I. (40:1–10) Many Past Mercies for Which to Be Thankful. The first section reflects on previous situations of need in which the singer called on God for help and God “inclined to [him] and heard [his] cry” (v. 1). These situations have reinforced the lesson that “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud” (v. 4) so as to depend on them and become like them. The song also shapes its singers to share their experiences with the faithful in worship (vv. 3, 9–10)—one’s reception of God’s help is not complete until he gives public thanks. These deliverances express God’s “steadfast love” and “faithfulness” (v. 10; echoing Ex. 34:6).

Some of the imagery and terminology here are familiar from other psalms. For example, the portrayal of rescue as if it were from a raging flood (Ps. 40:2) has been seen before (18:16–19; 27:1, 5; 31:2–3). On the “new song” (v. 3) cf. comment on 33:1–3. The term “blessed” (v. 4) is the same as that used in 1:1 (cf. comment on 1:1–2).348 The idea that personal thanksgiving must be recited among the “great congregation” of one’s fellow worshipers (vv. 9–10) has also previously appeared (22:25; 35:18).

Verse 3 anticipates that “many will see and fear,” presumably via the singer’s recounting the tales of deliverance in public. As a result they will “put their trust in the Lord,” which ensures that they will be “blessed” (v. 4).

Verses 6–8 stress the importance of obedience among the faithful, as we can see from the “open ear” (v. 6), an image for one ready to listen to and obey God’s words, and from the “delight to do your will” and the “law . . . within my heart” (v. 8). This shows how recounting God’s works of deliverance should help the faithful to embrace more and more the goodness of God’s instruction.

Although the Pentateuch certainly portrays the Lord as approving the practices of “sacrifice and offering” as well as “burnt offering and sin offering” (v. 6), verses 6–8 seem to say that God does not desire any of these.349 A number of other passages have been read as likewise criticizing the ceremonial system, but this reading does not do justice to the actual import of those texts, which are usually aimed at a misuse of the ceremonial law, not the proper use.350 That is, verses 6–8 contribute to the OT’s corrective to any who think that the sacrificial system worked automatically, apart from expressed faith, repentance, and obedience in the worshiper’s heart (cf. 50:8–15; 51:16–19). This is probably what enables Hebrews 10:5–7 to use these verses (from the LXX, with slight variations);351 members of the audience of Hebrews were tempted to abandon their specifically Jewish Christianity and revert to “ordinary” Judaism and its sacrifices, thinking these practices would still be pleasing to God. They must see the sacrifices as means of furthering God’s larger purposes, not as producing effects on their own.352

Psalm 40:9–10 returns to the theme of reciting thanks publicly in the “great congregation.” These acts of “deliverance”353 demonstrate God’s “steadfast love and . . . faithfulness,” words that echo the basic confession of OT faith in Exodus 34:6.354

II. (40:11–17) I Am Again in Need. The psalm moves from recitation to request: God has delivered me from troubles aplenty in the past, and now new troubles have arrived (“Evils have encompassed me beyond number”; Ps. 40:12). Thus “Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me!” (v. 13). The section holds together with its cry for “help” (v. 13) and its faith that God is “my help” (v. 17), as well as with its urgency: “Make haste” (v. 13) and “Do not delay” (v. 17).

Verse 11 continues the allusion from verse 10 to Exodus 34:6, adding the word “mercy” to echo “merciful.” These past experiences ground confidence for the present and future that such a God could never “restrain” his continued mercy, even when the singer’s “iniquities have overtaken” him, that is, when the singer’s own sins have played a role in bringing about these troubles. This reinforces the congregation’s grasp of the Lord’s indefatigable grace, which even the ill-desert of his faithful cannot deflect. Whatever these troubles may be, they are not a sign that God has given up.

In Psalm 40:12 the “evils” that are “beyond number” are presumably what bring to mind the “iniquities.” In the third line, in the phrase “they are more,” “they” could be the evils, the iniquities, or some combination. Since the first line stressed the numerousness of the evils, it looks reasonable to find the third line as a further description of this peril. The “hairs of [the] head” provide an image of something that is virtually uncountable (cf. 1 Sam. 14:45; Ps. 69:4; Matt. 10:30; Luke 12:7; 21:18; Acts 27:34).

As is often the case in the Psalms, the distress comes at the hands of people eager to hurt and gloat over the faithful (Ps. 40:14–15). To pray for deliverance from the schemes of such people is to ask that they “be put to shame and disappointed . . . turned back and brought to dishonor” (v. 14), in terms very close to those of 35:4, 26 (cf. 70:2; 71:13; 83:17). As the comments on 35:4–8 argued, these terms ask God to expose the persecutors to public exposure for their unwarranted and deceitful schemes, as well as to thwart these schemes. Hence they should not be called vindictive.

Psalm 40:16 provides the contrast: the faithful (“all who seek” the Lord and those “who love [his] salvation”) can “rejoice and be glad,” both when the singer tells the glad news in the great congregation (v. 9) and when the congregation offers this prayer.

The psalm closes with a declaration of trust and loyalty: “I am poor and needy” (v. 17). These terms can be used for people without material assets (Deut. 15:11; 24:14), as well as in an applied sense of those who are exploited and even wrongfully impoverished (often due to their loyalty to the Lord).355 For such people the Lord is their special protector and will avenge any wrongs done to them (Prov. 22:22–23).356 Hence the thought flows easily: though I am poor and needy, “the Lord takes thought for me,” which means I can count on him to show himself to be “my help and my deliverer.”

The Greek translation of “poor” here (Gk. ptōchos) is the word chosen for the opening beatitude (Matt. 5:3; Luke 6:20). Matthew’s account uses the qualifier “in spirit,” no doubt to stress that the issue is less physical poverty and more the group with whom one identifies. It is still paradoxical that such people would be “blessed” or truly happy, but such is the way of the faithful, who entrust themselves to their Lord in all circumstances.