Outline of Chapter 57:

       Inscription       Psalm 57 Inscription

       vv.    1–3        David Calls Upon God for Help, and Knows God Will Send Forth Grace and Truth

       vv.    4–5        David’s Life is in Danger/He Calls for God to be Honored

       v.      6           David’s Enemies Entrap Themselves

       vv.   7–11        David Celebrates God’s Character/He Calls for God to be Honored

Charts and Maps:

       v.      2           How God Completes [His Work] Upon David

       v.     11           The 4.5.6; 4.5.6 Structure of Psalm 57

I ntroduction: Psalm 57 was written by David during a transitional period of time. You will recall that he has been to Nob and to Gath, and his behavior and choices were less than exemplary. In I Sam. 22, we will see the result of David’s dishonesty with the priests in Nob. However, prior to this, David has gone from being frightened, directionless and out of fellowship, to being a leader, wise and in fellowship. In the book of Samuel, this is merely implied; however, David has clearly spiritually rebounded in Psalm 56, which cleansing has led to his writing several psalms and leading a small army.

If one reads I Sam. 21 and 22 carefully, it will make David seem schizophrenic. In chapter 21, he is on the run, he is afraid, he makes stupid choices, he lies, he produces phoney behavior, and he is worried about one person and one person only: himself. In chapter 22, on the other hand, we have David as a leader. Men have flocked to him; his family has come to him. David is not worried for his own safety now, but for the safety of others. David now exudes confidence and leadership and faith. The key, of course, is Psalm 56, where David turns toward God. Satan’s strategy for the believer is for the believer to focus on himself, on other people or on the circumstances of life. David had been focused on himself and on his problems. In Psalm 56, this focus turned toward God. Psalm 57 marks the 3^rd in a series of psalms which demonstrate David’s spiritual focus, strength and growth. He wrote at least a half dozen psalms during this period of time.

I should mention that David spent a lot of time in caves; in fact, this will be his modus operandi for the next several years. Therefore, although I have placed this psalm at the beginning of I Sam. 22, it could have occurred at anytime between I Sam. 22–29.

We may make the general observation, based upon our study of the previous two psalms (Psalm 34 56), that David does not simply randomly throw words together until he runs out of steam. His psalms often have a structure, and the structure is often key to understanding the psalm. First of all, we have a chorus, vv. 5 and 11 (which are identical). We have the vocative for God found in vv. 1, 5, 7, and 11. David mentions the heavens in vv. 3, 5, 10, and 11. Finally, he speaks of grace and truth (of faithfulness) in vv. 3 and 10. I was unable to decipher a pattern; however, Keil and Delitzsch observed a strophe-schema of 4.5.6;4.5.6, which schema both gives us an outline for the psalm, and is in complete agreement with the English text and line division as well. At the end of this psalm, I will gather the verses together and present them in this way.

One night even more simply refer to the first five verses as David’s prayer, and the final verses as David’s praise. David, in this psalm, describes the steps that he went through, in a rather simplified way. In realizing that his life was in danger and that there was no person that he could turn to, David turns to God, and prays for his deliverance. As a part of his prayer, David recognizes that God can be trusted to come through for him (vv. 2b–3). Then he praises God for this deliverance (these headings will be added to the strophe-schema of 4.5.6;4.5.6 found at the end of this psalm).

David first speaks of asking God to be gracious to him, and then reveals his complete dependence upon God (vv. 1–2). He knows that God will protect him (v. 3), even though his life is in danger (v. 4). In v. 5, we have the chorus of this psalm, where David calls for God to be honored in the heavens and that His glory be over all the earth, which is not unlike, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (v. 5).

In v. 6, David again speaks of the dangers of his life, but that those out to trap him, trap themselves. Vv. 7–10 are celebratory verses, where David speaks of being occupied with the person of God and he celebrates God’s grace among all peoples (which introduces us to some fairly difficult textual criticism). Finally, David ends with the chorus again.

We have a lot of themes in this psalm which are paralleled elsewhere. When we come to these parallels, they will be duly noted.

Let me add one more thing: Spurgeon suggests that mystically, this psalm could be applied to our Lord and His time on this earth. In reviewing the psalm, apart from the inscription (or title), I would have to agree that this could very easily be a psalm of Jesus, spoken from His humanity.

Psalm 57 Inscription

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      For the end. Destroy not; by David, for a memorial, when he fled from the presence of Saul to the cave.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       [For the music leader. To the tune “Don’t Destroy.” A special psalm by David when he was in the cave while running from Saul.]

NJB                                        For the choirmaster. Tune: ‘Do not destroy’ Of David In a quiet voice When he escaped from Saul in the cave

NLT                                For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time he fled from Saul and went into the cave. To be sung to the tune “Do Not Destroy!”

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         For the choir director; al tashcheth; a Mikhtam by David when he fled from Saul into the cave.

JPS (Tanakh)                        For the leader; al tashheth. Of David. A Mikhtam; when he fled from Saul into a cave.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

NASB                                             For the choir director; set to Al-tashheth.

A Mikhtam of David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave.

Young's Updated LT              To the Overseer. — ‘Destroy not.’ — A secret treasure of David, in his fleeing from the face of Saul into a cave.

What is the gist of this verse? David identifies the time period during which this psalm was written—it was during the time that he was in the cave and Saul was after him.

