From Newsgroup: alt.bible

Spurgeon (Treasury of David)

Context

The opening verses portray a soul drawn out of the crushing depths of a
miry pit and set firmly upon an immovable rock. The setting of this song
is born out of intense suffering, personal extremity, and patient
waiting upon God. True deliverance from such affliction produces an
entirely new capacity for praise, shifting the worshiper from personal
dread into corporate thanksgiving. The psalmist discovers that external sacrifices, burnt offerings, and ritual ceremonies hold no intrinsic
value in securing the favor of the Lord. God does not thirst for the
blood of beasts, nor does He seek mere formalistic pageantry. What God
seeks is an open earrCoa surrendered will that recognizes the divine claim upon the whole person. The ancient ceremonies were never the ultimate
end of God's covenant, but merely temporary markers pointing toward a
deeper, living obedience rooted within the heart.

Christ

This psalm finds its ultimate voice and consummate realization in the
person of Jesus Christ. While David may speak out of his own limited
trials, the words leap beyond the earthly king to the eternal Son who
enters the world declaring, "Lo, I come." When the sacrificial system
proved powerless to take away sins or reconcile humanity to God, Christ stepped forward in eternal covenant council to present His own person as
the true offering. The opened or pierced ear signifies His voluntary assumption of the role of the obedient Servant, dedicating Himself
wholly to the FatherrCOs sovereign purpose. When the psalm speaks of the
evils and iniquities taking hold, it reflects the immense weight of
imputed guilt that Christ voluntarily bore in His passion. Though
personally sinless and spotless, our Lord stood as the federal head and
legal substitute for His people, so closely identifying with their transgressions that their terrible burden pressed Him to the dust of death.

Church

The deliverance celebrated in the psalm directly shapes how believers understand their identity, worship, and mission. Having been drawn from
the spiritual mire of condemnation and planted securely upon Christ the
Rock, the church is called to replace external religious formalism with heartfelt, consecrated obedience. The testimony of redemption cannot
remain hidden or sequestered in private devotion; it belongs in the
great congregation. Believers are summoned to declare the righteousness, faithfulness, and lovingkindness of God before the world, making the
assembly a living witness to divine mercy. When trials, spiritual
poverty, and inward weakness arise, the believer rests in the supreme
comfort that the sovereign Lord constantly thinks upon His redeemed
people, sustaining them in grace until their final deliverance.

Matthew Henry (MHC)

Context

The historical background reflects a life preserved through seasons of profound hazard, where divine providence repeatedly intervened in answer
to patient prayer. The deliverance granted to the psalmist demonstrates
that GodrCOs works of wonder and designs of mercy toward His people are boundless and impossible to number. At the heart of this gratitude lies
a vital realization concerning divine worship: the ceremonial law, with
all its animal sacrifices and oblations, possessed no independent power
to cleanse moral guilt or satisfy divine justice. God never appointed
these rituals to be an end in themselves. Instead, true religion has
always required moral surrender, an ear inclined to the voice of God,
and an inward delight in fulfilling His holy commands.

Christ

The insufficiency of the Levitical sacrifices paved the way for the
grand mystery of the gospel, wherein Christ accomplishes what the law
could never do. As the New Testament confirms, these verses directly
announce the incarnation and priestly sacrifice of our Redeemer. When thousands of rams and rivers of oil could not atone for the sin of the
soul, the eternal Word presented Himself willingly: "Lo, I come."
ChristrCOs ear was dug and His body prepared to fulfill the eternal
counsel recorded in the scroll of the divine decrees. His entire earthly
life and substitutionary death were defined by an unbroken, joyful
obedience to the will of the Father. Through His singular, unrepeatable self-offering, the ceremonial shadows were forever dissolved,
establishing a perfect and everlasting righteousness for all who believe.

Church

Believers find here both the pattern of their salvation and the rule of
their daily walk. Christian obedience is not an onerous duty born of
slavish fear, but the spontaneous response of a heart wherein God's
moral law has been written by the Spirit. Because Christ has made full satisfaction on our behalf, disciples are delivered from legalistic
bondage and welcomed into free, joyful service. Furthermore, this
salvation compels open confession. The church is charged to maintain an uninhibited public testimony, refusing to conceal God's righteousness, salvation, and truth within the silence of the heart. Even when
believers are burdened by remaining corruption and outward troubles,
their security rests on the truth that God considers the needy and will
never allow His mercy to fail them.

