God Will Act!

1 Save me, O God, by Your name,
And vindicate me by Your strength.
2 Hear my prayer, O God;
Give ear to the words of my mouth.
3 For strangers have risen up against me,
And oppressors have sought after my life;
They have not set God before them.
Selah

4 Behold, God is my helper;
The Lord is with those who uphold my life.
5 He will repay my enemies for their evil.
Cut them off in Your truth.
6 I will freely sacrifice to You;
I will praise Your name, O LORD, for it is good.
7 For He has delivered me out of all trouble;
And my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies.

(Verse 1) - Save me, O God, by thy name - Thou art my Savior; all around me are my foes and their eager helpers. No shelter is permitted me. Every land rejects me and denies me rest. But thou, O God, wilt give me refuge, and deliver me from all my enemies. 

By thy name - by thy great and glorious nature.  The word “name” here may include the perfections or attributes properly implied in the name. Let every one of the perfections which are blended in thy divine name work for me. Is not your honor pledged for my defense?  It is a calling on God as God, or in view of all that is implied in his name, or that constitutes the idea of “God.” That name would imply all of power and benevolence that was necessary to secure his salvation or safety. The particular object of the prayer here is that God would save him from the design of the Ziphims to betray him to Saul. In some way David seems to have been apprised of the information which they had given to Saul, or at least to have suspected it so strongly that he felt it was necessary for him to move from place to place in order to find safety.

And judge me by thy strength - Render justice to me, for none else will or can. Thou canst give me efficient justice, and right my wrongs by your omnipotence. We dare not appeal to God in a bad cause, but when we know that we can fearlessly carry our cause before his justice we may well commit it to his power.  The word “judge” here is used in the sense of declaring a judgment in his favor, or of vindicating him. (See Ps. 7:8. Compare Ps. 18:20; 26:1; 43:1). The idea is, Vindicate or save me by thy power.

(Verse 2) - Hear my prayer, O God - My earnest cry for deliverance from the designs of those who would betray me. This has ever been the defense of saints. As long as God hath an open ear we cannot be shut up in trouble. All other weapons may be useless, but all–prayer is evermore available. No enemy can spike this gun.

Give ear to the words of my mouth - Incline your ear to me, as one does who wishes to hear. The repetition of the concept is a poetic device to underscore David’s “official” appeal to god.  Vocal prayer helps the supplicant, and we keep our minds more fully awake when we can use our tongues as well as our hearts. But what is prayer if God hear not? It is all one whether we babble nonsense or plead arguments if our God grant us not a hearing. When his case had become dangerous, David could not afford to pray out of mere custom, he must succeed in his pleadings, or become the prey of his adversary.

(Verse 3) - For strangers are risen up against me - That is, foreigners; those of another nation or land. Those who had no cause for ill–will had gone against him; persons to whom he could have given no offence, for they were strangers to him. Saul and his friends who sought the life of David were his own countrymen; these persons who sought go betray him were another people. They attempted to gain the favor of Saul, or to secure a reward from him, by betraying to him an innocent man whom he was persecuting.  They were aliens to his God also, and should these be allowed to worry and destroy him. A child may well complain to his father when strangers come in to molest him? What right have they to interfere? Let them leave off meddling and mind their own concerns.

And oppressors seek after my soul - Seek after my life. The word here rendered “oppressors” means people of violence; the proud; the haughty; persecutors; tyrants. The word properly denotes those who exert their power in an arbitrary manner, or not under the sanction of law.  Saul, that persecuting tyrant, had stamped his own image on many more. Kings generally coin their own likeness. He led the way, and others followed seeking David’s soul, his blood, his life, his very existence. Cruel and intense were they in their malice, they would utterly crush the good man; no half measures would content them.

They have not set God before them - They do not act as in the presence of God. They do not regard his authority. They had no more regard for right and justice than if they knew no God, or cared for none. Had they regarded God they would not have betrayed the innocent to be hunted down like a poor harmless stag. David felt that atheism, at least in the practical sense, lay at the bottom of the enmity which pursued him. Good men are hated for God’s sake, and this is a good plea for them to urge in prayer.

The word “Selah” here merely marks a musical pause. It indicates nothing in regard to the sense.  It is as if he had said, “Enough of this, let us pause.” He is out of breath with indignation. A sense of wrong bids him suspend the music awhile. It may also be observed, that more pauses would, as a rule, improve our devotions: we are usually too much in a hurry: a little more holy meditation would make our words more suitable and our emotions more fervent.

