For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; a prayer of David, written when Saul sent men to surround his house and murder him.
According to Motyer (NBC), this psalm divides into two parts:
- vv1-10 – prayer for deliverance (1f), extending into pray for worldwide judgment (5)
- vv11-17 – prayer for requital (11-13b), leading to worldwide revelation (13c,d).
Tanner divides as follows:
- Cry to God for rescue from enemies (vv. 1–5)
- Metaphorical description of the enemies (vv. 6–7)
- Statement of trust in God’s power and aid (vv. 8–10)
- Wish for the end of the enemies (vv. 11–13)
- Second and similar metaphorical description of the enemies (vv. 14–15)
- Similar statement of trust in God’s power and aid (vv. 16–17)
Ash suggests:
‘Psalm 59 appears to divide into 59:1–10 and 59:11–17. Each section comprises a prayer (59:1–5, 11–13, each ending with Selah), a refrain (59:6–7, 14–15), and an expression of confidence (59:8–10, 16–17).’
The background is found in 1 Sam 19:10-12. David’s wife, Michal (Saul’s daughter) helped him escape at night through an upper window. The one-night ambush described there is part of a longer-term threat indicated in v6 and v14. Indeed, from that time until Saul’s death David would be on the run.
Wilcock notes that by the time of this ambush Saul has made no fewer than five attempts on David’s life.
Wiersbe offers a summary of the background:
‘King Saul’s fear and hatred of David became so compulsive that he finally gave orders to kill his son-in-law, and twice Saul tried to do it himself (1 Sam. 19:1–10). Then he plotted to have David murdered in his bed at home (1 Sam. 19:11–18), but his wife helped David escape by letting him out a window (see Acts 9:23–25). Before this attempt, Saul sent out search parties to spy on David (vv. 6, 14), and David wrote this psalm to ask God for the help he needed.’
Ash (Psalms For You) helps to bring David’s dire situation to life:
‘It is worth meditating on just how terrifying this must have been. Being used to thrillers in which the hero is trapped in a house by heavily armed men determined to kill him, we take it for granted that David will survive. And indeed we can read on and see how he would escape. But this was real life. Saul’s men knew where David was; he had nowhere to run and no place to hide. They did not want to arrest him; they were determined “to kill him”. He was in mortal danger. He did not know he would escape. It was all very well to have been anointed king by the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 16); but at any moment it could have all ended in tears, before his reign had even begun.’
Imagine, then, what it would feel like for your house to be surrounded by strangers, baying like wolves for your blood. You can see them from every window. You can hear them hammering on your door. You have no means of calling for help. You are terrified.
This psalm contains some individual, and some corporate, elements. Kidner thinks that the scope of the finished psalm indicates that it was completed after David’s accession. Wilson considers that the mention of ‘nations’, for example, points to completion of the psalm during the Exilic period.
However, if we accept that this psalm is firmly situated in the period after David had been anointed, but before his accession, then Ash’s words become relevant:
‘It is entirely reasonable to suppose that David understood, from the terms of God’s covenant (cf. Ps. 2), that what happened to him in this very personal crisis was a microcosm of the trials and destiny of the whole people of God, over whom he was anointed as the typical messiah. So the grand scope of the psalm’s language about “the nations” is not inconsistent with this crisis for the anointed King.’
And, in this way, the psalm looks forward to Christ:
‘There is a sense in which the Lord Jesus is today, in this period between his ascension and his return, the true but unacknowledged King—unacknowledged, that is, except by his church.’ (PFY)
In his larger commentary. Ash states:
‘As with other psalms from the days of Sauline persecution, the most natural way to read Psalm 59 is to see the anointed but not yet acclaimed King David to be a type of Jesus in his days on earth, as the true but not yet resurrected Messiah.’
A leading theme of the psalm is security in God – David asks God to ‘deliver’, ‘protect’ and ‘rescue’ him (v1f). He addresses God as ‘the invincible warrior’, ‘my source of strength’, ‘my refuge’, ‘the Lord who shields us’, ‘my place of shelter’. He moves from plea to confident affirmation: ‘God is my refuge’ (v17).
59:1 Deliver me from my enemies, my God!
Protect me from those who attack me!
Deliver…protect – Convey the image of being removed from a dangerous place to a secure location, high and out of reach.
My enemies – They are God’s enemies, too, and this gives us great confidence in prayer:
‘We cannot fail to feel greater liberty in pleading a cause which . . . is the cause of God himself. He is the vindicator of justice, the patron of the righteous cause everywhere, and those who oppress the innocent must necessarily rank themselves amongst his enemies.’ (Calvin)
My God – A number of names and titles are used of God in this psalm; but none more precious that this.