Ellicott (EBC)

Context

The passage reflects a striking transition within IsraelrCOs spiritual history, articulating a foundational prophetic principle: obedience is
far superior to sacrifice. The phrase concerning ears that have been
opened or hollowed out refers not merely to a legal custom of servitude,
but to God endowing the worshiper with the faculty of receptive hearing
and moral comprehension. The psalmist recognizes that the elaborate
system of blood offerings was fundamentally preparatory. True communion
with the Creator does not hinge upon the slaughter of beasts, but upon
hearing the divine voice and aligning onerCOs personal will with GodrCOs revealed truth.

Christ

While the prophetic voice of the psalmist grasped the moral superiority
of obedience over ritual, only Christ could embody that ideal to its
absolute perfection. The Greek translation of this passage and its
subsequent use in the apostolic writings point to the incarnation as the ultimate goal toward which the psalm strained. The preparation of a body signifies that the Son of God took on full human nature in order to
render a complete, living sacrifice of Himself. By offering an
unreserved, life-long surrender of His own human will to the Father,
Christ superseded the entire ritual economy. He did not merely bring an offering to the altar; He became the offering, fulfilling the ancient
purpose written in the volume of the sacred book.

Church

For the community of faith, this passage redefines the very nature of
worship and spiritual life. Christian devotion cannot consist of
mechanical compliance with outward ordinances or superficial religious
acts. Instead, the church is called to live out the law inscribed upon
the inward affections, where obedience springs from love rather than
external compulsion. Genuine discipleship involves cultivating an open earrCoan ongoing attentiveness to the guidance of God's Word. The
collective body of believers shares the joyful obligation to stand
within the wider world and unashamedly proclaim the saving righteousness
and enduring truth of God.

Keil & Delitzsch (KDOC)

Context

The psalm emerges from an experience of rescue from mortal peril, where
the singer stands as both an individual sufferer and a representative
figure of the covenant people. The phrase describing the hollowed or
dug-out ears highlights the creative act of God, who formed the organ of hearing specifically so that humanity might listen to His revelation and respond in faithful covenant obedience. The passage stands in deep
continuity with the prophetic critique of the sacrificial cult,
affirming that animal sacrifices and sin offerings are not what God intrinsically desires. The core demand of the covenant is the internal acceptance of God's revealed instruction, allowing the Torah to dwell in
the innermost depths of the human heart rather than merely on tablets of stone.

Christ

The language of the psalm moves beyond the imperfect historical reality
of the earthly monarch to find its true, organic fulfillment in the
Messiah. David, as the anointed king, could only partially realize the
ideal of complete self-surrender; his own moral failures continually
disrupted the harmony between his will and GodrCOs law. Therefore, the prophetic words, "Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of
me," anticipate the ideal King who achieves what the type could only foreshadow. Christ alone brought a sinless human will into absolute
alignment with the will of God, willingly surrendering His life in
unreserved dedication. Through His obedient entrance into the world and
His sacrificial death, the old sacrificial framework reached its
definitive end and ultimate goal.

Church

The movement from outward ritual to the law residing in the inward parts directly anticipates the great promises of the New Covenant. The church experiences the reality of having the divine law written upon the heart through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Christian worship is essentially spiritual, finding expression in genuine prayer, faithful obedience, and mutual edification. The covenant community gathers to
lift up the new song of redemption, bearing unified witness to God's
saving deeds before the surrounding world. Even amid enduring trials and conscious frailty, the church stands secure in the knowledge that the covenant-keeping God perpetually remembers the humble and hastens to
their aid.

Works Cited

Ellicott, Charles John, editor. A Commentary for English Readers. 8
vols., Cassell and Company, 1897.

Henry, Matthew. An Exposition of the Old and New Testament. 6 vols.,
Robert Carter and Brothers, 1853.

Keil, Carl Friedrich, and Franz Delitzsch. Biblical Commentary on the
Old Testament: Psalms. Translated by Francis Bolton, vol. 2, T&T Clark,
1871.

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. The Treasury of David. 7 vols., Passmore and Alabaster, 1870rCo1885.
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