Psalm 6:1
“O
LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.”
David is not asking
the LORD to spare him rebuke,
but that the rebuke might not be too severe.
Rebuke is from the Hebrew yakach,
which means to be correct. In its reciprocal sense it means to argue (both parties think they are correct) but in its causative sense, that which is correct causes one to be justified or convicted, hence ‘rebuke’.
The LORD is
always correct and we are either justified or convicted depending on the
alignment of our thinking and actions to his standards.
David knows he has
sinned: In the past he had not always
aligned his thinking and his actions to God’s standards and is receiving
‘rebuke’ or conviction for those
sins. This goes right back to his sin of
adultery with Bathsheba and his ‘murder’ of her husband Uriah, for if one
traces the results of these actions, it will be seen that his present day
troubles are their consequences. David
was a sinner and made mistakes throughout his life yet apart from “the matter of Uriah the Hittite” it
is said of him that he “did that
which was right in the eyes of the LORD” 1 Kings 15:5. The intense rebuke David describes in this
psalm and others (Psalm 32; 38) was the result of this great sin.
The word for anger
is aph and is translated elsewhere as
wrath, anger, angry, countenance, face, forehead, nose, nostril. Its proper meaning is nose or nostril with the
‘wrath’ and ‘anger’ developing from the flared
nostril occurring from such passion.
When the Bible
attributes ‘wrath’ or ‘anger’ to God it is in the form of anthropomorphism,
which is ‘a figure of speech attributing to God human emotions’. Because God is infinite, eternal and
unchanging, and because anger is an emotion representing a change in one’s
reaction, God does not really become angry but only appears to do so in the
eyes of men. Vines
To explain this we
only have to look at the law of ‘cause and effect’. God’s law is designed to give the best
results for his creation, therefore any infringement or defiance of his law
results in less than the best. If a man
steps off a high cliff, God’s law of gravity dictates that he will be killed or
maimed. If a man disobeys God’s law of
truth he will obey error, and error compounds to his detriment both in
relationship with others and also within himself. The unbeliever attempts to compensate but can
never break from these effects so long as he/she ignores the cause, i.e. the
rejection of God.
With the believer
the most important relationship is with God, and when sin intervenes, that
relationship is the first to be injured.
We are not discussing salvation here but fellowship; a believer’s
fellowship with God is dependant on obedience to God’s will; faith in God’s
word. Any disobedience will break that
fellowship, and continuance in error will result in misery and its associated psychosomatic ailments.
Disobedience to truth is the cause, with its effects of misery and heartache making it seem as if
God were angry. Such effects are
designed to force our attention back onto God’s will and back to confession and
cleansing (1 John 1:9).
The word ‘chasten’
is yasar and means to chastise either literally with blows or
figuratively with words, yet in both cases with the intention of instruction. It can be translated bind, chasten, chastise,
correct, instruct, punish, reform, reprove, and teach. David recounts his literal chastisement, his
mental and physical anguish but petitions the LORD to ‘stay his hand’, to instruct him yes, but not
in “thy hot displeasure”.
‘Hot displeasure’ is
the Hebrew chemah chema, pronounced khay-maw’ khay-maw’ and means heat. Putting this directly into English would make
it ‘hot heat’ but it generally translates; anger, hot displeasure, furious,
heat, indignation, poison, rage or wrath.
Again the form of anthropomorphism is seen, for
the beauty of God’s character does not tally with the picture here of a
furiously angry being.
Psalm 6:2
“Have
mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.”
There are three
Hebrew words the KJV translates as mercy. One word is chesed meaning loving kindness, a steadfast love, and another is racham, which is compassion (by extension the womb (as cherishing the foetus)). Rechem
is from the same root word and means the womb. Here however,
mercy is from the Hebrew chanan; properly to bend or stoop in kindness to an
inferior; to bestow a favor upon them, a favor neither expected nor deserved. Refer
Vine’s.
