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P S A L M S
PSALM LV.
It is the conjecture of many expositors that David penned this psalm
upon occasion of Absalom’s rebellion, and that the particular enemy he
here speaks of, that dealt treacherously with him, was Ahithophel; and
some will therefore make David’s troubles here typical of Christ’s
sufferings, and Ahithophel’s treachery a figure of Judas’s, because
they both hanged themselves. But there is nothing in it particularly
applied to Christ in the New Testament. David was in great distress
when he penned this psalm.
I. He prays that God would manifest his favour to him, and pleads his
own sorrow and fear,
II. He prays that God would manifest his displeasure against his
enemies, and pleads their great wickedness and treachery,
ver. 9-15 and again ver. 20, 21.
III. He assures himself that God would, in due time, appear for him
against his enemies, comforts himself with the hopes of it, and
encourages others to trust in God,
and again ver. 22, 23.
In singing this psalm we may, if there be occasion, apply it to our own
troubles; if not, we may sympathize with those to whose case it comes
nearer, foreseeing that there will be, at last, indignation and wrath
to the persecutors, salvation and joy to the persecuted.
| Supplications of David in Distress. | |
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To the chief musician on Neginoth, Maschil. A psalm of David.
1 Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from
my supplication.
2 Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and
make a noise;
3 Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression
of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they
hate me.
4 My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death
are fallen upon me.
5 Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath
overwhelmed me.
6 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would
I fly away, and be at rest.
7 Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the
wilderness. Selah.
8 I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.
In these verses we have,
I. David praying. Prayer is a salve for every sore and a relief to the
spirit under every burden: Give ear to my prayer, O God!
v. 1, 2.
He does not set down the petitions he offered up to God in his
distress, but begs that God would hear the prayers which, at every
period, his heart lifted up to God, and grant an answer of peace to
them: Attend to me, hear me. Saul would not hear his petitions;
his other enemies regarded not his pleas; but, “Lord, be thou pleased
to hearken to me. Hide not thyself from my supplication, either
as one unconcerned and not regarding it, nor seeming to take any notice
of it, or as one displeased, angry at me, and therefore at my prayer.”
If we, in our prayers, sincerely lay open ourselves, our case, our
hearts, to God, we have reason to hope that he will not hide himself,
his favours, his comforts, from us.
II. David weeping; for in this he was a type of Christ that he was a
man of sorrows and often in tears
(v. 2):
“I mourn in my complaint” (or in my meditation, my
melancholy musings), “and I make a noise; I cannot forbear such
sighs and groans, and other expressions of grief, as discover it to
those about me.” Great griefs are sometimes noisy and clamorous, and
thus are, in some measure, lessened, while those increase that are
stifled, and have no vent given them. But what was the matter?
v. 3.
It is because of the voice of the enemy, the menaces and insults
of Absalom’s party, that swelled, and hectored, and stirred up the
people to cry out against David, and shout him out of his palace and
capital city, as afterwards the chief priests stirred up the mob to cry
out against the Son of David, Away with him–Crucify him. Yet it
was not the voice of the enemy only that fetched tears from David’s
eyes, but their oppression, and the hardship he was thereby reduced to:
They cast iniquity upon me. They could not justly charge David
with any mal-administration in his government, could not prove any act
of oppression or injustice upon him, but they loaded him with
calumnies. Though they found no iniquity in him relating to his trust
as a king, yet they cast all manner of iniquity upon him, and
represented him to the people as a tyrant fit to be expelled. Innocency
itself is no security against violent and lying tongues. They hated him
themselves, nay, in wrath they hated him; there was in their enmity
both the heat and violence of anger, or sudden passion, and the
implacableness of hatred and rooted malice; and therefore they studied
to make him odious, that others also might hate him. This made him
mourn, and the more because he could remember the time when he was the
darling of the people, and answered to his name, David—a
beloved one.
III. David trembling, and in great consternation. We may well suppose
him to be so upon the breaking out of Absalom’s conspiracy and the
general defection of the people, even those that he had little reason
to suspect.
1. See what fear seized him. David was a man of great boldness, and in
some very eminent instances had signalized his courage, and yet, when
the danger was surprising and imminent, his heart failed him. Let not
the stout man therefore glory in his courage any more than the strong
man in his strength. Now David’s heart is sorely pained within him;
the terrors of death have fallen upon him,
v. 4.
Fearfulness of mind and trembling of body came upon him, and horror
covered and overwhelmed him,
v. 5.
