Holy Bible

Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God. Psalm 59 Revelations of the good and bad in human nature Homilist. I. THE ENMITY OF MAN TOWARDS MAN. 1. From the description that David here gives of his enemies, we learn that —(1) They hated him with a deadly hate. They sought nothing less than his life; they were "bloody men."(2) They hated him without a cause. "Without my fault."(3) They hated him with furious rage. They are represented as furious beasts of prey, as ravenous dogs, as malignant slanderers, whose words are cutting as a "sword," from whose mouth belches the lava of abuse.(4) They hated him with persistent effort. They watch in the day, wait in ambush, return at night, and thus on until their fiendish purposes are attained. 2. The fact that men are thus enemies to men —(1) Argues human apostasy. At some time or other there has happened in human life a moral earthquake which has riven the social body into pieces.(2) Reveals the need of Christ. He reconciles man to man by reconciling all men to God. II. THE APPEAL OF SELFISHNESS TO HEAVEN. What merit is there in such a prayer as this? Can it ever meet acceptance with that God who willeth not the death of a sinner, and who is not "willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance"? III. THE CONFIDENCE OF PIETY IN GOD. Despite all the imperfections of David's character, the root of the matter was in him. "I will sing aloud of thy mercy," etc. Perfection of character is only gradually reached. "The acorn," it has been said, "does not become an oak in a day; the ripened scholar was not made such by a single lesson; the well-trained soldier was not a raw recruit yesterday; it is not one touch of the artist's pencil that produces a finished painting; there are always months between seed-time and harvest; even so, the path of the just is like the 'shining light' which shineth more and more unto the perfect day." ( Homilist. ) God's defence of His persecuted people Christian Age. A lady was wakened up by a very strange noise of peeking against the window-pane, and she saw a butterfly flying backward and forward inside the window-pane in great fright, and outside a sparrow pecking and trying to get at it. The butterfly did not see the glass, and expected every moment to be caught; and the sparrow did not see the glass, and expected every moment to catch the butterfly; yet all the while the little creature was as safe as if it had been three miles away, because of the glass between it and the sparrow. So it is with the Christians who are abiding in Christ. His presence is between them and every danger. It really does seem that Satan does not understand about this mighty and invisible power that protects us, or else he would not waste his efforts — like the sparrow, he does not see. And Christians are often like the butterfly, and do not see their defence, and so are frightened, and flutter backwards and forwards in terror. But all the while Satan cannot touch the soul that has the Lord Jesus between itself and him. ( Christian Age. ) Because of his strength, will I wait upon Thee. Psalm 59:9 Waiting and singing A. Maclaren, D. D. (with ver. 17): — "My strength! I will wait upon Thee," so says the psalmist in the midst of his troubles; and because he does so, he says at the end of the psalm, repeating his earlier vow, but with an alteration that means a great deal, "My strength! I will sing unto Thee." If you have waited, while in the middle of trouble, you will be sure to sing after it, and perhaps even during it. I. THE THOUGHTS OF GOD THAT LIGHT UP THE DARKNESS. "My strength," "my tower," "the God of my mercy" — these are the thoughts which burn for this devout soul in the darkness of trouble. Notice, first, how that "my" is the very strength and nerve of the psalmist's confidence. It is not so much what he thinks God to be — though that is all important — as that he thinks that, whatever God is, He is it to him. "My defence, my strength; the God of my mercy" — who gives it to me, that is, the mercy that I need. And notice the happy reiteration indicative of assured possession, and blissful counting of one's wealth. With each repetition of the "my" there is a fresh outgoing of the heart in confidence, in conscious weakness, and in believing appropriation of God's strength a tightening of the fingers on his treasure. If we are in sorrow, let us say, "I will go unto God, my exceeding joy." If we are exposed to the hurtling of a whole flight of arrows of disaster, let us say, "I dwell in the pavilion where no calamity comes." If we are conscious of weakness, let us cast ourselves into those strong arms, and be sure that from their clasp there will come tingling into our feebleness the electric thrill of His almightiness, and that we, too, shall be able to "do all things through Christ which strengtheneth us." My strength, because I am weak; "my fortress," because I am assailed; "the God of my mercy," because I need His mercy. II. WHAT SUCH VIEWS OF GOD HEARTEN A MAN TO DO. "My strength, I will wait upon Thee," says the first of our texts. "I will look unto Him " is, perhaps, nearer the meaning of the words than the "wait" of our version. If these three blessed thoughts, "my strength, my tower, the God of my mercy," are uppermost in our heart, there will be the fixed attitude and eye of expectancy. Did you ever see a dog sitting and looking up into its master's face, waiting for a morsel to be cast, that it might snap at it and swallow it? That is a very homely illustration of the way in which Christian men should sit and look at God. If He is "my strength," and "my tower," and if "my mercy" comes from Him, then no attitude befits me except that of such gazing expectancy and steadfast direction of mind and heart to Him, "My strength, I will watch Thee." And there should be, too, not only expectancy in the look, but patience, and not only expectancy and patience, but submission. Stand before Him, waiting to know what is to be done by you with the strength that He gives, and how the mercy that He