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. 

Psalm 55 To the Chief Musician. With Contemplation of David.

 ¹Give ear to my prayer, O God,

And do not hide Yourself from my supplication.

²Attend to me, and hear me;

I am restless in my complaint, and moan noisily,

³Because of the voice of the enemy,

Because of the oppression of the wicked;

For they bring down trouble upon me,

And in wrath they hate me.

⁴My heart is severely pained within me,

And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

⁵Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me,

And horror has overwhelmed me.

⁶So I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!

I would fly away and be at rest.

⁷Indeed, I would wander far off,

And remain in the wilderness. Selah

⁸I would hasten my escape

From the windy storm and tempest.”

⁹Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues,

For I have seen violence and strife in the city.

¹⁰Day and night they go around it on its walls;

Iniquity and trouble are also in the midst of it.

¹¹Destruction is in its midst;

Oppression and deceit do not depart from its streets.

¹²For it is not an enemy who reproaches me;

Then I could bear it.

Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me;

Then I could hide from him.

¹³But it was you, a man my equal,

My companion and my acquaintance.

¹⁴We took sweet counsel together,

And walked to the house of God in the throng.

¹⁵Let death seize them; Let them go down alive into hell,

For wickedness is in their dwellings and among them.

¹⁶As for me, I will call upon God,

And the Lord shall save me.

¹⁷Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud,

And He shall hear my voice.

¹⁸He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me,

For there were many against me.

¹⁹God will hear, and afflict them,

Even He who abides from of old. Selah

Because they do not change,

Therefore they do not fear God.

²⁰He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him;

He has broken his covenant.

²¹The words of his mouth were smoother than butter,

But war was in his heart; His words were softer than oil,

Yet they were drawn swords.

²²Cast your burden on the Lord,

And He shall sustain you;

He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

²³But You, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction;

Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days;

But I will trust in You.

Preamble 

In times of despair, in our desperate need, we must turn to God. David then magnifies this wisdom as he seeks God, for he needs Him just as we all need Him. And so here we see a man whose unbearable circumstances have brought him to his knees again to the One who alone can bring justice for him and us all.

Commentary

Vs. 1 “Give ear to my prayer, O God,

And do not hide Yourself from my supplication.”

David’s pleas in this Psalm are filled with emotion, yet he begins by asking that God would hear him, that He would not hide Himself from His supplication, that what he is about to say He would take to heart. For David’s troubles and troublers are seemingly about to overwhelm him. Therefore, he needs God to act for him, for he himself cannot prevail against them, or stop the troubles that others have brought down on him. David then by asking as much once again demonstrates his trust and dependence on God.

Vs. 2-3 ²Attend to me, and hear me;

I am restless in my complaint, and moan noisily,

³Because of the voice of the enemy,

Because of the oppression of the wicked;

For they bring down trouble upon me,

And in wrath they hate me.

Again, David requests the hearing ear of our God, for he his restless in his complaint, he cannot bear it alone in silence. Indeed, he moans noisily because sometimes there are no words that can express one’s inner grief and despair (vs. 2). And why is this happening to David? because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked, for try as David will to live peaceably with all, still they bring down trouble upon him, and in wrath they hate him. Their anger then is never satisfied and their hatred of him never lifts or let’s go of him.

Vs. 4-5 ⁴My heart is severely pained within me,

And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

⁵Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me,

And horror has overwhelmed me.

Because of their never-ending rage and persecution of him, David’s heart (our heart) is severely pained within us. For a man can only bear the wrath of another for so long before it starts to consume him with anxiousness and grief. Indeed, for David the terrors of death have fallen upon him as he lives from one escape of death to the other. Therefore he says, “Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, And horror has overwhelmed me.” As he is forced to bear witness to their wicked deeds and violence that they do to others in seeking to kill him.

Vs. 6-8 ⁶So I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!

I would fly away and be at rest.

⁷Indeed, I would wander far off,

And remain in the wilderness. Selah

⁸I would hasten my escape

From the windy storm and tempest.”

David’s words and desire here reflect everyone who has ever felt helpless in their own circumstances, that if only we could fly away from our troublers to a land where they would not be, for then we too would be at rest, for there we could wander far off and remain in the wilderness where no one could oppress or harm us ever again. And so, we often say inside ourselves, if only I had… we could then hasten our own escape from the windy storm and tempest. Such then are the thoughts and dreams of everyone who wants relief from oppression and the oppressor.

Vs. 9-11 ⁹Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues,

For I have seen violence and strife in the city.

¹⁰Day and night they go around it on its walls;

Iniquity and trouble are also in the midst of it.

¹¹Destruction is in its midst;

Oppression and deceit do not depart from its streets.

