This poor man cried, and Jehovah heard him. David here introduces all the godly speaking of himself, the more emphatically to express how much weight there is in his example to encourage them. This poor man, say they, cried; therefore God invites all the poor to cry to him. They contemplate in David what belongs to the common benefit of all the godly; for God is as willing and ready at this day to hear all the afflicted who direct their sighs, wishes, and cries, to him with the same faith, as he was at that time to hear David.

This poor man cried - The psalmist here returns to his own particular experience. The emphasis here is on the word "this:" "This poor, afflicted, persecuted man cried." There is something much more touching in this than if he had merely said "I," or "I myself" cried. The language brings before us at once his afflicted and miserable condition. The word "poor" here - עני ‛ânı̂y - does not mean "poor" in the sense of a want of wealth, but "poor" in the sense of being afflicted, crushed, forsaken, desolate. The word "miserable" would better express the idea than the word "poor."
And the Lord heard him - That is, heard in the sense of "answered." He regarded his cry, and saved him.

This poor man cried - זה עני zeh ani, "This afflicted man," David.

This poor man cried,.... Singling out some one person from among the humble, who was remarkably delivered; it is the common case of the people of God to be poor and afflicted, and in their afflictions they cry unto the Lord to be supported under them, and delivered out of them: or this may be understood of David himself, who was poor, not with respect to outward things, but in spirit; was much afflicted, and especially greatly distressed when in the court of Achish; at which time he cried unto the Lord, as was his usual way, and that internally, as Moses did, Exodus 14:15. Some think Jesus Christ is intended by this poor man, who was poor in temporals, though rich, and Lord of all; and was greatly afflicted, both in body and soul; and who, in the days of his flesh, offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, Hebrews 5:7;
and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles; so the Lord always heard his son Jesus Christ, and especially in the day of salvation, and delivered him out of all his troubles, both of body and soul, when he raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; and he heard David his servant, as he often did; particularly when at Gath, and made way for his escape from thence; and from whence he came safe to the cave of Adullam; and the Lord hears all his poor and afflicted ones, when they cry unto him, and in the issue saves them from all their troubles, by reason of a body of sin and death, the temptations of Satan, and the persecutions of men.

This poor man--literally, "humble," himself as a specimen of such.

This man - David.