Sunday Sermonette: David Kvetches

We have two short psalms and one long one today. "Mahalath" in Psalm 53 is probably a kind of stringed instrument,  perhaps similar to a guitar. The singer believes that all of humanity is depraved. This seems to have been written at some time of ill fortune, but the context is not specified.

 

Psalm 54 refers to an incident in 1 Samuel 23. David was hiding from Saul in the wilderness of Ziph, when the Ziphites (presumably some Ziphites, or their representatives) went to Saul and told him where David was to be found. Saul and his army went to capture David, but they were called away to respond to a Philistine attack and David escaped.

Psalm 55 is a lengthy complaint about treachery by an unspecified friend. It seems likely that this is meant to refer to Ahitophel, a counselor of David who joined Absalom's rebellion, as described in 1 Samuel 15. I will just note that most of the psalms seem to be grounded in the Deuteronomistic History -- we don't see references to the Torah history, although it is more central to worship in the diaspora. This may be a clue to how the Jewish religion evolved in the exilic and post-exilic period.

53 The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
    there is none that does good.

² God looks down from heaven
    upon the sons of men
to see if there are any that are wise,
    that seek after God.

³ They have all fallen away;
    they are all alike depraved;
there is none that does good,
    no, not one.

⁴ Have those who work evil no understanding,
    who eat up my people as they eat bread,
    and do not call upon God?

⁵ There they are, in great terror,
    in terror such as has not been!
For God will scatter the bones of the ungodly;^[a]
    they will be put to shame,^[b] for God has rejected them.

⁶ O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
    When God restores the fortunes of his people,
    Jacob will rejoice and Israel be glad.

Footnotes

1. Psalm 53:5 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb him who encamps against you
2. Psalm 53:5 Gk: Heb you will put to shame

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, “David is in hiding among us.”

54 Save me, O God, by thy name,
and vindicate me by thy might.
² Hear my prayer, O God;
    give ear to the words of my mouth.

³ For insolent men^[a] have risen against me,
    ruthless men seek my life;
    they do not set God before them.Selah

⁴ Behold, God is my helper;
    the Lord is the upholder^[b] of my life.
⁵ He will requite my enemies with evil;
    in thy faithfulness put an end to them.

⁶ With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to thee;
    I will give thanks to thy name, O Lord, for it is good.
⁷ For thou hast delivered me from every trouble,
    and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

Footnotes

1. Psalm 54:3 Another reading is strangers
2. Psalm 54:4 Gk Syr Jerome: Heb of or with those who uphold

 

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.

55 Give ear to my prayer, O God;
and hide not thyself from my supplication!
² Attend to me, and answer me;
    I am overcome by my trouble.
I am distraught ³ by the noise of the enemy,
    because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they bring^[a] trouble upon me,
    and in anger they cherish enmity against me.

⁴ My heart is in anguish within me,
    the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
⁵ Fear and trembling come upon me,
    and horror overwhelms me.
⁶ And I say, “O that I had wings like a dove!
    I would fly away and be at rest;
⁷ yea, I would wander afar,
    I would lodge in the wilderness,Selah
⁸ I would haste to find me a shelter
    from the raging wind and tempest.”

⁹ Destroy their plans,^[b] O Lord, confuse their tongues;
    for I see violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰ Day and night they go around it
    on its walls;
and mischief and trouble are within it,
¹¹     ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud
    do not depart from its market place.

¹² It is not an enemy who taunts me—
    then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—
    then I could hide from him.
¹³ But it is you, my equal,
    my companion, my familiar friend.
¹⁴ We used to hold sweet converse together;
    within God’s house we walked in fellowship.
¹⁵ Let death^[c] come upon them;
    let them go down to Sheol alive;
    let them go away in terror into their graves.^[d]

¹⁶ But I call upon God;
    and the Lord will save me.
¹⁷ Evening and morning and at noon
    I utter my complaint and moan,
    and he will hear my voice.
¹⁸ He will deliver my soul in safety
    from the battle that I wage,
    for many are arrayed against me.
¹⁹ God will give ear, and humble them,
    he who is enthroned from of old;
because they keep no law,^[e]
    and do not fear God.Selah

²⁰ My companion stretched out his hand against his friends,
    he violated his covenant.
²¹ His speech was smoother than butter,
    yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
    yet they were drawn swords.

²² Cast your burden^[f] on the Lord,
    and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
    the righteous to be moved.

²³ But thou, O God, wilt cast them down
    into the lowest pit;
men of blood and treachery
    shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust in thee.

Footnotes

1. Psalm 55:3 Cn Compare Gk: Heb they cause to totter
2. Psalm 55:9 Tg: Heb lacks their plans
3. Psalm 55:15 Or desolations
4. Psalm 55:15 Cn: Heb evils are in their habitation, in their midst
5. Psalm 55:19 Or do not change
6. Psalm 55:22 Or what he has given you