Psalms 59

This Psalm is another prayer for deliverance from virulent enemies who are threatening the Psalmist’s life. It consists of two principal divisions (Psalms 59:1-17) each ending with a refrain. These are again subdivided; the end of the first stanza in each being marked by a Selah, and the initial verse of the second (Psalms 59:6; Psalms 59:14) being the same. i. (1) In peril of his life from truculent enemies the Psalmist cries for help (Psalms 59:1-2). Emphasising the fact that their attack is unprovoked, he prays Jehovah to interpose and punish all the antagonists of His people (Psalms 59:3-5). (2) He describes the menacing behaviour and the scornful godlessness of his enemies (Psalms 59:6-7), and declares his confidence that Jehovah will treat them with sovereign contempt (Psalms 59:8-9). ii. (1) Starting from the height of this confidence (Psalms 59:10) he prays that they may be humbled, yet not utterly destroyed, but left for a warning example, till their own sin proves their ruin (11, 12), and their final disappearance demonstrates the sovereignty of Jacob’s God (Psalms 59:13). (2) Returning to the present, he contrasts the baffled rage of his pursuers (Psalms 59:14-15) with his own hymns of thanksgiving for deliverance (Psalms 59:16-17). Thus the Psalm strikes the familiar note of unshaken trust in God under circumstances of danger and difficulty. Its constant recurrence in the Psalter is doubtless intended to provide a large variety of comfort and encouragement for the various circumstances of trial to which the godly are exposed. But what were the actual circumstances of the Psalmist? According to the title the Psalm refers to the occasion in David’s life “when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.” The narrative in 1 Samuel 19:8 ff relates that after Saul’s unsuccessful attempt upon his life David fled and escaped. “And it came to pass that night” (so we should read with the LXX) “that Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch it, that he might slay him in the morning.” Michal however contrived to effect his escape by letting him down through a window. There is much in the Psalm which suits David’s situation. Not on that particular night only but for some time previously his life had been in danger. Saul had spoken “to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should slay David” (1 Samuel 19:1); and doubtless there were men (Psalms 59:3) in Saul’s retinue ready to curry favour with their master by secretly despatching him, treacherous ruffians who might well be compared to the hungry and savage dogs which infest oriental towns. David’s enemies had been using the weapons of false and cruel calumny with the view of effecting his ruin. With Psalms 59:7; Psalms 59:12 cp. 1 Samuel 24:9; 1 Samuel 26:19. Again and again he protested his innocence and the groundlessness of the persecution he was suffering. With Psalms 59:3-4 cp. 1 Samuel 20:1; 1 Samuel 24:11; 1 Samuel 26:18 ff; and Psalms 7. The connexion of the Psalm with this episode in David’s life is however commonly set aside on the ground that the Psalmist’s foes are described as foreigners (Psalms 59:5; Psalms 59:8), and ‘my people’ (Psalms 59:11) seems to imply that he is a king or at least in a position of authority. Ewald supposed that the Psalm was written by Josiah when Jerusalem was threatened by the marauding bands of the Scythians; others have attributed it to Nehemiah, when he was hindered in his work of rebuilding the walls by the Samaritans and their confederates (Nehemiah 4:1 ff, Nehemiah 4:7 ff; Nehemiah 6:1 ff). But neither of these conjectures is satisfactory. The enemies appear to be personal; one of their chief weapons is calumny; it is the Psalmist’s life which is in danger, rather than the city, or the cause which he represents. It is indeed not quite certain (see the notes) that the ‘heathen’ of Psalms 59:5; Psalms 59:8, are the Psalmist’s own immediate enemies: but if they are, the data do not seem to be entirely consistent. Is it possible that we have here a Psalm written by David, or possibly by some later poet, with reference to the occasion stated in the title, and subsequently adapted for liturgical use by the introduction of prayers for the judgement of the enemies of the nation?

Psalms 59:1-5

1–5. The Psalmist prays for deliverance from the enemies who are bent on taking his life, pleading his innocence, and appealing to God to punish all injustice.

