Outline of Chapter 59:

       Inscription       Psalm 59 Inscription

       vv.    1–5        David Asks God to Deliver Him from Vicious Men

       vv.    6–7        The Dogs Return at Night

       vv.    8–13      David Ask God, His Strength, to Destroy His Enemies

       vv.   14–15      The Dogs Return at Night: A Refrain

       vv.   16–17      David Praises God in Song for His Strength and Grace

Charts and Maps:

       v.     13           Does God Destroy or Does God Preserve His Enemies?

I ntroduction: Psalm 59 was written either during the time that David became a fugitive from Saul, or during a period of time when he reflectively looked back on that incident. This incident must be understood in order to have a full understanding of this psalm. David wrote eight psalms while a fugitive from Saul, in this order: Psalm 59 7 56 34 57 52 142 54 (we will summarize these at a later date). Ideally, you are reading this examination of Psalm 59 after studying I Sam. 19, but just in case you did not, here is the capsule version: David had another successful outing against the Philistines, and he returned to the palace of Saul victorious. He settles into his other vocation, which is playing music for Saul, and Saul suddenly tries to pin David to the wall with a javelin. David outmaneuvers Saul and escapes. He goes home, and Saul quickly gathers some of his officers and send them to fetch David, so that they could kill him the next morning. The soldiers come to David’s home and, as we will see, are apparently rather noisy, possibly arguing over whether Saul’s order to seize David is just. David’s wife, Michal, observes these men outside their home and tells David that he has to escape the city altogether. She places a teraphim on his bed, and when the soldiers, knock on the door, she tells them that David is in bed, sick. They return to the palace while David is let out the window which probably was in the outside city wall (he may have already escaped prior to their coming to his front door).

This psalm examines this particular incident in David’s life, which begins a whole new life for him. Throughout David’s early life, he was a shepherd boy, held in low esteem by his family, and living a life of isolation, where he apparently honed his skill on his ancient guitar. Then David spend several years close to Saul’s family, first as a court musician, then as a soldier, and finally as the son-in-law of King Saul. This incident begins a whole new phase in David’s life: David, the fugitive.

However, like many great works of literature, what we read on the surface is only part of what is here. This is a psalm which applies to Israel, who is surrounded by her enemies—enemies lying in wait and willing to attack Israel at a moment’s notice. These are bloodthirsty men whose souls are filled with hatred against Israel (does this sound familiar to today’s world?). These enemies of Israel are like dogs, who come in at night and attack and forage, and run like cowards. They howl and they speak ill of Israel. God laughs at these enemies and holds them in derision. If you understand this as your read, then you have a more complete understanding of this psalm and David’s purpose in writing it. McGee is even more exact in his application of this psalm—he says that it applies to Israel during the tribulation, when Israel will be surrounded by enemies.

This psalm begins as a plea to God for deliverance from the men who seek his life; however, in the midst of the psalm, David speaks rather disparagingly of those who seek his life. David asks for their destruction, so that all men will know that God rules in Jacob (Israel). This psalm ends with David praising God.

Many of the psalms have a very particular time period that they represent, which information is often found in the inscription for the psalm (for those which have inscriptions). However, the inscription of this psalm does not actually give us the complete application of this psalm, as it is also applicable to Israel during times of enemy aggression (and perhaps during the Tribulation). Furthermore, the Psalms and Proverbs (and even the book of Ecclesiastes) often give us a more intimate and detailed examination of events that the historical books touch on. They often give us a backstage pass, a view on the thinking of the men of that era. These books often give us insight and detail that we would have otherwise missed.

Some break this psalm up into two parts—vv. 1–9, and vv. 10–17. The reason for doing so is that vv. 9 and 17 are almost identical, so they make good stopping points for each portion of the psalm, each looking to God as David’s strength and refuge. Each of these verses is preceded by an identical phrase in vv. 6 and 14, phrases which characterize the enemies of David as dogs. The first half of this psalm is primarily a prayer for deliverance and the second half is thanksgiving for deliverance. The problem with such a division is that, (1) there does not seem to be a clear break between vv. 9 and 10; and (2) if anywhere, the psalm suggests breaking points after vv. 5 and 13, both of which end with the word Selah, which word probably calls for a musical interlude.

