God, you have rejected us. You have broken us down. You have been angry. Restore us, again.
Parallel Translations
-
God, you have rejected us. You have broken us down. You have been angry. Restore us, again.
-
O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again.
-
(60-1) For the Leader; upon Shushan Eduth; Michtam of David, to teach; (60-2) when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the Valley of Salt twelve thousand. (60-3) O God, Thou hast cast us off, Thou hast broken us down; Thou hast been angry; O restore us.
Cross-references (31)
Passages linked to Psalms 60:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Samuel 8:12-13 of Syria, of Moab, of the children of Ammon, of the Philistines, of Amalek, and of the plunder of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah. David earned a reputation when he returned from striking down eighteen thousand men of the Syrians in the Valley of Salt.
- 2 Samuel 8:3 David struck also Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his dominion at the River.
- Psalms 44:9 But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor, and don’t go out with our armies.
- 2 Samuel 5:20 David came to Baal Perazim, and David struck them there. Then he said, “Yahweh has broken my enemies before me, like the breach of waters.” Therefore he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.
- 1 Chronicles 18:3 David defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah to Hamath, as he went to establish his dominion by the river Euphrates.
- 1 Chronicles 18:12-13 Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah struck eighteen thousand of the Edomites in the Valley of Salt. He put garrisons in Edom; and all the Edomites became servants to David. Yahweh gave victory to David wherever he went.
- 2 Kings 14:7 He killed ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela by war, and called its name Joktheel, to this day.
- Psalms 85:4 Turn us, God of our salvation, and cause your indignation toward us to cease.
- Psalms 90:13 Relent, Yahweh! How long? Have compassion on your servants!
- 1 Samuel 4:10-11 The Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter; for thirty thousand footmen of Israel fell. God’s ark was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
- 1 Samuel 4:17 He who brought the news answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and God’s ark has been captured.”
- 1 Samuel 13:6-7 When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were distressed), then the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in tombs, and in pits. Now some of the Hebrews had gone over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead; but as for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
- 1 Samuel 13:11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you didn’t come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines assembled themselves together at Michmash;
- 1 Samuel 31:1-7 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines overtook Saul and on his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. The battle went hard against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers. Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me!” But his armor bearer would not; for he was terrified. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell on it. When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword, and died with him. So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor bearer, and all his men, that same day together. When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them.
- 1 Chronicles 19:16-19 When the Syrians saw that they were defeated by Israel, they sent messengers, and called out the Syrians who were beyond the River, with Shophach the captain of the army of Hadadezer leading them. David was told that; so he gathered all Israel together, passed over the Jordan, came to them, and set the battle in array against them. So when David had put the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him. The Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed of the Syrian men seven thousand chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and also killed Shophach the captain of the army. When the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with David, and served him. The Syrians would not help the children of Ammon any more.
- 1 Chronicles 28:9 You, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for Yahweh searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.
- 2 Chronicles 25:11 Amaziah took courage, and led his people out, and went to the Valley of Salt, and struck ten thousand of the children of Seir.
- Psalms 59:1 Deliver me from my enemies, my God. Set me on high from those who rise up against me.
- Psalms 59:11 Don’t kill them, or my people may forget. Scatter them by your power, and bring them down, Lord our shield.
- Psalms 60:10 Haven’t you, God, rejected us? You don’t go out with our armies, God.
- Psalms 74:1 God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
- Psalms 79:5 How long, Yahweh? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn like fire?
- Psalms 80:3 Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.
- Psalms 89:3 “I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David, my servant,
- Psalms 89:19 Then you spoke in vision to your saints, and said, “I have given strength to the warrior. I have exalted a young man from the people.
- Lamentations 3:31-32 For the Lord will not cast off forever. For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
- Romans 11:1-2 I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God didn’t reject his people, which he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel:
- 1 Samuel 13:19-22 Now there was no blacksmith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears”; but all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, each man to sharpen his own plowshare, mattock, ax, and sickle. The price was one payim each to sharpen mattocks, plowshares, pitchforks, axes, and goads. So it came to pass in the day of battle, that neither sword nor spear was found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan; but Saul and Jonathan his son had them.
- 2 Samuel 10:16 Hadadezer sent, and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the River: and they came to Helam, with Shobach the captain of the army of Hadadezer at their head.
- Psalms 79:9 Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake.
- Psalms 108:11 Haven’t you rejected us, God? You don’t go out, God, with our armies.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (26 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 1. O God! thou hast cast us off. With…
1. O God! thou hast cast us off. With the view of exciting both himself and others to a more serious consideration of the goodness of God, which they presently experienced, he begins the psalm with prayer; and a comparison is instituted, designed to show that the government of Saul had been under the divine reprobation. He complains of the sad confusions into which the nation had been thrown, and prays that God would return to it in mercy, and re-establish its affairs. Some have thought that David here adverts to his own distressed condition: this is not probable. I grant that, before coming to the throne, he underwent severe afflictions; but in this place he evidently speaks of the whole people as well as himself. The calamities which he describes are such as extended to the whole kingdom; and I have not the least doubt, therefore, that he is to be considered as drawing a comparison which might illustrate the favor of God, as it had been shown so remarkably, from the first, to his own government. With this view, he deplores the long-continued and heavy disasters which had fallen upon the people of God under Saul’s administration. It is particularly noticeable, that though he had found his own countrymen his worst and bitterest foes, now that he sat upon the throne, he forgets all the injuries which they had done him, and, mindful only of the situation which he occupied, associates himself with the rest of them in his addresses to God. The scattered condition of the nation is what he insists upon as the main calamity. In consequence of the dispersion of Saul’s forces, the country lay completely exposed to the incursions of enemies; not a man was safe in his own house, and no relief remained but in flight or banishment. He next describes the confusions which reigned by a metaphor, representing the country as opened, or cleft asunder; not that there had been a literal earthquake, but that the kingdom, in its rent and shattered condition, presented that calamitous aspect which generally follows upon an earthquake. The affairs of Saul ceased to prosper from the time that he forsook God; and when he perished at last, he left the nation in a state little short of ruin. The greatest apprehension must have been felt throughout it; it was become the scorn of its enemies, and was ready to submit to any yoke, however degrading, which promised tolerable conditions. Such is the manner in which David intimates that the divine favor had been alienated by Saul, pointing, when he says that God was displeased, at the radical source of all the evils which prevailed; and he prays that the same physician who had broken would heal.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Called also Sophene, which standeth by Euphrates.
Called also Sophene, which standeth by Euphrates.
These were certain songs after the note whereof this Psalm was sung.
Read full note →
Or, Syria, called Mesopotamia.
For when Saul was not able to resist the enemy, the people fled hither and thither: for they could not be safe in their own houses.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 60:1 « To the chief Musician upon Shushaneduth,…
Psa 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.
Upon Shushan-eduth] An instrument so called, or to the tune of some song so called. The words signify the lily of the testimony; or, of kingly ornament; whereof many make manifold constructions, but they are all conjectural.
Read full note →
Michtam of David, to teach] The Hebrews have a proverb, Lilmod lelammed, Men must, therefore, learn that they may teach. David here imparteth what he had learned of God’s goodness; and would teach others, especially when they go to war, as Jdg 3:2 2Sa 1:18, to call upon God, and to lean upon his promises; as himself had done with singular success.
When he strove with Aram-naharaim] Cum rixaretur, contenderet. Mesopotamia, called here Aram-naharaim, lay between those two famous rivers, Euphrates and Tigris; and so seemeth to have been a part of that earthly paradise, Gen 2:10-14, whereof since Adam’s fall and Noah’s flood, cecidit rosa, mansit spina, saith one, the rose is gone, the thorn only remaineth. A country fruitful beyond belief, as Herodotus hath it; but inhabited by such as here joined with the Ammonites and other enemies of the Church; and were, therefore, sought by David, and at length vanquished. See 1Ch 19:1-19.
And with Aram-zobah] Or, Coelesyria, whereof Damascus was the metropolis.
When Joab returned] sc. From the slaughter of the Syrians.
And smote of Edom] That is, of the Edomites, who had set upon Israel in the south, when Joab with the army was fighting against the Syrians in the east. Joab, therefore, at his return took them to do; and slew twelve thousand, after that Abishai had first slain six thousand of them, all which eighteen thousand are said to have been slain by David, as being Rex et Radix victoriae, saith Kimchi, the king and root of the victory, 2Sa 8:13.
In the valley of Salt] Where Abraham had once fought with the four victorious kings, Gen 14:9; Gen 14:14-15, and afterwards Amaziah with the Edomites. likewise slaying ten thousand, 2Ki 14:7, In the midst of these conflicts and bustles David is thought to have written this psalm, together with Psa 44:1-26 Psa 108:1-13
Ver. 1. O God, thou hast cast us off] Some gather from this sad complaint that David was sometimes worsted in these wars, though it be not particularly so recorded in the Scriptures (Aben Ezra). Dubia est martis alea, Kοινος ενυαλιος, 2Sa 11:25; the best cause hath not always the best success, Jdg 20:21; Jdg 20:25. Others think that the psalmist here complaineth of the sad condition of the Israelites after that Saul was slain in Mount Gilboa, and the Philistines tyrannized at their pleasure, 1Sa 21:7. Whereupon also followed these civil dissensions and seditions, while some of the tribes set up Ishbosheth, and others went after David. These miseries he here mentioneth the rather that God’s goodness in the present settlement of the kingdom might the better appear. Hence most interpreters read the words in the preterpluperfect, Thou hadst cast us off, thou hadst scattered us, &c.; but now it is well with us for the present, and better yet it will be.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Aram-naharaim; or, the Syrians (so called from Aram, the…
Aram-naharaim; or, the Syrians (so called from Aram, the son of Shem, Gen 10:22) of the two rivers, or of Mesopotamia, the country between those two great and famous rivers, Tigris and Euphrates. Aram-zobah, or, the Syrians of Zobah, part of Syria so called, 2Sa 8:5,12.
This report seems not to agree with the histories to which this Psalm is supposed to relate, 2Sa 8:13; 1Ch 18:12, neither in the persons slain, who are Edomites 1Ch 18:12, but Syrians here, and 2Sa 8:13; nor in their numbers, which are here only twelve thousand, and there eighteen thousand; nor in the persons to whom this victory is ascribed, who is Joab here, David 2Sa 8:13, and Abishai 1Ch 18:12. But these difficulties may easily be resolved by these considerations:
Read full note →
1. That David being king, and Joab lord-general of all his forces, and Abishai his lieutenant-general as to a considerable part of his army, the same victory may well be ascribed to any or every one of them; as it is usually done in like cases in the Roman and Grecian histories.
2. That the Edomites and Syrians were united in this war.
3. That twelve thousand might be slain in the pitched battle, and the rest by the pursuers in their flight.
4. That these several places may speak of several fights. See more of this business See Poole "2Sa 8:13".
The psalmist, complaining of former sad judgments, Psa 60:1-3, acknowledgeth God’s present mercy, Psa 60:4. Comforting himself in the promises, he prayeth for help, and therein trusteth, Psa 60:5-12.
Cast us off; or, rejected or forsaken us, as to thy gracious and powerful presence, not only in the time of the judges, but also during Saul’s reign.
Scattered us, Heb. broken us; partly by that dreadful overthrow by the Philistines, 1Sa 31, and partly by the civil war in our own bowels, between me and Ishbosheth.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain The title gives us an account, 1. Of the…
The title gives us an account, 1. Of the general design of the psalm. It is Michtam - David's jewel, and it is to teach. The Levites must teach it to the people, and by it teach them both to trust in God and to triumph in him; we must, in it, teach ourselves and one another. In a day of public rejoicing we have need to be taught to direct our joy to God and to terminate it in him, to give none of that praise to the instruments of our deliverance which is due to him only, and to encourage our hopes with our joys. 2. Of the particular occasion of it. It was at a time, (1.) When he was at war with the Syrians, and still had a conflict with them, both those of Mesopotamia and those of Zobah. (2.) When he had gained a great victory over the Edomites, by his forces, under the command of Joab, who had left 12,000 of the enemy dead upon the spot. David has an eye to both these concerns in this psalm: he is in care about his strife with the Assyrians, and in reference to that he prays; he is rejoicing in his success against the Edomites, and in reference to that he triumphs with a holy confidence in God that he would complete the victory. We have our cares at the same time that we have our joys, and they may serve for a balance to each other, that neither may exceed. They may likewise furnish us with matter both for prayer and praise, for both must be laid before God with suitable affections and emotions. If one point be gained, yet in another we are still striving: the Edomites are vanquished, but the Syrians are not; therefore let not him that girds on the harness boast as if he had put it off.
In these verses, which begin the psalm, we have,
Read full note →
I. A melancholy memorial of the many disgraces and disappointments which God had, for some years past, put the people under. During the reign of Saul, especially in the latter end of it, and during David's struggle with the house of Saul, while he reigned over Judah only, the affairs of the kingdom were much perplexed, and the neighbouring nations were vexatious to them. 1. He complains of hard things which they had seen (that is, which they had suffered), while the Philistines and other ill-disposed neighbours took all advantages against them, Psa 60:3. God sometimes shows even his own people hard things in this world, that they may not take up their rest in it, but may dwell at ease in him only. 2. He owns God's displeasure to be the cause of all the hardships they had undergone: "Thou hast been displeased by us, displeased against us (Psa 60:1), and in thy displeasure hast cast us off and scattered us, hast put us out of thy protection, else our enemies could not have prevailed thus against us. They would never have picked us up and made a prey of us if thou hadst not broken the staff of bands (Zac 11:14) by which we were united, and so scattered us." Whatever our trouble is, and whoever are the instruments of it, we must own the hand of God, his righteous hand, in it. 3. He laments the ill effects and consequences of the miscarriages of the late years. The whole nation was in a convulsion: Thou hast made the earth (or the land) to tremble, Psa 60:2. The generality of the people had dreadful apprehensions of the issue of these things. The good people themselves were in a consternation: "Thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment (Psa 60:3); we were like men intoxicated, and at our wits' end, not knowing how to reconcile these dispensations with God's promises and his relation to his people; we are amazed, can do nothing, nor know we what to do." Now this is mentioned here to teach, that is, for the instruction of the people. When God is turning his hand in our favour, it is good to remember our former calamities, (1.) That we may retain the good impressions they made upon us, and may have them revived. Our souls must still have the affliction and the misery in remembrance, that they may be humbled within us, Lam 3:19, Lam 3:20. (2.) That God's goodness to us, in relieving us and raising us up, may be more magnified; for it is as life from the dead, so strange, so refreshing. Our calamities serve as foils to our joys. (3.) That we may not be secure, but may always rejoice with trembling, as those that know not how soon we may be returned into the furnace again, which we were lately taken out of as the silver is when it is not thoroughly refined.
