Psalm 86:17

Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(17) A token for good—i.e., some sign of continued or renewed providential care and love, such, indeed, as an Israelite under the old covenant saw, and every pious heart under the new sees, in what to others is an every-day occurrence. The expression for good is a favourite one with Nehemiah (Nehemiah 5:19; Nehemiah 13:31) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 24:5-6, and comp. Romans 8:28. &c).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

86:8-17 Our God alone possesses almighty power and infinite love. Christ is the way and the truth. And the believing soul will be more desirous to be taught the way and the truth. And the believing soul will be more desirous to be taught the way and the truth of God, in order to walk therein, than to be delivered out of earthly distress. Those who set not the Lord before them, seek after believers' souls; but the compassion, mercy, and truth of God, will be their refuge and consolation. And those whose parents were the servants of the Lord, may urge this as a plea why he should hear and help them. In considering David's experience, and that of the believer, we must not lose sight of Him, who though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Shew me a token for good ... - Hebrew, "Make me a sign for good;" that is, Do that for me in my trouble which will be an evidence that thou dost favor me, and wilt save me. Let there be such a manifest interposition in my behalf that others may see it, and may be convinced that thou art God, and that thou art the Protector and Friend of those who put their trust in thee. We need not suppose that the psalmist refers here to a miracle in his behalf. Any interposition which would save him from the hands of his enemies - which would defeat their purposes - which would rescue him when there seemed to be no help, would be such an evidence that they could not doubt that he was the friend of God. Thus they would be made "ashamed" of their purposes; that is, they would be disappointed and confounded; and there would be furnished a new proof that God was the protector of all who put their trust in him.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17. Show me—literally, "Make with me a token," by Thy providential care. Thus in and by his prosperity his enemies would be confounded.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Vouchsafe unto me some evident and eminent token of lay good will to me, for the conviction of mine enemies, and mine own comfort.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Show me a token for good,.... Not only one by which he might know that his sins were pardoned, and his person accepted with God, and that he should be saved; but one visible to others, even to his enemies, by which they might know that God was on his side, and would verily do him good: Kimchi interprets it of the kingdom; and his being raised to the throne of Israel was a token of the Lord's goodness to him, and showed that he had a delight in him, and meant to do him good:

that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed; of their envy of him, their combinations and conspiracies against him, and of all their efforts to distress him, to hinder him of the kingdom, or deprive him of it, or make him uncomfortable in it:

because thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me; he comforted him by helping him against his enemies, and out of his troubles; and, by doing both, showed him a token for good, and filled his enemies with shame and confusion.

Geneva Study Bible

Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17. a token for good] Some visible and unmistakable sign of Thy favour towards me. Cp. Jeremiah 24:6; Ezra 8:22; Nehemiah 5:19; Nehemiah 13:31.

that they &c.] That they which hate me may be ashamed when they see that thou &c. Cp. Psalm 40:3; Psalm 6:10; Psalm 35:4 : and for holpen … comforted, Isaiah 49:8; Isaiah 49:13.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - Show me a token for good; i.e. give me some sign - not necessarily a miraculous one - that thou art dealing with me, not for evil, but "for good" (Jeremiah 24:6), and that thou wilt grant me that which I have requested of thee. That they which hate me may see it. A visible token is therefore requested, not a mere inward conviction or assurance (see 2 Kings 20:8; Isaiah 7:11). And be ashamed (comp. Psalm 6:10; 56:17; 119:78, etc.). Because thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me. The psalmist's deliverance would be his enemies' shame; it would show that God was on his side, and against them.



Psalm 86:17

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The situation is like that in the Psalms of the time of Saul. The writer is a persecuted one, and in constant peril of his life. He has taken Psalm 86:14 out of the Elohimic Psalm 54:5, and retained the Elohim as a proper name of God (cf. on the other hand Psalm 86:8, Psalm 86:10); he has, however, altered זרים to זרים, which here, as in Isaiah 13:11 (cf. however, ibid. Psalm 25:5), is the alternating word to עריצים. In Psalm 86:15 he supports his petition that follows by Jahve's testimony concerning Himself in Exodus 34:6. The appellation given to himself by the poet in Psalm 86:16 recurs in Psalm 116:16 (cf. Wisd. 9:5). The poet calls himself "the son of Thy handmaid" as having been born into the relation to Him of servant; it is a relationship that has come to him by birth. How beautifully does the Adonaj come in here for the seventh time! He is even from his mother's womb the servant of the sovereign Lord, from whose omnipotence he can therefore also look for a miraculous interposition on his behalf. A "token for good" is a special dispensation, from which it becomes evident to him that God is kindly disposed towards him. לטובה as in the mouth of Nehemiah, Nehemiah 5:19; Nehemiah 13:31; of Ezra 8:22; and also even in Jeremiah and earlier. ויבשׁוּ is just as parenthetical as in Isaiah 26:11.