Deeper Commentary
Psa 62:1
For the Chief Musician. To Jeduthun. A Psalm by David.
My soul rests in God alone. My salvation is from Him-
As noted on :4 and elsewhere, the Psalm seems relevant to David's
betrayal by Doeg, Ahithophel and Absalom. He emphasizes that God alone
can save; seeing he has been stabbed in the back by those he considered
his own family and friends. The Hebrew is literally "My
soul is silent in God alone". Perhaps the idea is as in Ps. 65:2 "to You,
silence is praise". This is proof for all time that praise doesn't have to
mean singing or audible music. The word for "salvation" occurs six times.
The essence of the Psalm is man's desire for Yah's salvation being met in
Jesus, Yahoshua.
Psa 62:2
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress-
David had a stronghold [s.w. fortress] in the cave of
Adullam. But he was told by the prophet Gad to leave it and go into Judah,
which seemed totally counter instinctive. As soon as David does this, his
location is reported to Saul- but all this was to teach him that God was
his stronghold / fortress, and Psalm 62 is perhaps his reflection upon
that, leading him to conclude that God alone is his stronghold
(1 Sam. 22:4-6). But David only got to that realization of Ps. 62:2
through losing his natural stronghold. We may lose a home, a relationship,
use of a body part... all under God's hand, to bring us to Him.
"Alone" is related to the word for "one". Because God is one, the only source of power, we are to trust in Him alone. Here we see the meaning of the unity of God in practice. David sees that Yahweh will be a "high tower" or place of refuge at the day of future judgment (Ps. 9:8,9, quoted about this in Acts 17:31). But David feels God has been like this to him in this life (2 Sam. 22:3; Ps. 18:2; 46:7; 48:3; 59:9,16,17; 62:2; 94:22; 144:2). He therefore sees a seamless experience in his relationship with God in this life, and at the future day of judgment. God saves us right now and is a refuge for us in countless life situations; and this is the guarantee that He will be likewise at the last day.
I will never be greatly shaken-
David's faith grows as his prayer goes on, for by :6 he is saying
that he will not be shaken at all. And so we find in our prayer experience
too; the process of prayer is such that we rise from our knees far
stronger in faith and clarity of spiritual understanding than when we
knelt down. Heb. "I shall not falter greatly" could suggest
David thought that small sins were not of great consequence. And this
attitude led him to his great sin.
Psa 62:3
How long will you assault a man, would all of you throw him down, like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?- The "assault" would refer to their intentions (:4) and words. David sees their attitudes and words for what they really were. David feels his power is tottering, but is angry they seek to push him over.
Psa 62:4
They fully intend to throw him down from his high place-
The reference is to a plot to cast David down from the kingship, so the context is likely Absalom's rebellion. Yet David had been told that he would suffer trouble from within his own family as a result of his sin with Bathsheba. But now he experiences it, like so many, he bitterly complains about it. There is never any pause to confess that he was indeed deserving of it. "From his high place" is better "from his honour". David, like everyone especially at that time, feared shame and loss of honour as a fate worse than death. Yet after what he had done with Bathsheba and Uriah... how could he so fear this, if he were permanently repentant? Perhaps however we see his struggle against this native pride in the LXX renditions of :1,5: "Shall not my soul be subjected to God?... Nevertheless do thou, my soul, be subjected to God". In this case, in his self talk, David is telling himself to be more humble and to be "silent" despite wanting to speak out to defend his honour (:5). In :7 he asks God to be "my honour". Every spiritual man knows this struggle, the self talk required against the feelings and voices of pride within us. This is the real spiritual battle- within the mind, and not against some mythical external entity. The real satan / adversary is within the mind. And David's internal mind battles recorded in the Psalms, which are largely his self-talk, are perhaps the most extensive evidence of this in the Bible.
"Fully intend" is s.w. "counsel", the word used of Ahithophel, David's counsellor who was Bathsheba's grandfather, who later betrayed him and turned against him (2 Sam. 15:12; 16:23). Perhaps David is commenting upon Ahithophel's counsel to Absalom which was designed to destroy him. See on Ps. 32:8.
