16 Turn to me, and have mercy on me! Give your strength to your servant. Save the son of your handmaid.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Look to me, and have pity upon me. Here the Psalmist makes a more distinct application to himself of what he had said concerning the divine mercy and goodness. As God is merciful, he assures himself that his welfare will be the object of the divine care. The second verb in the verse, chnn, chanan, which I have rendered have pity, signifies to gratify, to do one a pleasure; and is intended to convey the idea, that the succor which God affords to his people proceeds from his free goodness. Finally, the Psalmist concludes, that the only way in which he can be preserved is by the divine aid, which he seeks to obtain by prayer; and thus he confesses his utter destitution of any strength of his own. In applying to himself the appellation of God's servant, and the son of his handmaid, he does not boast of his own services, but urges as a plea, for obtaining greater favor at the divine hand, the long line of his ancestors, and the continual course of God's grace; setting forth, that he was from his mother's womb a household-servant of God, and, as it were, born one of his servants in his house: a point of which we have already spoken elsewhere. The last verse contains an additional confirmation of the statement, that he was in a manner forsaken of God. He would not have desired to be favored with some token of the divine favor, had he not been on all sides driven to despair, and had not the divine favor been hidden from him to try his patience. It was a proof of no ordinary steadfastness to maintain the conflict with this temptation, and to do this so successfully, as not to cease to descry light in the midst of darkness. He desires that his enemies may be put to shame, because they assailed his simplicity with mockery and scoffing, as if he had acted a foolish part by trusting in God. The miserable and distressing condition in which the Church was placed after the Babylonish captivity, might be apt to sink the minds of the godly into despondency; and, accordingly, the Holy Spirit here promises her restoration in a wonderful and incredible manner, so that nothing would be more desirable than to be reckoned among the number of her members.
O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me - Look upon me; as if God were now turned away, and were unmindful of his danger, his needs, and his pleading. The expression is equivalent to those in which he prays that God would incline his ear to him. See Psalm 86:1, Psalm 86:6, and the notes at Psalm 5:1.
Give thy strength unto thy servant - Give such strength as proceeds from thee, and such as will accomplish what thou alone canst effect. Enable me to act as if clothed with divine power. The ground of the plea here is, that he was the "servant" of God, and he might, therefore, hope for God's interposition.
And save the son of thine handmaid - This is, as far as I know, the only separate allusion which David ever makes to his mother individually, unless the passage in Psalm 35:14 - "I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his mother" - be supposed to refer to his own mother. But we have elsewhere no such mention of his mother as can give us any idea of her character, and indeed it is not easy to determine who she was. The language here, however, would seem to imply that she was a pious woman, for the words "thy handmaid," as employed in the Scriptures, would most naturally suggest that idea. If so, then the ground of the plea here is that his mother was a child of God; that she had lived for his service; and that she had trained up her children for him. David now prays that, as he had been devoted to God by her, and had thus been trained up, God would remember all this, and would interfere in his behalf. Can it be wrong to urge before God, as a reason for his interposition, that we have been devoted to him by parental faithfulness and prayer; that we have been consecrated to him by baptism; that we have been trained up for his service; that in reference to us high hopes were cherished that we might carry out the purposes of pious parents, and live to accomplish what was so dear to their hearts? He who has had a pious mother has entered on life under great advantages; he has been placed under solemn responsibilites; he is permitted to hope that a mother's prayers will not be forgotten, but that her example, her teachings, and her piety will shed a hallowed influence on all the paths of life until he joins her in heaven.
O turn unto me - He represents himself as following after God; but he cannot overtake him; and then he plays that he would turn and meet him through pity; or give him strength that he might be able to hold on his race.
Give thy strength unto thy servant - The Vulgate renders, Daniel imperium tuum puero tuo, "Give thy empire to thy child." The old Psalter. Gyf empyre to thi barne, and make safe the son of thi hand mayden. Thi barne - thy tender child. Anglo-Saxon; thy knave; signifying either a serving man or a male child. As many servants were found to be purloiners of their masters' property, hence the word knave, became the title of an unprincipled servant. The term fur, which signifies a thief in Latin, for the same reason became the appellative of a dishonest servant.
Quid domini facient, audent cum talia Fures?
When servants (thieves) do such things, what may not be expected from the masters?
Virg. Ecl. 3:16.
So Plautus, speaking of a servant, Aulul. 2:46, says: Homo es trium literarum, "Thou art a man of three letters," i.e., Fur, a thief. The word knave is still in use, but is always taken in a bad sense. The paraphrase in the old Psalter states the handmaid to be the kirk, and the son of this handmaid to be a true believer.
O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the (l) son of thine handmaid.
(l) He boasts not of his own virtues, but confesses that God of his free goodness has always been merciful to him, and given him power against his enemies, as to one of his own household.
O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me,.... For it seems the Lord had turned away from him, and had hid his face, and withheld the manifestation of his grace and mercy from him, and had not yielded him the help and assistance he expected; and therefore entreats that he would turn again to him, and show him his face and favour, and be merciful to him:
give thy strength unto thy servant; spiritual strength, strength in his soul, to exercise grace, perform duty, bear the cross, and stand up against all enemies, and hold out to the end: this is God's gift; and the psalmist pleads his relation to him as his servant, not merely by creation, but by grace; this is interpreted by the Jews of the King Messiah (u):
and save the son of thine handmaid; out of the hands of those that were risen up against him; see Psalm 119:94. Some think this has a special reference to Christ, who was made of a woman, called an handmaid, Luke 1:48, born of a virgin, the son of Mary: Arama says David uses the word "handmaid", because he sprung from Ruth the Moabitess.
(u) Zohar in Genesis. fol. 58. 4. & 59. 1.
son . . . handmaid--homeborn servant (compare Luke 15:17).
*More commentary available at chapter level.