1. This is
the second psalm which is a repetition of another, the former being Psalm 53,
which was a rehearsal of Psalm 14. The present differs from Psalm 40 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 verse 13 of Psalm 40 is the putting of “Elohim” at 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 fitting that we should day by day cry to God for deliverance
and help; our frailty and our many dangers render this a perpetual necessity.
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 intreats that they
may be disappointed, and themselves covered with confusion. It will certainly
be so; if not sooner, yet at that dread day when the wicked will awake to shame
and everlasting contempt. Turned backward and “driven back” are merely
the variations of the translators. When people labor to turn others back from
the right road, it is God’s retaliation to turn them back from the point they
are aiming at.
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 will
be their shame forever. How fond people are of taunts, and if they are
meaningless ahas it matters nothing so long as they sting the victim.
Rest assured, the enemies of Christ and his people will be paid in their own
coin; they loved scoffing, and they will become a proverb forever.
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 those
that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. All true worshipers, though as
yet in the humble ranks of seekers, will have cause for joy. Even though the
seeking commence in darkness, it will 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 will not only feel joy but will 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 ennobling than the dog’s bark of “Aha, aha.”
5. But I am poor and needy. Just the same plea as in the preceding Psalm 69:29; it
seems to be a favorite argument with tried saints; evidently our poverty is our
wealth, even as our weakness is our strength. Make haste unto me, O God.
This is written instead of “yet the Lord
thinketh upon me” in Psalm 40, and there is a reason for the change, since
the key note of the psalm frequently dictates its close. Psalm 40 sings of
God’s thoughts, and therefore ends with them; but the especial note of Psalm
70 is “Make haste,” and therefore so it concludes. Thou art my help and my
deliverer. My help in trouble, my deliverer out of it. O Lord, make no tarrying. Here is the
name of “Jehovah” instead of “my God.” We are warranted in using all the
various names of God, for each has its own beauty and majesty, and we must
reverence each by its holy use as well as by abstaining from taking it in vain.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