Translation: To the Preeminent One:... The first noun in this inscription is an interesting one, and has been given many different renderings: choir director, choirmaster, music leader, leader, chief musician. However, insofar as we know, there was no official choir or palace orchestra. In fact, to get any sort of music at all in the palace, David was sent for, a lone guitarist. Given the music-therapy which Saul’s staff recommended (I Sam. 16:14–19), and given that Saul pretty much acted like a madman for the next decade or so, we can reasonably assume that, when these events took place that are mentioned in the remainder of this inscription, that Saul never organized any sort of in-house music after David became a fugitive. His cabinet perhaps organized additional music therapy for him. However, even if that were the case, David, while on the run from Saul, would have no reason to write something for the leader of that musical group. Therefore, there is no reason to interpret the Piel participle of nâtsach as choirmaster, choir leader, or choir-anything. Given that this is followed by the 2^nd person masculine singular, Hiphil imperfect of to cause to ruin, to destroy combined with a negative, I would reasonably suspect that the pre-eminent one is Saul. This psalm is addressed to him. Saul, please, do not destroy me! You may ask, why didn’t David just put Saul’s name in here instead? He did, in the inscription, a couple of words down.

Another interpretation is that these were given to a choirmaster or music leader long after the incident and long after they were written. When we studied Psalm 34, there were things in the inscription which suggested that there was a period of time between the writing of the psalm and the writing of the inscription (which does not necessarily conflict with the concept of Scripture being inspired of God). David did organize a choir and orchestra once he became king (I Chron. 25), so he possibly gathered his psalms, put titles to them, and took them to the choirmaster at that time. This would not, however, explain why some psalms were written for the choirmaster and why some were not.

Another, and better, interpretation is that the Preeminent One could be a reference to God, and David prays to God that his enemies not be allowed to destroy him. Since God can overrule man’s volition, David can address God directly, and ask for Him not to destroy him. This is more reasonable that this psalm is addressed to God, as we have the vocative Elohim in vv. 1–2, 5, 7, 11.

Psalms 57–58 begin exactly in the same way, both being addressed to the Preeminent One and both carrying the plea Do not destroy! Both psalms are also attributed to David and Psalm 57 also speaks of a time when David fled from Saul. It would be reasonable to place the writing of all three of these psalms during the time that David was a fugitive in Israel. Also, since David is functioning on divine viewpoint, rather than human viewpoint, we would expect him to address God in this matter, rather than Saul (who would never actually hear this psalm anyway). Psalm 75 begins identically, but is attributed to Asaph.

Translation: Do not destroy [me]! As mentioned above, it is most likely that David is addressing God as the Preeminent One and asking God not to destroy him. We would expect David, when in fellowship, to recognize that God is the One in charge and God allows or disallows his destruction. We find almost the exact same morphology in I Sam. 26:9, when David tells Abishai not to destroy Saul (there is a suffix in this passage, which is not found in our psalm). See also Deut. 9:26, where Moses prays for God not to destroy the Jewish people.

This same translation is found in both the Greek and Latin manuscripts, and the more common explanation is that this is set to the music of a well-known song or psalm of that era, called Do Not Destroy. This would mean that Psalms 57–59, 75 are all set to the same tune, as this is found in each of their inscriptions. I reject this explanation for three reasons: (1) Why set 4 psalms to the exact same tune? I would think that there would be problems with meter and verse length. (2) The explanation given easily explains this phrase occurring at the beginning of these 4 psalms. (3) That David is asking not to be destroyed (or asking for Israel not to be destroyed) is apropos to the tenor and subject matter of these psalms.

Translation: A writing of David’s... Although many translations transliterate the word mikhtam, there is really no reason for that. We may reasonably understand this to mean a writing, a poem or a song of David’s. We find this same designation in Psalms 16, 56–60 (see the exegesis above for a full explanation). We may reasonably assume that David is simply putting his signature to this psalm. It is also possible that, as has been mentioned before, this was done long after the psalm was written.

Translation: ...when he fled from the presence of Saul [and hid] in the cave. David at one time was in the palace of Saul. He began there as a musician hired to calm Saul. He eventually became a solider and a leader of soldiers, and he married Saul’s daughter. So, for a long time, David was before Saul (in Saul’s presence) in the royal palace. However, Saul made an attempt on David’s life while David was at home with his wife, Saul’s daughter, and David fled from Saul at that time.

David was on the lamb for several years after this, and we might suppose that he has stayed in many caves. However, there are only two caves which are specifically mentioned in connection with David and this time period, and that is the cave of Adullam in I Sam. 22:1 (our passage) and the cave where David cut Saul’s garment when he was defecating (I Sam. 24). Given that David was not fleeing from Saul, per se, in I Sam. 24, we may reasonably assume that this belongs with our passage, Psalm 22.

On the other hand, David speaks in v. 6 of his enemies digging a pit, and then falling into it. This could describe the situation presented to us in I Sam. 24, where Saul wanders into David’s cave of hiding in order to defecate. This would be in agreement with v. 6 and it is the reason many exegetes place this psalm with I Sam. 24.

Let me offer you a third possibility: David, with his 400+ men, will spend a lot of time in caves. There are a lot of men to hide, and the only safe place for them to hide would be in a cave, which is where they hide at least twice (I Sam. 22:1 24:3–4). There is no reason to think that these are the only two caves where David and his men stayed. Therefore, David could have composed these psalms while in these caves, and his reference here and in Psalm 142 is not to a particular cave, but to the various caves in which he stayed.

From Spurgeon’s Treasury of David: “The cave.” There appear good grounds for the local tradition which fixes the cave on the borders of the Dead Sea, although there is no certainty with regard to the particular cave pointed out. The cave so designated is at a point to which David was far more likely to summon his parents, whom he intended to take from Bethlehem into Moab, than to any place in the western plains.... It is an immense natural cavern, the mouth of which can be approached only on foot along the side of the cliff. Irby and Mangles, who visited it without being aware that is was the reputed Cave of Adullam, state that it “runs in by a long winding, narrow passage, with small chambers or cavities on either side. We soon came to a large chamber with natural arches of great height; from this last there were numerous passages, leading in all directions, occasionally joined by others at right angles, and forming a perfect labyrinth, which our guides assured us had never been perfectly explored - the people being afraid of losing themselves. The passages are generally four feet high by three feet wide, and were all on a level with each other.” ... It seems probable that David as a native of Bethlehem, must have been well acquainted with this remarkable spot, and had probably often availed himself of its shelter, when out with his father's flocks. It would, therefore, naturally occur to him as a place of refuge when he fled from Gath. - John Kitto (1804-1854), in “A Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature.”