When without are fightings no marvel that within are fears; and, if it
was upon the occasion of Absalom’s rebellion, we may suppose that the
remembrance of his sin in the matter of Uriah, which God was now
reckoning with him for, added as much more to the fright. Sometimes
David’s faith made him, in a manner, fearless, and he could boldly say,
when surrounded with enemies, I will not be afraid what man can do
unto me. But at other times his fears prevail and tyrannise; for
the best men are not always alike strong in faith.
2. See how desirous he was, in this fright, to retire into a desert,
any where to be far enough from hearing the voice of the enemy and
seeing their oppressions. He said
(v. 6),
said it to God in prayer, said it to himself in meditation, said it to
his friends in complaint, O that I had wings like a dove! Much
as he had been sometimes in love with Jerusalem, now that it had become
a rebellious city he longed to get clear of it, and, like the prophet,
wished he had in the wilderness a lodging place of way-faring men,
that he might leave his people and go from them; for they were an
assembly of treacherous men,
Jer. ix. 2.
This agrees very well with David’s resolution upon the breaking out of
that plot, Arise, let us flee, and make speed to depart,
2 Sam. xv. 14.
Observe,
(1.) How he would make his escape. He was so surrounded with enemies
that he saw not how he could escape but upon the wing, and therefore he
wishes, O that I had wings! not like a hawk that flies swiftly;
he wishes for wings, not to fly upon the prey, but to fly from the
birds of prey, for such his enemies were. The wings of a dove were most
agreeable to him who was of a dove-like spirit, and therefore the wings
of an eagle would not become him. The dove flies low, and takes shelter
as soon as she can, and thus would David fly.
(2.) What he would make his escape from–from the wind, storm, and
tempest, the tumult and ferment that the city was now in, and the
danger to which he was exposed. Herein he was like a dove, that cannot
endure noise.
(3.) What he aimed at in making this escape, not victory but rest:
“I would fly away and be at rest,
v. 6.
I would fly any where, if it were to a barren frightful wilderness,
ever so far off, so I might be quiet,”
v. 7.
Note, Peace and quietness in silence and solitude are what the wisest
and best of men have most earnestly coveted, and the more when they
have been vexed and wearied with the noise and clamour of those about
them. Gracious souls wish to retire from the hurry and bustle of this
world, that they may sweetly enjoy God and themselves; and, if there be
any true peace on this side heaven, it is they that enjoy it in those
retirements. This makes death desirable to a child of God, that it is a
final escape from all the storms and tempests of this world to perfect
and everlasting rest.
| Prophetic Imprecations. | |
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9 Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues: for I have seen
violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof:
mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.
11 Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and guile
depart not from her streets.
12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could
have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did
magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from
him:
13 But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine
acquaintance.
14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house
of God in company.
15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into
hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.
David here complains of his enemies, whose wicked plots had brought
him, though not to his faith’s end, yet to his wits’ end, and prays
against them by the spirit of prophecy. Observe here,
I. The character he gives of the enemies he feared. They were of the
worst sort of men, and his description of them agrees very well with
Absalom and his accomplices.
1. He complains of the city of Jerusalem, which strangely fell in with
Absalom and fell off from David, so that he had none there but how own
guards and servants that he could repose any confidence in: How has
that faithful city become a harlot! David did not take the
representation of it from others; but with his own eyes, and with a sad
heart, did himself see nothing but violence and strife in the
city
(v. 9);
for, when they grew disaffected and disloyal to David, they grew
mischievous one to another. If he walked the rounds upon the walls of
the city, he saw that violence and strife went about it day and night,
and mounted its guards,
All the arts and methods which the rebels used for the fortifying of
the city were made up on violence and strife, and there were no remains
of honesty or love among them. If he looked into the heart of the city,
mischief and injury, mutual wrong and vexation, were in the midst of
it: Wickedness, all manner of wickedness, is in the midst
thereof. Jusque datum sceleri–Wickedness was legalized. Deceit and
guile, and all manner of treacherous dealing, departed not from her
streets,
v. 11.
It may be meant of their base and barbarous usage of David’s friends
and such as they knew were firm and faithful to him; they did them all
the mischief they could, by fraud or force. Is this the character of
Jerusalem, the royal city, and, which is more, the holy city, and in
David’s time too, so soon after the thrones of judgment and the
testimony of Israel were both placed there? Is this the city that
men call the perfection of beauty?
Lam. ii. 15.
