Clarke's Commentary

The title in the Hebrew is, To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. There seems little sense in this title. It seems to intimate that the Psalm was written as a memorial that David had been in sore affliction, and that God had delivered him. So the Vulgate, Septuagint, AEthiopic, and Arabic. It is almost word for word the same with the five last verses of Psalms 40:14-17, to the notes on which the reader is referred.

Verse Psalms 70:1. Make haste to help me — I am in extreme distress, and the most imminent danger. Haste to help me, or I am lost.

Verse Psalms 70:2. Let them be turned backward — They are coming in a body against me. Lord, stop their progress!

Verse Psalms 70:3. That say, Aha, aha. — האה האה heach! heach! a note of supreme contempt. See on Psalms 40:15.

Verse Psalms 70:4. Let God be magnified. — Let his glory, mercy, and kindness, continually appear in the increase of his own work in the souls of his followers!

Verse Psalms 70:5. 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!

The contents of this Psalm are the following: -

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

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

III. For the prosperity of the godly, Psalms 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. Psalms 40:17.