David Calls upon God for Help, and Knows God Will Send Forth Grace and Truth

Here is how others have handled this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      Have mercy upon me, O God, have mercy upon me; for my soul has trusted in You; and in the shadow of Your wings will I hope, until the iniquity has passed away.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       God Most High, have pity on me! Have mercy.

I run to you for safety.

In the shadow of your wings,

I seek protection till danger dies down.

NLT                                Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy!

I look to you for protection.

I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings

until this violent storm is past.

REB                                       God be gracious to me; be gracious,

for I have made you my refuge,

I shall seek refuge in the shadow of your wings

until the storms are past.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         Have pity on me, O God. Have pity on me,

because my soul takes refuge in you.

I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings

until destructive storms pass by.

JPS (Tanakh)                        Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me,

for I seek refuge in You,

I seek refuge in the shadow of Your wings,

until danger passes. [This is actually v. 2 in the Tanakh]

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

NASB                                    Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me.

For my soul takes refuge in Thee;

And in the shadow of Thy wings I will take refuge

Until destruction passes by.

Owen's Translation                Be merciful to me, O God; be merciful to me,

for in You takes refuge my soul

and in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge till pass by storms of destruction.

Young's Updated LT              Favor me, O God, favor me;

For in You my soul trusts,

And in the shadow of Your wings I trust,

Until calamities pass over.

What is the gist of this verse? David asks God for His grace, as he (David) has placed his entire trust in God. He will hide under the wings of God until calamities pass on over.

Translation: Grace me, O God; grace me,... There is actually no preposition here, so literally, this is Grace me rather than give grace to me. It is stronger and more immediate. Why can David ask God to do this? Certainly not based upon David’s behavior up until that point in time. He has lied to the priests, he has falsified his behavior before the king of Gath; and both incidents will result in terrible destruction for innocent people (although there is actually no such thing). David was the person who committed the wrongs here, but others will suffer because of what he has done. So David can’t go to God and say, “See how great my faith is. See what a great believer I have become.” He can’t say that, because he has screwed up royally. So he asks for God’s grace and mercy instead. David can do that. Application: no matter how you have failed; no matter how faithless you have been, you can always go to God and ask Him for grace. God gives His grace on the basis of what Jesus did for us on the cross—not on the basis of our own pitiful lives and multifarious failures.

McGee comments on Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: I don’t know about you, but my prayer is the same as David’s, “O God be merciful to me.” I want God to be merciful to me. I don’t want him to be just with me and righteous. If He is, I am going to get a whipping. I want Him to be merciful and gracious to me. He is that kind of a God—rich in mercy. He has enough for me—and I am going to require a lot of it—but there will be enough for you also.

Translation: ...for my soul trusts [and has taken refuge] in You;... David does not go back to some great thing that he has done; he asks God to give him grace simply because he has trusted and taken refuge in God. What does it take to earn God’s grace? Nothing, except to put your trust in Him; to take refuge in Him. This is non-meritorious. David has not earned or done anything to deserve God’s grace or mercy. He has simply trusted in God; believed in Him. This is how we appropriate God’s favor.

Translation: ...and I take refuge in the shadow of your [protecting] wings... God does not have wings like a bird. This is an anthropopathism. Baby birds, when it rains, or when they are afraid, crawl underneath the wings of their mother for protection. They don’t deserve this protection; they haven’t done anything good or bad to deserve this protection. It is instinct. David realizes that with all of his running around and soul full of fear, what he needs to do is to hide under the protection (shadow) of God’s wings. God can protect David; the sword of Goliath, which David took from the priests at Nob cannot protect him; an attempt at some sort of alliance with the king of Gath cannot protect him. God can protect David.

This same image is also found in Psalm 17:8 36:7 61:4 63:7 91:4.

Gill makes the suggestion that this refers to the cherubs’ wings—the cherubs who stand above the mercy seat. The Ark of God represents the person and work of Jesus Christ. We examined this doctrine back in Ex. 40:3. It was made out of acacia wood and covered with gold; the wood represented the humanity of Jesus Christ and the gold represented his deity. Above the ark was the mercy seat, whereupon the High Priest once a year sprinkled blood, behind the veil, so that it could not be observed (just as, the judgment of our Lord could not be observed on the cross). The angels, apparently, could view the judgment of God on His Son, which is represented by the cherubim (or cherubs) who stood over the mercy seat. David taking refuge in the wings of these cherubs means that he took refuge in the cross; he took refuge in God, and was safe in His protection.

Translation: ...until calamity [and ruin] pass on by. David does not ask for the calamity or ruin or injury to be removed. He does not ask for Saul to be killed. He asks for God’s protection until it passes by.

Application: We will face calamities and ruin. We will face problems in our lives. They will eventually pass on by, but they won’t necessarily suddenly disappear. We won’t face the problem on day, pray to God, and then it will be gone the next. For the most part, the problem will disappear, within a week or a month or within a few years. However, God offers His protection throughout, and that is what we seek.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      I will cry to God most high; the God who has benefitted me. Pause.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       I pray to you, my protector.

NAB                                       I call to God Most High,

to God who provides for me.

NLT                                I cry out to God Most High,

to God who will fulfill his purpose for me.

TEV                                       I call to God, the Most High,

to God, who supplies my every need.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         I call to God Most High,

to the God who does everything for me.

JPS (Tanakh)                        I call to God Most High,

to God who is good to me.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                I will cry to God Most High, Who performs on my behalf and rewards me — Who brings to pass [His purposes] for me and surely completes them!

