1 > Hurry, God, to deliver me. Come quickly to help me, Yahweh.
Be pleased, Yahweh, to deliver me. Hurry to help me, Yahweh. Let them be disappointed and confounded together who seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt. Let them be desolate by reason of their shame that tell me, "Aha! Aha!" Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. Let such as love your salvation say continually, "Let Yahweh be exalted!" But I am poor and needy; May the Lord think about me. You are my help and my deliverer. Don't delay, my God.
Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night: and I will come on him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid; and all the people who are with him shall flee; and I will strike the king only; and I will bring back all the people to you: the man whom you seek is as if all returned: [so] all the people shall be in peace. The saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel. Then said Absalom, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he says. When Hushai was come to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him, saying, Ahithophel has spoken after this manner: shall we do [after] his saying? if not, speak up. Hushai said to Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good. Hushai said moreover, You know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are fierce in their minds, as a bear robbed of her cubs in the field; and your father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some [other] place: and it will happen, when some of them are fallen at the first, that whoever hears it will say, There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom. Even he who is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt; for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men. But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together to you, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude; and that you go to battle in your own person. So shall we come on him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light on him as the dew falls on the ground; and of him and of all the men who are with him we will not leave so much as one. Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then shall all Israel bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river, until there not be one small stone found there. Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For Yahweh had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Yahweh might bring evil on Absalom. Then said Hushai to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and thus have I counseled. Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Don't lodge this night at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over; lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him. Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En Rogel; and a maid-servant used to go and tell them; and they went and told king David: for they might not be seen to come into the city. But a boy saw them, and told Absalom: and they went both of them away quickly, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down there. The woman took and spread the covering over the well's mouth, and strewed bruised grain thereon; and nothing was known. Absalom's servants came to the woman to the house; and they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? The woman said to them, They have gone over the brook of water. When they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. It happened, after they had departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David; and they said to David, Arise you, and pass quickly over the water; for thus has Ahithophel counseled against you.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » John Gill's Exposition of the Bible » Commentary on Psalms 70
Commentary on Psalms 70 John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 70
To the chief Musician, cf15I A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. This psalm, according to Kimchi, was composed by David when he fled from Saul, or from Absalom; so Theodoret; but if at either of those times, it is most likely to be the latter, since the following psalm, it is certain, was penned when he was an old man, Psalm 69:9; the word translated "to bring to remembrance" is thought, by Aben Ezra, to be the first word of some pleasant song; see Psalm 38:1. The Targum paraphrases it, to remember the use of the frankincense; alluding to Leviticus 2:2; Jarchi says it signifies prayer, and refers to Psalm 20:7, as instances of the use of the word in such a sense; and so this psalm is composed by the psalmist in a petitionary way, to put the Lord in remembrance of his afflictions, and of his promises of help and deliverance, which he prays for; see Psalm 132:1; and that he would avenge him on his enemies, and show respect to his friends; or it was written to refresh his own memory with his present state, and to put him in mind from whence he might expect help and salvation. The title of the psalm in the Arabic version is, and so in the Vulgate Latin, following the Septuagint,
"a remembrance that the Lord had saved him:'
and in the Syriac version,
"a psalm of David as to the letter, when he sent Joab to take Shemuah (Sheba), who rebelled; also a supplication of the righteous, and even of Christ himself.'
And seeing this follows upon the preceding, and may be reckoned an appendix to it, and there are some things in it which manifestly refer to the latter part of that, and the whole is detached from the fortieth psalm, with which it agrees, a few words only excepted, which manifestly belongs to the Messiah; it is right to understand this of him; Psalm 40:13.
Make haste, O God, to deliver me,.... The phrase, "make haste", is supplied from the following clause in Psalm 40:13; it is, "be pleased, O Lord", or "Jehovah". The Targum renders it, "to deliver us"; very wrongly;
make haste to help me, O Lord; See Gill on Psalm 22:19.
Let them be ashamed and confounded,.... In Psalm 40:14 it is added, "together"; See Gill on Psalm 40:14;
that seek after my soul; or "life"; in Psalm 40:14 it is added, "to destroy it"; for that was the end of their seeking after it;
let them be turned backward, &c. See Gill on Psalm 40:14.
Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame,.... In Psalm 40:15 it is, "let them be desolate"; which seems to respect their land and houses, here their persons; See Gill on Psalm 40:15;
that say; in Psalm 40:15 it is added, "to me"; not to his people, but himself,
aha, aha: rejoicing at his calamity and distress. The Targum is,
"we are glad, we are glad;'
See Gill on Psalm 40:15, and compare with this Ezekiel 25:3.
Let all those that seek thee,.... The Targum is,
"that seek doctrine (or instruction) from thee.'
rejoice and be glad in thee; the Targum paraphrases it,
"rejoice and be glad in thy word.'
and let such as love thy salvation say continually, let God be magnified; the Targum is,
"let the glory of the Lord be increased;'
and in Psalm 40:16, instead of "God", it is "the Lord", or "Jehovah": See Gill on Psalm 40:16.
But I am poor and needy,.... In Psalm 40:17 it follows, yet "the Lord thinketh on me"; instead of which it is here; see Gill on Psalm 40:17;
make haste unto me, O God; which repeats for sense the same petition as in Psalm 71:1;
thou art my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying; in Psalm 40:17 it is, "O my God".