Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 40:14

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 40:0 The life that pleases God

David here refers to some past experience in which God rescued him from what appeared to be certain death. David felt like a person who had fallen into a muddy pit and was sinking to death, but God pulled him out and put him on firm ground again. He can now continue his journey, singing as he goes and thereby encouraging others to put their trust in God (1-3). His song is one of praise to God, whose loving works on behalf of the faithful are more than can be numbered (4-5).

What God is most concerned with in the lives of believers is not the offering of animal sacrifices, but the offering of their lives; not the mere performance of religious rituals, but the willing performance of all God’s will. God wants believers to open their ears to hear his instruction, then to carry it out willingly and joyfully (6-8). (This principle was carried out perfectly in the life of Jesus; see Hebrews 10:5-9.)

Having experienced personally the loyal love of God, David never stops telling people about it (9-10). He knows that the outflow of divine love will never cease, and with this assurance he asks God for his special protection through the persecution he is at present suffering. He does not deny that this suffering may be a punishment for past sins, but he still trusts God to save him through it (11-15). He desires that people everywhere praise God for his great salvation, and that he too might experience God’s saving power once more (16-17).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“For innumerable evils have compassed me about; Mine iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; They are more than the hairs of my head; And my heart hath failed me. Be pleased, O Jehovah to deliver me: Make haste to help me, O Jehovah. Let them be put to shame and confounded together That seek after my soul to destroy it: Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor That delighteth in my hurt.”

“Mine iniquities have overtaken me” There are two ways of looking at this. (1) Applied to David, it means that the sorrows from which he pleads for deliverance are the result of his own sins. (2) Applied to Messiah, the meaning is that, “The consequences of `mine iniquities’ (meaning the sins of all men that God has laid upon Christ) have begun to catch up with him.”H. C. Leupold, p. 327. All the terrible sufferings of Passion Week, the arrest, the arraignment, the mockery, the six trials, the scourging of Pilate, etc. - it was all of these things, even the crucifixion, which were in the process of coming upon the Saviour.

Jamieson pointed out that `iniquities’ here is frequently used in the Psalms as a synonym for `calamities,’ in a general sense, adding that, “The difficulty in referring this psalm to Christ, due to the common reading of this verse, is removed.”Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown’s Commentary, p. 359. Barnes also agreed with this and stated that, “The Messiah may be understood here to say that the awful calamities and woes coming upon him because of the sins of mankind which he had taken upon himself were so closely connected that it was proper to refer to them as `iniquities.’“Barnes’ Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a 1987 reprint of the 1878 edition), Vol. 1, p. 355.

“My heart failed me” It is a fact that Christ died from a failure of the heart, a disaster that never happened to David; and, although some interpret this as merely a failure of courage, such an interpretation does not fit the text. The crucifixion did not cause Jesus’ death, as proved by the fact that when the soldiers came to break his legs, he had already deceased.

“Deliver me… make haste to help me, O Jehovah” Notice also that the psalmist here does not pray for the forgiveness of his sins, but only for “help,” and “deliverance.” This might very well mean either of two things. (1) As applied to David, it could refer to deliverance from the guilt incurred by his sins. (2) As applied to Christ, it might very well mean `help’ and `deliverance’ from the horrors and sufferings of that last tragic week. Did not Our Lord pray, “Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me?”

“Let them be ashamed and confounded” This is the basis of another objection, raised by some, to the referral of these verses to the Messiah. It is alleged that Messiah would not have uttered such imprecations. Barnes replied to this as follows:

“Such imprecations are just as proper in the mouth of Messiah as they are in the mouth of David; and are improper in neither. There is no evidence of any malignancy here; and it is proper that He who will pronounce the sentence of condemnation at the Judgment should apprise men ahead of time of what is sure to come upon them then.”Ibid.

