Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 39:13

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 39:13. O spare me — Take me not from this state of probation till I have a thorough preparation for a state of blessedness. This he terms recovering his strength - being restored to the favour and image of God, from which he had fallen. This should be the daily cry of every human spirit: Restore me to thine image, guide me by thy counsel, and then receive me to thy glory!

ANALYSIS OF THE THIRTY-NINTH PSALM

This Psalm was apparently written on the same occasion as the preceding. The psalmist is still suffering as before, yet is silent and patient; but the suffering at last becoming very sharp, he could hold his peace no longer: then he spoke. And we have reason to be thankful that he broke silence, as whoever considers the weighty truths which he spoke must allow.

There are three parts in this Psalm: -

I. His own account of his resolution to keep silence, Psalms 39:1, and the consequences of it, Psalms 39:2-3.

II. His expostulation with God on the shortness, uncertainty, and frailty of life, Psalms 39:4-6.

III. His petition to have his sin pardoned, Psalms 39:8; to be saved from punishment, Psalms 39:10; and for farther grace and respite, Psalms 39:12-13.

I. David acquaints us with his resolution: I said - I fully purposed to keep silence.

1. "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue."

2. This resolution he kept for a while: "I was dumb; I held my peace even from good," even from making a just defence.

3. But in this I found great difficulty, nay, impossibility.

1. For all the time "my sorrow was stirred." My pain was increased by silence.

2. "My heart was hot." I was strongly incited to utter my mind.

3. "And, while thus musing, the fire burned;" what was within I saw should not be longer concealed: "Then spake I with my tongue."

II. He expostulates with God: and, being greatly oppressed both in body and mind, prays to know how long he is to live; or, rather, how soon he may get rid of his maladies, false friends, and deceitful enemies. Many considerations render his life uncomfortable.

1. It is very brittle and frail: "Make me to know how frail I am."

2. It is very short: "Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth."

3. Yea, when carefully considered, it was even less, of no consideration: "Mine age is as nothing before thee."

4. It was full of vanity: "Verily, every man at his best estate (in his strength, riches, power) is altogether vanity." His labours promise much, perform little.

5. It is unstable and uncertain, as a shadow. "Surely, every man walketh in a vain shadow."

6. It is full of trouble and inquietude: "Surely, they are disquieted in vain."

7. Man labours for he knows not whom: "He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them."

Notwithstanding all this, he finds that even here God is a sufficient Portion for them that trust in him. Let others toil for riches; admire dignities, empires, pleasures; let them be proud of these, and complain that their life is too short to enjoy them; I have a stronger hold; I am persuaded that the Lord will have mercy upon me, and be my Support in all the troubles and uncertainties of life: "And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee."

III. On this confidence he again begins to pray, -

1. For remission of sin: "Deliver me from all my transgressions."

2. For defence against malicious tongues: "Make me not a reproach to the foolish."

3. For submission under Divine chastisement: "I was dumb, because thou didst it."

4. For a removal of his punishment: "Take away thy plague from me."

1. And he adds the cause; - either remove thy hand, or I must needs perish: "I am even consumed by the blow of thy hand."

2. This he amplifies by the similitude of a moth; and adds a second reason: "When thou with rebukes dost correct man, thou makest his beauty to consume away like the moth," which frets and destroys a garment. And, for confirmation, delivers his former opinion, which is to be considered as an incontrovertible maxim: "Surely, every man is vanity. Selah." Mark that!

3. To which he adds a third - the consideration of our present condition in this life. We and all our fathers are but pilgrims in this life: "I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were." Therefore, spare me.

Faith has always to struggle with difficulties. Though he was confident, Psalms 39:7, that God was his hope; yet his calamities, his sickness, his enemies, the brevity, fugacity, and troubles of life, come ever into his memory; and, therefore, he prays again for them. And this rises by a climax or gradation: -

1. He prays for audience: "Hear my prayer, O Lord!"

2. That his cry, for such it was, be heard: "Give ear unto my cry."

3. For admission of his tears: "Hold not thy peace at my tears. The reason, as a stranger. Thy grace, thy favour.

4. For some relaxation and ease: "O spare me, that I may recover strength;" which he urges with this motive, "before I go hence, and be no more." Restore me to thy favour in this life. Hereafter, it will be too late to expect it. Let me not die unsaved!