Updated Emphasized Bible   I will cry unto God Most High,

Unto God, who accomplishes on my .

NASB                                    I will cry to God Most High,

To God who accomplishes all things for me. .

NKJV                                     I will cry out to God Most High,

To God who performs all things for me.

Young's Updated LT              I call to God Most High,

To God who is perfecting for me.

What is the gist of this verse? David calls out to God, to the God Who completes him.

Translation: I call out to Elohim the Most High,... David has first asked for God to grace him, and again, here, he calls out to God, Whom he designates as the Most High. I want you to recall David’s other solutions: his first solution was to go to the city of the priests and to get a sword and food; his second solution was to go to Saul’s greatest enemy, the king of Gath, and seek refuge there. Although we have not seen the end results of these bad decisions yet (that will come later in I Sam. 22–23), David’s decision here is one of great wisdom. He isn’t running anywhere, he isn’t soliciting help from any man; he calls out to God.

Translation: ...to the God [who] completes me. As you will notice, I have given a large number of translations above. This is because it is difficult to determine exactly how to render this verb and the preposition which follows it. Not only is the verb difficult to understand (it means to complete, to finish, to end, to come to an end; to leave off, to fail), but the preposition which follows (upon, beyond, on, against, above, over) does not add much to our understanding.

What we can reasonably derive, at this point, is that David recognizes that God has placed him in this particular position for a reason, and that reason is to complete him, to bring him to a proper end. David may recognize that, for all his military victories, that he is not really complete yet as a person, as a man of God. God has him in this cave, with these 400 men, hiding from Saul, for a reason. This is not just some arbitrary series of events, but a well-ordered and well-orchestrated series of events; and that David can trust in God for the outcome of these events, as they will complete him.

Application: You are going to face trials and difficulties, and that some of them will not go away for a long time. This simply means that God is completing you or finishing the job that He has started with you. We must learn to trust Him and depend upon Him. I recall some teacher activities which we had to participate in at the beginning of school, which involved falling back into the arms of fellow teachers and trusting that they would be there. Well, that was some lame and worthless time spent; however, with regards to God, He must do this so that we can, in this life, depend upon Him and fall back into His arms, which are always there and will always catch us.

We knows David’s situation by correlating the inscription of this psalm with I Sam. 22:1. We know that he is facing difficult circumstances simply because of v. 1 (although that will be expanded in vv. 3–4, 6). Here, David tells us that God will complete him, and this will be done through David’s trust while the circumstances are occurring. How do we know that this pressure is guiding David to spiritually grow and to be spiritually complete? Instead of running off to some man (a priest at Nob or a king at Gath), in v. 2, David calls out to God. Lesson #1: depend upon God in times of trouble.

Application: We may feel that there are a number of positions in this life that we should hold. However, God needs to perfect and complete us before we enter into these positions of authority. There may be a number of positions before you that you feel completely qualified to hold; however, unless you grow spiritually, God is not going to drop you into those slots.

Here is how others have translated this verse (you will notice that Selah—or, pause—is placed either at the end of this verse (which is not where it is found in the Hebrew, or after the second line, where it is found, and yet seems premature):

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      He sent from heaven and saved me. He gave to reproach them that trample on me. God has sent forth His mercy and His truth.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       You will send help from heaven and save me,

but you will bring trouble on my attackers.

You are faithful, and you can be trusted.

NAB                                       May God send help from heaven to save me,

shame those who trample upon me.

                                              May God send fidelity and love.                    Selah

NLT                                He will send help from heaven to save me,

                                                 Rescuing me from those who are out to get me.                        Interlude

My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         He sends his help from heaven and saves me.

He disgraces the one who is harassing me.

God sends his mercy and his truth!

JPS (Tanakh)                        He will reach down from heaven and deliver me:

God will send down His steadfast love;

my persecutor reviles

Selah.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                He will send from Heaven and save me from the slanders and reproaches of him who would trample me down or swallow me up, and put him to shame. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]! God will send forth His mercy and loving-kindness and His truth and faithfulness.

NASB                                    He will send from heaven and save me;

He reproaches him who tramples upon me. [Selah

God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.

NKJV                                     He 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.

Young's Updated LT              He sends from the heavens and saves me,

He reproaches those panting after me Selah.

God sends forth His kindness and His truth.

What is the gist of this verse? God even from heaven has sent the necessary reinforcements to deliver David. The one who is chasing him (Saul) is discredited, defied and embarrassed. More importantly, God sends forth His grace and His truth.

Translation: He deploys from heaven and He delivers me;... Recall that troublesome verb from the previous verse: gâmar (ר -מָ) [pronounced gaw-MAHR], which means to complete, to finish, to end, to come to an end; to leave off, to fail. Strong’s #1584 BDB #170. Here we understand what it means for God to bring these things to an end. David is on the run from Saul. He is holed up in a cave with about 400 men and possibly his family. God completes or brings things to an end, to a termination. That is, David’s running from Saul. David is not delivered yet—not in time—but he knows that God has delivered him in eternity past. He knows that God has deployed His forces from heaven and God, from heaven, will save David. At the same time, God places David in situations which cause him to mature. So, God will complete or bring to an end the circumstances which David finds himself in simultaneously with bringing David to completion or fulfillment with regards to a maturation level which befits a king (something sorely lacking in Saul).

Application: God has foreseen all of our problems and difficulties from eternity past and He has already deployed the necessary forces from heaven to solve these problems.

Translation: He has scorned [defied and discredited] the one chasing me [lit., panting after me]. Pause David does not name Saul specifically here, but he does use the masculine singular, Qal active participle. This means that he is referring to one person specifically. The person who is panting after him is Saul. It is as though David can feel Saul’s breath on the back of his neck as he runs from him. God has already scorned, defied and discredited Saul. David has had 400 men come to him. Now, many of these are malcontents who would be unhappy with anyone in power. However, there are also those in this group who have been treated unjustly by the Saulian regime. Their coming to David has encouraged David; David knows that Saul does not have complete popular support. These men were willing to leave their lives and possibly their families in order to give David their support. This encourages David.