I must admit, even though I disagree with the NIV’s division of this chapter, I personally had trouble outlining it myself (and the paragraph breaks varied widely with each English translation). Barnes comments on this: The psalm has no very regular order. The mind passes from one thing to another, —now uttering fervent prayer; now describing the enemy—his character and plans; and now expressing the confident hope of deliverance, and the purpose to praise God. Indeed the very structure of the psalm seems to me to furnished evidence that it describes feelings which would pass through the mind on such an occasion. Thus we have in verses 1, 5, 11–15, prayer for deliverance; in verses 3, 4, 6, 12, intermingled with these prayers, a description of the character and designs of these enemies; and in verses 8, 9, 16, 17, an expression of confident hope, —a purpose to praise God for deliverance and mercy. All this is indicative of such feelings as might, and probably would, pass through the mind in such a time of peril as that referred to in the title. In other words, the very nature of the disorganization of this psalm points to a man running for his life, suggesting that the actual composition of this psalm occurred as David was escaping.

Like half of the psalms, the verse numbering is different from translation to translation. The Septuagint and the Masoretic text both generally list the inscription as v. 1 (verse numbering was added over a millennium after the original text was scripted). However, in the English, these inscriptions (or titles) are so listed, which is the way it should be (as long as you realize that they are a part of the psalms).

Psalm 59 Inscription

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      For the end. Destroy not; by David for a memorial, when Saul sent, and watched his house to kill him.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       [For the music leader. To the tune “Don’t Destroy.” A special psalm by David when Saul had David’s house watched so that he could kill him.]

NJB                                For the choirmaster Tune: ‘Do not destroy’ Of David In a quiet voice When Saul sent men to watch David’s house in order to have him killed

NLT                                For the choir director: A Psalm of David, regarding the time Saul sent soldiers to watch David’s house in order to kill him. To be sung to the tune “Do Not Destroy!”

TEV                                [nothing]

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                 For the choir director; al tashheth; a Mikhtam by David when Saul sent men to watch David’s home and kill him.

JPS (Tanakh)                        For the leader; al tashheth. Of David. A Mikhtam; when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to put him to death.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible        To the Chief Musician; set to the tune, Do Not Destroy. Of David, record of memorable thoughts, when Saul sent men to watch his home in order to kill him.

NASB                                    For the choir director; set to Al-tashheth. A Mikhtam of David, when Saul sent men, and they watched the house in order to kill him.

Young's Updated LT              To the Overseer.— ‘Destroy not,’ by David. —A secret treasure, in Saul’s sending and they watch the house to put him to death.

What is the gist of this verse? This inscription gives us a lot of information. First of all, it appears to be addressed either to Saul or to God—or possibly to both. The first few lines of the Psalm make it clear that David is addressing God. David asks God not to destroy him, and then gives the time and place of this psalm: when Saul sent men to his house to kill him.

Translation: To the Preeminent One: do not destroy [me]! The first noun in this inscription is an interesting one, and 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. 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, 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 v. 1 and the vocative Jehovah in v. 3.

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. Psalm 75 begins identically, but is attributed to Asaph.

Translation: A writing of David’s... A precursory examination of the various translations yields a veritable plethora of meanings for mik^etâm. However, given the various similar nouns and verbs, we might assume that this is simply a cognate, and refers to some sort of writing, e.g., a poem or a song. More specific reasons are given in the exegesis above. Since this is found only in the inscriptions of the psalms, and since such a rendering would be both logical and consistent, there is little reason to assume that it means something different.

We do know that David has been writing songs or psalms for a long period of time. He spent many hours as a shepherd boy with his musical instrument alone. Therefore, given that David is a creative genius, that he composed several psalms would be in keeping with his character.

Like many portions of Scripture, there are those who wish to ascribe this psalm to an author other than the one named by the psalm itself. The NIV Study Bible suggest one of David’s sons either wrote or revised this when Jerusalem was under siege by a hostile force (e.g., when Hezekiah was under siege by a hostile Assyrian force). Others ascribe this psalm to Nehemiah, citing Neh. 4 to substantiate this. The problem here is, Scripture does not indicate that Hezekiah or Nehemiah are the authors for this psalm—Scripture tells us that David authored this psalm. Therefore, we have little reason to assume otherwise. Furthermore, although it is clear that this psalm has a wider application than to just David and his escape from Saul and his minions, there is nothing so graphic as to suggest that this was written by an eyewitness to the Rabshakeh’s address to the people of Israel (Isa. 36). Besides, prophecy is an integral part of Scripture and authorship should not be questioned simply because events of the future are revealed (Lev. 26, for example, tells about Israel being removed from the Land of Promise prior to them even entering into the Land of Promise).