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalm 38-39 The cries of the sick

The psalmist David felt that sometimes punishment for his sins took the form of sickness (e.g. Psalms 6:0) or opposition from those who envied or hated him (e.g. Psalms 25:0). Both elements appear again in the prayer of Psalms 38:0, which, being a confession of sin, was suitable to be offered with certain sacrifices.

As the suffering David cries to God for mercy, he admits that, because of his sin, he deserves what he has got (38:1-4). He vividly describes the sickness, sores and pain that he has to endure (5-7), but his inner suffering is much greater. It leaves him crushed and repentant before God (8-10). Friends forsake him and enemies plot against him (11-12), but he bears their slanders as if he cannot hear them and cannot reply to them (13-14). He can only leave the matter in God’s hands and trust that his downfall will give his enemies no cause to gloat over him or dishonour God (15-17). Although he has confessed his sins, his enemies still persecute him. He prays that God will not leave him alone in his hour of grief (18-22).

Psalms 39:0 views sickness in a different context from the previous psalm. As the psalmist looks back on his sickness, he asserts that he did not want to complain, in case he gave the wicked an excuse for dishonouring God. In the end, he could restrain himself no longer (39:1-3). His illness made him see how short and uncertain life is (4-6). He now sees this as all the more reason why he should trust in God and seek his forgiveness. He does not want to be mocked as one whose faith leaves him with fear and uncertainty in the face of death (7-8).

In view of all he has been through, the psalmist now asks for relief from his sufferings. The lesson God has taught him is that he should not place too high a value on the temporary things of life (9-11). He sees himself as a traveller, as a passing guest, and prays that his divine host will treat him with fitting kindness in the few days of life that remain (12-13).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“O spare me, that I may recover strength, Before I go hence and be no more.”

“The psalmist here no longer wishes for death, yet he expects it, and requests of God a little breathing space.”The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 306.

“Nothing is to be made of the expression, `and be no more,’ which was merely David’s way of mentioning death.”Ibid. We have often called attention to the fact that Old Testament heroes certainly believed in the resurrection, although they did not have the vivid and detailed assurances of it which belong to Christians in the New Testament.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

O spare me - The word used here - from שׁעה shâ‛âh - means “to look;” and then, in connection with the preposition, “to look away from;” and it here means, “Look away from me;” that is, Do not come to inflict death on me. Preserve me. The idea is this: God seemed to have fixed his eyes on him, and to be pursuing him with the expressions of his displeasure (compare Job 16:9); and the psalmist now prays that he would “turn away his eyes,” and leave him.

That I may recover strength - The word used here - בלג bâlag - means, in Arabic, to be bright; to shine forth; and then, to make cheerful, to enliven one’s countenance, or to be joyful, glad. In Job 9:27, it is rendered “comfort;” in Job 10:20, that I “may take comfort;” in Amos 5:9, “strengtheneth.” It is not used elsewhere. The idea is that of being “cheered up;” of being strengthened and invigorated before he should pass away. He wished to be permitted to recover the strength which he had lost, and especially to receive consolation, before he should leave the earth. He desired that his closing days might not be under a cloud, but that he might obtain brighter and more cheerful views, and have more of the consolations of religion before he should be removed finally from this world. It is a wish not to leave the world in gloom, or with gloomy and desponding views, but with a cheerful view of the past; with joyful confidence in the government of God; and with bright anticipations of the coming world.

Before I go hence - Before I die.

And be no more - Be no more upon the earth. Compare Psalms 6:5, note; Psalms 30:9, note. See also the notes at Job 14:1-12. Whatever may have been his views of the future world, he desired to be cheered and comforted in the prospect of passing away finally from earth. He was unwilling to go down to the grave in gloom, or under the influence of the dark and distressing views which he had experienced, and to which he refers in this psalm. A religious man, about to leave the world, should desire to have bright hopes and anticipations. For his own comfort and peace, for the honor of religion, for the glory of God, he should not leave those around under the impression that religion does nothing to comfort a dying man, or to inspire with hope the mind of one about to leave the earth, or to give to the departing friend of God cheerful anticipations of the life to come. A joyful confidence in God and his government, when a man is about to leave the world, does much, very much, to impress the minds of others with a conviction of the truth and reality of religion, as dark and gloomy views can hardly fail to lead the world to ask what that religion is worth which will not inspire a dying man with hope, and make him calm in the closing scene.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