These previous two lines describe what God has done to bring to completion this problem of David’s.

Application: There are people who will come into your life who will be implacable towards you. It won’t matter what you do or what you say. You will not be able to please them and they will declare war on you in one way or another. They may be very subtle and they may be quite overt about it. Be aware, at least if you did not bring this on yourself, that God has discredited, scorned and defied these sorts of people. That they will come into your life is inevitable. That God can take care of them is assured.

Translation: God sends His grace and His faithfulness [or, truth, stability]. What God sends to us is His grace and His truth, the things which we need most. This is what He gives us to stabilize us. Grace, of course, is all that God is free to do for us on the basis of the cross; wholly apart from our own merit. God is both faithful in His dealings with David and God provides David with accurate information.

The pairing of grace and faithfulness (or, mercy and truth) is found throughout the psalms: Psalm 25:10 26:3 40:10–11 57:3, 10 61:7 69:13 85:10 89:13 108:4 138:2. Do not withhold your compassion from me, O LORD. May your mercy and your truth always protect me (Psalm 40:11). Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne. Mercy and truth stand in front of you (Psalm 89:14).

David has come to realize that there is no man that he can turn to for help. In fact, men have turned to him for help. So first, David prays to God for His grace (v. 1a); then he recognizes that he can hide in God (v. 1b), and that he can call to God, and God will answer him (vv. 2–3).

David’s Life Is in Danger/he Calls for God to Be Honored

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      And He has delivered my soul from the midst of lions’ whelps. I lay down to sleep, troubled. As for the sons of men, their teeth are arms and missile weapons, and their tongue a sharp sword.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       I live among lions, who gobble down people!

They have spears and arrows instead of teeth,

and they have sharp swords instead of tongues.

NLT                                I am surrounded by fierce lions

who greedily devour human prey—

whose teeth pierce like spears and arrows,

and whose tongues cut like swords.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

JPS (Tanakh)                        As for me, I lie down among man-eating lions

whose teeth are spears and arrows,

whose tongue is a sharp sword.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

NASB                                    My soul is among lions;

I must lie among those who breathe forth fire,

Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows,

And their tongue a sharp sword.

NRSV                                    I lie down among lions

that greedily devour [correction; Hebrew reads are aflame for] human prey;

their teeth are spears and arrows,

their tongues sharp swords.

Young's Updated LT              My soul is in the midst of lions,

I lie down among flames—sons of me,

Their teeth are a spear and arrows,

And their tongue a sharp sword.

What is the gist of this verse? David is in the midst of men with spears and arrows who want to kill him (this simply refers to Saul’s army).

Translation: I lay my soul down in the midst of lions;... David is in a cave and Saul’s men have been searching all over the land for him. In fact, there will be several instances where they are quite close. When David goes to sleep, it is like placing himself into a den of lions. All around him are Saul’s men searching for him, desiring to kill him.

Please understand that none of this is literal. David is not in the midst of lions. Given that these lions are men of Saul, he does not physically lie down in Saul’s palace with Saul’s men around him. The picture is as if he has laid down his soul—in other words, made himself vulnerable—before Saul’s soldiers. How do we know that we should not take this psalm literally? David will, in the next line, identify these lions as being sons of Adam. He speaks of laying down his soul, but one’s soul is ethereal; it is not a physical object—you cannot lay it down. There is nothing in David’s life to ever suggest that he slept in a den of lions. There is nothing wrong with being a literalist; however, you do need to be able to recognize when a passage is not literal.

Translation: ...sons of Adam [who are] blazing,... David is not actually in a lion’s den, but among men whose very essence is burning with a desire to kill him. It is as though their souls are on fire in their desire to kill David.

Translation: ...their teeth [are] spears and arrows... Again, David makes it clear that this passage is not to be taken literally. The analogy set up is the swords and arrows of David’s enemies are like the teeth of the lions. David is not in a lion’s den, but among men; he does not fear the sharp teeth of the lions, which are the spears and arrows of these men.

Translation: ...and their tongues [are] sharp swords. Again, the analogy is the swords of the men who pursue David are like the tongues of lions. However, there is nothing specifically dangerous about the tongue of the lion. What David is really referring to is the verbal sins directed at him. David was often the recipient of verbal sins, as we also find in Psalm 52:2–4: Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit. You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking what is right. You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. I spent many years as a teacher as being the recipient of verbal sins from 3 specific female teachers—it was evil and vicious, and it escalated.

David, despite the fact that he was a man of great honor, had a lot of problems from his enemies—principally those who were Jewish soldiers and royalty. Psalm 56:2: All day long my enemies spy on me. They harass me. There are so many fighting against me. See all of Psalm 7 and 56. Application: Your greatest opposition will come from fellow believers. They will be the ones to attack and often blind side you.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; and Your glory above all the earth.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       May you, my God, be honored above the heavens;

may your glory be seen everywhere on earth.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         May you be honored above the heavens, O God.

Let your glory extend over the whole earth.

JPS (Tanakh)                        Exalt Yourself over the heavens, O God,

let Your glory be over all the earth!

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

NASB                                    Be exalted above the heavens, O God;

Let Thy glory be above all the earth.

Young's Updated LT              Be exalted above the heavens, O God,

Above all the earth Your honor.

What is the gist of this verse? David honors God in the heavens; His integrity over all the earth.

This verse is the chorus, and it will be repeated in v. 11. This is the first clue which helps us to divide this psalm up as David had intended.

Translation: Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;... David continually shifts his focus in this psalm, from himself and his problems, back to God and His solutions. Here, he calls for God to be exalted above the heavens. That is, one is to view God as greater than all the universe.

