Let their table become a snare before them, and their very welfare a trap;
The people He came to save have just given the Sufferer gall and vinegar. Now He asks that their own comfort trap them — the same Lord who prayed from the cross for their forgiveness.
One writer links the hatred that nailed Christ to the cross with the judgment the psalm now calls for.
Men rejected the grace of the Saviour. Hatred without cause nailed Him to the cross. This leaves man exposed to judgment, because they have rejected the only One who could shelter them from judgment. So there follows the call for judgment to fall in return on those who had shown themselves to be the enemies of Christ without cause. It is a judgment that overtakes men in this world, though it may also lead on to eternal judgment. The Lord warned the city of Jerusalem of this judgment, taught His disciples about it, and warned the daughters of Jerusalem (Luke 19:42-44; Luke 21:20-24; Luke 23:28-31).
after_reason: split 35-word sentence, add omitted depth from same source
The table is the picture of trust and plenty.
Their very table in which they trust would become a snare to them, and their prosperity a trap (v. 22). Because they have closed their eyes, they would indeed become blind. Their loins, a symbol of strength, would shake without stopping (vv. 22-23).
The table stands for more than food.
So David foretells that their very privileges would become a snare to them. Boasting in their outward privileges they despise the grace of God. As a result their eyes grow dark, so that they cannot see the goodness of God. Their backs bend under bondage to their enemies.
Psalm 22 and Psalm 69 both bring us to the cross. One writer points to whose hand causes the suffering in each.
The Psalms mark off this side of Christ's suffering very clearly. When the Messiah suffers under the hand of God, as in Psalm 22, nothing but grace flows out to all around. But when He suffers at the hands of men, as in Psalm 69, the outcome is sure and certain judgment... In this second case, when He suffers from men, He acts by the eternal principles of His government, and judges every man by his works.
One writer sets a limit on what these sufferings from men achieve.
This is not atonement. These sufferings at the hands of men bring God's judgment on men.
Paul takes up this verse and the next in Romans 11.
This leads the apostle to bring in the testimony of Scripture. He uses the words of Isaiah 29:10 and Deuteronomy 29:4, seemingly blended together. Then comes the still more terrible call for judgment that David makes in Psalm 69:22-23. All of them speak of the ungodly in Israel. Here again the law, the psalms, and the prophets gave the same overwhelming evidence together.
The result is visible history, not theory.
This, then, is the reason for the present state of Israel. (See Rom. 11:8-10.) Judgment rests on them — on their souls, their bodies, and all they own. Their system, as God's witness and God's nation, is in ruins.
Commentators do not smooth over the gap between this verse and the words from the cross.
Psalm 69 presents Christ as demanding the most dreadful vengeance and judgment on His enemies (vv. 22-28). The Gospels reveal Him as our pattern of grace. Did He ever express such a wish there? His words were, at the very time the psalm speaks, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." ... Both will be fulfilled.
David wrote the psalm, but one writer says whose voice it is — and how far the forgiveness reaches.
David wrote these words, but they came in fact from the lips of the Lord Jesus. ... But the forgiveness could only apply to the remnant who would receive it — as many did, even following the crucifixion. The rest cannot remain a matter of indifference to Him: He pleads against them for judgment now, under God's government of this world.
The call for judgment is not the psalm's last word.
So we learn two things. The suffering of Christ at the hands of the guilty nation brings judgment on that nation, and it also leads to the exaltation of Christ. What is more, carrying out that judgment prepares the way for the blessing of the godly remnant and the restoration of Israel.
- Table — what they trusted in now traps them. Their comfort becomes a trap, and the privileges they boasted in become a snare.
- Trap — here is the cause. They rejected the only One who could shelter them, so judgment finds them exposed.
- Darkness — eyes they closed on purpose become eyes that cannot see, and their strength keeps shaking.
- Government — this is not atonement. What Christ suffered from God's hand (Psalm 22) pours out grace. What He suffered from men's hands brings judgment.
- Restoration — forgiveness reached the remnant who received it. The judgment then clears the ground for Israel's blessing and Christ's exaltation.
Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not, and make their loins continually to shake.
Psalm 69 gives us the words of a sufferer hated for no reason, and after the gall and vinegar of verse 21 His prayer turns to judgment. Verse 23 asks that their eyes go dark and their strength fail — so how can the One who prayed "Father, forgive them" also pray this?
The verse takes away two things: sight and strength. The blindness answers a choice they had already made:
Because they have closed their eyes, they would truly become blind. Their loins, a symbol of strength, would shake without stopping. God would pour out His indignation on them.
