2 “Bow down Your ear, O Lord, and hear me”. He speaks in the form of a servant: speak thou, O servant, in the form of your Lord: “Bow down Your ear, O Lord.” He bows down His ear, if you dost not lift up your neck: for unto the humble He draws near: from him that is exalted He removes afar off, except whom He Himself has exalted from being humble. God then bows down His ear unto us. For He is above, we below: He in a high place, we in a lowly one, yet not deserted. “For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
For scarcely for a just man will one die: yet for a good man perhaps one would even dare to die:” but our Lord died for the wicked. For no merits of ours had gone before, for which the Son of God should die: but the more, because there were no merits, was His mercy great. How sure then, how firm is the promise, by which for the righteous He keeps His life, who for the wicked gave His own death! “For I am poor and in misery.” To the rich then He bows not down His ear: unto the poor and him that is in misery He bows down His ear, that is, unto the humble, and him that confesses, unto him that is in need of mercy: not unto him that is full, who lifts up himself and boasts, as if he wanted nothing, and says, “I thank You that I am not as this Publican.”
For the rich Pharisee boasted of his merits: the poor Publican confessed his sins.
Source: The Enarrations, or Expositions, on the Psalms (New Advent)