Translation: ...and [let] Your glory [abundance and honor] [be exalted] over all the earth. God’s glory, abundance and honor is to be exalted over all the earth as well.

Although I am not entirely sure about the time of creation, since the fall, God’s glory and honor have not been exalted over the earth. In fact, we live in a world which is very antagonistic to God, and the very essence of the governments of many countries is strongly against God. For instance, insurance companies make it almost a requirement for you to sue someone in order to collect the amount of money that they purport to insure your (or the other party) for. Court cases involving homosexuals and laws about hate speech have actually resulted in pastor’s being sued (in other countries) for teaching what the Bible teaches about homosexuality. There is no honor or glory in this. God is not being exalted.

We have terrorist organizations whose very manifest is to kill as many United States citizens as possible. There is little in this world which speaks of the glory of God. We live in a cold, vicious and lustful world. David calls for a time when this is no longer the case.

David’s Enemies Entrap Themselves

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      They have prepared snares for my feet and have bowed down my soul. They have dug a pit before my face and fallen into it [themselves]. Pause.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Enemies set traps for my feet and struck me down.

They dug a pit in my path, but fell in it themselves.

NLT                                My enemies have set a trap for me.

I am weary from distress.

They have dug a deep pit in my path,

but they themselves have fallen into it.

Interlude

REB                                       Some have prepared a net to catch me as I walk,

but they themselves [probably reading; Hebrew reads I myself] were brought low;

they have dug a pit in my path

but have themselves fallen into it.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         └My enemies┘ spread out a net to catch me.

(My soul is bowed down.)

They dug a pit to trap me,

but then they fell into it.

JPS (Tanakh)                        They prepared a net for my feet to ensnare me;

they dug a pit for me,

but they fell into it.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

NASB                                    They have prepared a net for my steps;

My soul is bowed down;

They dug a pit before me;

                                              They themselves have fallen into the midst of it.         [Selah.

Young's Updated LT              A net they have prepared for my steps,

Bowed down has my soul,

They have dug before me a pit,

They have fallen into its midst. Selah.

What is the gist of this verse? Although David’s enemies have set traps for him, and although God has humbled his soul, his enemies have fallen into their own traps.

Translation: They have set up a net for my steps;... This is a reference to David’s enemies. His enemies have set a net in order to ensnare him. It is though they are just around the next corner with a net laid out for him. Again, like the language of v. 4, this is not literal. Saul’s soldiers do not have nets set up all around this cave so that when David steps out, he will step into a net and be captured. Don’t be silly. However, David’s enemies were looking to capture or kill him. They were trying to determine where he was and where he was going, so that they could lay a trap for him and carry out Saul’s commands.

Translation: ...He has humbled [lit., bowed down] my soul. Suddenly, we have a 3^rd person masculine singular verb, which does not refer to the masculine plural found in the previous verse. One could interpret this as God has humbled David’s soul or that Saul has humbled his soul. Since David is fully aware that Saul cannot do anything unless God allows it, then David, guided by the Holy Spirit, would say that God has humbled or bowed down his soul. God has placed him in the place where he is, and David acknowledges that.

Again, recall that David has lived in the palace for many years, since he was brought there as a personal musician for Saul. He has commanded several large groups of soldiers. He married the king’s daughter. So one can assume that David had a position of power and that he enjoyed relatively luxurious surroundings. Now he is in a cave, Saul is pursuing him, he is without his wife and luxurious surroundings. God has humbled him.

Application: Never take your surroundings for granted. There is no guarantee that the money that you have today will not be gone tomorrow. There is no guarantee that the life that you enjoy today will not be gone tomorrow. This does not mean that David took his life for granted, nor does it mean that he deserves any of this. However, God had to humble him so that he could grow and become Israel’s truly great king.

Translation: They have dug a pit before me... Just as they have set a net before David’s feet, David’s enemies have also dug a pit right in front of him for him to fall into. They are looking to trap and capture David. Again, this is not to be taken literally. The idea is, Saul’s soldiers are looking for David, and are trying to anticipate him, so that they can trap him.

Translation: ...[but] they have fallen into it. Selah! The trap which David’s enemies have set for him have trapped them. You may wonder how this could be. I have mentioned before that I had problems at one job and three people on that job literally laid out traps for me. Although I don’t keep up with any of them, I do know that one of the three lost his job very likely for the same concerns which he allegedly had with me. I have no idea what has happened to the other two, but I am not concerned; I don’t need to follow them around. I can rest assured that God has dealt with them or is dealing with them.

Parallel passages: He digs a pit and shovels it out. Then he falls into the hole that he made for others (Psalm 7:15). The nations have sunk into the pit they have made. Their feet are caught in the net they have hidden to trap others. The LORD is known by the judgment he has carried out. The wicked person is trapped by the work of his own hands (Psalm 9:15–16).

Some exegetes like to place this psalm during the time that David cut the end of the robe of Saul (I Sam. 24). Now we haven’t covered that passage yet, but (1) David did not take advantage of Saul and capture him or kill him in that passage; (2) and here we have the 3^rd person masculine plural, not singular. For those two reasons alone, there is not reason to associate this psalm with I Sam. 24.

David Celebrates God’s Character/He Calls for God to Be Honored

Psalm 108:1–5

These final verses of this psalm are quite interesting, as David repeats them again in Psalm 108:1–5. At this juncture, David is looking forward. He trusts God now, even though his life is in danger. David celebrates God’s grace and truth, even though he finds himself in a precarious place. When we get to Psalm 108, David appears to be in power, and he takes these lines of faith and places them at the beginning of this psalm, telling us, “What’d I say?” He had trusted God, and God brought him to a place of power, just as He had promised David.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      My heart, O God, [is] ready, my heart [is] ready. I will sing, yes, I will sing psalms.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       I am faithful to you, and you can trust me.

