Mercifully, the resurrection of Jesus wasn’t followed by immediate judgment for those who condemned him, but forgiveness was offered to those who turned from evil [Acts 3:27].

THOMAS R. SCHREINER, HANDBOOK ON ACTS AND PAUL’S LETTERS, 14.

The name of Jesus is not to be trifled with, and it doesn’t work like a magic charm.

Thomas R. Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 37.

When the psalmist stops speaking to himself (Ps 42) and addresses his words to God (Ps 43), the beginning of his deliverance is in sight.

PETER C. CRAIGIE AND MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 1-50, VOLUME 19: SECOND EDITION (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 329.

Like a thirsty animal in a dry place, the psalmist thirsts for God, but it is specifically the worship of God in the temple for which he longs (as is implied by “the face,” or presence, of God: [Ps. 42] v 3b).

PETER C. CRAIGIE AND MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 1-50, VOLUME 19: SECOND EDITION (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 326.

In John’s Gospel (13:18), the lamenting words of the psalmist concerning betrayal by an intimate friend are used by Jesus in anticipation of his own betrayal [“I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But it is to fulfill the scripture, ‘The one who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me'” (Ps. 41:9)]. Thus, words which were originally part of a liturgy of sickness in the face of death, are transformed into what amounts to a prophetic prediction of betrayal in the life of Jesus.

PETER C. CRAIGIE AND MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 1-50, VOLUME 19: SECOND EDITION (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 321.

In a remarkable copy of the Gospels dating from the fourteenth century, which once belonged to the Medicis (Gregory-Aland 16), the general run of the narrative is written in vermillion; the words of Jesus and angels are crimson and occasionally in gold; the words quoted from the Old Testament and those spoken by the disciples are blue; and, finally, the words of the Pharisees, Judas Iscariot, and the devil are black.

Bruce M. Metzger, Manuscripts of the Greek Bible: An Introduction to Palaeography, 18.

In the NT the theme to be developed most explicitly from Ps 40 is the passage on sacrifice, vv 7–9. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews develops the passage in his account of the permanent nature of the sacrifice of Christ. The words of the ancient psalm are now set in the mouth of Christ (Heb 10:5–10), though with some modification, for the writer of the Epistle employs the slightly different text of the Septuagint at this point (see note a* on v 7). In one sense, Hebrews goes beyond Ps 40; the perpetual sacrifices of the past have become obsolete in terms of the permanent sacrifice of Christ. But in another sense, the writer of the Epistle grasps the fundamental sense of the psalm and neatly reverses it. The king in the ancient kingdom had been required to offer sacrifices, but that was not all; beyond the formalities of the cult, obedience and profound spirituality were required of him, for sacrifices in and of themselves achieved nothing. In Christ, says the writer of the Epistle, there is a reversal; first, he affirms his intention to do the divine will (Heb 10:9), and that intention in turn leads back inevitably to sacrifice, but now to the sacrifice that ends all sacrifices.

PETER C. CRAIGIE AND MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 1-50, VOLUME 19: SECOND EDITION (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 317.

Prayer (40:12). The brief element of prayer forms an appropriate transition between the thanksgiving for former acts of deliverance, and the lament (vv 13–17) which will culminate in an explicit prayer for a future act of deliverance (v 18). The whole thrust of the prayer is to be found in the imperative: “come.” The king prays for the divine presence in the approaching crisis, for it had only been that presence which converted former crisis into victory. The divine presence would bring with it those covenant characteristics of God (“mercies, lovingkindness, truth”) that would provide the necessary protection (v 12b) in crisis and would culminate in victory.

PETER C. CRAIGIE AND MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 1-50, VOLUME 19: SECOND EDITION (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 316.

The essence of Ps 40 is that it is a part of a liturgy, and the formal and substantial changes within the psalm are to be understood against the background of progression within the liturgy. The liturgy begins with thanksgiving, thereby establishing precedent and laying a foundation for what is to follow. It then moves on to lament and prayer; it is only in the prayer that the overall purpose of the liturgy emerges, and the preparatory role of the thanksgiving is clarified.

PETER C. CRAIGIE AND MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 1-50, VOLUME 19: SECOND EDITION (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 314.

Peter, in his ethical admonitions to his readers, reminds them that they are “strangers and pilgrims” in this world (1 Pet 2:11; cf. Ps 39:13). But above all, it is the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews who develops the theme. In developing the great catalogue of men of faith, he says of them: “they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth” (Heb 11:13), again employing the words of Ps 39. In the psalm, the perspective is developed as one appropriate for living this life; in the NT, it is broadened to incorporate the life beyond as well. But it is healthy to begin with the psalm; in this life, our permanence is not to be found in the world as such, but in God who granted us life in the world. To combine an awareness of the transitory nature of human life as a whole, with the wisdom that “sufficient for the day is the evil thereof,” is a starting point in achieving the sanity of a pilgrim in an otherwise mad world.

PETER C. CRAIGIE AND MARVIN TATE, PSALMS 1-50, VOLUME 19: SECOND EDITION (WORD BIBLICAL COMMENTARY), 311.