April 2, 2020 – God’s Salvation and Rest
Continuing our reading plan from NEBC-San Antonio, today we look at Psalm 3.
Morning Prayer of Trust in God.
A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.
1 O Lord, how my adversaries have increased!
Many are rising up against me.
2 Many are saying of my soul,
“There is no deliverance for him in God.” Selah.
3 But You, O Lord, are a shield about me,
My glory, and the One who lifts my head.
4 I was crying to the Lord with my voice,
And He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.
5 I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
Who have set themselves against me round about.
7 Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God!
For You have smitten all my enemies on the cheek;
You have shattered the teeth of the wicked.
8 Salvation belongs to the Lord;
Your blessing be upon Your people! Selah. (NASB)
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- God is our shield, our glory, and our Encourager
- When we feel all alone and there is no one to help us or encourage us, God is with us and will help us. He is not only our protector but will encourage us through these difficulties. We may have lost all of our treasure, but God is our glory.
- We can be confident in God in the midst of trials, tribulations, and difficulties. God will sustain us.
- Pray with confidence that God will deliver you. It may not today or tomorrow or even in this life, but what a hope we have to look forward to in the confidence of an eternal state where there is no crying, pain, hurt, viruses, or enemies attacking us.
CONTEXT:
The superscription of this lament psalm identifies it as written by David. In Book One (Pss. 1–41) 37 of the 41 psalms (all except 1–2; 10; 33) are ascribed to David. Psalm 3 is understood to have been written when he fled from his son Absalom (cf. 2 Sam. 15–18). This is one of the few psalm titles that ties a psalm to a specific incident in David’s life. It is a confident prayer of the king who had fled from the palace and was surrounded by enemies. All of David’s opponents were convinced that he had no hope, but God’s elect, David, found God’s safety and protection through the night and thereby had confidence in His ultimate deliverance.
There are four movements in this brief poem: (1) David’s opening lament (vv. 1-2); (2) his strong confession of trust (vv. 3-4); (3) his determined act of faith (vv. 5-6); (4) his continuing plea (vv. 7-8).
Deeper Exposition:
Verses 1-2: The psalm begins with David’s lament: many … adversaries were surrounding him. In fact, forces of the opposition had driven him from the palace and were then surrounding him. At this point in his life there was one specific adversary who troubled him greatly – his son Absalom. However, David’s friends were advising him that no one would help him, not even God. Their taunt was that he had no hope of being delivered by God. This arrogant remark was designed to say that God had abandoned David.
Verse 3: But David’s mood is changed from dejection to confidence by using the phrase “but You, O Lord.” David says three things of the Lord: one, when no one would help him, God was his “shield.” By using the metaphor of a shield, David said that God was the true Source of his protection (in spite of their taunts). The various psalmists often spoke of God as a shield to depict His protection (7:10; 18:2, 30; 28:7; 33:20; 59:11; 84:11; 115:9–11; 119:114; 144:2).
Two, when David had nothing to treasure, God was his treasure, his “glory.” Three, when no one would encourage him, God Himself would encourage him and lift his head. David was confident that God would restore him to his throne. The words “lift up my head” express restoration to dignity and position (see same idiom in Gen. 40:13, 20; 2 Kings 25:27).
All three things point to David finding comfort in God’s character in the face of antagonism.
Verse 4: The reason for David’s burst of confidence (v. 3) is expressed in verses 4–5. God had sustained him through the night in the midst of his enemies, and that protection was a token of the complete deliverance he expected. The Hebrew tenses in these verses are difficult to translate. Though they may be rendered by the English present tense, it is probably better to translate them as past tenses: “I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me” (ESV).[1] He would have said this the morning after he prayed. The “holy mountain” or “holy hill” is a poetic reference to God’s dwelling in heaven; the place of Israel’s worship was but a physical symbol of this dwelling. It is also a synonym for the temple mount.
Verse 5: The answer to David’s prayer was then explained (again in the past tense): “I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me” (ESV). Given the stress that David faced, it is remarkable that he was able to have a good night’s rest. This was possible only because of God’s sustaining power. God’s gift of rest may be given even in the most troubling times.
Verse 6: On the basis of this deliverance, David expressed his absence of fear over the ten thousand enemies who took their stand against him on every side. When God is our protector, there is no need to fear (Ps 23:4; 27:3; 118:6).
Verse 7: Verses 7-8 record David’s confident petition for complete deliverance from his enemies. In the language of lament psalms, David calls out for God to arise, meaning to move on his behalf, to incline to his prayer (Ps 40:1). Perhaps David was saying in verse 7b that God had always destroyed his enemies and consequently he prayed that God would do it again. However, it may be better to understand the verbs as expressions of his confidence—he was so sure that God would destroy them that he wrote as if it had already happened. Either way, David was confident God would work on his behalf and give David victory.
The imagery of the destruction is bold. In the poetic imagery David uses, his enemies are like powerful beasts whose strength is in their jaws (cheek) and whose terror is in their teeth. God’s strike at the source of their strength means that they are no longer a threat. The terms David use refer to crushing blows that mean God would utterly destroy his enemies.
Verse 8: David’s conclusion is instructive. Salvation comes from the Lord. Salvation (cf. Ps 28:8; 35:3; Isa 43:11), in this instance, refers to deliverance from the immediate pressure that the psalm has already described.[2] One meaning of the Hebrew word translated “salvation” is “room to breathe.”[3]
God’s people should pray to Him under similar circumstances, so that they may share in this blessing. As is the pattern in the Psalms, the experience of the individual becomes the template for the community. The psalm instructs those who are in the midst of danger to trust in the Lord for protection while they sleep (v. 5).
Sidenote: Much has been written already by brilliant theologians on the term Selah (seen here in Ps 3:2, 4, 8) that can be found through internet searches. To help, I wanted to share a brief insight into this term. It is used 71 times in Psalms and three times in Habakkuk, yet its exact meaning remains unclear. Perhaps the best guess is that it indicated a musical interlude or transition
The root word from which Selah is thought to come from means “to lift up.”[4] This has led some to believe that Selah marks a climax in the music in which the singers and musicians are to “lift up” their praise to God. It may have come into use, possibly in the exilic period, in connection with psalms used in public worship to denote those places at which the priest should pronounce a benediction. Some take it to mean ‘to lift up’ the eyes, for the purpose of repeating the verse, thus the equivalent of ‘da capo’.
Another suggestion is that Selah is an acronymic shorthand for a musical direction, somewhat similar to modern-day notations such as mf for mezzo forte (moderately loud) or pp for pianissimo (very soft). According to this theory, Selah supposedly means “change of voices” or “repeat from the beginning.”[5]
The Septuagint has diapsalma in each instance, perhaps a musical rather than a doxological interlude. The Vulgate makes it a cry of worship like “Amen” or “Hallelujah” at the close of the liturgy or at specified points within it.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Allen P. Ross, “Psalm,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1985), 791
[2] יְשׁוּעָה (yešû·ʿā(h)). DBL.
[3] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald B. Allen, H. Wayne House, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: Nelson, 1999), 649.
[4] BDB, סֶלָה (sě·lā(h)).
[5] Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald B. Allen, H. Wayne House, eds., Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary (Nashville: Nelson, 1999), 650.