The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"poor and needy," Hebrew ani ve'evyon (עָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן). David prays as a "poor and needy" man, and offers that poverty as his reason for being heard: "Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy." He brings no resources, only lack.

"for I am holy," chasid (חָסִיד), one devoted to God's covenant love, godly. The claim is not that he is sinless but that he belongs to God: he is one bound to God's covenant love and devoted to Him. On that ground he asks, "Preserve my soul."

"ready to forgive," sallach (סַלָּח), forgiving, poised to pardon. Pleading God's own goodness, David says, "thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive." Pardon is not wrung out of God; He stands prepared to give it before it is asked.

"plenteous in mercy," rav-chesed (רַב־חֶסֶד). The supply matches the readiness: God is "plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee." There is more than enough, and it is not reserved for a favoured few but held out to all who call.

"lift up my soul," essa nafshi (אֶשָּׂא נַפְשִׁי). "For unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul." The gesture is one of offering and of appeal together; the poor and needy man raises the only thing he has toward God.

Explanation

Watch closely what David offers God as reasons to hear him, for they are not what we might expect. He does not say, "hear me, for I have earned it," or "for I have served You well." Every reason he gives is a reason of need or of God's own character. Trace the little word "for" through these verses: "hear me, for I am poor and needy... for I cry unto thee daily... for unto thee do I lift up my soul... for thou, Lord, art good." He pleads his emptiness as his very qualification, and then leans the whole weight of the plea on who God is. Even the phrase that sounds like a boast, "for I am holy," is the word chasid, which does not mean "I am sinless" but "I belong to Your covenant love, I am one of Your devoted ones", a claim not of merit but of belonging. And at the center of it all stands the ground of every prayer: "thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive." That word "ready" is worth its weight in gold; the Hebrew (sallach) pictures God as forgiving by nature, poised and eager to pardon, forgiveness on the tiptoe, waiting for the sinner to call. God is not a reluctant pardoner who must be argued into mercy; He is "ready to forgive," and "plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Him." So David's confidence in verse 7 is not presumption: "In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me." He knows the character of the God he prays to.

Gospel Focus

"Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive", this readiness to forgive is unveiled in fullness in Jesus Christ, who came seeking sinners and turns none away: "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). He painted the very heart of the "ready to forgive" God in the father who saw the prodigal "yet a great way off" and ran to him, God not waiting to be persuaded but running to pardon. And the plea of the "poor and needy" is exactly the plea the gospel welcomes, for "blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3); Christ came for the empty-handed, not the self-sufficient. The promise that God is "plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon" Him is the open door of the gospel: "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13). So bring God no résumé of your worth; bring Him your need, call upon Him in the day of trouble, and find Him good, and ready, and plenteous in mercy, in Jesus Christ.

Word Study

"among the gods," Hebrew va'elohim (בָאֱלֹהִים). "Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works." David sets the LORD beside everything the nations called divine and finds no comparison to be made.

"thou art God alone," attah Elohim levaddekha (אַתָּה אֱלֹהִים לְבַדֶּךָ). David confesses the oneness of God outright: "For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone." Not the greatest among many, but the only one there is.

"teach me thy way," horeni... darkekha (הוֹרֵנִי דַּרְכֶּךָ). The confession turns straight into a request to be taught: "Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth." Knowing who God is makes David want to know how God walks.

"unite my heart," yached levavi (יַחֵד לְבָבִי), make my heart one. He prays for a wholeness of heart matching the oneness of God: "unite my heart to fear thy name." A divided heart cannot rightly fear the God who is undivided.

"the lowest hell," sheol tachtiyyah (שְׁאוֹל תַּחְתִּיָּה). "Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell." He measures the mercy by the depth it reached down to: the very bottom of the grave, and nothing shallower.