We see David petitioning the LORD to bend, to reach down in a personal and real way to take
his burden from him, “…for I am weak O LORD”. It is a request for God to bend, to stoop, to
reach down to him, to personally intervene on his behalf as the crisis was
beyond David’s ability to overcome. In
this there is implication to God (in Christ) intervening on behalf of
mankind. He bent; he stooped in a very
real way, by becoming a man and bearing our infirmities.
Isaiah 53:4. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried
our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. Cf. Matthew 8:17, Hebrews
4:15 with Isaiah 53:10-12, Hebrews 12:2.
‘Weak’ is a
correct translation of the Hebrew umlal,
from amal meaning to droop; or by
implication to be sick or to mourn and translated, according to context, as
languish, be weak, wax feeble. In this
verse David’s weakness is linked to ‘mercy’, while ‘healing’ rapha (to mend) is related to etsem a ‘bone’, which by extension means
the body; or figuratively the substance, that is, body, bone, life. David, in his helplessness, petitions the
LORD to be merciful by healing his body.
The sickness David
experienced is described as a ‘vexation’ of the bones; ‘my
bones are vexed’. ‘Vexed’ is
from bahal meaning to tremble
inwardly, i.e. to be alarmed or agitated.
It was a deep-seated physical agitation and when we read vs. 7 where he
states, “My soul
is also sore vexed” or ‘even more vexed than my body’, it suggests the physical problems were psychosomatic or emotionally
induced. Such illnesses require
spiritual healing and this is God’s province (not withstanding the claims of
modern psychoanalysis). David understood
this and consequently went to the LORD in prayer and
supplication.
David recognized he was a sinner and
undeserving of God’s consideration, he understood his own inadequacies due to
inherent sin and his desperate need for God to overcome the barrier of sin (LORD condescend to consider me).
The clearest doctrine in scripture and in
life (to those who are honest with themselves) is the doctrine of the
‘depravity’ or sinfulness of men, and if left to their own devices such
depravity would result in eternal damnation.
This is because of the unchanging perfection of God’s character; he
cannot lower his perfect standards and must separate himself from that which is
imperfect.
Such a separation is damnation, for to be
separate from God is to be separate from the love of God and its resultant joy
and peace. Paul sums up the doctrine of
depravity in Romans 3:10-23 but he also sums up the doctrine of ‘mercy’ in
Romans chapters 4 & 5.
Those who deny the doctrine of depravity
are blind to reality and if they have an expectation of heaven it is because
they have made a god in their image and the standards of heaven the standards
of imperfect men. But God is infinite
and his standards are absolute and anything less is and must be condemned. We are all in desperate need of God’s mercy.
Psalm 6:3
“My
soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?”
Though the word for soul, nephesh means breathing creature and is
used for the whole integrated being of man (Genesis 2:7; 1Corinthians 15:45),
here David differentiates between the body (the bones of vs. 2) and the inner
man. It is the immaterial part of his
being, the mentality of his soul that is sore
vexed.
‘Sore’ is the Hebrew meod, which adverbially means vehemence. Vine’s tells us that as an adverb it has the
meaning, very; exceedingly; greatly or highly.
In Genesis 7:18 it is used in the sense
of quantity, “And the waters prevailed,
and were increased greatly (meod) upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters”.
David uses it in Psalm 47:9 as an
emphasis on the glory of God, “The
princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of
Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly (meod) exalted”.
In Deuteronomy 6:5 it is seen as the noun
might. “And
thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy might (meod)”.
David’s emotions were agitated to an unbearable degree.
It is at this point
we have a break in the parallelism of David’s poetry, yet such is David’s
genius that the whole has still been set to music (vs. 1). The parallelism was seen in:
Vs. 1: ‘…rebuke
me not in thine anger ---- neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure’,
And vs. 2: ‘Have
mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak:
---- O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.’
But here ‘My soul is also sore vexed’ has no
parallel and David finishes with: ‘but
thou, O LORD, how long?’
The pressures of his position and the LORD’S seeming indifference
are as if he has been overwhelmed,
and he momentarily bows himself to hopelessness before taking up his
supplication once again in verse 4.
Psalm 6:4
"Return,
O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake."
