What Does Psalms 40:2 Mean?

Verse 2 gives the concrete metaphor of the deliverance that the patient-waiting (verse 1) produced: "He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure." The drawing-up from the pit of destruction (vaya'aleni mibor shaon, and he drew me up from the pit of tumult/destruction: the alah-causative of bringing-up-out-of, and the bor-shaon as the destroying-noisy-pit : the bor/pit of the grave-underworld-pit and the shaon/tumult-destruction of the doom that awaited in it) and the miry-bog (mitin hayaven, from the miry clay/mud: the tin/mud and yaven/mud-mire of the deep-sucking-mud that is the most dangerous form of the pit : rather than deep but actively sinking) and the set-on-rock (vayaqem al sela raglal, and he set upon a rock my feet: the qum-causative of establishing-firmly on the sela/rock that cannot be moved : the foundation that Psalm 18:2's "YHWH is my rock and my fortress" provides) and the secured-steps (konnen ashuray, he established my steps: the kun of verse 37:23's YHWH-establishes-the-steps now stated as the past-accomplished rescue outcome) are the four movements of the deliverance-narrative.

The bor-shaon (pit of destruction) and the tin-hayaven (miry clay) are the death-realm images of complete engulfment: the psalmist who was sinking in the consuming-mud (the suffering of Psalms 38-39's hevel-and-frailty) was drawn up by YHWH and placed on the sela/rock : the solid, stable, unmovable foundation. The movement is vertical: from the downward-sinking-pit to the upward-placed-on-rock. The kon/established steps on the rock are the walking that follows the rescue: not just placed on solid ground but having the steps made firm upon it.

Matthew 7:24-25's "everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock" is verse 2's vayaqem-al-sela-raglal (he set my feet upon a rock) as the rock-foundation of Christ's words: the bor-shaon-sinking of verse 2 is the house-without-foundation of Matthew 7:26; the set-on-rock of verse 2 is the house-on-rock of Matthew 7:24. 1 Corinthians 10:4's "and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ" is verse 2's sela/rock identified Christologically: the rock upon which the feet are set (verse 2) is Christ himself (1 Corinthians 10:4).