Also, as Leupold noted, “In this prayer directed against enemies, his intention is in no sense the destruction of his enemies, but rather that they may meet with such experiences as may bring them to their senses.”H. C. Leupold, p. 327.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Let them be ashamed and confounded together - See at Psalms 35:4, note; Psalms 35:26, note. This may be understood here rather as a confident expectation than a wish or desire. It implies the certainty that they would thus be ashamed and confounded; that is, that they would not be successful, or would be foiled in their purposes. But understood as a wish or prayer, it could not be improper. There is no sin in the wish that the wicked may not be successful in their plans, and may not be suffered to injure us. As the language of the Messiah it was in every way an appropriate prayer that the purposes of those who would defeat his design in coming into the world might be foiled - for on the execution of that design depended the salvation of a lost race.

That seek after my soul to destroy it - That seek after my life; that would destroy me. That is, they seek to kill me; they would take my life before the full time is come. As understood of the Messiah, this would refer to the times when his life was in danger, as it often was, before the full period had arrived for him to die: John 7:6; Matthew 26:18. The purpose of his enemies was to take his life; to prevent the spread of his doctrines; to cheek him in his work. The taking of his life at any time before the full period had arrived, or in any other way than that in which he had purposed to lay it down, would have been a defeat of his work, since in the plan of salvation it was contemplated that he should die at a certain time, and in a certain manner - that he should die at the time which had been predicted by the prophets, and in such a mode as to make an atonement for sin. All this would have been defeated if, before that time came, he had been put to death by stoning, or in any of the numerous ways in which his life was threatened.

Let them be driven backward, and put to shame, that wish me evil - Turned backward, as they are who are unsuccessful, or are defeated. Compare John 18:6.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 40:1-17

I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings ( Psalms 40:1-2 ).

Now his last prayer was, "Lord, help me, save me from the strokes and so forth," and now, "I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined unto me; He heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock and established my goings." Oh, when I look back and see the horrible pit that God took me out of, how thankful I am. I realize I was sinking, I was going down, but God put my feet upon a solid rock. He established my life in Christ.

He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and reverence, and shall trust in the LORD. Blessed is that man that makes the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies ( Psalms 40:3-4 ).

As we were driving home this afternoon, we were driving down Newport Boulevard and I saw in the rear view mirror, a sharp, sharp, sharp, sharp, little Ford, probably a 1929 vintage or something that was really fixed up with a full blown type of a caddy engine in the thing. And, of course, everything was all chrome and everything was all opened, and this guy was just sitting there, you know, just... It was just perfection, you know. Everything was just so sparkling and shining and everything else, and he was driving down Newport Boulevard. And I saw him in the rear view mirror as he was coming past us on Kay's side, and I said, "Hey, Kay, take a look over to the right and see that fellow driving his god down the street." And you could tell by the way, that it was. And she looked over and then she looked back real quickly, she said, "I don't want to give him the satisfaction of staring at it." She said, "Because that's what he wants." And then she said, and she quoted this scripture, "Blessed is the man that respects not the proud." And she said, "He is proud of that thing and I don't want to respect him." And, "Nor such as turn aside to lies."

Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts towards us: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered ( Psalms 40:5 ).

You can't even number the thoughts that God has concerning you.

Sacrifice and offerings you did not desire; my ears hast thou opened ( Psalms 40:6 ):

Now, God doesn't really desire that you give to Him sacrifices and offerings as much as He desires that you submit to Him your life.

And this phrase, "My ear hath He opened." When a servant had served a six-year term, according to the law he had to be released. You could not keep a servant more than six years. The seventh year was the year of release and all of the servants were released from their bondage or from their servitude in the seventh year. Except if a servant would come to you and say, "I enjoy serving you. I am happy here. I don't want to go out free. I want to remain your servant." Then you would take an awl, and you would go over to the door post of your house and you would put his earlobe up against the doorpost, and you take this awl and pin him with the awl through the earlobe to the doorpost of your house. You just drive the pin through and just pin him there to the doorpost. Actually, it was just an ear-piercing process. And then they would put a gold ring in the hole that was made. So that if you saw a servant or a slave with a gold ring in his ear, you knew that he was a servant by choice. He was a servant willingly. He had offered himself. He had said, "I don't want to be set free. I want to be your servant for life."

