Psalm 60 To the Chief Musician. Set to “Lily of the Testimony.” A Michtam of David. For Teaching. When He Fought Against Mesopotamia and Syria of Zobah, and Joab Returned and Killed Twelve Thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

¹O God, You have cast us off;

You have broken us down;

You have been displeased;

Oh, restore us again!

²You have made the earth tremble;

You have broken it;

Heal its breaches, for it is shaking.

³You have shown Your people hard things;

You have made us drink the wine of confusion.

⁴You have given a banner to those who fear You,

That it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah

⁵That Your beloved may be delivered,

Save with Your right hand, and hear me.

⁶God has spoken in His holiness:

“I will rejoice;

I will divide Shechem

And measure out the Valley of Succoth.

⁷Gilead is Mine,

and Manasseh is Mine;

Ephraim also is the helmet for My head;

Judah is My lawgiver.

⁸Moab is My washpot;

Over Edom I will cast My shoe;

Philistia, shout in triumph because of Me.”

⁹Who will bring me to the strong city?

Who will lead me to Edom?

¹⁰Is it not You, O God, who cast us off?

And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?

¹¹Give us help from trouble,

For the help of man is useless.

¹²Through God we will do valiantly,

For it is He who shall tread down our enemies. 

Preamble: This Psalm comes on the heels of Israel suffering military defeat at the hands of Syria and Edom. From this David sees their defeat as God’s displeasure at the nation, for as history has shown when the nation rebels against the Lord He very often will give them to defeat before their enemies to return them to Himself (consider Joshua 7:10-15; Judges 2:1-5; 2 Chr. 14:8-15; Psalm 106:34-38 etc.). Therefore, when necessary, God has withdrawn His hand from helping them. This Psalm then is David seeking to have the favor of our Lord restored to them, because God is not beholding to either a man or a nation, no matter who they are, never forget that!

Vs. 1 “O God, You have cast us off;

You have broken us down;

You have been displeased;

Oh, restore us again!”

In seeking understanding and ultimately God’s restoration, David does not come to the Lord from a place of privilege or entitlement, as if God must always act for Israel’s (or anyone else’s defense). Instead, he comes humbled and broken before the Lord acknowledging that their defeat is because the Lord had cast them off, that through the hands of their enemies God has broken them, because He has been displeased with them. Therefore, David asks that He restore them again.

Vs. 2 “You have made the earth tremble;

You have broken it;

Heal its breaches, for it is shaking.”

God’s Sovereignty and Power is now declared, for He alone makes the earth tremble, for He alone can break it, and He alone can heal it. This then is symbolic of the nation of Israel as a whole.

Vs. 3 “You have shown Your people hard things;

You have made us drink the wine of confusion.

Yes, not just then, but throughout their history God has shown Israel hard things, for when they stiffen their necks and harden their hearts towards Him, He has made them drink the wine of confusion, as chastisement yes, but also to return them to Himself, so that they may come to see that their ways are not always His ways!

Vs. 4-5 ⁴You have given a banner to those who fear You,

That it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah

⁵That Your beloved may be delivered,

Save with Your right hand, and hear me.

In contrast then to being stiff necked and rebellious and reaping that, there is the Lord’s banner which He unfolds before all who fear Him, who believe Him and seek to obey Him, that it may be displayed before all because of the truth. For that was God’s purpose in creating the nation of Israel to bring forth His truth into the world through them which culminated through His Son Jesus Christ, who has come! Therefore, God’s banner, Yahweh Nissi; which means the Lord is my banner; now flies over all His beloved, over all who believe and have received His Son. This David then claims for himself as a beloved servant of God, who then did not have full access too his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but was living in great anticipation of Him, therefore as a faithful servant of God; appointed then as ruler of the nation, he asks that He save them with His right hand, that He hear his prayer and help them.

Vs. 6 God has spoken in His holiness:

“I will rejoice;

I will divide Shechem

And measure out the Valley of Succoth.

God’s response to David’s prayer for help is now heard in verses six to eight. God speaking in His Holiness now declares that He will rejoice, (for He Himself will make Himself victorious over all His enemies), therefore He will divide Shechem and measure out the Valley of Succoth, meaning He will retake all of Israel’s territory that their enemies have now captured and occupied.

Vs. 7 “Gilead is Mine,

and Manasseh is Mine;

Ephraim also is the helmet for My head;

Judah is My lawgiver.”

