Psalm 57

Psalms 57:1-2

The Hebrew title, which this page's text does not show, reads To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave, commonly tied to the cave country of Adullam or En-gedi, though the commentators are divided which flight the title names. The cry be merciful, said twice in one breath, moves straight into a picture of shelter, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, the same image Ruth 2:12 and Psalm 91:4 use of a bird gathering its young. Calamities in verse 1 are named only as things that will pass over, and verse 2 turns the plea to God most high, the title used of God since Melchizedek at Genesis 14:18, who performeth all things for me.

Psalms 57:3-5

He shall send from heaven and save me answers the shelter of verse 1 with an active rescue, mercy and truth pictured as two messengers sent out, the same pairing Psalm 43:3 uses of light and truth sent to lead the psalmist home. The reproach of him that would swallow me up names Saul without naming him, and the lions of verse 4 fit a cave setting exactly, teeth like spears and arrows meaning the words of his pursuers rather than literal beasts. Verse 5 lifts the prayer above the danger entirely, Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and this same line closes the psalm again at verse 11, framing the whole prayer between one plea for God's own glory.

Psalms 57:6-8

The trap in verse 6, a net for my steps and a pit dug before him, turns back on the diggers themselves, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves, the same reversal Psalm 7:15 and Psalm 9:15 describe as the wicked's own devising catching them. My heart is fixed, said twice in verse 7, marks the turn from complaint to resolve, matched in verse 8 by a call to the psalmist's own instruments, awake, psaltery and harp, and to his own soul, my glory, a word some of the older commentators connect to the word for the tongue as the soul's glory. Spurgeon reads the pit already sprung, the enemy already fallen, as the ground for the resolve that follows.

Psalms 57:9-11

The praise widens past Israel, among the people and among the nations, mercy great unto the heavens and truth unto the clouds answering the mercy and truth sent out in verse 3. Psalm 108 opens by taking these same lines almost word for word, verses 7 to 11 of this psalm becoming verses 1 to 5 of that one, a combination the commentators note without dispute over which psalm came first. Verse 11 repeats verse 5 exactly, Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, closing the psalm on the same prayer for God's glory that divided it at its center.