Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 31:16

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 31:16. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant — Only let me know that thou art reconciled to and pleased with me, and then, come what will, all must be well.

Save me for thy mercies' sake. — Literally, Save me in thy mercy.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 31:0 Trust amid apparent hopelessness

In his distress David is dependent entirely on the merciful goodness of God (1-2). He knows God’s character well enough to be assured that God will save him (3-5). God will bring victory to those who trust in him, and judgment on those who reject him for other gods (6-8).
Nevertheless, the psalmist’s faith is at times shaken by the intensity of his sufferings. Physically and spiritually he feels helpless almost to the point of despair (9-10). Enemies plot against him and friends have deserted him (11-13). Yet he trusts in the steadfast love of God, believing that God will deliver him and destroy his enemies (14-18). He knows that the God in whom he trusts is unfailingly faithful to his people (19-20), and he recalls how God has saved him in the past (21-22). He urges all God’s people to love and trust him with patience and courage. Then they will have the strength to bear whatever troubles they meet (23-24).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

FURTHER CRIES TO GOD FOR HELP

“But I trusted in thee, O Jehovah: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand: Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: Save me in thy lovingkindness. Let me not be put to shame, O Jehovah; for I have called upon thee: Let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol. Let the lying lips be dumb, Which speak against the righteous insolently, With pride and contempt.”

When everything goes wrong, when all of our dreams come crashing down around us, when friends and neighbors shun and forsake us, when even the consciousness of our sins presses heavily upon our conscience, what is to be done? These verses are the answer. “Cry mightily unto God; lift up thy penitent voice unto Him, pour out thy soul to the Father in prayer,” as “The man after God’s own heart” did here.

“Make thy face to shine upon thy servant” (Psalms 31:16). This statement is evidently inspired by Numbers 6:25, commonly referred to as Aaron’s blessing. The full text of this passage in Numbers, one of the most precious in all the Bible, has been set to music and sung by Christians all over the world continually. See our two page discussion of this blessing in Vol. 4 of our series of Commentaries on the Pentateuch, pp. 319,320.

The Psalms have several quotations from this Aaronic blessing Psalms 4:6; Psalms 67:1; Psalms 80:5; Psalms 80:7; Psalms 80:19; and Psalms 119:135.The Pulpit Commentary, Vol.’8, p. 228. In this light it is impossible not to see the five books of Moses as being far older than the Psalms.

“Let the wicked be put to shame” (Psalms 31:17). We have no respect for commentators who deplore what they call the imprecatory psalms, where prayers are offered for the frustration and destruction of the wicked. God Himself has revealed to us through the apostle John that even in heaven, the redeemed martyrs are offering that very kind of prayers (Revelation 6:10).

The conception of our Lord Jesus Christ as a kind of namby-pamby, do-gooder who never would hurt anybody, no matter how wicked they are, is false. Did not our Lord himself say, “But these mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me” (Luke 19:27)? There are certain preachers whom I would like to hear expound on that text!

Leupold properly discerned that, “To pray for the overthrow or the just punishment of the wicked is not wicked.”H. C. Leupold, p. 261.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Make thy face to shine upon thy servant - That is, show me thy favor, or be kind and merciful to me. See the notes at Psalms 4:6.

Save me for thy mercies’ sake - On account of thy mercy; or that thy mercy may be manifested. This is always a just ground of appeal to God by a sinner or a sufferer, that God would make our sins and trials an “occasion” for displaying his own character. There are, indeed, other grounds of appeal; but there is no one that is more pure or exalted than this.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

16.Make thy face to shine upon thy servant. We have said formerly, and we shall see in many instances hereafter, that this form of speech is taken from the common apprehension of men, who think that God regards them not, unless he really show his care of them by its effects. According to the judgment of sense, afflictions hide his countenance, just as clouds obscure the brightness of the sun. David therefore supplicates that God, by affording him immediate assistance, would make it evident to him that he enjoyed his grace and favor, which it is not very easy to discern amidst the darkness of afflictions. Now, God is said to lift the light of his countenance upon us in two ways; either when he opens his eyes to take care of our affairs, or when he shows to us his favor. These two things are indeed inseparable, or rather, the one depends upon the other. But by the first mode of speech, we, according to our carnal conceptions, attribute to God a mutability which, properly speaking, does not belong to him: whereas the second form of speech indicates, that our own eyes, rather than the eyes of God, are shut or heavy when he seems to have no regard to our afflictions. By the word preserve David explains what he meant by the former expression; but as there was at that time no way of safety apparent to him, he encourages himself to hope for it by setting before him the goodness of God.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Let's turn now in our Bibles to Psalms 31:1-24 . This thirty-first psalm is actually divided into three sections. The first one covering the first eight verses, the second one covering verses Psalms 31:9-18 , and Psalms 31:1-24 : ,the final section from nineteen to the end of the psalm. In the first section of the psalm, with David it is sort of a mixture between trust and trial. In the next section the trial is overcome by the trust. And then in the final section it is the triumph of the trusting in the Lord. So the first section through verse Psalms 31:8 the trusting and the trials.

