Psalms 70:5

Verse 5. But I am poor and needy] עני ואביון ani veebyon, I am a poor man, and a beggar - an afflicted beggar; a sense of my poverty causes me to beg.

Thou art my help] I know thou hast enough, and to spare; and therefore I come to thee.

Make no tarrying.] My wants are many, my danger great, my time short. O God, delay not!

ANALYSIS OF THE SEVENTIETH PSALM

The contents of this Psalm are the following: -

I. The prayer of David for himself, that he may be freed from his enemies, Ps 70:1, repeated Ps 70:5.

II. For the speedy overthrow of the wicked Ps 70:2-3.

III. For the prosperity of the godly, Ps 70:4.

IV. The arguments he uses to induce God to answer his prayer.

1. His miserable condition: "I am poor and needy."

2. God's office: "Thou art my Helper and Redeemer."

For a farther analysis, see at the end of the fortieth Psalm. See Clarke on Ps 40:17.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. But I &c.] But as for me, who am afflicted and needy. Cp. Psa_69:29; Psa_69:33; Psa_9:18; Psa_35:10; Psa_37:14; Psa_86:1; Psa_109:22.

make haste unto me, O God] So Psa_141:1. “The text of Psa_40:17, “The Lord will take thought for me,” glancing back at “thy thoughts to us-ward” in Psa_70:5, is probably the original reading. The variation here may have been introduced for the sake of closer parallelism to make no tarrying. my help, as Psa_33:20 : my deliverer, as Psa_18:2; Psa_18:48, a different word from that used in Psa_70:1.

O Lord] In Psa_40:17, O my God. make no tarrying] Cp. Daniel’s prayer (Dan_9:19, A.V. defer not), and the promise in Isa_46:13.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 70:5 But I [am] poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou [art] my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.

Ver. 5. But I am poor and needy] See Psa 69:29, {See Trapp on "Psa 69:29"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa_70:5

But I am poor and needy; make haste unto me, O God: Thou art my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying,

Pleading

Young painters were anxious, in the olden times, to study under the great masters.

They concluded that they should more easily attain to excellence if they entered the schools of eminent men. At this present time, men will pay large premiums that their sons may be apprenticed or articled to those who best understand their trades or professions; now, if any of us would learn the sacred art and mystery of prayer, it is well for Us to study the productions of the greatest masters of that science. I am unable to point out one who understood it better than did the psalmist.

I. A soul confessing. The wrestler strips before he enters upon the contest, and confession does the like for the man who is about to plead with God. A racer on the plains of prayer cannot hope to win, unless, by confession, repentance, and faith, he lays aside every weight of sin. Now, let it be ever remembered that confession is absolutely needful to the sinner when he first seeks a Saviour. It is not possible for thee, O seeker, to obtain peace for thy troubled heart, till thou shalt have acknowledged thy transgression and thine iniquity before the Lord. If thou wilt condemn thyself, God will acquit thee. But never expect that the King of heaven will pardon a traitor, if he will not confess and forsake his treason. Even the tenderest father expects that the child should humble himself when he has offended, and he will not withdraw his frown from him till with tears he has said, Father, I have sinned. Darest thou expect God to humble Himself to thee, and would it not be so if He did not constrain thee to humble thyself to Him? Wouldst thou have Him connive at thy faults and wink at thy transgressions? He will have mercy, but He must, be holy. He is ready to forgive, but not to tolerate sin. The same principle applies to the Church of God. We must own that we are powerless in this business. The Spirit of God is treasured up in Christ, and we must seek Him of the great head of the Church. We cannot command the Spirit, and yet we can do nothing without him. He bloweth where he listeth. We must deeply feel and honestly acknowledge this.