Now God is saying, "Look, I really don't want sacrifice or offering. The ear, I want to open it. I want you to submit unto a life of service. I want your life." And so I am a servant by choice. Lord, I love serving You. Lord, I don't want to do anything else but serve You. There is no other life for me, Lord, than a life of service unto You. And so mine ear hath He pierced. I am a servant by choice.

burnt offerings, sin offerings you did not require ( Psalms 40:6 ).

Now a prophecy relating to Jesus. And, of course, this is all prophecy relating to Jesus. Mine ear hath He pierced. He was in the form of God, thought it not robbery or something to be grasped to be equal with God. But He humbled Himself and came in the likeness of man and as a servant. Humbled Himself, became as a servant. A servant willingly. "Mine ear hath He pierced."

Then said I ( Psalms 40:7 ),

and quoted of Jesus in the New Testament in the book of Hebrews,

Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me ( Psalms 40:7 ),

So, the volume of this book, the volume of the Old Testament is actually written concerning Jesus Christ. Jesus said to the Pharisees, "You do search the scriptures because in them you think you have life, but they actually testify of Me, but you will not come to Me that you might have life" ( John 5:39-40 ). "I have come, as it is written of Me in the volume of the book, to do Thy will, O Lord" ( Hebrews 10:7 ).

And I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart ( Psalms 40:8 ).

And that is what it means. When God has written His law in your heart, is that it becomes the delight and the pleasure of your life. Doing the will of God is not some horrible awful thing to me. It is not some cross that I have to bear or carry. Doing the will of God is the most exciting, delightful experience of my life. In fact, I really don't desire anything else. It is so glorious just doing God's will. For He has written His will in the fleshly tablets of my heart. That is, He has created the desires in my heart so that I delight doing His will. It's the delight of my life.

I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. Withhold not thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart fails me. Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha ( Psalms 40:9-15 ).

There you have it again. Those dirty words that they were saying to David, whatever they might have meant.

Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified ( Psalms 40:16 ).

Now this is a phrase, I don't know why it hasn't been taken up by the people of God, but surely it is a phrase that we ought to be using all of the time. Along with the "Praise the Lord," or, "Bless God," or whatever, there is a phrase that we should be using and that is the phrase, "The Lord be magnified." "Let those that love thy salvation say continually." It should be a constant phrase on our lips. When we are greeting each other and all we should be saying, "Hey, the Lord be magnified." "Let them say continually, 'The Lord be magnified.'" Now try and add that phrase to your vocabulary and start using it.

I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks about me ( Psalms 40:17 ):

That is great.

thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God ( Psalms 40:17 ).

Verse Psalms 40:13 he says, "Help, make haste to help me." And now he says, "Don't tarry, Lord. Deliver me, make no tarry."

Now we are going to leave it at that. Next week we will take the next ten chapters from 41-50. We will go ten chapters a week for a while, as we have gotten into some of the longer psalms. And then when we get to 121 we'll take twenty chapters, because they are shorties. Or twenty psalms, they are really not chapters. They are... each one is a psalm, complete within themselves.

Shall we stand.

Now may the Lord be with you to watch over you and to keep you in all your ways. May your steps be directed of the Lord this week. That He might delight in the path that you take. And I pray that there are some of you that will come and say, "Lord, I want to serve You. I love You. I am satisfied. I don't want any other life. Go ahead, Lord, pierce my ear, open my ear. I am willing to take the mark of a bondslave of Jesus Christ." And may you know the joy and the delight and the blessing of serving the Lord. If some of you have come tonight and you haven't given your lives to Jesus Christ and you would like to do so, if you will go back into the prayer room, the pastors will be glad to pray with you back there and lead you to a real commitment of your life unto the Lord. Really living in this world today with all of its turmoil, with all of its problems, I don't know how a person can exist without a firm relationship with God, through Jesus Christ. I wouldn't want to try and even go on tomorrow without the strength and the guidance and the help of the Lord. And so I would encourage you to just open up your heart and life to Him. For He wants to help you, and to lead you into His path of righteousness. God be with you. Watch over, keep, bless, and use you as His servant this week. In Jesus' name. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 40

