This psalm is one of the best known and favored in all the Psalter. It summarizes the two paths of life open to people, the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked (cf. Jer. 17:5-8). Therefore it is an appropriate one to open the collection of 150 psalms. The editors probably intended it to be an introduction to the whole Psalter for this reason. Its figures of speech recur throughout the rest of the book. In view of its content it is a wisdom psalm designed to give understanding to the reader (cf. Prov. 2:12-22).
This psalm contrasts the righteous person who because of his or her behavior experiences blessing in life with the unrighteous whose ungodly conduct yields the fruit of sorrow and destruction.
In this "second psalm"(Acts 13:33) David (Acts 4:25) exhorted the pagan nations surrounding Israel to forsake their efforts to oppose the Lord and His anointed king. He urged them to submit to the authority of the Son whom God has ordained to rule them (cf. 2 Sam. 10).
The title of this psalm identifies the writer as David. All but four of the psalms in Book 1 of the Psalter (Pss. 1-41) identify David as their writer, all except Psalms 1, 2, 10, and 33. The occasion of his writing this one was his flight from Absalom (2 Sam. 15-18).27Fourteen psalms record the historical episodes from which they sprang (Pss. 3, 7, 18, 30, 34, 51, 52, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 63, 142).
In this psalm David voiced his confidence that God would protect him since he was the Lord's chosen king.
Many students of the psalms have recognized that Psalm 4 is very closely akin to Psalm 3 in both subject matter and structure. David may have written it on the same occasion as the previous one or near then. Perhaps it occurs after Psalm 3 in the Psalter because of these similarities.
Many of the psalms begin with instructions concerning how the Israelites were to use the psalm in public worship, as this one does. As mentioned previously, these notations are very old. They usually constitute the first verse of the psalm in the Hebrew Bible. This authority argues for their divine inspiration.
In this psalm David warned his enemies not to sin against God by opposing His anointed king.
This is one of the penitential psalms in which David repented for some sin he had committed and for which he was suffering discipline (cf. Pss. 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143).33We do not know what he did to bring on this illness that almost resulted in his death or how this incident fits into the Scriptural record of his life. Having been chastened by the Lord David asked for forgiveness. Then with the assurance that God had heard him he warned his adversaries to leave him alone because God was about to put them to shame.
". . . the psalm gives words to those who scarcely have the heart to pray, and brings them within sight of victory."34
In the title, "shiggaion"probably means a poem with intense feeling.36Cush, the Benjamite, received no other mention elsewhere in the Bible. The Benjamites were, of course, the kinsmen of King Saul who were hostile to David before and after David became king.
David prayed for deliverance from his enemies on the ground that he was innocent, and he asked God to vindicate him by judging them.
In this psalm David marveled at the fact that God had committed the dominion of the earth to man, and he reflected on the dignity of man.
"This psalm is an unsurpassed example of what a hymn should be, celebrating as it does the glory and grace of God, rehearsing who He is and what He has done, and relating us and our world to Him; all with a masterly economy of words, and in a spirit of mingled joy and awe."37
The Septuagint translators combined Psalms 9 and 10 into one psalm even though they are separate in the Hebrew text.41They evidently did so for two reasons. First, together they complete an acrostic in which each verse (almost) begins with the succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Second, the same unusual terms and the same basic structure occur in both psalms suggesting that they may have originally been linked (e.g., "in times of trouble,"9:9 and 10:18; "the nations,"9:5, 15, 17, 19-20 and 10:16; and a closing emphasis on man's mortality, 9:20 and 10:18). In spite of these similarities the differences between Psalms 9 and 10 justify their separation. Each psalm is complete in itself and has its own purpose. Psalm 9 is a positive song of thanksgiving whereas Psalm 10 is a negative complaint and petition dealing with the godless.
David praised God for demonstrating His righteousness in judging wicked nations in Psalm 9. He expressed gratitude that the afflicted can trust in such a Judge. He concluded with a petition that the Lord would remove affliction from him so he could honor God by thanking Him for His deliverance.
In the title the word "Muth-labben"(NASB) means "The Death of the Son"(NIV) that was evidently a tune name.
This psalm is a prayer for immediate help in affliction. It contains a powerful description of the wicked who oppose God and attack His people. The focus of the previous psalm was on the judgment to come, but in this one it is on the present age.
David appears to have been fleeing from an enemy when he wrote this psalm, but we do not know the exact background incident. He expressed confidence that even though lawful authority might perish the godly can trust in the Lord to punish the wicked and deliver the righteous.
David placed great confidence in the promises of God to deliver those who look to Him for salvation. This was not easy for the psalmist to do since in his day powerful wicked people were taking advantage of the weak and vulnerable (cf. 11:3).
Like several of the preceding psalms this one is also a prayer that the psalmist offered in the midst of affliction. David rested in confidence in the Lord even though he saw no immediate relief from his predicament. The psalm begins with sobbing and ends with singing.
