Psalms 59:0 ¶ To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.
This is another psalm of David that he gave to the chief Musician for use at the tabernacle. After looking at the Hebrew, I believe the CJB gave the best explanation for “Altaschith,” that it was to be sung to the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” This must have been a popular tune since David chose it for three of his psalms (57-59) and Asaph for one (75). “Michtam” makes reference to a poem. David wrote this psalm in connection with the time Saul was watching his house for an opportunity to kill him (1Samuel 19).
Good summary from New Bible Commentary: “The background story in 1 Samuel 19:10-12 suggests a one night ambush at David’s house, but such a story is told only in its essentials and the whole period beginning at 1 Samuel 19:10 leaves plenty of time for the persistent threat of which the Psalm speaks (6, 14). At some point in his flight from Saul, David slipped through the watchers and home to Michal. Saul had to act with circumspection because of David’s popular repute but doubtless hoped at first to despatch David by unattributable murder. When David’s escape made this impossible, the ambush was set.”
Psalms 59:1 ¶ Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me.
Psalms 59:2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.
Once again, David opens his psalm with a prayer asking God to deliver him from his enemies. He wants God’s protection from the bloodthirsty men that want to take his life.
The word “defend” in the Hebrew states to “set up (on high).” So, David is asking God to set him high above those that are rising up against him—to keep him out of their reach.
It is important to note throughout the psalms that David always references God in a personal way; he has invested in a relationship with God. He is not talking to a distant God that he only hopes can hear him. He knows that God can hear him, and he can depend upon Him to act on his behalf. He approaches God with an active and confident faith—just as we who have accepted Him as Savior should do today.
Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Psalms 59:3 For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord.
Psalms 59:4 They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.
Psalms 59:5 Thou therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.
Saul’s men are staked out watching for an opportunity to kill him, but not for anything that he has done wrong. They are trying to eliminate his perceived threat to Saul’s throne. He begs God to help him and show no mercy to his enemies in the process.
Spurgeon: “Like wild beasts they crouched, and waited to make the fatal spring; but their victim used effectual means to baffle them, for he laid the matter before the Lord. While the enemy lies waiting in the posture of a beast, we wait before God in the posture of prayer, for God waits to be gracious to us and terrible towards our foes.”
Selah – a pause, an opportunity for meditation
Guzik re verse 5: “David appealed to God with a variety of His names and titles.
He was Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel (LORD).
He was Elohim Sabbath, the commander of heavenly armies (God of hosts).
He was Elohi Israel, the God of His chosen people (God of Israel).
Psalms 59:6 They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
Psalms 59:7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear?
David compares the men hunting him to dangerous dogs on the prowl, growling as they roam about the city in search of their victim. They plot and make their plans, thinking that no one is paying attention to them.
Psalms 59:8 ¶ But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision.
Psalms 59:9 Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.
Psalms 59:10 The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies.
David is confident that God scorns these men of Israel as He does those of heathen nations that do not recognize Him as LORD. He looks to God as his strength and personal defender. He is confident that God in His mercy will go before him and give him victory over his enemies.
Psalms 59:11 Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.
Psalms 59:12 For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.
Psalms 59:13 Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.
Interestingly, David does not call for God to kill his enemies at first. He wants God to bring them down in shame as a consequence of their wicked plots and lies. He wants them to serve as a witness to the power of God and His protection of David. In His time, David calls for God to then destroy his enemies in affirmation of the truth that God rules in Israel and to the ends of the earth.
Selah – a pause, an opportunity to meditate
Spurgeon: “Good cause there is for this rest, when a theme so wide and important is introduced. Solemn subjects ought not to be hurried over; nor should the condition of the heart while contemplating themes so high be a matter of indifference. Reader, bethink thee. Sit thou awhile and consider the ways of God with men.”
Psalms 59:14 And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
Psalms 59:15 Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.
David reiterates how his enemies are like dangerous prowling dogs that return at night seeking their victim but are continually thwarted.
Psalms 59:16 But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.
Psalms 59:17 Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.
David closes his psalm with a commitment to sing praise to God for His power and mercy. He is so grateful for God’s protection and deliverance during his time of trouble. He wants to show his gratitude for God’s mercy and favor.