II. A thankful notice of the encouragement God had given them to hope that, though things had been long bad, they would now begin to mend (Psa 60:4): "Thou hast given a banner to those that fear thee (for, as bad as the times are, there is a remnant among us that desire to fear thy name, for whom thou hast a tender concern), that it may be displayed by thee, because of the truth of thy promise which thou wilt perform, and to be displayed by them, in defense of truth and equity," Psa 45:4. This banner was David's government, the establishment and enlargement of it over all Israel. The pious Israelites, who feared God and had a regard to the divine designation of David to the throne, took his elevation as a token for good, and like the lifting up of a banner to them, 1. It united them, as soldiers are gathered together to their colours. Those that were scattered (Psa 60:1), divided among themselves, and so weakened and exposed, coalesced in him when he was fixed upon the throne. 2. It animated them, and put life and courage into them, as the soldiers are animated by the sight of their banner. 3. It struck a terror upon their enemies, to whom they could now hang out a flag of defiance. Christ, the Son of David, is given for an ensign of the people (Isa 11:10), for a banner to those that fear God; in him, as the centre of their unity, they are gathered together in one; to him they seek, in him they glory and take courage. His love is the banner over them; in his name and strength they wage war with the powers of darkness, and under him the church becomes terrible as an army with banners.
III. A humble petition for seasonable mercy. 1. That God would be reconciled to them, though he had been displeased with them. In his displeasure their calamities began, and therefore in his favour their prosperity must begin: O turn thyself to us again! (Psa 60:1) smile upon us, and take part with us; be at peace with us, and in that peace we shall have peace. Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia - A God at peace with us spreads peace over all the scene. 2. That they might be reconciled to one another, though they had been broken and wretchedly divided among themselves: "Heal the breaches of our land (Psa 60:2), not only the breaches made upon us by our enemies, but the breaches made among ourselves by our unhappy divisions." Those are breaches which the folly and corruption of man makes, and which nothing but the wisdom and grace of God can make up and repair, by pouring out a spirit of love and peace, by which only a shaken shattered kingdom is set to rights and saved from ruin. 3. That thus they might be preserved out of the hands of their enemies (Psa 60:5): "That thy beloved may be delivered, and not made a prey of, save with thy right hand, with thy own power and by such instruments as thou art pleased to make the men of thy right hand, and hear me." Those that fear God are his beloved; they are dear to him as the apple of his eye. They are often in distress, but they shall be delivered. God's own right hand shall save them; for those that have his heart have his hand. Save them, and hear me. Note, God's praying people may take the general deliverances of the church as answers to their payers in particular. If we improve what interest we have at the throne of grace for blessings for the public, and those blessings be bestowed, besides the share we have with others in the benefit of them we may each of us say, with peculiar satisfaction, "God has therein heard me, and answered me."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain O God, thou hast cast us off,.... What is…
O God, thou hast cast us off,.... What is said in this verse, and Psa 60:2, are by some applied to times past; to the distress of the people Israel by their neighbours in the times of the judges; to their being smitten by the Philistines, in the times of Eli and Samuel; and to the victory they obtained over them, when Saul and his sons were slain; and to the civil wars between the house of Saul and David; but rather the whole belongs to future times, which David, by a prophetic spirit, was led to on the occasion of the victory obtained, when before this the nation had been in bad circumstances. This refers to the casting off of the Jews as a church and nation, when they had rejected the Messiah and killed him, persecuted his apostles, and despised his Gospel; of which see Rom 11:15;
thou hast scattered us; as they were by the Romans among the various nations of the world, and among whom they are dispersed to this day; or "thou hast broken us" (k), as in Psa 80:12; not only the walls of their city were broken by the battering rams of the Romans, but their commonwealth, their civil state, were broke to pieces by them. Jarchi applies this to the Romans; his note is this;
Read full note →
"when Edom fell by his hand (David's), he foresaw, by the Holy Ghost, that the Romans would rule over Israel, and decree hard decrees concerning them;''
thou hast been displeased; not only with their immorality and profaneness, with their hypocrisy and insincerity, with their will worship and superstition, and the observance of the traditions of their elders; but also with their rejection of the Messiah, and contempt of his Gospel and ordinances;
O turn thyself to us again; which prayer will be made by them, when they shall become sensible of their sins, and of their state and condition, and shall turn unto the Lord; and when he will turn himself to them, and turn away iniquity from them, and all Israel shall be saved, Rom 11:25; or "thou wilt return unto us" (l); who before were cast off, broken, and he was displeased with; or others to us.
(k) "rupisti nos", Montanus, Michaelis; "disrupisti", Gejerus; so Ainsworth. (l) "reverteris ad nos", Pagninus, Montanus; "reduces ad nos", Gussetius, p. 836.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain David remembering God's judgments on the land, prays for…
David remembering God's judgments on the land, prays for help, ver. 1-5. Triumphs in confidence of receiving it, ver. 6-12. To the chief musician upon Shushan-eduth, Michtam of David, to teach; when he strove with Aram-naharaim, and with Aram- zobah, when Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the valley of salt, twelve thousand. Title of the psalm. Shushan-eduth - This seems to be the name of an instrument, or tune, then well known, but now unknown and forgotten. To teach - For the special instruction of God's people. Aram-naharaim - The Syrians (so called from Aram, the son of Shem, Gen. x, 22,) of the two rivers, or of Mesopotamia, the country between Tygris and Euphrates. Aram-zobah - The Syrians of Zobah, part of Syria so called.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain The psalmist complains of the desolation which had fallen…
PSALM LX
The psalmist complains of the desolation which had fallen on
Read full note →
the land; prays for deliverance, 1-5;
and promises himself victory over Shechem, Succoth, Gilead,
Ephraim, Moab, Idumea, and the Philistines, by the special
help and assistance of God, 6-12.
NOTES ON PSALM LX
The title, "To the chief Musician upon the hexachord, or lily of the testimony, a golden Psalm of David, for instruction; when he strove with Aram Naharaim, Syria of the two rivers (Mesopotamia) and Aram-Zobah, Syria of the watchmen, (Coelosyria,) when Joab returned, and smote twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt." I have only to remark here that there is nothing in the contents of this Psalm that bears any relation to this title. According to the title it should be a song of victory and triumph; instead of which the first part of it is a tissue of complaints of disaster and defeat, caused by the Divine desertion. Besides, it was not Joab that slew twelve thousand men in the Valley of Salt; it was Abishai, the brother of Joab; and the number twelve thousand here is not correct; for there were eighteen thousand slain in that battle, as we learn from 1Ch 18:12. The valley of salt or salt pits is in Idumea. To reconcile the difference between the numbers, various expedients have been hit on; but still the insuperable objection remains; the contents of this Psalm and this title are in opposition to each other. That the Psalm deplores a defeat, is evident from the three first and two last verses. And the Targumist seems to have viewed it in this light, perhaps the proper one, by expressing the title thus: "To give praise for the ancient testimony, (סהדותא sahadutha,) of the sons of Jacob and Laban, (see Ge 31:47,) an exemplar by the hand of David, to give instruction when he gathered together the people, and passed by the heap of testimony, (איגר סהדותא ayegar sahadutha,) and set the battle in array against Aram, which is by the Euphrates; and against Aram, which is by Izobah. And after this Joab returned and smote the Idumeans in the Valley of Salt; and of the armies of David and Joab there fell twelve thousand men." The Psalm, therefore, seems to deplore this disastrous event; for although they had the victory at last, twelve thousand of the troops of Israel were justly considered too great a sacrifice for such a conquest, and a proof that God had not afforded them that succour which they had long been in the habit of receiving. The latter part of the Psalm seems to be intended to put God in remembrance of his ancient promise of putting Israel in possession of the whole land by driving out the ancient iniquitous inhabitants. Others consider the Psalm as descriptive of the distracted state of the land after the fatal battle of Gilboa, till David was anointed king of the whole at Hebron.
This is the last of the six Psalms to which מכתם michtam is prefixed; the others are Psa 16, Ps 56, Ps 57, Ps 58, and Ps 59. I have said something relative to this word in the introduction to Ps 16:1, but some observations of Mr. Harmer lead me to consider the subject more at large. It is well known that there were seven most eminent Arabic poets who flourished before and at the commencement of the career of Mohammed: their names were Amriolkais, Amru, Hareth, Tharafah, Zohair, Lebeid, and Antarah. These poets produced each a poem, which because of its excellence was deemed worthy to be suspended on the walls of the temple of Mecca; and hence the collection of the seven poems was termed Al Moallakat, The Suspended; and Al Modhahebat, The Gilded or Golden, because they were written in letters of gold upon the Egyptian papyrus. The six michtams of David might have this title for the same reason; they might have been written in letters of gold, or on gilded vellum, or the Egyptian papyrus; for the word מכתם michtam is generally supposed to signify golden, and כתם kethem is used to signify gold, probably stamped or engraven with figures or letters. That the Moallakat were written in this way, there can be no question; and that the works of men of great eminence in Asiatic countries are still thus written, my own library affords ample evidence. Copies of the following works are written on paper all powdered with gold, with gold borders, and highly illuminated anwans or titles: The MISNAVI of Jelaluddeen Raumy; The DEEVAN of Zuheer Faryabi; The HADIKATUSANI, or Garden of Praise; The SUHBET AL ABRAR; The DEEVAN of Hafiz; GULISTAN of Saady; DEEVAN of Shahy, with many more, all works of eminent authors, written in the finest manner, ruled with gold borders, c.
Copies of the Koran are often done in the same manner: one in 12mo., so thickly powdered over with gold that the ground on which the text is written appears to be almost totally gilded another large octavo, all powdered with gold, and golden flowers down every margin; another small octavo, that might be almost called the Codex Aureus, with rich golden borders on every page. And, lastly, one in large folio, which besides superbly illuminated anwans, has three gold lines to every page; one at the top, one in the middle, and one at the bottom. To the above may be added a small folio, that opens out about eleven feet, every page of which is like a plate of solid gold, with the characters engraven on it. It is a collection of elegant extracts. Another of the same kind, large folio, opens out sixty-two feet, on which every page is finished in the same manner, with a vast variety of borders, sprigs, and flowers. And to close the whole, a copy of the Borda, supposed to be the most elegant MS. in Europe, entirely covered with gold flowers and lines, the writing the most perfect I ever saw; so that of this MS. it might be truly said, splendid as it is, materiam superabit opus.
As Mr. Harmer has alluded to accounts which he has collected from other writers in order to illustrate the michtams of David, I have above produced a number of evidences to bear witness to the fact that such is and such was the custom in the east, to write the works of the most eminent authors in letters of gold, or on a page highly ornamented with the utmost profusion of golden lines, figures, flowers, c. In this way these Psalms might have been written, and from this circumstance they may have derived their name. I may just add, that I think these titles were made long after the Psalms were composed.
Verse 1. O God, thou hast cast us off] Instead of being our general in the battle, thou hast left us to ourselves and then there was only the arm of flesh against the arm of flesh, numbers and physical power were left to decide the contest. We have been scattered, our ranks have been broken before the enemy, and thou hast caused the whole land to tremble at our bad success; the people are become divided and seditious. "Thou hast made the land to tremble, even the breaches of it, for it shaketh, it is all in commotion," Ps 60:2.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 60:1. O God, thou hast cast us off…
Psa 60:1. O God, thou hast cast us off — So highly had our sins provoked thy divine majesty, that thou didst reject or forsake us, so as to withdraw thy gracious and powerful presence from us, and no longer to go forth with our armies. Thus the Psalm begins with a melancholy memorial of the many disgraces and disappointments with which God had, for some years past, chastised the people. For, during the reign of Saul, especially in the latter part of it, and during David’s struggle with the house of Saul, while he reigned over Judah only, the affairs of the kingdom were much perplexed, and the neighbouring nations were very vexatious to them. Thou hast scattered us — Hebrew, פרצתנו, peratztanu, thou hast broken us; partly by that dreadful overthrow by the Philistines, 1 Samuel 31., and partly by the civil war in our own country between Judah and Israel. Thou hast been displeased — And thy displeasure, caused by our sins, has been the source of all our sufferings. Whatever our trouble may be, and whoever may be the instruments of it, we must own the righteous hand of God in it. O turn thyself to us again — Be at peace with us; smile upon and take part with us, and we shall again have prosperity.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain O God, thou hast cast us off - The…
O God, thou hast cast us off - The word used here means properly to be foul, rancid, offensive; and then, to treat anything as if it were foul or rancid; to repel, to spurn, to cast away. See the notes at Psa 43:2. It is strong language, meaning that God had seemed to treat them as if they were loathsome or offensive to him. The allusion, according to the view taken in the introduction to the psalm, is to some defeat or disaster which had occurred after the conquests in the East, or during the absence of the armies of David in the East 2 Sam. 8; 1 Chr. 18; probably to the fact that the Edomites had taken occasion to invade the southern part of Palestine, and that the forces employed to expel them had been unsuccessful.
Thou hast scattered us - Margin, broken. So the Hebrew. The word is applied to the forces of war which are broken and scattered by defeat, 2Sa 5:20.
Read full note →
Thou hast been displeased - The word used here means “to breathe”; to breathe hard; and then, to be angry. See the notes at Psa 2:12. God had treated them as if he was displeased or angry. He had suffered them to be defeated.
O turn thyself to us again - Return to our armies, and give us success. This might be rendered, “Thou wilt turn to us;” that is, thou wilt favor us - expressing a confident belief that God would do this, as in Psa 60:12. It is more in accordance, however, with the usual structure of the Psalms to regard this as a prayer. Many of the psalms begin with a prayer, and end with the expression of a confident assurance that the prayer has been, or would certainly be heard.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain Psalms 60
Psalms 60
To the chief Musician upon Shushan-eduth, Michtam of David, to teach; when he strove with Aram naharaim and with Aram-zobah, when Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand
Read full note →
1 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 showed 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.
5 That thy beloved may be delivered;
Save with thy right hand, and hear me.