Is Jerusalem, the head-quarters of God’s priests, so ill taught? Can
Jerusalem be ungrateful to David himself, its own illustrious founder,
and be made too hot for him, so that he cannot reside in it? Let us not
be surprised at the corruptions and disorders of this church on earth,
but long to see the New Jerusalem, where there is no violence nor
strife, no mischief nor guilt, and into which no unclean thing shall
enter, nor any thing that disquiets.
2. He complains of one of the ringleaders of the conspiracy, that had
been very industrious to foment jealousies, to misrepresent him and his
government, and to incense the city against him. It was one that
reproached him, as if he either abused his power or neglected the use
of it, for that was Absalom’s malicious suggestion: There is no man
deputed of the king to hear thee,
2 Sam. xv. 3.
That and similar accusations were industriously spread among the
people; and who was most active in it? “Not a sworn enemy, not Shimei,
nor any of the nonjurors; then I could have borne it, for I should not
have expected better from them” (and we find how patiently he did bear
Shimei’s curses); “not one that professed to hate me, then I would have
stood upon my guard against him, would have hidden myself and counsels
from him, so that it would not have been in his power to betray me.
But it was thou, a man, my equal,”
The Chaldee-paraphrase names Ahithophel as the person here meant, and
nothing in that plot seems to have discouraged David so much as to hear
that Ahithophel was among the conspirators with Absalom
for he was the king’s counsellor,
1 Chron. xxvii. 33.
“It was thou, a man, my equal, one whom I esteemed as myself, a
friend as my own soul, whom I had laid in my bosom and made equal with
myself, to whom I had communicated all my secrets and who knew my mind
as well as I myself did,–my guide, with whom I advised and by whom I
was directed in all my affairs, whom I made president of the council
and prime-minister of state,–my intimate acquaintance and familiar
friend; this is the man that now abuses me. I have been kind to him,
but I find him thus basely ungrateful. I have put a trust in him, but I
find him thus basely treacherous; nay, and he could not have done me
the one-half of the mischief he does if I had not shown him so much
respect.” All this must needs be very grievous to an ingenuous mind,
and yet this was not all; this traitor had seemed a saint, else he had
never been David’s bosom-friend
(v. 14):
“We took counsel together, spent many an hour together, with a
great deal of pleasure, in religious discourse,” or, as Dr. Hammond
reads it, “We joined ourselves together to the assembly; I gave
him the right hand of fellowship in holy ordinances, and then we
walked to the house of God in company, to attend the public
service.” Note,
(1.) There always has been, and always will be, a mixture of good and
bad, sound and unsound, in the visible church, between whom, perhaps
for a long time, we can discern no difference; but the searcher of
hearts does. David, who went to the house of God in his sincerity, had
Ahithophel in company with him, who went in his hypocrisy. The Pharisee
and the publican went together to the temple to pray; but, sooner or
later, those that are perfect and those that are not will be made
manifest.
(2.) Carnal policy may carry men on very far and very long in a
profession of religion while it is in fashion, and will serve a turn.
In the court of pious David none was more devout than Ahithophel, and
yet his heart was not right in the sight of God.
(3.) We must not wonder if we be sadly deceived in some that have made
great pretensions to those two sacred things, religion and friendship;
David himself, though a very wise man, was thus imposed upon, which may
make similar disappointments the more tolerable to us.
II. His prayers against them, which we are both to stand in awe of and
to comfort ourselves in, as prophecies, but not to copy into our
prayers against any particular enemies of our own. He prays,
1. That God would disperse them, as he did the Babel-builders
(v. 9):
“Destroy, O Lord! and divide their tongues; that is, blast their
counsels, by making them to disagree among themselves, and clash with
one another. Send an evil spirit among them, that they may not
understand one another, but be envious and jealous one of another.”
This prayer was answered in the turning of Ahithophel’s counsel into
foolishness, by setting up the counsel of Hushai against it. God often
destroys the church’s enemies by dividing them; nor is there a surer
way to the destruction of any people than their division. A kingdom, an
interest, divided against itself, cannot long stand.
2. That God would destroy them, as he did Dathan and Abiram, and their
associates, who were confederate against Moses, whose throat being an
open sepulchre, the earth therefore opened and swallowed them up. This
was then a new thing which God executed,
But David prays that it might now be repeated, or something equivalent
(v. 15):
“Let death seize upon them by divine warrant, and let them go
down quickly into hell; let them be dead, and buried, and so
utterly destroyed, in a moment; for wickedness is wherever they are; it
is in the midst of them.” The souls of impenitent sinners go down
quick, or alive, into hell, for they have a perfect sense of their
miseries, and shall therefore live still, that they may be still
miserable. This prayer is a prophecy of the utter, the final, the
everlasting ruin of all those who, whether secretly or openly, oppose
and rebel against the Lord’s Messiah.
| Confidence in God. | |
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16 As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.