Therefore, God now declares that Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine, thus the entire trans Jordan region and the entire region of Manasseh on either side of the Jordan, God will now take back from their enemies, for all of it is His! And in this Ephraim, Manasseh’s older brother shall lead, for he is the helmet for My head say’s God. Judah then according to Jacob’s prophecy (Gen. 49:10) shall then be the seat from where His Government shall rule, for it shall be from there that the Lord Jesus Christ’s Reign shall forever be!

Vs. 8 Moab is My washpot;

Over Edom I will cast My shoe;

Philistia, shout in triumph because of Me.”

God now declares His contempt for Moab and Edom, declaring to Moab that it shall be His washpot, that is a place for washing of ones dirtied hands and feet. And next door is Edom, the nation descended from Esau, which has always been a thorn in the side of Israel, therefore over it, God says He will cast His shoe, thus He will have victory over it and keep it in perpetual subjugation as long as it exists. Interestingly though God tells Philistia to shout in triumph because of Me, because of God’s most just judgments being rendered in the earth.

Vs. 9-12 ⁹Who will bring me to the strong city?

Who will lead me to Edom?

¹⁰Is it not You, O God, who cast us off?

And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?

¹¹Give us help from trouble,

For the help of man is useless.

¹²Through God we will do valiantly,

For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.

The speaker now changes back to David, who upon understanding God’s intentions on Israel's enemies now desires to see them all fulfilled! Therefore, he says who will bring me to the strong city, who will lead me to Edom? (vs.9) Which is not a question, so much as it is a supplication, for as David acknowledges in verses 10-11 unless our God goes out with them, they can do nothing in of themselves. Therefore, David asks that God would give them help, for the help of man is useless. Which is a profound and true statement, for turning to individuals, or nations, or their armies, or anything else for one’s defense, for Israel’s defense, has been its archils heal throughout its history. Don’t let it then be yours! Therefore, with his eyes focused on our God as his leader, as the nations Commander, Leader and King (Joshua 5:14; Hosea 13:9-11; Psalm 74:12), David closes by saying: “Through God we will do valiantly, For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.”

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson. 

Psalm 59 To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David When Saul Sent Men, and They Watched the House in Order to Kill Him.

 ¹Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;

Defend me from those who rise up against me.

²Deliver me from the workers of iniquity,

And save me from bloodthirsty men.

³For look, they lie in wait for my life;

The mighty gather against me,

Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord.

⁴They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine.

Awake to help me, and behold!

⁵You therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,

Awake to punish all the nations;

Do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah

⁶At evening they return,

They growl like a dog,

And go all around the city.

⁷Indeed, they belch with their mouth;

Swords are in their lips;

For they say, “Who hears?”

⁸But You, O Lord, shall laugh at them;

You shall have all the nations in derision.

⁹I will wait for You,

O You his Strength;

For God is my defense.

¹⁰My God of mercy shall come to meet me;

God shall let me see my desire on my enemies.

¹¹Do not slay them, lest my people forget;

Scatter them by Your power,

And bring them down, O Lord our shield.

¹²For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips,

Let them even be taken in their pride,

And for the cursing and lying which they speak.

¹³Consume them in wrath, consume them,

That they may not be;

And let them know that God rules in Jacob

To the ends of the earth. Selah

¹⁴And at evening they return,

They growl like a dog,

And go all around the city.

¹⁵They wander up and down for food,

And howl if they are not satisfied.

¹⁶But I will sing of Your power;

Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;

For You have been my defense

And refuge in the day of my trouble.

¹⁷To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises;

For God is my defense, My God of mercy.

Preamble: This Psalm is one of David’s earliest Psalms, when he became aware of Saul’s desire to kill him (see 1 Samuel 19:9-20:42).

Commentary

Vs. 1-2 ¹Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;

Defend me from those who rise up against me.

²Deliver me from the workers of iniquity,

And save me from bloodthirsty men.

David’s opens this Psalm with a passionate plea to our God to deliver him from his enemies and defend him from all those who had risen up against him. For though he was a loyal servant he was now desperately trying to escape Saul and his men who were seeking him in Jerusalem, and so David now knows that there was but a step between him and death.  

Vs. 3-4 ³For look, they lie in wait for my life;

The mighty gather against me,

Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord.

⁴They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine.

Awake to help me, and behold!

