They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.
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
They that hate me. Surprising sin that men should hate the altogether lovely one, truly is it added, without a cause, for reason there was none for this senseless enmity. He neither blasphemed God, nor injured man. As Samuel said: "Whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed?" Even so might Jesus enquire.
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