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.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Its Contents and Composition.—For the first part of the Title comp. Intro., § 12, No. 13, § 8, No. 4. The second part refers us to the time of the wars of David with the Ammonites and their Aramaic confederates, repeated and carried on with variable success. Among these was the war with the king of Zoba, who, according to 2Sa_10:16, extended his rule across the Euphrates, but seems to have had his capital between the Orontes and the Euphrates northeast of Damascus. When now here the Aram of both streams, that is to say, Mesopotamia, is mentioned together with Aram Zoba and Edom, whilst 2 Samuel 8, besides these last two, mentions Damascus, there is no actual contradiction but differences in relation which may be used with great justice in favor as well as against the authenticity of the title and its derivation from an older and more complete historical source, especially as here the overthrow of Edom in the vale of Salt which is destitute of vegetation, and is about ten miles wide at the southern extremity of the dead sea (Robin. Bib. Researches, II., 109), is referred back to Joab, David’s general, whilst 2 Samuel 8 refers to David himself, and 1 Chronicles 18, 12 to Abishai, the brother of Joab, 2Sa_10:10. Instead of the number 12,000 slain mentioned here, these two passages have 18,000.4 The composition of the Psalm has been placed more correctly in the time before the battle in the valley of salt (Delitzsch), than afterwards (Hengst.), because it is necessary to suppose that the Edomites had fallen upon the land, laying it waste from the south when David had marched against his powerful enemies in the North and victoriously forced them back, but sent off his general Joab against the Edomites. To this laying waste the land, the lamentation which begins the Psalm refers (Psa_60:1-3). There is then a reference to Divine incitement (Psa_60:4) which introduces the prayer for Divine help (Psa_60:5), which passes over into the appropriation of a Divine oracle promising victory (Psa_60:6-8). Upon this is based the renewed petition, intensified by its inconsistency with the present situation (Psa_60:9-10) into pressing supplication for Divine assistance (Psa_60:11-12). Psalms 44 of the sons of Korah, in which Psa_60:9 corresponds with Psa_60:10 of this Psalm, would then have been composed subsequently to this Psalm of David. The latter part of our Psalm from Psa_60:5 is repeated in not so good a form in Psalms 108 This relation is not favorable to the many hypotheses differing exceedingly from one another, which refer this Psalm to events of the Maccabean times (Rudinger, Hesse, Olsh., Hitzig), or to the times after the exile (Ewald, Köster, Maurer). Even the supposition that the promise in the oracle of God expresses the idea of the restoration of the unity of the empire which is usual in the prophets, which presupposes the division and the experience of its sad consequence (Hupfeld), cannot be established by the contents or the expressions of this oracle. As for the expression “to teach,” there is nothing to decide whether it designates the Psalm as designed for the instruction of posterity (most interpreters), or whether it refers particularly to the design of bringing the unmanageable tribes to recognize the Divine choice of David by teaching them that his government was pleasing to God (Calvin), or whether it states directly its purpose of being committed to memory by the people on account of its national significance as Deu_31:19 (Hengst.), or whether it is to be explained by 2Sa_1:18, and accordingly is to be regarded as a song of military exercise, which was to be sung in connection with shooting with the bow (Delitzsch).
Str. I., Ver 1. Hast broken us.—This Hebrew word is used by David, 2Sa_5:20, as a suitable term for the overthrow of the Philistines in the sense of breaking through, as frequently elsewhere, e. g. Psa_80:12; Psa_89:40, of breaking through a wall and figuratively, e.g. Psa_106:29; Exo_19:22, of the crushing blows of God. We are not then obliged to think here of the tearing asunder of the tribes of Israel, as Jdg_21:15.—Give us restoration again.—[Thus Moll, who finds the object in the verb תְּשׁוֹבֵב, denoting to give restoration or refreshment. Hupfeld would supply the object from the preceding verb, ‘appease Thine anger towards us.’ He refers to the phrase השׁיבאךָ let go, and appease anger, and to Isa_12:1. With לָנוּ, the dat. comm., it is thus equivalent to: be gracious to us again, turn to us Thy grace again. Others find the object understood in favor: restore to us (Thy favor or salvation). Perowne, following Ewald, translates: restore us again, comp. Isa_58:12.—C. A. B.]
Psa_60:2. The figures of this verse are derived from the earthquake shaking the whole land and making rents in it as breaches in a tottering building (Isa_30:13, &c.).
Psa_60:3. Wine to intoxication.—This is literally wine, which is intoxication. It is the gift of God from the cup of wrath (Isa_51:17 sq.), from the hand of God (Psa_75:9). It is a figure, not of the total passionateness, folly and infatuation of the brotherly hatred raging in their bowels which has plunged the people into ruin as a punishment (Hupf.), but of the condition at once of internal confusion of spirit (Geier, et al.) and of helpless bodily weakness (Hengst.), Isa_19:14; Job_12:25, of the senseless condition in which man is unable to advise or help himself, and is in danger of falling (Hitzig), and indeed under the point of view of a Divine punishment.
Psa_60:4. To be lifted up because of truth.—This verse makes the transition from lamentation to prayer, even if the last member of the verse should be translated: flee before the bow (the ancient versions, Ewald, Hitzig, Hupfeld). This likewise allows the reference to a Divine benefit, rendering the deliverance of the people possible. It is more appropriate to derive the reflexive התּנוסס (not to speak of. the doubtful passage, Zec_9:16), here, on account of its connection with גֵס from the same root. נָסס= to lift up (Num_21:8) rather than from נוּס=to flee, especially as קשׁט in the meaning: truth is established by Pro_22:21 (Chald.). On the other hand, the supposition that we are here to read קשת=bow, or that instead of this word, there is here an incorrect Aramaic spelling, is somewhat arbitrary. The interpretation that מִפְּנֵי=with respect to, with regard to (Baur), to designate the occasion and the motive=because of, is established by passages like Deu_28:20; Neh_5:15 (Delitzsch). In this state of the case, the “truth” is not the true religion or the righteousness of the cause (De Wette), for which God has given the signal to arise in war (Hitzig, Roster, Maurer), but the truth and trustworthiness of the banner which is according to the context, the promise which God has spoken in His holiness.
Str. II., Psa_60:6 sq. Has spoken in His holiness—This is not in His sanctuary, or: swearing by His holiness, Psa_89:36; Amo_4:2. It is most appropriate to understand this promise, which refers to the duration of the possession of the promised land and the supremacy over neighboring nations, not of a special oracle given through the Urim and Thummim of the high-priest, or the answer just sought (J. D. Mich., Köster), nor to limit it to the promise given to David, 2Sa_7:9 sq., and as a figurative reproduction of the same (Delitzsch), but to regard it as a free summary of the ancient (Hengst.) prophecies, especially those contained in the Pentateuch (Hengst.). For the contents and form of the following words are opposed to the supposition of a direct address of God. The subject of the following predicates can only be either personified Israel (De Wette, et al.) or their king. If we more naturally think of the latter, there is no reason at all for the supposition, that God speaks in His character as ruler and in poetic anthropomorphic forms (Köster, Olsh., Hupfeld, Hitzig). For if David has appropriated these promises to himself as king and at the same time speaks as the author of this Psalm in the first person, all objections are removed such as arise from the absence of a conjunction which would indicate a consequence of the divine oracle.—At first ancient or renowned places (Olsh.) are mentioned, which appear significantly in the history of Jacob (Hengst.), Shechem on the west of the Jordan (Jos_13:27), the valley of Succoth on the east of the Jordan (Gen_33:17; Jdg_8:4), not far from the Jabbok in the tribe of Gad, which latter, together with the tribe of Reuben, comprehended the here mentioned Gilead and Manasseh (Psa_60:7). Then the two chief tribes Ephraim and Judah are mentioned together with closer designation as the helmet and the sceptre (Gen_49:10; Num_21:28).
Finally three hostile, renowned and dangerous neighboring nations come into consideration (Psa_60:8). Moab is said not, as it were, to follow the king as a servant with the wash-basin, but as to be used by him as such, in order to wash his face white, that is, to gain for himself glory and renown by victory over him. Edom is designated as entirely humbled and disgraced by the figure of a shameful contact with the shoe. Philistia is described as conquered by the mention, not as it were of a shout of joy in homage (De Wette, Hengst., Hitzig), but either of the cry of murder, Isa_15:4 (Delitzsch), of wailing outcry (Ewald), or of the cry of the warrior upon the battle-field and of vengeance. For the previous, for the most part false, interpretations of the symbol of the wash-basin and shoe, see the Excursus of J. G. Wetzstein in Delitzsch Comm.
Str. III., Psa_60:9. Strong city.—This is distinguished by the parallel member of the verse as the capital of the Idumeans (2Ki_14:7), namely סֶלַע that is to say, rock, thus the renowned Petra, comp. Gen_36:42; Jer_49:16; Oba_1:3; Psa_108:10.
Psa_60:10. Hast not Thou, O God, cast us off? and marchedst not out, O God, in our armies?—This is not an answer to the preceding question: Art Thou not the one who (most interpreters), but must be regarded as a lamentation on account of the absence of the relative and the parallels in Psa_60:1 and Psa_44:10, which then is presupposed and constitutes the foundation of the following prayer (Hupfeld, Delitzsch).
[Psa_60:11. Afford us deliverance from the adversary.—The prayer follows the lamentation seeking help in God. Israel implores deliverance from above, and receives it. Delitzsch: “Israel conquers in God, and God, who is in Israel, will deservedly trample Edom under foot through Israel.”—C. A. B.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. There are sad times to the congregation of God in the world, in which they are obliged to experience hard, yes terrible things, since they not only are surrounded on all sides by enemies, which are greedy to spy out their nakedness and select for falling upon them the hour in which they feel themselves shattered, tired and weakened by previous struggles, but they likewise must confess that in all this they yet only receive and experience what God gives and does.
2. But if it really happens that the congregation bows under the hand of God when He humiliates and chastises them, it then gains again directly on the one side the comforting remembrance of God’s grace previously shown to them in many times and in many ways, whereby it has been placed in a peculiar relation to Him, and has gained a special position in the world, on the other side the refreshing confidence of new manifestations of grace in order that they may assert this position and carry out the tasks imposed upon them.
3. This remembrance, as well as this confidence, grows up in the heart only from faith in the truth of that which God in His holiness has spoken, and the congregation directs itself to the proclamation of the Divine promises in its. sufferings, and rises again from its defeats. It learns to look to the right hand of God and the banner lifted up and sustained by it, and it fights for the cause in which it suffers, with the glad courage of the certainty of victory through that assistance of God which renders all human help of no avail and all human hostility without danger to those who fear God and are likewise the beloved of God, and have been lifted above the present misfortunes by the fact that they have been driven by them to greater depths of faith and prayer.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Wars are for nations what earthquakes are for their lands; God sometimes visits men with both, and then likewise strikes the congregation with hard blows and shakes them; but He heals again the breaches and rents which arise thereby.—He who fears God is loved by God; he who trusts God will be helped by God.—It. is not necessary that God should march out with armies in order that He may conquer the whole world.—Earthly success is fleeting, human help vain, trust in God alone is right.—God may strike hard and painfully even by human hands; but He heals again with His hand those among them who humble themselves.—There is but one banner upon which victory is always perched; what follows from this with reference to our actions?—He who relies upon the truth of God’s word and upon the power of God’s hand will not lose hope.—The beaten not only find refuge with God, but likewise the healing of their wounds, power for new conflicts, and assistance for final victory.—In God the fallen rise up, and in God the weak become strong; yet faith in the truth of His word is requisite. Whither are you driven by your every misfortune? to God and His word? to penitence, to faith, to prayer? or whither else?
Calvin: When God lifts us on high by His bounties, He must yet always be sought in prayer modestly and humbly that He may carry on His work.
Starke: Men do not truly understand the good things which God bestows upon them until they are deprived of them.—The vile drink of security is followed by the intoxicating cup of wrath and the punishments of God with all certainty; therefore flee from the former if you would not taste the latter.—God gives the victory and divides the lands to whom He will.—That is a fine campaign when God gives commands and He is the general.—The best advice in all our affairs is to lay them plainly before God and crave His assistance without, prescribing to Him the kind and manner of help.
Renschel: God chastises us on account of our sins, that we may not be condemned with the world.—Guenther: Lord, preserve us from Thy fiery wrath in war! But if it must flame up, give us warriors which can pray and Thy banner to those who fear Thee.—Diedrich: If only we are the true confessors, we must obtain the victory, although it may be through many humiliations.
[Matt. Henry: “Whatever our trouble is, and whoever are the instruments of it, we must own the hand of God, His righteous-hand, in it.—Our calamities serve as foils to our joys.—A lively faith in the promise will assure us, not only that the God of peace shall shortly tread Satan under our feet, but that it is our Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom.—Words-worth: Christ has given to His soldiers a banner—the banner of the Cross; and at their baptism they are pledged to fight valiantly under it against sin, the world, and the devil.—Perowne: When men will drink presumptuously of the cup of their wickedness, God forces it, as it were, into their hands, till they have drained the very dregs as the cup of His wrath.—Spurgeon: The bravest men are usually entrusted with the banner, and it is certain that those who fear God most have less fear of man than any others.—To publish the gospel is a sacred duty; to be ashamed of it a deadly sin.—Faith divides the spoil; she is sure of what God has promised, and enters at once into possession.—From God all power proceeds, and all we do well is done by Divine operation; but still we, as soldiers of the great King, are to fight, and to fight valiantly too.—C. A. B.]
Footnotes:
[4][Mich. justly remarks: “David as king, Joab as commander-in-chief, Abishai as sent by his brother on this particular expedition, defeated the enemy.” The discrepancy in numbers may have arisen from a mistake of the copyist, or rather is due to the fact, that there is here a reference to a single engagement, whilst the history perhaps states the losses of the campaign.—C. A. B.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 1. Thou hast cast us off—The first three verses…
1. Thou hast cast us off—The first three verses are a complaint but feebly relieved by prayer. Sorrow, disappointment, and astonishment prevail.
Faith seems staggered. Compare Psa_44:9-26. The resemblance of Psa_60:1 to Psa_44:9, shows that the latter is borrowed from the former.
Read full note →
Thou hast scattered us—Thou hast broken us down. The word denotes a forcible breaking down, or breaking through; a rending of what was trusted in as safe and firm. Hence they were totally baffled and humbled. The language throughout is highly impassioned.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1. thou hast cast us off] Cp. Psa_60:10; Psa_44:9;…
1. thou hast cast us off] Cp. Psa_60:10; Psa_44:9; Psa_44:23; Psa_74:1; Psa_77:7; Psa_89:38.
thou hast scattered us] Better as R.V., thou hast broken us down, a word applied to defeat (2Sa_5:20), or any great calamity (Jdg_21:15; Job_16:14). It is a metaphor from the destruction of a wall or a building (2Ki_14:13; Isa_5:5).
Read full note →
thou hast been displeased] R.V. rightly, thou hast been angry, as A.V. elsewhere (Psa_2:12; Psa_79:5; 1Ki_8:46; &c.). Israel’s neighbours used exactly the same language. Mesha in the inscription known as the Moabite Stone says that Omri the king of Israel oppressed Moab many days, “because Chemosh was angry with his land” (Psa_50:5).
O turn thyself to us again] Better, O grant us restoration.
1–4. Grave disasters have befallen Israel through God’s displeasure.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) Hast scattered us.—Literally, hast broken us. A word…
(1) Hast scattered us.—Literally, hast broken us. A word used of a wall or fence, Psa_80:12, but in 2Sa_5:20 applied to the rout of an army, an event which gave its name to the locality, “plain of breaches.” So in English:
“And seeing me, with a great voice he cried,
Read full note →
They are broken, they are broken.”—
TENNYSON: Elaine.
On the other hand, the two succeeding verses seem to refer to a political convulsion rather than a military defeat, and it has been conjectured that the breach between the two kingdoms is here indicated. (See the use of perez=breach, in Jdg_21:15.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain IN the case of this psalm, the "title" is…
IN the case of this psalm, the "title" is again our best guide, both with respect to the author and to the occasion of the composition. The title is unusually full, and contains such a number of minute particulars, as a later compiler or commentator would scarcely have ventured upon. The history involved in the title reconcilable on the whole with the accounts in 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles is certainly not contained in those accounts. It implies an author, writing from his own knowledge of facts an author who, if not David himself, must have been a contemporary.