The Psalms mark off two kinds of suffering, and the difference decides what follows:
When the Messiah suffers under the hand of God, as in Psalm 22, nothing but grace flows out to all around. But when we see Him suffering at the hands of men, as in Psalm 69, the result is sure and certain judgment… In the second case He acts according to the eternal principles of His government, and judges every man according to his works. So here we are entirely in the area of righteous government, and God pronounces judgment on those who "abhorred" the Messiah… And in fact this judgment fell on them literally when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem.
But Jesus asked God to forgive His killers. One writer answers that the grace was real, and so is the cost of refusing it:
In His heart there was truly the spirit of grace that honestly desired their forgiveness. At least some have responded to that grace and are saved. But what of those who refuse the grace of forgiveness? In the end they must suffer the consequences of their gross folly. So the Lord Jesus is perfectly right to call for punishment on those who keep up their hateful persecution of their sinless Victim.
Neither prayer cancels the other:
In Psalm 69 Christ demands the most dreadful vengeance and judgment on His enemies. Did He ever express such a wish in the gospels, where He is shown to us as the pattern of grace? At the very time the psalm speaks of, His words were, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." … Both will be fulfilled. One is Christ's own gracious desire, as we know Him revealed in the gospels.
Romans 11 quotes this verse and applies it to Israel. The blindness is God's own act, but it is not a random one:
The blinding here is a sentence passed by God — He Himself has given them eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear. But why is this? It is no arbitrary judgment. Matthew 13:13-15 shows that Israel's deliberate blindness came before the blindness God imposed… In His absolute justice, God has now fixed that blindness in place for the whole present period of grace to the Gentiles — "until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in."
One writer sees the verse landing twice: on the nation that rejected Christ, and again at the end of the age on those who persecute the faithful few:
Verses 23-28 have, I think, a double application. First, to the nation in its rejection of the Son of God in the flesh (Rom. 11:9). Second, to the antichristian oppressors… who in the end will persecute and hate the faithful remnant, who will be found holding to the Lord while nearly everyone else falls away from God.
Prayers like this one carry a name: imprecatory — prayers that ask God to bring harm on enemies. They are Scripture, but they are not the pattern for believers now:
Take some of the prayers recorded in the Psalms — imprecatory prayers, as they are called. Turn for example to Psalm 69:22-28. You will see at once that the spirit of such prayers is completely foreign to the spirit taught to the Christian… A prayer given by the Spirit of God for one period or age does not necessarily suit the people of God in every age.
This prayer is not a burst of feeling:
Every word of this appeal will have its answer. Not a syllable of it will fall to the ground. God will certainly avenge the death of His Son… How awful the thought of Christ praying against people!
- Cause — they shut their own eyes first. God's darkening answers a refusal they had already made.
- Crime — suffering from God's hand in Psalm 22 brings grace to all. Suffering from men's hands in Psalm 69 brings judgment.
- Cross — "Father, forgive them" and this prayer both stand. Grace reached those who took it; judgment falls on those who keep refusing.
- Confirmed — Romans 11 applies the darkened eyes to Israel today. That blindness lasts only until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.
- Caution — these words are not a prayer for believers to copy. They warn that God will answer every syllable of the Son's appeal.
Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let the fierceness of thine anger take hold of them.
Here a Sufferer asks God to send His anger on men who hated Him without cause. Three questions follow: who is speaking, why He asks for wrath instead of mercy, and whether His people may pray this way today.
Commentators read Psalm 69 as the words of Christ. But the pressure on Him here is not the pressure of Psalm 22.
Psalm 69 gives us the righteous One. Here He is not forsaken by God in atonement for sin, as He is in Psalm 22. He is crushed under man's hatred and insult. His enemies are against Him without a cause, though zeal for God's house has eaten Him up. Yet He takes it all from God's hand. Since He owns that God has struck Him, He looks and prays for vengeance, not grace.
The difference between the two psalms turns on whose hand strikes Him.
When the Messiah suffers under the hand of God, as in Psalm 22, nothing but grace flows out to all around. But when He suffers at the hands of men, as in Psalm 69, the result is sure and certain judgment… In the first case God acts on the ground of the atoning work of Christ. We must never forget that atonement lies in what He suffered from the hands of God. So God is able to take the attitude of grace towards all, He delights to be able to do it, and He does it righteously… In the second case He acts by the eternal principles of His government, and judges every man according to his works.