This psalm and Psalm 53 are almost identical.
The failures of human beings that he experienced and the knowledge that God will judge folly and corruption led David to long for the establishment of God's kingdom on the earth. The psalmist's perspective was very broad in this psalm. He spoke of the godly and the ungodly, and he noted their antagonism throughout history.
In this psalm David reflected on the importance of a pure character for those who would worship God and have an intimate relationship with Him.
"The pattern of question and answer here may possibly be modelled on what took place at certain sanctuaries in the ancient world, with the worshipper asking the conditions of admittance, and the priest making his reply. But while the expected answer might have been a list of ritual requirements (cf. Ex. 19:10-15; I Sa. 21:4f.), here, strikingly, the Lord's reply searches the conscience."49
This psalm voices the joy David experienced in his life because of his trust in God and fellowship with God even though he faced distressing physical dangers.51David appears in this psalm as the type of person that he described in the previous psalm.
The meaning of "Mikhtam"(NASB) in the title is not clear. All the suggested explanations that I have read sound far fetched to me. Fortunately we do not need to know the sure meaning of this term to understand and appreciate the psalm.
The content of this psalm is similar to that of the preceding one except that the danger David faced when he wrote this psalm was more threatening. Again he viewed himself as a person committed to God who lived among many others who lived for the present. He prayed for deliverance from their oppression and anticipated the future in God's presence.
As the title indicates, David wrote this psalm after he had subdued his political enemies and had established the kingdom of Israel firmly under his control. In it David expressed his delight in the Lord and thanked Him for giving him the victories he enjoyed. This psalm is also in 2 Samuel 22. The slight variations may be due to changes that Israel's leaders made when they adapted this poem for use in Israel's public worship.
David observed that under the influence of the sun the heavens make God's handiwork in creation known to humanity. Likewise people learn of God's plan to bless humankind under the influence of God's Law. In view of this dual revelation, in nature and in Scripture, David prayed that God would cleanse his life so he would be acceptable to God.
In the polytheistic ancient Near East this psalm was a strong polemic against the pagan sun gods whom their worshippers credited with executing justice. The psalmist claimed that Israel's God was the Creator of the heavens including the sun, and He established justice on the earth.
Before a battle with an enemy, David found encouragement in the intercession of his people to trust God for victory.
This psalm is a companion to the preceding one in that it records David's thanksgiving for the victory that he anticipated in Psalm 20.
The mood of this psalm contrasts dramatically with that of Psalm 21. In this one David felt forsaken by God, and the threats of his enemies laid heavy on his heart. He evidently felt death might be close. He described his condition as facing execution. Nevertheless the Lord answered his prayer for help.
"No Christian can read this without being vividly confronted with the crucifixion. It is not only a matter of prophecy minutely fulfilled, but of the sufferer's humility--there is no plea for vengeance--and his vision of a world-wide ingathering of the Gentiles."60
The righteous sufferer motif that is so prominent in this psalm finds its fulfillment in the Messiah (cf. Ps. 69; et al.).61
David reflected on God's many blessings to him and concluded that God would continue to be faithful to him and grant him fellowship in the future.
"Depth and strength underlie the simplicity of this psalm. Its peace is not escape; its contentment is not complacency: there is readiness to face deep darkness and imminent attack, and the climax reveals a love which homes towards no material goal but to the Lord Himself."64
Only people characterized by righteous deeds and pure thoughts may enter the place where the glorious King of the Universe dwells.
The occasion that inspired the composition of this psalm is unknown. However in view of its content many interpreters believe David may have written it when he brought the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6). Perhaps he wrote it when he returned from some victory in battle.
David appealed to God for wisdom and forgiveness because of His goodness to Israel. This is one of the acrostic psalms in which each verse in the Hebrew Bible begins with the succeeding letter of the Hebrew alphabet, here with an occasional irregularity.
In this psalm, which is similar to Psalm 25 but does not contain confession, David asked for God's vindication because of his personal integrity.
Many of the psalms begin with a lament and end in trust. This one begins with trust, then sinks into a lament, and finally rises again to confidence in God.
This psalm is similar to Psalm 26 except in this one David's distress was imminent. He believed God would not punish him with the wicked and asked Him to save and shepherd His people.
David praised God for His awesome power as a consequence of observing a severe thunderstorm either truly or in his mind's eye. Israel's pagan neighbors gave the credit for storms and other natural phenomena to their gods. Consequently this psalm was a polemic against belief in these idols as well as a tribute to the uniqueness of Yahweh.
"Whether David was building the psalm out of an ancient fragment, or turning to a style that would recall the old battle-hymns of God's salvation, the primitive vigour of the verse, with its eighteen reiterations of the name Yahweh (the Lord), wonderfully matches the theme, while the structure of the poem averts the danger of monotony by its movement from heaven to earth, but the path of the storm and by the final transition from nature in uproar to the people of God in peace."77
David had emerged from an experience of chastening by the Lord for some sin he had committed and praised Him that His anger is temporary but His favor is permanent.
