Psalms 40:12

Now, in accordance with the true art of prayer, petition developes itself out of thanksgiving. The two כּלא, Psa 40:10 and here, stand in a reciprocal relation to one another: he refrained not his lips; therefore, on His part, let not Jahve withhold His tender mercies so that they should not be exercised towards him (ממּנּי). There is just the same correlation of mercy and truth in Psa 40:11 and here: he wishes continually to stand under the protection of these two saving powers, which he has gratefully proclaimed before all Israel. With כּי, Psa 40:13, he bases these desires upon his own urgent need. רעות are the evils, which come even upon the righteous (Psa 34:20) as trials or as chastenings. אפפוּ עלי is a more circumstantial form of expression instead of אפפוּני, Psa 18:5. His misdeeds have taken hold upon him, i.e., overtaken him in their consequences (השּׂיג, as in Deu 28:15, Deu 28:45; cf. לכד, Pro 5:22), inasmuch as they have changed into decrees of suffering. He cannot see, because he is closely encompassed on all sides, and a free and open view is thereby altogether taken from him (the expression is used elsewhere of loss of sight, Sa1 3:2; Sa1 4:15; Kg1 14:4). The interpretation adopted by Hupfeld and Hitzig: I am not able to survey, viz., their number, puts into the expression more than it really expresses in the common usage of the language. His heart, i.e., the power of vital consistence, has forsaken him he is disconcerted, dejected, as it were driven to despair (Psa 38:11). This feeling of the misery of sin is not opposed to the date of the Psalm being assigned to the time of Saul, vid., on Psa 31:11.

It should seem David penned this psalm upon occasion of his deliverance, by the power and goodness of God, from some great and pressing trouble, by which he was in danger of being overwhelmed; probably it was some trouble of mind arising from a sense of sin and of God's displeasure against him for it; whatever it was, the same Spirit that indited his praises for that deliverance was in him, at the same time, a Spirit of prophecy, testifying of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow; or, ere he was aware, he was led to speak of his undertaking, and the discharge of his undertaking, in words that must be applied to Christ only; and therefore how far the praises that here go before that illustrious prophecy, and the prayers that follow, may safely and profitably be applied to him it will be worth while to consider. In this psalm, I. David records God's favour to him in delivering him out of his deep distress, with thankfulness to his praise (Psa 40:1-5). II. Thence he takes occasion to speak of the work of our redemption by Christ (Psa 40:6-10). III. That gives him encouragement to pray to God for mercy and grace both for himself and for his friends (Psa 40:11-17). If, in singing this psalm, we mix faith with the prophecy of Christ, and join in sincerity with the praises and prayers here offered up, we make melody wit our hearts to the Lord. To the chief musician. A psalm of David.

40:12-17 The psalmist is troubled by both his adversities and his own sins and prays for rescue. • This passage is repeated almost verbatim as Ps 70.