I. THE PLAINT. EXPOSTULATION AT APPARENT DELAY (1-2). "Me ... My enemy." David Sighs.
II. THE PRAYER. ENTREATY IN ACUTE DISTRESS (3-4). "Mc ... My enemy." David Supplicates. III. THE PRAISE. EXULTATION IN ANTICIPATED DELIVERANCE (s-6). "Thou (Jehovah) .... Me." David Sings. SUPERSCRIPT.-A psalm of David. SUBSCRIPT.-For the Chief Musician. PRIMARY AssocIATION.-Expresses David's emotions when he had been for some ti1ne a hunted fugitive from Saul's presence. His powers of endurance are almost spent; he feels that unless God comes speedily to his deliverance, he 1nust succumb, and his enemies will then triumph, see I Sam. xxvii. r. One powerful and relentless enemy is singled out above the rest of his adversaries; c£ 1 Sam. XVlll. 29. PROPHETIC ANTICIPATION.-A "remnant" psalm belonging to the period of Daniel's seventieth "week." Saul, the king of Israel's own choice, is again seen as a type of the coming Antichrist, accepted by the mass of the apostate nation, but oppressor of the godly remnant; c£ r Sam. viii. 4-9, 19-22; xii. 13; with John v. 43, etc. PERSONAL APPLICATION.-Thc wliole psalm expresses the common experience of saints in distress passing out of the shadow into the sunshine. Convert complaint into prayer and confidence will come. "How long?" indicates not hopeless despair but heart-agonising desire, r-2. God's seeming delays are designed to test the reality of our faith, 1-2. Protracted prayers are not proportionately powerful. Brevity is born of urgency, 3. David's prayer was precise and con cise, 3. Enlightened eyes are those that have looked upon the glory of His face, 3; they cannot but reflect the Light, c£ Pss. iv. 6; xxxi. 16; xxxvf. 9. Every believer should be deeply concerned lest the enemy sin should triumph over us, 4. The shadow passes, but the sun abides, 5-6. Faith relies upon God's loving-kindness (grace) and rejoices in His salvation, 5-6. Faith turhs weights into wings, 5-6. As we pray, hope is rekindled and faith revived, 5-6. Note the close relations between the psalmist and his Saviour expressed in the pronouns of each line, 5-6. Every believer can surely join with David, 6.
VERSE NOTES 1. See Isa. xlix. 15; liv. 8 and Mark iv. 38. 2. I.e. devising one plan after another, but all in vain; "mine enemy," for the phrase, see 1 Sam. xxiv. 4; xxvi. 8; "exalted," i.e. in authority and having the upper hand. David has Saul in mind. 3. Br. "ehold, answer me," instead of hiding Thy face and forgetting my need; "lighten mine eyes," i.e. the eyes are an index of vital energy; see note on vi. 7 and cf. 1 Sam. xiv. 24-29; Ezra ix. 8. David desired restoration of declining strength and drooping spirits. Remember the spiritual application. 4. I.e. and thus Thine own honour will suffer. 5. r. "But as for me, in Thy loving kindness do I trust." (b) or, "Let my heart rejoice . .. let me sing;" "rejoice"= exult. Faith at last triumphs over fears.
This book has 150 chapters