inbreathes is to be expressed and manifested in your life. This waiting should be the fixed attitude and posture of our spirits. The psalmist had to make a definite resolution to look away to God, for there was a great deal that tempted him to look elsewhere. He says, "I will wait," and the original conveys very strongly the idea of his having to set his teeth, as it were, in the effort to keep himself quiet and waiting before God. If we look to Him we are kept up, and we are kept right; but it takes all our will-power, and it needs a very resolute effort if we are not to be forced out of the attitude of faith and to let our eyes turn to alarmed gazing at the stormy seas. Without such effort we shall be weakened by looking at the foes and not at the fortress, at the difficulties and inward weakness and not at our strength, but we shall find the means of making this effort after steadfastness of expectant gaze in faithful remembrance of the great Name of the Lord, our strength and our fortress. III. WHAT COMES OF THIS WAITING. He that began with saying, "O my strength, I will wait upon Thee," ends with saying, "O my strength, I will sing praises unto Thee." That is to say, away in the future there lies the certainty that all will end in thankfulness and rapture of praise-giving, and in the present, whilst the attitude of watchfulness has to be kept up, and evils and dangers are still round us, there may glow in our hearts a quiet assurance as to how they are all going to end, and how for the waiting in the present there will be substituted glad praise in the future. Into the midst of winter we can bring summer. We can live by hope, we can say, "To-day I will watch, tomorrow I shall praise." And because to-morrow we shall praise, there will be some praise mingling with the watchfulness of to-day. Let us do the one now, and at last we shall do the other. Do the one, and even in the doing of it the other will begin. The waiting and the praising are twins, the one a trifle older than the other. "Unto Thee, my strength, will I look," and even now the waiting soul may have a song, feeble perhaps and broken, like the twitter of birds when the east wind blows and the clouds are low in the early spring, but which will mellow and swell into fuller rapture when the dark, ungenial days are overpast. ( A. Maclaren, D. D. ) The God of my mercy shall prevent me. Psalm 59:10 A singular title and a special favour Our trials and troubles, while they test and develop us, do also by Divine grace strengthen and improve us, and ever have we great cause to bless God for them when grace sanctifies them to our highest good. Had not David been a man of many afflictions he would never have penned such a verse as our text, a confident utterance of unstaggering faith, full of meaning, rich with consolation, the very cream of assured hope in God. I. DAVID'S LOOKING TO HIS GOD. "The God of mercy," saith he. Note that this psalm was composed by him upon the occasion of his being shut up in the house of Michal, Saul's daughter, and surrounded by his adversaries. The messengers of the bloodthirsty king watched the house all night long, to kill him, and when they had not effected their purpose, Saul demanded that he should be brought, on his bed, into his presence, that he might slay him. It was not easy for a man, when his enemies were watching the house, to escape out of their hands. David, however, does not appear to have been at all disturbed, but with perfect confidence in God he expected that a way of escape would be made for him. 1. David looked to God on this occasion because he had before this habitually waited upon Him. His faith had realized the existence of God, and his soul had felt the power of that realized truth. This is a thing unknown to the unconverted, and unfelt to any high degree by large numbers of those who profess to know the Lord. 2. David was driven more closely to his God by the peculiar trouble with which he was environed. It is a blessed thing when the waves of affliction wash us upon the rock of confidence in God alone, when darkness below gives us an eye to the light above. The psalmist says in the verse preceding the text, "Because of his strength" — that is, the strength of the foe — "will I wait upon Thee, for God is my defence." Because the enemy is too strong for me, therefore will I turn to my God, and invoke His omnipotence as my defence. To come to the end of yourself is to get to the beginning of your God. Blessed is that extremity which is God's opportunity. 3. As soon as David had looked alone to his God his trials grew small. In his own esteem they grew to be nothing, for he says, "Thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them, Thou shalt have all the heathen in derision"; and methinks something of the laughter of God penetrated David's spirit; and in that house wherein he was enclosed as a prisoner he smiled in his heart at the disappointment which awaited his foes. Faith laughs at that which fear weeps over; it leaps over mountains at whose feet mere mortal strength lies down to die. II. DAVID'S APPROPRIATION OF THE DIVINE MERCY. "The God of my mercy." Notice that the pith of the title lies in the appropriating word "my." Luther used to say that the very soul of divinity lay in the possessive pronouns; another divine said that all the stir there ever has been in the world has been caused by meum and tuum, mine and thine. "It is mine," says one man; "It is mine," cries another man, and then comes a conflict. "It is mine," says one king; "Nay," says another, "it is not thine," and then fierce war begins. Nothing influences a man so much as that which he calls his own. "The God of my mercy." 1. David appropriated to himself a portion of Divine mercy as being peculiarly his; and we shall never advance in the divine life unless we do the same, for the mercy which is in common to all men, of what avail is it to any man? But the mercy which any one man by faith grasps for himself, this is the mercy which will bless him and which he will prize above all things. 