Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 59:17

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 59:17. Unto thee, O my strength — A similar sentiment to that expressed, Psalms 59:9. But the words are very emphatic: God is my strength; God is my elevation. My God is my mercy. I have nothing good but what I have from God. And all springs from his dwelling in me. God, therefore, shall have all the glory, both now and for ever.

As many persons may still think that the inscription to this Psalm is correct, the following analysis may be applied in that way; or considered as containing a general resolution of the Psalm, without referring it to any particular occasion.

ANALYSIS OF THE FIFTY-NINTH PSALM

The contents of this Psalm are: -

I. The psalmist's prayer for deliverance, Psalms 59:1-2, and against his foes, Psalms 59:5.

II. He complains of and expresses his enemies' cruelty and improbity, Psalms 59:3-8.

III. He comforts himself, being confident of his own preservation, Psalms 59:8-10.

1. And of their punishment, for which he prays, Psalms 59:14.

2. And of their vain endeavours, for which he insults over them, Psalms 59:14-15.

IV. He concludes with thanks, Psalms 59:16-17.

I. He begins with a petition for deliverance, defence, salvation; and urges it from the qualities of his enemies.

1. "Deliver me, defend me from mine enemies:" 1. "Them that rise up against me." 2. "From the workers of iniquity." 3. "From bloody men." These considerations make him pray, "O my God, deliver," c.

2. And yet, more particularly, he expresses their cruelty and treachery to aggravate which he pleads his innocence towards them.

II. 1. Their cruelty: "Lo, they lie in wait for my soul."

2. Their treachery: "The mighty are gathered against me." They run and prepare themselves.

3. 1. They are diligent about it: "They return at evening." 2. Mad, and set to do it: "They make a noise like a dog," and threaten boldly. 3. Unwearied and obdurate in their purpose: "They go round about the city." 4. Impudent, and brag what they will do to me: "Behold, they belch out with their mouth." 5. And their words are bloody: "Swords are in their lips."

4. And the cause of this is, that they are proud and atheistical. Who, say they, doth hear? They think themselves secure, supposing they may contemn God and man; neither regarding what is done or becomes of poor David.

5. In the midst of which aggravations he asserts his own innocence: "They gather themselves together, not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord."

Then he renews his petition: -

1. Awake to help me, and behold: "Thou, therefore, the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel." 1. The Lord God of hosts; therefore, powerful. 2. The God of Israel; therefore, merciful.

2. "Awake to visit all the heathen," i.e., punish the heathen; and the Israelites, in this no better.

3. And be not merciful to any wicked transgressors, i.e., obstinate nations.

III. To this rage and implacable hatred of his enemies he now begins to oppose the comfort he had in God's promises. This I know, -

1. "Thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them." As it were in sport, destroy them, be their power never so great; "Thou wilt laugh them to scorn."

2. Them and all that are like them: "Thou shalt have all the heathen in derision."

3. I confess that Saul's strength is great; but my Protector is greater: "Because of his strength will I wait upon thee, for God is my defence."

4. This I am assured also, "that the God of my mercy," that hath hitherto showed me mercy, "shall prevent me," come in season to my help. "And God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies."

And to the 16th verse he expresses what his desires were: -

1. Negatively; he would not have them slain and eradicated; and he gives his reason for it: "Slay them not, lest my people forget;" for a dead man is quickly out of mind, and his punishment also, and few the better for it.

2. Positively; the first degree of which is dispersion, vagrancy, banishment. Scatter them, which however severe a judgment, let the Jews witness.

2. Humiliation: "Bring them down, O Lord, our shield." Bring them from their power, command, honour, to a low degree, which is no small heart -breaking to a great spirit. Fuimus Troes, is never remembered without a groan.

And now he assigns the cause why he would have them scattered, and brought low; that their blasphemies and lies may never be forgotten, but stand as a terror to all liars and blasphemers.

1. "For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride;" the Jews cried Beelzebub, nolumus hunc; and they were taken.

2. "And for cursing and lying which they speak." They cursed themselves: "His blood be upon us;" and upon them, indeed, it was.

3. He goes on in his desires. "Consume them, O Lord," emphatically, "consume them in wrath, that they may not be;" which, at first sight, appears contrary to the first desire, "Slay them not:" but he speaks not of their life as if he would have it consumed; but he desires only a consumption of their power, royalty, command. And so these words are a farther explication of his second desire, "Bring them down." He would have them brought down in their strength, dignity, command, wealth, riches, which made them proud; that they might never be able to oppose God any more, hurt his people, trample upon religion and his Church; but he would have them live.