Tanner notes how the descriptions escalate:
‘In v. 1a, they are simply enemies, but the prayer progresses to those who rise up (v. 1b), to workers of iniquity (v. 2a), to the bloodthirsty (v. 2b), to those who lie in wait (v. 3a), to fierce ones who stir up strife (v. 3b), and finally to the problematic iniquitous deceivers (v. 5b).’
At the beginning (Mt 2:13), during (Matt 12:14; 27:20; Mark 3:6; 11:18; 14:55), and at the end (Lk 19:47) of his earthly life there were those who wanted to destroy Jesus. See also Rev 12:4. Christ’s followers have been taught to expect nothing less for themselves (Matt 24:9; cf. Matt 10:17-18; Mark 13:9; Luke 21:12-17).
The Jewish leaders did everything they could to quash the truth about the resurrection (Mt 28:13). Opposition to the gospel continued during the apostolic period. Such opposition even came from within the institutionalised church at the time of the Reformation. More recently, communism has done its best to readicate Christianity, and militant Islam also. But the gospel cannot be killed off! The gates of Hades will not overpower it! (Mt 16:18).
(The above two paragraphs are based on Platt, Mason & Shaddix)
V1f represents:
‘The experience of Christ in his flesh, and our experience too. Our enemies are the devil and his angels who constantly, daily, rise up against us and try to dupe us in our weakness and fragility. They are relentless in their attempts to ensnare us by their tricks, promptings, temptations, and any traps they can devise, as long as we live on earth.’ (Augustine, quoted by Ash)
59:2 Deliver me from evildoers!
Rescue me from violent men!
There is, as Kidner remarks, a mentality that adopts evil and violence as a way of life. It is from such that the righteous need to be delivered, and that God will judge justly.
Violent men are ‘men of bloods’, ‘bloodthirsty men’ (NIV). Evil men would seek the blood of Christ and many of his followers.
Both David and his ‘greater son’ suffered because of false accusations. As Ash (PFY) notes:
‘From the beginning to the end of his public ministry, the Lord Jesus knew what it was to have enemies who “watched him closely” and “were looking for a reason to accuse” him (Mark 3:2): who were “keeping a close watch on him” and “hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor” (Luke 20:20).’
So also Jesus’ apostle Paul, who:
‘was trapped inside the walls of Damascus because “day and night” his enemies “kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him” (Acts 9:24).’
59:3 For look, they wait to ambush me;
powerful men stalk me,
but not because I have rebelled or sinned, O LORD.
59:4 Though I have done nothing wrong, they are anxious to attack.
Spring into action and help me! Take notice of me!
I have done nothing wrong – Their threats are undeserved, and the call for divine help justified.
See Acts 4:24-30 –
“Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
“ ‘Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
26 The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the Lord
and against his Anointed One.’27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
Nevertheless, the NT will teach a contrasting response to unfair treatment:
1 Pet 3:18ff – ‘Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are perverse. For this finds God’s favor, if because of conscience toward God someone endures hardships in suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if you sin and are mistreated and endure it? But if you do good and suffer and so endure, this finds favor with God. For to this you were called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his steps. He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth.When he was maligned, he did not answer back; when he suffered, he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God who judges justly.’
Ash: David protests his innocence, just as the Lord Jesus after him had done no wrong:
1 Peter 2:22 (NET) — ‘He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth.’
In fact:
‘Jesus Christ alone, however, can pray this prayer fully. He had no transgression or sin, yet His enemies plotted and pre pared to take His life. David’s claim to innocence in the psalms is thus fulfilled in the Innocent One.’ (Donald Williams)
Daivd was a transgressor, but a penitent transgressor. Matthew Henry:
‘He pleads his own innocency, not as to God (he was never backward to own himself guilty before him), but as to his persecutors;. what they charged him with was utterly false, nor had he ever said or done any thing to deserve such treatment from them.’
The same:
‘The innocency of the godly will not secure them from the malignity of the wicked.’
And again:
‘Though our innocency will not secure us from troubles, yet it will greatly support and comfort us under our troubles. The testimony of our conscience for us that we have behaved ourselves well towards those that behave themselves ill towards us will be very much our rejoicing in the day of evil.’
This makes us think of persecuted Christians worldwide; they have done nothing wrong, except make a commitment to follow Christ. Such are believers in Afghanistan, hounded by the Taliban. In the North of Mozambique, terror and chaos are experienced by Christian believers. Iranian Christian converts are pressurised to renounce their faith. Church ministers are among believers who have been massacred in Ethiopia. Here in the UK we hear increasingly of wrongful arrests of Christians and unlawful discrimination.
