thee; now thou art in thy glory, pity a worm in misery, that mourns and
desires more after thee than all things: Lord, thou paidst dear for my good,
let good come unto me.
Joseph Symonds, 1658.
Verse 1. The first verse expresses a species of suffering that never at
any other time was felt in this world, and never will be again—the
vengeance of the Almighty upon his child—"MY God, why hast thou forsaken
me?
R. H. Ryland.
Verse 2. "O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not," etc.
How like is this expostulation to that of a human child with its earthly
parent! It is based on the ground of relationship—"I am thine; I cry
day and night, yet I am not heard. Thou art my God, yet nothing is done to
silence me. In the daytime of my life I cried; in this night season of my
death I intreat. In the garden of Gethsemane I occupied the night with
prayers; with continual ejaculations have I passed through this eventful
morning. O my God, thou hast not yet heard me, therefore am I not yet
silent; I cannot cease till thou answerest." Here Christ urges his suit in
a manner which none but filial hearts adopt. The child knows that the
parent yearns over him. His importunity is strengthened by confidence in
paternal love. He keeps not silence, he gives him no rest because he
confides in his power and willingness to grant the desired relief. This is
natural. It is the argument of the heart, an appeal to the inward yearnings
of our nature. It is also scriptural, and is thus stated, "If ye then being
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Luke 11:13.
John Stevenson, in "Christ on the Cross," 1842.
Verse 2. The princely prophet says, "Lord, I cry unto thee in the
daytime, but thou hearest not, also in the night time, and yet this is not
to be thought folly to me." (Septuagint version.) Some perhaps would
think it a great point of folly for a man to cry and call unto him who stops
his ears, and seems not to hear. Nevertheless, this folly of the faithful
is wiser than all the wisdom of the world. For we know well enough, that
howsoever God seem at the first not to hear, yet the Lord is a sure refuge
in due time—in affliction. Psalm 9:9.
Thomas Playfere.
Verses 2, 3. Well, what hears God from him, now he hears nothing from
God, as to the deliverance prayed for? No murmuring at God's proceedings;
nay, he hears quite the contrary, for he justifies and praises God: "But
thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." Observe
whether thou canst not gather something from the manner of God's denying the
thing prayed for, which may sweeten it to thee! Haply thou shalt find he
denies thee, but it is with a smiling countenance, and ushers it in with
some expressions of grace and favour, that may assure thee his denial
proceeds not from displeasure. As you would do with a dear friend, who, may
be, comes to borrow a sum of money of you; lend it you dare not, because you
see plainly it is not for his good; but in giving him the denial, lest he
should misinterpret it, as proceeding from want of love and respect, you
preface it with some kind of language of your hearty affection to him, as
that you love him, and therefore deny him, and shall be ready to do for him
more than that comes to. Thus God sometimes wraps up his denials in such
sweet intimations of love, as prevents all jealousies arising in the hearts
of his people.
William Gurnall.
Verses 2, 3. They that have conduit-water come into their houses, if no
water come they do not conclude the spring to be dry, but the pipes to be
stopped or broken. If prayer speed not, we must be sure that the fault is
not in God, but in ourselves; were we but ripe for mercy, he is ready to
extend it to us, and even waits for the purpose.
John Trapp.
Verse 3. "But thou art holy." Here is the triumph of faith—the
Saviour stood like a rock in the wide ocean of temptation. High as the
billows rose, so did his faith, like the coral rock, wax greater and
stronger till it became an island of salvation to our shipwrecked souls. It
is as if he had said, "It matters not what I endure. Storms may howl upon
me; men despise; devils tempt; circumstances overpower; and God himself
forsake me, still God is holy; there is no unrighteousness in him."
John Stevenson.
Verse 3. "But thou art holy." Does it seem strange that the heart in
its darkness and sorrow should find comfort in this attribute of God? No,
for God's holiness is but another aspect of his faithfulness and mercy. And
in that remarkable name, "the Holy One of Israel," we are taught that he
who is the "holy" God is also the God who has made a covenant with his
chosen. It would be impossible for an Israelite to think of God's holiness
without thinking also of that covenant relationship. "Be ye holy; for I,
the Lord your God am holy," were the words in which Israel was reminded of
their relation to God. See especially Leviticus 19:1. We see something of
this feeling in such passages as Psalm 89:16-19; 99:5-9; Hosea 11:8, 9;
Isaiah 41:14; 47:4.
J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse 3. Were temptations never so black, faith will not hearken to an
ill word spoken against God, but will justify God always.
David Dickson.
Verses 4, 5. Those who look upon this Psalm as having a primary reference
to the King of Israel, attribute great beauty to these words, from the very
pleasing conjecture that David was, at the time of composing them,
sojourning at Mahanaim, where Jacob, in his distress, wrestled with the
angel, and obtained such signal blessings. That, in a place so greatly
hallowed by associations of the past, he should make his appeal to the God
of his fathers, was alike the dictate of patriarchal feeling and religion.
John Morison, D.D., in "Morning Meditations."
Verse 5. "Thou didst deliver them," but thou wilt not deliver me; nay,
rather thou didst deliver them because thou wilt not deliver me.
Gerhohus.
