Psalm 40 · a question people ask
Who says, "Behold, I have come" (40:7)?
The psalm is titled "A Psalm by David." (Psalm 40:1), and its speaker says, "Then I said, “Behold, I have come. It is written about me in the book in the scroll" (Psalm 40:7). Hebrews says, "Therefore when he comes into the world, he says" (Hebrews 10:5), and gives him these lines. Then it names him: "the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:10). Hebrews gives only the lines of 40:6-8. The same speaker also says, "My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up" (Psalm 40:12), and Hebrews doesn't say how that verse, or the rest of the psalm, bears on Jesus. Christians read how a psalm titled "A Psalm by David" speaks of Jesus in two main ways: first of David and fulfilled in Jesus, or of Jesus directly. The chapter on Psalm 22 sets out both, each with its verses, and chooses neither. Both take Hebrews' words as the psalm spoken of Jesus. These notes don't choose between them, and they say no more about 40:12 than Hebrews does.
The verses
“For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. I waited patiently for the LORD. He turned to me, and heard my cry.”
“Then I said, “Behold, I have come. It is written about me in the book in the scroll.”
“For innumerable evils have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head. My heart has failed me.”
“For the Chief Musician; set to “The Doe of the Morning.” A Psalm by David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?”