Phillips counsels:
‘Are you innocent in your behavior and attitude toward your employer, coworkers, neighbors, family members, and fellow Christians? Especially when dealing with difficult or even dangerous people, Christians should make sure that we can say with David that we are without any known sin or fault.’
This should extend to our behaviour when suffering for the sake of Christ and his kingdom:
1 Peter 2:12 ‘Maintain good conduct among the non-Christians, so that though they now malign you as wrongdoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God when he appears….20 For what credit is it if you sin and are mistreated and endure it? But if you do good and suffer and so endure, this finds favor with God.’
Peter concludes:
1 Peter 2:21–23 “— 21 For to this you were called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth.23 When he was maligned, he did not answer back; when he suffered, he threatened no retaliation, but committed himself to God who judges justly.
Spring into action and help me! –
59:5 You, O LORD God, the invincible warrior, the God of Israel,
rouse yourself and punish all the nations!
Have no mercy on any treacherous evildoers!
(Selah)
David begins with prayer, vv1-5.
You, O Lord God, the invincible warrior – ‘The Lord God Almighty’, ‘The Lord of hosts’. David’s enemies are as ruthless as they are numerous (‘the nations’). Therefore, he calls upon all the armies of heaven to come to his aid. Such a God has the power to execute judgment.
Ash: What appears to be a local drama of one hunted man is, in fact, a cosmic battle:
‘Lord God of hosts (cf. Pss. 80:4, 14; 84:8) combines the covenant name, Lord, with the assurance of his invincible power (i.e., the God of all the heavenly armies, utterly impossible to defeat and able to achieve whatever he purposes). This is the God who can so easily send “twelve legions of angels” to rescue his Son, were he to ask (Matt. 26:53).’
The Lord is the God of Israel, and also of all the nations. The point, according to Tanner, is not that the psalmist is referring to foreign enemies, but rather that he (Tanner might say ‘she’) is appealing to the God of all nations.
Andrew A. Bonar notes:
‘1. “God of hosts,” and therefore able;
‘2. “God of Israel,” and therefore willing.’
Phillips takes us to the New Testament:
‘David possessed the right to call on God using these names because he was not only an outward Israelite but also an inward member of God’s covenant through faith. Believers in Christ who come to God today have an even greater and more potent name to assign to God in their prayers. Jesus taught believers to claim our privileges as children of God, naming him “Our Father in heaven” (Matt. 6:9). The apostle Paul gave us an even more potent way to approach God with our needs, referring to him as “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:3). We can boldly present our requests through faith in Jesus, who now intercedes for us at God’s right hand, bearing in his body the marks of his death for our sins. On the basis of Christ’s atoning blood, Hebrews 4:16 encourages us, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”’
Platt, Mason and Shaddix: David is appealing here to God’s nature (i.e., he is praying ‘in his name’). We would do well to do the same.
The same authors suggests that the references to the ‘nations’ (here and in v8) indicates ‘a larger reality—the global evil that resists God’s rule’:
‘David’s worldview provides a helpful pattern for our own praying. We should always be more concerned about God’s global—and even universal—kingdom than we are about our own personal situation. The order in the Lord’s Prayer is important. Jesus taught us to ask, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” before we ask, “Give us today our daily bread” (Matt 6:10-11). That kind of praying will then temper and shape the praying we do for our personal circumstances.’
For Ash (Psalms For You) this reference to the nations (here and in v8) and to ‘the ends of the earth’ (v13) fit the idea that this is a royal, and not merely a personal, psalm. So also the mention of ‘treachery’ in the present verse.
Boice applies this point:
‘Just as God protected and delivered David when he was surrounded by the hostile forces of King Saul, so also will God protect and deliver his elect people from whatever enemies may surround them.’
Rouse yourself – How often do we imagine that God is ‘sleeping on the job’ of helping and protecting us?!
Compare:
Psalm 121:3–4 (NET) — ‘Look! Israel’s protector does not sleep or slumber!’
So:
‘From a human standpoint, sometimes all we know is that God seems to be asleep and disconnected from our plight. So we use words that express what we feel, but we use them against the backdrop of knowing that our Father is sovereignly hearing and acting for our good and his glory.’ (Platt, Mason and Shaddix, 2020)
Punish all the nations! – Melanchthon:
‘Such curses in the prophets should be read not only as human indignation but rather as the voice of the Holy Spirit, speaking about blasphemies and consoling the church so that she may know that she will indeed conquer. God will root out impious dogmas and the blasphemies of their defenders.’ (Commentary on the Psalms)’
Have no mercy on any treacherous evildoers! – None of the finally impentient will be spared. This prayer
‘is not motivated by personal animosity but sees his enemies as part of [the] worldwide conspiracy against God and his anointed (see Ps. 2).’ (Quoted by Ash)
59:6 They return in the evening;
they growl like a dog
and prowl around outside the city.