 David's desperation and despair in prayer continues as he tells our God how he is being fiercely hunted by Saul’s men who had gone to his house at Saul’s orders to bring him to Saul so that he might kill him; but not for his transgression, or for his sin, since he had done nothing against Saul, or the kingdom, but only because Saul in his spiritually tormented and paranoid state now sees David as a “threat” to his own reign’s tenure. And so, Saul continually imagines David plotting all kinds of evil schemes against him to overthrow him, when none of it is true. What then can David do? For Saul will not be appeased, he’s tried that time and again, and Saul’s men, well there only interested in killing him, therefore David cries to God to awake and help him, to look upon what they are doing and save him. It is in these moments that even a mighty warrior like David needs and gains a deeper dependence upon our God.

Vs. 5 “You therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,

Awake to punish all the nations;

Do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah”

David’s cry now turns from justice for himself, to justice for our Lord, that He would look upon the unbelieving nations and wicked therewithin, and punish them all, and not be merciful to any wicked transgressors, since David has learned much about them through his own experiences in being hunted by them.

Vs. 6 “At evening they return,

They growl like a dog,

And go all around the city.”

And so while in hiding David observes their coming in and going out, he sees them return in evening to Jerusalem growling like dogs as they go all around the city still looking for him, and always wanting to harm him.

Vs. 7 Indeed, they belch with their mouth;

Swords are in their lips;

For they say, “Who hears?”

So confident are they in their wicked ways and lives that they openly belch while consuming their intoxicating drink well into the night hours. And with swords in their lips they defame David and boast of all their evil desires against him, for there is no fear of God in them, for they say, “Who hears”.

Vs. 8 “But You, O Lord, shall laugh at them;

You shall have all the nations in derision.”

Though they think no one hears David knows that God hears them all, and He shall laugh at them when He repays them, everyone and every nation that has openly and boastfully rejected Him shall know the immense fury of the Lord. No one then shall be boastful or confident on that Day, for He shall have all the nations in derision.

Vs. 9-10 “I will wait for You,

O You his Strength;

For God is my defense.

¹⁰My God of mercy shall come to meet me;

God shall let me see my desire on my enemies.”

Therefore David will wait for the Lord to avenge him, for both himself and even the nation of Israel collectively, for they will know God’s vengeance for them and defense of them. Therefore, David now boldly proclaims, “My God of mercy shall come to meet me; God shall let me see my desire on my enemies.” This promise then will apply to all who believe, who due justly and live righteously for Him.

Vs. 11-13 ¹¹Do not slay them, lest my people forget;

Scatter them by Your power,

And bring them down, O Lord our shield.

¹²For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips,

Let them even be taken in their pride,

And for the cursing and lying which they speak.

¹³Consume them in wrath, consume them,

That they may not be;

And let them know that God rules in Jacob

To the ends of the earth. Selah

David’s prayer here is heightened by his knowledge of God's defense of him, and yet he asks that God would not immediately avenge Himself on them, lest the people forget. For if God were to suddenly strike them down with one blow soon afterwards people would forget them and how they had united and exalted themselves against Him. Therefore, David asks that God first scatter them by His power, making them an astonishment wherever He drives them, so those who see them will fear how He by His power is dealing with them. Then as He does so bring them all down before all, for the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, (as there is no repentance from such people), therefore let them all be taken in their pride, and for the cursing that they speak, consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be, so that all will know that God rules in Jacob (i.e., all of believing Israel), even to the ends of the earth. Selah

Vs. 14-15 ¹⁴And at evening they return,

They growl like a dog,

And go all around the city.

¹⁵They wander up and down for food,

And howl if they are not satisfied.

David now returns to the present scene, the violent and vile men hunting for David’s life have now returned to the city, who growl like a dog as they go all around the city looking for him, wandering up and down its streets they also look for their food and they howl if they are not satisfied. Living only then to satisfy their basest bodily appetites, these are the most contemptable people of all.

Vs. 16-17 ¹⁶But I will sing of Your power;

Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;

For You have been my defense

And refuge in the day of my trouble.

¹⁷To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises;

For God is my defense, My God of mercy.

Even though dogs surround David, he still delights in singing to the Lord and praising His power: 

"Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;

For You have been my defense

And refuge in the day of my trouble." 

For the Lord has been his (our) Strength, He is the One who upholds us all by His Power, and not only that the Lord is our defense, from ungodly and wicked men, but also Satan who rules over them. For our God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is David's refuge, our refuge, in the day of our trouble, amen. 

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson. 

Psalm 58 To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David.

