Psalms 3:8

Salvation [belongeth] unto the Lord,.... As the author of it; temporal salvation is of him; all the deliverances of the saints out of their troubles are from him; and to him is owing their spiritual

Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord - as its sole Possessor and Dispenser (Jonah 2:9; Proverbs 21:31, end; Jeremiah 3:23).

I expect not salvation from my forces, but from thy power and favour alone. Thy blessing is, or rather, let it be, (so he closeth with a prayer,) upon thy people; either upon my friends and followers, who alone are thy people, the rest being rebels to thee as well as to me; or, upon all thy people Israel, to preserve my friends, to convince and convert mine enemies, and to save the body of the nation, which without thy mercy are likely by this civil war to be brought to utter ruin.

Psalms 3:8 Salvation [belongeth] unto the LORD: thy blessing [is] upon thy people. Selah.Ver. 8. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord] Here is much in few. Fulgentius saith, that the most golden sentence is ever measured by brevity and suavity. Brevis et suavis, planeque aurea est haec sententia. Salvation in the full extent of it (and it is very comprehensive) is of the Lord. It properly denoteth the privative part of man’ s happiness, freedom from evils and enemies of all sorts. But it importeth the positive part also, fruition of all good; and all is from the Lord, he alone is the chief efficient, and author of all, the true sospitator, the ï Sùôçñ, which, saith Cicero (Acts iv. in Verr.), is a word so emphatic, that other tongues can hardly find another word fit to express it. Thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah] Or, prayerwise, Let thy blessing be upon thy people. Etiam qui imprudenter ad Absalomum desciverat (Jun.), even upon those also who have foolishly taken part with Absalom against me (thus David prays for his rebels, as Christ and Stephen afterwards did for their persecutors and murderers), but especially upon those that do yet adhere unto me, and are shortly to fight for me. David knew that victory is of the Lord, and must be got by prayer. For if Queen Elizabeth could say, Cui adhaereo praeest, He whose part I take shall get the better, how much more may the Lord of hosts say so! This the people also knew, and therefore persuaded David not to venture his person among them in the field, but to stay at home and pray for them, 2 Samuel 18:5. It is better, say they, that thou help us out of the city; thence shalt thou help us, or cause us to be helped; that is, thy prayers shall prevail with God for our assistance, as the Rabbis sense that text. Selah] Or, So be it, Hoc ratum, firmumquo esto. See Psalms 3:2.

(8) Thy blessing . . .—Rather, let thy blessing be upon thy people. It is not the statement of a fact, but an intercessory prayer. The true Shepherd of His people was a noble and generous man. This close, as Ewald says, “throws a bright light on the depth of his noble soul.”

Verse 8. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord] It is God alone who saves. He is the fountain whence help and salvation come; and to him alone the praise of all saved souls is due. His blessing is upon his people. Those who are saved from the power and the guilt of sin are his people. His mercy saved them; and it is by his blessing being continually upon them, that they continue to be saved. David adds his selah here also: mark this! 1. Salvation comes from God. 2. Salvation is continued by God. These are great truths; mark them! ANALYSIS OF THE THIRD PSALM The occasion of this Psalm was Absalom's rebellion. David being deserted by his subjects, railed on by Shimei, pursued for his crown and life by his ungracious son, and not finding to whom to make his moan, betakes himself to his God; and before him he expostulates his wrong, confesses his faith, and makes his prayer. There are three strains of this accurate Psalm: I. His complaint. II. The confession of his confidence. III. His petition. I. He begins with a sad and bitter complaint, amplified, 1. By the number and multitude of his enemies. They were many, very many; they were multiplied and increased: "All Israel was gathered together from Dan to Beer-sheba, as the sand of the sea for multitude;" 2 Samuel 17:11. 2. From their malice they came together to do him mischief. They rose up, not for him, but against him; not to honour, but to trouble him; not to defend him as they ought, but to take away his crown and life; 2 Samuel 17:2. 3. From their insults and sarcasm. It was not Shimei only, but many, that said it: "Many - say there is no help for him in his God." II. The second part of the Psalm sets forth David's confidence: - 1. To their multitude, he opposeth ONE GOD. But THOU, O LORD! 2. To their malicious insurrection, Jehovah; who, he believed, 1. Would be a buckler to receive all the arrows shot against him. 2. His glory, to honour, though they went about to dishonour, him. 3. The lifter up of his head, which they wished to lay low enough. 3. To their vain boast of desertion, There is no help for him in his God, he opposeth his own experience, "I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me." 4. By whose protection being sustained and secured, he deposes all care and fear, all anxiety and distraction. 1. He sleeps with a quiet mind: "I laid me down and slept, I awoke." 2. He sings a requiem: "I will not be afraid of ten thousands of the people, that have set themselves against me round about." III. In the close, or third part, he petitions and prays, notwithstanding his security: "Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God!" To move God to grant his request, he thankfully reminds him of what he had done before: - 1.

8. Salvation] R.V. marg. victory unduly limits the thought, though no doubt it is the particular form in which David desires to see Jehovah’s saving power manifested. ‘Save’ is the constant prayer, ‘salvation’ the constant desire, of the Psalmists. The Hebrew words thus rendered denote primarily enlargement, liberation from a state of confinement and distress, power to move freely and at will, and so deliverance generally. Such deliverance comes from Jehovah alone: it is eagerly sought as the proof of His favour. It is, mainly at least, temporal and material, and is looked for in this life; for in the O.T. this life is the sphere of God’s dealings with His people. But the word grows with the growth of revelation, till it gains an inexhaustible fulness of spiritual meaning in the N.T. thy blessing is upon thy people] Rather as R.V., thy blessing be upon thy people. This prayer reveals the noble heart of the true king, to whom the welfare of his people is more than his own personal safety. Like Him of whom he was the type, he intercedes on behalf of the rebels, for ‘thy people’ cannot be limited to the loyal few. The whole nation is still Jehovah’s people, though they have been misled into revolt against His king. As the sequel shewed, the revolt was the work of a party, not of the nation (2 Samuel 19:9).

Salvation belongeth unto the Lord - That is, it pertains to God alone to save. The psalmist had no expectation of saving himself; he had no confidence in the unaided prowess of his own arm.

8. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord—Literally, to Jehovah (is) the salvation. The Hebrew is peculiarly expressive of Jehovah’s sole and sovereign possession and right of disposal of the blessings of the national covenant.