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1.
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I love the Lord. Compare Exod. 21:5 (and Deut.
15:16,17): The servant (cp. v. 16 here: I am thy servant) says, “I
love my master... I will not go out free” — i.e., ‘I will not
leave him’. The same law is the subject of Psa. 40:6, mg., and Heb. 10:5
— where “body” also = “slave”. For more detail,
see Psalms Studies, Psa. 40, Par. 3.
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3.
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The sorrows (cords: RV, NIV) of death compassed me
(Psa. 18:4,5). This is the language of sacrifice — the sacrifice being
bound to the horns of the altar (Psa. 118:27; cp. Gen. 22:9; Matt.
26:38).
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And the pains (mehtzar, a rare word
signifying “constriction” or “straits”, as in Lam.
1:3) of hell (Sheol) gat hold upon me. Peter describes the
resurrection of Christ as “God... having loosed the pains (i.e.,
birth-pangs) of death” (Acts 2:24). The metaphor of
“birth-pangs” was doubtless intended to convey the picture of the
grave bringing forth its “firstborn” (Col. 1:18; Rev.
1:5).
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4.
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Then called I upon the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech
thee, deliver my soul. This is Gethsemane: “Let this cup pass from
me” (Matt. 26:39; Mark 14:35,36; Luke 22:42). Verses 1, 2 tell of a ready
answer to Christ’s prayer of distress, but it was not just what was asked
for! Instead, he received:
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(a) an angel strengthening him (Luke 22:43);
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(b) the presence of the Shekinah Glory in his crucifixion
(Psa. 18:12 — see notes there); and
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(c) resurrection (see also v. 6)!
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5.
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Our God is merciful. “Our” is the only
plural pronoun in the psalm, indicating that centered in Jesus is the salvation
of a multitude of others (as also, in a lesser sense, was true of
Hezekiah).
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6.
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The Lord preserveth the simple, who do not remain
simple, but rather are made wise by His pure word (Psa. 19:7).
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7.
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Return unto thy rest, O my soul. The one who so speaks
in the “Ark” of God’s covenant (Num. 10:35,36; Psa. 132:8,14)!
Yet the word for “rest” is plural, implying that there are others
who share this God-given rest (see notes, Psa. 95, Par. 4). Or is this an
example of the intensive plural — that is, “the great, or
ultimate, rest”?
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8.
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Thou hast delivered my soul from death. Again, this is
more true of Jesus than of Hezekiah.
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Mine eyes from tears. The “strong crying and
tears” of Heb. 5:7 (and Luke 22:41-44). Other references in Psalms to
Christ’s tears: 6:6; 39:12; 42:3; 56:8; and 69:10.
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And my feet from falling. That is, Jesus was saved from
the consequences of stumbling. Here is the very real and awe-inspiring
possibility that Jesus could have failed to be the perfect all-sufficient
sacrifice which the human race needed!
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9.
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I will walk (i.e., without stumbling: v. 8) before
the Lord in the land of the living (Psa. 56:13). Implied in this short verse
is the Lord’s resurrection, his ascension, and also his change to a higher
nature.
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10.
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I believed, and therefore have I spoken. The ellipses
here are tantalizing. Believed what? (Psa. 27:13?) Spoken what? Perhaps this:
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‘I believed that which was written concerning me in the
Holy Scriptures, and in the strength of that I persisted, against all
discouragement, in proclaiming the truth about the Kingdom and its King.’
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Contrast Psa. 77:4: “I am so troubled that I cannot
speak” (when, if ever, was this Christ’s experience?).
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Paul quotes the words in 2 Cor. 4:13, and adds the comment:
“We [preachers] also believe [like Jesus], and therefore speak [the
message of the gospel].” And in v. 14 there the resurrection of Jesus (cp.
Psa. 116:8,9) provides the dynamic power needed.
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12,13.
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What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits
toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.
Arguing back from the Hezekiah prototype, the benefits spoken of here
are the Lord’s resurrection and divine glory; and the cup of salvation
(the cup of “Jesus”!) — also one of the traditional cups
of wine at the Passover — will be the fulfillment of Matt.
26:28,29,39.
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In v. 13, “salvation” is in fact plural
(yeshuoth), possibly another intensive plural: i.e., “the
cup of the great, or absolute, salvation”!
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14.
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I will pay my vows now, in the presence of all his people
(Psa. 22:22). Vows were usually acts of thanksgiving. Thus this verse links
with “the cup of salvation” in v. 13. In the age to come, will not
the glorious Messiah have much to give thanks for in the midst of all his
redeemed?
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15.
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Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his
saints. Again arguing back from Hezekiah, the death referred to is
that of Jesus himself. But in him there is also the representative deaths
of all the faithful (Rom. 6:3,8; 14:8; 1 Cor. 15:29; 2 Cor. 5:14; 6:9; Gal.
2:20; 6:14); hence “saints” plural. See especially Psa.
72:14:
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“He [the King] shall redeem their [the poor and
needy’s] souls from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood
be in his sight.”
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And note the plural of Isa. 53:9:
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“And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the
rich in his death (deaths, AV mg.).”
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16.
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O Lord, truly I am... the son of thine handmaid (Psa.
86:16). This is one of the Old Testament anticipations of the Virgin
Birth (cp. also Gen. 3:15; 49:1,25; Psa. 22:9; 71:6; 89:26,27; 110:3; Isa. 7:14;
49:1; Jer. 31:22; Mic. 5:1,2; 2 Sam. 7:14). This can be a description, in the
fullest sense, of the Messiah only — because Mary was the only true
handmaid of the Lord (Psa. 86:16; Luke 1:38,48). (Hezekiah, of course, was the
prototypical “Immanuel”: Isa. 7:14; cp. Matt. 1:23).
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Thou hast loosed my bonds, i.e., “the cords (RV)
of death” (v. 3).
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18,19.
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I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all
his people, in the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of thee, O
Jerusalem. The saints are made immortal in Jerusalem: “There
the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore” (Psa. 133:3;
Isa. 25:7,8; see references, Psalms Studies, Psa. 68, Par. 8).
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