17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry
aloud: and he shall hear my voice.
18 He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that
was against me: for there were many with me.
19 God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of
old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not
God.
20 He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with
him: he hath broken his covenant.
21 The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war
was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were
they drawn swords.
22 Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he
shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
23 But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of
destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half
their days; but I will trust in thee.
In these verses,
I. David perseveres in his resolution to call upon God, being well
assured that he should not seek him in vain
(v. 16):
“As for me, let them take what course they please to secure
themselves, let violence and strife be their guards, prayer shall be
mind; this I have found comfort in, and therefore this will I abide by:
I will call upon God, and commit myself to him, and the Lord
shall save me;” for whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord,
in a right manner, shall be saved,
He resolves to be both fervent and frequent in this duty.
1. He will pray fervently: “I will pray and cry aloud. I will
meditate” (so the former word signifies); “I will speak with my own
heart, and the prayer shall come thence.” Then we pray aright when we
pray with all that is within us, think first and then pray over our
thoughts; for the true nature of prayer is lifting up the heart to God.
Having meditated, he will cry, he will cry aloud; the fervour of his
spirit in prayer shall be expressed and yet more excited by the
intenseness and earnestness of his voice.
2. He will pray frequently, every day, and three times a
day–evening, and morning, and at noon. It is probable that this
had been his constant practice, and he resolves to continue it now that
he is in his distress. Then we may come the more boldly to the throne
of grace in trouble when we do not then first begin to seek
acquaintance with God, but it is what we have constantly practised, and
the trouble finds the wheels of prayer going. Those that think three
meals a day little enough for the body ought much more to think three
solemn prayers a day little enough for the soul, and to count it a
pleasure, not a task. As it is fit that in the morning we should begin
the day with God, and in the evening close it with him, so it is fit
that in the midst of the day we should retire awhile to converse with
him. It was Daniel’s practice to pray three times a day
(Dan. vi. 10),
and noon was one of Peter’s hours of prayer,
Let not us be weary of praying often, for God is not weary of hearing.
“He shall hear my voice, and not blame me for coming too often, but the
oftener the better, the more welcome.”
II. He assures himself that God would in due time give an answer of
peace to his prayers.
1. That he himself should be delivered and his fears prevented; those
fears with which he was much disordered
(v. 4, 5)
by the exercise of faith were now silenced, and he begins to rejoice in
hope
(v. 18):
God has delivered my soul in peace, that is, he will deliver it;
David is as sure of the deliverance as if it were already wrought. His
enemies were at war with him, and the battle was against him, but God
delivered him in peace, that is, brought him off with as much comfort
as if he had never been in danger. If he did not deliver him in
victory, yet he delivered him in peace, inward peace. He delivered his
soul in peace; by patience and holy joy in God he kept possession of
that. Those are safe and easy whose hearts and minds are kept by that
peace of God which passes all understanding,
Phil. iv. 7.
David, in his fright, thought all were against him; but now he sees
there were many with him, more than he imagined; his interest proved
better than he expected, and this he gives to God the glory of: for it
is he that raises us up friends when we need them, and makes them
faithful to us. There were many with him; for though his subjects
deserted him, and went over to Absalom, yet God was with him and the
good angels. With an eye of faith he now sees himself surrounded, as
Elisha was, with chariots of fire and horses of fire, and therefore
triumphs thus, There are many with me, more with me than
against me,
2 Kings vi. 16, 17.
2. That his enemies should be reckoned with, and brought down. They had
frightened him with their menaces
(v. 3),
but here he says enough to frighten them and make them tremble with
more reason, and no remedy; for they could not ease themselves of their
fears as David could, by faith in God.
(1.) David here gives their character as the reason why he expected God
would bring them down.
[1.] They are impious and profane, and stand in no awe of God, of his
authority or wrath
(v. 19):
“Because they have no changes (no afflictions, no interruption
to the constant course of their prosperity, no crosses to empty them
from vessel to vessel) therefore they fear not God; they live in
a constant neglect and contempt of God and religion, which is the cause
of all their other wickedness, and by which they are certainly marked
for destruction.”