Another good thought from Spurgeon: “The greater our present trials the louder will our future songs be, and the more intense our joyful gratitude. Had we no day of trouble, where were our season of retrospective thanksgiving?”
Psalms 60:0 ¶ To the chief Musician upon Shushaneduth, Michtam of David, to teach; when he strove with Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah, when Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand.
Shushaneduth = testimony, witness in Hebrew; Easton’s Bible Dictionary = lily of the testimony (possibly identifying a tune for the psalm)
David wrote this psalm as a poem of instruction, a testimony to the power and faithfulness of God.
Spurgeon offers this explanation: “When he strove with Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah. The combined Aramean tribes sought to overcome Israel, but were signally defeated. When Joab returned. He had been engaged in another region, and the enemies of Israel took advantage of his absence, but on his return with Abishai the fortunes of war were changed. And smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand. More than this appear to have fallen according to 1Chronicles 18:12, but this commemorates one memorable part of the conflict.”
Verses 5-12 of this psalm are basically repeated in Psalm 108.
Psalms 60:1 ¶ O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again.
The psalm opens with David pleading with God to intervene on behalf of Israel. It seems that their situation at the time indicated that God had forsaken them in His displeasure.
Psalms 60:2 Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh.
It sounds like David is describing an earthquake that he attributes to God’s judgment against them. Maybe, however, it is his way of describing the effects of how battles with their enemies had affected the land.
Spurgeon thinks this is descriptive of the condition of Israel after Saul’s death and David became king. “Things were as unsettled as though the solid earth had been made to quake; nothing was stable; the priests had been murdered by Saul, the worst men had been put in office, the military power had been broken by the Philistines, and the civil authority had grown despicable through insurrections and intestine contests. Thou hast broken it. As the earth cracks, and opens itself in rifts during violent earthquakes, so was the kingdom rent with strife and calamity.”
Psalms 60:3 Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.
David continues to lament that God had caused His people to suffer times so difficult that it left them reeling, feeling out of control.
Guzik: “Israel’s defeat was hard to understand and there were many other aspects of their situation that caused David confusion. Still, there was a kind of comfort in understanding that God was the author of it all, because what God does in judgment or discipline He can restore in love and mercy.”
Psalms 60:4 Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.
David notes that in some way the LORD had provided a rallying point for those that revered Him.
Selah – a pause, an opportunity for meditation
Our rallying point as Christians today is Jesus. In Him is rooted all that is ours both now and for eternity.
Romans 8:9–10 “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
Psalms 60:5 That thy beloved may be delivered; save with thy right hand, and hear me.
David pleads with God to deliver His beloved, His people, with His right hand, the arm recognized as the strongest.
Deuteronomy 7:6–8 “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
Psalms 60:6 ¶ God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.
Psalms 60:7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver;
Psalms 60:8 Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe: Philistia, triumph thou because of me.
David is basically attributing the fate of Israel and the nations to the power of God and references the word of God as his source (though I could not find specific references to quote).
Shechem, the valley of Succoth, Gilead (located east of Jordan), Manasseh, Ephraim and Judah make reference to the whole of Israel. “Judah is my lawgiver” makes reference to the fact that Judah was designated as the royal tribe, the tribal heritage of the Messiah. Moab (descendants of Lot) and Edom (descendants of Esau) were both related to the Israelites and along with Philistia represent some of the main enemies of Israel.
EBC Abridged: “Ephraim is called a ‘helmet’ (lit., ‘the strength of my head’ ), symbolic of force; Judah is a ‘scepter,’ symbolic of dominion and governance. The Lord’s authority over the nations is symbolized by Moab coming with a washbasin to have his feet washed, by Edom being tossed the sandal of the victorious Warrior, and by a victory ‘shout’ over Philistia. All nations must submit themselves to his rule.”
Psalms 60:9 Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?
Psalms 60:10 Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us off? and thou, O God, which didst not go out with our armies?
Psalms 60:11 Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.
Psalms 60:12 Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.
I liked the CJB for these verses: “Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? God, have you rejected us? You don’t go out with our armies, God. Help us against our enemy, for human help is worthless.”
David continues his plea for God to help them. He knows that no human army can deliver them from their enemy; only God can. With God on their side, he is confident of victory.