I will sing and play music for you, my God.

NJB                                        My heart is ready, God,

my heart is ready;

I will sin, and make music for you.

NLT                                My heart is confident in you, O God;

no wonder I can sing your praises!

TEV                                       I have complete confidence, O God;

I will sing and praise you!

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         My heart is confident, O God.

My heart is confident.

I want to sing and make music.

JPS (Tanakh)                        My heart is firm, O God;

my heart is firm;

I will sing, I will chant a hymn.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                My heart is fixed, O God; my heart is steadfast and confident! I will sing and make melody.

The Emphasized Bible           Fixed is my heart, O God,

Fixed is my heart,

I will sing and touch the strings.

NASB                                    My heart is steadfast, O God,

my heart is steadfast;

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises.

Young's Updated LT              Prepared is my heart, O God,

Prepared is my heart, I sing and praise.

What is the gist of this verse? David’s inner man is becoming mature, and in response, he is inspired to sing and praise God.

Translation: My heart is established [and prepared], O God, my heart is established [and prepared]. David fully realizes that there are those out there who want to get him. Saul’s men want to capture him and Saul wants to kill him. However, David also knows his destiny and he believes God and believes that he will be made king over Israel. Therefore, his heart is established, prepared, confident and clear. He knows that he has a destiny and that Saul cannot foil his destiny. This means that David is experiencing some spiritual growth.

The comments of Albert Barnes: David’s heart is firm, steady, constant, fixed. This seems to be the meaning here, as it is expressed in our common version. His heart was firm and decided. He did not waver in his purpose, or lean now to one side and then to the other; he was not “swayed” or “moved” by the events that had occurred. He felt conscious of standing firm in the midst of all his troubles. He confided in God. He did not doubt his justice, his goodness, his mercy; and, even in his trials, he was ready to praise him, and was “resolved” to praise him. The repetition of the word “fixed” gives emphasis and intensity to the expression, and is designed to show in the strongest manner that his heart, his purpose, his confidence in God, did not waver in the slightest degree.

Translation: I must sing and I must make music. David, knowing that God has taken care of all the details of his life and will deliver him out of these problems, is not just confident, but joyful. He has to sing and make music. He has to celebrate. His soul is moved to celebrate his life and God’s protection thereof. One of the great by-products of spiritual growth is a feeling of freedom; we find ourselves in this world in the midst of problems and troubles, most of which we can do little or nothing about. Yet we still worry. David can’t stop Saul. David can’t say anything to convince Saul to stop persecuting him. So, should he worry about it? Absolutely not. God has everything under control.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      Awake, my glory; awake psaltery and harp. I will awaken early.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       I feel wide awake! I will wake up my harp

and wake up the sun.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                                Wake up, my soul!

Wake up harp and lyre!

I want to wake up at dawn.

JPS (Tanakh)                        Awake, O my soul!

Awake, O harp and lyre!

I will wake the dawn.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                Awake, my glory [my inner self]; awake, harp and lyre! I will awake right early [I will awake the dawn]!

NASB                                    Awake, my glory;

Awake, harp and lyre,

I will awaken the dawn!

Young's Updated LT              Awake, my honor, awake, psaltery and harp.

I awake the morning dawn.

What is the gist of this verse? David continues praising God, unable to control his praise.

Translation: Wake up, my glory... It appears as though David is asking for the glory and honor within him to be awakened here. My thinking is that, this is the reflected glory of being a child of God. David is growing as a believer, and growing under God’s divine guidance and shaping.

Of course, it is possible that this reads Wake up, my harp; however, then the interpretation becomes somewhat less difficult; but also less interesting. See the Hebrew exegesis to see why honor is the preferred reading, although it is not impossible for this to read differently.

Translation: ...wake up, harp and lyre! These are the instruments which were used to play this music. David celebrates God’s hands-on approach with the raising up of musical instruments. David recognizes that these difficulties that he finds himself in are not random; they just didn’t happen to him out of bad luck. It is God shaping his character. It is God getting him ready to rule over Israel. A child may at times feel to stifled by his parents or feel as though his parents are too involved in his life; however, even as a child, he realizes that they do this out of love guidance and not out of some need to control him. So David recognizes why these things are happening to him; he recognizes that God is taking a very hands-on approach, and for that reason, he is celebrating.

Although that is the proper understanding of this verse, there is a Hebrew fable, not believed by many Christians, that David had a harp next to bed, and that when the wind (perhaps even the morning wind) blew through the trees, that it made music, to some degree, on his harp. Whether this is true or not, it does make for a nice picture. Clarke suggests that this was the recently discovered Aeolian harp.

Translation: I will cause to awaken the dawn! David is so enthusiastic, that his singing and celebration are loud and excited. Again, David cannot help but celebrate. Recall that not too long ago, he was afraid for his life and he even lied to the High Priest out of fear. However, now David is not only calm and collected, he is exuberant.

Two of our parallel verses: Psalm 16:9: That is why my heart is glad and my soul rejoices. My body rests securely. Psalm 30:11–12: You have changed my sobbing into dancing. You have removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy so that my soul may praise you with music and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      O Lord, I will give thanks to You among the nations; I will sing to You among the Gentiles.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       I will praise you, Lord, for everyone to hear,

and I will sing hymns to you in every nation.

NLT                                I will thank you, Lord, in front of all the people.

I will sing your praises among the nations.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

JPS (Tanakh)                        I will praise You among the peoples, O Lord;

I will sing a hymn to You among the nations.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Updated Emphasized Bible   I will thank You among the peoples, O My Lord,

I will praise You in song among the races of men.

NASB                                    I will give thanks to Thee, O Lord, among the peoples;

I will sing praises to Thee among the nations.

Young's Updated LT              I than You among the peoples, O Lord,

I praise You among the nations.