13Let me alone, that I may recover strength. Literally, it is, cease from me, and therefore some explain it, Let there be a wall raised betwixt us, that thy hand may not reach me. Others read, as a supplement, the word eyes; but as to the sense, it matters little which of the expositions be adopted, for the meaning is the same, That David entreats God to grant him a little relaxation from his trouble, that he might recover strength, or, at least, enjoy a short respite, before he depart from this world. This concluding verse of the psalm relates to the disquietude and sinful emotions which he had experienced according to the flesh; for he seems in the way of complaining of God, to ask that at least time might be granted him to die, as men are wont to speak who are grievously harassed by their affliction. I admit, that he speaks in a becoming manner, in acknowledging that there is no hope of his being restored to health, until God cease to manifest his displeasure; but he errs in this, that he asks a respite, just that he may have time to die. We might, indeed, regard the prayer as allowable, by understanding it in this sense: Lord, as it will not be possible for me to endure thy stroke any longer, but I must, indeed, miserably perish, if thou continuest to afflict me severely, at least grant me relief for a little season, that in calmness and peace I may commit my soul into thy hands. But we may easily infer, from the language which he employs, that his mind was so affected with the bitterness of his grief that he could not present a prayer pure and well seasoned with the sweetness of faith; for he says, before I depart, and be no more: a form of speech which indicates the feeling almost of despair. Not that David could regard death as the entire annihilation of man, or that, renouncing all hope of his salvation, he resigned himself to destruction; but he employs this language, because he had previously been so much depressed by reason of grief, that he could not lift up his heart with so much cheerfulness as it behoved him. This is a mode of expression which is to be found more than once in the complaints of Job. It is obvious, therefore, that, although David endeavored carefully to restrain the desires of the flesh, yet these occasioned him so much disquietude and trouble, that they forced him to exceed the proper limits in his grief.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 39:1-13

Psalms 39:1-13 . Jeduthun was one of David's musicians, as was Asaph.

I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned ( Psalms 39:1-3 ):

Have you ever had that experience where you are just seething inside? While you are thinking on it you just start burning. "While I was musing, while I was thinking on the thing, man, did I burn inside." And David said,

and then I spoke ( Psalms 39:3 ),

It is best not to speak when you are in that shape. But David spoke to the right person; he spoke to the Lord. He said,

LORD, make me to know my end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am ( Psalms 39:4 ).

God, help me to realize that I'm not so macho as I think. Help me to know my days. God, help me to really number my days. You know, I don't have long. Life is short. If you live to be seventy, if you go on beyond that it's going to be with hardship. Lord, teach me to number my days. Help me to realize how frail I am.

Behold, you have made my days just as a handbreadth; and my age is as nothing before thee ( Psalms 39:5 ):

I like that. Don't put any candles on my birthday cake. As far as God is concerned my age is as nothing.

verily every man at his best state is altogether empty ( Psalms 39:5 ).

Man, poor man, so ignorant in that which he knows best. What is your best field of knowledge? What is your particular field of study? What was your major? How much is there to be known in that field in which you major? How much do you know in relationship to all that is to be known in that particular field? I think that, of course, Bible was my major, and I know the Bible better than any other single subject. But I'll tell you, I am so ignorant in the Bible as far as all that there is to be known about this Word. Man, poor man, so ignorant in that which he knows best. "Man at his best is altogether empty."

Surely every man walks in a vain show: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heaps up riches, but he knows not who's going to spend them. And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because you did it ( Psalms 39:6-9 ).

In other words, I didn't complain against the stroke that was upon me, because I knew that it was from you.

Remove thy stroke from me: I am consumed by the blow of your hand. When you with rebukes correct man for iniquity, you make his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is empty. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more ( Psalms 39:10-13 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 39

David seems to have composed this individual lament during a prolonged illness that almost proved fatal (cf. Job). He petitioned God to extend his days rather than to continue the chastening. This psalm is quite similar to the preceding one, but in this one David did not mention opposition from his enemies.

Jeduthun, mentioned in the title, was one of David’s chief musicians (1 Chronicles 16:41-42). Perhaps David wrote the psalm for Jeduthun to perform or lead, or for the group of musicians under his direction.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. The importance of faith in God 39:7-13

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

In closing, David asked God to remove His chastening, whatever it was, so he could enjoy his final years of life. [Note: See W. A. M. Beuken, "Psalms 39 : Some Aspects of the Old Testament Understanding of Prayer," The Heythrop Journal 19 (1978):1-11.]