On the cross Jesus asked forgiveness for His killers. So why ask for judgment here? The answer lies in what men do with the grace He offered.
In His heart there was a true spirit of grace that honestly wanted their forgiveness. Some at least have responded to that grace and are saved. But what of those who refuse the grace of forgiveness? They must suffer the consequences of their great folly. So the Lord Jesus is perfectly right to call for judgment on those who keep up their hateful persecution of their sinless Victim.
Both prayers stand. But they are not both ours to pray.
This language is not, and is not meant to be, the present language of the Christian. Psalm 69 presents Christ demanding the most dreadful vengeance and judgment on His enemies (verses 22-28). Did He ever express such a wish when He was shown in the Gospels as our pattern of grace? At the very time this psalm speaks of, His words were, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Is that the same as, "Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them"? Both will be fulfilled.
Verse 24 asks for something more direct than the snare and the darkened eyes of the verses before it. Commentators differ over where they see it land. One reads it as wrath handed out from God Himself in a coming day:
The very table they trust in would become a snare to them, and their prosperity a trap (v. 22). Because they have closed their eyes, they would become blind. Their loins, a symbol of strength, would shake without stopping (vv. 22-23). God would pour out His indignation on them (v. 24). We see this direct blow from God in the seven last plagues of Revelation 15:1.
Another writer points to a blow that fell in history, and only after men had refused grace:
But when they rejected the testimony of the Holy Spirit through the apostles and through Stephen, just as they had refused the testimony of Christ on earth, they were left exposed to all the consequences of their sins, and above all to the stroke of this judgment. And in fact this judgment fell on them literally, in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.
This is not just strong feeling poured out. God will answer it.
Every word of this appeal will have its answer. Not a syllable of it will fall to the ground. God will surely avenge the death of His Son. He will settle accounts with the world — with men, for the way they have treated His only Son… How awful the thought of Christ praying against people!
Judgment on the nation is not the end of the story. It opens the road to something better.
So we learn that the suffering Christ received from the guilty nation brings judgment on that nation. But it also leads to the exaltation of Christ. And carrying out that judgment prepares the way for the blessing of the godly remnant, and for the restoration of Israel.
- Cause — this wrath answers what men did to Christ. Suffering from God's hand brings grace; suffering from men's hands brings judgment.
- Offer — Christ held out real grace from the cross. This verse falls on those who keep refusing it.
- Certainty — every word of this appeal gets its answer. God will avenge the way men treated His Son.
- Restraint — this is not the Christian's prayer today. Yet both this cry and "Father, forgive them" will be fulfilled.
- End — the poured-out anger clears the ground for Christ's exaltation and Israel's restoration.
Let their habitation be desolate; let there be no dweller in their tents.
Psalm 69 is the prayer of a sufferer hated without cause. Here the words turn from His own pain to what should fall on those who caused it. Who do those words finally land on? And why does the New Testament apply this one verse to one man?
The suffering in this psalm comes from human hands, not from atonement. That shapes what the psalm asks for next.
Men rejected the grace of the Saviour. Their hatred without cause nailed Him to the cross. That leaves man exposed to judgment, for they have rejected the only One who could shelter them from judgment. So there follows the call for judgment in return to fall on those who had shown themselves to be the enemies of Christ without cause. This judgment overtakes men in this world, though it may also lead on to eternal judgment.
Writers set this psalm beside Psalm 22 to make the point. There the cry is of being forsaken by God; here the wrong is man's.
Psalm 69 shows the righteous One. He is not forsaken by God here in atonement for sin, as in Psalm 22. He is crushed under man's hatred and insults. His enemies have no cause, and it is His zeal for God's house that has eaten Him up. Yet He takes it all from God's hand. He owns that God has struck Him, and so He looks and prays for vengeance, not grace.
The judgment asked for is an empty address. There is a stated reason it falls.
Those guilty of rejecting the Lord Jesus will find their home completely desolate, with no one living in their tents. … God had struck Christ because of our sins. But instead of valuing Christ's willing sacrifice for their sakes, they added their own persecution to God's judgment.
Peter read this verse as already spent on one man. He paired it with a second psalm: someone else takes the empty office.
Scripture had foreshadowed the fall of Judas, and predicted too that another would take his place. Peter points this out at the time of their greatest weakness. … What comfort they must have found, as they saw it clearly set out, that the heartless and selfish conduct of Judas had been foreknown to God! … Peter refers to Psalm 69:25 and Psalm 109:8. The first speaks of what should be given to the persecutor; the second, of succession in his office. In Judas, by his death, the first quotation had a fulfilment. His habitation was desolate. He had died by his own hand (Matt. 27:5).