The psalm itself has every characteristic of the Davidic style liveliness, rapid transitions, terse yet comprehensive language, strong metaphors, intense feeling, hopefulness. It belongs to the time when, after his first Syrian campaign, (2Sa_8:3-8) David was engaged in a war with Edom of a most sanguinary character (2Sa_8:13 1Ki_11:15, 16 1Ch_18:12) marked by striking vicissitudes, and at least one grievous defeat of the forces of Israel (vers. 1-3, 12) but terminating in a glorious victory, and in the subjugation and occupation of the country. (2Sa_8:14 1Ch_18:13) The psalm is written after the great defeat, and before the fortune of war has turned. God is pleaded with (vers. 1-5), reminded of the promises which he has made (vers. 16-8), exhorted in the strongest terms to give his help (vers. 911), finally pronounced a sure Helper, through whom Israel is certain to obtain complete victory. (ver. 12).
Read full note →
There are three strophes in the psalm the first of five verses (vers. 1-5); the second of three (vers. 6-8); and the third of four (vers. 9-12).
O God, thou hast east us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased. (comp. Psa_44:9-11) The expressions used imply a signal defeat, which, though not mentioned in the historical books, harmonizes with the account given in 1 Kings of the severe treatment of Edom by Joab. From the fact of the defeat the psalmist infers the ground of it God"s displeasure. O turn thyself to us again; rather, O restore to us ( i.e. make restoration to us) again (see the Revised Version).
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH Vers. 1-12. Despondency and its antidote.
There are heights and depths in the Divine life. We may pass quickly from the one to the other. When at the height of triumph we may be brought low. When in the depths of despondency we may be raised up. This psalm speaks of despondency. We see
I HOPE RISING IN THE MIDST OF DESPONDENCY. (Vers. 1-4) We are apt to fix our mind on our trials. They bulk large. They press us sorely. We dwell upon their grievousness. We shrink from their effects, bewildered and dismayed (ver. 3). Besides, we are too ready to think of our trials as judgments. Our sins make us afraid. God seems to be visiting us in wrath, instead of mercy. But this is our infirmity. As we turn to God with humility, hope rises in our hearts. God is not against us, but for us. If he visits us with trials, it is for our good. His banner over us is still the banner of love.
II FAITH IN GOD"S PROMISES SUSTAINING THE SOUL IN DESPONDENCY. (Vers. 5-8) The words of Moses, Samuel, and Nathan had sunk deep into the psalmist"s heart. He remembered them, and was comforted. How much more reason have we to say, "God hath spoken in his holiness"! We have not only the words, that David had, but many words besides not only the words of prophets and apostles, but the words of him of whom it was said, "Thou hast the words of eternal life." The Holy Scriptures are rich in promises. (2Pe_1:3, 4 2Co_1:20) We may take one and another to the throne of grace, and say, "Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction". (Psa_119:49, Psa_119:50) Two rabbis, it is said, approaching Jerusalem, observed a fox running up the hill of Zion. Rabbi Joshua wept, but Rabbi Eliezer laughed. "Wherefore dost thou weep?" asked Eliezer. "I weep because I see what is written in the Lamentations fulfilled: "Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it (Lam_5:18) "And therefore do I laugh," said Eliezer; "for when I see with my own eyes that God has fulfilled his threatenings to the letter, I have thereby a pledge that not one of his promises shall fail, for he is ever more ready to show mercy than judgment.
III PRAYER TO GOD GAINING THE VICTORY OVER DESPONDENCY. (Vers. 9-12) There are great things promised, but how are they to be performed? If we had to do with man, we might have doubts and fears. But we have to do with God, and he is both able and willing to fulfil his word. Remembering his character and his works, we rise above all desponding and depressing influences. Committing ourselves to the keeping of the Lord of hosts, we go forth to the fight with brave hearts. "Jehovah-Nissi" is our watchword, and we are able to say, "Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ". (1Co_15:57) W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-12. Assurance in prayer.
I THE PRAYER OF THE REJECTED FOR RESTORATION. (Vers. 15) The grounds of the prayer are:
1. Their great need. Felt themselves as if cast off the very earth trembling with their calamity. They had been reduced to the helplessness of one overcome with wine.
2. The faithfulness of God to his promises was their banner. (Ver. 4) They could pray because they carried this banner.
3. They could hope and pray on account of their relation to God. (Ver. 5) They were beloved of God, and could urge the claim of affection.
II WHATEVER LOSSES WE SUFFER WE HAVE VIRTUALLY UNIVERSAL POSSESSIONS. (Vers. 6-8) "As having nothing, and yet possessing all things." All things are yours: things present, and things to come," etc.
III THE SPIRIT AND POWER OF GOD MUST LEAD US INTO THE NATURAL POSSESSION.
1. God alone can comfort us in trouble. (Ver. 11)
2. God alone can give us the victory over our strongest foes. (Ver. 12) "If God be for us, who can be against us? S.
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH Vers. 1-12. Despondency and its antidote.
There are heights and depths in the Divine life. We may pass quickly from the one to the other. When at the height of triumph we may be brought low. When in the depths of despondency we may be raised up. This psalm speaks of despondency. We see
I HOPE RISING IN THE MIDST OF DESPONDENCY. (Vers. 1-4) We are apt to fix our mind on our trials. They bulk large. They press us sorely. We dwell upon their grievousness. We shrink from their effects, bewildered and dismayed (ver. 3). Besides, we are too ready to think of our trials as judgments. Our sins make us afraid. God seems to be visiting us in wrath, instead of mercy. But this is our infirmity. As we turn to God with humility, hope rises in our hearts. God is not against us, but for us. If he visits us with trials, it is for our good. His banner over us is still the banner of love.
II FAITH IN GOD"S PROMISES SUSTAINING THE SOUL IN DESPONDENCY. (Vers. 5-8) The words of Moses, Samuel, and Nathan had sunk deep into the psalmist"s heart. He remembered them, and was comforted. How much more reason have we to say, "God hath spoken in his holiness"! We have not only the words, that David had, but many words besides not only the words of prophets and apostles, but the words of him of whom it was said, "Thou hast the words of eternal life." The Holy Scriptures are rich in promises. (2Pe_1:3, 4 2Co_1:20) We may take one and another to the throne of grace, and say, "Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction". (Psa_119:49, Psa_119:50) Two rabbis, it is said, approaching Jerusalem, observed a fox running up the hill of Zion. Rabbi Joshua wept, but Rabbi Eliezer laughed. "Wherefore dost thou weep?" asked Eliezer. "I weep because I see what is written in the Lamentations fulfilled: "Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it (Lam_5:18) "And therefore do I laugh," said Eliezer; "for when I see with my own eyes that God has fulfilled his threatenings to the letter, I have thereby a pledge that not one of his promises shall fail, for he is ever more ready to show mercy than judgment.
III PRAYER TO GOD GAINING THE VICTORY OVER DESPONDENCY. (Vers. 9-12) There are great things promised, but how are they to be performed? If we had to do with man, we might have doubts and fears. But we have to do with God, and he is both able and willing to fulfil his word. Remembering his character and his works, we rise above all desponding and depressing influences. Committing ourselves to the keeping of the Lord of hosts, we go forth to the fight with brave hearts. "Jehovah-Nissi" is our watchword, and we are able to say, "Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ". (1Co_15:57) W.F.
HOMILIES BY C. SHORT Vers. 1-12. Assurance in prayer.
I THE PRAYER OF THE REJECTED FOR RESTORATION. (Vers. 15) The grounds of the prayer are:
1. Their great need. Felt themselves as if cast off the very earth trembling with their calamity. They had been reduced to the helplessness of one overcome with wine.
2. The faithfulness of God to his promises was their banner. (Ver. 4) They could pray because they carried this banner.
3. They could hope and pray on account of their relation to God. (Ver. 5) They were beloved of God, and could urge the claim of affection.
II WHATEVER LOSSES WE SUFFER WE HAVE VIRTUALLY UNIVERSAL POSSESSIONS. (Vers. 6-8) "As having nothing, and yet possessing all things." All things are yours: things present, and things to come," etc.
III THE SPIRIT AND POWER OF GOD MUST LEAD US INTO THE NATURAL POSSESSION.
1. God alone can comfort us in trouble. (Ver. 11)
2. God alone can give us the victory over our strongest foes. (Ver. 12) "If God be for us, who can be against us? S.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Here is a lengthy title, but it helps us…
Here is a lengthy title, but it helps us much to expound the Psalm. To the Chief Musician upon Shushaneduth, or the Lily of Testimony. The forty-fifth was on the lilies, and represented the kingly warrior in his beauty going forth to war; here we see him dividing the spoil and bearing testimony to the glory of God. Tunes have strange names apparently, but this results from the fact that we do not know what was in the composer's mind, else they might seem to be touchingly appropriate; perhaps the music or the musical instruments have more to do with this title than the Psalm itself. Yet in war songs, roses and lilies are often mentioned, and one remembers Macaulay's Song of the Hugenots, though perhaps we err in mentioning so carnal a verse--
"Now by the lips of those ye love, fair gentlemen of France,
Read full note →
Charge for the golden lilies now, upon them with the lance."
Michtam of David, to teach. David obeyed the precept to teach the children of Israel; he recorded the Lord's mighty acts that they might be rehearsed in the ears of generations to come. Golden secrets are to be told on the house tops; these things were not done in a corner and ought not to be buried in silence. We ought gladly to learn what inspiration so beautifully teaches. When he strove with Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah. The combined Aramean tribes sought to overcome Israel, but were signally defeated. When Joab returned. He had been engaged in another region, and the enemies of Israel took advantage of his absence, but on his return with Abishai the fortunes of war were changed. And smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand. More than this appear to have fallen according to 1Ch 18:12, but this commemorates one memorable part of the conflict. Terrible must have been the battle, but decisive indeed were the results, and the power of the enemy was utterly broken. Well did the Lord deserve a song from his servant.
Properly the song may be said to consist of three parts: the complaining verses, Ps 60:1-3; the happy, Ps 60:4-8; the prayerful, Ps 60:9-12. We have divided it as the sense appeared to change.
Ver. 1. Before the days of Saul, Israel had been brought very low; during his government it had suffered from internal strife, and his reign was closed by an overwhelming disaster at Gibeon. David found himself the possessor of a tottering throne, troubled with the double evil of factions at home, and invasion from abroad. He traced at once the evil to its true source, and began at the fountainhead. His were the politics of piety, which after all are the wisest and most profound. He knew that the displeasure of the Lord had brought calamity upon the nation, and to the removal of that displeasure he set himself by earnest prayer.
O God, thou hast cast us off. Thou hast treated us as foul and offensive things, to be put away; as mean and beggarly persons, to be shunned with contempt; as useless dead boughs, to be torn away from the tree, which they disfigure. To be cast off by God is the worst calamity that can befall a man or a people; but the worst form of it is when the person is not aware of it and is indifferent to it. When the divine desertion causes mourning and repentance, it will be but partial and temporary. When a cast off soul sighs for its God it is indeed not cast off at all.
Thou has scattered us. David clearly sees the fruits of the divine anger, he traces the flight of Israel's warriors, the breaking of her power, the division in her body politic, to the hand of God. Whoever might be the secondary agent of these disasters, he beholds the Lord's hand as the prime moving cause, and pleads with the Lord concerning the matter. Israel was like a city with a breach made in its wall, because her God was wroth with her. These first two verses, with their depressing confession, must be regarded as greatly enhancing the power of the faith which in the after verses rejoices in better days, through the Lord's gracious return unto his people.
Thou hast been displeased. This is the secret of our miseries. Had we pleased thee, thou wouldst have pleased us; but as we have walked contrary to thee, thou hast walked contrary to us.
O turn thyself to us again. Forgive the sin and smile once more. Turn us to thee, turn thou to us. Aforetime thy face was towards thy people, be pleased to look on us again with thy favour and grace. Some read it, "Thou wilt turn to us again, "and it makes but slight difference which way we take it, for a true hearted prayer brings a blessing so soon that it is no presumption to consider it already obtained. There was more need for God to turn to his people than for Judah's troops to be brave, or Joab and the commanders wise. God with us is better than strong battalions; God displeased is more terrible than all the Edomites that ever marched into the valley of salt, or all the devils that ever opposed the church. If the Lord turn to us, what care we for Aramnaharaim or Aramzobah, or death, or hell? but if he withdraw his presence we tremble at the fall of a leaf.
Title. There are some difficulties attendant upon the title of this Psalm, when it is compared with the contents. We naturally expect after such as inscription, joy, congratulation, and praise for victory; but the psalmist breaks out into lamentations and bitter complaints: his strains are, however, changed, when he has proceeded as far as verse three, where he begins to feel confidence, and to employ the language of exultation and triumph. The best means of removing this discrepancy seems to be by remarking, that this Psalm was written after some of the battles of which mention is made in the title, but that the author does not restrict himself to those events without taking a wider range, so as to embrace the afflictive conditions both of Israel and Judah during the latter part of Saul's life, and the former years of David's reign. In the concluding years of Saul, the Philistines obtained a superiority over him, and finally destroyed him with his army. Subsequently to these events the whole land was in a very disturbed and agitated condition, arising out of the contentions between the partisans of Saul's family, and those who were attached to David. The nations which inhabited the regions adjacent to the land of Canaan were at all times inimical to the Jews, and seized every opportunity of attacking and injuring them. But when David had succeeded in uniting the whole nation under his authority, he proceeded to avenge the injuries and insults that had been inflicted upon his countrymen by the Philistines, Edomites, Moabites, and Syrians; and God was pleased to give him signal success in his undertakings. He appears, therefore, to have combined all these transactions, and made them the subject of this Psalm. William Walford.
Title. Shushaneduth. The lilies of the testimony -- means, that this Psalm has for its chief subject something very lovely and cheering in the law; namely, the words of promise quoted in the beginning of verse six, according to which the land of Canaan belonged to the Israelites, upon which is thus established the confidence expressed in Ps 60:6-8, with respect to their right of property over the land, and their possession of it. This promise, not to cite many other passages, which occur in the Five Books of Moses, and even so early as the patriarchs, is contained in Genesis 49, and Deuteronomy 33. It is evident of what value and importance this promise was, and particularly the remembrance of it at this time. T. C. Barth's "Bible Manual, "1865.
Title. The only other eduth or "testimony" in the Psalter, Psalm 80, makes mention by name of the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, and is a witness against those tribes for forsaking the Shepherd of Israel who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt. Joseph Francis Thrupp, M.A., in "An Introduction to the Study and Use of the Psalms, "1860.
Title. Aramnaharaim. The name Aram corresponds to Syria in its widest and vaguest sense, and is joined with other names to designate particular parts of that large country. It even includes Mesopotamia, which is a term of physical rather than political geography, and denotes the space between the Tigris and Euphrates, corresponding to Aram Naharaim, or Syria of the Two Rivers, in the verse before us. The king of this country was tributary to the king of Aram Zobah, as appears from the account of David's second Aramean war (2Sa 10:16, 19). Joseph Addison Alexander.
