My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 69 is a psalm of sorrow, of apparent defeat and deep emotional stress, of a distress in the heart and of being overwhelmed, of a weariness of soul, and of a waiting for an answer from God. It is a psalm that speaks of loneliness, of disappointment and of extended trials.

As we venture through the psalmist’s deep confession, his pain and his sorrow, we will encounter passages that will be referred to in the New Testament, providing a recounting of the sorrow of Jesus.

Let’s continue reading this beautiful psalm.

Psalm 69:4 More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore?
Psalm 69:5 O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

“Without cause” is the Hebrew term חִנָּם chinnâm, and it can be translated as “devoid of cost”, “without reason”, “without advantage”, “for nothing”, or “to cost nothing”.

The hatred David’s enemies provide to him freely given to him due to nothing that he has done. That seems to be the message.

Now I understand that the Scriptures are God Breathed, and have a message for each of us, with the burden on us to seek to understand the message in it’s original intent, and to find application for us in our daily lives and circumstances.

Since we are in the psalms, and the author is David, I would suggest David is describing his feelings here, not an absolute truth.

Consider that if this trial was during the rebellion of Absalom, with David having been the King for close to 4 decades. As a military strategist and warrior, along with being an political animal, he surely had left a trail of reasons for some to hate him.

For instance, consider David’s counsellor Ahithophel. He turned on David during this time, joining with Absalom. Did he turn on David for no reason?

Not so sure, for if we read the Word, Ahithophel may have been the grandfather of Bathsheba. That is, if Eliam, Bathsheba’s father is the same Eliam described as Ahithophel’s son in 2 Samuel 23:34, we have a connection.

2 Samuel 11:3 …”Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

2 Samuel 23:34… Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,

Now I realize I am not an Old Testament grandfather, but if someone murdered my grandbaby’s husband and committed adultery with my grandbaby, I tend to think I may have cause for some hatred! (Can you tell I got me some granddaughters? They will always be my grandbabys!)

So what is the reason for this rabbit trail Carl?

My point is that David may have felt guiltless in his circumstances, and the relative suffering he was undergoing may have been much exaggerated to what true justice may have deemed. For him to say “without cause” may have expressed his perception of his history, as opposed to living in reality. Now of course, there surely was much more going on that I do not understand, but David was suffering in this Psalm, suffering greater than I have experienced. It is with no judgement that I make this observation, but only for the sake of understanding David’s situation, his crushing heart ache, and the prayers he is crying out to God in.

David may have exaggerated his condition, for he may have given some cause for the hatred. Rightly or wrongly, David was suffering through a trial.

Yet he said “without cause”. Curious how that entered into the Word, for centuries later, the greater Son of David actually found his situation fit this statement.

John 15:25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

Not only did Jesus’ situation fit this statement of David, He taught us that the Scripture was not merely coincidental in that it fit Jesus’ situation, but that was intended to be fulfilled in Him. David, the prophet spoke of his Greater Son in his prayer, and Jesus fulfilled this statement absolutely, having not sinned against His Father nor any man.

He truly was hated without cause.

Let’s consider how John wrote the same expression in the Greek. “Without cause” is an English translation of the Greek term δωρεάν dōreán, and may also be translated as “freely”, “in vain”, “as a gift” or “for naught”.

Where might I have read of this very same concept or thought in the New Testament? Hmmmm. Oh I remember!

Romans 3:24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

So, we see that the Christ received hatred freely, without cause and from many. This was the consummate exercise of injustice.

His death and resurrection provided believers justification freely, without cause and for many. This is the consummate exercise of grace, freely granted to each of us.

May we remember Him, His trials for us and His grace towards us. May His name be praised.

---

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.

Follow Considering the Bible on WordPress.com