Psalm 57:5 Komentář

This psalm is very much like that which goes next before it; it was penned upon a like occasion, when David was both in danger of trouble and in temptation to sin; it begins as that did, "Be merciful to me;" the method also is the same. I. He begins with prayer and complaint, yet not without some assurance of speeding in his request (Psa 57:1-6). II. He concludes with joy and praise (Psa 57:7-11). So that hence we may take direction and encouragement, both in our supplications and in our thanksgivings, and may offer both to God, in singing this psalm. To the chief musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 57 To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Some think the words "Altaschith" are the beginning of a song, to the tune of which this was set, as Aben Ezra; others, that they are taken from Deu 9:26; they signifying "destroy not" (g); others, that they refer to what David said to Abishai, when he would have slain Saul, "destroy him not", Sa1 26:9; but that was an affair that happened after this psalm was penned: they seem rather to be words which were frequently used by David in the time of his distress; who often said unto the Lord, either in an ejaculatory way, or vocally, or both, "do not destroy [me]", or "suffer [me] to be destroyed"; of which he was in great danger, as appears from Psa 57:4; and therefore prefixed these words in the title of the psalm, in memorial of the inward anguish of his mind, and of what his mouth then uttered; and to this agrees the Chaldee paraphrase, "concerning the trouble at the time when David said, do not destroy.'' Of the word "michtam", See Gill on Psa 16:1, title. The occasion and time of writing this psalm were David's fleeing from Saul in the cave; or rather "into" (h) the cave, as it should be rendered; for it was after that Saul was gone that David and his men came out of the cave; but he fled hither for fear of Saul; and while he was here, Saul, with three thousand men, came to the mouth of the cave, and he himself went into it; which must have put David and his men into a very great panic, there being no retreat, nor any human possibility of an escape, but must expect to fall into the hands of the enemy, and be cut to pieces at once. This cave was in Engedi, Sa1 24:1; of which Le Bruyn (i) says, it is on the top of a very high hill, and is extremely dark; which agrees with the account in the above place, since it was on the rocks of the wild goats Saul sought David, and coming to the sheepcotes there, went into the cave where David was. (g) "ne disperdas", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus; "ne perdas", Tigurine version, Musculus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis (h) "in speluncam", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, &c. "in specum", Tigurine version. (i) Voyage to the Levant, ch. 51. p. 199.

Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens,.... That is, show thyself to be God, that sittest in the heavens, and art higher than they, by saving me, and disappointing mine enemies; that I, and those that are with me, may magnify the Lord and exalt his name together. The Targum is, "be thou exalted above the angels of heaven, O God;'' let thy glory be above all the earth; that is, above all the inhabitants of the earth, as the Chaldee paraphrase: let the glory of God in my deliverance be seen by all that dwell upon the earth; for by how much the lower and more distressed his case and condition were, by so much the more would the glory of God be displayed in bringing him out of it. Nothing lies nearer the hearts of the people of God than his glory; this is more desirable than their own salvation: David breathes after the one, when he says nothing of the other, that being uppermost; though his meaning is, that the one might be brought about by the other.

Whence "troubled"? Who troubling? Let us see in what manner he brands an evil conscience upon the Jews, wishing to excuse themselves of the slaying of the Lord. For to this end, as the Gospel speaks, to the judge they delivered Him, that they might not themselves seem to have killed Him....Let us question Him, and say, since You have slept troubled, who have persecuted You? Who have slain You? Was it perchance Pilate, who to soldiers gave You, on the Tree to be hanged, with nails to be pierced? Hear who they were, "Sons of men" [Psalm 57:5]. Of them He speaks, whom for persecutors He suffered. But how did they slay, that steel bare not? They that sword drew not, that made no assault upon Him to slay; whence slew they? "Their teeth are arms and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword." Do not consider the unarmed hands, but the mouth armed: from thence the sword proceeded, wherewith Christ was to be slain: in like manner also as from the mouth of Christ, that wherewith the Jews were to be slain. For He has a sword twice whetted: [Revelation 1:16] and rising again He has smitten them, and has severed from them those whom He would make His faithful people. They an evil sword, He a good sword: they evil arrows, He good arrows. For He has Himself also arrows good, words good, whence He pierces the faithful heart, in order that He may be loved. Therefore of one kind are their arrows, and of another kind their sword. "Sons of men, their teeth are arms and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sabre." Tongue of sons of men is a sharp sabre, and their teeth arms and arrows. When therefore did they smite, save when they clamoured, "Crucify, crucify"?