4. And shows the end why he would have them live, and still remain - that they might know by their calamities and miseries, that "it is God that ruleth in Jacob, and unto the ends of the earth;" that he doth wonderfully govern and preserve his Church that is scattered over all the earth.

5. And now by a bitter epitrope, or rather synchoresis, he insults over them. In the sixth verse he showed their double diligence to do mischief.

1. "They return at evening." Well, esto; be it so; "At evening let them return."

2. "They make a noise like a dog." Well; "let them make a noise like a dog."

3. "And go round about the city." Well; "let them go round about the city."

They know that they shall be in a miserable poor mean condition: -

1. "Let them wander up and down for meat." Let them find no settled habitation, but seek necessary food in a strange nation.

2. "And grudge if they be not satisfied." Let them be always grudging, if they have not content. If they be not satisfied, they will stay all night; be importunate and unmannerly beggars.

IV. The conclusion is a doxology, and contains David's thanks that God is his defence, his refuge, his strength. Of him, therefore, he makes his song.

1. "I will sing of thy power."

2. "I will sing of thy mercy." 1. "Aloud." 2. "In the morning."

3. The reason he gives: "For thou hast been my refuge and defence in the day of my trouble."

Both he repeats again: -

1. "Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing."

2. The reason: "For God is my defence, and the God of my mercy."

And he joins these two attributes, strength and mercy. Take away strength from him, and he cannot, remove mercy, and he will not, protect. Both must go together; power that he can, mercy that he will; otherwise it is in vain that we hope for help from him. David found God to be both, and for both he extols him.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 59:0 Wild dogs

At the time of writing this psalm, David had not yet fled to Gath and Adullam. He was still at Saul’s court, but his repeated military successes stirred up Saul’s jealousy, resulting in another attempt by Saul to spear him (1 Samuel 19:1-10). David escaped to the safety of his own house. Saul then laid a plot to murder him at his home, and David escaped only narrowly (1 Samuel 19:11-17). This psalm concerns the attempt on David’s life at his house.

The psalm opens with a plea for protection against those whose intention is to murder David (1-2). Bloodthirsty people hide in the dark, awaiting the opportunity to kill an innocent man (3-5). David likens them to a pack of wild dogs that prowl the streets at night, seeking some helpless victim that they can attack and tear to pieces (6-7). But they are powerless against God, and therefore they are powerless against those whom he defends (8-10).
David knows that God will destroy these violent people, but he does not want them killed in a way that would appear to be the result of natural causes. He wants their death to occur in such a way that people will see clearly that it is a direct judgment from the righteous God (11-13).
Meanwhile the hungry dogs still prowl. Each night they return, eagerly looking for their victim (14-15). God, however, still guards David, and each morning David praises him afresh for his faithful protection (16-17).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"And at evening let them return, let them howl like a dog, Anti go round about the city. They shall wander up and down for food, And tarry all night if they be not satisfied. But I will sing of thy strength; Yea, I will sing aloud of thy lovingkindness in the morning: For thou hast been my high tower, And a refuge in the day of my distress. Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing praises; For God is my high tower, the God of my mercy."

"At evening let them return" The picture that emerges here is that of an extensive search carried on by Saul's detachment of soldiers, going about all over the city trying to find David. Their wandering up and down for food and searching all night trying to find it, is a metaphor taken from the behavior of scavenger dogs looking for garbage to eat; but, as Rawlinson noted, "David himself was the prey they were looking for."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 8-B, p. 13. If they could have found him, they would have devoured David as eagerly as a hungry dog devours his food.

"I will sing" Singing is the perpetual glory of the people of God. The Moslem shouts from his minaret, "To Prayer, to Prayer"; the savage beats his drum; but the Christians "sing"! Matthew Henry commented on the manner of David's singing.

"I will sing (Psalms 59:16)"

"I will sing aloud (Psalms 59:16)"

"I will sing in the morning (Psalms 59:16)"

"I will sing praises (Psalms 59:17)"

"I will sing unto God (Psalms 59:17)"

"I will sing of God's lovingkindness (Psalms 59:16)"

"I will sing of God's mercy (Psalms 59:17)"Matthew Henry, Vol. III, p. 459.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing - The source of strength to me; the real strength by which I have obtained deliverance is in thee. See the notes at Psalms 18:1.

For God is my defense - See the notes at Psalms 59:9.