The brevity of life impresses one increasingly as he or she grows older. People are usually more conscious of this in times of sorrow than in happy times. It is natural for a believer to want God to teach him or her to live wisely, and want Him to be patient with one’s sinfulness in view of life’s shortness.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

O spare me,.... Or "look from me" f; turn away thy fierce countenance from me; or "cease from me g, and let me alone"; as in

Job 10:20; from whence the words seem to be taken, by what follows:

that I may recover strength; both corporeal and spiritual:

before I go hence; out of this world by death:

and be no more; that is, among men in the land of the living; not but that he believed he should exist after death, and should be somewhere, even in heaven, though he should return no more to the place where he was; see Job 10:20, when a man is born, he comes into the world; when he dies, he goes out of it; a phrase frequently used for death in Scripture; so the ancient Heathens called death "abitio", a going away h.

f השע ממני "respice aliorsum a me", Gejerus; "averte visum a me", Michaelis. g "Desine a me", Pagninus; "desiste a me", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius "cessa a me", Vatablus. h Fest. Pomp. apud Schindler. Lexic. col. 440.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.   8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish.   9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.   10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.   11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.   12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.   13 O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

      The psalmist, having meditated on the shortness and uncertainty of life, and the vanity and vexation of spirit that attend all the comforts of life, here, in these verses, turns his eyes and heart heaven-ward. When there is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature it is to be found in God, and in communion with him; and to him we should be driven by our disappointments in the world. David here expresses,

      I. His dependence on God, Psalms 39:7; Psalms 39:7. Seeing all is vanity, and man himself is so, 1. He despairs of a happiness in the things of the world, and disclaims all expectations from it: "Now, Lord, what wait I for? Even nothing from the things of sense and time; I have nothing to wish for, nothing to hope for, from this earth." Note, The consideration of the vanity and frailty of human life should deaden our desires to the things of this world and lower our expectations from it. "If the world be such a thing as this, God deliver me from having, or seeking, my portion in it." We cannot reckon upon constant health and prosperity, nor upon comfort in any relation; for it is all as uncertain as our continuance here. "Though I have sometimes foolishly promised myself this and the other from the world, I am now of another mind." 2. He takes hold of happiness and satisfaction in God: My hope is in thee. Note, When creature-confidences fail, it is our comfort that we have a God to go to, a God to trust to, and we should thereby be quickened to take so much the faster hold of him by faith.

      II. His submission to God, and his cheerful acquiescence in his holy will, Psalms 39:9; Psalms 39:9. If our hope be in God for a happiness in the other world, we may well afford to reconcile ourselves to all the dispensations of his providence concerning us in this world: "I was dumb; I opened not my mouth in a way of complaint and murmuring." He now again recovered that serenity and sedateness of mind which were disturbed, Psalms 39:2; Psalms 39:2. Whatever comforts he is deprived of, whatever crosses he is burdened with, he will be easy. "Because thou didst it; it did not come to pass by chance, but according to thy appointment." We may here see, 1. A good God doing all, and ordering all events concerning us. Of every event we may say, "This is the finger of God; it is the Lord's doing," whoever were the instruments. 2. A good man, for that reason, saying nothing against it. He is dumb, he has nothing to object, no question to ask, no dispute to raise upon it. All that God does is well done.

      III. His desire towards God, and the prayers he puts up to him. Is any afflicted? let him pray, as David here,

      1. For the pardoning of his sin and the preventing of his shame, Psalms 39:8; Psalms 39:8. Before he prays (Psalms 39:10; Psalms 39:10), Remove thy stroke from me, he prays (Psalms 39:8; Psalms 39:8), "Deliver me from all my offences, from the guilt I have contracted, the punishment I have deserved, and the power of corruption by which I have been enslaved." When God forgives our sins he delivers us from them, he delivers us from them all. He pleads, Make me not a reproach to the foolish. Wicked people are foolish people; and they then show their folly most when they think to show their wit, by scoffing at God's people. When David prays that God would pardon his sins, and not make him a reproach, it is to be taken as a prayer for peace of conscience ("Lord, leave me not to the power of melancholy, which the foolish will laugh at me for"), and as a prayer for grace, that God would never leave him to himself, so far as to do any thing that might make him a reproach to bad men. Note, This is a good reason why we should both watch and pray against sin, because the credit of our profession is nearly concerned in the preservation of our integrity.