They return in the evening – Cf. 1 Sam 19:11. Evil and violance are often associated – in Scripture and in everyday life – with the darkness of night time.
Cf. Lk 22:53 – “This is your hour – when darkness reigns.”
They growl like a dog – In the ancient Near East dogs were not kept as pets; they were mostly scavengers, and held in low esteem.
They take on an inhuman character:
‘They lose the proper use of truthful, logical, reasonable language and are reduced to howling (growling, barking, snarling) like dogs, the wild dogs of the ancient Near East, “despised, unowned, loathsome, degraded, lean, and hungry.”’ (Ash)
Ash: Their brutish behaviour reaches its climax with the crucifixion of the Lord of glory; And
‘they are with us today, wherever Christ and his church are vilified and opposed.;
As Longman notes:
‘The New Testament speaks of the enemies of the gospel as dogs, who are ‘mutilators of the flesh’ (Phil. 3:2). According to Revelation, the opponents of the righteous are ‘the dogs, those who practise magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practises falsehood’ (22:15).’
59:7 Look, they hurl insults at me
and openly threaten to kill me,
for they say,
“Who hears?”
59:8 But you, O LORD, laugh in disgust at them;
you taunt all the nations.
“Who hears?” – Ash likens them to latter-day muggers, who snarl to their victim: “We’ve taken away your phone, and no-one can hear your cries for help.”
In his longer commentary, Ash remarks:
‘This is the thought of the practical atheist; it surfaces again and again (e.g., 10:4, 11, 13; 64:5; 73:11; 94:7) and is the spirit of the fool of Psalms 14 and 53. When men or women become deaf to God (cf. the snake of 58:4–5), they assume that God must be deaf to them; he is not.’
Matthew Henry adds that their taunt is atheistical: not only is there no friend to hear: there is no god either.
Consider the experience of Jesus:
Matthew 26:59 (NET) — ‘The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were trying to find false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death.’
His followers can expect the same:
Matthew 10:25 (NET) — “It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more will they defame the members of his household!”
But they are encouraged:
Matthew 5:11–12 (NET) — “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely on account of me. Rejoice and be glad because your reward is great in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.”
You, O Lord, laugh in disgust at them – Cf. God’s derision in Psa 2:4.
This is not the laughter of amusement or of embarassment; it is the laughter of derision. The worst that man can do by way of arrogance and violence arounds nothing but contempt in the mind of God:
‘When the psalmist says that God would laugh at his enemies, he employs a figure that is well fitted to enhance his power, suggesting that, when the wicked have perfected their schemes to the uttermost, God can without any effort dissipate them all.’ (John Calvin, Commentary on the Psalms)
Their attitude and behaviour are not only sinful; they are ridiculous.
Wilson finds something of a parallel earlier in Genesis:
‘In the Tower of Babel narrative (Gen. 11:1–9), Yahweh is confronted by the tower built by rebellious humankind, yet he remains unconcerned. Now this is a tower that the humans thought lifted its top “into the heavens.” But Yahweh has to stoop down—get on his knees in the dust of the Plain of Shinar—maybe even get his magnifying glass out of his pocket just to see this tiny pimple protruding from the skin of the earth.’
59:9 You are my source of strength! I will wait for you!
For God is my refuge.
59:10 The God who loves me will help me;
God will enable me to triumph over my enemies.
A turning point. David moves from prayer to expressions of faith (esp vv8-10). What is at the forefront of David’s mind now is not the threat of his enemies, but the protection of his God.
As Platt, Mason and Shaddix comment:
‘Although the vicious attackers think no one is watching because it’s nighttime (see vv. 6-7), the omniscient God has a front-row seat.’
I will wait for you – The idea is of standing and looking out from a watchtower, as did Habakkuk (Hab 2:1).
God is my refuge – A leading thought in this psalm. The physical house was surrounded and not strong enough to protect David. But God will set him high, safe from their reach.
‘In the same way’ , write Platt, Mason and Shaddix:
‘our physical resources won’t be able to stand against the enemies of the gospel. Only the name of our God is strong enough to defend us and to forge a pathway to victory (Prov 18:10-11). Believers must cry out to God “in his name” for deliverance from those who have adopted evil and violence as their modus operandi and have come against his character and mission (Ps 54:1,6).’
To David, he is the God who loves me; to his enemies, he is a God of vengeance.
God will enable me to triumph over my enemies – To ‘look down’, to ‘gloat’.
59:11 Do not strike them dead suddenly,
because then my people might forget the lesson.
Use your power to make them homeless vagabonds and then bring them down,
O Lord who shields us!
