Psalms 69:4

They that hate me. Surprising sin that men should hate the altogether lovely one, truly is it added, without a cause, for reason there was none for this senseless enmity. He neither blasphemed God, nor injured man. As Samuel said: "Whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed?" Even so might Jesus enquire. Besides, he had not only done us no evil, but he had bestowed countless and priceless benefits. Well might he demand, "For which of these works do ye stone me?"

hate me, &c.--(Compare Joh 15:25). On the number and power of his enemies (compare Ps 40:12). then I restored . . . away--that is, he suffered wrongfully under the imputation of robbery.

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They that hate me. Surprising sin that men should hate the altogether lovely one, truly is it added, without a cause, for reason there was none for this senseless enmity. He neither blasphemed God, nor injured man. As Samuel said: "Whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed?" Even so might Jesus enquire. Besides, he had not only done us no evil, but he had bestowed countless and priceless benefits. Well might he demand, "For which of these works do ye stone me?" Yet from his cradle to his cross, beginning with Herod and not ending with Judas, he had foes without number; and he justly said, they are more than the hairs of mine head. Both the civilians and the military, laics and clerics, doctors and drunkards, princes and people, set themselves against the Lord's anointed. "This is the heir, let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours, "was the unanimous resolve of all the keepers of the Jewish vineyard; while the Gentiles outside the walls of the garden furnished the instruments for his murder, and actually did the deed. The hosts of earth and hell, banded together, made up vast legions of antagonists, none of whom had any just ground for hating him. They that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty. It was bad that they were many, but worse that they were mighty. All the ecclesiastical and military powers of his country were arrayed against him. The might of the Sanhedrin, the mob, and the Roman legions were combined in one for his utter destruction: "Away with such a fellow from this earth; it is not fit that he should live, "was the shout of his ferocious foes. David's adversaries were on the throne when he was hiding in caverns, and our Lord's enemies were the great ones of the earth; while he, of whom the world was not worthy, was reproached of men and despised of the people.

Then I restored that which I took not away - I think, with Calmet, that this is a sort of proverbial expression, like such as these, “Those who suffered the wrong, pay the costs.” Delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi. “Kings sin, and the people are punished.” “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” Our fathers have grievously sinned against the Lord, and we their posterity suffer for it. See on Psa 69:12 (note). Some have applied it to our Lord. I restored, by my suffering and death, that image of God and the Divine favor, which I took not away. That is, In my human nature I expiated the crime that human beings had committed against God. But such applications are very gratuitous.

They that hate me without a cause - Without any just reason; without any provocation on my part. There were many such in the case of David, for to those who rose up against him in the time of Saul, and to Absalom also, he had given no real occasion of offence. An expression similar to the one used here occurs in Psa 35:19. See the notes at that passage. The “language” is applied to the Saviour Joh 15:25, not as having had original reference to him, but as language which received its most perfect fulfillment in the treatment which he received from his enemies. See the notes at Joh 15:25. Are more than the hairs of mine head - The number is so great that it cannot be estimated. They that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty - literally, “More than the hairs of my head are my haters falsely (those who hate me falsely); strong are those destroying me; my enemies.” The idea is, that those who were numbered among his foes without any just provocation on his part were so numerous and strong that he could not contend with them. Then I restored that which I took not away - Prof. Alexander renders this, “What I did not rob, then must I restore.” This seems to have a proverbial cast, and the idea is, that under this pressure of circumstances - borne down by numbers - he was compelled to give up what he had not taken away from others. They regarded and treated him as a bad man - as if he had been a robber; and they compelled him to give up what he possessed, “as if” he had no right to it, or “as if” he had obtained it by robbery. This does not seem to refer to anything that was “voluntary” on his part - as if, for the sake of peace, he had proposed to give up that to which they had no claim, or to surrender his just rights, but to the act of compulsion by which he was “forced” to surrender what he had, “as if” he had been a public offender. […]