They
delight in lies; they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.
Selah-
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.where
David realized God desires truth "inwardly", in the inward parts). His enemies were impenitent, and so
perhaps on that basis he knew what was in their hearts.
The same idea is found in Ps. 55:21, which
clearly refers to the behaviour of Absalom and Ahithophel: "His mouth was
smooth as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil,
yet they were drawn swords". And yet
Uriah could have said all these things about David. David so often rants
at the fact his enemies are liars, but his failures surrounding Uriah and
Bathsheba were of lying.
Psa 62:5
My soul, wait in silence for God alone, for my expectation is from
Him-
Here again we have an example of
David's self talk, which in fact comprises much of his Psalms. He tells
himself to quieten down into silence, and hope and expect help from God
alone. Rather like we may tell ourselves in crises to not trust in
insurance, emergency services, friends... but ultimately, in God alone.
Again we note that "alone" is related to the word for "one". The
unity of God implies our total trust in Him alone. And we have another
example of how within prayer (for this Psalm is a prayer) we can deviate
from talking to God, to addressing ourselves within our own self talk.
This is the stuff of real spiritual mindedness. David's "expectation" in
the context of Ps. 62:5 was the continuation of his own kingdom, despite
all the threats against it from the likes of Saul, Absalom and others who
would usurp his Davidic kingship and kingdom. Solomon likely uses the word
for "expectation" with the same subtext; that all opposition to him was
based upon a false expectation which would be dashed by God (s.w. Prov.
10:28; 11:7,23; 23:18; 24:14). The hope or expectation of David was that
of all exiled Judah (s.w. Jer. 31:17; Lam. 3:29).
Psa 62:6
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I will not be
shaken-
As in :2, God's salvation is the basis for feelings of
stability. Indeed Yahoshua, Yah's salvation, Jesus, is the rock of
stability. But only is we are totally persuaded of our final, future
salvation in Him will we experience this stability.
As his prayer develops, David moves from saying that he will not be very greatly moved (:2) to saying he will not be moved [so LXX] / shaken at all. This is the path of prayer that we often see in David, and should experience ourselves. Persuading ourselves deeper as we pray. But we could argue that this is an unrealistic and even narcissistic claim, for every man apart from the Lord Jesus is regularly "moved" or shaken from total faith. David in his earlier Psalms exalts and boasts to God that his feet have not slipped / been shaken, indeed he was overly confident that his feet would never slip / "be shaken" (Ps. 17:5; 21:7; 55:22; 62:2,6; 125:1). His more mature reflection is that he had wrongly said "I shall never slip [AV "be moved"]" (Ps. 30:6), and his feet had indeed slipped, not least over the Bathsheba incident (Ps. 38:16; 94:18). But now he returns to his old failure, writing some time after the Bathsheba incident, proclaiming that he shall never be moved. Or this could simply be how it is in spiritual life; at times we are rightly aware of our possibility of slipping, other times we rejoice that God is keeping our feet from falling. Solomon didn't learn this lesson, for he likewise assumed that the righteous would never be moved / slip (Prov. 10:30), although he appears to accept that even a righteous man like his father had indeed slipped (Prov. 25:26). And Solomon himself did so, not learning the lesson from his father's mistaken assumption that the righteous can never slip.
Psa 62:7
With God is my salvation and my honour. The rock of my strength,
and my refuge, is in God-
The continued language of rocks and caves is appropriate to David in
the wilderness, running either from Saul or Absalom.
In the shame based society of his time, David was often [wrongly] concerned about his shame. He trusts that God would be his "honour", his "glory" (AV), the restorer of him from the shame of sin, failure, his failed family and temporarily lost throne. This continual concern he has for his "honour" reflects a lack of appreciation of the consequences of his sins with Bathsheba and Uriah. And yet in the same breath he speaks of God as his salvation, as if he not only has immediate salvation in view but the ultimate salvation. For that is when the righteous shall inherit glory, not now. But then, all men shall bow before the judgment seat, in shame at their sins.