Whereas in his first appeal David had sought rescue from his enemies, here he contemplates their judgment.
Do not strike them dead suddenly – Not yet (cf. v13). Rather, let them be living, but humbled, reminders that God brings the wicked down.
They must not simply ‘disappear’; their defeat must be ‘ clear, public and unambiguous’ (Ash, PFY).
In his longer commentary, Ash writes:
‘A sudden and complete disappearance of the enemies would allow God’s people all too quickly to forget this great act of God’s judgment. Just as the pharaoh of the exodus (Ex. 7–14) and Haman (Esther) had to be defeated slowly and with many dramas so that these redemptions might never be forgotten, so the defeat of God’s enemies at any time in the history of the church may be delayed in order that we learn the lessons of God’s slow but certain providence.’
As Wilson puts it:
‘Rather than death for the enemies, the psalmist desires public exposure of their slander and affirmation of his own righteousness.’
Wilson notes several parallel instances where people are allowed to live in order to be a lesson and a warning to others:
Cain, after he killed his brother, was marked by God to preserve his life and left to wander restlessly (Gen 4:1–16).
Adoni-Bezek, the Canaanite king of Bezek, boasted of having “seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off,” picking up scraps (like dogs!) under his table. These defeated and humiliated kings testified daily to the power of Adoni-Bezek—until he himself suffered the same fate at the hands of the Israelites (Judg. 1:4–7).
Mephibosheth, the crippled son of Saul, was spared by David and sat at David’s table as a continuing sign of the king’s mercy and largess. (I am sure there might have been a less positive motive of showing David’s power and defeat of the family of Saul!)
The last true Judahite king, Jehoiachin, was taken into exile by the Babylonians and regularly displayed at the table of the Babylonian king along with the kings of other defeated nations.
(Reformatted)
My people – Another hint that this psalm contains elements that date from David’s kingship (or later). David wants his people to know that God is the great rescuer. This, by the way, is one of the great purposes of miracles.
So called because although David was not yet their king in fact, he was so in principle:
‘As such, he is not seeking any mere personal relief but wants God to act so that the nation will learn the lesson and the world take note of the moral providence of God at work on earth (13).’ (Motyer, NBC)
(Kidner, however, thinks that the references to ‘the nations’ in v5,8 indicate that the finished psalm must be dated after David’s accession).
Longman captures the meaning accurately:
‘He asks God to refrain from killing his enemies, but not out of a sense of mercy for them. He is afraid that if they die, then others will forget. As Goldingay puts it, these verses begin ‘with the eyebrow-raising plea for the attackers to be treated a little like the Canaanites, not annihilated but kept alive for the spiritual benefit of Israel (cf. Judg. 2:20–23; also Exod. 9:16)’ (Goldingay 2007: 219). In other words, God wants to make an object lesson of them by hurting them slowly. Eventually, he wants them to be gone, but not right away. The psalmist believes that in this way God will be shown to rule, rather than those who seem to have all the power at present.’
The lesson is that God is sovereign, and is to be glofied above all else:
‘That was Jesus’s motive for living, his model for praying, and the basis of his expectation for his Father’s response. He said, “Now my soul is troubled. What should I say—Father, save me from this hour? But that is why I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” And his Father responded, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again” (John 12:27-28). May we take our cue from him, praying for the destruction of enemies of the gospel to the end that God may be glorified throughout the whole earth!’ (Platt, Mason and Shaddix)
Phillips:
‘We should likewise pray that God will rescue us and cast down wicked powers in such a way that his people will be brought to reverent fear and that the world will be persuaded of God’s judgment.’
Bring them down – to Sheol.
O Lord who shields us! –
‘[The king] was now pleading the cause of the whole Church. . . . Having been chosen king by divine appointment, the safety of the Church stood connected with his person. The assault made upon him by his enemies was not an assault upon himself merely as a private individual, but upon the whole people, whose common welfare God had consulted in making choice of him.’ (Calvin)
59:12 They speak sinful words.
So let them be trapped by their own pride
and by the curses and lies they speak!
Sinful words…pride…curses and lies – David is not seeking personal revenge, but rather that sinners should be punished.
Matthew Henry: The sins of the tongue are more malevolent than is often supposed. These include cursing, lying and slander.
Their end is completely justified. Compare David’s protestation of innocence in v3.
Kidner offers Judges 9 as a classic example of an entire community self-destructing because of such sins.
59:13 Angrily wipe them out! Wipe them out so they vanish!
Let them know that God rules
in Jacob and to the ends of the earth!
(Selah)
Angrily wipe them out! – Contrasts with v11, where the psalmist wants his enemies to be kept alive, but in a humbled state. Both expressions are true, as poetry.