In this psalm, David offered himself as a sacrifice to God because the Lord had delivered him. He also lamented his distress and prayed for salvation. The psalm is a combination of thanksgiving (Psalms 40:1-10) and lament (Psalms 40:11-17), and it is messianic (Psalms 40:6-8; cf. Hebrews 10:5-9). [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p. 171.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. Petition for salvation 40:11-17

"It appears that the lament is composed with precise reference to the thanksgiving song so that the thanksgiving song adds weight to the complaint." [Note: Brueggemann, p 131.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

David cried out for quick deliverance (cf. Psalms 35:4). As the Lord’s anointed who was serving Him sacrificially with a pure heart, the psalmist could make such a request boldly.

"It must be remembered that the enemies were probably not known personally. They were Israel’s national enemies who hated Israel, David, and Yahweh, the God of Israel. The psalmist no doubt knew the admonition to love one’s enemies (cf. Proverbs 25:21; Matthew 5:44), but these enemies destabilized the rule of God on earth! As long as the kingdom of God suffers persecution and harassment, we pray for God’s kingdom to come, which includes the petition that the Lord will come to vindicate his own and avenge his enemies (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10). The enemies liked taking potshots at God’s people, shouting contemptibly, ’Aha! Aha!’ (Psalms 40:15; Psalms 35:21; Psalms 35:25). The psalmist prays that the Lord will quickly and suddenly change their fortunes so that they will know who is God (Psalms 40:14; cf. Psalms 35:4; cf. Psalms 35:26 . . ." [Note: Ibid., p. 324.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Let them be ashamed and confounded together,.... As they will be at the last day, when they shall see him whom they have pierced come in the clouds of heaven, in his own and his Father's glory, and in the glory of the holy angels;

that seek after my soul to destroy it; that is, his life, as did Herod in his infancy, and the Scribes and Pharisees, chief priests and elders of the people of the Jews, frequently, and at last accomplished what they sought after;

let them be driven backward; as those were who came with Judas into the garden to apprehend him, John 18:6;

and put to shame that wish me evil: as did the Jews, who sought all opportunities to ensnare him, and that they might have to accuse him to the Roman governor; and who earnestly desired his crucifixion, and vehemently wished his death; see Psalms 41:5.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.   12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.   13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.   14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.   15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.   16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.   17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

      The psalmist, having meditated upon the work of redemption, and spoken of it in the person of the Messiah, now comes to make improvement of the doctrine of his mediation between us and God, and therefore speaks in his own person. Christ having done his Father's will, and finished his work, and given orders for the preaching of the gospel to every creature, we are encouraged to come boldly to the throne of grace, for mercy and grace.

      I. This may encourage us to pray for the mercy of God, and to put ourselves under the protection of that mercy, Psalms 40:11; Psalms 40:11. "Lord, thou hast not spared thy Son, nor withheld him; withhold not thou thy tender mercies then, which thou hast laid up for us in him; for wilt thou not with him also freely give us all things?Romans 8:32. Let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me." The best saints are in continual danger, and see themselves undone if they be not continually preserved by the grace of God; and the everlasting lovingkindness and truth of God are what we have to depend upon for our preservation to the heavenly kingdom, Psalms 61:7.