[2.] They are treacherous and false, and will not be held by the most
sacred and solemn engagements
(v. 20):
“He has put forth his hand against such as are at peace with
him, that never provoked him, nor gave him any cause to quarrel
with them; nay, to whom he had given all possible encouragement to
expect kindness from him. He has put forth his hand against those whom
he had given his hand to, and has broken his covenant both with God and
man, has perfidiously violated his engagement to both,” than which
nothing makes men riper for ruin.
[3.] They are base and hypocritical, pretending friendship while they
design mischief
(v. 21):
“The words of his mouth” (probably, he means Ahithophel
particularly) “were smoother than butter and softer than oil, so
courteous was he and obliging, so free in his professions of respect
and kindness and the proffers of his service; yet, at the same time,
war was in his heart, and all this courtesy was but a stratagem
of war, and those very words had such a mischievous design in them that
they were as drawn swords designed to stab.” They smile in a
man’s face, and cut his throat at the same time, as Joab, that kissed
and killed. Satan is such an enemy; he flatters men into their ruin.
When he speaks fair, believe him not.
(2.) David here foretels their ruin.
[1.] God shall afflict them, and bring them into straits and frights,
and recompense tribulation to those that have troubled his people, and
this in answer to the prayers of his people: God shall hear and
afflict them, hear the cries of the oppressed and speak terror to
their oppressors, even he that abides of old, who is God from
everlasting, and world without end, and who sits Judge from the
beginning of time, and has always presided in the affairs of the
children of men. Mortal men, though ever so high and strong, will
easily be crushed by an eternal God and are a very unequal match for
him. This the saints have comforted themselves with in reference to the
threatening power of the church’s enemies
(Hab. i. 12):
Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord?
[2.] God shall bring them down, not only to the dust, but to
the pit of destruction
(v. 23),
to the bottomless pit, which is called destruction,
Job xxvi. 6.
He afflicted them
(v. 19)
to see if that would humble and reform them; but, they not being
wrought upon by that, he shall at last bring them to ruin. Those that
are not reclaimed by the rod of affliction will certainly be brought
down into the pit of destruction. They are bloody and deceitful
men (that is, the worst of men) and therefore shall not live out
half their days, not half so long as men ordinarily live, and as
they might have lived in a course of nature, and as they themselves
expected to live. They shall live as long as the Lord of life, the
righteous Judge, has appointed, with whom the number of our months is;
but he has determined to cut them off by an untimely death in the midst
of their days. They were bloody men, and cut others off, and therefore
God will justly cut them off: they were deceitful men, and defrauded
others of the one-half perhaps of what was their due, and now God will
cut them short, though not of that which was their due, yet of that
which they counted upon.
III. He encourages himself and all good people to commit themselves to
God, with confidence in him. He himself resolves to do so
(v. 23):
“I will trust in thee, in thy providence, and power, and mercy,
and not in my own prudence, strength, or merit; when bloody and
deceitful men are cut off in the midst of their days I shall still live
by faith in thee.” And this he will have others to do
(v. 22):
“Cast thy burden upon the Lord,” whoever thou art that art
burdened, and whatever the burden is. “Cast thy gift upon the
Lord” (so some read it); “whatever blessings God has bestowed upon
thee to enjoy commit them all to his custody, and particularly commit
the keeping of thy soul to him.” Or, “Whatever it is that thou desirest
God should give thee, leave it to him to give it to thee in his own way
and time. Cast thy care upon the Lord,” so the LXX., to which
the apostle refers,
Care is a burden; it makes the heart stoop
we must cast it upon God by faith and prayer, commit our way and works
to him; let him do as seemeth him good, and we will be satisfied. To
cast our burden upon God is to stay ourselves on his providence and
promise, and to be very easy in the assurance that all shall work for
good. If we do so, it is promised,
1. That he will sustain us, both support and supply us, will himself
carry us in the arms of his power, as the nurse carries the
sucking-child, will strengthen our spirits so by his Spirit as that
they shall sustain the infirmity. He has not promised to free us
immediately from that trouble which gives rise to our cares and fears;
but he will provide that we be not tempted above what we are able, and
that we shall be able according as we are tempted.
2. That he will never suffer the righteous to be moved, to be so shaken
by any troubles as to quit either their duty to God or their comfort in
him. However, he will not suffer them to be moved for ever (as some
read it); though they fall, they shall not be utterly cast down.
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