2. I think he meant, too, that there was a portion of mercy which he had already received, which was, therefore, altogether his own. The "God of my mercy" — he meant the God of the mercy he had already experienced. Well may it bring the tears into your eyes to think of it. The mercy which nursed you in your infancy; the mercy which watched over you in your youth and kept you when you were apt to stray; the mercy which restrained you from many a deadly sin, etc. 3. And, remember, that all the mercy you have had is little compared with the mercy you have yet to receive. As the rich father thinks, "This will I give to my eldest son, and that to the second, and that to the third," and so he puts by a portion for each of his children; so has God mapped out and allotted for each one of us some choice and special mercy fitted for our peculiar case, which no one can receive but ourselves, but which we must and shall obtain. 4. But I think David made a larger grasp than this, for when he said, "The God of my mercy," he felt as if all the mercy in the heart of God belonged to him. If any one saint should have all the wants of all the saints in the world put upon him, and if his necessities should be so great that nothing would supply them but the whole of the infinite mercy which fills the heart of God, that child of God should have all the mercy which the Lord Himself can dispense. III. David CONFINING IN GOD. "The God of my mercy shall prevent me," or anticipate me by His mercy. Now, it so happens that the Hebrew word may be read in all three tenses, and some have said it should be understood, "The God of my mercy has prevented me"; others, "does prevent me"; and a third party, like our translators, read it, "shall prevent me." Whichever tense you choose is true, and the whole three put together may be viewed as the full meaning of the passage. 1. "The Lord has prevented me." This is one of the grand doctrines of the Gospel, the doctrine of eternal love, spontaneous, self-generated, having no cause but itself. God loved us before we loved Him — he prevented us with love. Before His people were born God had elected and redeemed them, and prepared the Gospel, by which in due time they are called. He is before us in all good things. O Lord, Thou hast the first hand with Thy people; they seek Thee early, but Thou art up before them, Thou hast distanced them in the race of affection; Alpha art Thou, indeed! 2. The Lord hast prevented us, but the meaning of the passage is that He does still prevent us. Is He not daily doing so? Before you can feel the pinch of want the mercy is given. God goes before you day by day, and His paths drop fatness. Even in the common acceptation of the word "prevent" God has often so gone before us that He has prevented us from the commission of many sins, into which otherwise we should have fallen to our sorrow and damage. Again, how often has He prevented our prayers! Before we have asked, we have had; while we were yet calling, we have received. The desire of the righteous is granted oftentimes as soon as it takes shape, and before it is expressed. 3. It will always be so. God will prevent us. A good captain, when he is marching an army through a country, takes care to make provision for every emergency. It is time for the soldier, to camp, and they need tents. Bring up the baggage wagons, here are the tents which you ask for! The men must have their rations. Here they are! Serve them out! The meat needs cooking. See, there are the portable kitchens and the fuel! The army comes to a river by and by, how will they pass it? Why, the engineers are ready, and pontoons are very soon thrown across. It is wonderful how the well-skilled commander foresees every possible emergency, and has everything ready just at the nick of time. Much more is it so with our God. So let us close with these three practical reflections. If He prevents us with mercy, let us not hesitate to come to Him. Loiter not, O soul, if thou wouldst have the mercy of God. Is God so quick? Wilt thou be slow? Does He go first, and wilt thou not follow? 4. Is God so quick in mercy? Let us who are His be very quick in service. Say in your heart, "My God, since Thou dost prevent me, I cannot hope to keep pace with Thy mercy, but at any rate I will not lag further behind Thee than I must. When I have done all I can for Thee, how little it is, but that little shall be done." George Herbert once described the good man as resolved "to build a spital, or mend common ways," and in his day these were acts of charity which piety delighted in; other good deeds are more fitting for these days. Houses for worship are wanted in many a populous district, and orphan children need to be fed. He who can buy no sweet cane with money, can bring time and zeal and effort, and these are precious. What, then, will you do? 5. And now finally, believer, cast yourself into your Lord's arms. Have done with fretting; have done with anxiety and doubt. Mount like the lark to your God, and sing as you mount. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) But I will sing of Thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of Thy mercy in the morning. Psalm 59:16, 17 Meditation and praise Anon. I. THE SUBJECT OF THE PSALMIST'S MEDITATION. 1. He meditated upon the Divine mercy. All the perfections of the Divine nature are glorious, and furnish matter for delightful meditation. But it is from His mercy that we draw our chief consolation, encouragement, and hope. 2. He contemplated God as his refuge in trouble. "Thou hast been my defence and refuge," etc. We have every encouragement to put our trust in God. He is represented as a "rock," a "fortress," a "high tower," a "shield," and a "buckler." God as a refuge —(1) Is near — always at hand.(2) Affords the greatest security.(3) Is suitable. Our troubles differ, but He is a suitable refuge in every trouble,(4) David proved God as his refuge. Saul had laid plots to destroy him, but the Lord had delivered him. We also have obtained support and relief by trusting in God. 3. He contemplated God as his strength and confided in His power. In what respects are we to consider God as the strength of His people?