Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

Psalm 69. This is an individual lament, geared especially to a situation in which a faithful Israelite is suffering for wrongs he has done (v. 5) but also finds attackers piling on, taking advantage of his suffering and making it worse (v. 26). The NT cites several passages from this psalm, applying them to the life of Christ. Some have argued that NT use shows that the right way to read the psalm is as David's personal prayer, which believers sing in order to identify with him. A better approach comes from remembering that David was the representative for the people of God, and in that role he wrote this as a prayer that is well-suited to each of God's people in analogous situations, providing the ideal response to such trials (see note on Psalm 3, where the issues are similar); the notes will show how this sheds light on the NT writers' portrait of Jesus.

69:1-4 I Am in Deep Trouble from Treacherous Enemies. The singer lays the situation before God, first with colorful imagery (like drowning, or quicksand, vv. 1-2; cf. vv. 14-15), then with his own sad state (v. 3), and finally, with the actual case: those who hate me without cause. Since the psalm will go on to acknowledge that the singer is not perfect, this cannot be a claim of total innocence; rather, it is a claim that the singer has not done harm to the particular people who attack him with lies.