I Can't Keep Quiet!

Psalm 40:1-17 English Standard Version

In Psalm 39 we read how the psalmist struggled with expressing what he was feeling to the Lord

Psalm 39:2 I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse.

Psalm 39:9 I am mute; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it.

This connects Psalm 38, 39 and 40 together.

Psalm 38:13 But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear, like a mute man who does not open his mouth.

[In Psalm 40] There are numerous references to speaking. Initially the psalmist speaks repeatedly (“my cry,” “song in my mouth,” “proclaim and tell,” “I said,” “I have told the glad news,” “I have not restrained my lips,” “I have spoken”). In the third movement, first the wicked scoffers speak (“Aha, Aha!”), and finally those who celebrate the psalmist’s deliverance “… say continually, ‘Great is the Lord’ ” (vv. 15–16).[1]

Psalms 38, 39, and 40 also are connected by a confession of sin in each psalm.

Psalms 37, 38, 39, and 40 express hope in the Lord through the act of waiting:

Psalm 37:7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!

Psalm 37:34 Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

Psalm 38:15 But for you, O Lord, do I wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.

Psalm 39:7 “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.

· A thematic editorial principle definitely plays a role in the order of the Psalms. In the present case, the theme of “waiting,” or “hoping,” occurs in Psalms 37:7, 34; 38:15; 39:7 and was likely a factor in the placement of Psalm 40 here in the collection, especially in view of the fact that this is the initial theme of the psalm (40:1).[2]

Although Psalm 39 ends on a bleak note, the psalmist still has hope in the Lord:

Psalm 39:13 Look away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more!”

Psalm 39:7 “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.

But how do we respond when the Lord answers our cry and delivers us from our troubles?

Psalm 40 is editorially linked to Psalm 39 as the response one should have when the Lord answers their cry.

Psalm 40:title

1. To the choirmaster.

2. A Psalm of David.

Seven Ways to Not Keep Quiet

ONE: I Can’t Keep Quiet – I’m Going to Testify (Psalm 40:1-3)

1. Psalm 40:1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

a. I waited and waited for the Lord. Many versions translate the emphatic phrase with which the psalm opens, qawwōh qiwwîṯî, as “I waited patiently.” But qāwâdenotes an expectant longing for God to act, rather than a patient endurance.[3]

i. The emphatic repetition of qāwâ[4]

b. to wait (look forward) v. — to look forward to the occurrence of or arrival of.

2. Psalm 40:2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

a. Although “pit” could refer simply to a hole in the ground, generally it was a cistern several meters deep, carved in rock to collect and store precious water. Building a cistern involved a great deal of work (Deut 6:11). A cistern usually had a small access near the top into which groundwater flowed. Dark, damp, rocky and isolated, the pit provided a near-death experience for anyone hapless enough to fall in and be stranded inside. Despair quickly followed the realization that there was no escape.[5]

b. To be pulled from a miry pit provides a vivid picture of the salvation of the helpless (Ps 40:2). [6]

c. The words “mud” and “mire” are really a single phrase in the Hebrew, meaning “mire of the marsh.”[7]

3. Psalm 40:3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.

a. new adj.— having relatively and recently come into being or been made, acquired, or discovered.

b. to fear (reverence) v. — to regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted or be in awe of.

i. But Hebrew they will see (yirʾû) plays poetically off of they will fear (yîrāʾû). In addition, it calls attention not only to the psalmist’s song, but to the psalmist’s entire life as testimony to God’s salvific intervention.[8]

TWO: I Can’t Keep Quiet – I’m Going to Sing (Psalm 40:4-5)

1. Psalm 40:4 Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!

2. Psalm 40:5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.

THREE: I Can’t Keep Quiet – I’m Going to Do Your Will (Psalm 40:6-8)

1. Psalm 40:6a In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear.

a. Hebrew ears you have dug for me[9]

2. Psalm 46:6b Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

a. 1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.