The Hebrew shub means to turn; to return, turn back; to bring back, and though
it is also used in the sense of turn away; go backward, follow after or go away
(or disappear), Vine's has as its basic meaning, "a movement back to a
point of departure".
David was no spiritual ‘babe’ yet
the pressure he was under was of such magnitude as to suggest to him that death
might very well be imminent (vs. 5) and felt as though the LORD had departed from him. God
is immense and omnipresent, he is everywhere, and therefore going away and
returning cannot be properly ascribed to him (Gill), yet to the believer whose
emotional state intrudes upon reason, it may seem as though God has
departed. David, a man well on the way
to spiritual maturity, was being tested to the limit of his endurance, but according
to1Corinthians 10:13, not beyond his ability to endure.
With the grave in mind, David is asking
for deliverance from death, and ‘soul’ is used here in the sense of
‘life’; nephesh; breathing creature.
Save me, yasha, make me free, to be safe: not because he deserved such deliverance but for the sake of
the LORD’S mercy. Sake can be, (a) ‘in
the interest of’ or (b) ‘in view of’ or ‘on account of’ the LORD’S mercy. David may be (a)
expressing a desire for the LORD’S mercy to be manifest in his life to show the
glory of God, or (b) appealing to him because he is a merciful being and as
Barnes writes, “might therefore be appealed to on that ground”. Verse 5 suggests the former. To paraphrase both verses: vs. 4, ‘Save me so
that thy mercy might be manifest’, vs. 5, ‘for’ (because) in the grave there is
no remembrance or thanksgiving’.
Because we are all undeserving of God’s grace these are the only
grounds on which we can plead with him to save us.
‘Mercies’ is from chesed - kindness; favour, merciful (kindness),
mercy; a word we looked at briefly in verse 2.
Brown-Driver-Briggs has it as goodness,
kindness, and faithfulness.
Psalm
6:5
“For in death there is no
remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?”
Vine’s Exp. Dict.
has death as the “natural end of human life on this earth, it is an aspect of
God’s judgment on man: “But of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” Genesis 2:17”.
“Surely die” has the
meaning ‘dying thou shall die’ which proved to be the case, for Adam and his
wife were driven from the presence of God that very day (they died to God), and
died (physically) some centuries later.
Although the Old
Testament saints saw death and the grave as a place of silence and shadows, and
though they knew that “The man that wandereth out of the way of
understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead” Proverbs 21:16,
they also saw deliverance for the saints: “I
will ransom them from the power of the grave (sheol); I will redeem them
from death…” Hosea 13:14; “God will
redeem my soul from the power of the grave (sheol): for he shall receive
me” Psalm 49:15, and in Isaiah 25:8, “He
will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from
off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the
earth: for the LORD hath spoken it”. (Sheol, pronounced sheh-ole' is hades or the
world of the dead.)
In 1Corinthians 15,
Paul reveals this victory to be in Christ and his resurrection, and ends his
exhortation with thanks to God for “…the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” 1Corinthians 15:57.
John, in the book of
Revelation, shows the eternal victory, “And
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for
the former things are passed away.”
Revelation 21:4
According to 2 Samuel 12:23, David had this belief in life
beyond the grave, and in Psalms 16 and 17 he writes, “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (sheol); neither wilt thou
suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Psalm 16:10-11,
And, “As for me, I will behold thy face in
righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness” Psalm
17:15.
With this clear
understanding of the eternal state, David’s use of the words ‘death’ and ‘no
remembrance’ must mean something other than obliteration.
‘Death’ maveth is the state of the dead and
David is saying that when a man enters that state he can no longer commemorate or ‘testify’ of the
LORD. This is supported by the parallelism ‘who shall give thee thanks’. Also, in Psalm 30:9, he asks the question, “What profit is there in (my death); shall (my) dust praise thee, shall it declare thy truth?” And the writer of
Psalm 88:11 says the same thing “Shall
thy loving kindness be declared in the grave? Or thy faithfulness in destruction?”
Psalm 6:6
“I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I
water my couch with my tears.”