Explanation

Here is the heart of the psalm, and it turns on a connection most readers pass over. Look at verse 10 and verse 11 side by side. Verse 10 is the great confession of the oneness of God: "thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone." There is no other; the "gods" of the nations are nothings, and none of their works compare to His. Now verse 11, the prayer that flows straight out of it: "Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name." Feel how the two belong together. Because God is one, David asks that his own heart be made one. A divided God could be served with a divided heart; but the God who is God alone calls for a heart gathered into a single focus. And "unite my heart" names the real trouble of the believer's inner life: not usually open rebellion, but a heart pulled a hundred ways, half toward God and half toward a dozen lesser things, scattered and double-minded. David does not say, "I will unite my own heart"; he asks God to do it, "unite my heart," for only the God who is one can gather our scattered affections around Himself. This is the cure for half-heartedness: not trying harder to concentrate, but asking the one God to make us one. And notice how the psalm's vision widens before it turns inward, verse 9: "All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee." The one true God will one day be worshipped by every nation, and David, rescued "from the lowest hell," wants his whole undivided heart to be part of that worship now.

Gospel Focus

"Thou art God alone... unite my heart to fear thy name", this one God has made Himself known in Jesus Christ, and in Him both halves of David's confession come true. He is "God alone," for "this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3); there is no second God beside Him, and that one LORD is the One who was manifest in flesh. The promise that "all nations... shall come and worship before thee" is fulfilled as Christ draws the world to Himself, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32), and heaven sings back the very words of this psalm, "for all nations shall come and worship before thee" (Revelation 15:4). And the prayer "unite my heart" is answered by the gospel, which gives a new and single heart, teaching us to love God "with all thy heart" (Mark 12:30) and to keep the eye "single" so the whole body is full of light (Matthew 6:22). The divided heart is healed by the undivided God. So pray David's prayer: You are God alone, therefore make my heart one, wholly Yours, wholly fixed on You, in Jesus Christ who delivered my soul from the lowest hell.

Word Study

"full of compassion," Hebrew rachum (רַחוּם). Beset by the proud, David answers their assault by reciting God's own name from Sinai: "But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion." Against "the assemblies of violent men" he sets the tenderness of God.

"gracious," channun (חַנּוּן). The second word of the name follows at once, "and gracious." God gives freely to those who have no claim on Him, which is exactly David's position as he prays.

"longsuffering," erekh appayim (אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם), slow to anger. The phrase pictures anger that takes a long time to arrive. The proud have risen up and "have not set thee before them," yet God is not quick to strike.

"plenteous in mercy and truth," rav-chesed ve'emet (רַב־חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת). The recital closes with abundance: God has covenant love and faithfulness in full measure, and both together. His kindness is never at the expense of His reliability.

"son of thine handmaid," ben-amatekha (בֶּן־אֲמָתֶךָ). "Give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid." David pleads as one born into God's household, a servant's child and so the Master's charge from birth.

"a token for good," ot letovah (אוֹת לְטוֹבָה). "Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed." He asks for a visible sign, something his enemies cannot miss, that God has "holpen me, and comforted me."

Explanation

Notice the deliberate contrast this passage draws, and where David finds his footing. The enemies are described in verse 14, and the sharpest thing said of them is the last: the proud and violent "have not set thee before them." That is the root of their pride, they have taken God out of view; He is not before their eyes, so they fear nothing and trample everyone. Now watch what David does in the very next breath. Against men who have forgotten God, he remembers Him, and he does it by quoting God's own self-revelation. Verse 15, "thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth," is almost word for word the name God proclaimed to Moses on Sinai: "The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6). This is the answer to the proud: not a longer description of them, but a recitation of God. Where they will not set God before them, David sets God before himself, filling his vision with the character of the One they ignore. This is how faith survives an assault, by turning from the size of the enemy to the name of God. And mark how David names himself in reply to their pride: not as a great man, but as "the son of thine handmaid," a humble child born into God's own household, claiming nothing but belonging. The proud stand on themselves; the believer stands on the compassion of God.

Gospel Focus

"A God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth", the name God proclaimed to Moses was shown to the world in flesh when the Word "was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory...) full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). The very "mercy and truth" of Psalm 86 and Exodus 34 came walking among us in the Lord Jesus, God's compassion with a human face. His longsuffering is our salvation, for "the Lord is... longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9); every day the world still stands is a day of His patience. And the "token for good" David asked for, a visible sign of God's favour to shame his foes, God has given the world for ever in the cross and empty tomb, the great token that "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). When the proud rise against you and will not set God before them, do as David did: set the compassionate, gracious, longsuffering God, revealed in Christ, before your own eyes, and rest as a humble child of His household, whom He has holpen and comforted.