¹Do you indeed speak righteousness,

you silent ones?

Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?

²No, in heart you work wickedness;

You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.

³The wicked are estranged from the womb;

They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

⁴Their poison is like the poison of a serpent;

They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear,

⁵Which will not heed the voice of charmers,

Charming ever so skillfully.

⁶Break their teeth in their mouth, O God!

Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!

⁷Let them flow away as waters which run continually;

When he bends his bow,

Let his arrows be as if cut in pieces.

⁸Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes,

Like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun.

⁹Before your pots can feel the burning thorns,

He shall take them away as with a whirlwind,

As in His living and burning wrath.

¹⁰The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance;

He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,

¹¹So that men will say,

“Surely there is a reward for the righteous;

Surely He is God who judges in the earth.”

Commentary 

Vs. 1-2 ¹Do you indeed speak righteousness,

you silent ones?

Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?

²No, in heart you work wickedness;

You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.

Psalm 58 opens with a scathing rebuke of “the silent ones”, of those sinister and scheming people who know how to keep a low profile while they work out their evil and wicked desires in the earth. For you will never here their voices in the public square; at least not to proclaim, exalt, and expound people to live righteously, as God would have us all do. And yet their gaze always becomes fixed on those who do, who seek to live righteous, honest, honorable, and Godly lives. David then was a victim of such people, and so this Psalm shows his frustration with them, with being their victim, as they work out their evil and unjust plots against him (and whoever else they dislike or distrust) in the earth.

Vs. 3 “The wicked are estranged from the womb;

They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.”

Their nature then is not something that developed later on in their lives, but it is what they were born into, for from the womb the wicked are estranged from God, but not like all of us who have also been born into Adam’s sin, no these are those vessels of wrath which God has prepared for destruction, for as soon as they can they begin speaking lies and progressively practicing their evil desires in the earth, and as this psalm reveals, not always brazenly, but silently, sinisterly  (consider Job 21:30; Prov. 16:4; Rom. 9:22-24; 2 Peter 2:9 etc. antithesis Isaiah 43:7). These kinds of people then often become the skilful manipulators of others, for they can read people like an open book, and they can use this ability to their own evil desires advantage.

Vs. 4-5 ⁴Their poison is like the poison of a serpent;

They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear,

⁵Which will not heed the voice of charmers,

Charming ever so skillfully.

Their words are now described as being like the poison of snake, which obviously doesn’t help anyone, but will hurt anyone they set their tongues against. Not only are they’re words likened to the poison of snakes, but their ears are described as being like the serpents which obviously does not hear, and so they cannot hear a correction or a rebuke no matter how skilfully spoken. These then are unchangeable. For you can tell a snake not to bite and it will still bite no matter how skilfully you “charm” it. Therefore without Holy Spirit regeneration through the Gospel there can be no change in them, in their essential nature and person. 

Vs. 6 “Break their teeth in their mouth, O God!

Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!”

David now cries out to God, to our Lord, to break their teeth in their mouths, to break out the fangs of the young lions, to render them harmless to others, which He will fully complete on His Day when He comes to Judge and Rule the earth! 

Vs. 7 “Let them flow away as waters which run continually;

When he bends his bow,

Let his arrows be as if cut in pieces.”

Yes, Lord make them flow like the waters which run continually, so make them flee by Your hand. And when he bends his bow to shoot at others let his arrows be as if cut in pieces, no longer able to harm the one he has set up as his target.

Vs. 8 “Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes,

Like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun.”

And as they are fleeing, let them all melt away like a snail which cannot move fast enough to escape the burning sun! Yes, let them all then be like a stillborn child which will never see the sun.

Vs. 9 “Before your pots can feel the burning thorns,

He shall take them away as with a whirlwind,

As in His living and burning wrath.”

Such then will be God’s wrath and vengeance against them that a campfire metaphor is now used to describe just how quickly He will consume them when He unleashes His living and burning wrath upon them!

Vs. 10-11 ¹⁰The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance;

He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,

¹¹So that men will say,

 “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;

Surely He is God who judges in the earth.”

Not only will the righteous rejoice when we see the vengeance taken for us all, but God Himself will rejoice when He washes His feet in the blood of the wicked! Such then will it be on His Day that all men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely He is God who judges in the earth.”

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson. 

 

 

Psalm 57 To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David When He Fled from Saul into the Cave.

¹Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!

For my soul trusts in You;

And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge,

Until these calamities have passed by.

