Psalms 25:16

_TURN THEE UNTO ME, AND HAVE MERCY UPON ME; FOR I AM DESOLATE AND AFFLICTED._ Turn thee unto me ... for I am desolate - literally, 'solitary' (Psalms 68:6). David, though a king; with large armies felt himself as one alone, having no help except in God. [tsade (ts)]...

16._Have respect unto me. _As the flesh is ever ready to suggest to our minds that God has forgotten us, when he ceases to manifest his power in aiding us, David here follows the order which nature dictates, in asking God to have respect unto him, as if he had altogether neglected him before. Now, it appears to me that the words might be explained thus: Have respect unto me, in order to pity me. He accounts it at once the cause and the source of his salvation to be regarded of God; and then he adds the effect of it: for as soon as God, of his own good pleasure, shall vouchsafe to regard us, his hand also will be ready to help us. Again, in order to excite the compassion of God, he sets forth his own misery, expressly stating that he is _alone, _that is to say, _solitary; _(564) and then he describes himself as _poor. _There can be no doubt that, in speaking thus, he alludes to the promis...

15-22 The psalmist concludes, as he began, with expressing dependence upon God, and desire toward him. It is good thus to hope, and quietly to wait for the salvation of the Lord. And if God turns to us, no matter who turns from us. He pleads his own integrity. Though guilty before God, yet, as to his enemies, he had the testimony of conscience that he had done them no wrong. God would, at length, give Israel rest from all their enemies round about. In heaven, God's Israel will be perfectly redeemed from all troubles. Blessed Saviour, thou hast graciously taught us that without thee we can do nothing. Do thou teach us how to pray, how to appear before thee in the way which thou shalt choose, and how to lift up our whole hearts and desires after thee, for thou art the Lord our righteousness...

Verse Psalms 25:16. _TURN THEE UNTO ME_] Probably the prayer of the poor captives in Babylon, which is continued through this and the remaining verses....

TURN THEE UNTO ME - Rather, the Hebrew means: “look upon me.” The idea, however, is that the face of God was, as it were, turned in another direction, or that He was not attentive to him; and he prays that He would turn and behold him; that He would see him in his trouble. AND HAVE MERCY UPON ME - The psalmist seems to have felt that if God would look upon him he would pity him. He would see his case to be so sad that He would show him compassion - as, when we see an object of distress, “the eye affects the heart.” FOR I AM DESOLATE - The word here rendered “desolate” - יחיד _yâchı̂yd_ - means properly “one alone, only;” and then, one who “is alone,” or who is solitary, forsaken, wretched. There is no deeper sadness that ever comes over the mind than the idea that we are alone in the world; that we do not have a friend; that

EXPOSITION THIS is the second of the "alphabetic psalms." It is not so irregular as Psalms 9:1; but still is defective in some respects, the letters _beth _and _vav _being omitted in their proper place, _resh _being substituted for _koph_, and a second _he _being addled at the end. Some of these variations may be accidental, but others would seem to have been intentional, being found also in Psalms 34:1. The psalm consists of a number of prayers, reflections, and pious ejaculations, not drawn up in any systematic order, and not very clearly connected by any single line of thought. The separate portions have, however, in many cases much beauty; and it is observed that "some of the most precious spiritual treasures of the Church have been drawn

TURN THEE UNTO ME, AND HAVE MERCY UPON ME,.... Or "look unto me", or "upon me" f; which suggests that the Lord had turned himself, and hid his face from him; and expresses a desire that he would look upon him with a look of love and mercy, and arise to help and deliver him out of the hands of his enemies; he pleads no merits nor works of righteousness of his, but casts himself upon the mercy of God; FOR I [AM] DESOLATE AND AFFLICTED; or "alone and poor" g; not that he was quite alone, and had none with him; for though he was obliged to quit his palace, and the city of Jerusalem, yet he was accompanied by his servants, and a large number of his people; and could not be poor, in a literal sense, being king of Israel; yet he put no trust in men, nor in riches, but wholly depended on the Lord, as if he had none with him, nor anything to subsist with: and his case was indeed very deplorable,...

Psalms 25:1. _Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul._ It is down; and I would fain lift it up; yet I am powerless to do so if I am left to myself. When the soul cleaves to the earth, who but God can lift it up? Yet it must be our desire and object to seek to lift up our soul unto God. Psalms 25:2. _O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me._ Whatever happens to me, I trust in thee. Down goes the anchor; that ship will never drift far out to sea. «O my God, I trust in thee.» Can you say that, dear friends? Then, if you are in the dark, you are as safe as if you were in the light, for still this anchor holds: «O my God, I trust in thee.» «Let not mine enemies triumph over me.» They will do so, if they can get me back into the w

PSALM 25-39 The fifteen Psalms which follow give the deep soul exercise of the godly. All fifteen, except the thirty-third, are marked as Psalms of David. Much of it expresses undoubtedly his own individual experience during the days of his suffering and at other occasions. Prophetically these Psalms give again the experience of the godly remnant of Israel in the time of trouble, preceding the coming of the King. We also can trace in these experiences much which concerns our Lord in His earthly life, when as the Holy One He lived that perfect life of obedience and trust, suffering too among the ungodly. But great caution is needed in the application of these Psalms to our Lord. Here we find expressions which could never be true of Him, who knew no sin. For instance some have applied Psalms 38:7: “for my loins are filled with a loathsome disease and there is no soundness in my flesh” to t...

XXV. An acrostic poem composed of religious maxims and prayers which have little or no connexion with each other. The text is imperfect, for in Psalms 25:18 f. the letter Q is omitted and R is repeated twice. PSALMS 25:9. In post-exilic times the pious Jews were usually poor. Hence the favourite virtue of the good Jews was submission to God, gentleness, resignation; such are the persons here called meek. See Psalms 62 for the estimate of riches in later times. Psalms 25:11. for it is great: and so too hard for me. Psalms 25:14. The secret of Yahweh is His purpose of exalting the meek....