Ash, as usual, takes a strongly Christocentic approach:
‘It is important to remember that this is not talking about personal revenge. What is at stake here is the rule of God’s king. When David first prayed this, we must trust that what mattered to him, as a man filled with the Holy Spirit, was not his personal success, let alone the defeat of people he happened not to like. No, he cared supremely about the victory of God’s king, because the victory of the God he loved was inseparably concerned with the victory of the king. This concern of David finds its pure fulfilment in the yearning of Jesus, who is God’s final King, that in his victory his Father’s glory will be lifted high. If we pray these words, we need to have firmly in our minds the final victory of Jesus in the conversion of many, yes, but also in the judgment of God upon those who will not finally repent.’ (Psalms For You)
According to the Gospel Transformation Study Bible:
‘The ultimate exhibition of such gospel power in Scripture are the “signs and wonders” of the New Testament, whose apex is the resurrection (Acts 4:30; 1 Corinthians 15). In union with Christ, believers may still suffer unjustly as they participate in the expansion of the kingdom (cf. Ps. 59:4, 12; Rom. 8:17).’
Nevertheless:
‘Their apparent weakness in suffering only provides further evidence of God’s infinite power to use the weakest instruments to “shield” them from harm and make a mockery of the Enemy (cf. Ps. 59:11; 1 Sam. 19:12–13; 1 Cor. 1:27; Col. 2:15).’
59:14 They return in the evening;
they growl like a dog
and prowl around outside the city.
59:15 They wander around looking for something to eat;
they refuse to sleep until they are full.
Kidner notes that the NEB abolishes v14, and places v15 between v4 and v5. He wryly comments:
‘This tells us no more than how the translators would have written the psalm themselves.’
Eric Lane says of David’s enemies:
‘His enemies assemble night after night, getting hungrier and hungrier like wild dogs who have not fed for days. When they are not snarling at David they are prowling impatiently and howling for his blood.’
Growl – or ‘whine’.
Whereas the stress in v7 is on the sharp words of the enemies, here, suggests Ash, it is their insatiability. Boice comments:
‘Not only does evil carry within it the seeds of its own destruction, it is not capable of being satisfied either. In fact, it is the very nature of evil to be dissatisfied: wanting, but never having enough; eating, but never getting full; grasping, but always seeing the object of the desire slipping from one’s hands.’
Christ’s enemies would not be satisfied until they saw him nailed to the cross. The same is true today of Christ’s persecuted followers:
‘Nothing less than the removal of all things truly Christian will satisfy a hostile world. Of course, when the church is not truly Christian, the world may be very satisfied, for they need not oppose a church that is assimilated to their own values. But when the church follows their king faithfully, mortal hostility is assured.’
59:16 As for me, I will sing about your strength;
I will praise your loyal love in the morning.
For you are my refuge
and my place of shelter when I face trouble.
Ash:
‘Just as the first cycle ended with confidence (v 8-10), so the second concludes with a song of God’s “love” (covenant love) and the security of being in his “fortress” (twice in verses 16-17).’
In turning to praise, the psalmist gives no indication of how God has dealt with his enemies, no hint as to how he himself has progresses from fearful petition to heartfelt praise.
I will sing about your strength – God is both sovereign and gracious.
‘God’s strength is demonstrated in creating all things out of nothing, in upholding all things, in redeeming his people, in converting and calling them, in preserving them to eternal happiness, in keeping his promises to them, in destroying their enemies, and in protecting them.’ (John Gill, Exposition of the Bible)
I will praise your loyal love in the morning – The chesed (covenant loyalty) that has been the object of prayer is now the object of praise.
The morning of praise contrasts with the evening of treachery (v14).
As Platt, Mason and Shaddix note:
‘Although the wicked dogs had their say against God at night, his righteous servants will sing praises to him in the morning!’
The same authors add:
‘In contrast to the way humans love so often, his love for us isn’t based on appearances, hormones, compatibility, or personal benefit. No, his love is rooted in his commitment to his relationship with us…Marriage reflects how God loves with a covenant love. It’s not about emotions, feelings, or benefit to the one offering the love. It’s about commitment.’
And this points us to God’s love for us in Christ Jesus:
‘By coming to earth in pursuit of us, he demonstrated that he loves us with no reserve. And if he was willing to endure suffering on my behalf, field even my own rejection and rebellion, and become my sin on the cross, then surely I will trust him. Even when my world is falling apart, my world is spinning out of control, and the enemies of the gospel seem to have the upper hand against me, still I will rejoice and rest in him as my strength and deliverer.’