David now moves from being distressed by their conduct to being angered at their deeds. Therefore, he asks the Lord to divide their tongues; that is split their alliances with each other and set them on a course to their own disarray! For he has seen their violence and the strife they cause in the city, in Jerusalem, the city he sought to establish as God’s city, a city as a sanctuary for peace, justice, and truth. Yet now it has become a haven for wicked and violent men, and thus it has become a city where iniquity and trouble are continually found, where destruction dwells in its midst, where oppression and deceit (dishonest dealings) does not depart from its streets, all of these things then sicken David to his core.

Vs. 12-15 ¹²For it is not an enemy who reproaches me;

Then I could bear it.

Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me;

Then I could hide from him.

¹³But it was you, a man my equal,

My companion and my acquaintance.

¹⁴We took sweet counsel together,

And walked to the house of God in the throng.

¹⁵Let death seize them; Let them go down alive into hell,

For wickedness is in their dwellings and among them.

David now announces the source of all of his troubles, the one who began it all for him was not an avert enemy of the Lords, rather it was a trusted friend, someone he viewed as his equal, someone quiet unlike Jonathan his beloved companion, who had worked his way into his life and gained his confidence and trust. Indeed, David says that they took sweet counsel together, and that they often walked to the house of God together with the throng of worshippers also on their way there. And yet all the while this evil individual was only plotting David’s downfall, seeking to betray him at a key moment like Judas did to the Lord Jesus. Therefore, David holds nothing back and says let death seize them, let them all go alive down into hell; like Korah and his company who also thought to overthrow Moses and Aaron whom God openly judged; for wickedness is in their dwelling and is found among them.

Vs. 16-17 ¹⁶As for me, I will call upon God,

And the Lord shall save me.

¹⁷Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud,

And He shall hear my voice.

David now returns his focus back onto the Lord. For unlike the sinister men who were betraying him, he will call upon the Lord, for he knows the Lord, therefore the Lord shall save him (vs. 16). “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud. and He shall hear my voice” (vs. 17). David then will not be overthrown or dissuaded by them, rather he draws closer to God because of them!

Vs. 18 “He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me,

For there were many against me.”

 Such then is David’s confidence in the Lord as he seeks the Lord that he now sees himself as fully redeemed in peace from all of them, from the battle that they wage against him, for there were many against me. 

Vs. 19 “God will hear, and afflict them,

Even He who abides from of old. Selah

Because they do not change,

Therefore they do not fear God.”

Yes, our God will hear, and He will afflict them, even he who abides from old (the one who has managed to prolong his life by his own cunning and schemes) shall not escape the Lord’s justice, for they do not change, nor will they repent of their ways which they live by, because they do not fear God.

Vs. 20-21 ²⁰He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him;

He has broken his covenant.

²¹The words of his mouth were smoother than butter,

But war was in his heart; His words were softer than oil,

Yet they were drawn swords.

Yes, David’s betrayer pretended friendship with him, only until he could unleash his secret plan against him. Thus he broke the covenant of peace that David made with him, (again unlike Jonathan), for he spoke smooth words to David, all the while harboring war in his heart towards him (consider Prov. 26:24-26).

 Vs. 22 “Cast your burden on the Lord,

And He shall sustain you;

He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.”

From David’s terrible experience with that individual, by which he was made to learn and grow in discernment, we now get one of the great promises and counsels from God in the Bible:

“Cast your burden on the Lord,

And He shall sustain you;

He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.”

Vs. 23 ²³But You, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction;

Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days;

But I will trust in You.

David then now in full understanding of such people can now boldly declare that God will deal with them all, that He will bring them down to the pit of destruction, that bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days. Therefore I will trust in You.

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson. 

Psalm 54 To the Chief Musician. With Contemplation of David When the Ziphites Went and Said to Saul, “Is David Not Hiding with Us?”

 ¹Save me, O God, by Your name,

And vindicate me by Your strength.

²Hear my prayer, O God;

Give ear to the words of my mouth.

³For strangers have risen up against me,

And oppressors have sought after my life;

They have not set God before them. Selah

⁴Behold, God is my helper;

The Lord is with those who uphold my life.

⁵He will repay my enemies for their evil.

Cut them off in Your truth.

⁶I will freely sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name,

O Lord, for it is good.

⁷For He has delivered me out of all trouble;

And my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies.

Preamble

This Psalms backdrop is when David in fleeing from Saul went to a city of Judah called Ziph, however its residents soon betrayed his presence amongst them to Saul.

Commentary

Vs. 1 “Save me, O God, by Your name,

And vindicate me by Your strength.”

 In praying to the Lord, David asks that the Lord save him by His Name, for it is only by the Name of the Lord that we who believe in Him are saved. Now his asking to be vindicated by the Lord’s strength means that David’s deliverance would not come by his hand, but only by the Lords, who in saving him by His hand would be vindicating his servant David of any wrongdoing.

