Psalms 69:6
Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.
It is a plea that those who wait for the Lord of hosts and seek the God of Israel not be put to shame or left confused because of the one who prays, who bears reproach for God's sake, is estranged from his own brethren and is eaten up with zeal for God's house. It is offered in weary hours of sinking sorrow, reproach, forsaking and weeping while still waiting on God's word and mercy for rescue, lest the speaker's own failure and reproach should dishonor God's faithful people. Its hard prayers against enemies are not vindictive revenge but declare the just retribution of a sin-hating God upon the enemies of the church. David speaks there in the role of the greater King to come, for the psalm is prophetic of Christ's temptation, betrayal, condemnation and crucifixion when the sins of the world rested upon him, and in that sense verse 6 voices his care that his followers not be shamed by his sufferings, though not every verse transfers to him as sinless sufferer. Those who held it to be only David's record and not specially predictive still join the rest in teaching that believers whose history runs parallel to his, especially when honoring the Sabbath brings bitter opposition and reproach from fellow believers, may pray it with assurance of being heard and of sharing Christ's triumph.
Meaning and Setting
The verse is a prayer that those who wait on the Lord God of hosts not be put to shame for the speaker's sake, and that those who seek the God of Israel not be confounded for his sake. It is the prayer of one suffering reproach for God, asking that fellow waiters and seekers will not be put to shame or confounded because of him and his stand. The speaker prays as one who for God's sake has borne reproach, whose face shame has covered, and who has become a stranger to his brethren and an alien to his mother's children. This estrangement has come because zeal for God's house has eaten him up, and the reproaches of those who reproached God have fallen on him. The shame feared is therefore shame brought by reproach borne for God's sake, shared with God himself, and the prayer asks that reproach suffered for honoring what God made and blessed and sanctified before sin entered, the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord, and for weeping over opposition from fellow believers, will not harm other faithful people. It is prayed when standing for the seventh-day Sabbath brings bitter opposition, church trial, tears and weeping turned to reproach, and being hedged in with no human help, finding comfort in going forth without the camp bearing the same reproach Christ bore as the Man of sorrow.
The setting is weary hours while sorrows roll like deep waters into the soul, with reproach and bitter shame. It is a time of being forsaken by those bearing a brother's name who do not fulfill a brother's part, of being mocked while sinking deep in sorrow and trembling in fear and weeping tears. Yet even then the sufferer waits to hear God's word and pleads for God's lovingkindness and mercies to turn and bid darkness flee and hasten relief. The trust is that the Lord will save the sorrowing poor, revive the fainting, restore the sinking soul and bid the contrite live. At the same time the prayer asks that enemies not rejoice, but that the pathway of their choice be darkened and all their joy be turned to grief.
The concern is also that the speaker's own sin, failure, or reproach might bring shame to those who wait for and seek God. The plea asks that personal failure not dishonor God's faithful people. The psalm's hard prayers against enemies are not vindictive revenge dissonant with benevolence. They are typical of tribulation on the enemies of the church and predictive, simply declarative of the retributive providence and justice of a sin-hating God who punishes sin, as seen in drowning the world, destroying Sodom and Gomorrah by fire, extirpating the Canaanites, and thundering curses against sinners of every land and age.
Prophecy of Christ
David's words and experiences in this psalm prefigure the life of Christ, with David pleading in the role of the greater King to come. The psalm is prophetic of Christ's experience when the sins of the world rested upon him. It is to be read in connection with His betrayal, condemnation, and crucifixion as literally fulfilled.
It portrays in prophetic vision His inner experience during struggles with temptation and suffering, through which He passed and won triumph for His children. In that prophetic sense the petition expresses His concern that those who wait on God and seek Him not be put to shame or confounded because of His trials and suffering.
Psalms 22 and 69 relate primarily to David and finally and antitypically to Christ, with portions quoted in the New Testament as fulfilled in Him, such as Psalm 69:9 and Psalm 69:21. Not every verse of Psalm 69 transfers to Christ, since Psalm 69:5 would make Christ a sinner. The psalm applies literally to Christ as the New Testament states, yet the whole cannot be forced into one uniform literal or accommodated sense. A rigid rule that one accommodated text makes the whole context accommodated, or one literal part makes the whole literal, would either make Christ a sinner or deny His literal fulfillment, which proves that a prophecy may apply partly to what is immediately before the reader and partly to what is remote. By contrast it has been held that the psalm is not a prediction but a simple record of David's experience and does not refer specially to Jesus, applying to Him no more than to anyone in the present day whose history is tangent to David's in certain points, such as being hated without a cause.
Prayer for Believers
The prayers of this psalm, including the plea that those who wait for God and seek Him not be put to shame or confounded because of the sufferer, belong to God's people to pray whenever their own circumstances call for them, with full assurance that God hears such praying. This confidence rests on the fact that Christ Himself passed through the suffering described in the psalm and won triumph for His children, a triumph they may share.
Any Christian whose history runs parallel to David's may take up the same prayer, since being eaten up with zeal for God's house and bearing reproaches aimed at God can belong to a Christian as well as to David. Such use is an appropriated quotation when individual histories run parallel, not a fulfillment of prediction in the same sense, though both kinds of use can be called fulfillments of Scripture.
The prayer is made in particular when standing for the seventh-day Sabbath as what God made and blessed and sanctified before sin entered brings bitter opposition, church trial, tears and weeping turned to reproach, and being hedged in with no human help. It asks that reproach suffered for honoring the Sabbath and for weeping over opposition from fellow believers will not harm other faithful people. The shame feared is shame brought by reproach borne for God's sake, with shame covering the face and becoming a stranger to brethren and an alien to mother's children through zeal for God's house, sharing the reproaches that fall on God Himself. Comfort is found in going forth without the camp bearing the same reproach Christ bore as the Man of sorrow.