Psalms 69:2

69:1-12 We should frequently consider the person of the Sufferer here spoken of, and ask why, as well as what he suffered, that, meditating thereon, we may be more humbled for sin, and more convinced of our danger, so that we may feel more gratitude and love, constraining us to live to His glory who died for our salvation. Hence we learn, when in affliction, to commit the keeping of our souls to God, that we may not be soured with discontent, or sink into despair. David was hated wrongfully, but the words far more fully apply to Christ. In a world where unrighteousness reigns so much, we must not wonder if we meet with those that are our enemies wrongfully. Let us take care that we never do wrong; then if we receive wrong, we may the better bear it. By the satisfaction Christ made to God for our sin by his blood, he restored that which he took not away, he paid our debt, suffered for our offences. Even when we can plead Not guilty, as to men's unjust accusations, yet before God we must acknowledge ourselves to deserve all that is brought upon us. All our sins take rise from our foolishness. They are all done in God's sight. David complains of the unkindness of friends and relations. This was fulfilled in Christ, whose brethren did not believe on him, and who was forsaken by his disciples. Christ made satisfaction for us, not only by putting off the honours due to God, but by submitting to the greatest dishonours that could be done to any man.

I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing,.... Which signifies not despair of mind, but difficult and distressed circumstances; the Messiah now bearing the filthy sins of his people, and the punishment of them, and so was got into the horrible pit, the mire and clay; See Gill on Psalm 40:2 ; I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me: as afflictions are often compared to waters in Scripture, Christ's sorrows and sufferings are very aptly signified by deep waters and overflowing floods; and therefore rightly called a baptism, as by himself, Luke 12:50, when he was as one immersed in and overwhelmed with water.

Verse 2. - I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing. "Mire" and "clay" are metaphors for dangers and difficulties, which entangle a man and incapacitate him from exertion (comp. Psalm 40:2 ). I am come into deep waters ( comp. ver. 15; and see also Psalm 124:4, 5 ; Psalm 130:1 ). Where the floods overflow me; i.e. "I am utterly overwhelmed by my misfortunes." Psalm 69:2

PSALM 69 Ps 69:1-36. Upon Shoshannim—(See on [605]Ps 45:1, title). Mingling the language of prayer and complaint, the sufferer, whose condition is here set forth, pleads for God's help as one suffering in His cause, implores the divine retribution on his malicious enemies, and, viewing his deliverance as sure, promises praise by himself, and others, to whom God will extend like blessings. This Psalm is referred to seven times in the New Testament as prophetical of Christ and the gospel times. Although the character in which the Psalmist appears to some in Ps 69:5 is that of a sinner, yet his condition as a sufferer innocent of alleged crimes sustains the typical character of the composition, and it may be therefore regarded throughout, as the twenty-second, as typically expressive of the feelings of our Saviour in the flesh. 1, 2. (Compare Ps 40:2). come in unto my soul—literally, "come even to my soul," endanger my life by drowning (Jon 2:5).

In deep mire, Heb. in the mire of the deep waters . I am not in the shallows, or nigh the bank, but in the middle and deepest parts, and in the very mire, which is at the bottom of the waters. No standing; no firm and sure footing, but I sink in deeper and deeper, and, without thy speedy and almighty help, shall be overwhelmed and destroyed.

2 . He is like a man floundering in a morass or quicksand where there is no footing and his struggles only plunge him deeper, or fording a river and in imminent danger of being swept away by the current. Quagmires, ‘treacherous to the last degree,’ are common in Palestine. See Thomson’s Land and the Book , p. 360; and Dr Tristram’s description of the vast and impenetrable swamp of Huleh, where a false step off the roots of the papyrus “will take the intruder over head in suffocating peat mud.” Land of Israel , p. 579. the floods overflow me ] Or, the current —‘Shibbôleth,’ Jdg 12:6 — sweeps me away .

I sink in deep mire - Margin, as in Hebrew, "the mire of the depth." This would denote either mire which was itself so deep that one could not extricate himself from it; or, mire found in a deep place, as at the bottom of a pit. Compare the notes at Psalm 40:2 . An illustration of this might be drawn from the case of Joseph, cast by his brethren into a deep pit Genesis 37:24 ; or from the case of Jeremiah, thrown into a deep dungeon: "And they let down Jeremiah with cords; and in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire," Jeremiah 38:6 . Where there is no standing - No solid ground; nothing for the foot to rest on. "I am come into deep waters." Margin, as in Hebrew, "depth of waters." That is, waters where he could not touch the bottom - an image of some peril that threatened his life. Where the floods overflow me - The waters. They break over my head. My life is "in danger."

Out of deep distress, the work of his foes, the complaining one cries for help; he thinks upon his sins, which is sufferings bring to his remembrance, but he is also distinctly conscious that he is an object of scorn and hostility for God's sake, and from His mercy he looks for help in accordance with His promises. The waters are said to rush in unto the soul (עד־נפשׁ), when they so press upon the imperilled one that the soul, i.e., the life of the body, more especially the breath, is threatened; cf. Jonah 2:6 ; Jeremiah 4:10 . Waters are also a figure of calamities that come on like a flood and drag one into their vortex, Psalm 18:17 ; Psalm 32:6 ; Psalm 124:5 , cf. Psalm 66:12 ; Psalm 88:8 , Psalm 88:18 ; here, however, the figure is cut off in such a way that it conveys the impression of reality expressed in a poetical form, as in Psalm 40 , and much the same as in Jonah's psalm. The soft, yielding morass is called יון, and the eddying deep מצוּלה. The Nomen Hophal. מעמד signifies properly a being placed, then a standing-place, or firm standing (lxx ὑπόστασις), like מטּה, that which is stretched out, extension, Isaiah 8:8 . שׁבּלת (Ephraimitish סבּלת) is a streaming, a flood, from שׁבל, Arab. sbl, to stream, flow (cf. note on Psalm 58:9 ). בּוא בּ, to fall into, as in Psalm 66:12 , and שׁטף with an accusative, to overflow, as in Psalm 124:4 .

The complaining one is nearly drowned in consequence of his sinking down, for he has long cried in vain for help: he is wearied by continual crying (יגע בּ, as in Psalm 6:7 , Jeremiah 45:3 ), his throat is parched (נחר from חרר; lxx and Jerome: it is become hoarse), his eyes have failed ( Jeremiah 14:6 ) him, who waits upon his God. The participle מיחל, equal to a relative clause, is, as in 18:51, 1 Kings 14:6 , attached to the suffix of the preceding noun (Hitzig). Distinct from this use of the participle without the article is the adverbially qualifying participle in Genesis 3:8 ; Sol 5:2, cf. חי, 2 Samuel 12:21 ; 2 Samuel 18:14 . There is no necessity for the correction of the text מיּחל (lxx apo' τοῦ elpi'zein me). Concerning the accentuation of רבּוּ vid., on Psalm 38:20 . Apart from the words "more than the hairs of my head" ( Psalm 40:13 ), the complaint of the multitude of groundless enemies is just the same as in Psalm 38:20 ; Psalm 35:19 , cf. Psalm 109:3 , both in substance and expression. Instead of מצמיתי, my destroyers, the Syriac version has the reading מעצמותי (more numerous than my bones), which is approved by Hupfeld; but to reckon the multitude of the enemy by the number of one's own bones is both devoid of taste and unheard of. Moreover the reading of our text finds support, if it need any, in Lamentations 3:52 .