Psalms 3:1

Lord, how are they increased that trouble me?.... David's enemies increased in the conspiracy against him, 2 Samuel 15:12; the hearts of the men of Israel were after Absalom, and against him.

LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. Title. - A psalm , [ mizmowr (H4210), from the Piel conjugation of zaamar (H2167), to sing].

Psalms 3 Composed by David, as this phrase implies, , compared with , and generally elsewhere. When he fled, or, after he had fled. Either this Psalm was composed in his flight, or the matter of it was then in his thoughts; which afterwards he digested into this form and order. The psalmist complaineth of the multitude of his enemies, ,2; but comforteth himself with his confidence in and reliance on God, ; and the manifold experiences of his former assistance, . He prayeth for his own and the church’ s salvation, . He might well say so; for almost all his people joined in the conspiracy.

Psalms 3:1 « A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. » LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many [are] they that rise up against me.A Psalm of David] Tremellius addeth, Quem cecinit, which he sang when he fled, &c. As birds in the spring tune most sweetly when it rains most sadly. This was better yet than that black sanctus (as they call it) sung by our Henry II in like case, and for like cause. For when, as some few hours before he died, he saw a list of their names who conspired with the king of France and Earl Richard (his son and successor) against him, and found therein his son John (whom he had made earl of Cornwall, Dorset, Somerset, Nottingham, Derby, and Lancaster, &c.), to be the first; he fell into a grievous passion, both cursing his sons and the day wherein himself was born; and in that distemper departed the world, which so often himself had distempered. When he fled from] Heb. From the face of Absalom, which he had too much admired, and was now afraid of. Then when he went up Mount Olivet weeping, 2 Samuel 15:30, made he this psalm, say the Rabbis. So in the sack of Ziklag he comforted himself in the Lord his God, 1 Samuel 30:6. A Christian is never without his cordial. Absalom his son] His darling, his tidling, his one eye. Such another good son was Barabbas, which signifies his father’ s son, his white boy, as we say, like as Absalom signifieth his father’ s peace, but it proved otherwise; as it likewise befell Eve, when she called her firstborn Cain, and thought she had got a great boon from the Lord. But Fallitur augurio spes bona saepe suo, David was disappointed: for Absalom proved like the sea Pacific or calm, so it is called; but Captain Drake found it rough and troublous above measure (Heyl. Geog.). Absalom would have done by David, if he could have come at him, as afterwards Amidas did with his father Muleasses, king of Tunis, in Africa, whom he first dethroned, and afterwards put out his eyes (Turk. Hist.). In Absalom was nothing good but his name. That may have a good name the nature whereof is so ill that it is not to be named; like as, Leviticus 20:17, abominable incest between brother and sister is called chesed, or kindness, per antiphrasin. Ver. 1. Lord, how are they increased that trouble me?] He worthily wondereth at so sudden a change: Omnia sunt hominum tenui pendentia filo; Et subito casu, quae valuere, ruunt. David was deserted by all almost, and had now as many enemies as till now he had subjects, excepting a few that stuck to him. Our Henry VI, who had been the most potent monarch for dominions that ever England had, was, when deposed, not the master of a molehill; and served to show that mortality was but the stage of mutability.

(1) How . . . many.—“And Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem” (2 Samuel 16:15). Ahithophel counsels Absalom to take 12,000 men, and go in instant pursuit of the fugitive. Hushar’s advice shows, of course, the exaggeration of flattery: “Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Bcersheba, as the sand which is by the sea for multitude.”

PSALM III David complains, in great distress, of the number of his enemies, and the reproaches they cast on him, as one forsaken of God, 1, 2; is confident, notwithstanding, that God will be his protector, 3; mentions his prayers and supplications, and how God heard him, 4, 5; derides the impotent malice of has adversaries, and foretells their destruction, 6, 7; and ascribes salvation to God, 8. NOTES ON PSALM III This is said to be A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.] See the account, 2 Samuel 15:1, c. And David is supposed to have composed it when obliged to leave Jerusalem, passing by the mount of Olives, weeping, with his clothes rent, and with dust upon his head. This Psalm is suitable enough to these circumstances and they mutually cast light on each other. If the inscription be correct, this Psalm is a proof that the Psalms are not placed in any chronological order. The word Psalm, מזמור mizmor, comes from זמר zamar, to cut, whether that means to cut into syllables, for the purpose of its being adapted to musical tones, or whether its being cut on wood, c., for the direction of the singers what we would call a Psalm in score. This last opinion, however, seems too technical. Verse 1. Lord, how are they increased that trouble me?] We are told that the hearts of all Israel went after Absalom, 2 Samuel 15:13; and David is astonished to find such a sudden and general revolt. Not only the common people, but his counsellors also, and many of his chief captains. How publicly does God take vengeance for the sins which David committed so privately! In the horrible rebellion of Absalom we see the adultery of Bath-sheba, and the murder of Uriah. Now the words of Nathan begin to be fulfilled: "The sword shall not depart from thy house."

1, 2. David lays his need before Jehovah. He is threatened by a rebellion which hourly gathers fresh adherents. His cause is pronounced utterly desperate.

Lord, how are they increased - How are they multiplied; or, how numerous they are. Perhaps the idea is, that at first they seemed to be comparatively few in number, but had now so multiplied as to endanger his crown and life.

1. How are they increased?—The vast and constantly swelling number of the revolters threw the country into the greatest alarm.