Psalms, chapter 20, comments

 

Psalm 20:1 ¶  «To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.» The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; 2  Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion; 3  Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah. 4  Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel. 5  We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions.

This Psalm starts out with David praying for somebody. Some commentators say this is a model prayer to be made for kings and all those in authority which is suggested by the next passage. What is clear is that this prayer asks for God’s blessing on the worship of the person or persons being prayed for. The sense of safety and the Lord’s blessing encourages them to plant their flags identifying their tribes and gives them a faith that the Lord will answer their prayers. 

Prophetically, some would say that we can look at the future of the faithful Jews who believe on Christ in the Tribulation to come at the end of human-centered history;

Revelation 12:12 ¶  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 13  And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 14  And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

15  And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16  And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The passage in Psalms looks to God’s deliverance as I am sure the Jews in the Tribulation will be doing.

For us personally, this is a good prayer to make on others’ behalf, particularly for church and political leaders.

1Timothy 2:1 ¶  I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2  For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Psalm 20:6 ¶  Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. 7  Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. 8  They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright. 9  Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

In this part of the Psalm David confirms what he prayed for. He has confidence that God saves his anointed. This would be a reference to the king himself. This is confirmation also that this Psalm’s beginning is a prayer for the king, God’s anointed.

The following are some other Psalms that bear on verse 6.

Psalm 2:2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. 5  Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. 6  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

Psalm 18:50  Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.

Psalm 28:8  The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.

Psalm 89:20  I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: 21  With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him. 22  The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him. 23  And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.

This is fascinating to me. For Psalm 20:7 see the cross-reference in chapter 33;

Psalm 33:16  There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. 17  An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.

Then in 118.

Psalm 118:8  It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. 9  It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.

Verse 8 provides a comparison with a bevy of other verses;

Psalm 1:1 ¶  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4 ¶  The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. 5  Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6  For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psalm 34:21  Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. 22  The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

Psalm 125:1 ¶  «A Song of degrees.» They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.

Psalm 146:5 ¶  Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: 6  Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever: 7  Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners: 8  The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous: 9  The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.

Jeremiah 17:7  Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

There is a plea to Jehovah God in verse 9. See here for cross-references.

Psalm 5:2  Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.

Psalm 118:25  Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.

Verse 9 has a double application in that it is also a prayer that the king would hear those who call out to him.

Prophetically, David did as Christ does in the fact that he played the part of priest, prophet, and king.

David was identified with the priests in 1Chronicles 15:25-27.

1Chronicles 15:25 ¶  So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the house of Obededom with joy.

26  And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams. 27  And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers: David also had upon him an ephod of linen.

He is clothed with a linen ephod. First, the priests;

Exodus 28:4  And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.5  And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen.6 ¶  And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work.

7  It shall have the two shoulderpieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together. 8  And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 9  And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel: 10  Six of their names on one stone, and the other six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth. 11  With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel: thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold. 12  And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial. 13  And thou shalt make ouches of gold; 14  And two chains of pure gold at the ends; of wreathen work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the ouches.

See for David from the previous passage I quoted;

1Chronicles 15:27  And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers: David also had upon him an ephod of linen.

David participates as a priest in the burnt offerings and peace offerings;

1Chronicles 16:1 ¶  So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it: and they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before God.

2  And when David had made an end of offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD.

We know he was a king. We see him prophesy in Psalms. We have just revealed his priestly actions. This is one thing that paves the way for Christ’s position. We’ve seen in the New Testament the kingship of Christ. We read about Him as “that prophet”.

Deuteronomy 18:15 ¶  The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 16  According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. 17  And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. 18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

John 6:14  Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.

From our personal perspective, as David was facing physical forces in this world we face spiritual forces that attack us. We may have a mental or physical illness from them. We may have doubts and anxiety or be consumed with obsessions and compulsions but we need to trust in God that He will deliver us from the originators of these troubles, these temptations, and our trust in Him is perfect, as in complete. We may depend on physical resources like medicine to tackle a problem like they would use horses and chariots and we should but we know that it is God who provides the victory, even if that victory is not physical but spiritual.