II. A soul pleading. I am poor and needy, make haste unto me, O God. Thou art my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying. The careful reader will perceive four pleas in this single verse. Upon this topic I would remark that it is the habit of faith, when she is praying, to use pleas. Mere prayer sayers, who do not pray at all, forget to argue with God; but those who would prevail bring forth their reasons and their strong arguments, and they debate the question with the Lord. Faiths art of wrestling is to plead with God, and say with holy boldness, Let it be thus and thus, for these reasons. Faiths pleas are plentiful, and this is welt, for faith is placed in divers positions, and needs them all. Faith will plead all the attributes of God. Thou art just, therefore spare Thou the soul for whom the Saviour died. Thou art merciful, blot out my transgressions. Thou art good, reveal Thy bounty to Thy servant. Thou art immutable--Thou hast done thus and thus to others of Thy servants, do thus unto me. Thou art faithful, caner Thou break Thy promise, caner Thou turn away from Thy covenant? Sometimes, however, faiths pleas are very singular. As in this text, it is by no means according to the proud rule of human nature to plead--I am poor and needy, make haste unto me, O God. It is like another prayer of David: Have mercy upon my iniquity, for it is great. It is not the manner of men to plead so, they say, Lord, have mercy on me, for I am not so bad a sinner as some. But faith reads things in a truer light, and bases her pleas on truth. Lord, because my sin is great, and Thou art a great God, let Thy great mercy be magnified in me. Faiths pleas are singular, but, let me add, faiths pleas are always sound; for after all, it is a very telling plea to urge that we are poor and needy. Is not the main argument with mercy? Necessity is the very best plea with benevolence, either human or divine. Is not our need the best reason we can urge? If we would have a physician come quickly to a sick man, Sir, we say, it is no common case, he is on the point of death, come to him, come quickly! If we wanted our city firemen to rush to a fire, we should not say to them, Make haste, for it is only a small fire; but, on the contrary, we urge that it is an old house, full of combustible materials, and there are rumours of petroleum and gunpowder on the premises; besides, it is near a timber yard, hosts of wooden cottages are close by, and before long we shall have half the city in a blaze. We put the case as badly as we can. Oh for wisdom to be equally wise in pleading with God, to find arguments everywhere, but especially to find them in our necessities.

III. A soul urgent. Make haste unto me, etc. Jesus has said, men ought always to pray and not to faint. You land on the shores of a foreign country with the greatest confidence when you carry a passport with you, and God has issued passports to His children, by which they come boldly to His mercy-seat; He has invited you, He has encouraged you, He has bidden you come to Him, and has promised that whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. Come, then, come urgently, come importunately, come with this plea, I am poor and needy; make no tarrying, O my God, and a blessing shall surely come; it will not tarry. God grant we may see it, and give Him the glory of it.

IV. Here is another part of the art and mystery of prayer--the soul grasping God. She has pleaded, and she has been urgent, but now she comes to close quarters; she grasps the covenant angel with one hand, Thou art my help, and with the other, Thou art my deliverer. Oh, those blessed mys, those potent mys. The sweetness of the Bible lies in the possessive pronouns, and he who is taught to use them as the psalmist did, shall come off a conqueror with the eternal God. Oh, you that are saved and, therefore, love Christ, I want you, as the saints of God, to practise this last part of my subject; and be sure to lay hold upon God in prayer. Thou art my help and my deliverer. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

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Psa_71:1-24

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. (Psa 70:5). And I am afflicted and poor--0 God, hasten unto me! My help and my deliverer (art) thou-0 Jehovah, linger not, do not delay! See above, on Psa 40:17. Instead of God, the parallel passage has Jehovah, and instead of Jehovah, in the second clause, my God. Another variation is that the significant expression, he will think of me (or for me), is exchanged for the petition hasten to me, thus bringing back the prayer to the point from which it started.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Because he had felt God’s help before, he groundeth on experience, and boldly seeketh unto him for succor.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(5) Make haste unto me, O God.—In Psa_40:17, “The Lord (Adonai) thinketh on me.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I am poor and needy,.... In Psa 40:17 it follows, yet "the Lord thinketh on me"; instead of which it is here; see Gill on Psa 40:17;

make haste unto me, O God; which repeats for sense the same petition as in Psa 71:1;

thou art my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying; in Psa 40:17 it is, "O my God".

Next: Psalms Chapter 71

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

But I am poor and needy - This is the same as in Psa 40:17.

Make haste unto me, O God - Hebrew, אלהים 'Elohiym. In the parallel place in Psa 40:17, this is, “The Lord thinketh upon me,” - where the Hebrew word is not אלהים 'Elohiym, but אדני tub ,my 'Adonāy (Lord). The word “make haste” seems to have been introduced here by design - thus carrying out the main idea in Ps. 40, but turning here to “petition” what is there stated as a “fact.”

Thou art my help and my deliverer ... - The close of the psalm is the same as the close of Ps. 40, except that the word Lord (Yahweh) is used here instead of “God” (אלהים 'Elohiym). It is not possible to ascertain whether these changes were mere matters of taste, or whether they were designed to adapt the psalm to some new circumstance, or to the special feelings of the psalmist at the time. There is no evidence that they are mere errors of transcribers, and indeed the changes are so made that this cannot be supposed. The change of the names אלהים 'Elohiym, יהוה Yahweh, and אדני 'Adonāy, for example, is such as must have been by design, and could not have been made by copyists. But what that design was must remain unknown. The alterations do not in any way, as far as we can understand, affect the sense.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 5. But I am poor and needy. Just the same plea as in the preceding Psalm, Ps 69:29: it seems to be a favourite argument with tried saints; evidently our poverty is our wealth, even as our weakness is our strength. May we learn well this riddle.