Our salvation being "with God" suggests there is an individual salvation for each of us. The Lord speaks of returning with rewards with Him, appropriate response for every man's works and unique life path. This is the "hope laid up in heaven" which Paul speaks of (Col. 1:5). The LXX helps us here. Verse 7 reads "he is the God of my help, and my hope is in God", but then :8 goes on to say that God is to be the help and hope of all His people: "Hope in him, all you congregation of the people... for God is our helper". David saw himself as representative of all God's people, and this is how Paul presents him in Romans.
Psa 62:8
Trust in Him at all times, you people-
David's line of thought now quickly moves from telling
himself to trust in God (:7) to urging the whole world to do so. And this
is the basis of our witness and evangelism to the world- the message flows
from what we ourselves have come to believe in our own
hearts. Having just stated that God is his personal refuge
(:7), David now urges all men to believe God is our refuge. GNB
"Tell him all your troubles" is what David himself is doing here, and does
so often in his psalms. For him, prayer was a telling God... about life. "At all times" is quite a challenge- to consistently trust God "at all times",
in all situations, and not just those desperate ones or ones which nudge
us specifically towards faith in God.
Pour out your heart before
Him. God is a refuge for us. Selah-
David knew his sinfulness, he knew his reliance upon the grace of God,
more and more as he got older. For this Psalm clearly has some relevance
to his situation whilst fleeing from Absalom. One would have thought that after the
Bathsheba incident, David would have kept his mouth shut so far as telling
other people how to live was concerned. But instead, we find an increasing
emphasis in the Psalms (chronologically) upon David's desire to teach
others of God's ways- particularly the surrounding Gentile peoples, before
whom David had been disgraced over Bathsheba, not to mention from his two
faced allegiance to Achish (1 Sam. 27:8-12). There is real stress upon
this evangelistic fervour of David (Ps. 4:3; 18:49; 22:25,31; 35:18;
40:9,10; 57:9; 62:8; 66:5,16; 95:1,8; 96:5-8,10; 100:1-4; 105:1,2; 119:27;
145:5,6,12). He wants others to find God a "refuge for us" as He
had been for David. Indeed, Ps. 71:18 records the "old and greyheaded" David
pleading with God not to die until he had taught "Your strength unto this
generation". As with Paul years later, the only reason he wanted to stay
alive was in order to witness the Gospel of grace to others.
David therefore coped with his deep inner traumas by looking out of
himself to those around him, eagerly desiring to share with them the
pureness of God's grace. He didn't do this as some kind of self-help
psychiatry; it came naturally from a realization of his own sinfulness and
God's mercy, and the wonderful willingness of God to extend this
to men.
Psa 62:9
Surely men of low degree are just a breath, and men of high
degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up; they are together
lighter than a breath-
David eagerly looks forward to the judgment seat (Ps. 62:9 RV, 12)
as a source of comfort in his present distress.
Those whom he had trusted in had betrayed him, whatever their social
status. But David reasons further to perceive that in fact this is how all
men are. These ideas are repeated in the context of the exiles,
encouraging them that literally all men, even the great and might of the
Babylonian-Persian empire, are too light to influence the balances of
Divine judgment (Is. 40:15).
The idea seems as in GNB: "great and small alike are worthless. Put them on the scales, and they weigh nothing; they are lighter than a mere breath". If all were to be placed on a balance scale, their weight would be equal to that of their vanities in the other scale. Man is his vanities, he is no heavier than them. They would be equal. Or the idea may sarcastically be that even a puff of breath on the other scale would be heavier than them, and would make their scale "go up". And yet light things, the things of vanity, are glorified in our world in the name of culture or achievement. They are wrongly weighted. They are a "lie" in that they are false weights, appearing heavier than they are. Hence LXX "the sons of men are false, so as to be deceitful in the balances". We see here how David is ever aware of God's ongoing judgment. The balances are now operating, and man is being weighed. And this was a comfort to him. The final day of judgment will be merely an expression of how God's ongoing judgment has been. Indeed that final day of judgment is really for our benefit. The weighing up of each case is going on now; the day of judgment will simply publically declare the verdict. And "we make the answer now".
