Deeper Commentary
Psa 64:1
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David-
As noted on :2, this Psalm appears to be based during the insurrection
of Absalom.
Hear my voice, God, in my complaint. Preserve my life from fear of the
enemy-
Prayer is perhaps the area where it is easiest to have only a surface
level of spirituality, without getting down to real faith, real
perseverance in prayer, real wrestling with God. Elijah "prayed in his
prayer" (James 5:17 AVmg.) reflects the Spirit's recognition that there is
prayer, and real prayer. “Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer” (Ps. 64:1 AV)
seems to say the same: there is our true, pleading voice: and the outward
form of prayer. The form of words we use, the outward form, conceals the
real thing; the real groaning of spirit which is counted by God
as the real prayer. The tendency to multiply words in prayer without
intensely meaning them is probably behind the Lord's teaching
about faith as a grain of mustard seed, which could move a mountain (Lk.
17:20). He's surely saying that a little bit of the real thing
can do such wonders.
Who we are as persons is effectively our prayer and plea to God. This conception of prayer explains why often weeping, crying, waiting, meditating etc. are spoken of as "prayer", although there was no specific verbalizing of requests (Ps. 5:1,2; 6:8; 18:1,2,3,6; 40:1; 42:8; 64:1 Heb.; 65:1,2; 66:17-20; Zech. 8:22). The association between prayer and weeping is especially common: 1 Sam. 1:10; Ps. 39:12; 55:1,2; Jn. 11:41,42; Heb. 5:7, especially in the Lord's life and the Messianic Psalms. "The Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer" (Ps. 6:8,9) crystallizes the point.
The prayer is not simply for preservation, but for preservation
"from fear of the enemy"- a prayer against anxiety. God is quite able to
work within the psychology of man. The whole Psalm is about the impact of
others' words upon David. And he asks for psychological strength against
the impact of those words, so that his life is not dominated by those
words. This kind of thing is what daily, blow by blow spirituality is all
about. David concludes in :9,10 with a kingdom perspective- one day there
will be a day of judgment of human words, and the upright will glory. That
kingdom perspective is so necessary- otherwise we are left playing back to
ourselves the unkind words of others, as if this life is the only arena in
which we shall ever exist, and therefore the words of others now will seem
so significant.
Psa 64:2
Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the noisy crowd
of the ones doing evil-
"Conspiracy" sounds like the time of
Absalom's putsch. "Noisy crowd" is AV "insurrection". But that is the same
word used of Ahithophel in Ps. 55:14: "We walked to God’s house in
company". "In company" is a word only used elsewhere in Ps. 64:2, where it
is translated "insurrection" (AV), again in the context of Absalom. The
double meaning of the word chosen reflects the duplicity of Ahithophel.
Psa 64:3
who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows,
deadly words-
When men speak hard words against us, the situation on earth is somehow
mirrored in the court of Heaven- Ps. 64:3,7 speak of how men "aim their arrows, even bitter words"; and God responds by shooting arrows from His Heavenly control room.
The language of sharpening could suggest that David wrote this as he
sensed the oncoming insurrection of Absalom (:1,2).
Psa 64:4
to shoot innocent men from ambushes. They shoot at him suddenly and
fearlessly-
Nathan had told David that he was to suffer the consequences of his
sin with Bathsheba for the rest of his life. But in the Psalms associated
with Absalom's rebellion, which was a consequence of his sin (Ahithophel
was Bathsheba's grandfather), David often laments that he is suffering as
an innocent man. This is another reason for querying whether he maintained
the intensity of repentance for the sin which he had at the time. And we
can likely identify with that weakness; the intensity of repentance is
hard to maintain, and we often rework the narrative of what happened in
our own minds- biased of course towards our own justification. See on :6.
Psa 64:5
They encourage themselves in evil plans. They talk about laying
snares secretly-
David appears to have inside knowledge of how they were
congratulating themselves on their plans. Absalom's plans for rebellion
were therefore more or less known to David ahead of time. And yet in love
he tolerated him and Ahithophel, perhaps in desperate hope of their
repentance. This typifies how the Lord Jesus knew ahead of time that Judas
would betray Him and yet still lovingly tolerated him, and did not at all
take precipitate, defensive action.
They say, Who will see them?-
Again we doubt whether these men really thought their plans were
invisible to God. But this was the subconscious state of their minds. This
was how God read their attitude and perhaps revealed it to David.
Psa 64:6
They plot injustice, saying, We have made a perfect plan! Surely
man’s mind and heart are cunning-
We may well enquire how David thought he knew the
state of heart [AV "inward part"] of his enemies (Ps. 5:9; 36:1; 49:11;
62:4; 64:6). Perhaps it was a result of his reflection upon how he had
only had a right spirit or heart given by God "within" him as a result of
his repentance (Ps. 51:10 s.w.). His enemies were impenitent, and so
perhaps on that basis he knew what was in their hearts.
