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

Psalm 70. This short psalm is an individual lament, an urgent prayer for rescue from gloating enemies. The whole psalm is very close to 40:14-16. The title specifies the psalm as "for the memorial offering" (cf. note on Psalm 38).

70:1-3 Deliver Me from Those Who Seek My Life. The first stanza sounds the note of desperation and danger. The threat comes from those who seek my life, who delight in my hurt, and who say, "Aha, Aha!" These are people who are eager to hurt and gloat over the faithful. The enemies could be powerful Israelites, unfaithful to the covenant and therefore hostile to true piety, or they could be foreigners who seek to impose other gods upon God's people. The song prays urgently that God would make haste . . . to deliver and help me; the specific kind of help is the thwarting of the enemies' schemes, i.e., that they would be put to shame and confusion, and that they would be turned back and brought to dishonor.