What is the gist of this verse? David, because of his exuberance, will praise God not only among the Jews, but among all races of men.

Translation: I celebrate You, my Adonai, among the peoples... David is wrapping up his song in celebration; he is celebrating God among the peoples. This phrase can be taken to mean among the tribes of Israel, so there is no problem with anyone understanding it in this way.

You now need to brace yourselves for what’s coming. Even though we appear to have a lot of agreement above with regards to this second phrase, it just isn’t that easy. We only have 3 words here, with prepositions, adverbs and/or definite articles.

Translation: ...[and] I praise You [with music] among the Gentile peoples. What we have here is not what the Jew wants to hear. David says that he will praise God with music among the Gentiles. This is an unusual thing for a man in the line of Messiah to sing. I’ve gone over this in great detail in the exegesis, showing how the other two interpretations really have too many problems. Now, from our perspective, 3000 years later, this makes perfect sense. But to a Jew, even as late at the 400's or 500's, this is a bitter pill to swallow. But David is writing this under the power of God the Holy Spirit, Who knows the beginning from the end. God knows that this is correct. He knows that this psalm will be sung and celebrated among the Gentiles; that God’s character, essence and being would be celebrated among the Gentiles. Therefore, this makes sense to us, many years after the fact. It also makes sense to us that those who did not share these sentiments would alter the text every so slightly in order to preserve the exclusivity of the Jews. Of course, most modern exegetes are in agreement with this translation as well as the general interpretation (Barnes, Clarke, Gill, etc.).

Paul quotes from a similar passage in Rom. 15:9: People who are not Jewish praise God for his mercy as well. This is what the Scriptures say, That is why I will give thanks to you among the nations and I will sing praises to your name (II Sam. 22:50). The fact that David expresses similar sentiments adds credence to the translation which I have presented. David also writes in Psalm 18:49: That is why I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the nations [or, Gentiles] and make music to praise your name.

There is a viewpoint, Covenant Theology, which presents the church today as spiritualized Israel. The only sense in which there is some truth to that stance is that Israel was once responsible for the preservation and dissemination of God’s truth, and now that is the responsibility of the Church. Also, the Jews who were responsible were regenerate Jews, just as these responsibilities are today in the hands of believers (who may or may not be members of a local church). However, Scripture always distinguishes between Israel and the Gentiles. At no time are we led to believe that one somehow morphs into the other. God has different plans for different time periods, and David hints at this in this psalm. What is made clear is, the Gentiles are not ignored by God in the realm of spiritual blessings.

Binnie makes an interesting point here: The Hebrew church was neither called nor qualified to be a missionary society, but it never ceased to desire and hope for the conversion of the nations. Although I am not prepared right now to spend time with this thought, this is an apt observation. We, as believers in the Church Age, should be associated with organizations (preferably a local church) which sends out missionaries. Paul, by his actions, illustrated that, and we have the great missionary commission of Jesus Christ, in His resurrection body: “Go therefore an dmake disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. Furthermore, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19–20). We find no such commission to Israel in the Old Testament. In fact, even during the early ministry on earth of Christ, He would not send his disciples to the Gentiles, but to the Jews only. Matt. 10:5–7: Jesus sent out these twelve, commanding them, saying, “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter into any city of the Samaritans. But rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, proclaim, saying, The kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      For Your mercy has been magnified even to the heavens and Your truth to the clouds.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Your love reaches higher than the heavens;

your loyalty extends beyond the clouds.

NJB                                        ...for your faithful love towers to heaven,

your constancy to the clouds.

NLT                                For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens.

Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                          ...because your mercy is as high as the heavens.

Your truth reaches the skies.

JPS (Tanakh)                         for Your faithfulness is as high as heaven;

Your steadfastness reaches to the sky.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

NASB                                    For Thy lovingkindness is great to the heavens,

And Thy truth [or, faithfulness] to the clouds.

Young's Updated LT              For great to the heavens is Your kindness,

And to the clouds Your truth.

What is the gist of this verse? God’s grace and truth are greater than the heavens.

Translation: ...for Your grace [is] great, even [or, is greater than even] to the heavens,... David understood grace to a certain point at that time. He knew that God gave him far greater than he deserved. He did not know why, but he knew for a fact that God’s grace was greater than the heavens above. When we observe the heavens above, their seemingly infinite boundaries (or continual expansion) is beyond our comprehension. We have words that we have developed in our language, but the expanse and vastness of the universe is barely describable. God’s grace is greater than even the incredible expanse of our universe. We have a vocabulary which we have devised, and some notions from Scripture, but when it comes right down to it, we have no real comprehension of how great God’s grace is. We have no real comprehension of how incredible our future will be.

Translation: ...and Your truth [or, faithfulness] [is greater than or extends beyond] even to the [thin] clouds. At the end of v. 3, David tells us that God would send forth His grace and His truth. Here, he tells us that God’s grace and truth extend even beyond the heavens in the greatness. David is just beginning to realize just how fantastic God is, just have great His grace is, and just how dependable God’s Word is.

We have a parallel passage in Psalm 36:5: O LORD, your mercy reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. This is another psalm of David’s, who psalms apparently had similar themes running throughout.

Satan will always attack the most fundamental and powerful of God’s gifts to us. Rather than God’s grace, Satan presents us with a plethora of religions, all purporting some connection to God, and all requiring works to seal the deal. In every religion, there is something you must do, or some set of rules or behavior that you must follow in order to grain God’s approval. When it comes to absolute truth, Satan does everything that he can to attack this truth. A public school teacher could lose his job, under certain circumstances, if he teaches a portion of Scripture; however, it may become required for teacher to present the homosexual union as being one of the many valid familial options out there. Since God’s grace and truth are two of the most important parts of our faith, we can expect that they will be viciously attacked by demonic forces.