Title. When he strove with Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah. An insult offered to David's ambassadors by Hanun, king of the Ammonites, led to a serious war. Hanun obtained mercenaries from Syria to reinforce his army, Joab and Abishai his brother, David's generals, gave them battle. Joab, opposed to the Syrians, gained the first success, and the Ammonites, seeing their allies routed, took to flight into their town. But this defeat provoked a great coalition, embracing all the people between the Jordan and the Euphrates. David, however, fearlessly marched against them at the head of his army; he vanquished all his enemies, and made himself master of the small Aramaean kingdoms of Damascus, Zobah, and Hamath, and subjugated the Eastern Idumaeans, who met their final defeat in the Valley of Salt. Francois Lenormant and E. Chevallier, in "A Manual of the Ancient History of the East, "1869.
Title. Joab returned and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand, compared with 2Sa 8:13, "David gat him a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, being eighteen thousand men, "and 1Ch 18:12, where this very service was performed by Abishai. Answer. It is one thing to attribute the victory for the honour of the king that was the cause. But the mentioning of these chief generals, by whom the service was performed, is another. David, under God, must have the honour of the work, for the increase of his name, being set for the typing out of Christ, who must have all the glory of the day, whatever conquest he gets by instruments of that service here, who likewise are typed out in David's worthies, of whom Joab and Abishai were chief. By these he obtained that great victory over Hadadezer. In returning from which service Joab found his brother Abishai engaged in the valley of salt against eighteen thousand Edomites or Syrians (all one), whose valour the Almighty looked on, as he attributes the whole slaughter to him, because first attempting it. Joab, it seems, took this in his return from the former slaughter, and fell in for the assistance of his brother Abishai (for that was their usual course: though they divided their armies, they did not divide their hearts). But if the enemies were too strong, one would help the other. 1Ch 19:12. And of this eighteen thousand attributed to David and Abishai before, Joab slew twelve thousand of them; the memory of which service is here embalmed with a Psalm; first showing the extremes they were in, doubtful at first they should not get the victory. Secondly, applying it to the kingdom of Christ. Lastly, ascribing all the honour of the conquest to God; saying, through God this valiant service was done; it was he that trod down our enemies; and will do (last verse). William Streat, in "The Dividing of the Hoof, "1654.
Title. The Valley of Salt. The ridge of Usdum exhibits more distinctly its peculiar formation; the main body of the mountain being a solid mass of rock salt... We could at first hardly believe our eyes, until we had several times approached the precipices, and broken off pieces to satisfy ourselves, both by the touch and taste. The salt, where thus exposed, is everywhere more or less furrowed by the rains. As we advanced, large lumps and masses broken off from above, lay like rocks along the shore, or were fallen down as debris. The very stones beneath our feet were wholly salt... The position of this mountain at the south end of the sea, enables us also to ascertain the place of The Valley of Salt mentioned in Scripture, where the Hebrews under David, and again under Amaziah, gained decisive victories over Edom. This valley could have been no other than the Ghor south of the Dead Sea, adjacent to the mountain of salt; it separates indeed the ancient territories of Judah and Edom. Edward Robinson's "Biblical Researches in Palestine, "1867.
Title. The historic record mentions eighteen thousand slain, and here but twelve thousand. The greater of course includes the less. The discrepancy may be explained by supposing that the title contains the numbers slain by one division of the army, or that the twelve thousand were slain in the battle, and the residue in the flight. Or an error may have crept into the text. Every scholar admits that there is sometimes serious difficulty in settling the numbers of the Old Testament. In this place Calvin has two and twenty thousand, the common version twelve thousand, while the original is two ten thousand, which taken in one way would mean twenty thousand, i.e., two tens of thousands. Hammond refers the number slain to different battles, and so avoids the difficulty. William S. Plumer.
Ver. 1. O God, thou hast cast us off. The word here used means properly to be foul, rancid, offensive; and then, to treat anything as if it were foul or rancid; to repel, to spurn, to cast away. It is strong language, meaning that God had seemed to treat them as if they were loathsome of offensive to him. Albert Barnes.
Ver. 1.
1. Prayer of a church in low condition. I. Complaint.
1. Left of God's Spirit.
2. Scattered. II. Cause. Something displeasing to God. Neglect or actual sin; a subject for self examination. III. Cure. The Lord's return to us and ours to him. In our version it is a prayer; in the Septuagint an expression of faith--"Thou wilt return."
Psalms 60:2*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain O God, Thou hast cast us off; Thou hast…
Psa_60:1-12
O God, Thou hast cast us off; Thou hast scattered us.
Read full note →
A psalm of defeat
In our own language we possess many fine songs of patriotism. It would be impossible to overestimate the value of such a song as Scots wha hae as a means of keeping alive patriotic sentiments in the breasts of the people. What a treasure it would be if we had a dozen other incidents from the great epochs of our history embalmed in equally immortal verse and sung at every fireside. The Hebrews had their history thus set to music; and the poetical commentary on their national fortunes reaches down to the very bottom of their meaning, for it reads them in the light of eternal truth.
I. A patriots depression (Psa_60:1-5). The enemy had invaded the country, and there was sufficient force to withstand them. So great was the panic that the inhabitants were like drunken men, unable to comprehend the extent of their calamity and unable to stand up against it (Psa_60:3). But the worst was that it was a triumph of the heathen over the people of the true God, to whom a banner had been given to display because of the truth (Psa_60:4). The humblest Christian has received a banner to display because of the truth. We are working for a cause which is old as eternity and lofty as heaven. Our personal success or defeat is nothing; but the victory of the truth is everything. This great verse was given out by Ebenezer Erskine beneath the castle walls of Stirling when he and his congregation were turned out of the Church of Scotland; and it has been connected with other great historical scenes in the history of the Church.
II. The promise recalled (Psa_60:6-8). At this point a change comes over the spirit of the writer. Prayer has brought him to himself. We are either to suppose that, in reply to an inquiry addressed to God, perhaps through the Urim and Thummim, he receives an oracle on the situation, or that, his memory being quickened by a sudden inspiration, he recalls an ancient oracle, given in some similar crisis, in which God promises to His anointed king the complete possession of the Holy Land and also the subjection of the neighbouring peoples. The oracle is quoted after the psalmist has expressed his joy at recalling it. God promises to divide Shechem, as at the Conquest under Joshua He divided the different parts of the land to the various tribes, and to mete out the valley of Succoth. Why these two places are specially mentioned, it is impossible now to say. They may have been strongholds of the enemy. Then (verse 7) Gilead and Manasseh, which stand for the part of the country beyond the Jordan, are claimed by God as His. And of Ephraim and Judah, which represent the division west of the Jordan, it is said that the one shall be His helmet (the strength of mine head) and the other His sceptre (not lawgiver). As the Holy Land is represented by these well-known parts, the hostile nations, which are to be subjugated, are represented by Israels three well-known foes--Moab, Edom, and Philistia. And, as the positions which Ephraim and Judah were to occupy are depicted by saying that they are to fulfil the honourable offices of helmet and sceptre to God, the fate of the hostile nations is similarly depicted by representing them as fulfilling to Him the basest offices (verse 8). Moab is to be the vessel in which He washes His feet when coming home from a journey, and Edom the slave to whom, in so doing, He flings the dusty sandals which He has taken off; while Philistia is to grace his triumph. In this way the psalmist rallied his spirit in an hour of disaster. And, in fighting the Lords battles, we can similarly fall back on the promise recorded in the second psalm, that the heathen shall be given to Christ and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession. The humblest Christian can fall back on the promise that none shall pluck him out of Christs hand, and that the good work which God has begun shall be perfected.
III. The return of hope (verses 9-12). At verse 9 he turns to face the crisis which in the first part of the psalm he had bewailed. He sees the difficulty of the situation. Edom is a strong enemy, and its capital, Petra, a strong city. The entrance to it, says a traveller, is by a narrow gorge lined by lofty precipices, nearly two miles in length. At some places the overhanging rocks approach so near to each other that only two horsemen can proceed abreast. Who, asks the psalmist, is to bring me thither? And the answer is, None but God. For a time He had deserted them, perhaps because they had been trusting to themselves or to their past victories. They needed to be humbled and to learn the lesson that vain is the help of man (verse 11). But defeat had taught them this lesson; and now they are trusting only in their God. When Gods servants have reached this state of mind, nothing can stand before them. And so this psalm, which began in panic and tears, ends with the trumpet note of hope (verse 12). (J. Stalker.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Psalms 60
Psalms 60
THIS psalm has evidently a definite historical background. Israel has been worsted in fight, but still continues its campaign against Edom. Meditating on Gods promises, the psalmist anticipates victory, which will cover defeat and perfect partial successes, and seeks to breathe his own spirit of confidence into the ranks of his countrymen. But the circumstances answering to those required by the psalm are hard to find. The date assigned by the superscription cannot be called satisfactory; for Davids war there referred to {2 Samuel 8} had no such stunning defeats as are here lamented. The Divine Oracle of which the substance is given in the central part of the psalm, affords but dubious indications of date. At first sight it seems to imply the union of all the tribes in one kingdom, and therefore to favour the Davidic authorship. But it may be a question whether the united Israel of the Oracle is fact or prophecy. To one school of commentators, the mention of Ephraim in conjunction with Judah is token that the psalm is prior to the great revolt; to another, it is proof positive that the date is after the destruction of the northern kingdom. The Maccabean date is favoured by Olshausen, Hitzig, and Cheyne among moderns; but, apart from other objections, the reappearance of Psa_60:5-12 in Psalms 108, implies that this piece of Hebrew psalmody was already venerable when a later compiler wove part of it into that psalm. On the whole, the Davidic authorship is possible, though clogged with the difficulty already mentioned. But the safest conclusion seems to be Baethgens modest one, which contrasts strongly with the confident assertions of some other critics-namely, that assured certainty in dating the psalm "is no longer possible."
Read full note →
It falls into three parts of four verses each, of which the first (Psa_60:1-4) is complaint of defeat and prayer for help; the second (Psa_60:5-8), a Divine Oracle assuring victory; and the third (Psa_60:9-12), the flash of fresh hope kindled by that Gods word.
The first part blends complaint and prayer in the first pair of verses, in each of which there is, first, a description of the desperate state of Israel, and then a cry for help. The nation is broken, as a wall is broken down, or as an army whose ordered ranks are shattered and scattered. Some crushing defeat is meant, which in Psa_60:2 is further described as an earthquake. The land trembles, and then gapes in hideous clefts, and houses become gaunt ruins. The state is disorganised as in consequence of defeat. It is an unpoetical mixture of fact and figure to see in the "rending" of the land allusion to the separation of the kingdoms, especially as that was not the result of defeat.
There is almost a tone of wonder in the designation of Israel as "Thy people," so sadly does the fate meted out to them contrast with their name. Stranger still and more anomalous is it, that, as Psa_60:3 b laments, Gods own hand has commended such a chalice to their lips as should fill them with infatuation. The construction "wine of reeling," is grammatically impossible, and the best explanation of the phrase regards the nouns as in apposition-"wine which is reeling," or "reeling as wine." The meaning is that God not only sent the disaster which had shaken the nation like an earthquake, but had sent, too, the presumptuous self-confidence which had led to it.
Psa_60:4 has received two opposite interpretations, being taken by some as a prolongation of the tone of lament over disaster, and by others as commemoration of Gods help. The latter meaning violently interrupts the continuity of thought. "The only natural view is that which sees" in Psa_60:4 "a continuation of the description of calamity" in Psa_60:3 (Cheyne, in loc.). Taking this view, we render the second clause as above. The word translated "that they may flee" may indeed mean to lift themselves up, in the sense of gathering round a standard, but the remainder of the clause cannot be taken as meaning "because of the truth," since the preposition here used never means "because of." It is best taken here as from before. The word variously rendered bow and truth is difficult. It occurs again in Pro_22:21, and is there parallel with "truth" or faithfulness in fulfilling Divine promises. But that meaning would be inappropriate here, and would require the preceding preposition to be taken in the impossible sense already noted. It seems better, therefore, to follow the LXX and other old versions, in regarding the word as a slightly varied mode of spelling the ordinary word for a bow (the final dental letter being exchanged for a cognate dental). The resulting meaning is deeply coloured by sad irony. "Thou hast indeed given a banner-but it was a signal for flight rather than for gathering round." Such seems the best view of this difficult verse; but it is not free from objection. "Those who fear Thee" is not a fitting designation for persons who were thus scattered in flight by God even if it is taken as simply a synonym for the nation. We have to make choice between two incongruities. If we adopt the favourite view, that the verse continues the description of calamity, the name given to the sufferers is strange. If we take the other, that it describes Gods gracious rallying of the fugitives, we are confronted with a violent interruption of the tone of feeling in this first part of the psalm. Perowne accepts the rendering from before the bow, but takes the verb in the sense of mustering round, so making the banner to be a rallying point and the giving of it a Divine mercy.
The second part (Psa_60:5-8) begins with a verse which Delitzsch and others regard as really connected, notwithstanding the Selah at the end Psa_60:4, with the preceding. But it is quite intelligible as independent, and is in its place as the introduction to the Divine Oracle which follows and makes the kernel of the psalm. There is beautiful strength of confidence in the psalmists regarding the beaten, scattered people as still Gods "darlings." He appeals to Him to answer, in order that a result so accordant with Gods heart as the deliverance of His beloved ones may be secured. And the prayer has no sooner passed his lips than he hears the thunderous response, "God has spoken in His holiness." That infinite elevation of His nature above creatures is the pledge of the fulfilment of His word.
The following verses contain the substance of the Oracle; but it is too daring to suppose that they reproduce its words; for "I will exult" can scarcely be reverently put into the mouth of God. The substance of the whole is a twofold promise-of a united Israel, and a submissive heathendom. Shechem on the west and Succoth on the east of Jordan, Gilead and Manasseh on the east, and Ephraim and Judah on the west, are the possession of the speaker, whether he is king or representative of the nation. No trace of a separation of the kingdoms is here. Ephraim, the strongest tribe of the northern kingdom, is the "strength of my head," the helmet, or perhaps with allusion to the horns of an animal as symbols of offensive weapons. Judah is the ruling tribe, the commanders baton, or possibly "lawgiver," as in Genesis 49. Israel thus compact together may count on conquests over hereditary foes.
Their defeat is foretold in contemptuous images. The basin for washing the feet was "a vessel unto dishonour"; and, in Israels great house, no higher function for his ancestral enemy, when conquered, would be found. The meaning of casting the shoe upon or over Edom is doubtful. It may be a symbol for taking possession of property, though that lacks confirmation; or Edom may be regarded as the household slave to whom the masters shoes are thrown when taken off; or, better, in accordance with the preceding reference to Moab, Edom may be regarded as part of the masters house or furniture. The one was the basin for his feet; the other, the corner where he kept his sandals.
If the text of Psa_60:8 c is correct Philistia is addressed with bitter sarcasm, and bidden to repeat her ancient shouts of triumph over Israel now, if she can. But the edition of these verses in Psalms 108, gives a more natural reading which may be adopted here: "Over Philistia will I shout aloud."
