Deeper Commentary
Psa 70:1
For the Chief Musician. By David. A reminder-
This is a fragment from Ps. 40:1-17, although here "Yahweh"
is used instead of "elohim". And the final verse changes Psalm 40:17 "Yet
the Lord thinks upon me" to an appeal for urgent help. It could be that
David recalls his earlier successful prayer for urgent help in a situation
and repeats it, although without the praise for an answer, which has not
yet been received. Perhaps this is the sense of the Psalm title "a
reminder", to act as God had done previously. Psalm 40 is an appeal for
help with the consequences of the sin with Bathsheba, and maybe Psalm 70
was related to facing another such consequence.
Hurry, God, to deliver me. Come quickly to help me, Yahweh-
David repeatedly asks God to "hurry to help me" (Ps. 22:19; 38:22;
40:13; 70:1,5; 141:1). But David had hurried (s.w.) to be obedient to God,
always wanting to 'say yes straight away' (Ps. 119:60). Our response to
God's voice is therefore related to His response to our voice; if His
words abide in us, then we experience positive experience in answered
prayer (Jn. 15:7).
Psa 70:2
Let them be disappointed and confounded who seek my soul. Let those
who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace-
Saul sought to take David's life. So many of the Psalms
contain imprecations against those who were seeking David's soul- not just
his physical life, but seeking to destroy his very being (e.g. Ps. 35:4;
40:14; 54:1; 63:9; 70:2; 71:13). These imprecations expose the evil of
Saul, and asks God to condemn him. Some of those Psalms appear to have
been written by David in the Saul days, and then rewritten at the time of
Absalom's rebellion- another man who sought David's soul, and yet whom
David loved. These words perhaps originated in the wilderness Psalm
of Ps. 35:4. But David repeats them here, in this Psalm which appears to
reference to David's sin with Bathsheba, which provoked the plotting
against David's life referred to here. And yet we wonder as to how David
could so bitterly wish the destruction of his opponents, when he himself
had been saved by grace.
Psa 70:3
Let them be turned back because of their shame who say, Aha! Aha!-
David's repeated desire to see the condemnation of those who
were judging him seems inappropriate for a man saved by grace; for they
were the vehicles for receiving the consequences of his sins.
"Aha!" suggests malicious pleasure at another’s misfortune as in Ps.
35:21,25. The implication could be that before his sin with Bathsheba,
David had enemies who wanted to see his fall- and the Bathsheba affair was
ideal for their purposes. GNB of :2 suggests the same: "May those who are
happy because of my troubles be turned back". Although Nathan had
basically told David that his troubles from his own family would not be
"turned back". They would remain with him all his days.
And yet we have these prayers recorded- as a lesson to us. It has often
been said that God's response to prayer is "Yes", "No" or "wait". David
here is unwilling to accept "No" nor "wait". He wants the "yes", and right
away. Continually he asks God to not delay but to "hurry" in responding to
the problems made by his family who are against his continued kingship.
Even though God through Nathan had said that these problems were to
continue all David's life.
Psa 70:4
Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You. Let those
who love Your salvation continually say, Let God be exalted!-
Again we query why and how David continues to see people in such black and
white terms, divided between the righteous and unrighteous, when he
himself had been revealed as a righteous man who had sinned seriously.
The faithful are described as "those that seek (God)... such as
love Your salvation". But in another sense, there is not one
that truly seeks God (Rom. 3:11- the
context concerns all of us, believers and unbelievers); and yet we are
those who seek Him. We must be ambitious to do the impossible. Those who
truly love righteousness and the Kingdom will be rewarded with it.
Likewise Paul in 1 Cor. 8:2,3 describes the faithful man as one who
accepts he knows nothing as he ought to know, but truly loves God. Heb.
9:28 is clear: "Unto them that look for (Christ) shall He appear the
second time... unto salvation". Those who truly look for Christ will be
given salvation.