3. Psalm 40:7a Then I said,

a. This phrase is also found in Psalms 38 and 39.

4. Psalm 40:7b “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

5. Psalm 40:8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

FOUR: I Can’t Keep Quiet – I’m Going to Tell (Psalm 40:9-10)

1. Psalm 40:9 I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord.

2. Psalm 40:10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

FIVE: I Can’t Keep Quiet – I’m Going to Confess (Psalm 40:11-12)

1. Psalm 40:11 As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me!

a. your steadfast love and your faithfulness repeated from verse 10.

2. Psalm 40:12 For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.

a. Verse 12 thus provides not a first statement of the suppliant’s current difficulties, as EVV suggest, but a final summary of past difficulties whose resolution evidenced the declarations in v. 11.[10]

b. Verse 12a–b leaves unclear what the psalm means by “evils.” We might initially assume that these are the *bad things that happened to the suppliant, but v. 12c–d suggests they may additionally or rather be the bad things the suppliant did. Either way, when evils overwhelmed, this meant that wrongdoings were overwhelming. That fits with Pss. 38–39, where also the combination of a claim to proper obedience to Yhwh (cf. vv. 6–10 here) coexists with an acknowledgment of sin.[11]

i. Psalm 38:4 For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.

SIX: I Can’t Keep Quiet – I’m Going to Pray (Psalm 40:13-16)

1. Psalm 40:13a Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me!

a. Pleased = will (v.8)

2. Psalm 40:13b O Lord, make haste to help me!

a. Psalm 40:13-17 are almost identical to Psalm 70:1-5.

i. Psalm 70:title To the choirmaster. Of David, for the memorial offering.

1. The expression is usually translated as “for the memorial offering” (rsv), or “to bring to remembrance” (kjv), or “for remembrance” (nab), and is also found in the heading of Ps 38.[12]

3. Prayer for enemies (vv.14-15)

a. Psalm 40:14 Let those be put to shame and disappointed altogether who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt!

b. Psalm 40:15 Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

4. Prayer for the righteous (v.16)

a. Psalm 40:16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!”

SEVEN: I Can’t Keep Quiet – I’m Going to Trust (Psalm 40:17)

1. Psalm 40:17 As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!

The Coming of Christ

Psalm 40:6 In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

Psalm 40:7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

Psalm 40:8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

Hebrews 10:4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Hebrews 10:5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;

Hebrews 10:6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.

Hebrews 10:7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”

· Luke 24:44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

Hebrews 10:8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law),

Hebrews 10:9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

· Jeremiah 31:33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Hebrews 10:10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Psalm 40 looks like two psalms of the individual spliced together. Verses 1–10 sound like a thanksgiving psalm and verses 11–17 like a prayer psalm. In support of this division we should note that verses 13–17 elsewhere form an independent prayer psalm, namely Psalm 70. Closer examination, however, reveals the integrity of the whole psalm. The thanksgiving of verses 1–10 lacks the report of distress characteristic of thanksgiving psalms (see the Introduction). The prayer of Psalm 70 also lacks any formal lament, which is found only in verse 12 of Psalm 40. In addition, the verses closing the so-called thanksgiving (vv. 9–10) actually appear to set the stage for the subsequent petitionary section. Psalm 70 may therefore be a selection drawn from Psalm 40. As Psalm 53 in Book II of the Psalter is a variant of Psalm 14 in Book I, so Psalm 70 in Book II may have been transmitted in a collection separate from Psalm 40 that found its way into Book I.[13]

The speaker is an individual, but the mention of “our” (v. 3) and “us” (v. 5) appears to assume the psalm is performed before and, thus at least to some extent, on behalf of a congregation.[14]

Worshipers come to the sanctuary with experiences of deliverance (esp. vv. 1–3, 9–10) and then depart from it with prayers for future rescues (esp. vv. 11–17).[15]

