Commentary on Psalms Volume 2 John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
Psalm 69:14-18
14. Deliver me from the mire, that I may not sink: let me be delivered from my adversaries, and from the deep waters. 15. Let not the flood of waters overflow me; and let not the deep swallow me up; and let not the pit 563 close its mouth upon me. 16. Answer me, O Jehovah! for thy mercy 564 is good: in the multitude of thy compassions 565 look upon me. 17. And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hasten! answer me! 18. Draw near to my soul, redeem it; deliver me, on account of my enemies.
14. Deliver me from the mire, that I may not sink. The Psalmist repeats the same similitude which he had used before, but in a different manner. He had previously said that he was sunk in the mire, and now he prays that he may not sink in it. In short, he now prays that those things may not now befall him which he had formerly complained of as having befallen him. But it is very easy to reconcile this diversity of statement; for in the opening of the psalm he spake according to his actual feeling and experience; but now, looking to the issue, although living in the midst of death, he cherishes the hope of deliverance. This is expressed still more clearly in the last clause of the 15th verse, where he prays, Let not the pit close its mouth upon me; which is as if he had said, Let not the great multitude and weight of my afflictions overwhelm me, and let not sorrow swallow me up.
16. Answer me, O Jehovah! for thy mercy is good. The appeal which he here makes to the mercy and compassion of God is an evidence of the distressed condition into which he was brought. There can be no doubt that he sustained a dreadful conflict, when he had recourse to these as the only means of his safety. It is a very difficult matter to believe that God is merciful to us when he is angry with us, and that he is near us when he has withdrawn himself from us. David, aware of this, brings to his view a subject which he may oppose to this distrust, and by pleading for the exercise of the mercy and great compassions of God towards him, shows, that the only consideration which inspired him with hope was the benignant and merciful character of God. When he says, a little after, Look upon me, it is a prayer that God would make it manifest in very deed that he had heard him by
"The Chaldee interpreter understands by the pit, Gehenna." — Cresswell.
The original word,חסדchesed, here translated mercy, signifies, as Dr Adam Clarke observes, "exuberance of kindness."
for compassions, signifies, according to the same author, such affection as mothers bear to their young, and in God there is,רבrob, a multitude of these.