(1) He defends them from danger by His power.(2) He assists and strengthens them for duty by His grace. II. THE INFLUENCE OF THE PSALMIST'S MEDITATION. It led him to praise God. 1. Praising God is most reasonable. 2. Is a pleasant and delightful exercise. 3. Should be a part of every day's employment. Divine goodness is daily manifested, and should be daily acknowledged. 4. Will tend to prepare us to meet the trials which may yet be before us. 5. Will tend to meeten us for the enjoyment of heaven. 6. Requires a suitable frame of mind. True praise springs from gratitude; and is promoted by a consideration of what God is, what He has (lone for us, and what he has promised to do for us.CONCLUSION. 1. How great are the privileges of the people of God! 2. How important seriously to consider whether we are interested in these privileges. 3. Learn the importance of continuing to make God our refuge in trouble. ( Anon. ) In the morning Morning energy Joseph Parker. The morning is my time fixed for my meeting the Lord. What meaning there is in the word "morning"; it is a cluster of rich grapes. Let me crush them and drink the sacred wine. "In the morning " — then God meant me to be at my best in strength and hope; I have not to climb in my weariness; in the night I have buried yesterday's fatigue, and in the morning I take a new lease of energy. Give God thy strength — all thy strength He asks only what He first gave. In the morning — then He may mean to keep me long that He may make me rich. In the morning — then it is an endless road He bids me climb, else how could I reach it ere the sun be set? Sweet morning! there is hope in its music. ( Joseph Parker. ) The God of my mercy Personal appropriation of mercy Watson. If God show mercy to thousands, labour to know that this mercy is for you. "He is the God of my mercy." A man that was ready to drown saw a rainbow; saith he, "What am I the better, though God will not drown the world, if I drown." So, what are we the better — God is merciful — if we perish? Let us labour to know God's special mercy for us. ( Watson. ).

Benson Commentary Psalm 59:1 To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him. Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me. Psalm 59:1 . Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God — Thou art God, and canst deliver me; my God, under whose protection I have put myself; and thou hast promised me to be a God all-sufficient, and therefore in honour and faithfulness thou wilt deliver me. He chiefly means Saul by his enemies; but speaks in the plural number, out of reverence to his king, and that he might, as far as he could with truth, lay the blame of these odious practices on those that were about him. Psalm 59:2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men. Psalm 59:3 For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD. Psalm 59:3 . They lie in wait for my soul — For my life, to take it away. The mighty are gathered against me — They are all mighty, men of honour and estates, and interest in the court and country. They are in a confederacy, united by a league; and actually gathered together against me; combined both in consultation and action. Not for my transgression, nor for my sin — Without any provocation or cause given by me. I am a sinner before thee, O Lord, but I have done them no injury. It was a noble vindication of David’s innocence, in that he could, in the most private retirement, and upon the most serious and deliberate reflection, thus solemnly appeal to God, that he was not chargeable with the least perfidy, wickedness, or crime, which could excite the hatred of his enemies, and give occasion to Saul to pursue him with such eagerness and malice, to his destruction. Psalm 59:4 They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold. Psalm 59:4 . They run — To and fro, first to receive Saul’s commands, and then to execute them with all diligence; and prepare themselves — With the utmost speed and fury, to do me a mischief; or, they dispose themselves, as ?????? , jeconanu, may be properly rendered. They place themselves here and there about my house, that they may catch me when I go out of it. Awake to my help — Hebrew, ?????? , likraati, to meet me, as I come abroad, and to conduct me away with safety. And behold — With an eye of pity; take cognizance of my case, and exert thy power for my relief. Psalm 59:5 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. Psalm 59:5 . O Lord, &c., the God of Israel — In covenant with all true Israelites, whom thou promisest to protect and bless. Awake to visit all the heathen — Or, these heathen, who, though they are Israelites by birth, yet in truth, and in their dispositions and manners, are mere heathen. Be not merciful — Hebrew, ?? ??? , al tachon, Thou wilt not be merciful, that is, Thou canst not with honour, nor according to thy word, be merciful, to any wicked transgressors — Hebrew, ?? ???? ??? , cal bogedee aven, perfidious transgressors, or, more literally, prevaricators of wickedness; that is, such as are guilty of great treachery and perfidiousness, meaning such as, with pretences of friendship, persecuted him and other good men, out of malice, and against their own consciences. But neither can God, in consistency with the perfections of his nature, and the truths of his word, show mercy to any incorrigible offenders. Psalm 59:6 They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. Psalm 59:6-7 . They return at evening — Saul sent once to destroy him, and the messengers went back to inform him that he was ill; but they returned in the evening to bring him even in his bed. They make a noise like a dog — The Hebrew ???? , jehemu, signifies the confused hum and noise of an assembled crowd. “The psalmist here compares the muttered threats of his enemies to the growlings or snarlings of a dog, ready to bite and tear any person; and the comparison is just and natural.” — Dodd. And go round