Psalms 59:2

2. from bloody men] Better, from bloodthirsty men (Psalms 5:6; Psalms 55:23; Psalms 139:19; Proverbs 29:10).

Psalms 59:3-4

3, 4. For, lo, strong ones have laid wait for my life, They gather themselves together against me, For no transgression or sin of mine, Jehovah. For no iniquity (of mine) they run and station themselves: Arouse thee to meet me, and behold. Observe the tenses. Secret plots (cp. Proverbs 1:11; Micah 7:2) have long been going on: now they are preparing a more open attack (Psalms 54:3; Psalms 56:6). In this crisis he calls upon God to arouse Himself from His apparent slumber of indifference (Psalms 44:23), and ‘meet him’ as with an army of relief. For ‘behold’ (lit. see) cp. Psalms 10:14; Psalms 25:18; Psalms 31:7. The transgression, sin, iniquity, of which he protests his innocence, might refer to offences against God, for which this persecution might have been sent as a punishment (1 Samuel 26:19); but more probably they refer to offences against his persecutors. Their hostility is unprovoked. Exactly the same words are used by David in protesting his innocence of treasonable designs against Saul, 1 Samuel 20:1; 1 Samuel 24:11.

Psalms 59:5

5. Yea, do Thou, Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, Awake to visit all the nations: Be not gracious to any treacherous workers of iniquity. Thou is emphatic, and the address virtually means, ‘since Thou art God of hosts, and God of Israel.’ The first title implies that He has the power (Psalms 46:7, note), the second that He is under the obligation, to interpose and ‘visit,’ hold inquisition concerning, the nations, to punish them for their offences. But who are meant by the ‘nations’ or ‘heathen’? Are they the enemies against whom the Psalmist is praying, and identical with the ‘treacherous workers of iniquity,’ mentioned in the next line? If so, the Psalmist’s enemies are foreigners, for usage does not justify the interpretation of gτyξm as ‘heathenishly minded men’; and if the Psalm is in its original form, it cannot have been written by David with reference to Saul and his myrmidons. But it is possible that, as in Psalms 7, the prayer for a judgement upon personal enemies is expanded into a prayer for a judgement upon all the enemies of Israel: and in that general judgement the treacherous Israelites who are iniquitously plotting against the Psalmist’s life will meet their due reward. Similarly in Psalms 59:8, ‘them’ will refer to the Psalmist’s personal enemies, ‘the heathen’ or ‘nations’ to the enemies of Israel. It is also possible, as has been suggested above, that the Psalm has been altered for liturgical use. The anomalous form of the combination Jehovah the God of hosts here and in Psalms 80:4; Psalms 80:19; Psalms 84:8 (Jehovah Elτhξm Tsebβτth not Jehovah Elτhη Tsebβτth) makes it probable that the original reading was simply Jehovah of hosts, and that God is the substitution of the Elohistic editor for Jehovah, which however, has survived or has been restored along with it. Be not gracious is the opposite to the Psalmist’s prayer for himself, Psalms 56:1, Psalms 57:1.

Psalms 59:6-9

6–9. Be his enemies never so threatening and insolent, he can trust in God.

Psalms 59:7

7. The figure of Psa 59:6 is dropped. A flood of cursing and falsehood (Psalms 59:12) pours from their mouth (Proverbs 15:2; Proverbs 15:28); they menace him with death, or openly boast that he will soon be got rid of; cp. Psalms 52:2, note. ‘Say they’ is rightly inserted. ‘Who doth hear’? is not the Psalmist’s complaint that there is no one to take his part, but the scornful sneer of his enemies, who do not believe that God cares for His servant. Cp. Psalms 10:4; Psalms 10:11; Psalms 10:13; Psalms 64:5; Psalms 73:11; Psalms 94:7.

Psalms 59:8

8. The verbs are the same as in Psalms 2:4 : cp. Psalms 37:13; Isaiah 37:22. The bold phrase “expresses generally the truth that the machinations of God’s enemies are not less absurd than wicked.” Speaker’s Comm. For the meaning of ‘heathen’ or ‘nations,’ see note on Psalms 59:5.

