A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.
1 LORD, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying of me,
“God will not deliver him.” – Selah3 But you, LORD, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
4 I call out to the LORD,
and he answers me from his holy mountain. – Selah5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
6 I will not fear though tens of thousands
assail me on every side.7 Arise, LORD!
Deliver me, my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.8 From the LORD comes deliverance.
Psalm 3
May your blessing be on your people. – Selah
This Psalm is the first to have a title: A Psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom. Some English bibles print this differently to the rest of the Psalm, and some ignore them altogether. This is a mistake, because in the Hebrew the title is the first verse of the Psalm. It gives valuable information about the context. Many begin “A Psalm of David”. Traditionally this has been taken to mean that David is the writer – after all we know from 1 Samuel that he could play the harp well. The Hebrew though could also mean “about David” or “concerning David” – so perhaps some of the Psalms at least were written by others, but as if from David’s perspective. Either way they are often also, as here, linked to an event in David’s life – and so give us a vital context to read the Psalm from. We shouldn’t ignore that context.
Here it should cause us to think. The Psalms of David are not arranged in chronological order through David’s life. This Psalm is set amongst events that happen towards the end of the account of David’s reign in 2 Samuel. David’s life in the books of Samuel does not follow a smooth upward trajectory.
In the first section of his life, after being anointed God’s chosen king, he spends much of the time on the run from Saul, the king at the time – many Psalms date from that period. After Saul is defeated in battle, and commits suicide David becomes king, and eventually establishes control over all Israel. But at this seeming high point things go badly wrong – David sees a beautiful married woman bathing, commits adultery with her and has her husband killed in battle.
After this David’s family falls apart. One of David’s sons, Amon, rapes one of David’s daughters, Tamar, and David does nothing. Two years later another of David’s sons, Absalom takes his revenge on Amon and kills him. Absalom flees and David mourns Amon, and longs to receive Absalom back. David allows Absalom’s return, but doesn’t fully restore the relationship and Absalom wins the hearts of the people way from David, and eventually David flees for his life – see 2 Samuel 15 to get a flavour for how it was.
It is at his point that we hear this song. These words from David, from a man on the run from his enemies, from a man whose kingdom is falling apart.
The Psalm divides into three sections, each marked at the end by the Hebrew word “Selah”.
We have no idea what this means with any certainty – so uncertain is the meaning of the word that the latest edition of the NIV relegates it to a footnote. I think that is a mistake. The word is in the Hebrew text, so we need to include it – even if we don’t know what it means. It is a reminder that our knowledge is limited. Perhaps the best guess is that it is some kind of musical notation meaning “to pause” or similar. It gives us a chance to stop and ponder what we know, and also what we don’t understand. And so to v1-2
1 LORD, how many are my foes!
Psalm 3:1-2
How many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying of me,
“God will not deliver him.” – Selah
It isn’t possible to be miss how David feels. Three times we see that “many” are against him. He has many enemies – v1, and many who say – v2 – this is the end – God will not deliver. It is a Psalm for God’s people in the midst of distress. David was surrounded, he did have to flee. It looked like the end. God’s people have often seen such times. There are no guarantees when we follow God that life will ‘work’ in the short term. This then is a Psalm for when we feel outnumbered. For when we feel life has gone wrong. For when we hear negative words around us. For when we sense that no one really believes God will pull through for us.
It can give us words to use at such times. And at such times it is the first word that matters most: “LORD” – Yahweh. The personal name for God. At such times David goes back to God. He knows God. By this point we know that David is no innocent. He isn’t even very good at times. He’s an adulterer, and a murderer, and one who lets a rapist get off free from charge. He doesn’t deserve rescue. And yet he’s here. Crying out to God. Because not only is David all those things, he is also someone who turns back to God. Who admits his guilt. Who admits he falls short. David knows his God. And so he cries out to God. And we see why in the next verses.
3 But you, LORD, are a shield around me,
Psalm 3:3-4
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
4 I call out to the LORD,
and he answers me from his holy mountain. – Selah
There may be many foes. There may be many against David. But God is not against him. Yahweh is his shield. Yahweh is his glory. Yahweh is the one who lifts his head high.
Yahweh is his shield – God is the one who protects him. He keeps him safe in the midst of turmoil. In the midst of enemies all around Yahweh is with him.