In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for a house of defense to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me ( Psalms 31:1-3 ).

So a prayer of David declaring that he put his trust in the Lord. Asking God to deliver him. Asking God to hear him and to hear him speedily. I like that. When I pray I like God to hear me speedily. I really don't like when God says, "Wait." Or when He exhorts me towards patience. I like... I am a man of action, and I like God to work quickly when I am in trouble.

"Be Thou my strong rock and a house of defense, for Thou art my rock and my fortress." Now David often speaks of God as his rock and as his fortress. I guess you would really have to go over to the land of Israel to appreciate this fully. The Israelis have a joke that they will tell you when you first arrive. They will say that God dispatched two angels to distribute the rocks over the face of the earth. And that the one angel went all over the earth scattering his rocks, sort of spreading them out all over the entire earth. And the other angel just was tired and so he dumped all of his rocks on Israel. It is a rocky place. But the rocks afforded a tremendous place of defense in those days. And so in speaking of God as a rock, you are speaking actually of God being a shield to you, a defense. So God is my rock. He is my place of defense. He is my fortress. And oftentimes God is spoken of in the figure of a rock.

Now in the Proverbs there are three things on the earth that are small, yea four that are small but exceedingly wise. And he speaks of the conies; they are just a feeble folk. It is sort of a... a coney is sort of related partly to the rabbit family. It looks something like a rabbit, and yet on the other hand, it looks sort of like an overgrown rat. Down in Engedi when you go in there, there is a lot of reeds along the stream, and there are hundreds of these conies down in that area. And the scripture says, "The coney is a feeble folk." It is actually a very defenseless kind of an animal. It is sort of... well, it really is a defenseless animal. It doesn't have any way of defending itself from a predatory type of an animal. And so it says that a coney is a feeble folk, but he makes his home in the rock. So the conies crawl back in the rocks and the wolves, or whatever can stand on the outside and just bark and howl and all, but they can't get to them. So it is actually, the four things on the earth small, exceeding wise, the coney is one of them. The wisdom is knowing its weakness. It has enough sense to make its home in the rock.

Now, we, knowing our weakness, ought to have enough sense to make our home in the Rock. "The Lord is my rock and my fortress." I know that I am weak. I know that I cannot really defend myself from the attacks of the enemy. I know his powers. I know his wiles. I know his guises. I know that I am no match. So it is so important, knowing my weaknesses, that I make my home in the Rock, Jesus Christ. Who then becomes my rock and my fortress. And then asking God to lead me and guide me for His name's sake.

Pull me out of the net that they have privately laid for me: for thou art my strength. For into thine hand I commit my spirit ( Psalms 31:4-5 ):

This is what Jesus, of course, cried from the cross at the time of His death, "Father, into Thine hands I commend My Spirit" ( Luke 23:46 ).

thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD. I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for you have considered my trouble; you have known my soul in adversities; Thou hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: you have set my feet in a large room ( Psalms 31:5-8 ).

Now we enter into the second section where the trial is overcome by the trust.

Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: my eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me. I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life ( Psalms 31:9-13 ).

So they have set a net for David. They are talking about him. His life is filled with grief and with sighing. He is a reproach of his enemies. Even his friends have forsaken him. They treat him like a dead man. Out of mind. Like a vessel that is broken, of no further value.

But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in your hand: deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake. Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. And let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous ( Psalms 31:14-18 ).

Into the final section now, into the triumph of his trusting.

Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the LORD: for he hath showed me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee. O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewards the proud doer. Be of good courage, and he will strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD ( Psalms 31:19-24 ).

