Psalm 20

Psalms 20:1

“This entire psalm voices a prayer as spoken by holy people to the person of Christ. For since for our sakes and on our behalf he received insult when he became man, we are taught to join our prayers with his as he prays and supplicates the Father on our behalf, as one who repels both visible and invisible attacks against us.”

Psalms 20:1

“In short, the faithful, that the body may not be separated from the head, further the king's prayers by their common and united supplications. The name of God is here put for God himself and not without good reason; for the essence of God being incomprehensible to us, it behoves us to trust in him, in so far as his grace and power are made known to us.”

Psalms 20:1

"The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble." All loyal subjects pray for their king, and most certainly citizens of Zion have good cause to pray for the Prince of Peace. In times of conflict loving subjects redouble their pleas, and surely in the sorrows of our Lord his church could not but be in earnest. All the Saviour's days were days of trouble, and he also made them days of prayer; the church joins her intercession with her Lord's, and pleads that he may be heard in his cries and tears.

Psalms 20:2

“The second cause: "May he send you help from the sanctuary," that is, from the assembly of the saints. And there is a twofold assembly of the saints. One reigning with God in glory; the other fighting on earth; and from both we are helped, …”

Psalms 20:2

“That is to say, may he succor thee out of mount Sion, where he commanded the ark of the covenant to be placed, and chose for himself a dwelling-place. The weakness of the flesh will not suffer men to soar up to heaven, and, therefore, God comes down to meet them, and by the external means of grace shows that he is near them.”

Psalms 20:2

"Send thee help from the sanctuary." Out of heaven's sanctuary came the angel to strengthen our Lord, and from the precious remembrance of God's doings in his sanctuary our Lord refreshed himself when on the tree. There is no help like that which is of God's sending, and no deliverance like that which comes out of his sanctuary.

Psalms 20:3

“Remember all thy offerings,.... The spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise which Christ, as the great High Priest, offers up for his people; or which they offer by him, and are acceptable to God through him, by virtue of the incense of his mediation; or the offering up of himself, which answers to, and is the body, the sum and substance, of all the offerings of the law; they were types of this, and what they could not do this did; and therefore it is expressed in the singular number in the next clause; and accept thy burnt sacrifice.”

Psalms 20:3

"Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice. Selah." Before war kings offered sacrifice, upon the acceptance of which the depended for success; our blessed Lord presented himself as a victim, and was a sweet savour unto the Most High, and then he met and routed the embattled legions of hell. Still does his burnt sacrifice perfume the courts of heaven, and through him the offerings of his people are received as his sacrifices and oblations.

Psalms 20:4

“Grant thee according to thine own heart,.... Which is to see his seed, the travail of his soul, and to have the pleasure of the Lord prosper in his hand; to have all his people called, preserved, and glorified; and fulfil all thy counsel; whatever was agreed upon in the council and covenant of peace between him and his Father, relating to his own glory, and the salvation of his people.”

Psalms 20:4

"Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel." Christ's desire and counsel were both set upon the salvation of his people; the church of old desired for him good speed in his design, and the church in these latter days, with all her heart desires the complete fulfilment of his purpose. In Christ Jesus sanctified souls may appropriate this verse as a promise; they shall have their desire, and their plans to glorify their Master shall succeed. We may have our own will, when our will is God's will.

Psalms 20:4

“This they might in faith pray for, because they knew David was a man after God's own heart, and would design nothing but what was pleasing to him. Those who make it their business to glorify God may expect that God will, in one way or other, gratify them: and those who walk in his counsel may promise themselves that he will fulfil theirs.”

Psalms 20:5

"We will rejoice in thy salvation." In Jesus there is salvation; it is his own, and hence it is called thy salvation; but it is ours to receive and ours to rejoice in. We should fixedly resolve that come what may, we will rejoice in the saving arm of the Lord Jesus. The people in this psalm, before their king went to battle, felt sure of victory, and therefore began to rejoice beforehand; how much more ought we to do this who have seen the victory completely won!