(Verse 4) - Behold, God is mine helper - That is, God alone can aid me in these circumstances, and to him I confidently look.  He saw enemies everywhere, and now to his joy as he looks upon the band of his defenders he sees one whose aid is better than all the help of men; he is overwhelmed with a joy at recognizing his divine champion, and cries: Behold!  And is not this a theme for pious exultation in all time, which the great God protects us, his own people: what matters the number or violence of our foes when HE uplifts the shield of his omnipotence to guard us, and the sword of his power to aid us? Little care we for the defiance of the foe while we have the defense of God.  Such language as this may show us that David did not direct his prayers at random into the air, but offered them in the exercise of a lively faith. There is much force in the demonstrative adverb. He points as it were with the finger, to that God who stood at his side to defend him; and was not this an amazing illustration of the power with which faith can surmount all obstacles, and glance in a moment from the depths of despair to the very throne of God? He was a fugitive among the dens of the earth, and even there in hazard of his life - how then could he speak of God as being near to him? He was pressed down to the very mouth of the grave; and how could he recognize the gracious presence of God? He was trembling in the momentary expectation of being destroyed; and how is it possible that he can triumph in the certain hope that divine help will presently be extended to him? In numbering God among his defenders, we must not suppose that he assigns him a mere common rank among the people who supported his cause, which would have been highly derogatory to his glory. He means that God took part with there, such as Jonathan and others, who were interested in his welfare. These might be few in number, possessed of little power, and east down with fears; but he believed that, under the guidance and protection of the Almighty, they would prove superior to his enemies; or perhaps we may view him as referring in the words to his complete destitution of all human defenders, and asserting that the help of God would abundantly compensate for all.

The Lord is with them that uphold my soul - My friends; those who have rallied around me to defend me; those who comfort me by their presence; those who sustain me in my cause, and who keep me from sinking under the burden of my accumulated troubles.  The reigning Lord, the great is in the camp of my defenders. Here was a greater champion than any of the three mighty men, or than all the valiant men who chose David for their captain. The Psalmist was very confident, he felt so thoroughly that his heart was on the Lord’s side that he was sure God was on his side. He asked in the first verse for deliverance, and here he returns thanks for upholding: while we are seeking one mercy which we have not, we must not be unmindful of another which we have it is a great mercy to have some friends left us, but a greater mercy still to see the Lord among them, for like so many ciphers our friends stand for nothing till the Lord sets himself as a great unit in the front of them.

(Verse 5) – He shall reward evil unto mine enemies - “Those that observe me.” The original word here means literally “to twist, to twist together;” then, to press together; then, to “oppress,” or to treat as an enemy. The reference here is to those who pressed upon him as enemies, or who endeavored to crush him. The idea is that God would recompense them for this conduct, or that he would deal with them as they deserved. They worked for evil, and they shall have their wages. It cannot be that malice should go unavenged. It was cruelty to the good to be lenient to their persecutors. It is appointed, and so it must ever be, that those who shoot upward the arrows of malice shall find them fall upon themselves. The recoil of their own gun has often killed oppressors.

Cut them off in thy truth - In thy faithfulness; in thy regard for what is right. This is simply a prayer, or an expression of strong confidence, that God would deal with them as they deserved, or that he would not suffer such conduct to pass without a proper expression of his sense of the wrong. There is no evidence that David in this prayer was prompted by private or vindictive feeling. Not in ferocious revenge is this spoken, but as an Amen to the sure sentence of the just Judge. Let the veracity of thy threatenings be placed beyond dispute, the decree is right and just, let it be fulfilled. It is not a private desire, but the solemn utterance of a military man, a grossly injured man, a public leader destined to be a monarch, and a man well trained in the school of Moses, whose law ordains eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.

(Verse 6) – I will freely sacrifice unto thee - The Hebrew words rendered “freely,” mean with “willingness, voluntary-ness, and spontaneous-ness.” The idea is, that he would do it of a free or willing mind; without constraint or compulsion; voluntarily. The reference is to a free-will or voluntary offering, as distinguished from one, that was prescribed by law. (See Exo. 35:29; 36:3; Lev. 7:16; 22:18; Num. 15:3; 29:39). The idea is, that as the result of the divine interposition which he prayed for, he would bring voluntary offerings to God in acknowledgment of his goodness and mercy. So certain is he of deliverance that he offers a vow by anticipation. His overflowing gratitude would load the altars of God with victims cheerfully presented. The more we receive, the more we ought to render. The spontaneousness of our gift is a great element in their acceptance; the Lord loveth a cheerful giver.