AV has "They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search". Nathan had told David that he was to suffer the consequences of his sin with Bathsheba for the rest of his life. But in the Psalms associated with Absalom's rebellion, which was a consequence of his sin (Ahithophel was Bathsheba's grandfather), David often laments that he is suffering as an innocent man. This is another reason for querying whether he maintained the intensity of repentance for the sin which he had at the time. And we can likely identify with that weakness; the intensity of repentance is hard to maintain, and we often rework the narrative of what happened in our own minds- biased of course towards our own justification. See on :4.
Psa 64:7
But God will shoot at them, they will be suddenly struck down
with an arrow-
David rejoices that Divine "arrows" were sent to destroy his enemies
(Ps. 7:13; 18:14; 45:5; 64:7; 144:6), in fulfilment of God's promise to do
so to the sinful within Israel (Dt. 32:23,42). But David was failing to realize that those same arrows had been fired by God into him in judgment
for his sin (Ps. 38:2). This realization was perhaps to help David
understand that his rejoicing in Divine arrows of judgment being fired at
his enemies had not been mature; for he himself had to realize that he was
worthy of the same. But as noted on :4,6, it appears David didn't perceive
this as he might have done.
The suddenness / quickness of judgment is a major Biblical theme. The suddenness of how the wicked had shot words like arrows at David (Ps. 64:4) is matched with how "suddenly" they will be struck by God's arrow in judgment. Judgment will be "sudden" (Ps. 64:7); and that may be part of the idea behind Rev. 22:12 "I come quickly / suddenly". Judgment will be a sudden surprise for the wicked, but something long and slowly awaited by the righteous. The Lord's coming will be as "thief in the night" for the wicked, "at an hour you do not expect", in that it will be unexpected, catching them off guard (Lk. 17:26-30; Mt. 24:42-44; 1 Thess. 5:2,3 "While people are saying, 'Peace and security,' destruction will come upon them suddenly"). The sudden nature of Divine judgment is a major Biblical theme. We think of the sudden deaths of Ananias and Sapphira; Miriam's immediate leprosy after her complaint, with God speaking "suddenly" to her about it (Num. 12:4); and the sudden nature of the coming of the flood and judgment upon Sodom. It was sudden in the sense that the judged people were hit by it as a surprise. Hence calamity or judgment from God comes suddenly (Prov. 3:25; 6:15; 24:22; Ecc. 9:12). "It shall be at an instant, suddenly" (Is. 29:5), like a bowing wall "whose breaking comes suddenly at an instant" (Is. 30:13). God's historical judgments have likewise come "suddenly" on those who experienced them, even though God's people expected them. We think of Babylon "suddenly" being destroyed (Is. 47:11; Jer. 51:8; Hab. 2:7), just as Babylon "suddenly" destroyed Judah (Jer. 4:20; 6:26; 15:8; 18:22). The suddenness was in the experience of the judged people; the righteous were aware of the judgment coming and saw it coming.
Psa 64:8
Their own tongues shall ruin them; all who see them will shake
their heads-
Speaking of the sudden destruction of the wicked at the future judgment,
David reflected: “So they shall make their own tongues to fall upon
themselves” (Ps. 64:8). Unsound speech will be condemned, or [will lead to
our] condemnation (Tit. 2:8 we are to speak "sound speech, that
cannot be condemned"). The implication seems to be that our words
will be quoted back to us during the judgment process. "Every idle
word that men shall speak, they shall give account of it in the day of
judgment. By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will
be condemned", the Lord taught (Mt. 12:37). Our words are taken that
seriously by God: "He who guards his mouth guards his soul" (Prov. 13:3).
We ourselves comment that "I knew you'd say that!", because
character is ultimately reflected in our words; "for out of the abundance
of the heart the mouth speaks". All attempts to think one thing and speak
another will all ultimately fail. Hence we pray for God to "put a watch
before the door of my lips". Brother, sister,
think about this. Ancient Hebrew had no expletives. Curses were uttered in
terms of imprecations wishing Divine judgment against a person at
the last day. And so David asks that these curses uttered upon him come
literally true for those who spoke them.
Psa 64:9
All mankind shall be in awe. They shall declare the work of God,
and shall wisely ponder what He has done-
The judgment of his opponents which David had in view was therefore
that at the last day. For it is a theme in Bible teaching about judgment
that the judgment of the wicked will in some sense be public, before
others, and the observers are brought to God by what they see (Is. 26:9;
Rev. 16:15). All men would then be "in awe", in contrast to how
these men had spoken their words "without fear" (s.w. "awe"), :4. Likewise
at the day of judgment, all will "see" these men and their words (:8),
whereas in their lives they had used words thinking "Who shall see them?"
(:5).
Psa 64:10
The righteous shall be glad in Yahweh, and shall take refuge in
Him. All the upright in heart shall praise Him!-
The final difference will be between the states of heart of men.
"The upright in heart" here contrast with those who spoke bitter words and
made destructive plans deep in their hearts (:6).
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