Writers also apply this desolation to Jerusalem. The word is judgment, but it is not the last word.
His glory shines out more than ever; the rejected Messiah is in truth Jehovah. He would have gathered (and how often!) but they would not. It was no longer His house nor His Father's, but theirs, and it is left to them desolate. Still, even though these are most solemn words of judgment, there is hope in the end.
Can a Christian pray these words? The same lips that speak here spoke another way at the cross.
Psalm 69 presents Christ as demanding the most dreadful vengeance and judgment on His enemies (verses 22-28). Did He, when revealed in the gospels as a pattern for us according to grace, ever express such a wish? His words were, at the very time the psalm speaks, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Is that the same as, "Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them"? Both will be fulfilled. One is the gracious personal desire of Christ, as we know Him revealed in the gospels.
The reason given is the change of period:
The godly Christian of this present period could not possibly either pray for, or wait for, the destruction of his enemies. This is a time of grace; the time I am writing about is a time of judgment. This makes all the difference.
The psalm does not close on the empty camp. Its last verses fill the land again.
Zion will be saved, the cities of Judah re-established and re-inhabited, and the children of the servants of Jehovah will inherit the land. Those who love His Name will live there.
- Cause — the suffering comes from man's hatred, not from God forsaking Him. So the psalm prays for vengeance, not grace.
- Sentence — the judgment asked for is an emptied dwelling: houses and tents left standing with no one living in them.
- One man — Peter read the verse as fulfilled in Judas. His home stood empty, and another took his office.
- One city — the same emptiness falls on the house that was no longer His Father's but theirs, and it is left desolate.
- Dwellers again — the psalm ends with Zion saved and the cities of Judah lived in again. Empty tents are not the last word.
For they persecute him whom *thou* hast smitten, and they talk for the sorrow of those whom thou hast wounded.
Psalm 69 turns from the Sufferer's grief to a call for judgment on His enemies, and this verse gives the reason. Men saw someone already under God's hand and used that as their excuse to hurt Him more — and God's wounded ones meet the same cruelty.
The cruelty in this verse is not only human. Two blows fell on the Sufferer, and only one of them came from men.
As terrible as these insults from violent men are to think about, they are not the stripes that healed us. On the Holy Sufferer there came striking by God as well as striking by man.
God's striking points to where in His life this verse belongs. It also explains why a psalm about suffering calls for judgment.
The sufferings described here were known in part during the Lord's lifetime. But they reach their height at the cross, for there alone could the Lord be said to be struck by God. He enters into the striking by God, which was Israel's portion. Yet the suffering from the hatred of the guilty Jewish nation stands out. Such wickedness deserves judgment. So the psalm calls for judgment, instead of looking for the grace that brings blessing to man.
The verse shows men adding their own violence to a blow that was already falling.
God had struck Christ because of our sins. But they showed no appreciation of Christ's willing sacrifice for their sakes. Instead they added their own persecution to God's judgment. How dreadfully contemptible!
Worse still, the persecutors used God's hand on Him as their own excuse.
Their part in the cross was only persecution. They had nothing to do with the divine mystery of it, to which we owe all our blessing. Yet "they persecute Him whom You have struck down" adds to the horror of their crime — and this very fact is what they would use to excuse it. Why should they not persecute where God had struck? When that cry that God had forsaken Him reached the ears of those standing round the cross, would it not indeed seem like a justification? They had done as they pleased, and no intervention of God had come in for Him: God had not struck them, but Him!
Writers use this verse to separate Christ's sufferings here from His atoning work. Two things mark the difference: the call for judgment, and the other sufferers named beside Him.
Here we clearly have more than man's persecutions. They take advantage of God's hand being on the sorrowing One to add to His burden and grief. This is not atonement, but there is sorrow and striking from God… We have clear proof that these are not atoning sufferings. He is not suffering here in the place of others, so that they should not have one drop of that cup of wrath to drink. Instead, others are joined with the Lord in these sufferings.
The second half of the verse widens the scene from one Man to a company. That widening is there on purpose. It carries the verse past the generation that crucified Him.
It was important to bring them in. The actual persecution of the Lord Himself had to belong to one generation only. But the persecution of His people is repeated, in one way or another, through all generations. In convicting men of this guilt, it was important to show that the Lord Himself classes these things together: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
So who are the wounded?