Verse 6. "But I am a worm, and no man." A fisherman, when he casts his
angle into the river, doth not throw the hook in bare, naked and uncovered,
for then he knows the fish will never bite, and therefore he hides the hook
within a worm, or some other bait, and so, the fish, biting at the worm, is
catched by the hook. Thus Christ, speaking of himself, saith, "Ego vermis
et non homo." He, coming to perform the great work of our redemption, did
cover and hide his Godhead within the worm of his human nature. The grand
water-serpent, Leviathan, the devil, thinking to swallow the worm of his
humanity, was caught upon the hook of his divinity. This hook stuck in his
jaws, and tore him very sore. By thinking to destroy Christ, he destroyed
his own kingdom, and lost his own power for ever.
Lancelot Andrewes.
Verse 6. "I am a worm." Christ calls himself "a worm" . . . on account of the opinion that men of the world had of him . . . the Jews
esteemed Christ as a worm, and treated him as such; he was loathsome to them
and hated by them; every one trampled upon him, and trod him under foot as
men do worms . . . The Chaldee paraphrase renders it here a weak worm;
and though Christ is the mighty God, and is also the Son of man, whom God
made strong for himself; yet there was a weakness in his human nature, and
he was crucified through it, 2 Corinthians 13:4: and it has been observed by
some, that the word (Heb.) there used signifies the scarlet worm, or the
worm that is in the grain or berry with which scarlet is dyed: and like this
scarlet worm did our Lord look, when by way of mockery he was clothed with a
scarlet robe; and especially when he appeared in his dyed garments, and was
red in his apparel, as one that treadeth in the wine fat; when his body was
covered with blood when he hung upon the cross, which was shed to make
crimson and scarlet sins as white as snow.
John Gill.
Verse 6. "I am a worm." An humble soul is emptied of all swelling
thoughts of himself. Bernard calls humility a self-annihilation. Job
22:29. "Thou wilt save the humble;" in the Hebrew it is, "Him that is of
low eyes." An humble man has lower thoughts of himself than others can have
of him; David, though a king, yet looked upon himself as "a worm:" "I am
a worm, and no man." Bradford, a martyr, yet subscribes himself "a
sinner." Job 10:15. "If I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head:"
like the violet a sweet flower, but hangs down the head.
Thomas Watson.
Verse 6. "A worm." So trodden under foot, trampled on, maltreated,
buffeted and spit upon, mocked and tormented, as to seem more like a worm
than a man. Behold what great contempt hath the Lord of Majesty endured,
that his confusion may be our glory; his punishment our heavenly bliss!
Without ceasing impress this spectacle, O Christian, on thy soul!
Dionysius, quoted by Isaac Williams.
Verse 6. "I am a worm." Among the Hindoos, when a man complains and
abhors himself, he asks; "What am I! a worm! a worm!" "Ah, the proud man!
he regarded me as a worm, well should I like to say to him, 'We are all
worms.'" "Worm, crawl out of my presence."
Joseph Roberts.
Verse 7. "All they that see me laugh me to scorn," etc. Imagine this
dreadful scene. Behold this motley multitude of rich and poor, of Jews and
Gentiles! Some stand in groups and gaze. Some recline at ease and stare.
Others move about in restless gratification at the event. There is a look
of satisfaction on every countenance. None are silent. The velocity of
speech seems tardy. The theme is far too great for one member to utter.
Every lip, and head, and finger, is now a tongue. The rough soldiers, too,
are busied in their coarse way. The work of blood is over. Refreshment has
become necessary. Their usual beverage of vinegar and water is supplied to
them. As they severally are satisfied, they approach the cross, hold some
forth to the Saviour, and bid him drink as they withdraw it. Luke 23:36.
They know he must be suffering an intense thirst, they therefore aggravate
it with the mockery of refreshment. Cruel Romans! and ye, O regicidal Jews!
Was not death enough? Must mockery and scorn be added? On this sad day
Christ made you one indeed! Dreadful unity—which constituted you the
joint mockers and murderers of the Lord of glory!
John Stevenson.
Verse 7. "All they that see me, laugh me to scorn," etc. There have
been persons in our own days, whose crimes have excited such detestation
that the populace would probably have torn them in pieces, before, and even
after their trial, if they could have had them in their power. Yet when
these very obnoxious persons have been executed according to their sentence,
if, perhaps, there was not one spectator who wished them to escape, yet
neither was one found so lost to sensibility as to insult them in their
dying moments. But when Jesus suffers, all that see him laugh him to
scorn; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head; they insult his
character and his hope.
John Newton.
Verse 7. "They shoot out the lip." To protrude the lower lip is, in
the East, considered a very strong indication of contempt. Its employment
is chiefly confined to the lower orders.
Illustrated Commentary.
Verses 7, 8. It was after his crucifixion, and during the hours that he
hung upon the cross, that his sufferings in this way—the torment of
beholding and hearing the scorn and mockery which was made of the truth of
his person and doctrine—exceedingly abounded, and in such and so many
kinds of mockery and insult that some consider this to have been the
chiefest pain and sorrow which he endured in his most sacred passion. For
as, generally, those things are considered the most painful to endure of