about the city — When they did not find him in his own house, they sought for him in other parts of the city. They belch out with their mouths — Hebrew, ?????? , jabignun, they pour forth, namely, words, even sharp and bitter words, as the next clause explains it, such as threatenings, calumnies, and imprecations, and that abundantly and vehemently, as a fountain doth waters, as the word signifies. Swords are in their lips — Their expressions are as keen and mischievous as swords; their threats and reproaches are cruel and deadly. For who, they say, doth hear? — David doth not hear us, and God either does not hear, or not regard what we say. They vented their calumnies more freely and dangerously, because privately; so that none could refute them. Psalm 59:7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they , doth hear? Psalm 59:8 But thou, O LORD, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision. Psalm 59:8-9 . But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them — Shalt disappoint their high confidence and hopeful designs, and then deride them, and make them ridiculous and contemptible to others. Because of his strength — That is, Saul’s strength, because he is too strong for me: or, as to his strength; will I wait on thee — Hebrew, ????? ?????? , eeleicha eshmorah, I will observe, or look, to thee. “Saul’s soldiers give me no concern; mine eyes are toward thee;” for God is my defence — Hebrew, ?????? , mishgabbi, my high place, my refuge. Psalm 59:9 Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence. Psalm 59:10 The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies. Psalm 59:10 . The God of my mercy — The giver of all that mercy and comfort which I have or hope for; shall prevent me — With the blessings of his goodness, Psalm 21:3 . Thou shalt help me seasonably, before it be too late, and sooner than I expect. God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies — Namely, in their disappointment and overthrow, as it follows; which was very desirable to David, no less for the public good than for his own safety and happiness. Dr. Waterland renders the clause, God shall make me look upon mine enemies. “The word rendered enemies,” ?????? , shorerai, “properly signifies insidious men, who craftily observed and lay in wait for him. David says, God will cause me to see them, or, see among them; that is, to discover their plots and contrivances to ruin me, that they may not prove fatal to me; or to see them fall by the destruction which they intend me.” Psalm 59:11 Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield. Psalm 59:11 . Slay them not — Hebrew, ?? ????? , al tahargeem, Thou wilt not slay them, namely, suddenly, or at once; lest my people — My countrymen, those over whom thou hast appointed me to be governor in due time; forget — Their former danger, thy glorious mercy in delivering them, and their own duty to thee for it. Hereby it plainly appears that David, in his prayers against, and predictions concerning his enemies, was not moved by private malice or desire of revenge, but by the respect which he had to God’s honour, and the general good of his people. Scatter them by thy power — ?????? , hanigneemo, Make them to wander. As they have wandered about the city and country to do me mischief, so let their punishment be agreeable to their sin; let them wander from place to place for meat, (as it is expressed Psalm 59:15 ,) that they may carry the tokens of thy justice, and their own shame, to all places where they come. And bring them down — From that power and dignity in which thou hadst set them, which they so wickedly abused; and from the height of their carnal hopes of success against me. Psalm 59:12 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. Psalm 59:12 . For the sin of their mouth, &c. — For their ungodly, injurious, and pernicious speeches, of which he spoke Psalm 59:7 . Let them even be taken — Hebrew, ?????? , vejillachedu, they shall be taken as in a snare, namely, in order to their ruin; in their pride — For their proud and insolent speeches against thee; and for cursing and lying — For their execrations, and lying reports, which they have raised or spread abroad; which they speak — Which they are ready to utter upon all occasions. Psalm 59:13 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. Psalm 59:13 . Consume them in wrath — By degrees, and after thou hast made them to wander about, Psalm 59:11 . That they may not be — Namely, any more in the land of the living; and let them know — Experimentally, and to their cost; that God ruleth — Over and above them; that though Saul be king, yet God is his superior in power and authority, and all things shall be ordered among us, not as Saul pleases, but as God pleases; and therefore I shall be preserved, and at the proper time crowned, in spite of all that Saul or his forces can do against me. In Jacob unto the ends of the earth — In the land, and over the people of Israel, whose king and governor he is in a peculiar manner, and throughout the world. The sense is, that by those eminent and extraordinary discoveries of thy power, wisdom, and justice, it may be evident, both to them, and to all that hear of it, that thou art no inferior or local deity, like the gods of the heathen, but the high and mighty Jehovah, the Creator, Upholder, Governor, and Judge of the whole world. Psalm 59:14 And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. Psalm 59:14-15 . And at evening let them return, &c. — This is a repetition of the sixth verse, but is to be understood in a different sense. The sixth verse is a real complaint of their fury and diligence in pursuing him; here he speaks of them with a kind of indifference and contempt; and as free from any apprehension of danger from them. “Let them, if they please, return in the evening, growl at me like dogs, and watch all the avenues of the city, to take me; yet, like greedy dogs, they shall want their food, and wander about, as those shivering for hunger; for they shall not be satisfied, but murmur on account of their disappointment.” The Hebrew verbs of these verses are in the future tense, and ought to have been rendered, “They shall return, &c. They shall make a noise, and go round about the city. They shall wander about, shivering for hunger, and, because not satisfied, they shall murmur.” — Chandler and Houbigant. Psalm 59:15 Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied. Psalm 59:16 But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble. Psalm 59:17 Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 59:1 To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him. Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me. Psalm 59:1-17 THE superscription makes this the earliest of David’s psalms, dating from the Sauline persecution. It has many points of connection with the others of that group, but its closest affinities are with Psalm 55:1-23 , which is commonly considered to belong to the period of incubation of Absalom’s rebellion (cf. Psalm 55:10 with Psalm 59:6 ; Psalm 59:14 , and Psalm 55:21 with Psalm 59:7 . The allusion to enemies patrolling the city, which is common to both psalms, seems to refer to a fact, and may in this psalm be founded on the watchfulness of Saul’s emissaries: but its occurrence in both weakens its force as here confirmatory of the superscription. It does not necessarily follow from the mention of the "nations" that the psalmist’s enemies are foreigners. Their presence in the city and the stress laid on words as their weapons are against that supposition. On the whole, the contents of the psalm do not negative the tradition in the title, but do not strongly attest it. If we have accepted the Davidic authorship of the other psalms of this group, we shall extend it to this one; for they clearly are a group, whether Davidic or not. The psalm falls into two principal divisions ( Psalm 59:1-9 and Psalm 59:10-17 ), each closing with a refrain, and each subdivided into two minor sections, the former of which in each case ends with Selah, and the latter begins with another refrain. The two parts travel over much the same ground of petition, description of the enemies, confidence in deliverance and in the defeat of the foes. But in the first half the psalmist prays for himself, and in the second he prays against his persecutors, while assured confidence in his own deliverance takes the place of alarmed gaze on their might and cruelty. The former half of the first part begins and ends with petitions. Imbedded in these is a plaintive recounting of the machinations of the adversaries, which are, as it were, spread before God’s eyes, accompanied with protestations of innocence. The prayers, which enclose as in a circlet, this description of unprovoked hatred, are varied, so that the former petitions are directed to the singer’s deliverance, while the latter invoke judgment on his antagonists. The strong assertion of innocence is, of course, to be limited to the psalmist’s conduct to his enemies. They attack him without provocation. Obviously this feature corresponds to the facts of Saul’s hatred of David, and as obviously it does not correspond to the facts of Israel’s sufferings from foreign enemies, which are supposed by the present favourite interpretation to be the occasion of the psalm. No devout singer could so misunderstand the reason of the nation’s disasters as to allege that they had fallen upon innocent heads. Rather, when a psalmist bewailed national calamities, he traced them to national sins. "Anger went up against Israel, because they believed not in God." The psalmist calls God to look upon the doings of his enemies. Privy plots and open assaults are both directed against him. The enemy lie in wait for his life; but also, with fell eagerness, like that of soldiers making haste to rank themselves in battle array, they "run and set themselves." This is probably simply metaphor, for the rest of the psalm does not seem to contemplate actual warfare. The imminence of peril forces an urgent prayer from the threatened man. So urgent is it that it breaks in on the parallelism of Psalm 59:4 , substituting its piercing cry "Awake, behold!" for the proper second clause carrying on the description in the first. The singer makes haste to grasp God’s hand, because he feels the pressure of the wind blowing in his face. It is wise to break off the contemplation of enemies and dangers by crying to God. Prayer is a good interruption of a catalogue of perils. The petitions in Psalm 59:5 are remarkable, both in their accumulation of the Divine names and in their apparent transcending of the suppliant’s need. The former characteristic is no mere artificial or tautological heaping together of titles, but indicates repeated acts of faith and efforts of contemplation. Each name suggests something in God which encourages hope, and when appealed to by a trusting soul, moves Him to act. The very introductory word of invocation, "And Thou," is weighty. It sets the might of God in grand contrast to the hurrying hatred of the adversary; and its significance is enhanced if its recurrence in Psalm 59:8 and its relation to "And I" in Psalm 59:16 are taken into account. The combination of the Divine names is remarkable here, from the insertion of God ( Elohim ) between the two parts of the standing name, Jehovah of hosts. The anomaly is made still more anomalous by the peculiar form of the word, Elohim , which does not undergo the modification to be expected in such a construction. The same peculiarities occur in other Elohistic psalms. { Psalm 80:4 ; Psalm 80:19 , and Psalm 84:8 } The peculiar grammatical form would be explained if the three words were regarded as three coordinate names, Jehovah, Elohim, Zebaoth, and this explanation is favoured by good critics. But it is going too far to say, with Baethgen, that "Zebaoth can only be understood as an independent Divine name (Komm., in loc .). Other explanations are at least possible, such as that of Delitzsch, that " Elohim , like Jehovah, has become a proper name," and so does not suffer modification. The supplicatory