Translation: ...when Saul sent [his officers] and they watched [David’s] house to kill him. It is this portion of the psalm which gives us the occasion for the psalm, the incident mentioned in I Sam. 19:11, which reads: Saul then sent assassins [lit., messengers] to David’s house to keep watch [on] him and to kill him in the morning. Michal, his wife, made [this] known to David, saying, “If you don’t deliver your soul [from danger] tonight, tomorrow, you will be killed.” David may write this as he escapes, writing the words and melody in his head; or, he may look back upon this escape and write this psalm. Obviously, David, on his trip down the wall to escape Saul, did not stop and scratch a few words out on a piece of paper, using the wall as backing. He took off quickly and we are not told when or if he stopped (prior to coming to Samuel). However, either along this trip, during a rest period, or in retrospection, David thought about and composed a psalm which dealt with Saul’s pursuance of him. As has already been discussed, the lack of organization found in this psalm points to a man who is trying to escape with his life from a desperate situation. For this reason, we may reasonably assume that David composed the bulk of this psalm in his head as he was escaping from Saul. I occasionally jog, and while jogging, I will occasionally carry a song in my head; it helps with the rhythm of the jogging. For David, this would not have necessarily been a need to continue a rhythm, but to allow his mind to go to a place where he was not focused only on running from Saul.

Saul, as we have studied, sent his officers two times during that afternoon and evening to bring David back to the palace to be executed. The first time, they returned giving Saul a lame reason for not completing their mission (David appears to be ill). Saul then carefully outlines their mission statement, which was to kill David. Therefore, David’s illness was a non-issue. By the time Saul sent these men back, mission statement in hand, David was long gone.

Barnes describes the occasion of this psalm: This prayer was offered when the spies sent by Saul surrounded the house of David. They had come to apprehend him, and it is to be presumed that they had come in sufficient numbers, and with sufficient power, to effect their object. Their purpose was not to break in upon him in the night, but to watch their opportunity, when he went forth in the morning, to slay him 1Sa_19:11, and there seemed no way for him to escape. Of their coming, and of their design, Michal, the daughter of Saul, and the wife of David, seems to have been apprised - perhaps by someone of her father’s family. She informed David of the arrangement, and assured him that unless he should escape in the night, he would be put to death in the morning. She, therefore, let him down through a window, and he escaped.

As with many of the psalms, there is some difficulty when it comes to simply numbering the verses. The inscription above is written with the psalm—it is not something which was tacked on later. Therefore, in the Masoretic text and in certain translations (e.g., the JPS and the NAB), the inscription is written as v. 1. In most English translations, this is presented as an inscription (although at least one, TEV, leaves it out altogether. In most English translations, the next verse will be v. 1; however, do not panic if your particular Bible says v. 2 instead.

David Asks God to Deliver Him from Vicious Men

Here is how others have handled this verse:

Early translations:

The Septuagint                      Deliver me from my enemies, O God; and ransom me from those that rise up against me.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Save me, God! Protect me from enemy attacks

Keep me safe from brutal people who want to kill me.

NAB                               Rescue me from my enemies, my God;

lift me out of reach of my foes.

REB                               Rescue me, My God, from my enemies;

be my strong tower against those who assail me.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                 Rescue me from my enemies, O my God.

Protect me from those who attack me.

JPS (Tanakh)                        Save me from my enemies, O my God;

secure me against my assailants. [This is v. 2 in JPS]

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible        Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; defend and protect me from those who rise up against me.

NASB                                    Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;

Set me securely on high away from those who rise up against me.

Young's Updated LT              Deliver me from my enemies, O my God,

From my withstanders set me on high.

What is the gist of this verse? David calls upon God to deliver him from his enemies and to place him above those who stand up against him.

Translation: Deliver me from my enemies, O Elohim;... The first word in this verse is an imperative addressed to God—deliver me! Even though it may seem strong, David is on good doctrinal ground. God has promised that he would be king; God anointed David king through Samuel. Therefore, God has to deliver David from his enemies. It is a matter of doctrine. It is a matter of stated truth.

Application: You can demand of God what He has promised you; the fact that David does it here I this psalm makes it not only allowed but encouraged.

Application: David prays on several occasions for deliverance from his enemies: Psalm 31:15 59:1 143:9. If a man of David’s spiritual caliber had enemies, despite the fact that he did nothing to stir them up, we may rest assured that we, as believers, will also have enemies who will do whatever they can to destroy us. Furthermore, do not be surprised if your enemies are fellow believers.

Translation: You set me above those rising [against] me. This is somewhat of a play on words. Saul has steadily increased his aggression towards David. He has become more and more overt to the point where he is using his own men to arrest and bring David back to him to be executed. So, Saul rises up with increased overt attacks against David. However, David says here that God lifts David up higher and higher above Saul. As Saul becomes more and more overt in his hostilities toward David, God grants David greater and greater protection.