Psalm 62
12 verses · BSBPsalms book hub →
Speaks with:Psalms 62×3Lamentations 3×2Isaiah 40×2Isaiah 26×3Psalms 33×1Psalms 18×1
Summary
Chapter summary
The psalm of 'only', the word tolls through it. 'My soul waiteth in silence for God only: from him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my high tower; I shall not be greatly moved.' Men of low degree are vanity, men of high degree a lie; together lighter than vanity. 'Trust in him at all times, ye people; pour out your heart before him.' Power belongeth unto God, and lovingkindness also: 'for thou renderest to every man according to his work.'
Context
Poetry · David, Asaph, Sons of Korah, others — Psalms overview
The world behind this chapter
Psalms 62The history
Jeduthun, named in the title, was one of three men David appointed over the music of the sanctuary, alongside Asaph and Heman. His sons served as a guild under their father, so a psalm marked for Jeduthun probably names the choir that performed it or the style they used, the way a piece today might be marked for a particular ensemble.
One small Hebrew word — meaning only, or surely — opens six of the psalm's verses like a drumbeat. Only God. Only he is my rock. Only they consult to cast him down. Surely men of low degree are vanity. The repetition is the argument.
A leaning wall and a tottering fence were common sights. Ordinary walls were mudbrick set on a stone footing; when winter runoff washed out the base, the whole wall tilted and then came down all at once, usually without warning. That is the psalm's picture of a man everyone assumed was solid.
Weighing men in the scales is a market image. Trade ran on balance scales with stone weights, and inscribed shekel weights have been dug up all over Judah. The psalm puts high and low on the pan together and finds the beam does not even move.
What it meant to them
People were tempted by two things: getting rich by squeezing others, and attaching themselves to someone powerful. The song weighs both and finds nothing there.
What it leaves standing is a pair of facts said to be heard once and twice — power belongs to God, and mercy belongs to God. First hearers were being told those two arrive together or not at all.
Sources cited
- Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews & Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Psalms 62. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.