I will praise thy name, O LORD - I will praise thee. (See Ps. 52:9). As if no amount of sacrifice could express his joyful feelings, he resolves to be much in vocal thanksgiving. The name which he invoked in prayer (verse 1), he will now magnify in praise. Note how roundly he brings it out: “O Jehovah.” This is ever the grand name of the revealed God of Israel, a name which awakens the sublimest’ sentiments, and so nourishes the most acceptable praise. None can praise the Lord so well as those who have tried and proved the preciousness of his name in seasons of adversity.

For it is good - That is, God himself is benevolent; and David says that he would express his sense of God’s goodness by offering him praise. God’s name is good, and so is his praise, it is of great use to our souls to be much in praise; we are never so holy or so happy as when our adoration of God abounds. Praise is good in itself, good to us, and good to all around us. If David’s enemies are described in the third verse as not setting God before them, he here declares that he is of a different mind from them, for he resolves to have the Lord in perpetual remembrance in his sacrifices and praises.

(Verse 7) – For he hath delivered me out of all trouble - This is spoken either in confident expectation of what would be, or as the statement of a general truth that God did deliver him from all trouble. It was what he had experienced in his past life; it was what he confidently expected in all time to come. Up to that time deliverance had come, and for that danger also he felt that rescue was near. David lived a life of dangers and hair–breadth ’scapes, yet was he always safe. In the retrospect of his very many deliverances he feels that he must praise God, and looking upon the mercy which he had sought as though it were already received, he sang this song over

“And a new song is in my mouth,
To long loved music set,
Glory to thee for all the grace
I have not tasted yet.”

Out of all trouble our covenant God is pledged to bring us, and therefore even now let us uplift the note of triumph unto Jehovah, the faithful preserver of them that put their trust in him. Thus far we have proved his promise good; he changes not, and therefore in all the unknown future he will be equally our guardian and defence, “showing himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.”

And mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies - The words “his desire” are not in the original. A literal translation would be, “And on my enemies hath my eye looked.” The meaning is, that they had been overthrown; they had been unsuccessful in their malignant attempts against him; and he had had the satisfaction of “seeing” them thus discomfited. Their overthrow had not merely been reported to him, but he had actually seen its reality. This is not the expression of malice, but of certainty. The fact on which the eye of the psalmist rested was his own safety. Of that he was assured by what he had witnessed with his own eyes; and in that fact he rejoiced. There is no more reason to charge malignity in this case on David, or to suppose that he rejoiced in the destruction of his enemies as such, than there is in our own case when we are rescued from impending danger. It is proper for Americans to rejoice in their freedom, and to give thanks to God for it; nor, in doing this, is it to be supposed that there is a malicious pleasure in the fact that in the accomplishment of this thousands of British soldiers were slain, or that thousands of women and children as the result of their discomfiture were made widows and orphans. We can be thankful for the mercies which we enjoy without having any malignant delight in those woes of others through which our blessings may have come upon us.

When our cause is the cause of God, and there is full sympathy with him in the triumph of right, this language is justified. Both private parties, however, and nations are in some danger, when they suppose their circumstances to be analogous with those of David.  He knew that yet he should look on his haughty foes, gazing down on them in triumph as now they looked on him in contempt. He desired this as a matter of justice, and not of personal pique. His righteous soul exulted because he knew that unprovoked and gratuitous malice would meet with a righteous punishment. Could we keep out of our hearts all personal enmity as fully as the Psalmist did in this Psalm, we might yet equally feel with him a sacred acquiescence and delight in that divine justice which will save the righteous and overthrow the malicious.

Like David, we need to think our way through the difficulties of life.  It is interesting in the Psalms that David, time and again, begins a psalm with a story of difficulty and oppression, and then, thinking his way along, comes to the place of praise and worship as he remembers that God is with him and will inevitably and completely deliver him!  That is where we find ourselves in this part of Psalm 51 – David is opposed and oppressed and he is feeling the pressure and the danger.  In his flesh he feels outgunned and hopeless!  Yet, in his spirit – he knows that God is with him and for him and that god will act to cause him to prevail!

I need to remember this same thing!  God will undertake for me whenever and wherever His purposes need to be exalted and vindicated in my life!  I can trust the He will act on my behalf!