Can you explain Psalm 69:22-28? What is this talking about?
There are a number of psalms which speak of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are called Messianic psalms obviously because they speak about the Messiah. This is where there is a reference to the Messiah in a psalm, and it is applied to Christ and expounded in the New Testament. For example, the Lord said in John 15:25, “But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.” This is a reference to Psalm 69:4 which says, “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.” John 2:16-17 references Psalm 69:9. John 19:29-30 fulfills the prophesy of Psalm 69:21.
Realizing that Psalm 69 is a Messianic psalm, let’s read Psalm 69:22-28 which is prophetic of the Lord Jesus speaking. “Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake. Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.”
King David, in writing this psalm, certainly was expressing his suffering from the hands of his enemies. Exactly which enemies and what was occurring is largely unknown, but surely the greater meaning of this psalm is that it is prophetic of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. David begins this psalm by stating, “Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.” (Psalm 69:1-2). How accurate are these words when describing the Lord Jesus on the cross where His Father flooded Him with His wrath as the Lord Jesus stood in our place and received God’s punishment for our sins.
Paul, the apostle references this psalm in Romans 11:9-10 where he wrote, “And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.” The Lord Jesus, coming into the world as the true Messiah, was rejected by His people. John 1:11 tells us, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” What should have been a table of blessings, abundance, and feasting was turned into a snare, a trap, and a stumbling block to the Jewish nation. Because of the unbelief and rejection of the Jewish nation, there was governmental judgment of that nation. The Lord Jesus, when asked why He spoke in parables to the Jews responded in Matthew 13:15, “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
These words might seem strange coming from the same One who prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34). The Lord Jesus prayed for the individuals who crucified Him. Even now, every individual who puts his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can be saved. As far as the offer of salvation goes, we read in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” The Lord’s grace will reach all who desire Him and His salvation, but the nation of Israel is still in a state of rejection and, as a nation, does not enjoy all the precious promises the Lord had in store for them.
However, there is a day coming when the Lord will once again pour out His blessings on His chosen earthly nation as we read in Romans 11:25-26, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” There will be a great remnant of Israel that will be saved during the time we know as the Tribulation period. (CC) (606.2)