Vs. 2-3 ²Hear my prayer, O God;

Give ear to the words of my mouth.

³For strangers have risen up against me,

And oppressors have sought after my life;

They have not set God before them. Selah

David’s plea to the Lord comes not only because of Saul and his men, but also since strangers (i.e., foreigners), have now also risen up against him, not doubt being directed and spurned on by Saul. As well oppressors (violent, unjust people who see an opportunity in hunting David to advance themselves with Saul), are also seeking after his life. None of these then have set God before them, for if they had they would not be hunting and hounding His servant David, who was guilty of nothing.

Vs. 4 ⁴Behold, God is my helper;

The Lord is with those who uphold my life.

Even though such things are occurring to him David’s faith and resolve remains strong. For he knows that God is his (our) helper, that the Lord is with those who uphold his (our) lives.

Vs. 5 “He will repay my enemies for their evil.

Cut them off in Your truth.”

Just as surely as the Sun rises in the eastern morning sky to awaken a new day, so will the Lord arise to repay all of His (our) enemies for their evil. He will by His Words truth cut them all off!

Vs. 6-7 ⁶I will freely sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name,

O Lord, for it is good.

⁷For He has delivered me out of all trouble;

And my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies.

Knowing this causes David (and us) to want to freely sacrifice to the Lord, to give freely and joyfully to the Lord all our offerings, for we will praise His Name, the Lord Jesus Christ’s Name, for it is Good. And so, with eyes of faith David sees past the current troubles to his end, therefore he boldly declares that the Lord has delivered him (us all) out of all trouble, that He has caused him (us all) to see our desires upon our enemies! Forever then we will be with Him! 

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson. 

Psalm 53 To the Chief Musician. Set to “Mahalath.” A Contemplation of David.

 ¹The fool has said in his heart,

“There is no God.”

They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity;

There is none who does good.

²God looks down from heaven upon the children of men,

To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.

³Every one of them has turned aside;

They have together become corrupt;

There is none who does good,

No, not one.

⁴Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge,

Who eat up my people as they eat bread,

And do not call upon God?

⁵There they are in great fear

Where no fear was,

For God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you;

You have put them to shame,

Because God has despised them.

⁶Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!

When God brings back the captivity of His people,

Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.

Commentary

Vs. 1 The fool has said in his heart,

“There is no God.”

They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity;

There is none who does good.

The fool here is not the simpleton, nor the uneducated, rather the fool here is everyone who denies that there is a God, the one true God who is above us all, who created us all, who rules us all, and one Day will Judge us all. Denial then of God’s Person is not without consequences, for as the Scripture reveals denial of God always leads to sin, paganism, and ultimately depravity (consider Rom. 1:18-32). That there is none who does is good is seen in the light of God’s Righteousness, for apart from Him no one can do nothing good, for everything that we do or try to do apart from Him will always be tainted by our own sins and sin nature. 

Vs. 2 “God looks down from heaven upon the children of men,

To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.”

As everyone runs around pursuing their own course of life, trying to follow their own paths, God looks down upon us all to see if there is anyone who understands, who seeks God, because our lives have an end, our pursuits, our works, our dreams, our desires will all perish when we do, and if we die unreconciled to God there is then but one destiny for us then.

Vs. 3 “Every one of them has turned aside;

They have together become corrupt;

There is none who does good,

No, not one.”

The Psalm now warns of everyone who lives as though God does not, for on ones own one will only become corrupt and perverse in their lives and in their ways. If you think otherwise just look at the moral and societal degeneration that takes place everywhere. Thus, in denying the One true God there is none who does good, no not one, for again no one can do or stand on their own righteousness and declare their own goodness before Him. For to try to do so would be quickly proven a liar by Him.

Vs. 4-5 “Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge,

Who eat up my people as they eat bread,

And do not call upon God?

⁵There they are in great fear

Where no fear was,

For God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you;

You have put them to shame,

Because God has despised them.”

Truly the workers of iniquity hate us, truly they set themselves against us; because those who live righteous lives will always be an abomination to those who do not. And so in their unbelief we are only people to be abused, consumed, and devoured so they can have their full at our expense. Therefore the Scripture asks have they no knowledge who do so, do they really think that they can do so and be held guiltless by God. For their unbelief will not disavow the Judgment of God who always judges righteously in the earth. And so, in their self sufficiency and pride they do not call upon God, instead they rely on themselves and their own ways, never considering that God is always watching them and in His time, he will put them in fear, He will make them no fear where no fear was (vs. 5). For God is always the defender of His people, of everyone who believes and remains loyal to Him (vs. 6). Therefore God Himself will put them to an open shame because He Himself has despised them.

Vs. 6 “Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion!

