The Treasury of David

Posted on January 13, 2023 by brucesbiblepage

Psalm 70

Exposition
Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village Preacher

TITLE.To the Chief Musician, A Psalm of David. So far the title corresponds with Psalm 40, of which this is a copy with variations. David appears to have written the full-length Psalm, and also to have made this excerpt from it, and altered it to suit the occasion. It is a fit pendant to Psalm 69, and a suitable preface to Psalm 71. To bring to remembrance. This is the poor man’s memorial. David personally pleads with God that he may not be forgotten, but David’s Lord may be heard here also. Even if the Lord seems to forget us, we must not forget him. This memorial Psalm acts as a connecting link between the two Psalms of supplicatory expostulation and makes up with them a precious triad of the song.

EXPOSITION

(The Reader is referred for full Exposition and Notes to Ps 40:13-17, in “Treasury of David, “Vol. 2, pp 267-268.)

Verse 5. But I am poor and needy. Just the same plea as in the preceding Psalm, Ps 69:29: it seems to be a favorite argument with tried saints; evidently our poverty is our wealth, even as our weakness is our strength. May we learn well this riddle. Make haste unto me, O God. This is written instead of “yet the Lord thinketh upon me, “in Psalm 40: and there is a reason for the change since the keynote of the Psalm frequently dictates its close. Psalm 40 sings of God’s thoughts, and, therefore, ends therewith; but the peculiar note of Psalm 70 is “Make haste, “and, therefore, so it concludes. Thou art my help and my deliverer. My help in trouble, my deliverer out of it. O Lord, make no tarrying. Here is the name of “Jehovah” instead of “my God.” We are warranted in using all the various names of God, for each has its own beauty and majesty, and we must reverence each by its holy use as well as by abstaining from taking it in vain. I have presumed to close this recapitulatory exposition with an original hymn, suggested by the watchword of this Psalm, “MAKE HASTE.”

Make haste, O God, my soul to bless!
My help and my deliverer thou;
Make haste, for I am in deep distress,
My case is urgent; help me now.
Make haste, O God! make haste to save!
For the time is short, and death is nigh;
Make haste ere yet I am in my grave,
And with the lost forever lie.

Make haste, for I am poor and low;
And Satan mocks my prayers and tears;
O God, in mercy, be not slow,
But snatch me from my horrid fears.
Make haste, O God, and hear my cries;
Then with the souls who seek thy face,
And those who thy salvation prize,
I will magnify thy matchless grace.

Singing Psalms 70