So the triumph of trusting and then the encouragement of others. Having experienced the help of God, I then seek to share and to encourage others to also receive God's help and God's work in their life. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 31

This lament-thanksgiving psalm grew out of an experience in David’s life in which his foes plotted to kill him. That incident reminded David that the Lord would protect those who trust in Him. He urged others who might encounter similar affliction to love and trust in God as well.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

4. David’s prayer for deliverance 31:14-18

Reaffirming his trust in the Lord, David called on Him to silence his enemies and to save him from their hateful hands. He asked God to shut their slanderous mouths also.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Make thy face to shine upon thy servant,.... In which he prays for the gracious presence of God, the manifestations of himself unto him, the discoveries of his love, the enjoyment of him in Christ, communion with him, the comforts of his Spirit, and joys of his salvation; see Numbers 6:25;

save me for thy mercies' sake; not for any merit and righteousness of his own, but for the sake of the grace and goodness of the Lord; which is putting salvation, whether temporal or spiritual, upon its right foot and foundation; which is never wrought out by, or is for works of righteousness done by men, but according to the grace and mercy of God.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      9 Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.   10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.   11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.   12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.   13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.   14 But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.   15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.   16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake.   17 Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.   18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

      In the Psalms 31:1-8 David had appealed to God's righteousness, and pleaded his relation to him and dependence on him; here he appeals to his mercy, and pleads the greatness of his own misery, which made his case the proper object of that mercy. Observe,

      I. The complaint he makes of his trouble and distress (Psalms 31:9; Psalms 31:9): "Have mercy upon me, O Lord! for I am in trouble, and need thy mercy." The remembrance he makes of his condition is not much unlike some even of Job's complaints. 1. His troubles had fixed a very deep impression upon his mind and made him a man of sorrows. So great was his grief that his very soul was consumed with it, and his life spent with it, and he was continually sighing, Psalms 31:9; Psalms 31:10. Herein he was a type of Christ,--who was intimately acquainted with grief and often in tears. We may guess by David's complexion, which was ruddy and sanguine, by his genius for music, and by his daring enterprises in his early days, that his natural disposition was both cheerful and firm, that he was apt to be cheerful, and not to lay trouble to his heart; yet here we see what he is brought to: he has almost wept out his eyes, and sighed away his breath. Let those that are airy and gay take heed of running into extremes, and never set sorrow at defiance; God can find out ways to make them melancholy if they will not otherwise learn to be serious. 2. His body was afflicted with the sorrows of his mind (Psalms 31:10; Psalms 31:10): My strength fails, my bones are consumed, and all because of my iniquity. As to Saul, and the quarrel he had with him, he could confidently insist upon his righteousness; but, as it was an affliction God laid upon him, he owns he had deserved it, and freely confesses his iniquity to have been the procuring cause of all his trouble; and the sense of sin touched him to the quick and wasted him more than all his calamities. 3. His friends were unkind and became shy of him. He was a fear to his acquaintance, when they saw him they fled from him,Psalms 31:11; Psalms 31:11. They durst not harbour him nor give him any assistance, durst not show him any countenance, nor so much as be seen in his company, for fear of being brought into trouble by it, now that Saul had proclaimed him a traitor and outlawed him. They saw how dearly Ahimelech the priest had paid for aiding and abetting him, though ignorantly; and therefore, though they could not but own he had a great deal of wrong done him, yet they had not the courage to appear for him. He was forgotten by them, as a dead man out of mind (Psalms 31:12; Psalms 31:12), and looked upon with contempt as a broken vessel. Those that showed him all possible respect when he was in honour at court, now that he had fallen into disgrace, though unjustly, were strange to him. Such swallow-friends the world is full of, that are gone in winter. Let those that fall on the losing side not think it strange if they be thus deserted, but make sure a friend in heaven, that will not fail them, and make use of him. 4. His enemies were unjust in their censures of him. They would not have persecuted him as they did if they had not first represented him as a bad man; he was a reproach among all his enemies, but especially among his neighbours,Psalms 31:11; Psalms 31:11. Those that had been the witnesses of his integrity, and could not but be convinced in their consciences that he was an honest man, were the most forward to represent him quite otherwise, that they might curry favour with Saul. Thus he heard the slander of many; every one had a stone to throw at him, because fear was in every side; that is, they durst not do otherwise, for he that would not join with his neighbours to accuse David was looked upon as disaffected to Saul. Thus the best of men have been represented under the worst characters by those that resolved to give them the worst treatment. 5. His life was aimed at and he went in continual peril of it. Fear was on every side, and he knew that, whatever counsel his enemies took against him, the design was not to take away his liberty, but to take away his life (Psalms 31:13; Psalms 31:13), a life so valuable, so useful, to the good services of which all Israel owed so much, and which was never forfeited. Thus, in all the plots of the Pharisees and Herodians against Christ, still the design was to take away his life, such are the enmity and cruelty of the serpent's seed.