This means believers are identified with the Lord in His being wounded. Unbelievers see believers as identified with Christ, and so they persecute them too.
The obvious objection is that Jesus prayed for His killers rather than against them.
The words here are still those of the Lord Jesus. So we may wonder why He prays here for God's righteous judgment against His oppressors, when in Luke 23:34 His words from the cross were, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The answer should not be difficult. In His heart there was truly the spirit of grace that desired their forgiveness. Some at least have responded to that grace and are saved. But what of those who refuse the grace of forgiveness? They must suffer the consequences of their gross folly.
- Struck — Two hands fell on the Sufferer, men's and God's, and God's striking reaches its height at the cross.
- Persecuted — Men added their own cruelty to God's blow, then used that blow as their excuse.
- Not atonement — Others stand beside Him here, and the psalm calls for judgment. Both signs separate these sufferings from the work that bore sin.
- Wounded — The verse widens from one Man to His people. Persecution of Christ filled one generation; persecution of His people runs through them all.
- Judged — The cross offered real grace. This call for judgment is what remains for those who refuse it.
Add iniquity unto their iniquity, and let them not come into thy righteousness.
Psalm 69 records the prayer of a rejected sufferer. Here it turns from His own grief to the judgment His enemies deserve. Two questions follow: what is He asking God to do, and why does a psalm so full of Christ ask for judgment instead of pardon?
Older versions read, "Add iniquity to their iniquity, and let them not come into Your righteousness," where the ESV has, "Add to them punishment upon punishment." The writers below work from the older wording. One of them shows that the Hebrew word behind "add" is really the word for "give":
"Add iniquity to their iniquity" is not the only possible rendering of the twenty-seventh verse. However you explain it, the moral argument seems to be against it. The word is not "add," but literally "give," which may be rendered "put," and which in Jonah 1:14 is used for "lay not on us innocent blood" — that is, do not impute it. We may safely translate it here, "impute iniquity according to their iniquity" — reckon it for what it is. They have in fact reached the limit of forbearance: let the judgment now proceed.
So the prayer is not that God would make men worse. It asks Him to treat guilt as guilt. The same rendering carries a warning that reaches well beyond the psalm's enemies:
Verse 27 is more correctly translated, "Impute iniquity according to their iniquity; and let them not come into Your righteousness." That is, place the iniquity on their own shoulders, where it belongs. How true this is for everyone who refuses the one and only sacrifice for sin that God can allow. If Christ has not borne their sin, they must bear it themselves.
Why does judgment fall on these men, and what do they lose by it? One writer answers both:
The judgment that overtakes men comes from the pitiless cruelty that delighted in persecuting One whom God had smitten. The rejection of the grace of Christ is the crowning sin added to their iniquities. Such can have no part in the righteousness of God that brings salvation, no part in the book of life, nor in the portion of the righteous.
Some read this part of the psalm as a description of the cross and what it achieved. The wording of the verse rules that out:
When it is said, "Those whom You have wounded," it cannot mean atonement. The effect of atonement is not to say, "Add iniquity to their iniquity, and let them not come into Your righteousness." I believe the smiting was on the cross, and that atonement was accomplished there, but by God forsaking Him as to His soul.
The same lips prayed for forgiveness at the cross and for vengeance here. One writer holds both together:
Christ is presented in Psalm 69 as demanding the most dreadful vengeance and judgment on His enemies (vv. 22-28). Did He, when revealed in the Gospels as a pattern for us according to grace, ever express such a wish? His words were, at the very time the psalm speaks, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Is that the same as "Pour out Your indignation upon them, and let Your burning anger overtake them"? Both will be fulfilled.
Some soften these prayers by reading the commands as predictions of what will happen. One writer answers that the wording will not allow it:
The man who suggests this has to admit that the New Testament keeps the command form instead of changing it into the future… But the criticism is as bad as the doctrine. The phrasing undoubtedly stands in Hebrew as in English, and in every other language. The difference in God's dealings clears it all up, with nothing forced. When God is judging enemies, as He did long ago and will again, His people share in it in measure. Now He is displaying sovereign grace, and a different spirit of action suits them.
The prayer for judgment and the prayer for forgiveness do not cancel each other. They reach different people:
These are solemn words of retribution. They stand in sharp contrast to the lowly words from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." But the forgiveness could only apply to the remnant who would receive it, as many did, even after the crucifixion. The rest cannot remain a matter of indifference to Him: He pleads against them for judgment now, in God's government of this world.
