Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.
Psalms 69:1-36.-The sufferer's misery and cry to God (Psalms 69:1-4); God knows that the reproach which he suffers, as if sinful and foolish, he incurs through zeal for God's glory (Psalms 69:5-12); he renews prayer for deliverance (Psalms 69:13-18); again he appeals to God's knowledge of his reproach from foes (Psalms 69:19-21); their doom (Psalms 69:22-28); poor and sorrowful himself, he is sure the salvation of God will set him up on high (Psalms 69:29); so he resolves to praise God; the humble pious shall be glad at the Lord's having heard the poor (Psalms 69:30-33); heaven and earth are invited to praise God for saving Zion, that His people may dwell there (Psalms 69:34-36). This psalm and Psalms 22:1-31 are the psalms most of all applied to Christ in the New Testament (John 15:25, cf. Psalms 69:4; John 2:17, cf. Psalms 69:9; also Romans 15:3; Matthew 27:34; Matthew 27:48, with Psalms 69:21; Acts 1:20, cf. Psalms 69:25; also Matthew 23:38). The two characteristics of this psalm, which is 'one great martyr image,' are --
(1) The fullness of detail of the judgments on the sufferer's foes;
(2) The prominence of the fact that he suffers for the sake of God (Hengstenberg). With the curses on the reprobate, Psalms 69:22-28, cf. David in 1 Samuel 26:19; 2 Samuel 3:29.
Title. - Upon Shoshannim - i:e., upon the lilies; an emblem for the servants of God (Psalms 69:36), and the lovely consolation and salvation from the Lord which are theirs, (cf. note on title, Psalms 45:1-17.) There is a play on similar sounds, " showshaniym (H7799) and, Psalms 69:1, hoshiy`eeniy (H3467), "save me," giving a key to the former enigmatic term.
Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul - like another type, Jonah (Jonah 2:5).