Psalms 20:5

“But we may look further; these prayers for David are prophecies concerning Christ the Son of David, and in him they were abundantly answered; he undertook the work of our redemption, and made war upon the powers of darkness.”

Psalms 20:6

“Now know I that the Lord saveth his Anointed,.... Not David, though he was the anointed of the God of Jacob, and was anointed with material oil to be king of Israel by Samuel, at the express order of God himself; but David is not here speaking of himself, nor the church of him, but of the Messiah; anointed by Jehovah king over his holy hill of Zion, with the oil of gladness, or the Holy Spirit.”

Psalms 20:6

"Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed." We live and learn, and what we learn we are not ashamed to acknowledge. He who thinks he knows everything will miss the joy of finding out new truth; he will never be able to cry, "now know I, " for he is so wise in his own conceit that he knows all that can be revealed and more. Souls conscious of ignorance shall be taught of the Lord, and rejoice as they learn. Earnest prayer frequently leads to assured confidence.

Psalms 20:6

“He speaks as if suddenly assured of a hearing. his anointed--not only David personally, but as the specially appointed head of His Church. his holy heaven--or, literally, "the heavens of His holiness," where He resides (Ps 2:6; 11:4). saving . . . hand--His power which brings salvation.”

Psalms 20:6

“Now that so many who have an interest in heaven are praying for him he doubts not but that God will hear him, and grant him an answer of peace, which will, 1. Take its rise from above: He will hear him from his holy heaven, of which the sanctuary was a type ( Heb. ix. 23 ), from the throne he hath prepared in heaven, of which the mercy-seat was a type.”

Psalms 20:7

“They trusted in horses and chariots, he is saying, and enjoyed no benefit from them but were caught up in unseen entanglements and collapsed. We, by contrast, invoked divine assistance, and won salvation in visible manner and emerged superior to the adversaries.”

Psalms 20:7

“Contrasts frequently bring out the truth vividly, and here the church sets forth the creature confidences of carnal men in contrast with her reliance upon the Prince Immanuel and the invisible Jehovah. "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses." Chariots and horses make an imposing show, and with their rattling, and dust, and fine caparisons, make so great a figure that vain man is much taken with them; yet the discerning eye of faith sees more in an invisible God than in all these.”

Psalms 20:7

“Note, those who make God and his name their praise may make God and his name their trust. See the difference in the issue of their confidences and by that we are to judge of the wisdom of the choice; things are as they prove; see who will be ashamed of their confidence and who not,”

Psalms 20:8

“They say these things will happen in the time of the advent of that Savior. Then all the powers of the adversaries and those hidden and secret enemies of God who have turned their backs on the Savior will be laid low. All who receive that Savior will rise from the first fall. Therefore, Simeon says, "Behold, this child is destined to cause the rising and falling of many," namely, the ruin of his enemies and adversaries and the resurrection of those who, having fallen once, have been rescued by him.”

Psalms 20:8

“How different the end of those whose trusts are different! The enemies of God are uppermost at first, but they ere long are brought down by force, or else fall of their own accord. Their foundation is rotten, and therefore when the time comes it gives way under them; their chariots are burned in the fire, and their horses die of pestilence, and where is their boasted strength? As for those who rest on Jehovah, they are often cast down at the first onset, but an Almighty arm uplifts them, and they joyfully stand upright.”

Psalms 20:9

"O Lord." The conclusion of this entire Psalm is set forth: which indeed seems to tend to two things. For it petitions either for the true Christ or for Christ figuratively. As to the first he says, "O Lord, save the king," that is, Christ. …

Psalms 20:9

The Psalm is here recapitulated. That Jesus might himself be delivered, and might then, as our King, hear us, is the two-fold desire of the Psalm. The first request is granted, and the second is sure to all the seed; and therefore we may close the Psalm with the hearty shout, "God save the King." "God save King Jesus, and may he soon come to reign."

Psalms 20:9

“Or it may refer to the Messiah, that King, that King of kings; let him hear us when we call; let him come to us according to the promise, in the time appointed; let him, as the great Master of requests, receive all our petitions and present them to the Father.”