David responded to their seeking of him by seeking God more. He uses the language of the hunt and chase to describe how he was drawing closer to God: "My soul followeth hard after thee" (Ps. 63:8; Ps. 63 is a wilderness psalm, see title). “Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul... let all those that seek thee rejoice" (Ps. 40:14,16). In this sense, David felt he wasn't fleeing from his enemies as much as fleeing to God: "Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies (from whom he was running): I flee unto thee to hide me" (Ps. 143:9). This fleeing to God didn't mean that David and Jesus didn't respond or retaliate verbally; both of them, especially the Lord Jesus, did. They both pleaded their innocence, and accused their enemies of being unfair and hypocritical. Yet this must have been done from a genuine motive of love; as David loved Saul, as the thought of Saul's death must have torn at his heart, so the Lord Jesus loved Israel, weeping over Jerusalem, wishing to himself like a child for the impossible: that they would know him as their Saviour. Both David and Jesus had a real sense of direction, they could see that their mental, emotional and physical sufferings were leading them towards an altogether higher relationship with the Father. They took those sufferings as an almost welcome push towards the Father. They had a sure sense of spiritual direction in all their afflictions; this accounts for the human loneliness which they both felt.
Psa 70:5
But I am poor and needy. Come to me quickly, God. You are my help
and my deliverer. Yahweh, don’t delay-
See on :1. This final verse changes Psalm 40:17 "Yet the Lord thinks upon
me" to an appeal for urgent help. It could be that David recalls his
earlier successful prayer for urgent help in a situation and repeats it,
although without the praise for an answer, which has not yet been
received. Perhaps this is the sense of the Psalm title "a reminder", to
act as God had done previously. Psalm 40 is an appeal for help with the
consequences of the sin with Bathsheba, and maybe Psalm 70 was related to
facing another such consequence.
"The poor and needy" is a common phrase in the Bible; the word for "needy" really means a beggar. In a family based society like Israel, beggars were those without families, who had been cast out from their extended family. Quite possibly they were in their isolated position because of their own bad behaviour. David at this time when on the run from Absalom was not necessarily materially poor. But he felt he had the mentality of a beggar, cast out from his family because his sons wanted to take his power and kill him. Hence his repeated plea to God that "I am poor and needy" (Ps. 40:17; 70:5; 86:1).
The Lord Jesus would later speak of ultimate salvation for "the poor in spirit", and this spiritual need is clearly also present even in the Old Testament conception of being "poor". Thus Ps. 109:16 "he... persecuted the poor and needy man, the broken in heart". The poverty was in the spirit or heart. Likewise Ps. 109:22 "I am poor and needy. My heart is wounded within me".
It is no bad thing to simply list the huge stress upon God's special interest in the "poor and needy"; this is what makes Him so great. His ultimate highness is shown by His special interest in the very lowest: "Yahweh, who is like You, who delivers the poor from him who is too strong for him; yes, the poor and the needy" (Ps. 35:10). Here is only a partial list:
Dt. 15:11 You must surely open your hand to your brother, to
your needy and to your poor, in your land.
Dt. 24:14 You must not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy
1 Sam. 2:8 He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy
from the dunghill, to make them sit with princes and inherit the throne of
glory.
Ps. 9:18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the
poor perish forever.
Ps. 72:4,12,13 He will judge the poor of the people, he will save the
children of the needy... He will deliver the needy when he cries; the
poor, who has no helper... He will have pity on the poor and needy
Ps. 74:21 let the poor and needy praise Your name.
Ps. 113:7 He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts up the needy
from the ash heap;
Prov. 14:31 He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he
who is kind to the needy honours Him.
Prov. 22:22 Don’t exploit the poor, because he is poor and don’t crush the
needy in court;
Prov. 30:14 There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their
jaws like knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from
among men
Prov. 31:9 Open your mouth, judge righteously, and serve justice to the
poor and needy.
Prov. 31:20 She [The Worthy Woman] opens her arms to the poor; yes, she
extends her hands to the needy.
Is.10:2 to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among My
people of their rights
Is. 14:30 The poor will eat, and the needy will lie down in safety
Is. 25:4 For You have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the
needy in his distress
Is. 26:6 The foot shall tread it down; even the feet of the poor, and the
footsteps of the needy.
Is. 41:17 The poor and needy seek water, and there is none, their tongue
fails for thirst. I Yahweh, will answer them, I the God of Israel will not
forsake them.
Jer. 22:16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well.
Wasn’t this to know Me? says Yahweh.
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