The third part (Psa_60:9-12) is taken by some commentators to breathe the same spirit as the first part. Cheyne, for instance, speaks of it as a "relapse into despondency," whilst others more truly hear in it the tones of rekindled trust. In Psa_60:9 there is a remarkable change of tense from "Who, will bring?" in the first clause, to "Who has guided?" in the second. This is best explained by the supposition that some victory over Edom, had preceded the psalm, which is regarded by the singer as a guarantee of success in his assault of "the fenced city," probably Petra. There is no need to supplement Psa_60:10, so as to read, "Wilt not Thou, O God, which," etc. The psalmist recurs to his earlier lament, not as if he thought that it still held true, but just because it does not. It explained the reason of past disasters; and, being now reversed by the Divine Oracle, becomes the basis of the prayer which follows. It is as if he had said, "We were defeated because Thou didst cast us off. Now help as Thou hast promised and we shall do deeds of valour." It is impossible to suppose that the result of the Divine answer, which makes the very heart of the psalm, should be a hopeless repetition of the initial despondency. Rather glad faith acknowledges past weakness and traces past failures to self-caused abandonment by a loving God, who let His people be worsted that they might learn who was their strength, and ever goes forth with those who go. forth to war with the consciousness that all help but His is vain, and with the hope that in Him even their weakness shall do deeds of prowess. "Hast not Thou cast us off?" may be the utterance of despair; but it may also be that of assured confidence and the basis of a prayer that will be answered by Gods present help.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician.” See Introduction to Psalms 57.…
INTRODUCTION
Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician.” See Introduction to Psalms 57. “Upon Shushaneduth,” is probably a musical direction to the leader of the choir. In the superscription to Psalms 45, 69, , 80, we have Shoahannim, the plural of Shushan. See Introduction to Psalms 45. “Shushan-eduth” signifies “the lily of testimony,” and, possibly, contains the first words of some psalm to the melody of which this psalm was to be sung. “Michtam of David.” See Introduction to Psalms 56. “To teach.” Moll: “As for the expression ‘to teach,’ there is nothing to decide whether it designates the psalm as designed for the instruction of posterity, or whether it refers particularly to the design of bringing the unmanageable tribes to recognise the Divine choice of David by teaching them that his government was pleasing to God, or whether it states directly its purpose of being committed to memory by the people on account of its national significance, as Deu_31:19, or whether it is to be explained by 2Sa_1:18, and, accordingly, is to be regarded as a song of military exercise, which was to be sung in connection with shooting with the bow.” “When he strove with Aram-naharaim,” &c. “Aram-naharaim,” or Aram of the two rivers, is a name sometimes applied to Syria or Mesopotamia. “Aram-Zobah” is the name of a portion of Syria, which at this time formed a separate kingdom. Its exact position and limits cannot now he determined. “The valley of salt,” says Robinson, “can be nothing else than the district adjoining the Salt-Mountain, to the south of the Dead Sea, which, in reality, formed the boundary between the ancient territories of Judah and Edom.” The events referred to in the superscription are recorded in 2 Samuel 8, and 1 Chronicles 18. This victory is here said to have been achieved by Joab; but in 2Sa_8:13, it is attributed to David; and, in 2Ch_18:12, Abishai is mentioned as the conqueror. The explanation of Michaelis is admirable: “David, as king, Joab, as commander-in-chief, and Abishai, as sent by his brother on this particular expedition, defeated the enemy.” There is a difference in the number mentioned as slain. Here, it is said to be twelve thousand; but in 2Sa_8:13, and 1Ch_18:12, it is said to be eighteen thousand. The discrepancy may indicate that both numbers are mere estimates, or it may have arisen from a mistake of a copyist, or, as seems to us most probable, it is accounted for in this way, that here the reference is to one engagement, while the history refers to the entire campaign.
Read full note →
COMPLAINT, PRAYER, AND ENCOURAGEMENT
(Psa_60:1-4.)
It is probable that the, lamentation and petitions of Psa_60:1-3 are a record of past experiences, not the utterance of present feelings, because the psalm refers to a time when a considerable measure of prosperity had been granted to Israel. The Poet speaks in the psalm not as an individual, but as the mouthpiece of the whole people. In this first strophe we have three homiletic points—
I. Complaint. (Psa_60:1-3).
1. Great calamities are here complained of. “Thou hast broken us; Thou hast made the earth to tremble; Thou hast broken it; It shaketh; Thou hast showed Thy people hard things; Thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.” The reference is to the severe injuries and “losses which Israel had formerly sustained in the war against the Syrians, and especially through the irruption of the Edomites.” The figures employed by the Psalmist—the trembling and rent land, the people broken, and prostrate as though drunk with strong wine—indicate the greatness of the calamities, and the deep sense of them realised by the people. The Church of God upon earth is sometimes visited with sore trials, and is called to pass through fiery persecutions, which cause bitter lamentation, &c.
2. These calamities are regarded as signs of the Divine displeasure. “O God, Thou hast cast us off, Thou hast been displeased.” It seemed to them in their distresses that God treated them as though they were loathsome and offensive to Him, and as though He were angry with them. Their miseries and calamities are viewed as coming from Him. When His people grievously sin against Him, God withdraws from them the shield of His protection, and allows their enemies to triumph over them.
3. The Divine displeasure is always the result of human sin. Perowne: “When men will drink presumptuously of the cup of their wickedness, God forces it, as it were, into their hands, till they have drained the very dregs as the cup of His wrath.” He never casts off man until man has first cast off Him. Never forsakes a church until that church has first forsaken Him.
II. Prayer. The Psalmist prays—
1. For the restoration of the Divine favour. “O turn Thyself to us again;” i.e., be gracious to us again, restore to us the signs of Thy favour and friendship. When the favour of God is restored to His people, their prosperity and triumph will not be long delayed. “In Thy favour our horn shall be exalted.”
2. For the repair of their calamities. “Heal the breaches thereof.” Repair the disasters which have befallen Thy people. Grant unto them their former prosperity and power. Such is the meaning of the petition. Moll: “Wars are for nations what earthquakes are for their lands; God sometimes visits men with both, and then likewise strikes the congregation with hard blows and shakes them; but He heals again the breaches and rents which arise thereby.” The Church, in times of distress, should always seek God in prayer. Prayer imparts patience under trial, power to grapple with difficulty, deliverance from distress and calamity.
III. Encouragement. “Thou hast given a banner,” &c. From an examination of the context, we conclude that the “banner” is the promise of salvation which God has given to Israel, and “the truth” is the faithfulness and trustworthiness of the promise. The following are the chief points in this verse as related to the main scope of the Psalm.
1. God has given to His people most glorious promises. What rich and splendid promises He gave to ancient Israel! Victory over their enemies, salvation from calamities, undisturbed possession of Canaan, &c. What “exceeding great and precious promises” He has given to His spiritual Israel!
2. These promises are thoroughly reliable. “Displayed because of the truth.” “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?”
3. Being so glorious and so reliable, these promises should be conspicuously exhibited, that men may trust in them. The banner must “be displayed.” These promises of salvation are compared “to a highly exalted banner, which serves as a signal to one lying prostrate in his misery, to rise up.” To the people of God in depression and distress, let us exhibit the promises which He has given to them.
4. The precious and faithful promises of God should inspire His people with hope and courage in the time of trial. This we take to be the chief idea in this verse. The promises encouraged Israel in their distresses and calamities. And in the present, to the people of God in time of trial, they should impart hope, and, in their prayers for relief, they should strengthen their faith.
CONCLUSION.—
1. Let the people of God beware of sin, for it is the parent of darkness, distress, &c.
2. Let the distressed seek Him in penitence and prayer, &c.
3. Let them be encouraged in doing so by the exceeding great and precious promises which He has given to them.
THE GLORIOUS CONFLICT
(Psa_60:4.)
We have given above what we regard as the meaning of this verse in its relation to the context. We purpose regarding it at present, as setting forth certain features of the great conflict with evil in which the people of God are engaged. Notice—
I. The object of the conflict. Many wars have been waged for mean, selfish, ambitious, wicked objects. But here is a banner given for a most worthy object, “that it might be displayed because of the truth.” The people of God fight for the banishment of ignorance and the promotion of knowledge; for the overthrow of error and the enthronement of truth; for the destruction of evil and the diffusion of goodness; for the utter defeat of the father of lies, and the complete, universal, and perpetual triumph of the King of truth. Here is a holy war—a war against all injustice, falsehood, error, oppression, evil; and in favour of righteousness, truth, kindness, holiness.
II. The character of the soldiers. “Them that fear Thee.” They reverence God; they obey Him, &c. Notice—
1. The expulsive power of this fear. It expels all other fear. He who fears God much will fear neither men nor devils at all.
2. The impulsive power of this fear. It inspires enthusiasm in the holy cause—imparts courage in the conflict, &c. Cromwell’s Ironsides were men who feared God, and acted as ever in His presence. Their time before going to battle was spent in prayer, and they went into the fight singing psalms. Their wathchword was, “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” They were never defeated. The men to do the work and fight the battles of the Lord must be godly men—men who fear Him.
III. The authority of the Commander. “Thou hast given a banner.” God has given to His people the standard as of an army, that they might go forth and fight His battles. He has commissioned His people for this war, and He commands them in it. In this we have a guarantee of—
1. The rectitude of the conflict. He would not send us forth in an unrighteous cause, or with unrighteous weapons, or in an unworthy manner. The object, the weapons, and the methods of this war are all righteous and honourable.
2. Support in the conflict. To every soldier fighting beneath His banner, He says, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” He supports the workman in the vineyard, and the warrior on the battle-plain.
3. Victory in the conflict. The battle may be long and arduous, but the issue is certain victory to those who fight in the cause of God. He who has given us our banner will also give us the palm of the victor.
CONCLUSION.—
1. Under whose banner are you fighting? “Who is on the Lord’s side?”
2. Who will enlist under the banner of the Cross? Christ, our Leader, will receive loyal recruits.
3. Courage, ye soldiers of Christ, for you shall gain the victory. Teacher, preacher, &c., go on; for you shall surely win the well-fought day.
HUMAN PERFECTION
(Psa_60:5-12.)
In these verses David rejoices in the victories already achieved by Israel, and in the possession of the promised land so far as they had attained it, and relying on the promises of God, he looks forward to complete victory and possession of the entire land. The promises made to ancient Israel illustrate the promises given to the Christian believer. Canaan is a type of the spiritual inheritance of the Christian. In this way we see here an illustration of human perfection.
I. The nature of human perfection. Here are three aspects of it.
1. Salvation from troubles. “That Thy beloved may be delivered, save with Thy right hand, and hear me.… Give us help from trouble; for vain is the help of man.” The troubles of human life upon earth are many and sometimes severe. But God saves His people from them. He does so sometimes—
(1) By removing the cause of the trouble. Or
(2) By giving grace to bear the trouble (2Co_12:9). Or
(3) By revealing the meaning and uses of trouble (2Co_4:10-18).
(4) By sanctifying trouble to promote the well-being of the troubled (Rom_8:28). By the grace of God, the Christian rises superior to trouble, makes it minister to his spiritual advancement, and shall soon pass away from it for ever.
2. Victory over enemies. Israel had to contend with Philistia, Moab, and Edom; but, in His holiness, God had promised them complete victory over every enemy. The Christian has to fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil—against evil in himself, and in society; but he has the promise of more than victory (Rom_8:37; Rom_16:20; Eph_6:10-13).
3. Possession of promised privileges. God had promised to Israel the complete and peaceful possession of Canaan. The Psalmist looked forward to the realisation of that promise. Glorious are the blessings promised to the Christian—pardon, peace, holiness, fellowship with God, heaven. Here are some of the promised privileges (Eze_36:25-27; 2Co_3:18; 2Pe_1:4; 1Jn_1:3; 1Jn_3:2. Surely in these promises we have the perfection of being. To have God’s Spirit within us, and to walk in His statutes; to be changed into the image of the glory of the Lord; to be partakers of the Divine nature; to have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ; to be the sons of God, and to look forward to the vision of God and likeness to Him—this is human perfection.
II. The attainment of human perfection. This is here set before us as—
1. Promised by God. “God hath spoken in His holiness.” Moll: “It is most appropriate to understand this promise, which refers to the duration of the possession of the promised land, and the supremacy over neighbouring nations, not of a special oracle given through the Urim and Thummim of the high-priest, or the answer just sought, nor to limit it to the promise given to David (2Sa_7:9 sq.), and, as a figurative reproduction of the same, but to regard it as a free summary of the ancient prophecies, especially those contained in the Pentateuch.” God has premised clearly and repeatedly to the believer the perfection of being and blessedness. He “hath spoken in His holiness.” He has promised as a holy God, One who is infinitely superior to deceit and change, One who is true, and who ever fulfils His word. The Christian’s hope of perfection rests upon that promise.
2. Promoted by prayer. The Psalmist prays for the fulfilment of the promise. In so doing—
(1), he appeals to the Divine strength. “Save with Thy right hand.” With the right hand man wields the sword, hurls the spear, effects his tasks, &c. God has power to achieve His purposes and fulfil His promises. He is “mighty to save.” “He “is able to do exceeding abundantly,” &c.
(2). The Psalmist pleads the Divine relationship. “Thy beloved.” God’s people are dear to Him as the apple of His eye. He has loved them with an everlasting love. This love is one of the most effective pleas which they can urge in their prayers to Him.
(3). The Psalmist pleads the vanity of human help. “Give us help from trouble; for vain is the help of man.” Man is unreliable because of the limitation of his power, and because of his mutability. In God is our hope. To Him we direct our prayer. Prayer is a condition of blessing.
3. Guaranteed by past triumphs and present possessions. “I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem,” &c. (Psa_60:6-10). Shechem on the west of Jordan, and Succoth on the east; Gilead (including the territory occupied by the tribes of Gad and Reuben) and Manasseh on the east, and Ephraim and Judah on the west, are mentioned as representing the whole land of Canaan. The powerful tribe of Ephraim is spoken of as the strength of the head, i.e., the great protector of the most vital interests of the nation in time of war. Judah is named as the lawgiver, probably in reference to the ancient prediction, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,” &c. (Gen_49:10). Ephraim was the helmet, and Judah the sceptre of the chosen people. All the land of Canaan east and west of the Jordan, which the Poet thus brings into view, was subdued. Moab also was conquered. “Moab is my washpot,” is a phrase denoting that the Moabites were completely reduced to servitude to Israel (2Sa_8:2). But the victory of Israel was not complete. Edom remained unsubdued. But its subjugation is anticipated. “Upon Edom will I cast my shoe.” Moab, in the preceding clause, is described as a mean vessel, in which the feet are washed, and now Edom is spoken of as a servant of the lowest grade, to whom the sandals are thrown, to be removed and cleaned. Or the figure of casting the shoe may signify the placing of the foot upon Edom in token of its complete subjection. There is no doubt that the idea is, that Edom should be completely vanquished by and subjected to Israel. Philistia is also described as conquered. During the period of the Judges the Philistines had severely oppressed Israel; but David completely conquered them (2Sa_8:1). “The strong city” was the rock-built and fortified city of Petra, the capital of Idumea or Edom, From the victories already achieved, David was encouraged to believe that God would lead him into Petra, and to complete victory over the Idumeans. So in our spiritual history, our past triumphs and present attainments contribute to our assurance of the full realisation of the privileges which God has promised. They do so in two ways.
(1). Our past achievements tend both to encourage and to qualify us for further achievements in the future.
