The Pulpit Commentary on Psalms 40:1-10

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Thanksgiving and prayer.

The first part (Psalms 40:1-10) is a thanksgiving, the second part a prayer. The situation is that of one who, on one side, set free from a heavy affliction, is still oppressed on the other. We have all ground for thanksgiving for the past, and for prayer for the present and future. This section may be divided thus: what God had done fur the psalmist and for his country; and what the psalmist had done for God.

I. WHAT GOD HAD DONE.

1. For the psalmist.

(1) Delivered him from threatened destruction into great safety. The specific nature of the salvation is not mentioned, But it suggests and describes what Christ dyes in the deliverance of the man who trusts in him, the greatness of the salvation.

2. For the Hebrew people as a nation. (Psalms 40:5.) Turns from the goodness of God towards himself to his larger manifestations of himself in the national history. His wonderful thoughts or purposes, and his wonderful deeds on behalf of Israel, are too great and too manifold to be enumerated. But we turn to what God is doing for the world, and say, "God so loved the world," etc.; not only our country, but the whole world. How great a Worker and Thinker God is for the whole universe!

II. WHAT THE PSALMIST HAD DONE FOR GOD. (Psalms 40:6-10.) To manifest his gratitude.

1. By his deeds. (Psalms 40:6-8.)

2. By his words. (Psalms 40:9, Psalms 40:10.) Unwearied in proclaiming to others what Jehovah had done for him.

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