodoret; but if at either of those times, it is most likely to be the latter, since the following psalm, it is certain, was penned when he was an old man, Psalm 69:9; the word translated "to bring to remembrance" is thought, by Aben Ezra, to be the first word of some pleasant song; see Psalm 38:1. The Targum paraphrases it, to remember the use of the frankincense; alluding to Leviticus 2:2; Jarchi says it signifies prayer, and refers to Psalm 20:7, as instances of the use of the word in such a sense; and so this psalm is composed by the psalmist in a petitionary way, to put the Lord in remembrance of his afflictions, and of his promises of help and deliverance, which he prays for; see Psalm 132:1; and that he would avenge him on his enemies, and show respect to his friends; or it was written to refresh his own memory with his present state, and to put him in mind from whence he might expect help and salvation. The title of the psalm in the Arabic version is, and so in the Vulgate Latin, following the Septuagint,
"a remembrance that the Lord had saved him:'
and in the Syriac version,
"a psalm of David as to the letter, when he sent Joab to take Shemuah (Sheba), who rebelled; also a supplication of the righteous, and even of Christ himself.'
And seeing this follows upon the preceding, and may be reckoned an appendix to it, and there are some things in it which manifestly refer to the latter part of that, and the whole is detached from the fortieth psalm, with which it agrees, a few words only excepted, which manifestly belongs to the Messiah; it is right to understand this of him; Psalm 40:13.
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.
Let them be ashamed and confounded,.... In Psalm 40:14 it is added, "together"; See Gill on Psalm 40:14;
that seek after my soul; or "life"; in Psalm 40:14 it is added, "to destroy it"; for that was the end of their seeking after it;
let them be turned backward, &c. See Gill on Psalm 40:14.
Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame,.... In Psalm 40:15 it is, "let them be desolate"; which seems to respect their land and houses, here their persons; See Gill on Psalm 40:15;
that say; in Psalm 40:15 it is added, "to me"; not to his people, but himself,
aha, aha: rejoicing at his calamity and distress. The Targum is,
"we are glad, we are glad;'
See Gill on Psalm 40:15, and compare with this Ezekiel 25:3.
Let all those that seek thee,.... The Targum is,
"that seek doctrine (or instruction) from thee.'
rejoice and be glad in thee; the Targum paraphrases it,
"rejoice and be glad in thy word.'
and let such as love thy salvation say continually, let God be magnified; the Targum is,
"let the glory of the Lord be increased;'
and in Psalm 40:16, instead of "God", it is "the Lord", or "Jehovah": See Gill on Psalm 40:16.
But I am poor and needy,.... In Psalm 40:17 it follows, yet "the Lord thinketh on me"; instead of which it is here; see Gill on Psalm 40:17;
make haste unto me, O God; which repeats for sense the same petition as in Psalm 71:1;
thou art my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying; in Psalm 40:17 it is, "O my God".