²I will cry out to God Most High,

To God who performs all things for me.

³He shall send from heaven and save me;

He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. Selah

God shall send forth His mercy and His truth.

⁴My soul is among lions;

I lie among the sons of men

Who are set on fire,

Whose teeth are spears and arrows,

And their tongue a sharp sword.

⁵Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;

Let Your glory be above all the earth.

⁶They have prepared a net for my steps;

My soul is bowed down;

They have dug a pit before me;

Into the midst of it they themselves have fallen. Selah

⁷My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;

I will sing and give praise.

⁸Awake, my glory!

Awake, lute and harp!

I will awaken the dawn.

⁹I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples;

I will sing to You among the nations.

¹⁰For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens,

And Your truth unto the clouds.

¹¹Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;

Let Your glory be above all the earth.

Preamble: David wrote this psalm while in the cave near Adullam, a city in the western foothills of Judah, southwest of Jerusalem (see 1 Samuel 22:1-5)

Commentary

Vs. 1 “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!

For my soul trusts in You;

And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge,

Until these calamities have passed by.”

In his desperate fleeing from Saul, David now takes refuge in a cave, and it is while there that he pours out his heart to God. He begins by asking God to be merciful to him, repeating his desire twice, for having been made to flee from his position and rank amongst God’s people, he now is a desperate man in great despair. And even though David’s circumstances look bad at that moment David’s faith has not been overtaken by all these unsettling events that Saul and others have orchestrated against him. No, David’s heart is set on the Lord, “For my soul trusts in You.” Is not catch phrase, it is a personal declaration of his deep trust and faith in the Lord, that the Lord will prevail. Therefore, David now says that he will take his refuge, not in cave (i.e., a stronghold, or something else as a source of security or escape for him), but only in the shadow of the Lord’s wings, which always casts a very large shadow over His people, that has covered him, and will now cover him wherever he must now go, “Until these calamities have passed by,” thus David has no desire to avenge himself of all the evil done to him, rather he will wait upon the Lord to bring about his return to his rightful place amongst God’s people.

Vs. 2-3 ²I will cry out to God Most High,

To God who performs all things for me.

³He shall send from heaven and save me;

He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. Selah

God shall send forth His mercy and His truth.

David then will not be silent while being so horribly wronged, he will cry out to God Most High; who is above all rule and power; to our God who performs all things for me. For David knows and believes that his person and life is not in mortal hands to decide, but only in the Lords. Therefore, he now asserts, that the Lord Himself shall send from heaven and save me; He will reproach the one who would shallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth His mercy and His truth. And when He does this there will be no one or nothing that can stop Him!

Vs. 4 “My soul is among lions;

I lie among the sons of men

Who are set on fire,

Whose teeth are spears and arrows,

And their tongue a sharp sword.”

David now decrees the violent men (the lions) who are stocking him, hunting for his life; men who are set on fire, whose energies, wrath, and anger is all being directed at him; men whose teeth are only spears and arrows, weapons deployed for his destruction; men whose tongues are a sharp sword by which they maliciously slander him to set others on fire against him. There is then no making peace, nor means of peace with any of them. For war and conflict and fighting is all they want. David thus rides the ebbs and tides of faith and distress as he tries to survive the overwhelming opposition.

Vs. 5 “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;

Let Your glory be above all the earth.”

Therefore David turns from his current distress to his hearts desire, that God be exalted above the heavens, that His glory be above all the earth. For David was never about glorifying himself, nor seeking great things for himself, he just wanted to glorify the Lord and to enjoy his Fullness and Presence forever. However, the unbelieving sons of men are not so, for they only seek their own glory and power, their own wealth and fame in this life, (often at the expense of others), for after that they have no more. But we have everlasting joy and peace in and through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we then don't live for the rewards and privileges of this life, but for eternal life with Christ!

Vs. 6 “They have prepared a net for my steps;

My soul is bowed down;

They have dug a pit before me;

Into the midst of it they themselves have fallen. Selah”

Even though the unbelieving sons of men have set their traps to ensnare David, have dug their pits by which they hope to make him fall to his ruin, so much so that his soul is bowed down in heaviness by their unrelenting cruelty, David sees that they themselves have only made the way for their own downfall and ruin. Such then is the assurance for every child of God, for the world will never overcome us, no not even in death, since it is God’s hand that upholds us, and will hold onto us forever (Isaiah 54:17).