Yahweh is his glory – perhaps for glory here we could think of honour. God is the one who gives him honour. David is a king on the run, whose kingdom is falling apart. It looks like everything is over. He is on the verge of total disgrace by human standards – complete shame. But it is God who gives him honour. In David’s world having honour and not being ashamed were vital – a king on the run has precious little honour. But David knows his honour comes from God. His worth is from God – not in what the “many” around are saying.
And so Yahweh is the one who lifts his head – the one who enables him to look others in the eye and carry on. His situation is dire – but because he knows this God he is able to carry on.
He can cry out to God, and God answers from his holy mountain. God answers from where God lives. Again, see the encouragement for us. Maybe we are in a difficult situation. Perhaps, like David, it is a situation we have contributed to, a situation we made worse by either our sinfulness, or by foolishness. In such times it is hard to lift our heads. We feel worthless. We feel broken. We feel vulnerable.
But, like David, we can say “You, O LORD, are my shield” – you are the one protecting me. You are the one who gives me honour. You are the one who lifts my head and helps me stand up again. And then we come to this last part of the Psalm:
5 I lie down and sleep;
Psalm 3:5-8
I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.
6 I will not fear though tens of thousands
assail me on every side.7 Arise, LORD!
Deliver me, my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.8 From the LORD comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people. – Selah
Verses 5-6 are more wonderful encouragement. David, in the midst of fleeing his city and kingdom can lie down and sleep. He can do that because God sustains him. Even attacked by thousands he can lie down and sleep, because he is protected by God. In the midst of chaos and problems, in the midst of shame and disgrace we can know God is with us, and we can even sleep – because we know he will uphold us.
v6 to our minds would likely make a great end to the Psalm. But we still have verse 7 to contend with. The first half is a prayer for deliverance, a prayer for God to “get up” and do something. “Arise” is a term we don’t usually use any more. We don’t walk into the room of a sleeping child who needs to wake up and say “arise”. We’re more likely to say “Get up!” That is what David is saying to God. He is saying that it is time for God to take action.
The action he wants God to take is to strike his enemies on the jaw. To break the teeth of the wicked. He wants God to punch their faces. It is brutal language. It is not surprising from someone on the run. But to us who have heard Jesus say “love your enemies”, and heard his prayer from the cross “father, forgive” it seems jarring. And if we are jarred here, there is a lot more of this to come in the Psalms. A lot more enemy cursing. Is this a prayer the Christian can pray, or have we moved beyond this in Christ?
The first thing to say is that there is still judgement on enemies in the New Testament. It is something we are encouraged to leave to God, but there is still judgement to come. The wicked will finally perish. God will not allow dictators and tyrants and leaders who fire missiles against civilian targets to go unpunished. Everyone gives account of their lives to God.
The second thing is that we still feel anger. We still feel fear. We still feel surrounded. We need to do something with those feelings. And a safe place to take that anger is to God. He can handle it. He knows how we feel. So we can call on him to judge our enemies. For to call on him to punch their faces is a definite improvement on doing it ourselves. These Psalms can give us the words to bring our anger into God’s presence and invite him to deal with it.
Of course, we are called in Christ to get the point where we can forgive the person who has hurt us. When they turn and say sorry for what they have done and ask our forgiveness we need to be prepared for that. We need to not hold grudges. And yet so often we can live in times where the hurt continues. Where no one apologizes. Where many seem against us.
We should note that in this Psalm David is not dealing personally with these people. He is standing before God, calling on God to act. If we look at David’s life, judged by the standard of many kings before and after, we find someone who is astonishingly patient with people. And in the first place that is because David calls on God to act.
For it is from the LORD that rescue comes. It is by God’s work that we are saved. It is God’s hands that we leave judgement. And so the Psalm finishes with a prayer for God’s blessing to come on all his people. For God’s people to know the reality of a God who steps in to help his people – even if at times it feels like God is the one who is asleep, and that God is the one who needs to be raised.
Reading this Psalm gives us a taste of what is to come. Seeing the title reminds us that these are prayers prayed from crisis times, by people who have contributed to the crisis. This Psalm gives us words to cry out to God with when we feel surrounded and attacked. Most vitally this Psalm reminds of the identity of all who trust in this God. We are ones who are surrounded by him as a shield. We are those who know that our deepest worth is found in what God says about us. He is the one who gives us honour – because, as one modern song puts it “I am who you say I am”. He is the one who enables us to lift our heads and to live without shame.
And the only way to enter into such a life is to read these Psalms, these songs and prayers of God’s people and use these words to form our prayers and the way we think about this God.
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