Make haste unto me, O God. This is written instead of "yet the Lord thinketh upon me, "in Psalm 40: and there is a reason for the change, since the key note of the Psalm frequently dictates its close. Psalm 40 sings of God's thoughts, and, therefore, ends therewith; but the peculiar note of Psalm 70 is "Make haste, "and, therefore, so it concludes.

Thou art my help and my deliverer. My help in trouble, my deliverer out of it.

O Lord, make no tarrying. Here is the name of "Jehovah" instead of "my God." We are warranted in using all the various names of God, for each has its own beauty and majesty, and we must reverence each by its holy use as well as by abstaining from taking it in vain. I have presumed to close this recapitulatory exposition with an original hymn, suggested by the watchword of this Psalm, "MAKE HASTE."

Make haste, O God, my soul to bless!

My help and my deliverer thou;

Make haste, for I am in deep distress,

My case is urgent; help me now.

Make haste, O God! make haste to save!

For time is short, and death is nigh;

Make haste ere yet I am in my grave,

And with the lost forever lie.

Make haste, for I am poor and low;

And Satan mocks my prayers and tears;

O God, in mercy be not slow,

But snatch me from my horrid fears.

Make haste, O God, and hear my cries;

Then with the souls who seek thy face,

And those who thy salvation prize,

I will magnify thy matchless grace.

Ver. 5. But I am poor and needy. He had been rich, but for our sake he had become poor, that we, through his poverty, might be rich. Out of the fulness of his grace he had voluntarily entered, for our sakes, into a state in which he had experience, and most bitter experience, of the want of the means of enjoyment... But the word here rendered poor is often elsewhere, translated afflicted; in various ways he was afflicted. He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and the acquaintance of grief. He was reproached, and "reproach broke his heart." James Frame.

Ver. 5. I am poor and needy. By this I hold to be meant the chastisements, and fiery trials that come from God the Father; the temptations and bitter assaults of that foul and fell fiend, Satan; the persecutions and vexations inflicted by the hands of unreasonable and wicked men; and (but in this following Christ must be exempted) the inward corruptions, disordered motions, unsettled affections, and the original pollutions brought from the mother's womb; with the soul and body's inaptness and unableness with cheerfulness and constancy to run the direct and just paths of God's commandments. Many of these made the Head, all of these (and more, too) the members, poor and needy. John Barlow. 1618.

Ver. 5. O Lord, make no tarrying. His prayer for himself, like his prayer for his foes and for his friends, was answered. The Lord made no tarrying. Ere four and twenty hours had rolled past, his rescued spirit was in Paradise, and the crucified thief was with him. O, what a change! The morning saw him condemned at the bar of an earthly tribunal, sentenced to death, and nailed to the bitter tree; before the evening shadowed the hill of Calvary, he was nestling in the bosom of God, and had become the great centre of attraction and of admiration to all the holy intelligences of the universe. The morning saw him led out through the gate of the Jerusalem below, surrounded by a ribald crowd, whose hootings rung in his ear; but ere the night fell, he had passed through the gate of the Jerusalem above, and his tread was upon the streets of gold, and angel anthems rose high through the dome of heaven, and joy filled the heart of God. James Frame.

Ver. 5. (third clause). Helper, in all good works; Deliverer, from all evil ones. Make no long tarrying: it is the cry of the individual sinner. Dionysius the Carthusian (1471) quoted in Neale and Littledale's Commentary.

Ver. 5.

I. Who needs help?

II. Who renders help?

III. What it comes to: "deliver."

IV. What prayer it suggests.

Ver. 5.

I. Confession! I am poor and needy.

II. Profession: Thou art my help, etc.

III. Supplication: Make haste; Make no tarrying.

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. But I am poor and needy—Compare Psa_69:29.

Make haste unto me, O God—For this Psa_40:17 has, “Yet the Lord (Adonai) thinketh upon me.” O Lord, (Jehovah,) make no tarrying—For this Eloheem, God, is used Psa_40:17.We have traced the verbal variations of this psalm from its original, but for further notes, see Psa_40:13-17.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God. Instead of this last clause, Psa_40:17 has, "Yet the Lord thinketh upon me," which cannot be ascribed to a corruption, but must be an alteration made deliberately. Thou art my Help and my Deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying. Identical with Psa_40:17, except that here once more "Jehovah" replaces "Elohim."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.