- Reckoned — The plea does not ask God to make men worse. It asks Him to charge them with guilt already theirs, now that they have reached the limit of His patience.
- Refused — They rejected the grace of Christ. If He has not borne their sin, they must bear it themselves.
- Excluded — So they have no share in the righteousness that saves, no place in the book of life, no portion with the righteous.
- Distinguished — This verse is not describing atonement. Atonement never says, "let them not come into Your righteousness."
- Reserved — "Father, forgive them" and this prayer both stand. They belong to different dealings of God: grace now, judgment later. The Christian is given the first to pray.
Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.
This prayer is not for the enemies but against them. It asks God to strike their names off the list of the living and leave them off the list of the righteous. Two questions press on any reader: whose voice is praying this, and which book does He mean?
This psalm stands next to Psalm 22, but the pressure on the Sufferer comes from a different direction. That changes what He asks for.
Psalm 69 gives us the righteous One. Here He is not forsaken by God in atonement for sin, as in Psalm 22. He is crushed under man's hatred and reproach. He faces enemies who have no cause against Him, while zeal for God's house has eaten Him up. Yet He takes it all from God's hand. He owns Himself smitten by God, and so He looks and prays for vengeance, not grace.
Christ's sufferings on the cross had two sides. One of them explains why this psalm calls for judgment.
He suffered as the patient Martyr at the hands of men; He suffered as the spotless Victim under the hand of God. The martyr sufferings call down the judgment of a holy God who cannot be indifferent to the insults heaped upon Christ. So the psalms that present His martyr sufferings, such as Psalm 69, speak also of judgment upon His enemies.
Verse 28 belongs to a block of requests that runs from verse 22. Set that cry beside the words Jesus spoke from the cross.
Psalm 69 presents Christ as demanding the most dreadful vengeance and judgment on His enemies (verses 22-28). Did He, when revealed in the Gospels as a pattern for us according to grace, ever express such a wish? At the very moment this psalm describes, His words were, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Is that the same as "Pour out Your indignation upon them, and let Your burning anger overtake them"? Both will be fulfilled. One is the gracious personal desire of Christ, as we know Him revealed in the Gospels. The other joins Christ, by the prophetic Spirit, with the faithful remnant of Israel under the government of God, which will bring a just and righteous vengeance on the nation that rejected Him.
Timing explains it. God works one way now and another way later.
Now grace works in saving the souls of men. Then judgment will be active in clearing the earth of Christ-rejecting sinners. We must not overlook the difference between these two periods.
Scripture speaks of more than one register of names.
A register of persons' names as living. One (also called simply God's book) may be a book of those who only have a name to live, and whose names may therefore be blotted out: Exodus 32:32-33; Psalm 69:28; Revelation 3:5. Another is a book of the saved, from which none will be erased: Philippians 4:3; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 20:15. A third (called simply "the book") contains the names of the remnant of Israel: Daniel 12:1.
Commentators differ on how the blotting out works. Some take it as the removal of a false entry from a list of names. Others take this psalm to mean life on earth cut short by death:
This is not the book of life, for only believers are in that book and can never be blotted out (Revelation 3:5). But by death unbelievers are blotted out of the book of the living, and cannot be written with the righteous.
Either way, a believer's security is not in question here. The reason lies in who writes the name.
I believe the book of life is final, and all the devils cannot blot a name out of it. Where it speaks of blotting out, it is like a registry of votes. If a name turns out to have no right to be there, it is blotted out… A mere professor writes his own name. He has no right to be there unless God has written it, and it will be blotted out… God takes away no name that He has written.
To be left off the list of the righteous is to be left carrying your own sin. That is the whole tragedy in one line.
How true this is for everyone who refuses the one and only sacrifice for sin that God can allow. If Christ has not borne their sin, they must themselves bear it.
- Voice — The speaker is the righteous One, crushed by men's hatred, not forsaken as in Psalm 22. He takes it all from God's hand and asks for vengeance, not grace.
- Cause — A holy God is not indifferent to insults heaped on Christ. So the psalm of His martyr sufferings also carries judgment on those who caused them.
- Timing — Both prayers will be fulfilled. "Father, forgive them" belongs to the day of grace. This cry belongs to the day when judgment clears the earth.
- Register — Scripture uses more than one book. One holds names that men only professed, and it can be corrected. Another holds the saved and loses no one. Commentators differ over which is meant here.
- Security — A name God wrote is never erased. Only a name a man wrote for himself is blotted out. If Christ has not borne your sin, you bear it yourself.