Vs. 7 “My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;

I will sing and give praise.”

Knowing then that our God is upholding him every moment, David now says that his heart is steadfast, that it is strong for our God, so much so that he will sing and give Him praise even during these perilous times. This then inaugurates a complete change in David's demeanour from distress to now worship and praise!

Vs. 8-9 ⁸Awake, my glory!

Awake, lute and harp!

I will awaken the dawn.

⁹I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples;

I will sing to You among the nations.

¹⁰For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens,

And Your truth unto the clouds.

David now cannot contain his desire to worship and praise our Lord, not silently, but loudly among the peoples, among the nations, so much so, as to awaken the dawn to join him in worshipping our God and King. For he knows that he is a recipient of God’s everlasting mercies, which reaches unto heavens and his truth unto the clouds!

Vs. 11 “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.

Let Your glory be above all the earth.”

David’s thoughts then have turned completely from himself to our God, to His exaltation above the heavens, and His Glory being above all the earth!

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson. 

Psalm 56 To the Chief Musician. Set to “The Silent Dove in Distant Lands.” A Michtam of David When the Philistines Captured Him in Gath.

¹Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up;

Fighting all day he oppresses me.

²My enemies would hound me all day,

For there are many who fight against me, O Most High.

³Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.

⁴In God (I will praise His word),

In God I have put my trust;

I will not fear.

What can flesh do to me?

⁵All day they twist my words;

All their thoughts are against me for evil.

⁶They gather together,

They hide, they mark my steps,

When they lie in wait for my life.

⁷Shall they escape by iniquity?

In anger cast down the peoples, O God!

⁸You number my wanderings;

Put my tears into Your bottle;

Are they not in Your book?

⁹When I cry out to You,

Then my enemies will turn back;

This I know, because God is for me.

¹⁰In God (I will praise His word),

In the Lord (I will praise His word),

¹¹In God I have put my trust;

I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

¹²Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God;

I will render praises to You,

¹³For You have delivered my soul from death.

Have You not kept my feet from falling,

That I may walk before God

In the light of the living?

Preamble

The Scriptural backdrop for this Psalm is found in 1 Sam. 21:10-15; 27:1-28:2; 29:1-11, when David fled from Saul to the Philistines.

Commentary

¹Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up;

Fighting all day he oppresses me.

²My enemies would hound me all day,

For there are many who fight against me, O Most High.

David’s prayer here is born out of a real fear, for not only was Saul continually searching for him and seeking to kill him, but now the Philistines to whom he fled to escape Saul, were questioning his loyalty. And so, no matter where David turned, no matter how virtuously he conducted himself, all he could find were foes, men who would gladly swallow him up; men whom he didn’t even know (or had ever done any wrong to) yet now were fighting against him and oppressing him; whether these were men with Saul or with the Philistines. David then was being hounded day and night by them, never being allowed to find rest, never being able to stay in one place and get established, never able to simply drop one’s guard for a while, for as soon as he did opposition would rise up against him. David then is not exaggerating when he says to the Lord that there are many who fight against me.

Vs. 3-4 ³Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.

⁴In God (I will praise His word),

In God I have put my trust;

I will not fear.

What can flesh do to me?

Nonetheless David’s response to them, to the fear they were trying to bring down on him, is to turn to God. To trust in the One who has chosen him and anointed him, forever. Therefore, In God I will praise His Word, for it is by His Word that we live and move and have our being, that we have been given His salvation! In God then I will keep my trust, I will not fear, for what can flesh do to me? Nothing more than what has been appointed to me by Him, and even if they should take my life (like the legends of Heb. 11), they can do nothing to ever take me away from Him (consider Isaiah 51:7-8; Jer. 1:7; Ezek. 2:6-7; Matt.10:27-33; Luke 12:4-5; Rom. 8:26-38).

Vs. 5-6 ⁵All day they twist my words;

All their thoughts are against me for evil.

⁶They gather together,

They hide, they mark my steps,

When they lie in wait for my life.

