Psalm LIX
To the chief Musician. Al-taschith. Michtam of David; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.
1 Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God!
Defend me from them that rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.
3 Foi-, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; Not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord.
4 They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me,
and behold!
6 Thou therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all
the heathen:
Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.
6 They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round
about the city.
7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: For who, say they, doth hear?
8 But thou, O Lord, shall laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen
in derision.
9 Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.
10 The God of my mercy shall prevent me:
God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies.
11 Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power. And bring them down, O Lord our shield.
12 For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride:
And for cursing and lying which they speak,
13 Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: And let them know that God ruleth in Jacob, unto the ends of the earth.
Selah.
14 And at evening let them return; And let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
15 Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.
16 But I will sing of thy power; yea, I vrill sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning:
For thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.
17 Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.
“His own received Him not” The Sweet Singer of Israel knew what it is to be cast off by those who should have been his bosom friends; and it was on one of those occasions, when his father-in-law sent a band to take him, dead or alive, from his own house (1 Sam. xix. 14), that David was taught by the Holy Ghost to pour out his soul in these strains of strong appeal to justice and to mercy. Perhaps it was at Ramah, when resting in Samuel’s dwelling for a time, that this Psalm was written — a Psalm for David himself — a Psalm for David’s Son, when he too should be rejected of his own — a Psalm for all Ins followers when they should, in after ages, feel that the disciple is not greater than the Master. It is another “Al-taschith’^ and” Michtam,” such as we have seen, christ an<i his If a disciple, persecuted “for righteousness’ sake,“” can confidently use the language of verse 4, saying, “not for any particular crime in me, nor yet for general unholiness, but because I am thine; without being able to fix on anything to justify their hostility” — if a disciple can use this language, much more the Master, And in this consciousness of being hated solely for “righteousness’ sake,” the Head and his members claim the help of Jehovah as being
1. “God of hosts,’’ and therefore able; 2. “0*od of Israel,” and therefore willing. (Ver. 5.)
members.
It seems to be apostate Israel (Tlioluck says, “heathenishminded Israel”) that is primarily described in verse 5 as “the heathen,” q. d„ these children of Abraham who are now children of the devil — Israelites become Ooim! (Comp. Isa. i. 10.) They are in character and conduct like city dogs, prowling for prey, feeding on the filth of the town, scouring its streets as if to clear them of the godly. But Jehovah — he who in Psalm ii. 4< was seen on the throne of his glory deriding the kings of earth in their vain attempts — laughs at these impotent apostates. In verse 7, the Psalmist complainingly utters, “For who is there that hears?” And then (verse 8) as one confident in God, he exclaims,
“His strength r (Yes, this is our stronghold — the idea flashes hope through the soul —
“Jelwvalis strength.’”) —” I will wait on thee.’’’ (Ver. 9.)
The “sin of their mouth” may be specially their declared rejection of Messiah’s grace. Then, an intercession ascends, like that of Elijah against Israel — a prayer that these blinded apostates may be scattered, though not destroyed from the earth.* The prayer of verse 1.3 —
“Consume them, in wrath consume them till they be no more” — reminds us of 2 Thess. ii. 16, “Wrath has come on them to the uttermost” (s,“s nXog). As a nation, as a kingdom, they are “consuTned,” but as a people they are “scattered,” and men to earth’s end are taught of Jacob’s God by their dooro. It is a doom of retribution for their treatment of the righteous. A solemn “Selah” follows, like that which in verse 5 closed the prayer for divine interposition, that we may ponder the awful judgment, Jacob driven to the ends of the earth! (ver. 1 .3.) Now they are as hungry dogs in another sense than when they snarled at the godly — they prowl about the world for food. (Verses 14, 15.) In spite of them, the Just One flourishes,, singing of Jehovah, mighty and merciful, and looks forward to a time when he shall sing louder still — a morning after a
* Not destroyed — that they may be a whetstone to others’ faith — as the Spartans (mentioned in Phitarch’s Apothegms) refused to allow the destruction of a neighbouring city which had often called forth their armies, saying, “Destroy not the whetstone of our young men!”
dark night, viz., the resurrection-morning, “Mane, transactis tentationibus; mane cum nox hujus saeculi transient; mane quando jam latronum insidias, et Diaboli et angelorum ejus, non expavescimus; WMne quando jam non ad lucernam Prophetise ambulamus, sed ipsum Dei Verbum, tanquam Solem, contemplamur,” (Augustine).
In verse 1 1, the Righteous One seems to seethe sword hanging over apostate Israel, as when it was suspended over Jerusalem in the days of that pestilence that cut off 73,000 men of Israel. Seeing this exterminating sword, he cries, ‘^ Slay them not!” He asks a mitigation of their doom, even that which has been granted — their dispersion instead of their extirpation. Let them be as Cain, Gen. iv. 12; “make them wander.” Still, he fully agrees with the Lord as to their deserving wrath to the uttermost, and expresses this entire agreement in the closing verses. It is therefore a Psalm wherein the Head and members present an appeal against apostate Israel, and then consent to their long-enduring desolation, in prospect of mercy breaking out of the gloom at last, “in the Morning.” It is The Righteous One’s appeal against apostate Israel, to the Lord’s might and mercy.