Matthew Henry notes:
‘He would praise his power and his mercy; both should be the subject-matter of his song. Power, without mercy, is to be dreaded; mercy, without power, is not what a man can expect much benefit from; but God’s power by which he is able to help us, and his mercy by which he is inclined to help us, will justly be the everlasting praise of all the saints.’
59:17 You are my source of strength! I will sing praises to you!
For God is my refuge, the God who loves me.
The God who loves me: God is our strength, fortress and refuge. And he is those things to us because he loves us. Without this, writes Wilson:
‘God would be a powerful deity with whom we had to deal, but we would not likely trust him. It would be a little like living under a totalitarian dictatorship. The government would exercise the power of life and death over all aspects of our world, and we would have to deal with it and consider it in all our decisions and actions; but we would not have to trust it.’
These words were true of the Lord Jesus. But, says Ash:
‘They are words that we, his people, may echo with great confidence in him. Whatever the lurking pressures of evil threatening us, God our Father is for us in Jesus; he is the God upon whom we can most surely rely.’
Compare 2 Timothy 4:17–18 (NET) —
17 But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed for all the Gentiles to hear. And so I was delivered from the lion’s mouth! 18 The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed and will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever! Amen.
This reminds us that there is an even greater enemy, and an even greater rescue. Many believers around the world are not spared suffering, or delivered from death. But they can be confident, with Paul, that they will be brought safely into God’s heavenly kingdom. See Zechariah’s song, Lk 1. Victory over our greatest enemies – sin and death – comes through Jesus Christ, who conquered sin and death, through his own death, triumphing over them by his resurrection.
Preaching from this psalm
Big idea: David, God’s anointed king, is surrounced by a hostile mob. He cries for rescue and declares his trust in God.
Theme of sermon: How should we respond when we feel under threat as followers of Christ?
1. “In this world you will have trouble” (Jn 16:33)
Background: This psalm remembers the time (1 Sam 19:10-12) ‘when Saul sent men to surround [David’s] house and murder him’. David had become famous as the giant-killer. He has been anointed by Samuel to replace Saul as king. Saul had become increasingly jealous and violent towards David. Had twice hurled his spear at him.
Now he sends an assassination squad to David’s house. Just imagine that. You are trapped in what you thought was a safe place. You can make out their shapes through the windows. You can hear them thudding on the door. You can hear their angry shouts – they are baying for your blood. It was the experience of David. This was the experience of Christ. This is the experience of many Christians today.
At the beginning (Mt 2:13), during (Matt 12:14; 27:20; Mark 3:6; 11:18; 14:55), and at the end (Lk 19:47) of his earthly life there were those who wanted to destroy Jesus. See also Rev 12:4. Christ’s followers have been taught to expect nothing less for themselves (Matt 24:9; cf. Matt 10:17-18; Mark 13:9; Luke 21:12-17).
The Jewish leaders did everything they could to quash the truth about the resurrection (Mt 28:13). Opposition to the gospel continued during the apostolic period. Such opposition even came from within the institutionalised church at the time of the Reformation. More recently, communism has done its best to readicate Christianity, and militant Islam also. But the gospel cannot be killed off! The gates of Hades will not overpower it! (Mt 16:18).
Both David and his ‘greater son’ suffered because of false accusations. As Ash (PFY) notes:
‘From the beginning to the end of his public ministry, the Lord Jesus knew what it was to have enemies who “watched him closely” and “were looking for a reason to accuse” him (Mark 3:2): who were “keeping a close watch on him” and “hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor” (Luke 20:20).’
So also Jesus’ apostle Paul, who:
‘was trapped inside the walls of Damascus because “day and night” his enemies “kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him” (Acts 9:24).’
Jn 15:20 – “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.”
Four persecuted Christians.
Christians in the UK do not currently face severe physical persecution as seen in some other parts of the world.
However, many report hostility, ridicule, and friction in the home, in the school, college, workplace, or in public life.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, Dec 2025, was criminally charged after praying silently in an abortion clinic buffer zone.
Pastor Steve Maile (Watford), mid-2026, arrested and detained after onlookers accused him of hate speech and ‘Islamophobia’ while he was street preaching.
Rev Dr Bernard Randall – a school chaplain at Trent College was dismissed after telling pupils that they were entitled to question LGBT ideologies that were being taught at their school. He defended the position of the C of E on marriage, sex and identity, but nevertheless was placed on the church’s safeguarding blacklist. This 7-year long legal and religious dispute was finally settled (in Rev Randall’s favour) in Sep 2026.
Kristie Higgs – in 2019 this school pastoral assistant was dismissed for gross misconduct. She had questioned, on a private Facebook page, the gender identity teaching that had been introduced ‘under the radar’ at her son’s C of E primary school. After a protracted period involving tribunals and appeals, Kristie finally won her case in the Court of Appeal in June 2025.
