Psalms 69:19,20 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Thou hast known my reproach, &c. Thou seest how much of it I suffer, and that for thy sake. Mine adversaries are all before thee Thou knowest them thoroughly, and all their injurious and wicked devices, and implacable malice against me. None of them, nor of their secret plots and subtle lies, whereby they seek to defame and undo me: are hidden from thy all-seeing view: nor art thou unacquainted with their impiety and contempt of thee and thy truth. Reproach hath broken my heart Reproach is the most grievous to those whose spirits are the most generous and noble; and this was the highest degree and the worst kind of reproach, being cast upon him for God's sake, and upon God also for his sake. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none That is, few or none; for whether it be understood of David or of Christ, there were some who pitied both of them. Dr. Delaney, who considers the distress which David was now in as being occasioned by his fall, observes, “There were two circumstances of it which, though they are beyond all question the greatest and severest which human nature, can suffer, are not sufficiently considered. The first is, the distress he endured on account of the obloquy and reproach brought upon the true religion and the truly religious by his guilt; and the second, the reproach and endless insults brought upon himself, even by his repentance and humiliation before God and the world. Let any ingenuous man, who feels for virtue and is not seared to shame, put the question to himself: I appeal to his own heart, whether he would not infinitely rather die than endure the state now described one day; forsaken by his friends, scorned by his enemies, insulted by his inferiors, the scoff of libertines, and the song of sots? What then must we think of the fortitude and magnanimity of that man who could endure all this for a series of years? Or rather, how shall we adore that unfailing mercy and all- sufficient goodness which could support him thus, under the quickest sense of shame and infamy, and deepest compunctions of conscience; which could enable him to bear up steadily against guilt, infamy, and the evil world united; from a principle of true religion! and, in the end, even rejoice in his sad estate; as he plainly perceived it must finally tend to promote the true interest of virtue, and the glory of God; that is, must finally tend to promote that interest, which was the great governing principle and main purpose of his life.” Life of David, b. 3. vol. 3. pp. 30-33.