Devotional Short Note on Psalm 130: Many Reformers and scholars want to ascribe the psalm to David. Among them they are not sure whether it is when he sinned or when he fled from Saul. Hengstenberg, who is normally considered very biblical in his views, thinks that two words (attentive, forgiveness) in their form, cannot be found before 2 Chronicles 6 and the latter is in Daniel 9 and Nehemiah 9. So this led him to a later dating. Hengstenberg’s problem is the same as that of Walther Eichrodt. Eichrodt wanted to write a theology of the Old Testament. So what he did is to collect all the related topics in heaps, counting them and then by dating the books, he came to the conclusion that if the early books do not have the topic, it means that they did not know about it! If it appears many times in a book, they had a developed or advanced view of that topic. Knowledge size by quantity of texts in a corpus. Just the opposite is the case. Because they knew a topic so well, the Holy Spirit decided not to mention the topic too much but in periods when they did not understand the topic, the Holy Spirit wanted it to be discussed more. Note that it is the reversed version of what Hengstenberg and Eichrodt is talking about.

Some points can be seen in the psalm: the names of God are in three forms: adonay, yah, Yahweh. The sins involved in this psalm is not personal so that the Batsheba event of David that scholars linked it to is cancelled. Notice for example 130:8 “and He will redeem Israel from all its iniquities”. Israel is not David it is the whole of spiritual Israel who wishes to receive redemption. This person almost act as a kind of mediator for spiritual Israel. Pool and Symson thought that it is David praying for his sins, but that can be cancelled. A sinless person can also be in the “depths”. David had confidence that even if he walks in the valley of the shadow of death, God will be near him in Psalm 23.

He asked God to be very attentive to his pleas on behalf of Israel who need mercy for their sins (130:2).

“If You Lord [Yah] will perceive iniquities, Lord [Adonay] who will stand?” (130:3). God cannot overlook iniquities, He had to deal with it in order to overlook it. God died Himself to take care of the penalty and guilt so that this substitution makes it possible to overlook when conditions are met. It is again not just a blank statement incorporating all of humanity regardless their response to His love. The gospel is not cheap, it is not honey that is streaming from the cross, it is blood, the blood of God. And yet, it is not expensive.  

“For with You there is forgiveness that You may be feared” (130:4). First the harvest of the good and then the remainder is the bringing together of the balance for punishment or burning. Forgiveness is for the remnant saved and fearing is for those who are not saved.

Then in 130:5 there is a special remark. Promise Theology is all the promises of God and Christ through the Spirit in the Old and New Testaments. Christ said, I will come again to take you… A promise. He did not yet come. Thus, Delay Theology. Because of Delay Theology the faithful remnant must wait, thus a Waiting Theology. They need the Word of God to tell them the security of the promises and that gives them hope, thus the Hope Theology. Now that we understand the trajectory of the Second Coming in the Bible, we can proceed to the way the poem of the psalmist has it.

“My soul, to the Lord, from watchmen to the morning, watchmen to the morning” (130:6a-c). The soul is waiting for the Lord since He is delayed due to compassion that more should be saved. His soul is waiting for the Second Coming of the Lord and he went to watchmen, like prophets or preachers to explain to him the signs of the times, how long the night will still be? In Isaiah 21:11 at the oracle against Edom, one was calling from Seir saying: “Watchman, how far gone is the night? Watchman, how far gone is the night? The watchman says: Morning comes but also night. If you would inquire, inquire, come back”. So what it is here is that the person whose soul is waiting for the Second Advent, goes to the preacher or teacher to ask what the signs of the times is to say how late history is for this event to take place. The preacher says it is close but it is still dark with uncertainty. Come back later to ask again. In this case he went “from watchmen” to ask how long it will be “to the morning”. The morning of the Second Advent.

Israel should hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy for all iniquities and with Him is great redemption (130:7). “And He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities”. That will be spiritual Israel and not a blank check for those with the Hebrew genotype. It is not biological but spiritual Israel.