The title of this psalm is subject to two interpretations. It may mean that the psalmist composed it for the occasion of the dedication of the Lord's house. This would not be the dedication of Solomon's temple since David had already died when Solomon dedicated it. It could mean the tent that David erected in Jerusalem to house the ark of the covenant when he brought it into the city (2 Sam. 6:17). Perhaps this occasion was the dedication of the temple site (1 Chron. 21:26; 22:1). The Lord's chastening of the king preceded both of these events. The writer referred to this discipline in the psalm. Another possibility is that the title did not refer to the occasion of writing but to those occasions on which the Israelites were to use this psalm in national worship. This seems less likely to me in view of the references to chastening.
This psalm grew out of an experience in David's life in which his foes plotted to kill him. That incident reminded David that the Lord would protect those who trust in Him. He urged others who might encounter similar affliction to love and trust in God as well.
In this psalm David urged those who sin against the Lord to seek His pardon with the encouragement that He is gracious with the penitent. He will, however, chasten the unrepentant.
Students of this penitential psalm have often linked it with David's adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband Uriah (2 Sam. 11).80While that identification seems probable in view of the content of the psalm, the connection is not indisputable. Psalm 51 was David's prayer for pardon for having committed those acts. If Psalm 32 looks back on the same sins, David probably composed it later. It stresses God's forgiveness and the lesson David learned from not confessing his sin quickly.
Thirteen psalms contain the word "Maskil"in their titles (Pss. 32, 42, 44-45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88-89, and 142). The meaning of this term is still uncertain.
This psalm calls the godly to praise God for His dependable Word and His righteous works. The psalmist also assured the readers that He will be faithful to those who trust in Him.
"If the purest form of a hymn is praise to God for what He is and does, this is a fine example. The body of the psalm is occupied with the Lord as Creator, Sovereign, Judge and Saviour, while the beginning and end express two elements of worship: an offering of praise, doing honour to so great a King, and a declaration of trust, made in humble expectation."83
The Hebrew text does not identify the writer of this psalm though the Septuagint translators believed he was David. Perhaps they concluded this because other psalms that David composed surround this one (cf. Ps. 72:20). The occasion of writing appears to have been a national victory.
In this psalm David glorified God for delivering His people, and he reflected on the Lord's promise to bless the godly with long life.
The title identifies the occasion on which David composed this psalm (cf. 1 Sam. 21:10-15). It is another acrostic with all but the last verse beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet with the exception of waw.
David lamented the unjustified opposition of his enemies in this psalm and called on God to deliver him. It is really a combination of three laments.
"Whether or not this psalm was written as a companion to Psalm 34, it is well placed next to it, not only because of some verbal affinities and contrasts (notably the angel of the Lord', 34:7; 35:5, 6, found nowhere else in the Psalter), but because it speaks out of the kind of darkness which has just been dispelled in the former psalm. The deliverance celebrated in that psalm is now seen to be not invariably swift or painless, but subject, if God wills, to agonizing delays."88
This psalm contains an oracle David received from the Lord concerning the wicked. In contrast to them, he rejoiced in the loyal love and righteousness of God.
"This is a psalm of powerful contrasts, a glimpse of human wickedness at its most malevolent, and divine goodness in its many-sided fullness. Meanwhile the singer is menaced by the one and assured of victory by the other. Few psalms cover so great a range in so short a space."90
This psalm advances the thought of Psalm 36. Here David urged the righteous not to let the prosperity of the wicked upset them but to continue to trust in God's justice. Similar encouragements characterize Psalms 49 and 73. Here the psalmist used several proverbial expressions to convey his exhortation.
In this psalm David expressed penitence that he had sinned against God and had thereby incurred His discipline. This discipline came in the form of opposition from enemies that the psalmist asked God to remove.
The title "memorial"(NASB) or "petition"(NIV) literally means, "to bring to remembrance."It also occurs in the title of Psalm 70.
"Since with God to remember is to act, this word speaks of laying before Him a situation that cries out for His help."92
David seems to have composed this psalm during a prolonged illness that almost proved fatal (cf. Job). He petitioned God to extend his days rather than continue the chastening. This psalm is quite similar to the preceding one, but in this one David did not mention opposition from his enemies.
Jeduthun, mentioned in the title, was one of David's chief musicians (1 Chron. 16:41). Perhaps David wrote the psalm for Jeduthun to perform or lead, or for the group of musicians under his direction.
In this psalm David offered himself as a sacrifice to God because the Lord had delivered him. He also lamented his distress and prayed for salvation.
David assured the godly in this psalm that those who help the needy would experience deliverance themselves from the Lord. He had learned this lesson through a difficult experience to which he referred.