(2). God’s goodness and faithfulness in the past are an assurance of His blessing in the future. Thus every temptation conquered is a prophecy of the full and final victory. Every privilege enjoyed is a pledge of the complete possession of the “inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,” &c.
4. Demanding strenuous effort. “Through God we shall do valiantly.” We must “do valiantly” if we would attain perfection. If we would gain the victory we must fight manfully in the battle. If we would wear the crown we must patiently bear the cross. If we would win the prize we must run the race that is set before us diligently even to the end (Luk_12:24; 1Co_9:24-27; Heb_12:1-2).
5. Ascribed to God. “Through God we shall do valiantly; for He shall tread down our enemies.” He gives us courage in battle, patience in trial, strength in labour. Our salvation was begun by Him, and He alone can perfect it. To Him be all the praise. “Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory,” &c.
God in Christ is the beginning and the end, the commencement and the crown, of human perfection. “For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the Head of all principality and power.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain The presence of God with His people after disciplinary…
The presence of God with His people after disciplinary dealings.
To the chief musician, upon Shushan-eduth: Michtam of David, to teach: when he strove with the Syrians of Mesopotamia, and with the Syrians of Zobah; when Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the valley of salt, twelve thousand.*
Read full note →
{*In 2Sa 8:12 (q.v.) the victory is in the Hebrew copies over Aram (Syria), but "Edom" manifestly right. It is ascribed there also to David as king, instead of Joab as general; of whom Abishai (named in 1Ch 18:12) was probably the lieutenant. The difference in numbers also (Sam. and Chron., eighteen thousand) may be the difference between those slain in the main battle, as compared with the whole contest.}
The closing psalm of this Michtam series fills very plainly its place as a fifth psalm. It speaks on the one hand of disciplinary dealings of God with His people under which they have suffered, and on the other, of God turning again to be with them; after the discipline has done its work. Again, it is a Deuteronomic psalm, as contemplating restored Israel, like the Israel of the wilderness of old, just ready to enter upon her inheritance in the land, to "divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth." This also shows, as we saw in the last one, how far beyond the immediate occasion which prompted them; these prophetic psalms reach. To "divide Shechem" supposes a new occupancy of the land, such as could not, one would say, at all connect with the Syro-Edomitish war to which the title refers; and such inapplicable things in an inspired composition may well have been permitted expressly to prevent the thought of the immediate application being the whole or the main thing. And this is the case probably with all prophecies. The Spirit of God makes the object which is immediately in view to stand for some object connected with that final consummation, to which as a matter of hope or warning He is constantly directing our attention, -on which all prophetic lines converge. Thus it is that Peter gives us as of primary importance his noted canon of hermeneutics, that "no prophecy of the Scripture is of private" -literally, "its own" -"interpretation." To detach it from the general body of the prophetic Scripture is necessarily to misread it, and pervert it from its proper place and use.
Shushan-eduth, "the lily of testimony," in the title here, naturally carries us back to the forty-fifth psalm; with its "lilies" -shoshannim. And it is as natural to think of the fourth verse here in explanation of the "testimony": "Thou hast given a banner to them that fear Thee, that they may stand up because of the truth." As the forty-fifth psalm also is "a song of the beloved" or "of loves," so here the fifth verse follows the fourth with the prayer, "that thy beloved ones may be delivered." Israel is evidently the "lily of testimony"; and it is "among the thorns," -in tribulation, out of which it is brought in triumph by the power and grace of God.
"Michtam of David, to teach," is surely not difficult to understand, if the character of every michtam was epigrammatic, and to give maxims of faith, worthy to be durably engraved upon the memory. If this be the purport of it also, some special emphasis must be put upon the "teaching" in this case, which would suit well also with the character of this psalm; previously noticed, as a deuteronomic fifth.
The psalm has twelve verses, altered from the usual division into 4 x 3 by the shortening of the second section by one verse, which is added to the last one.
1. The first section is the language of conviction on the part of the latter-day remnant, speaking for the nation. They own that in the ruin into which they have been brought, God’s hand has been against them. It is He who has cast them off and scattered them: He has been displeased. They own it, -own, therefore, their guilt, and plead for restoration.
The figures of the second verse are those of an earthquake which has rent the land, and with which it is still shaking. An earthquake is a common figure of social convulsions, which, though they come from beneath, are signs of divine displeasure. All the bonds that unite men together have their security in that which unites them to God. Let this be broken through, there must be "breaches" between man and man; the blow which shatters the political fabric coming from below -from the volcanic heavings of fermenting elements that lie everywhere below the surface, the passions of men ready always to discharge themselves, if the repression of the divine hand be removed. "Earthquakes in divers places" the Lord associates with other signs of the approaching end (Mat 24:7); and the sympathy between man and nature (which has been commonly recognized, but which the occupation with mere material causes leads men to overlook or deny) may well manifest itself in literal outbreaks of this nature. God warns man who will not otherwise hear, by such appeals to his grosser senses; real intelligence would find in them; beyond this, the parables of divine speech.
The convulsions of the land the psalmist interprets in their inner meaning. It is the wine of trembling which God has been causing His people to drink. He has given them up to intoxication, to find the strength of a cup sweet enough to the taste at first, in result the confusion of all their faculties.
2. But there is still ground of appeal to God, and that in effect because of His whole nature. His truth and His love abide, and may be the sure confidence of His people in their distress. The psalmist has already uttered that word, "Thy people," a relationship which for long Israel has had no right to claim. But when they shall accept the punishment for their iniquity, then shall their faithful God be ready with His mercy, as He has promised. For "it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations whither Jehovah thy God hath driven thee, and shalt return unto Jehovah thy God, and shalt obey His voice according to all that I have commanded thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart and with all thy soul, that then Jehovah thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee" (Deu 30:1-3).
Thus and in these circumstances will Israel be able to claim God as their God in the days to which these psalms, as we have seen, look forward. And thus the psalmist can now speak of a "standard" which God has put into the hands of those that fear Him, that they may "up-standard themselves," as Delitzsch puts it, "because of the truth." It is hard to express the thought without circumlocution, in English; but the giving them a standard acknowledges them in their corporate relationship, -puts them together, makes of a defeated rabble an army, -and, by His (loin. it, takes them once more as His own. So that now in lifting the standard, they lift themselves up, -they stand up: they are nationalized again, as really the people of God.
The last words here, because of truth," are difficult because of their abstract character. The word (qoshet*) occurs only once beside (Psa 22:21), where it is translated "certainty"; and the Chaldaic form is found twice in Daniel (Dan 2:47; Dan 4:37), in both cases rendered "truth." These passages favor the meaning suggested by the context, that it refers to the absolute fidelity of God to the word He has spoken. His immutable promise is indeed itself a standard under which they may gather with perfect assurance: it is exact, precise truth," as Schultens renders it, "weighed, as it were, in the evenest balance."
{*The Septuagint reads "the bow" (qesheth instead of qoshet), and of course changes the whole meaning: "Thou hast given a token to them that fear thee, that they might flee from the bow." This it is needless to discuss, as it has no probability in its favor; though the Vulgate follows it, and such critics as Cheyne naturally prefer it.}
But truth does not dwell alone, with God. His heart goes with it. So the psalmist has another plea, -an appeal to the other side of the divine nature: ’ that Thy beloved ones may be delivered, save with Thy right hand. and answer me." How good to know that God has a heart; and that, not a Master, but a Father’s arms, welcome the wanderers! It is the same story essentially, whether we read it in the Old Testament or in the New: for God is the same; only in the New Testament the sun has burst through all the clouds. God was always Light: He now is "in the light."
3. Possession of the land is at once anticipated. "God has spoken in His holiness: I will rejoice; I will divide Shechem; and mete out the valley of Succoth." God has spoken in His holiness: in His grace to them surely, but grace has brought them into true-hearted subjection to Him; so that it is in holiness He can act for them. Israel is in fact now to be the proclaimer of divine holiness to the ends of the earth. But divine favor towards Israel is inseparably connected with their possession of the land; at once therefore they anticipate this. They are going to divide Shechem on the west of Jordan, and the valley of Succoth on the east side: to take possession of both sides of the river. Only these two places are named; but these imply that all the rest is theirs. Shechem and Succoth do not indeed at first sight seem like representative places, especially the latter, and yet in some sense they must be: there must be some special suitability in them to express the divine thought as to this repossession of what they had lost before. They are not again to lose it; and notice, to begin with, that they are now in the track of their father Abraham. Jacob’s name connects itself with both places; but his record in connection with them is one of failure, and has no pleasant memory attaching to it. In Abraham’s case it is far otherwise. Shechem is the first place in which he rests after reaching the land, and there it is that he has the first promise of the land itself. Shechem means "shoulder," which Issachar afterwards (like the nation hitherto) "bowed, to bear, and became a servant for tribute," imposed by masters which he had preferred to God. Abraham bows his shoulder to God at the oak Moreh, ("instructor,") to learn of Him; and to find blessing at His hand. Shechem stands thus for the spirit of obedience, as it was in fact afterward the place at which Israel heard the law, with its blessings and curses, proclaimed when they entered the land under Joshua. The history soon showed indeed that they knew not the meaning of it; but when they enter the land under the new covenant, it will be with the law written upon their heart. The spirit of obedience will now therefore be fully theirs; so that they will for the first time be able to take complete possession of (or "divide") Shechem. How could their tenure of the land under the "new covenant," and in fulfillment (for the first time really) of the promise given to Abraham there, be better expressed?
But what of the "valley of Succoth"? There seems no reference here to the history at all: there is no notice of it except in that part of Jacob’s which seems to be failure throughout. On the other hand, the types speak with the clearest and most beautiful significance. Succoth means "booths" or "tabernacles"; and it is the word used for that "feast of tabernacles" which is the last of Israel’s sacred year, and which, as the commemoration of their wilderness wanderings as ended, by those now in the land, carries them on in figure to those millennial days in which their longer wanderings as strangers among the Gentiles shall be over forever, and their final rest be come. Thus Succoth follows Shechem here in a most beautiful manner, and the two together establish the prophetic meaning of the psalm conclusively.
But now the tribes appear as if gathering to enter upon their inheritance. Again, only representative names are given. "Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine Ephraim also is the strength of my head; Judah is my lawgiver." Four names only are here; and of these Gilead is only part of Manasseh. They must be surely significant, as those preceding them have been seen to be: as, let us rather say, everything in Scripture is. Let us try to learn the significance.
Gilead is given by Gesenius as meaning, "hard, rocky"; but there seems, on the other hand, reason for connecting it rather with Jacob’s Galeed (Gen 31:47), "a heap of witness." It would be thus in remarkable antithesis with Manasseh, with which it is linked, and which means "forgetting." A heap of witness is for the very purpose of making forgetfulness impossible.
Manasseh as the natural first-born of Joseph we have read elsewhere (Gen 48:1-22, notes) as the first principle of spiritual "increase.": "forgetting that which is behind," says the apostle, "I press on." But Manasseh has a son, Machir, who is the father of Gilead, and whose name approaches his as closely as possible, meaning "one who recollects," Spiritually, there is no incongruity with all this contrariety: we forget what is behind in order to keep in remembrance what our goal is; and thus one springs out of the other. "The memorial heap" also, as Fausset well observes, "marked the crisis in Jacob’s life, when he became severed from his Syrian kindred, and henceforth a sojourner in and heir of Canaan."
Gilead it is we have here, and not Machir and then it is to be considered that Gilead is not just Galeed, even though the meaning be identical, as indeed the words are. A heap of witness is that we may not forget, but the tribe-name means forgetting: here, as we have seen, Israel is ending her long history of sin and sorrow, to enter into possession of her glorious future -her home with God. On the one hand, what more natural than the desire to forget so sad a story? And this, too, the God of grace has provided for by the sweet assurance pictured. for Israel in her day of atonement, when the scapegoat bears the sins of the people into a "land cut off." And this brings once again the new covenant before us, in which God says, "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."
And many have a difficulty in reconciling this with such a scripture as that which Ecclesiastes ends with, that "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." This is, of course, the Old Testament: but the New has what is similar, and in express application to Christians: "For we must all appear" -or "be made manifest" -"before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" (2Co 5:10).
That this is a very different thing from the judgment of the person "according to his works," which is the principle of the final judgment at the "great white throne" (Rev 20:11-12), should be well known to every reader of his Bible now. "He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me," says the Lord, "hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life" (Joh 5:24, Gk.). And the same chapter of Revelation shows that a thousand years before the great white throne those that belong to the first resurrection have found their blessed "part" with Christ, and reign with Him. This has been so often repeated, that I only refer to it in. this place. Scripture never confounds, as many Christians do, the saint with the sinner with regard to judgment to come, nor the "resurrection of life" with the "resurrection of judgment" (Joh 5:29).
Yet there will be a judgment of works for the saint, though not a judgment by works; a review of things done in the body, and proportionate reward or loss, according as the works which "come into judgment" abide or cannot abide that solemn manifestation. Just in this way will the precious blood of Christ be manifested also, in all its saving power, for the believer. Nothing need be hidden, nothing shall be hidden: grace shall be seen in its full glory in the presence of the sins which have stained the best life ever lived among mere men. Reward that might have been may not be, but that which depends upon the work of Christ alone cannot be lost, if that work fail not.
All shall be manifested: -to ourselves how great a gain! when the story of our lives shall be fully told, and all God’s ways with us seen in view of our own ways. Then to have the lives of others bared before us as our own lives, and to see the equal yet various dealings of God with all! The wisdom. of all time, -the harvests of all seasons, -the full store garnered up of all that had seemed to be passed away, -who would lose such riches, that once knew their value? Nay, we shall never lose them: nothing passes, nothing is lost in all eternity; our memories will be as deathless as all else: how else could knowledge of redemption itself be left to us? or how could the praises of the redeemed go on without diminution?
The psalm does not go beyond time, the earth, and Israel; but the same principles are found in it: Gilead and Manasseh abide together. Divine love will put away their sins in such sort that the sunshine of God’s favor towards them shall never know the shadow of a passing cloud; and yet the lessons of their past shall abide with them ever: the "heap of witness" shall do its blessed work. The psalmist’s voice, representing that of the nation, claims both Gilead and Manasseh. The perfect memory of the one and the forgetfulness of the other, -learned both of Him who unites them in His necessary perfection -shall be found characterizing those who go back into the land to possess it according to the perfect grace of His covenant of promise.
This unites itself, moreover, with the present verse in a very striking way: for of what does "the valley of Succoth" speak, but of the past, as looked back upon from the full blessing reached? Succoth, the "booths," refers to the wilderness-history which is for them now ended; and in these they lived, as it were their life there over again. Their Succoths were, in short, a kind of Gilead for them.
"Ephraim also is the strength of my head," continues the speaker. "Fruitful" Ephraim, with her "myriads" of people, assured her by her prophet-lawgiver, would enable Israel to lift up the head. "As arrows in the hand of a mighty man," says one of the songs of degrees, "so are children of the youth: happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate." The blessings on the head of Joseph, enlarged upon both by Jacob and Moses, show how perfectly Ephraim fulfills the name.