David was not just weary; he was yaga; exhausted by the
emotional turmoil within. It is almost
certain that the occasion that brought about this anguish was the rebellion of
Absalom, and David would, during the night hours, have had ample time for
reflection on the part he had played in bringing these trials upon
himself. Sin reaps its own reward and is
particularly severe on God-fearing men and women, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he
receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what
son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” Hebrews
12:6-8
If David had not been a godly man,
knowledge of his sin, especially in the matter of Uriah the Hittite, wouldn’t
have been such an affliction to his soul, but he was a godly man and his sin
“was ever before him” Psa
51:3. All believers who desire a closer
walk with their Lord will feel the Lord’s discipline, for the Lord’s discipline
is designed to lead us to recognition and confession of our sin and subsequent
cleansing (1 John 1:9): it is a necessity for spiritual growth, but “ if ye be without chastisement, then are ye nothos (Gk.), meaning spurious or illegitimate, and not sons.”
David’s use of the
words sachah to swim, to inundate, and masah
to dissolve or water, is hyperbolical
language, expressing in a strong and emphatic manner the depth of his
sorrows. Barnes
Psalm
6:7
“Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all
mine enemies.”
The first use of the
Hebrew ayin is as the organ of sight, the eye. In its secondary or figurative sense it can
be descriptive of ‘mental and spiritual faculties’. Brown-Driver-Briggs.
In Matthew 6:22
Jesus says that the eye is the light of the body and if the eyes were in focus
the body shall be full of light, i.e. balanced and steady. Jesus is of course using a literal fact in a
figurative way so as to teach a spiritual truth. If we are able to discern or ‘see’ truth,
then our life will not be subject to the world, or the flesh, or the Devil and
we will be stabilized, mature people.
In the O.T., this
word is used figuratively in the expressions, a "bountiful eye"
(Proverbs 22:9), "proud look or ‘haughty eyes’ " (Proverbs 6:17),
"wanton eyes" (Isaiah 3:16). The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
(ISBE) explains this figurative use.
“The eye of the heart or mind, the organ of spiritual perception, which
may be enlightened or opened (Psalm 119:18). This is done by the law of God
(Psalm 19:8) or by the spirit of God (Ephesians 1:18), or it may be
"darkened" and "holden" held
fast (Luke. 24:16; compare Matthew 13:13; 2Cor. 4:4).”
David was
experiencing difficulty with his physical senses and his eyes were being
affected, but this is symptomatic of his inner turmoil (the cause of his
tears). Though the initial reference is
to his eyes, the figurative use is in keeping with the mental and physical
exhaustion he was experiencing. His
perception and mental stability was being ‘consumed’ or ‘failing’.
‘Grief’ is the Hebrew kaas, which Strong’s has as vexation, or, depending on the context, anger, grief, indignation,
provocation, sorrow, spite, wrath.
Vine’s says, “A review of the use of this verb shows that around 80
percent of them involve the LORD “being provoked to anger” by Israel’s
sin”. We are told to “be angry and sin not” (Ephesians 4:26),
showing that there is a time for righteous anger, yet how often have we become
angry through frustration and helplessness and lost sight of God’s
provisions. We should be able to
identify with David, and sympathize with him in his ‘grief’.
Vexation of spirit
can be a cause of failing health, but if like David we are able to acknowledge
it to God we are already on the way to spiritual recovery and health, for if we
confess our sins “he is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” 1John
1:9. David’s psalms are an open and
honest admission of his guilt, his weaknesses but also of his adoration and
praise of God. He is the perfect example
of a believer claiming the promises of God and rejoicing in the grace of God.
‘Waxeth old’
is the Hebrew athaq, the primary
meaning of which is removed, but here
it is used in the sense of deterioration.
‘Mine eye is consumed
because of grief; it wastes away because of all my enemies.’
‘Enemies’ is tsarar and means to cramp, also afflict, besiege and oppress, all of which describe the
activities of those who are at enmity with you.
The enemies of the people of God are found in the world, the flesh and
the Devil, and these cramp, afflict, besiege and oppress us all. If it were not for the fact that “he that is
in you is greater than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4), believers must be
crushed by them.’