David now decries all the slander and the horrible stockers that he has been made to endure. Twisting his words and making his person out to be some sort of dangerous monster, for in their eyes David was  a "threat." Not that he had threatened Saul or anyone else, no Saul and his followers saw David as a threat to their families tenure and reign, therefore by whatever means they could employ they were continually seeking to undermine and destroy him. For that is what wicked and unjust men do they take a righteous person, a decent honest person’s words, and distort and twist them so as to turn others against them. Therefore no matter how blamelessly David conducted himself, all their thoughts against him were only for evil, of either their plotting his ruin by some evil means, or of David himself being evil, of his plotting… you fill in the blank, against them, none which David was doing, or had ever planned to do. Nonetheless if they could imagine it about him, it became real to them, and to those they spoke so vehemently against him too. Thus they united themselves together against him, sending some to hide and watch him, to mark his steps, to report on his coming in and going out, while others would lie in wait to take his life (in regards to these things consider Acts 23:12-35 and the Apostle Paul).

Vs. 7 “Shall they escape by iniquity?

In anger cast down the peoples, O God!”

Having made his case David now asks our God to judge them righteously and thoroughly, for shall they escape by iniquity? Shall they prevail simply because they out number him, or shall they prevail by their lies and their sinister schemes by which they have sought to ruin and destroy him? For our God is the God of all Justice and all Truth, and He will never look favorably upon anyone who distorts that. And though David is making a personal appeal I believe he is appealing for all who suffer such reproach, persecution, and abuse, from the nation of Israel itself, to all of the Lord Jesus Christ’s people whom He has bought and redeemed with His precious Life and Blood. No then that on His Day the Lord Himself will cast down the peoples in His wrath, all who have rejected Him and sought to make war against Him He will destroy forever (Isaiah 66:16; Rev. 19:11-21).

Vs. 8 “You number my wanderings;

Put my tears into Your bottle;

Are they not in Your book?”

David now consoles himself with the knowledge that the Lord indeed has numbered all his wanderings,  the many years he has spent fleeing from them, living hand to mouth, like all of God's people who have likewise had to endure this worlds wrath and persecution because of their loyalty to Him. Therefore David asks that He would put his many tears which they brought to his eyes in His bottle; that He would store them up and keep them in remembrance for when He repays both them and him. Indeed, David now sees all his troubles that they have caused him as being recorded in God’s book. And so, though they may have forgotten, or excused all the evil and wrongs that they have done to him, God has not forgotten, and at the end He will open His Book and declare all of their deeds when He judges them (consider Daniel 7:9-10; Rev. 20:11-15).

Vs. 9 “When I cry out to You,

Then my enemies will turn back;

This I know, because God is for me.”

David then not only grows in his confidence of God’s finial judgment for him, but of it here and now. That God Himself will turn back his enemies when he cries out to Him, because he knows that God is for him, for us all who believe in Him through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:31-39).

Vs. 10-11 ¹⁰In God (I will praise His word),

In the Lord (I will praise His word),

¹¹In God I have put my trust;

I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

David now reasserts his confident assurance and trust In our God, In our Lord, which he has first done in four. And once again he uses two different Bible designations of our God, In God (Elohim, i.e., God Almighty, the One true God who appeared to Abraham, through which all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ have become partakers of His Promise of justification by faith, and thus becoming His children by faith), I will praise His Word. Then, In the Lord (YHWH, the covenant keeping God who revealed Himself to Moses, who made a covenant with the nation Israel to which David belonged, which he was then the head of), I will praise His Word. For though we are not now under the Old Covenant, a covenant which Israel broke, therefore God has now disregarded it (Heb. 8:9-13), we who believe in Christ are now all apart of His New and Everlasting Covenant which now justifies and unites both Jews and Gentiles in the Lord Jesus Christ who has fulfilled it all, for us all! Thus, David by stating as much as the nations head is placing all of his faith in the God of the Bible who is the God of all Jews and Gentiles who believe In Christ. Therefore, David knowing God was for him, for us all who believe in Him, can be confident “I will not be afraid, for what can man do to me?” Kill the body and then after that they can do no more, for our souls, our real persons are secured forever with Him In Christ (Matt. 10:30-33; Luke 12:4-6; John 10:27-30).

Vs. 12-13 ¹²Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God;

I will render praises to You,

¹³For You have delivered my soul from death.

Have You not kept my feet from falling,

That I may walk before God

In the light of the living?

In trusting in all of God’s faithfulness, David now recalls that he has vows binding upon him, vows that he has made to Him he will now keep (Deut. 23:21-23; Ecc. 5:4-6). For our God has delivered his soul (our souls from death) from everlasting separation from Him. Indeed, not only has God preserved his soul (our souls), but He has kept our feet from falling that we may walk before God in the light of the living, in the light of everyone who lives and has eternal life by faith In Christ inside of them. We then are the most blessed and privileged people of all!

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.