Psalm 91

 ¹He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

²I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust.”

³Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler

And from the perilous pestilence.

⁴He shall cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

⁵You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,

Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

⁶Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,

Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

⁷A thousand may fall at your side,

And ten thousand at your right hand;

But it shall not come near you.

⁸Only with your eyes shall you look,

And see the reward of the wicked.

⁹Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,

Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

¹⁰No evil shall befall you,

Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

¹¹For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

¹²In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

¹³You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,

The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

¹⁴“Because he has set his love upon Me,

therefore I will deliver him;

I will set him on high, because he has known My name.

¹⁵He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will deliver him and honor him.

¹⁶With long life I will satisfy him,

And show him My salvation.”

 

Preamble: Psalm ninety-one is a Messianic Psalm; that is a Psalm about the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan knew that when he cited verses 11-12 to Him during His wilderness temptation. That said, there are promises within this psalm that can be applied to anyone of us as His people.

Commentary

Vs. 1 “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

Only the Lord Jesus Christ can be said to dwell in the secret place of the Most High and dwell under the shadow of the Almighty.

Vs. 2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust.”

The declaration here then must first be said of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then all of us who believe in Him.

Vs. 3 “Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler

And from the perilous pestilence.”

 

God’s Promise to keep you from the snare of the fowler, i.e., the hunter of our souls, and thus all the schemes and traps of Satan is not only for the Lord Jesus Christ but can also be applied to us as we believe and obey Him (John 17:15; 2 Thess. 3:3 etc.). Perilous pestilence means fatal disease, now this is completely true of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it cannot be said to be universally true of all of us who believe in Him, since we Christians are subject to diseases just like everyone else.

Vs. 4 “He shall cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

God’s loving care then for His Son also comes to us His born-again children. Same with His Word being His Sons shield and buckler, so it is for us. (Consider the phrase "Your Word" as it appears throughout Psalm 119in the NKJ see vs.14 and of course Eph. 6:17).

Vs. 5-6 “You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,

Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

⁶Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,

Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.”

Through God's Word four promises of protection are now given in these verses. First is God’s promise to keep fear from Him, i.e., “terror by night” which Jesus clearly exemplified on the night of His betrayal by Judas Iscariot when He should no fear (see John 18:1-12). Next is the arrow that flies by day, unlike the terror by night, which implies a secret assault, this is a direct daylight attack on one’s person. And once again Jesus fearlessly withstood those who wanted to harm Him time and again, and this He did without violence (consider Luke 4:16-30, vs. 28-20; John 8:54-59; 10:22-39; John 11:8-11 etc.). The third protection promised for the Son of Man Jesus Christ is against being harmed by the disease that walks in darkness. I like how the believers Bible Commentary reads this as being either literal diseases that breed in the darkness, or moral evil that likewise does the same. Now destruction that lays waste at the noonday can encompass a lot of things and so we will not try to be specific about this. All and all then read these verses as God’s far-reaching protection of the Son of Man from all things, except His Cross which Jesus willfully endured for us all. 

 Vs. 7-8 ⁷A thousand may fall at your side,

And ten thousand at your right hand;

But it shall not come near you.

⁸Only with your eyes shall you look,

And see the reward of the wicked.

God’s Promises of protection of His Son continue. Even during a slaughter, the Lord shall not be touched. Indeed, though a thousand fall at His side and ten thousand at His right hand, yet it shall not come near Him. Our Lord and Savior then shall never know defeat! “Only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked,” God will bring the Lord Jesus Christ Justice, which can also be said for all the children of God (consider Psalm 37:34; Rev. 19:1-21, vs. 14). For when the Lord judges the wicked, the slain of the Lord shall be many (consider Isaiah 66:16; Jeremiah 25:33; Rev. 14:19-20 etc.).

Vs. 9-10 ⁹Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,

Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

¹⁰No evil shall befall you,

Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

Again, because the Lord Jesus Christ made the Most High His dwelling place; trusting Him completely to save and deliver Him; God now assures Him that no evil shall befall Him, nor any plague come near His dwelling. God Himself then secured Him safe for Himself. Think about it, Satan and all His forces could not touch the Lord Jesus Christ while He was here on earth in the flesh, and think of how Satan attacked and afflicted poor Job! For not until the Lord Jesus Christ in full submission to the Father’s Will would He die on the Cross. For only when Christ's time came did God allow Satan’s people to seize Him and Crucify Him to Fulfill His Word. And even having born our sins on the Cross this did not keep Him from His Father, for on the third day He rose again from the dead and then later He ascended back to our Father in heaven to be seated at His right hand waiting until God makes all of His enemies His footstool!

Vs. 11-12 ¹¹For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

¹²In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

God’s Assurances to our Lord and Savior of safety are now backed by angelic hosts, whom He has given charge over Him, to keep Him in all His ways and in their hands they bore Him up lest He dash His foot against a stone. This is most clearly seen as the Lord Jesus Christ from His infancy on was sought out by Herod and all his forces who wanted to kill Him from the very beginning. And yet for all their power and might (all of Satan’s forces power and might) the Lord was never touched by any of them. Even throughout His life growing up in Nazareth He lived completely guarded and protected from harm, that is until His time had come to suffer and die on the Cross for us all. Now these are some of the verses that Satan cited to our Lord Jesus in trying to lure Him into disobeying God and displaying His own privileged position to him while He was alone and vulnerable in the wilderness (Luke 4:10-11).

Vs. 13 “You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,

The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.”

God now Promises our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that He will be the One who will destroy Satan. This is known for certain since Satan in the Scripture is described as a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). And in the beginning Satan first manifested himself to Eve as a cunning serpent, who not only deceived her, but now he also deceives the whole world (see Gen. 3; 2 Cor. 11:3; Rev. 12:9; 20:1-3 etc. also 2 Tim. 2:24-26 etc.). Therefore because Satan through His cunning separated mankind from God our Creator, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be the One who destroys him! 

Vs. 14 -16 ¹⁴“Because he has set his love upon Me,

therefore I will deliver him;

I will set him on high, because he has known My name.

¹⁵He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will deliver him and honor him.

¹⁶With long life I will satisfy him,

And show him My salvation.”

The Lord Jesus from the outset always set His love upon the Father, of living in perfect obedience to His Will, (which can be said of no one else). Therefore God the Father now assures Him of several things. First stated is deliverance, having done and accomplished all the Will of the Father Jesus will never know defeat, He will never be second to anyone or anything. Second is that God the Father will be the One who sets Him on High, who gives Him the Highest Place of Honor, because He has known His Name (vs. 14). Third is that Jesus will call upon God, and God Himself will answer Him. The Lord Jesus Christ knew this even during His earthily time with us, though He did not employ it as the Father did not want Him too (see Matt 26:52-54). Forth is that God will be with Him in trouble and He will deliver Him and honor Him. Again, Jesus knew this even when He was facing the Cross (John 8:29; 16:32 etc.). Fifth is God’s guarantee of long life is now seen in the Living Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ who also is our own guarantee of our own everlasting life. Sixth is that God will show Him His salvation, which He did when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him on High with Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ then has the Name above every name that is named. Amen. 

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.