In the same way I too was having the truth about the catholic church, as it is spread throughout the whole world, dinned into me from every side by the words of the divine Scriptures; and the false accusations about the betrayers leveled against it by my relatives made me deaf. I am not comparing myself with Paul’s merits but with his sins. Even if I have not been found worthy to be as good as he was, still, before receiving the remedy of correction, I was not as bad. He failed to recognize the bridegroom in the books he read, and I failed to recognize the bride. The one who revealed to him what is written about Christ’s glorification, “Be exalted over the heavens, God,” also revealed to me what follows about the spread of the church: “over the whole earth your glory.” The evidence of both texts is plain to those who can see but hidden from the blind. It was the baptism of Christ that opened his eyes, the peace of Christ that opened mine. He was made new by the washing of the holy water; whereas it was charity that covered the multitude of my sins.

Call to mind the psalm. To whom was it said, “Be exalted above the heavens, O God”? Who was being spoken to? It would not be said to God the Father, would it, “be exalted,” seeing that he has never been brought low? No, you are exalted, you who were enclosed in your mother’s womb; you who were made in her whom you had made; you who lay in the manger; you, suckled at the breast as a baby, according to the very nature of flesh; you, holding up the world and being held by your mother; you, the baby acknowledged by Simeon the old man and praised as great; you, seen by the widow Anna being suckled and acknowledged as almighty; you, who were hungry for our sakes, thirsty for our sakes, tired along the road for our sakes—did you ever hear of bread being hungry, a fountain being thirsty, a road being tired?—you who endured all these things on our account; you who went to sleep, and yet you “slumber not, watching over Israel”; you, finally, whom Judas sold, whom the Jews bought and did not gain possession of; you, arrested, bound, scourged, crowned with thorns, hung on the tree, pierced with the lance, you dead, you buried: “be exalted above the heavens, O God.”

Amos too speaks of the glory of the humanity [Christ] had assumed: “He who builds a means of ascent in heaven and founds his promise on earth.” He built a means of ascent in heaven when he created for himself a human body and soul in which he would be able to mount up to heaven. He founded his promise on earth when by sending the Spirit from above he filled all the ends of the earth with the gift of his faith, as he had promised. The psalmist, foreseeing in his spirit that the gift of this promise would come and desiring that it come quickly, said, “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth!” Here he clearly means that before our Redeemer assumed a mortal body and demolished the kingdom of death, “God was known only in Judah, and in Israel was his name great.” But when the God-man arose from the dead and penetrated the heights of heaven, then the glory of his name was proclaimed and believed throughout the whole wide world.

Altaschith--or, "Destroy not." This is perhaps an enigmatical allusion to the critical circumstances connected with the history, for which compare Sa1 22:1; Sa1 26:1-3. In Moses' prayer (Deu 9:26) it is a prominent petition deprecating God's anger against the people. This explanation suits the fifty-eighth and fifty-ninth also. Asaph uses it for the seventy-fifth, in the scope of which there is allusion to some emergency. Michtam--(See on Psa 16:1, title). To an earnest cry for divine aid, the Psalmist adds, as often, the language of praise, in the assured hope of a favorable hearing. (Psa 57:1-11) my soul--or self, or life, which is threatened. shadow of thy wings-- (Psa 17:8; Psa 36:7). calamities--literally, "mischiefs" (Psa 52:2; Psa 55:10).

This doxology illustrates his view of the connection of his deliverance with God's glory.