      II. His confidence in God in the midst of these troubles. Every thing looked black and dismal round about him, and threatened to drive him to despair: "But I trusted in thee, O Lord! (Psalms 31:14; Psalms 31:14) and was thereby kept from sinking." His enemies robbed him of his reputation among men, but they could not rob him of his comfort in God, because they could not drive him from his confidence in God. Two things he comforted himself with in his straits, and he went to God and pleaded them with him:-- 1. "Thou art my God; I have chosen thee for mine, and thou hast promised to be mine;" and, if he be ours and we can by faith call him so, it is enough, when we can call nothing else ours. "Thou art my God; and therefore to whom shall I go for relief but to thee?" Those need not be straitened in their prayers who can plead this; for, if God undertake to be our God, he will do that for us which will answer the compass and vast extent of the engagement. 2. My times are in thy hand. Join this with the former and it makes the comfort complete. If God have our times in his hand, he can help us; and, if he be our God, he will help us; and then what can discourage us? It is a great support to those who have God for their God that their times are in his hand and he will be sure to order and dispose of them for the best, to all those who commit their spirits also into his hand, to suit them to their times, as David here, Psalms 31:5; Psalms 31:5. The time of life is in God's hands, to lengthen or shorten, embitter or sweeten, as he pleases, according to the counsel of his will. Our times (all events that concern us, and the timing of them) are at God's disposal; they are not in our own hands, for the way of man is not in himself, not in our friends' hands, nor in our enemies' hands, but in God's; every man's judgment proceedeth from him. David does not, in his prayers, prescribe to God, but subscribe to him. "Lord, my times are in thy hand, and I am well pleased that they are so; they could not be in a better hand. Thy will be done."

      III. His petitions to God, in this faith and confidence, 1. He prays that God would deliver him out of the hand of his enemies (Psalms 31:15; Psalms 31:15), and save him (Psalms 31:16; Psalms 31:16), and this for his mercies' sake, and not for any merit of his own. Our opportunities are in God's hand (so some read it), and therefore he knows how to choose the best and fittest time for our deliverance, and we must be willing to wait that time. When David had Saul at his mercy in the cave those about him said, "This is the time in which God will deliver thee," 1 Samuel 24:4. "No," says David, "the time has not come for my deliverance till it can be wrought without sin; and I will wait for that time; for it is God's time, and that is the best time." 2. That God would give him the comfort of his favour in the mean time (Psalms 31:16; Psalms 31:16): "Make they face to shine upon thy servant; let me have the comfortable tokens and evidences of thy favour to me, and that shall put gladness in my heart in the midst of all my griefs." 3. That his prayers to God might be answered and his hopes in God accomplished (Psalms 31:17; Psalms 31:17): "Let me not be ashamed of my hopes and prayers, for I have called upon thee, who never saidst to thy people, Seek in vain, and hope in vain." 4. That shame and silence might be the portion of wicked people, and particularly of his enemies. They were confident of their success against David, and that they should run him down and ruin him. "Lord," says he, "let them be made ashamed of that confidence by the disappointment of their expectations," as those that opposed the building of the wall about Jerusalem, when it was finished, were much cast down in their own eye,Nehemiah 6:16. Let them be silent in the grave. Note, Death will silence the rage and clamour of cruel persecutors, whom reason would not silence. In the grave the wicked cease from troubling. Particularly, he prays for (that is, he prophesies) the silencing of those that reproach and calumniate the people of God (Psalms 31:18; Psalms 31:18): Let lying lips be put to silence, that speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. This is a very good prayer which, (1.) We have often occasion to put up to God; for those that set their mouth against the heavens commonly revile the heirs of heaven. Religion, in the strict and serious professors of it, are every where spoken against, [1.] With a great deal of malice: They speak grievous things, on purpose to vex them, and hoping, with what they say, to do them a real mischief. They speak hard things (so the word is), which bear hard upon them, and by which they hope to fasten indelible characters of infamy upon them. [2.] With a great deal of falsehood: They are lying lips, taught by the father of lies and serving his interest. [3.] With a great deal of scorn and disdain: They speak proudly and contemptuously, as if the righteous, whom God has honoured, were the most despicable people in the world, and not worthy to be set with the dogs of their flock. One would think they thought it no sin to tell a deliberate lie if it might but serve to expose a good man either to hatred or contempt. Hear, O our God! for we are despised. (2.) We may pray in faith; for these lying lips shall be put to silence. God has many ways of doing it. Sometimes he convinces the consciences of those that reproach his people, and turns their hearts. Sometimes by his providence he visibly confutes their calumnies, and brings forth the righteousness of his people as the light. However, there is a day coming when God will convince ungodly sinners of the falsehood of all the hard speeches that have spoken against his people and will execute judgment upon them, Jude 1:14; Jude 1:15. Then shall this prayer be fully answered, and to that day we should have an eye in the singing of it, engaging ourselves likewise by well-doing, if possible, to silence the ignorance of foolish men,1 Peter 2:15.