Then there are the situations that you may find yourself in. You’re sitting in your new tutorial group at uni tommorow morning. The chat turns to what everyone was doing over the weekend. You’re wondering what reaction you’ll get if you admit that you were in church, listening to some old geezer talk about the Bible. You’re sitting round the family meal table, feeling increasingly isolated as the conversation turns to the latest news about ‘assisted dying’. You’re at work in the office, worrying how uncomfortable your life might become now that you have politely but firmly made it clear to your boss that you’re not willing to tell lies on her behalf.
We are involved in a cosmic battle. Not willing to leave to eccentrics, fanatics, and fringe groups.
David appears here not merely as a private person, but as God’s anointed. In this sense, he is the forerunner of his great descendant, Jesus, and of all those who name Jesus as their Saviour and King.
There is, in other words, a global scope to this psalm. Hints in this passage: ‘the nations’ (v5, 8), ‘wicked traitors’ (v5), and ‘the ends of the earth’ (v13).
We can go further than that: this psalm has a cosmic scope. Note the descriptions of the mob as animal-like, irrational, hateful. ‘The Lord of hosts’. 1 Sam 19:9 – ‘An evil spirit from the LORD came upon Saul’.
Who is my enemy? ‘We wrestle not against flesh and blood…’ Eph 6:12.
Donald Williams:
‘Ultimately, the believer’s enemy is not just a human opponent set out to do him in. The real enemy is Satan and his demonic hosts. He is the one who revolts against God, works iniquity, and is “out for blood.” It is also he who growls like a dog, using his tongue like a sword to lie and deceive. He too is the source of all pride. Thus in calling upon God to deliver us and to defend us, we are really asking God to “deliver us from the evil one” (Matt. 6:13).’
2. “But I have overcome the world”
David evidently entertained some doubts about whether God could, or would, hear his cries. He wonders if God is ‘sleeping on the job’ (v5 – ‘rouse yourself’). He returns from a statement of faith in v7f to a statement of horror in v9., before finally settling on confidence.
From a clear conscience, v4. James 5:16 – ‘The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. ‘
The enemy, thinks that God cannot hear, v7. But, in fact, God hears, and he laughs, v8.
David ransacks his vocabulary for different ways of addressing God in this psalm. A God of sovereign power, and a God of covenant love.
‘O God’ (v1), ‘O Lord’ (v3), ‘O Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel’ (v5).
Leave the judging to God. ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’
Do you really want to see justice in the world? Do you really want God to put all wrongs to right?
Consider those who were not rescued: John the Baptist…Stephen…Jesus himself.
In v11f David speaks on behalf of all who flee to God as their fortress.
Two ways to get rid of an enemy:
(a) Defeat him in battle
Points to the cosmic victory of Christ. He ‘disarmed the powers and authorities [and] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross’ (Colossians 2:15). When the perfect King is surrounded, hounded, put to death and then raised bodily from the dead, the whole universe can know that sin and death have lost their sting, and all the powers of evil have been defeated.’
On the cross, Christ has defeated our most fearsome enemy.
Eph 6:12 – ‘We wrestle not against flesh and blood…’
The God who is our shield and fortress is the God who has come in his Son to defeat the devil and his angels.
1 Jn 3:8 – ‘The Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.’
1 Jn 4:4 – ‘You are of God, little children, and have overcome … because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.’
Mt 6:13 – ‘Deliver us from the evil one.’
Football match – spoiling tactics.
So we leave vengeance to God, who judges justly. ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay’.
Do not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified.
Fight valiantly as a disciple of Christ against sin, the world and the devil, and remain faithful to Christ to the end of your life. Amen.
In the mean time:-
(b) Turn your enemy into your friend
David does not seek personal revenge here. In fact, he always sought to treat Saul with respect and kindness.
On multiple occasions he had the opportunity to kill Saul, but he didn’t. Instead, he tried to reason with Saul, and ask why the king hunted him, an innocent man.
On one occasion (1 Sam 24) Saul took 3,000 men to hunt David down. Saul entered a cave in order to relieve himself. He wa totally oblivious of the fact that David and his men were at the back of the cave. David has Saul at his mercy. But all he does is cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. He then follows him out of the cave, and shows him the piece of cloth to prove that he had no intention of harming him.
‘Love your enemy…pray for those who persecute you.’
Example of David, and of Jesus. ‘Love your enemies’. 1 Peter. Hitchens challenge.
Rom 12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
In Christ, God reconciled us to himself ‘while we were yet enemies’.
Radical forgiveness – beginning right here, right now. ‘Forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.’
James 3:13-18 – wisdom from below
‘When Satan tempted me to despair’