      2. For the removal of his affliction, that he might speedily be eased of his present burdens (Psalms 39:10; Psalms 39:10): Remove thy stroke away from me. Note, When we are under the correcting hand of God our eye must be to God himself, and not to any other, for relief. He only that inflicts the stroke can remove it; and we may then in faith, and with satisfaction, pray that our afflictions may be removed, when our sins are pardoned (Isaiah 38:17), and when, as here, the affliction is sanctified and has done its work, and we are humbled under the hand of God.

      (1.) He pleads the great extremity he was reduced to by his affliction, which made him the proper object of God's compassion: I am consumed by the blow of thy hand. His sickness prevailed to such a degree that his spirits failed, his strength was wasted, and his body emaciated. "The blow, or conflict, of thy hand has brought me even to the gates of death." Note, The strongest, and boldest, and best of men cannot bear up under, much less make head against, the power of God's wrath. It was not his case only, but any man will find himself an unequal match for the Almighty, Psalms 39:11; Psalms 39:11. When God, at any time, contends with us, when with rebukes he corrects us, [1.] We cannot impeach the equity of his controversy, but must acknowledge that he is righteous in it; for, whenever he corrects man, it is for iniquity. Our ways and our doings procure the trouble to ourselves, and we are beaten with a rod of our own making. It is the yoke of our transgressions, though it be bound with his hand,Lamentations 1:14. [2.] We cannot oppose the effects of his controversy, but he will be too hard for us. As we have nothing to move in arrest of his judgment, so we have no way of escaping the execution. God's rebukes make man's beauty to consume away like a moth; we often see, we sometimes feel, how much the body is weakened and decayed by sickness in a little time; the countenance is changed; where are the ruddy cheek and lip, the sprightly eye, the lively look, the smiling face? It is the reverse of all this that presents itself to view. What a poor thing is beauty; and what fools are those that are proud of it, or in love with it, when it will certainly, and may quickly, be consumed thus! Some make the moth to represent man, who is as easily crushed as a moth with the touch of a finger, Job 4:19. Others make it to represent the divine rebukes, which silently and insensibly waste and consume us, as the moth does the garment. All this abundantly proves what he had said before, that surely every man is vanity, weak and helpless; so he will be found when God comes to contend with him.

      (2.) He pleads the good impressions made upon him by his affliction. He hoped that the end was accomplished for which it was sent, and that therefore it would be removed in mercy; and unless an affliction has done its work, though it may be removed, it is not removed in mercy. [1.] It had set him a weeping, and he hoped God would take notice of that. When the Lord God called to mourning, he answered the call and accommodated himself to the dispensation, and therefore could, in faith, pray, Lord, hold not thy peace at my tears,Psalms 39:12; Psalms 39:12. He that does not willingly afflict and grieve the children of men, much less his own children, will not hold his peace at their tears, but will either speak deliverance for them (and, if he speak, it is done) or in the mean time speak comfort to them and make them to hear joy and gladness. [2.] It had set him a praying; and afflictions are sent to stir up prayer. If they have that effect, and when we are afflicted we pray more, and pray better, than before, we may hope that God will hear our prayer and give ear to our cry; for the prayer which by his providence he gives occasion for, and which by his Spirit of grace he indites, shall not return void. [3.] It had helped to wean him from the world and to take his affections off from it. Now he began, more than ever, to look upon himself as a stranger and sojourner here, like all his fathers, not at home in this world, but travelling through it to another, to a better, and would never reckon himself at home till he came to heaven. He pleads it with God: "Lord, take cognizance of me, and of my wants and burdens, for I am a stranger here, and therefore meet with strange usage; I am slighted and oppressed as a stranger; and whence should I expect relief but from thee, from that other country to which I belong?"

      3. He prays for a reprieve yet a little longer (Psalms 39:13; Psalms 39:13): "O spare me, ease me, raise me up from this illness that I may recover strength both in body and mind, that I may get into a more calm and composed frame of spirit, and may be better prepared for another world, before I go hence by death, and shall be no more in this world." Some make this to be a passionate wish that God would send him help quickly or it would be too late, like that, Job 10:20; Job 10:21. But I rather take it as a pious prayer that God would continue him here till by his grace he had made him fit to go hence, and that he might finish the work of life before his life was finished. Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee.