NOTES for Psa 40
1 I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. |
2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. |
3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. |
4 Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. |
5 Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. |
6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. |
7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, |
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. |
9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. |
10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation. |
11 Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. |
12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me. |
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me. |
14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil. |
15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha. |
16 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified. |
17 But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God. |
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In offering praise and thanksgiving for salvation, the psalmist uses the image of the rock upon which the Lord, who delivered him from destruction, has set him. It is natural and yet remarkable that this image should appear in the lines of the very psalm whose words, beginning with the Epistle to the Hebrews, Church tradition recognizes as prophetic and speaking of the coming into the world of the One who would be called the Cornerstone.
Indeed, much of what is said here would be disclosed only after the psalm was composed, throughout the subsequent history of our salvation. It is no accident that precisely here the song of praise placed by the Lord on human lips is called a new song, for the Lord makes all things new. It is also revealed to the psalmist that the Lord does not desire sacrifices—but how long it would still take humanity to learn these words!
And there is one more prophetic insight: the Lord’s mercy and truth together and without ceasing guard the person who walks in His ways. Years will pass, and another prophet will speak of the times when mercy and truth will meet as something still to come. But in the Lord they are inseparable, regardless of time.
Other notes
For Psa 40:6
6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. |
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Readings for 7 April 2022
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