‘My senses are failing because of my inner
turmoil, they are wasting away because of those who oppress me’.
Psalm
6:8-9
“Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity;
for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping. The LORD hath heard
my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer.”
‘Depart’ or turn aside from me all you ‘workers’ paal – those who systematically and habitually practice ‘iniquity’.
David is not being
‘holier than thou’, his psalms attest to this, but he knows the Law, is not
indifferent to its requirements and is grieved by his constant failure, which
is in clear contrast to his enemies who have little understanding of the Law
and no desire for the things of God.
David would
immediately understand and agree with the apostle Paul’s appraisal of the
believer’s dilemma.
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:
for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find
not…For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law
in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am!
who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Romans
7:18-24
David’s answer was
to call upon the LORD for mercy (vs.2), forgiveness and cleansing (vs. 4), with
the LORD’S assurance received in (vs. 8,9).
When we consider and understand the salvation that is ours in Christ
Jesus (see doctrine of salvation), David’s answer is not all that different to
Paul’s, “I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord…” (Romans 7:25), for we too have mercy, forgiveness,
cleansing and assurance in Christ.
Iniquity is the Hebrew aven, which is translated, iniquity (here); vanity
(Isaiah 41:29); sorrow (Psalm 90:10); mischief (Psalm 36:4); affliction
(Job 5:6); wickedness (Job 11:11).
It is suggested that the origin of this word meant to pant; to exert oneself (usually in vain; therefore to come to naught), or nothingness when used in regard to idols, but also meaning;
trouble, vanity, wickedness”. Vine’s
has it as, iniquity; vanity; sorrow; and says that the relationship to nothingness would imply “the absence of
all that has true worth” i.e. “moral worthlessness”.
The suffering has
proved effective, David has put his trust in the LORD and the LORD has responded in mercy. It is even as Isaiah 65:24 states, “And it shall come to pass, that before they
call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” This
has been such an overwhelming deliverance from all the despondency of the
previous verses, that David, in complete confidence, can say ‘be off with you’ to all those whose lives
were in rebellion to him and to the LORD.
All suffering is
designed by God to lead his people to a deeper relationship with himself. It leads to repentance, to appreciation of
God’s grace and thereby glorifies God.
If the believer wishes to have true victory in the Christian life, the doctrine
of suffering must be understood. The
doctrine is included below.
David did not enjoy
the emotional and physical anguish he suffered, but never charges the LORD with being unfair. He accepts it as every child of God should
do, as coming from the Lord and therefore either deserved or necessary. He appeals to the LORD’S
mercy, and in even in the
anticipation of the LORD’S grace, experiences relief. From
this relief he knows the LORD
will hear and accept his prayer.
Psalm 6:10
“Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.”
David is the LORD’S anointed and therefore all those who are
against David are against the LORD. Those who oppose the LORD will be ashamed. (In 1John 2:28 we see this same truth applied
to those who do not ‘abide’ in the Son of God.)
John Gill also
believes this to be a prophecy rather than an imprecation; i.e. “They shall be
ashamed", which would indicate the following clauses to be prophecies
also. If this is so then David is making
a statement rather than calling for condemnation and judgment on his
enemies.
(If it be admitted
that David is calling down shame on his enemies it would not be for the sake of
vengeance but that they might repent, or as Barnes writes, “that they might be
brought to see their own guilt - a wish certainly which it is right to cherish
in regard to all evil-doers.”)
Being ‘sore vexed’
is something David had experienced, and he knows the cause of such vexation is
sin. God’s enemies, those who are in
opposition to God’s appointments and live lives contrary to God’s will, are
candidates for trouble, trembling and consternation, if not in this life,
then certainly in the eternity to come.
The word ‘return’ is
often used adverbially again, which
when we remove the word and (it is in
italics in the KJV) makes sense, i.e. “let them again be ashamed
suddenly”. However, in keeping with the
first half of the verse the word ‘return’ is probably used in the sense of
‘retreat’ as in being turned back from a goal; ‘let them retreat’, meaning
either from him, from pursuing after him, and may it be done in a moment, a
wink of an eye.
