Psalm 57

The limestone spine of Judah is honeycombed with caves, some large enough to shelter a few hundred people. Two cave episodes are recorded in David's life: the stronghold at Adullam, where his family and a few hundred debtors and outcasts joined him, and the caves above En-gedi, where fresh springs come out of the cliff face and wild goats still work the ledges. A cave gave shelter and a defensible mouth. It also had one exit.

The phrase in the title meaning destroy not heads several psalms and is probably a tune name. It carries an echo, though: it is the plea Moses made for Israel after the golden calf, and it is close to what David said about refusing to strike Saul when he had the chance.

Lions were not a figure of speech. They still lived in the thickets along the Jordan in this period; Assyrian kings hunted them for sport and put the scenes on palace walls. So were the traps — hunters dug pits and covered them with brush along game trails, and the psalm's picture of men digging a pit and falling into it themselves was something everyone had seen happen to an animal.

Waking up the harp before dawn was a real practice, later formalised: the temple singers began before the morning sacrifice, so the music started while it was still dark.