But the spiritual meaning shines through here also, and will be realized when Israel, redeemed. from the barrenness of her past history, shall bring forth fruit to God. The barrenness of the past has been a fruitful argument only on the lips of scoffers, as the apostle assures them; "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you" (Rom 2:24): a principle of universal application to the barren professor. Conversely, the apostle brings forward the fruitfulness of divine grace in the soul to establish it, and to assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemn us," he urges, "God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight" (1Jn 3:19-22). Thus every way "Ephraim is the strength of the head."
But "Judah is my ruler;" and this, too, carries us back to Jacob’s blessing. The spirit of worship, of which Judah speaks, is that which alone gives God. Himself His throne among men. How these psalms themselves, which the arrogant folly of a critic like Cheyne would deny to David, show this character -a praise which ever enthrones God! And this is what fits him for his own place on that representative throne, which was, as such, the "throne of Jehovah" (1Ch 29:23). Thus also the "Son of David" who is also David’s Lord, is He whose voice is heard saying, "In the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee." In Him the two thrones come together in a perfect concord, never to be broken.
Israel is now in condition to receive, therefore, the full inheritance which she has never yet received. In her most triumphant days, Moab, Edom; the Philistines, lay within what was her territory according to the original promise. The first two, indeed, were expressly spared by their divine Leader, along with Ammon, the other son of Lot, and the lands they then possessed were retained to them. But this was only temporarily; for they never turned to God; and their judgment is denounced upon them by the prophets from Balaam on. "The residue of My people shall spoil them, and the remnant of My people shall possess them," says the Lord by Zephaniah (2: 9).
Amnion is not mentioned here; but Moab, Edom, and Philistia, are; and, first of all, Moab: "Moab is my wash-pot."
When they were just upon the border of the land, at the time of their first entrance, Moab had been the guilty defiler of the people of God. Upon Midian, its ally in this, summary judgment had been executed, as we know; but Moab had escaped at that time.
"God," however, "requireth that which is past," and the deed of ancient times seems to come here into remembrance. There had, of course, been meanwhile no repentance. Israel, by summary judgment upon the seducer, washes herself clean at last.
In fact also, that which Moab seems to answer to passes away from Israel in judgment at this time. If Moab stands, as I doubt not, for mere profession (see Deu 2:8-23, notes), then we have the express statement of Isaiah to that effect. "And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem; when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughter of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning" (Isa 4:3-4).
How great a defilement indeed is the mere presence of unbelievers in the midst of the people of God! A wonder it is that, even in dead Sardis, a few should be found who had not defiled their garments (Rev 3:4). And the mere touch of death defiled in Israel. Familiar the word is, (but oh how it requires to be repeated in dull ears today!) "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? and what path hath he that believeth with an unbeliever? . . . wherefore come out from among them, and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father to you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." (2Co 6:14-18.) Measure the defilement here by the penalty implied, and what must it be in the sight of God?
Israel is cleansed now in this respect, and of necessity growing into her inheritance. Edom must next give place. The casting the shoe upon it is the sign of taking forcible possession. Edom; the enemy-brother, yields and is displaced. Typically, the old man yields to the new. And with Edom conquered, Philistia bursts into a cry of pain. Typically, this is simple: for Philistia, as we have seen in constant and progressive pictures, (Gen 20:1-18; Gen 26:1-35, Jos 13:1-33, Jdg 9:1-57, 1Sa 17:1-58, 2Sa 5:17-25; 2Sa 21:15-22: notes) is the religion of the flesh, which passes away with the "old man’s" judgment. These things would take long to unfold in any proper manner, and scarcely need, for one who has learned the meaning of the scriptures just referred to. They will be found to give one consistent meaning throughout -consistent as truth ever is, and with this consistency on every side, as only truth can be.
That Israel is beginning to fill out her divine limits is plain in the letter of it; but this is only the anticipation of faith, as we see by the final section.
4. The sudden drop in the closing part, as a fourth section emphasized in its four verses, need not surprise us. Nor is it needless, this emphasis that is laid upon the human weakness which shuts us up to God for the accomplishment of every hope. It is the creature taking the creature-place, which is, after all, its perfection as such. God is able now on His side to come in and act for us.
All is very simple here. The strength of the enemy is first glanced at: Petra, the rock city of Edom, being pre-eminently strong. They must be led into it by One who has the key to its closed door. But He! alas for the breach that has come in there! Yet, this owned, will He not act for them; shut up to Him as they are, in the vanity of all other hope? Surely He will: when did He fail those whom all else had failed? Nay, out of this utter weakness comes our strength; and the apostle is here one with the poor remnant of Israel. Experience shall make good their confidence: -"Through God we shall do valiantly: for He shall tread down our oppressors."
With this, the assurance of faith is complete: the Michtam series of psalms ends.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain Title.—(RV) 'For the Chief Musician; set to Shushan Eduth:…
Title.—(RV) 'For the Chief Musician; set to Shushan Eduth: Michtam of David, to teach: when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the Valley of Salt twelve thousand.'
Shushan-eduth ('the lily of the testimony') denotes that this Ps. was set to the same melody as Psalms 45, 69, 80. For 'Michtam'.see Psalms 16. The historical occasion in the title is described in 2Sa_8:3-8, 2Sa_8:13-14; 1Ch_18:3-8, 1Ch_18:12-13, but in these passages Abishai is mentioned instead of Joab, and the number of the slain is given as 18,000. 1 Chronicles 1Ch_8:12 is probably right in reading 'Edom' instead of 'the Syrians' (Aram) of 2Sa_8:13. The Ps., however, is plainly written after a lost battle, not after a victory. It has been suggested that while David was engaged with the Syrians in the N. of Palestine, the Edomites may have gained a temporary success in the S. before they were routed by David's generals, and that the Ps. may have been written under the shadow of this reverse. Others think that Psa_60:6-8, asserting God's sovereignty over the whole territory ruled by David, are a Davidic fragment worked into a later poem of national distress. The last six verses form the second part of Psalms 108. Psa_60:1-4 describe the defeat of Israel. The prayer in Psa_60:5 leads to a confident expectation of extensive conquests by God's assistance (Psa_60:6-12).
Read full note →
1. Turn thyself to us] RV 'restore us,' not necessarily from captivity.
2. Earth] RV 'land.' The imagery is that of an earthquake.
3. Wine of astonishment] RV 'wine of staggering,' or reeling: see Isa_51:17, Isa_51:22,; where God's wrath is similarly compared to stupefying wine.
4. That it may be displayed, etc.] Read with LXX 'that they may betake themselves to flight before the bow.' Israel has raised the standard only to flee.
5. Thy beloved] better, 'thy beloved ones.'
6f. The Psalmist gives the grounds of his confidence in God. All the nations are His, and He deals with them as He sees good.
6. Rejoice] exult as a victor. Mete] measure. Shechem.. Succoth] W. and E. of the Jordan respectively. Both places were connected with Jacob (Gen_33:17-18).
7. Gilead.. Manasseh] both E. of the Jordan, Gilead being N. of Manasseh. Ephraim.. Judah] both W. of the Jordan and again named from N. to S. They were the two most powerful Hebrew tribes, and became the heads of the separate kingdoms after Solomon's death. Hence they are distinguished, the one as the helmet (RV 'the defence of mine head'), the other as the 'sceptre' (RV) of God.
8. Moab.. Edom.. Philistia] Israel's neighbours on the E., SE., and W. respectively. They are all described as reduced to the lowest subjection. Moab is the vessel in which the conqueror's feet are washed, Edom the slave who cleans his sandals (reading 'unto Edom' with RM), or the corner into which the sandals are thrown when soiled (reading 'upon Edom' with RV). Philistia, etc.] Read, as in Psa_108:9, 'Over Philistia will I shout in triumph.'
9. The strong city] Petra, the almost impregnable capital of Edom. It is the Psalmist who now speaks, asking how Edom is to be conquered.
10. RV 'Hast not thou, O God, cast us off? And thou goest not forth, O God, with our hosts.'
11. From trouble] RV 'against the adversary.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain Michtam, a prayer.
Michtam
Michtam, a prayer.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain Psalm 60
Psalm 60
The Lord with His People
Read full note →
1. Confessions and prayer (Psa 60:1-5)
2. The inheritance anticipated (Psa 60:6-8)
3. Faith’s certainty (Psa 60:9-12)
This Psalm, “Shushan-Eduth” (the lily of testimony), also a Michtam of David, has for its beginning a confession of the godly in Israel. The Lord they acknowledge had scattered them and is angry with them. They pray for restoration. “That thy beloved may be delivered, save with Thy right hand and hear me.” Then He hears and answers in His holiness and His people rejoice as once more they possess their earthly inheritance. The casting of the shoe upon Edom means the subjugation of Edom, taking possession and making Edom a servant.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain A Hymn of War and Victory.
A Hymn of War and Victory.
To the chief musician upon Shushaneduth, to be chanted in public worship according to the melody "The Lily of Testimony," this tune indicating also the contents of the psalm as referring to God’s faithfulness in preserving His people and granting the armies of Israel victory, Michtam of David, a poem in epigrammatic form, to teach; when he strove with Aram-naharaim, that is, with Mesopotamia beyond the Euphrates, and with Aram-zobah, the Syria of Zobah, 2 Samuel 10, when Joab returned and smote of Edom, whose armies had invaded Canaan from the south, 2Sa 8:13, in the Valley of Salt, near the southwestern end of the Dead Sea, twelve thousand. David, as king, was commander-in-chief of the armies of Israel, the victory therefore being credited to him, but Joab was the general of the army, and he dispatched his brother Abishai, the commander of this expedition, which, as it seems, slew twelve thousand Edomites in one battle and a total of eighteen thousand in the entire campaign, 2Sa 8:13; 1Ch 18:12.
Read full note →
v. 1. O God, Thou hast cast us off, this being the conclusion David arrived at from the fact of Edom’s invasion; Thou hast scattered us, literally, "broken us," that is, overwhelmed, overthrown them by this incursion of the enemies; Thou hast been displeased, the visitation having the appearance of an angry punishment on the part of God. O turn Thyself to us again, literally, "Give restoration to us," giving evidence once more of His grace and favor.
v. 2. Thou hast made the earth to tremble; Thou hast broken it, the picture being that of all Canaan upset by an earthquake, to which this visitation was compared. Heal the breaches thereof, the losses caused by the enemy’s inroads, which were like the rents torn by an earthquake; for it shaketh, the entire country resembling a tottering building, in danger of collapse. And still another picture David uses to set forth the plight of stricken Israel.
v. 3. Thou hast showed Thy people hard things, laid a heavy burden upon them; Thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment, the wine of His wrath, which is intoxication, said of the commotion, of the internal confusion of spirit and of the bodily weakness, for all this had been brought about by the news of Edom’s advance. At the same time, David did not yield to utter despair; he clung to his confidence in the Lord.
v. 4. Thou hast given a banner to them that fear Thee, to which they could flee, around which they could rally, that it may be displayed because of the truth, lifted up to inspire Israel with new courage, so that they would trust in the sustaining power of His almighty hand and rely upon the faithful promises which God had made in His holiness. Selah.
v. 5. That Thy beloved, the children of God’s love, the people of Israel, may be delivered, save with Thy right hand, the symbol of His almighty power, and hear me. The plea having been made, David now continues in a strain of victory, anticipating the joy over the overthrow of the Edomites.
v. 6. God hath spoken in His holiness, by which He upheld Israel’s possession of the Promised Land. I will rejoice, exulting in the possession of the complete victory which was sure to come to Israel; I will divide Shechem, in the center of the country west of Jordan, as representing Canaan proper, and mete out the Valley of Succoth, east of Jordan, his measuring out of the land showing him to be in undisputed possession of it.
v. 7. Gilead is mine and Manasseh is mine, representing the northeastern section of the country held by the children of Israel; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head, his helmet, for this tribe had obtained the right of the first-born, Gen 48:5-19; 1Ch 5:1; Judah is my lawgiver, his scepter, for the kings of Judah were of the family of David, the descendant of Judah, and they were the bearers of the Messianic promise, 1Ch 5:2;
v. 8. Moab, here mentioned by way of contrast, is my wash-pot, being obliged to perform the work of a servant in holding a wash-basin for the king; over Edom will I cast out my shoe, to indicate that this country was reduced to the rank of a slave; Philistia, triumph thou because of me, rather, "cry aloud," as one who has been overcome and is now wailing in anguish and terror. The victory being so certain, the conqueror is eager to start on his victorious march.
v. 9. Who will bring me into the strong city, the capital of the Idumeans, the renowned fortress Petra? Who will lead me into Edom?
v. 10. Wilt not Thou, O God, to whom he here confidently turns, which hadst cast us off, as he had complained in v. 1, and Thou, O God, which didst not go out with our armies? by permitting this reversal to strike them.
v. 11. Give us help from trouble, affording them deliverance from the enemy; for vain is the help of man, this conviction being the basis of every trustful prayer.
v. 12. Through God we shall do valiantly, sure of winning the victory; for He it is that shall tread down our enemies. "Israel conquers in God, and God, who is in Israel, will deservedly trample Edom under foot through Israel. " (Delitzsch. ) That is the nature of a true prayer, that it is certain of the best fulfillment by virtue of God’s favor; for God’s answer to the prayer of believers always accords with their best interests.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Parallelism is common in Hebrew poetry. (See: Poetry and Parallelism)
Read full note →
For the chief musician
"This is for the director of music to use in worship"
set to Shushan Eduth
This probably tells what tune or musical style to use when singing the psalm. AT: "sing this psalm using the tune of 'Shushan Eduth'" or "sing this using the Shushan Eduth style"
Shushan Eduth
This means "Lily of the Promise." Translators may either write the meaning or copy the Hebrew words. (See: Translate Unknowns and Copy or Borrow Words)
A michtam
The meaning of the word "michtam" is uncertain. You may use the word "psalm" instead. This can be written as: "This is a psalm that David wrote." See how you translated this in Psalms 16:1.
Aram Naharaim ... Aram Zobah
"Aram of the two rivers ... the Aramean nation of Zobah." These are places. (See: How to Translate Names)
Joab
This refers to Joab and the army that he led. AT: "Joab and his army" (See: Synecdoche)
twelve thousand Edomites
"12,000 Edomites" (See: Numbers)
you have cast us off
God's rejecting people is spoken of as if he had thrown them away. AT: "you have rejected us" (See: Metaphor)
you have broken through our defenses
God's allowing Israel's enemies to break through their defenses is spoken of as God himself had done it. AT: "you have allowed our enemies to break through our defenses" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
chief
David
Aram
Joab
Edom
God
anger
restore
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Ps 60 The psalmist laments a national defeat and…
Ps 60 The psalmist laments a national defeat and cries out to God for rescue.
60:title useful for teaching: This psalm was taught to young people as part of their education. • regarding the time: See 2 Sam 8:13-14. • Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah refer to the Arameans of northwest Mesopotamia and Syria (see study note on Gen 24:10). • The tune “Lily of the Testimony” is unknown today.
Read full note →
60:1-4 When God’s people experience his discipline, they affirm their loyalty and await God’s answer.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.