When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.
David here resembles the twenty-second psalm in lamenting the cruelty of his enemies, though we cannot fix which persecution occasioned it, Saul's or Absalom's. Yet the New Testament quotes it of Christ at least seven times, making clear it is prophetic of Him. David's affliction did not shake his trust in God or weaken his holy conduct; rather, his zeal for God's glory provoked the world's hatred against him.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 69:1-36
Prejudice is cruel beyond measure; it colours everything through its own dark medium and rails at all indiscriminately. Our Saviour wept in secret for our sins, His agonies in lone mountains and desert places unknown to the world; and the very emaciation from His soul-chastening, which was His honour, became fuel for His enemies' reproach.
AI summary
When afflictions enter the soul itself, not merely threatening life but disquieting the mind, the spirit becomes wounded and cannot sustain. All that David sought to prop his hope upon failed him; he sank in mire without footing, overwhelmed in deep waters, this points to Christ's inward agony when He cried that His soul was exceedingly sorrowful.
AI summary
Commenting on Psalm 69:1-12