Psalm 62

Psalms 62:1-2

The Hebrew title, which this page's text does not show, reads To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David, naming one of David's own chosen chief musicians, set alongside Asaph and Heman over the Levitical choirs at 1 Chr 16:41-42, whose choir this psalm was entrusted to perform. The psalm opens on waiting rather than asking, truly my soul waiteth upon God, stating its confession before any complaint is heard, he only is my rock and my salvation, he is my defence, a line the psalm repeats almost word for word at verse 6 as its own refrain. I shall not be greatly moved leaves a small margin the second telling later removes outright.

Psalms 62:3-4

The complaint finally arrives, turned as a question at the attackers themselves, how long will ye imagine mischief against a man, pictured as men who mean to push down something already leaning, a bowing wall, a tottering fence. Verse 4 names the method underneath the assault, they delight in lies, they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly, courtesy used as a weapon while the real intention runs the other way. Barnes reads the wall and fence as the psalmist's own report of how close to falling his enemies believe him to be, an estimate the psalm's opening confession has already denied.

Psalms 62:5-8

The opening confession returns as a command to himself, my soul, wait thou only upon God, the refrain of verse 2 repeated at verse 6 with greatly dropped, moved denied now without qualification. From that settled ground the psalm turns outward at verse 8, an invitation rather than a private confidence, trust in him at all times, ye people, pour out your heart before him, the exact posture just modeled offered to the whole congregation. Spurgeon marks the shift from he only, the soul's own word, to ye people, the psalm's word to everyone listening.

Psalms 62:9-10

Both ends of the social scale are weighed together and found short, men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie, laid in the same balance and found lighter than vanity itself, which is already nothing. Verse 10 turns the appraisal into a warning against two ways of climbing past that verdict, oppression and robbery, and against the quieter danger of riches gained honestly, if riches increase, set not your heart upon them. Calvin reads the warning as aimed less at the wicked outright than at the psalm's own readers, who might mistake increase for the safety only God provides.

Psalms 62:11-12

The psalm closes on a report of revelation, God hath spoken once, twice have I heard this, one utterance heard twice standing for a settled truth rather than a new one, that power belongeth unto God. Verse 12 pairs that power with mercy in the same breath, also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy, so that the God who cannot be moved is the same God who renders to every man according to his work, strength and justice held together rather than power alone. Henry reads the doubled hearing of verse 11 as the mark of certainty in Hebrew idiom, a thing repeated because already established, the same figure Joseph uses to Pharaoh at Gen 41:32.