Psalms 56:13

For thou hast delivered my soul from death,.... From imminent danger of death, when in the hands of the Philistines; not that the soul can die; that is immortal; but he means his person, on which

For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?

From death; which my enemies designed, and my extreme dangers threatened. I am confident that thou wilt deliver, because of thy promises, and my former experience. That I may walk before God, i.e. that I may please, and serve, and glorify thee, as this phrase implies, , compared with , as also 17:1 ; which is the great end for which I desire life. In the light of the living: either, 1. In heaven. Or rather, 2. In this life, which is here opposed to the death last mentioned, as it is , which is called light, , as death is called darkness, ,22, and oft elsewhere, and which is expressed by beholding the light and the sun, .

Psalms 56:13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death: [wilt] not [thou deliver] my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?Ver. 13. For thou hast delivered my soul from death] Which was the very thing I begged of thee when I was at worst, viz. that thou wouldest save my life, which then lay at stake; I also then solemnly took upon me such and such engagements, which lie upon me as so many debts, and I am in pain till I have paid them. This if I shall do effectually, Wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling] Yea, I know thou wilt, Lord, for every former favour of thine is a pledge of a future. That I may walk before God in the light of the living?] Called elsewhere the land of the living; that is, in this present life, spending the span of it in thy fear, and labouring to be every whit as good as I vowed to be at the time when I was in great distress and danger. Pliny, in an Epistle of his to one that desired rules from him how to order his life aright, I will, saith he, give you one rule that shall be instead of a thousand, Ut tales esse perseveremus sani, quales nos futures esse profitemur infirmi, i.e. That you hold out to be such when well as you promised to be the time when weak and sick, &c.

(13) Wilt thou not deliver?—Better, hast thou not delivered?From falling.—Literally, front a thrust.

Verse 13. Thou hast delivered my soul from death] My life from the grave, and my soul from endless perdition. My feet from falling] Thou hast preserved me from taking any false way, and keepest me steady in my godly course; and so supportest me that I may continue to walk before thee in the light of the living, ever avoiding that which is evil, and moving towards that which is good; letting my light shine before men, that they may see my good works, and glorify my Father which is in heaven. To walk before God is to please him; the light of the living signifies the whole course of human life, with all its comforts and advantages. ANALYSIS OF THE FIFTY-SIXTH PSALM David, in banishment among the Philistines, and being then in great danger of his life, complains, and professes his confidence in God. The contents of this Psalm are the following: - I. David's prayer, Psalms 56:1; Psalms 56:7-8. II. The cause; the fear of his enemies, whom he describes, Psalms 56:1-2; Psalms 56:5-6. III. His confidence in God's word, Psalms 56:3-4; Psalms 56:9-11. IV. His thankfulness, Psalms 56:4; Psalms 56:10; Psalms 56:12-13. I. He begins with a prayer for mercy. Little was he likely to find from man; from his God he expected it; and therefore he prays: "Be merciful unto me, O God." II. And then presently he subjoins the cause; the danger he was in by his bloody and cruel enemies, whom he begins to describe: - 1. From their insatiable rapacity. Like a wolf they would swallow me up. Enemies at home and abroad would swallow me up. 2. From the time. Daily they would do it; without intermission. 3. From their number: "Many there be that fight against me." Of these he gives us a farther description in the fifth and sixth verses: - 1. From their incessant malice: "Every day they wrest my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil." 2. From their secret treachery, craft, and vigilance: "They gather themselves together, they hide themselves;" their counsels lying, as it were, in ambush for me. "They mark my steps." Go where I will, they are at my heels. 3. From their implacable hatred; nothing could satisfy them but his blood: "They lay wait for my soul." In the very midst of this complaint, he inserts his courage and confidence. 1. "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee." 2. "I will not fear." He rises higher: even when he fears, he will not fear. His word, his promise, is passed to me for protection; and I will trust in it: "In God will I praise his word; in God have I put my trust, I will not fear what flesh, (for the proudest, the mightiest enemy I have, is but flesh, and all flesh is grass,) I will not then fear what flesh can do unto me." This reason he repeats again, Psalms 56:10-11. 1.

13. Borrowed with slight variations in Psalms 116:8. For thou hast delivered &c.] He takes his stand in the future and looks back upon deliverance granted. Cp. Psalms 54:7. wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling] Yea, my feet from stumbling: lit., ‘hast thou not delivered my feet from thrusting?’ i.e. not only saved me from death, but upheld me when the foe “thrust sore at me that I might fall” (Psalms 118:13; cp. Psalms 36:12). that I may walk before God] Not simply live in His Presence and under His protection, but serve Him acceptably. So the LXX, τοῦεὐαρεστῆσαιἐνώπιοντοῦθεοῦ; cp. Hebrews 11:5-6. Cp. Genesis 17:1; Genesis 24:40; Psalms 61:7 : and Genesis 5:22; Genesis 5:24; Genesis 6:9. in the light of the living] Or, of life. “The land of the living” (Psalms 27:13; Psalms 116:9) is the land of light contrasted with the darkness of the grave (Job 33:28; Job 33:30); it is illuminated by the Presence of God (Psalms 36:9), from Whom comes all that is worthy to be called happiness. What to the Psalmist was a present and temporal truth, receives for the Christian a spiritual and eternal meaning. Cp. John 8:12, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

For thou hast delivered my soul from death - That is, my “life.” Thou hast kept “me” from death. He was surrounded by enemies. He was pursued by them from place to place.

13. Thou hast delivered—The perfect tense of the verb refers to events past, as in Psalms 116:8. Upon deliverances already experienced he strengthens himself in God for the future.