Psa 62:10
Don’t trust in oppression, don’t become vain in robbery-
This seems to have been a characteristic of the reigns of Saul and
Absalom. But the language of oppression and robbery is often used in the
prophets concerning the leadership of God's people at later points (Is.
30:12; 59:13). This was the equivalent of how Saul oppressed David (Ps.
119:121,122,134). Samuel's insistence that he has not oppressed
the people is in the context of his warning that Saul would do this (1
Sam. 12:3,4). When Solomon later condemns the 'oppressors' (s.w. Prov.
14:31; 22:16; 28:3,24), he has in view a wishing of judgment upon the
house of Saul. "The poor" whom they had oppressed would easily refer to
David (1 Sam. 18:23; Ps. 34:6).
If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them-
The next verses explain why. Our hearts are to be set exclusively
upon God and the saving power of His grace (:11,12). Increased wealth
tempts people to trust in that wealth for power; but the only power is in
God's free gift of grace. Gaining wealth either dishonestly [by
theft] or honestly [by wealth increasing] is nothing to be compared with
God's salvation, Yeshua, the salvation of Yah. This word occurs six times
in this Psalm; and that is His power and grace (:11,12). This is what our
heart is to be set upon- and the essence of Yah's salvation is the Lord
Jesus and the things of His Kingdom. A major theme of the Psalm is that
God alone can save, the word for "alone" occurs six times (:2,3,5,6,7,10).
And wealth is the usual threat to trusting God "alone".
Psa 62:11
God has spoken once; twice I have heard this, that power belongs to
God-
"Once... twice" appears to be a Hebraism meaning 'certainly'. "Power"
is here placed in opposition to human riches and oppression (:10). The
attraction of wealth is here defined as "power". And yet it is mythical
that wealth can buy power, ultimately. All power is with God, and the
battle is not to the strong nor the race won by the swift. The power of
God is revealed above all in His grace (:12); this is His ultimate power,
of an order far above human wealth.
We could translate this and :12 to the effect that God spoke once, but David heard two things. Firstly, that power belongs to God, and also, secondly, that therefore all grace belongs to God. LXX: "God has spoken once, and I have heard these two things, that power is of God; and mercy is thine, O Lord; for thou wilt recompense every one according to his works". The greatest declaration of God's power is that He, the God who judges every man according to his works, can save man- by grace. His grace is the most supreme declaration of His power, far more than anything we see in the natural creation. The sight of a huge mountain, or looking out into the vastness of the cosmos, is to be a reminder that His grace to me is even of greater power than all that.
Psa 62:12
Also to You, Lord, belongs grace, for You reward every man
according to his work-
See on :11. God feels every sin, and judges it at the time, searching our
hearts even for our motives- and He rewards sin with the death sentence.
For the wages of sin is death. And yet, we don’t die. The fact God views
sin like this, and yet by grace forgives us, makes that grace and
forgiveness all the more wonderful. Rom. 2:6 and Rev. 22:12 quote this about the
latter day of judgment. We cannot be saved by our works. So because that
day will on one hand be a reward of works and yet we shall be saved... our
acceptance must therefore be by pure grace.
"Reward" is the same word translated "restore" when Nathan told David he must "restore" the lamb [Bathsheba] four fold (2 Sam. 12:6). Although David felt that at this time of Absalom's rebellion, he was being 'rewarded' according to his sins, he also saw that there was huge grace. Even when we suffer for sin, we have to realize that there is grace- for we are not being slain immediately for our sins, and are assured of eternal salvation.
We note that only now at the end of the Psalm does David address God. So far he has addressed his enemies (:3,4), himself (:6-8) and the world (:9). His prayer therefore includes all this self talk, including imagined conversations between himself and his enemies and the world. This is what prayer can be- as he says in :8, a pouring out of our hearts to God.
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