      II. This may encourage us in reference to the guilt of sin, that Jesus Christ has done that towards our discharge from it which sacrifice and offering could not do. See here, 1. The frightful sight he had of sin, Psalms 40:12; Psalms 40:12. This was it that made the discovery he was now favoured with of a Redeemer very welcome to him. He saw his iniquities to be evils, the worst of evils; he saw that they compassed him about; in all the reviews of his life, and his reflections upon each step of it, still he discovered something amiss. The threatening consequences of his sin surrounded him. Look which way he would, he saw some mischief or other waiting for him, which he was conscious to himself his sins had deserved. He saw them taking hold of him, arresting him, as the bailiff does the poor debtor; he saw them to be innumerable and more than the hairs of his head. Convinced awakened consciences are apprehensive of danger from the numberless number of the sins of infirmity which seem small as hairs, but, being numerous, are very dangerous. Who can understand his errors? God numbers our hairs (Matthew 10:30), which yet we cannot number; so he keeps an account of our sins, which we keep no account of. The sight of sin so oppressed him that he could not hold up his head--I am not able to look up; much less could he keep up his heart--therefore my heart fails me. Note, The sight of our sins in their own colours would drive us to distraction, if we had not at the same time some sight of a Saviour. 2. The careful recourse he had to God under the sense of sin (Psalms 40:13; Psalms 40:13); seeing himself brought by his sins to the very brink of ruin, eternal ruin, with what a holy passion does he cry out, "Be pleased, O Lord! to deliver me (Psalms 40:13; Psalms 40:13); O save me from the wrath to come, and the present terrors I am in through the apprehensions of that wrath! I am undone, I die, I perish, without speedy relief. In a case of this nature, where the bliss of an immortal soul is concerned, delays are dangerous; therefore, O Lord! make haste to help me."

      III. This may encourage us to hope for victory over our spiritual enemies that seek after our souls to destroy them (Psalms 40:14; Psalms 40:14), the roaring lion that goes about continually seeking to devour. If Christ has triumphed over them, we through him, shall be more than conquerors. In the belief of this we may pray, with humble boldness, Let them be ashamed and confounded together, and driven backward,Psalms 40:14; Psalms 40:14. Let them be desolate,Psalms 40:15; Psalms 40:15. Both the conversion of a sinner and the glorification of a saint are great disappointments to Satan, who does his utmost, with all his power and subtlety, to hinder both. Now, our Lord Jesus having undertaken to bring about the salvation of all his chosen, we may in faith pray that, in both these ways, that great adversary may be confounded. When a child of God is brought into that horrible pit, and the miry clay, Satan cries Aha! aha! thinking he has gained his point; but he shall rage when he sees the brand plucked out of the fire, and shall be desolate, for a reward of his shame. The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan! The accuser of the brethren is cast out.

      IV. This may encourage all that seek God, and love his salvation, to rejoice in him and to praise him, Psalms 40:16; Psalms 40:16. See here, 1. The character of good people. Conformably to the laws of natural religion, they seek God, desire his favour, and in all their exigencies apply to him, as a people should seek unto their God; and conformably to the laws of revealed religion they love his salvation, that great salvation of which the prophets enquired and searched diligently, which the Redeemer undertook to work out when he said, Lo, I come. All that shall be saved love the salvation not only as a salvation from hell, but a salvation from sin. 2. The happiness secured to good people by this prophetic prayer. Those that seek God shall rejoice and be glad in him, and with good reason, for he will not only be found of them but will be their bountiful rewarder. Those that love his salvation shall be filled with the joy of his salvation, and shall say continually, The Lord be magnified; and thus they shall have a heaven upon earth. Blessed are those that are thus still praising God.

      V. This may encourage the saints, in distress and affliction, to trust in God and comfort themselves in him, Psalms 40:17; Psalms 40:17. David himself was one of these: I am poor and needy (a king, perhaps now on the throne, and yet, being troubled in spirit, he calls himself poor and needy, in want and distress, lost and undone without a Saviour), yet the Lord thinketh upon me in and through the Mediator, by whom we are made accepted. Men forget the poor and needy, and seldom think of them; but God's thoughts, towards them (which he had spoken of Psalms 40:5; Psalms 40:5) are their support and comfort. They may assure themselves that God is their help under their troubles, and will be, in due time, their deliverer out of their troubles, and will make no long tarrying; for the vision is for an appointed time, and therefore, though it tarry, we may wait for it, for it shall come; it will come, it will not tarry.