“For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.”
The reference to zeal for God's house consuming the psalmist and the reproaches of those who reproach God falling on the psalmist indicates that the psalmist's suffering is connected to faithfulness to God's purposes. The consuming zeal indicates that devotion to God's house is so intense that it leaves no room for self-protection. The falling of reproaches indicates that opposition to God becomes directed at God's most devoted servants. This verse articulates that the psalmist's suffering participates in God's struggle against those who oppose the divine.
Church Fathers on Psalms 69:9
1. We have been born into this world, and added to the people of God, at that period wherein already the herb from a grain of mustard seed has spread out its branches; wherein already the leaven, which at first was contemptible, has leavened three measures, that is, the whole round world repeopled by the three sons of Noe: Genesis 9:19 for from East and West and North and South shall come they that shall sit down with the Patriarchs, Matthew 8:11 while those shall have been…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a reflection on this verse
No reflections on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!