A Prayer of David in Danger and Distress
Explanation of the Psalm
1 He commences with a prayer for mercy, by reason of his avowal of his misery. He was suffering a most undeserved persecution from Saul, and in seeking to avoid it, he fell into a more grievous one from the Philistines; and, during a short respite from both he was obliged to lie concealed in a cave, an exile, and a destitute. “Have mercy on me, O Lord,” you, the only refuge of the wretched, “for man hath trodden me under foot,” meaning Saul, whom he designates man, rather than Saul, to contrast him with God; as if he said, Have mercy on me, O Lord, for it is my fellowman that afflicts me; when the earth despises me, I look up to the heavens; when my fellow servant persecutes me, I fly to my master. “All the day long he hath afflicted me,” his injuries were not passing, or momentary, but they continued to be heaped on me, he never let me rest. The truth of all this is apparent from 1 Kings. Nor is there any difficulty in applying this to Christ, who became man for our sake, and yet was always oppressed by man, and was afflicted from the day of his birth, to that of his burial; and after him it may refer to his Church, which is doomed to encounter persecution and trouble, even to the day of judgment. By the word “man,” is meant, either the devil, who is called in the Gospel, “The enemy,” or mankind wanting the Spirit of God, and, therefore, purely man, as the Apostle, 1 Cor. 3, says, “For, whereas there is amongst you envying and contention, are you not carnal, and walk according to man?” and immediately after, “Are you not men?” Whence the Lord himself, Mat. 16, says, “Whom do men say that the Son of Man is?” “But whom do you say that I am?”
2 David was persecuted, and his death sought for, not only by Saul, but by all his retainers; and the devil is helped by all his fallen angels, in his assaults on the Church.
3 However numerous my enemies may be, I will not fear them, but “from the height of the day I shall fear;” that is, I will fear God’s judgments, proceeding as they do from the most intense light, such as we have at midday, a light penetrating everything, even the inmost recesses of the heart; which fear shall be united with hope: for though I fear the brightness of your light, I will, at the same time, “trust” in your mercy and goodness.
4 He enters at greater length into the confidence he has in God, and his reasons for it. God had long since, through Samuel, promised him the kingdom, as we read in 1 Kings 13, where Samuel says of David, “The Lord hath sought him a man according to his own heart; and him hath the Lord commanded to be prince over his people;” and in 1 Kings 16, “He anointed him in the midst of his brethren.” Such was the promise that inspired him with so much confidence, and to it he alludes, when he says, “In God I will praise my words;” that is, relying on God’s assistance, I will ultimately praise the promises he made me, as most faithful, when they shall have been accomplished; and, therefore, “I will not fear what flesh can do against me.” I will not fear the threats and persecutions of my enemies, who, being flesh, are weak and feeble, when compared with God, who has assured me of the kingdom. This verse can be easily referred to Christ, for the Angel, when speaking to the Virgin, said, “The Lord will give him the throne of David his father;” and Christ could say with the greatest truth, I will not fear what flesh can do against me.
5 He returns to an account of the malice of his enemies, and says, that all the time he was among them, they never ceased impugning all his words and actions, and seeking his death; which is just as applicable to the Scribes and Pharisees, calumniating and plotting against our Savior, as it is to David’s enemies.
6 He now relates another malicious trait in his enemies. “They will dwell and hide themselves,” while they are apparently on the best of terms with me, living as friends and companions in one house with me, they will, meanwhile, hide themselves, plotting and conspiring against me: “They will watch my heel,” to trip me up, if possible, and destroy me. Such was the behavior of Saul’s dependents towards David, and of the Jews towards Christ. Though he speaks in the future tense, he intends the past, the Hebrew idiom allowing, in many cases, the future to be used for the past.
7 He now predicts the ruin of his enemies, God, in his justice, awarding to them what they intended for their neighbor. “As they have waited for my soul,” as they privately lay in wait for me to have my life, so you, O God, “for nothing shalt thou save them,” nothing will induce you to save them; but, “in thy anger thou shalt break the people in pieces,” and pursue them to destruction. And so he did; for Saul and his troops perished in the mountains of Gelboe. The Jews had their city sacked by the Romans, and the survivors of the siege were scattered over all the world, and they will be signally punished on the day of judgment.
8 Having discussed the punishment of his enemies, he now returns to pray for himself, saying, “O God, I have declared to thee my life;” I have put before you in my prayers, all my journeys, casualties, and labors, (for the Hebrew word for life comprehends so much;) and “Thou hast set my tears in thy sight;” you, most merciful and kind Father, have not turned your face away, but you have looked upon my face with pity “As also in thy promise;” a thing you could not well avoid, having promised me faithfully that you would protect me.
9 He concludes by thanking and praising God. Behold, he says, I have known by experience that, “in what day soever I shall call upon thee, behold, I know thou art my God;” that is, by listening to my prayer, you will prove that you are my God.
10 This verse has been already explained, it being nearly identical with verse 4, the difference being hardly worth explanation.
11 For all the favors conferred on him, he promises that he will discharge all the vows of praise he made while in tribulation. “In me, O God, are vows to thee,” I have a lively recollection of them all, “which I will pay, praises to thee;” these vows being promises of constant hymns of praise and thanksgiving to thee for all the favors conferred on me.
12 We have now a summary of all God’s favors. “Because thou hast delivered my soul from death;” you have saved me from Saul, or Achis, the king of the Philistines, who were bent on my ruin; “My feet from falling;” preserved me from falling into sin, notwithstanding the numerous temptations by which I was urged to destroy Saul, or to curse him; and saved me from the death of the body, as well as of the soul. “That I may please in the sight of God, in the light of the living;” in the light of this life, which those who are dead enjoy not; and in the light of grace, which infidels and sinners have not; that I may, at length, come to the light of eternal glory enjoyed by those who alone, and properly speaking, can be classed among the living. These words are applicable to Christ, who, by his resurrection, was delivered from the death of the body, without any possibility of his ever again being subject to it, or to any suffering, and lives and reigns on the right hand of the Father, “in the light of the living.” Amen.