force of the names, however, is clear, whatever may be the account of the formal anomalies. They appeal to God and they hearten the appellant’s confidence by setting forth the loftiness of God, who rules over the embattled forces of the universe, which "run and set themselves in array" at His bidding and for His servant’s help, and before which the ranks of the foes seem thin and few. They set forth also God’s relation to Israel, of which the single suppliant is a member. The petition, grounded upon these names, is supposed by modern commentators to prove that the psalmist’s enemies were heathens, which would, of course destroy the Davidic authorship, and make the singer a personification of the nation. But against this is to be observed the description of the enemies in the last clause of Psalm 59:5 as "apostates," which must refer to Israelites. The free access to the "city," spoken of in Psalm 59:6 , is also unfavourable to that supposition, as is the prominence given to the words of the enemy. Foreign foes would have had other swords than those carried between their lips. The prayer that Jehovah would arise to visit "all nations" is much more naturally explained, as on the same principle as the judgment of "the peoples" in Psalm 7:1-17 . All special cases are subsumed under the one general judgment. The psalmist looks for his own deliverance as one instance of that world wide manifestation of Divine justice which will "render to every man according to his deeds." Not only personal considerations move him to his prayer; but, pressing as these are, and shrill as is the cry for personal deliverance, the psalmist is not so absorbed in self as that he cannot widen his thoughts and desires to a world wide manifestation of Divine righteousness, of which his own escape will be a tiny part. Such recognition of the universal in the particular is the prerogative in lower walks of the poet and the man of genius; it is the strength and solace of the man who lives by faith and links all things with God. The instruments here strike in, so as to fix attention on the spectacle of God aroused to smite and of the end of apostates. The comparison of the psalmist’s enemies to dogs occurs in another psalm ascribed to David. { Psalm 22:16 ; Psalm 22:20 } They are like the masterless, gaunt, savage curs which infest the streets of Eastern cities, hungrily hunting for offal and ready to growl or snarl at every passer-by. Though the dog is not a nocturnal animal, evening would naturally be a time when these would specially prowl round the city in search of food, if disappointed during the day. The picture suggests the enemies’ eagerness, lawlessness, foulness, and persistency. If the psalm is rightly dated in the superscription, it finds most accurate realisation in the crafty, cruel watchfulness of Saul’s spies. The word rendered by the A.V. and R.V. "make a noise" is "said usually of the growling of the bear and the cooing of the dove" (Delitzsch). It indicates a lower sound than barking, and so expresses rage suppressed lest its object should take alarm. The word rendered (A.V. and R.V.) "belch" means to gush out, and is found in a good sense in Psalm 19:1 . Here it may perhaps be taken as meaning "foam," with some advantage to the truth of the picture. "Swords are in their lips"- i.e ., their talk is of slaying the psalmist, or their slanders cut like swords; and the crown of their evil is their scoff at the apparently deaf and passive God. With startling suddenness, as if one quick touch drew aside a curtain, the vision of God as He really regards the enemies is flashed on them in Psalm 59:8 . The strong antithesis expressed by the "And Thou," as in Psalm 59:5 , comes with overwhelming force. Below is the crowd of greedy foes, obscene, cruel, and blasphemous; above, throned in dread repose, which is not, as they dream, carelessness or ignorance, is Jehovah, mocking their fancied security. The tremendous metaphor of the laughter of God is too boldly anthropomorphic to be misunderstood. It sounds like the germ of the solemn picture in Psalm 2:1-12 , and is probably the source of the similar expression in Psalm 37:13 . The introduction of the wider thought of God’s "mocking"- i.e. , discerning, and manifesting in act, the impotence of the ungodly efforts of "all nations"-is to be accounted for on the same principle of the close connection discerned by the devout singer between the particular and the general, which explains the similar extension of view in Psalm 59:5 . Psalm 59:9 is the refrain closing the first part. The reading of the Hebrew text, "His strength," must be given up, as unintelligible, and the slight alteration required for reading "my" instead of "his" adopted, as in the second instance of the refrain in Psalm 59:17 . The further alteration of text, however, by which "I will harp" would be read in Psalm 59:9 instead of "I will watch" is unnecessary, and the variation of the two refrains is not only in accordance with usage, but brings out a delicate phase of progress in confidence. He who begins with waiting for God ends with singing praise to God. The silence of patient expectance is changed for the melody of received deliverance. The first part of the second division, like the corresponding portion of the first division, is mainly prayer, but with the significant difference that the petitions now are directed, not to the psalmist’s deliverance but to his enemies’ punishment. For himself, he is sure that his God will come to meet him with His lovingkindness, and that, thus met and helped, he will look on, secure, at their ruin. The Hebrew margin proposes to read "The God of my lovingkindness will meet me"-an incomplete sentence, which does not tell with what God will meet him. But the text needs only the change of one vowel point in order to yield the perfectly appropriate reading. "My God shall meet me with His lovingkindness," which is distinctly to be preferred. It is singular that the substitution of "my" for "his," which is needlessly suggested by the Hebrew margin for