Psalms 59:9

9. O my strength, unto thee will I watch: For God is my high tower. His enemies are ‘strong’ (Psalms 59:3); but God is his strength; they watch his house (title), but he will ‘watch unto God,’ waiting in faith for His help; he has prayed that God will ‘set him up on high,’ and he is confident of an answer, for God Himself is his ‘high tower’ of refuge. The A.V. ‘because of his strength’ follows the Massoretic Text; but some MSS., the LXX, Vulg., Jer., and Targ., read, as in Psalms 59:17, my strength, which is doubtless right. P.B.V. retains my from the Vulg., though adopting an impossible rendering, ‘My strength will I ascribe unto thee.’ It is unnecessary to follow the Syr. in reading as in Psalms 59:17, I will make melody, for I will watch; but possibly the words the God of my lovingkindness originally stood at the end of this verse as well as of Psa 59:17. See note on Psalms 59:10.

Psalms 59:10-13

10–13. His enemies will be punished: yet let them not be utterly destroyed forthwith, but kept awhile for a warning, till they perish through their own iniquity, an evidence of the sovereignty of God.

Psalms 59:11

11. Slay them not] Apparently inconsistent with Psalms 59:13; but burning indignation does not study logical consistency. What he desires is that they may not be destroyed outright by some signal catastrophe, but visibly punished as a living example, until at last their own wickedness proves their destruction. Cp. Exodus 9:15-16 (R.V.). Pharaoh might have been cut off at once, but was suffered to exist, till his obstinate resistance sealed his doom, and enhanced God’s sovereignty. The Fathers applied the words to the Jews in their dispersion, scattered but not consumed, an ever visible memorial of divine judgement. scatter them by thy power] Rather, make them wander to and fro by thine army, as vagabonds and outcasts (Psalms 109:10; Genesis 4:12; Genesis 4:14; Numbers 32:13). The word rendered by thy power in A.V. is never used of God’s might, but may mean (cp. Joe 2:25; Joe 3:11) the heavenly army which God has at His command. Cp. Psalms 35:5-6. bring them down] Cp. Psalms 55:23; Psalms 56:7. our shield] The Psalmist speaks as the representative of the nation, or at least of a class. For the metaphor cp. Psalms 3:3; Genesis 15:1; Deuteronomy 33:29; Psalms 18:2; &c.

Psalms 59:12

12. The A.V. gives the sense, though the precise construction is doubtful. Perhaps, The word of their lips is the sin of their mouth, i.e. every word they utter is sin: or, O the sin of their mouth! O the word of their lips! let them &c. let them even be taken] Caught in their own snare, their plots recoiling on themselves. Cp. Psalms 9:15; Psalms 35:8; Proverbs 11:6. in their pride] The atheistic self-sufficiency which says, Who doth hear? Cp. Psalms 10:4.

Psalms 59:13

13. Consume them in wrath, consume them] For the emphatic repetition cp. Psalms 57:1; Psalms 57:7-8; and for the wrath of divine judgement cp. Psalms 56:7. that they may not be] Better as R.V., that they be no more. and let them know] It is best to regard the subject of the verb as indefinite, let men know; and to connect unto the ends of the earth with this clause. Let it be known throughout the length and breadth of the world. Cp. 1 Samuel 17:46 : ‘that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.’ The P.B.V. ‘that it is God that ruleth in Jacob, and unto the ends of the world,’ gives an equally good sense, but requires the insertion of the conjunction.

Psalms 59:14-17

14–17. The Psalmist contrasts the baffled rage of his persecutors with his own calm trust in God.

Psalms 59:16-17

16, 17. Render, Yet as for me, I shall sing of thy strength; Yea, I shall sing aloud of thy lovingkindness in the morning: For thou hast been a high tower for me, And a refuge In the day of my distress. Unto thee, O my strength, will I make melody, For God is my high tower, the God of my lovingkindness. Thou hast been, for in the language of faith he looks back upon the deliverance from the morning of peace which succeeds the night of anxiety. The refrain is slightly varied from Psalms 59:9 : the patient waiting of the night is changed into the joyous song of the morning.