When God brings back the captivity of His people,

Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.”

In closing there is the cry for God's salvation to come out of Zion, for the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah to come to and bring back God’s people out of their captivity, out of their bondage, and back to God Himself, on that Day Jacob will rejoice and all of Israel will be glad!

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson. 

Psalm 52 To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of David When Doeg the Edomite Went and Told Saul, and Said to Him, “David Has Gone to the House of Ahimelech.”

 ¹Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?

The goodness of God endures continually.

²Your tongue devises destruction,

Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

³You love evil more than good,

Lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah

⁴You love all devouring words,

You deceitful tongue.

⁵God shall likewise destroy you forever;

He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place,

And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

⁶The righteous also shall see and fear,

And shall laugh at him, saying,

⁷“Here is the man who did not make God his strength,

But trusted in the abundance of his riches,

And strengthened himself in his wickedness.”

⁸But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;

I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.

⁹I will praise You forever,

Because You have done it;

And in the presence of Your saints

I will wait on Your name, for it is good.

Preamble: This historical background for Psalm 51 is found in 1 Samuel chapters 21, 22. In the context of all the psalms this psalm is the only one that names and then condemns an individual, the person being Doeg the Edomite, who was not an Israelite, but one of Esau’s descendants. Now this man Doeg was a chief herdsman for king Saul, and he was present when David having fled from Saul came to the priestly village of Nob and there sought out Ahimelech the priest who provided David with some bread and gave him Goliath’s sword, not knowing that David had fled from Saul. Later when Doeg heard Saul decrying how everyone was against him, and that his son had made a covenant with David, he saw an opportunity for himself by telling Saul what he saw. Saul then in great anger commanded Ahimelech to appear before him and so he came to Saul, along with the other priests to Saul, but they did so not knowing that evil awaited them. And so when they arrived Saul already enraged immediately interrogated them and then turned on them commanding his men to kill them all. Now when they refused to do so out of their fear of the Lord, Saul turned to Doeg the Edomite and told him to kill them which he did. Afterwards he went and led a party of his own men to the priest’s village and killed every living thing there: men, woman, children, nursing infants, even their livestock they killed, for he murdered them all. Now one person escaped and that was Abiathar one of Ahimelech’s sons, he then came and told David what had been done. This Psalm then is David’s declaration, as God’s anointed servant, of God’s indignation and wrath at Doeg the Edomite.

Commentary

Vs. 1 “Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?

The goodness of God endures continually.”

Such was the evil inside Doeg the Edomite that when he tasted blood not only did he thirst for more, but he even became boastful about his most heinous deed, of killing the Lord’s priests. David’s response then to his demonically horrific act is to reaffirm God’s goodness in the face of it, because whatever evil anyone does to anyone of God’s children, no matter how heinous, God’s goodness towards us will not end with it. Indeed, death for us is not the end, it is just the beginning of our seeing and receiving His goodness forever!

Vs. 2-4 ²Your tongue devises destruction,

Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.

³You love evil more than good,

Lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah

⁴You love all devouring words,

You deceitful tongue.

David now utterly loathes Doeg and his deceitfully slanderous mouth. For Doeg was not just a common killer, no he was quite skillful in his manipulation of others, he knew how to stir people up and spurn them on through his manipulative speech. Indeed, Doeg took pleasure in his lying, in his controlling others through it, in his devouring words and his deceitful tongue, for this brought him, like all evil people like him, great satisfaction in seeing his desires worked out through his plans and others hands.

Vs. 5-7 ⁵God shall likewise destroy you forever;

He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place,

And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah

⁶The righteous also shall see and fear,

And shall laugh at him, saying,

⁷“Here is the man who did not make God his strength,

But trusted in the abundance of his riches,

And strengthened himself in his wickedness.”

God’s own verdict on Doeg is now brought forth through his servant David. For as Doeg destroyed others so God Himself will destroy him, for He will cast him out of his dwelling place and uproot him from the land of the living, Selah! Doeg then shall be made an example to all who observe the ways of God, for the righteous shall see his downfall, they shall see and fear the glorious judgment of God, and laugh at Doeg, saying,

“Here is the man who did not make God his strength,

But trusted in the abundance of his riches,

And strengthened himself in his wickedness.” ^{Vs. 7}

Vs. 8-9 ⁸But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;

I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.

⁹I will praise You forever,

Because You have done it;

And in the presence of Your saints

I will wait on Your name, for it is good.

David now compares himself, indeed all who believe in God and live righteously for Him, like a green olive tree in the house of God, using then that as a metaphor for health, vibrancy, and peace. Therefore because of God justly dealing with Doeg and prospering the righteous, David’s heart resounds with praise as he closes this Psalm with a desire to wait on the Lord with His saints for His Name which is His vindication of us all!

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.