The psalm’s disclaimer regarding sacrifice and offering and its preference for doing your will and your law (or more accurately, “your instruction,” Hb. tôrâ) are striking. They may even sound more prophetic than psalmic (e.g., 1 Sam. 15:22–23; Isa. 1:11–17; Mic. 6:6–8). However, they are found elsewhere in the Psalms (51:16–17; 69:30–31; cf. 50:8–15, 23).[16]

While verse 11 appears to turn the psalm toward prayer, as distinct from praise in verses 1–10; there is really no clear break between verses 10 and 11, as the following verbal links between verses 9, 10, and 11 make clear: “I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not restrain” (Hb. klʾ, niv‘seal’) my lips.… I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.”Do not restrain (Hb. klʾ, nivwithhold) your mercy from me, O Lord; may your love and your truth always protect me.[17]

[1] Schaefer, K. (2001). Psalms. (D. W. Cotter, J. T. Walsh, & C. Franke, Eds.) (p. 102). Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press. [2] Bullock, C. H. (2015). Psalms 1–72. (M. L. Strauss & J. H. Walton, Eds.) (Vol. 1, pp. 304–305). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. [3] Jacobson, R. A., & Tanner, B. (2014). Book One of the Psalter: Psalms 1–41. In E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, & R. L. Hubbard Jr. (Eds.), The Book of Psalms (pp. 374–375). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. [4] Jacobson, R. A., & Tanner, B. (2014). Book One of the Psalter: Psalms 1–41. In E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, & R. L. Hubbard Jr. (Eds.), The Book of Psalms (p. 375). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. [5] Ryken, L., Wilhoit, J., Longman, T., Duriez, C., Penney, D., & Reid, D. G. (2000). In Dictionary of biblical imagery (electronic ed., p. 646). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. [6] Ryken, L., Wilhoit, J., Longman, T., Duriez, C., Penney, D., & Reid, D. G. (2000). In Dictionary of biblical imagery (electronic ed., p. 646). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. [7] Bullock, C. H. (2015). Psalms 1–72. (M. L. Strauss & J. H. Walton, Eds.) (Vol. 1, p. 306). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. [8] Jacobson, R. A., & Tanner, B. (2014). Book One of the Psalter: Psalms 1–41. In E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, & R. L. Hubbard Jr. (Eds.), The Book of Psalms (p. 376). Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. [9] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles. EVV (Many) English versions [10] Goldingay, J. (2006). Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Psalms 1–41. (T. Longman III, Ed.) (Vol. 1, p. 576). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. * indicates that the word appears in the glossary Yhwh Yahweh, or Lord in English Bible versions [11] Goldingay, J. (2006). Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Psalms 1–41. (T. Longman III, Ed.) (Vol. 1, p. 576). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. rsvRevised Standard Version (NT 1946, OT 1952, Apoc 1957) kjvKing James Version (1611) = AV nab The New American Bible [12] Tate, M. E. (1998). Psalms 51–100(Vol. 20, p. 203). Dallas: Word, Incorporated. [13] Hubbard, R. L. J., & Johnston, R. K. (2012). Foreword. In W. W. Gasque, R. L. Hubbard Jr., & R. K. Johnston (Eds.), Psalms(p. 190). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. [14] Hubbard, R. L. J., & Johnston, R. K. (2012). Foreword. In W. W. Gasque, R. L. Hubbard Jr., & R. K. Johnston (Eds.), Psalms(p. 190). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. [15] Hubbard, R. L. J., & Johnston, R. K. (2012). Foreword. In W. W. Gasque, R. L. Hubbard Jr., & R. K. Johnston (Eds.), Psalms(p. 190). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. [16] Hubbard, R. L. J., & Johnston, R. K. (2012). Foreword. In W. W. Gasque, R. L. Hubbard Jr., & R. K. Johnston (Eds.), Psalms(p. 191). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. niv New International Version niv New International Version [17] Hubbard, R. L. J., & Johnston, R. K. (2012). Foreword. In W. W. Gasque, R. L. Hubbard Jr., & R. K. Johnston (Eds.), Psalms(p. 192). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.