Psalm 108:1 ¶ «A Song or
Psalm of David.» O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even
with my glory. 2 Awake, psaltery and
harp: I myself will awake early. 3
I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises
unto thee among the nations. 4 For thy
mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the
clouds. 5 Be thou exalted, O God, above
the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth;
This is the same as Psalm 57:7-11. Please see my comments on the
entirety of Psalm 57 and consider it in conjunction with the last Psalm, Psalm
107.
Psalm 57:1 ¶ «To the chief
Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave.» Be
merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee:
yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these
calamities be overpast. 2 I will cry
unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me. 3 He shall send from heaven, and save me from
the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his
mercy and his truth. 4 My soul is
among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even
the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a
sharp sword. 5 Be thou exalted, O God,
above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth. 6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my
soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof
they are fallen themselves. Selah.
For this we might look at 1Samuel 22:1 or 1Samuel 24:3 and
contexts. Notice the metaphor of being protected in the shadow of God’s
metaphorical wings, symbolic wings.
Exodus 19:4 Ye have seen
what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought
you unto myself.
Psalm 17:8 Keep me as the
apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
Psalm 36:7 How excellent is
thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under
the shadow of thy wings.
Psalm 63:7 Because thou
hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
Revelation 12:14 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.
David pleads for mercy much as we might but says that he trusts in
God and will hide in the protection of God until the danger passes. It is to
God that David cries out, who David acknowledges can do all things that are
needed for his deliverance. He knows that God will reach from Heaven itself to
deliver him from the unfair ordeal that threatens to swallow him up. He
underscores the danger he is in with a rich statement of the tribulation he
faces.
Proverbs 30:14 There is a
generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour
the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
The wicked man’s ways are his own undoing if you read Psalm 7.
Psalm 7:16 His mischief
shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon
his own pate.
We can pray this when we are unjustly accused or unjustly treated
by someone, especially someone in authority who has power over us and can hurt
us in some significant way. Let God take care of it, and it shall be taken care
of, indeed.
Starting here in Psalm 108…Psalm 57:7 ¶ My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed:
I will sing and give praise. 8 Awake up,
my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. 9 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people:
I will sing unto thee among the nations. 10
For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the
clouds. 11 Be thou exalted, O God, above
the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.
For verse seven I am reminded of this scene in heaven:
Revelation 5:11 And I
beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the
beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands; 12
Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and
blessing.
Fixed is firm and sure. David refers to his soul as my glory.
Jacob called it his honour in Genesis 49:6;
Genesis 49:6 O my soul,
come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou
united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged
down a wall.
This sentiment in verse seven and eight is repeated.
Psalm 108:1 ¶ «A Song or
Psalm of David.» O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even
with my glory. 2 Awake, psaltery and
harp: I myself will awake early.
For verse nine I am reminded of a thought;
Psalm 18:49 Therefore will
I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy
name.
Psalm 96:3 Declare his
glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.
As Paul wrote;
Romans 15:9 And that the
Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I
will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.
Verse 10 had a previous similar expression;
Psalm 36:5 ¶ Thy mercy, O
LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
Verse 11 repeats verse 5.
This Psalm of pleading for mercy, acknowledging that God will
deliver, and then glorifying His name should be on our lips in times of
trouble. We can look forward, as well, to the suffering saints at the end of
human history.
Psalm 108:6 ¶ That thy
beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me.
7 God hath spoken in his holiness; I
will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. 8 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is
mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my
lawgiver; 9 Moab is my washpot;
over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph. 10 Who will bring me into the strong city? who
will lead me into Edom? 11 Wilt
not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God,
go forth with our hosts? 12 Give us help
from trouble: for vain is the help of man. 13 Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it
is that shall tread down our enemies.
This repeats Psalm 60:5-12. Please see my comments on that entire
Psalm.
Psalm 60:1 ¶ «To the chief
Musician upon Shushaneduth, Michtam of David, to teach; when he strove with
Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah, when Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the
valley of salt twelve thousand.» O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast
scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again. 2 Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou
hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh. 3 Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou
hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment. 4 Thou hast given a banner to them that fear
thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah. Starting here in
Psalm 108:6…5 That thy beloved may be
delivered; save with thy right hand, and hear me.
John Gill reported that famed Rabbi Aben Ezra thought that Shushaneduth
was a known tune that this Psalm would have been sung to although he admitted
that others thought it was a musical instrument, long forgotten. The Michtam,
he wrote, was a “Golden Psalm of David.”
It is hard to contrast this victory with victories in
cross-reference like…
2Samuel 8:13 And David gat him
a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, being
eighteen thousand men.
…because, as ancient Rabbis said, there were several battles and
multiple events of slaughter of different numbers.
David’s lament here refers to the difficulties Israel was facing
with its neighbors and enemies and the constant warfare that would make David a
warrior-king.
We can see also here a prophecy of the Jews in their several
dispersals or disaporas. Specifically, though, we can see this as what happened
in the 2,000 years after the Jews rejecting of Jesus of Nazareth as their
Messiah and Saviour.
John 19:15 But they cried
out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I
crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
Matthew 27:25 Then answered
all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
Scattered and persecuted, even hunted like animals by their
enemies who were the tools of Satan, with their suffering permitting the
survival of the nascent Christian church, God’s beloved, also a reference to
Christ Himself.
1Thessalonians 2:16
Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill
up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
Note Paul’s lamentation for the people of his birth nation.
Romans 9:1 ¶ I say the
truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy
Ghost, 2 That I have great heaviness and
continual sorrow in my heart. 3 For I
could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen
according to the flesh: 4 Who are
Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants,
and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as
concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
Now see the use of beloved.
Mark 1:11 And there came a
voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Romans 1:7 To all that be
in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God
our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:6 To the praise
of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
John then uses the word beloved as an address to the
Christians he is talking to over half a dozen times. But for David in context
this is a plea for deliverance and victory. This is about a war for survival
much like modern-day Israel has faced several times and even, at this writing,
is embroiled in with a vicious enemy.
Psalm 60:6 ¶ God hath
spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the
valley of Succoth. 7 Gilead is
mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine
head; Judah is my lawgiver; 8
Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe: Philistia,
triumph thou because of me. 9 Who will
bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom? 10 Wilt not thou, O God, which
hadst cast us off? and thou, O God, which didst not go out with
our armies? 11 Give us help from
trouble: for vain is the help of man. 12
Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread
down our enemies.
Here David exalts in the victories he believes will come through
God’s help and by His will and at the same time delivers a prophecy of a
triumphant Christ. This is repeated in Psalm 108.
See also 2Samuel 8:2 And
he smote Moab, and measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground;
even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep
alive. And so the Moabites became David’s servants, and brought gifts.
Note Christ’s victory in Revelation as He takes control of what’s
left of the kingdoms of the world.
Revelation 11:15 And the
seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ;
and he shall reign for ever and ever.
In the context it is God that is proclaiming what He will do and
it is David who is, while lamenting that God might not have helped them as the
struggle is great, confident that God will use Israel to accomplish His ends.
God will use nations to accomplish His ends as He uses people to
do so, even those who are His enemies, even those who don’t believe He exists.
What a blessing it is to believe, trust in, and obey God and be used for His
purposes as opposed to moving blindly doing His will and then spending eternity
in destruction. Do we have confidence, do we pray even, that God will use us to
accomplish His will?
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