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.
Psalm 69:19 You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you.
Psalm 69:20 Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.
Psalm 69:21 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
It has been said that this passage is amongst the deepest pleas for mercy in the Old Testament. David is hitting rock bottom, and expressing a complete helplessness and hopelessness, a condition that repeats the first few verses but has the sense of a deeper exposing of the grief and despair of the subject.
Reproach
Reproach is a common refrain in this psalm.
Psalm 69:7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.
Psalm 69:9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
Psalm 69:10 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.
Psalm 69:19 You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you.
Psalm 69:20 Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.
The Hebrew term is חֶרְפָּה cherpâh and includes the concepts of disgrace, rebuke and shame.
Shame
This is the only occurrence of shame in this psalm, and the Hebrew term is בֹּשֶׁת bôsheth. This term includes the concepts of confusion and shame, and is associated sometimes with idols, the object of shame for an Israelite. Shame, for the modern world is such that it is ignored, an emotion that is considered to be rejected as opposed to accepted and trained from. How often has our modern society taken a topic that is shameful, even just decades ago, and turned the topic into a discussion of those brave to enter into a shameful life decision. This rejection of the painful emotion of shame is not to anyone’s benefit. We, as a modern society have lost much honor by rejecting shame in our society.
The Hebrew culture was a shame based culture, and to be inflicted with shame was to enter into a condition that may effectively remove you from the social order, from business associations, from family and loved ones, who sought to uphold the social fabric of their community.
Shame, when accepted due to sinful activities performed by the subject, should produce repentance and possibly allow for reentrance in to the social order. At the very least, right living after repentance would be the fruit of accepting and responding to shame in a godly way.
On the other hand, shame laid on a person due to libel, gossip, slander defamation and lies is not something that can be responded to by the victim. Repentance is not necessary, or even available as a tool to repair the damage. The lies and vilification of the enemy stick to the victims character, and even in the best situations, some of the slander will never be removed from the social conscience.
Dishonor
Our third term is the Hebrew word כְּלִמָּה kᵉlimmâh, and it is mentioned twice within our Psalm.
Psalm 69:7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face.
Psalm 69:19 You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you.
This term includes the concepts of insult, reproach, shame, confusion and ignominy.
As you have read through this short study, I am sure you have recognized the three terms we have looked at all describe the basic concept of shame.
David was experiencing a depth of shame in his condition that bared repeating in three different shades of meaning. For a king of Israel, the man after God’s own heart, to experience shame within the culture should speak volumes to the modern believer. It is not always the way of the Christ to walk in apparent honor within the social order, though we are not to bring the shame upon ourselves or family, or the church by willful sin and rebellion. Yet our enemy may fling accusations and slander to create the illusion of dishonor on our lives. Let us remember the counsel of Peter in regards to suffering, even of undeserved shame.
1 Peter 3:14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,
1 Peter 3:17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
Of course, we are to look to the Master in all areas of our life, and as David poured out his heart, helpless in his circumstance, we too may also cry out to the One who hears, and can restore in His time. For of all those who have walked this earth, He alone has suffered the greatest undeserved shame.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
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