Psalm 59:10 , is required but not suggested for Psalm 59:9 . One is tempted to wonder whether there has been a scribe’s blunder attaching the correction to the wrong verse. The central portion of this part of the psalm is composed of terrible wishes for the enemies’ destruction. There is nothing more awful in the imprecations of the Psalter than that petition that the boon of a swift end to their miseries may not be granted them. The dew of pity for suffering is dried up by the fire of stern desire for the exhibition of a signal instance of Divine judicial righteousness. That desire lifts the prayer above the level of personal vengeance, but does not lighten its awfulness. There may be an allusion to the fate of Cain, who was kept alive and made a "fugitive and a vagabond." Whether that is so or not, the wish that the foes may be kept alive to be buffeted by God’s strength-or, as the word may mean, to be scattered in panic-struck rout by God’s army-is one which marks the difference between the old and the new covenants. The ground of these fearful punishments is vehemently set forth in Psalm 59:12 . Every word which the adversaries speak is sin. Their own self-sufficient pride, which is revolt against dependence on God, is like a trap to catch them. They speak curses and lies, for which retribution is due. This recounting of their crimes, not so much against the psalmist, though involving him, as against God, fires his indignation anew, and he flames out with petitions which seem to forget the former ones for lingering destruction: "End them in wrath, end them." The contradiction may be apparent only, and this passionate cry may presuppose the fulfilment of the former. The psalmist will then desire two dreadful things-first, protracted suffering, and then a crushing blow to end it. His ultimate desire in both is the same. He would have the evildoers spared long enough to be monuments of God’s punitive justice; he would have them ended, that the crash of their fall may reverberate afar and proclaim that God rules in Jacob. "Unto the ends of the earth" may be connected either with "rules" or with "know." In the former construction the thought will be, that from His throne in Israel God exercises dominion universally; in the latter, that the echo of the judgment on these evil-doers will reach distant lands. The latter meaning is favoured by the accents, and is, on the whole, to be preferred. But what a strange sense of his own significance for the manifestation of God’s power to the world this singer must have had, if lie could suppose that the events of his life were thus of universal importance! One does not wonder that the advocates of the personification theory find strong confirmation of it in such utterances; and, indeed, the only other explanation of them is that the psalmist held, and knew himself to hold, a conspicuous place in the evolution of the Divine purpose so that in his life, as in a small mirror, there were reflected great matters. If such anticipations were more than wild dreams, the cherisher of them must either have been speaking in the person of the nation, or he must have known himself to be God’s instrument for extending His name through the world. No single person so adequately meets the requirements of such words as David. The second part of this division ( Psalm 59:14 ) begins with the same words as the corresponding part of the first division ( Psalm 59:6 ), so that there is a kind of refrain here. The futures in Psalm 59:14-15 , may be either simple futures or optatives. In the latter case the petitions of the preceding verses would be continued here and the pregnant truth would result that continuance in sin is the punishment of sin. But probably the imprecations are better confined to the former part, as the Selah draws a broad line of demarcation, and there would be an incongruity in following the petition "End them" with others which contemplated the continuance of the enemies. If the verses are taken as simply predictive, the point of the reintroduction of the figure of the pack of dogs hunting for their prey lies in Psalm 59:15 . There they are described as balked in their attempts, and having to pass the night unsatisfied. Their prey has escaped. Their eager chase, their nocturnal quest. their growling and prowling, have been vain. They lie down empty and in the dark a vivid picture, which has wider meanings than its immediate occasion. "Ye lust and desire to have, and cannot obtain." An eternal nemesis hangs over godless lives, condemning them to hunger, after all efforts, and wrapping their pangs of unsatisfied desire in tragic darkness. A clear strain of trust springs up like a lark’s morning song. The singer contrasts himself with his baffled foes. The "they" at the beginning of Psalm 59:15 is emphatic in the Hebrew, and is matched with the emphatic "And I" which begins Psalm 59:16 . His "morning" is similarly set over against their "night." So petition, complaint, imprecation, all merge into a song of joy and trust and the whole ends with the refrain significantly varied and enlarged. In its first form the psalmist said "For Thee will I watch"; in its second he rises to "To Thee will I harp." Glad praise is ever the close of the vigils of a faithful, patient heart. The deliverance won by waiting and trust should be celebrated by praise. In the first form the refrain ran "God is my high tower," and the second part of the psalm began with "My God shall meet me with His lovingkindness." In its second form the refrain draws into itself these words which had followed it, and so modifies them that the lovingkindness which in them was contemplated as belonging to and brought by God is now joyfully clasped by the singer as his very own, by Divine gift and through his own acceptance. Blessed they who are led by occasion of foes and fears to take God’s rich gifts, and can thankfully and humbly feel that His lovingkindness and all its results are theirs, because He Himself is theirs and they are His! The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.