(To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.) I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue I will keep my mouth with a muzzle, while the wicked is before me.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
I was dumb with silence, I held my peace from good; and my sorrow was stirred.
The psalm opens with a resolve to guard the tongue while the wicked are near. This verse records what that resolve cost: he kept silent, and the pain inside only grew.
He is not just facing insults. God is disciplining him for his own failure, and that is why he will not answer back.
In the presence of the wicked the soul stays silent. God is chastening him for his own failure. So it was not fitting for him to reply to their insults, even though he knows their motive is hatred of the godly. He might have answered back, but that would have led him into sinning with his tongue. So he held himself in, and kept quiet, even from speaking good. Still, while he kept silent, his heart burned within him.
Older translations read "I held my peace, even from good," where the ESV has "to no avail." He shut down the angry reply and the honest one alike. The reason is self-distrust.
The sorrow he has fallen into fills the psalmist with thoughts full of question. The wicked are there, always fretting against God, and he is afraid to speak those thoughts out for fear of sin. So he muzzles himself, and is dumb, even as to good, for he dare not trust himself. But the fire in his heart breaks out at last, and he cannot hold back. He speaks, but to the Lord alone.
The stirred-up sorrow is not evidence that the silence was a mistake. One writer names the alternative: letting the spirit rise up and the tongue run. He calls holding back the fitting place, and shows where it leads.
He bows before God rather than let his spirit rise and speak foolishly with his tongue... Restraint, when under the hand of God, was his fitting place. It is always so. He refrains even from good, and sorrow is stirred up in him... At last his heart bursts out; but it is to bring to God the nothingness he has now come to feel so deeply.
The pressure does not stay pointless. Hold nature down, and something else rises. The mouth that opens at last says something quite different from what it would have said at first.
Under provocation, the believer resolves in God's strength to stay silent. At first this stirred and kindled the sorrow within (1, 2). But the Spirit, in due season, brought relief... For this is His way — hold nature back, and the new kingdom rises in power. So it was here. During the silence laid on nature, this warmth of the renewed heart grows, and the silence and self-denial bear good fruit. The lips open — not to insult in return, nor to threaten those he was suffering from, but to commit himself to God. He owns his own unworthiness, and takes all this suffering as from the hand of his gracious God for good.
Several commentators read these verses as reaching beyond David. Jesus had no sin of His own to be chastened for, yet He knew both the silence and the stirred sorrow.
Verses 1-3 seem to express with great force the pure sorrow and righteous distress of soul that belonged to the Holy One. He had to see and hear the filthy talk of the wicked... We read there of Jesus withdrawing to the mountain, to be alone with God. We read of how He sometimes held His peace, while other men were free to pour out the emptiness of their hearts. We read too of the stirring of His sorrow. He turned in amazement from the unbelief and hard hearts that seemed to mock the gracious work of His love.
Silence is not wasted time. It gives room to think, and the thinking is not comfortable.
Our words express what is in our hearts. So he was careful to guard what came out of his mouth, above all while the wicked were present (v. 1). They know how to use a man's words against him. Keeping silence gave him the chance to think soberly, and this stirred up sorrow within him (v. 2)... Is it not important that we too take time to meditate rather than letting our tongues loose?
- Silence. The mouth is muzzled because God's hand is on him for his own failure — answering his critics would only add sin with the tongue.
- Silence even from good. He holds back honest words too, not out of pride but because he dare not trust himself while the questions are burning.
- Silence hurts. The stirred sorrow is not proof that the restraint failed. Restraint under God's hand is the fitting place to be.
- Silence ripens. Hold nature down, and the renewed heart rises. The lips open at last — not to insult back, but to speak to God alone.
- Silence in Christ. Jesus knew both sides of this verse: silence among people whose talk grieved Him, and stirred sorrow at their hard hearts.
My heart burned within me; the fire was kindled in my musing I spoke with my tongue,
David has just told himself to keep his mouth shut while the wicked are in front of him. Verse 3 shows what that silence cost him: the pressure built inside until it broke out in speech. So why did a godly man stay quiet, what was the fire, and who did he speak to at last?
The silence was not indifference. One writer links it to David's own place under God's discipline. That discipline made a reply to his critics unfitting:
In the presence of the wicked the soul stays dumb. God is chastening him for his own failure. So it was not fitting for him to reply to their reproaches, even though he knows their motive is hatred of the godly. He might have answered back, but that would have led him into sinning with his tongue. So he restrained himself and held his peace, even from speaking good. Still, while keeping silent, his heart burned within him.
Held-in speech does not stay held in. When it came out, it went to God and not to the onlookers:
The sorrow he is plunged into stirs up thoughts full of question. The wicked are in front of him, always fretting against God. So he is afraid to speak those thoughts, for fear of sin. So he muzzles himself and is dumb, even as to good, for he dare not trust himself. But the fire in his heart breaks out at last, and he cannot hold back. He speaks — but to the Lord alone.
The pause was not wasted time. It matured a sense of his own smallness, and that is what he brings to God when he opens his mouth:
He bows before God rather than let his spirit rise and speak foolishly with his tongue. He might have answered back — been provoked into evil. But restraint was his fitting place while he was under the hand of God. It is always so. He holds back even from good, and sorrow is stirred up in him. In beautiful language he shows this. At last his heart bursts out; but it is to present to God the nothingness which he had come to feel so deeply.
Read across the whole psalm, the silence changes character:
Separation from evil silences his outward testimony (vv. 1, 2). But through it he learns his own nothingness deeply (vv. 4, 5). He is taught this way that man's highest honours and richest stores are only a breath. So his silence now comes from another cause (v. 9) — submission to the will of God and confidence in Him.
Commentators differ over whether this psalm pictures Christ. One writer applies verse 3 to Jesus, and points to what He saw around Him:
Because He was the faithful witness of the truth, the heart of Jesus burned to speak the words of God (verse 3). He met God-dishonouring hypocrisy in the very place where truth and righteousness were supposed to live. That sight drew out His testimony of holy indignation, and His warning of judgment against that way of evil. In that way only destruction and misery are found.
The verse also gives a picture of musing — turning a matter over in the mind — and what it does to a cold heart:
Meditation is the bellows of the affections. We light affection at this fire of meditation — "As I mused, the fire burned" (Ps. 39:3). Being enlightened makes us shining lamps; meditation makes us burning lamps.
That leaves a practical question: what part is ours?
Only be careful to provide fuel, gather matter for meditation, set your thoughts to work on it, and the Spirit of God will kindle your affections. "As I mused," says David, "the fire burned" (Ps. 39:3).
The order of the verse — musing first, speech last — sets the pattern for anyone who has something of God to say:
It is right to be careful about our doctrine, but our danger lies in being correct and cold. When the love of God to a guilty world is our theme, it must burn in our souls like a fire… Only musing in the presence of God can produce this state of heart, for it was "As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue" (Ps. 39:3).
- Silence — He held back, and not for lack of an answer. Answering his critics under God's hand would have meant sinning with his tongue.
- Fire — Suppressed sorrow does not cool; it heats. The pressure inside is the honest cost of not hitting back.
- Direction — When the fire broke out at last, it broke toward God alone. He laid his own nothingness before Him.
- Fuel — Musing is the fuel; the Spirit supplies the flame. Being enlightened makes a lamp shine; meditation makes it burn.
- Speech — Speech that has passed through silence is worth hearing. Skip the fire, and words come out correct and cold.