And the God of my mercy - The God who has showed mercy to me; he from whom all these favors have sprung. Whatever means might be used to secure his own safety (compare 1 Samuel 19:12 ff) still he felt that his deliverance was to be traced wholly to God. He had interposed and had saved him; and it was proper, therefore, that praise should be ascribed to him. The experience of David in the case referred to in this psalm should be an inducement to all who are in danger to put their trust in God; his anticipated feelings of gratitude, and his purpose to praise God when he should be delivered, should awaken in us the resolution to ascribe to God all the praise when we are delivered from impending troubles, and when our lives are lengthened out where we have been in imminent danger. Whatever may have been the means of our rescue, it is to be traced to the interposition of God.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

17My strength is with thee, I will sing psalms He expresses still more explicitly the truth, that he owed his safety entirely to God. Formerly he had said that the strength of his enemy was with God, and now he asserts the same thing of his own. The expression, however, which admits of two meanings, he elegantly applies to himself in a different sense. ⁽³⁷⁶⁾ God has the strength of the wicked in his hands, to curb and to restrain it, and to show that any power of which they boast is vain and fallacious. His own people, on the other hand, he supports and secures, against the possibility of falling, by supplies of strength from himself. In the preceding part of the psalm, David had congratulated himself upon his safety, by reflecting that Saul was so completely under the secret restraint of God’s providence as to be unable to move a finger without his permission. Now, weak as he was in himself, he maintains that he had strength sufficient in the Lord; and accordingly adds, that he had good reason to engage in praise, as James the inspired apostle exhorts those who are merry to sing psalms, (James 5:13.) As to the reading which some have adopted, I will ascribe my strength with praises unto thee, the reader cannot fail to see that it is forced. It is clear that the two clauses must be taken separately, as I have already observed.

(376) “Sed eleganter ambiguam locutionem diverso sensu ponit.” —Lat. In the French version, “Mais c’est une bonne rencontre et qui a grace, quand il met deux fois un propos ambigu, mais en divers sens.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 59:1-17

Psalms 59:1-17 is another one of those "destroy not" prayers of David, when Saul sent and they watched the house to kill him. His wife, Michael, let him out of the window in a basket and David escaped. But the men were watching the house of David to kill him. And David wrote this psalm on that occasion.

Deliver me from my enemy, O God: defend me from them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from the bloody men. For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgressions, nor for my sin, O LORD ( Psalms 59:1-3 ).

It was just because of Saul's jealousy; it wasn't that David had done anything wrong.

They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold. Thou therefore, [O God,] O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all of the heathen: be not merciful to the wicked transgressors ( Psalms 59:4-5 ).

Just be merciful to me, Lord, in my wickedness. Isn't that the way that it goes?

They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and they go around about the city ( Psalms 59:6 ).

Here are these guys out there and they are barking like dogs, and David knew who they were.

They belch out with their mouth: and swords are in their lips: and who, say they, that does hear? But thou, O LORD, shall laugh at them; and thou shalt have all of the heathen in derision. Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defense. The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desires upon my enemies. Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield. For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying of which they speak. Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied. But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defense and refuge in the day of my troubles. Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defense, and the God of my mercy ( Psalms 59:7-17 ).

So three times over in the psalm, God is spoken of as David's defense. And it's surely neat to have God as our defense. Now, I have discovered that God will be my defense as long as I let Him be my defense. But if I seek to take up my own defense, then God will let me defend myself. And I have found that I really can't defend myself adequately. And so I have learned not to seek to defend myself, but to leave my defense completely in the hands of God. Now, if you want God to defend you, then you have to just commit yourself to the hands of God and not seek to defend yourself. God is my defense. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 59

The occasion for this individual lament psalm was evidently the event the writer of 1 Samuel recorded in Psalms 19:8-14, namely: Saul’s attempt to kill David in his bed at home. David asked God to defend him from the attacks of bloodthirsty men and to humiliate them so everyone might recognize God’s sovereignty.

"The focus of the psalm is on God-the Deliverer (Psalms 59:1-9) and the Judge (Psalms 59:10-17)." [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p. 201.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

4. David’s joy in view of certain deliverance 59:14-17

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

In contrast to their behavior, the psalmist voiced his confident trust that God would frustrate his antagonists, as He had done often in the past. He looked forward to singing praises to the Lord for His strength, loyal love, and protection.

Even when our spiritual enemies threaten our security, we who are believers can trust in the Lord with great confidence. He will allow nothing to separate us from His love (cf. Romans 8:31-39). As we go through attacks, we should not only strengthen ourselves with reminders of His complete adequacy as our resource, but we should also pray for His glory.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing,.... That is, to God, whom he made his strength, and put his trust in for strength, and from whom he received it; and he therefore determined to sing praise to him for it, and give him the glory of it;

for God [is] my defence: as before in Psalms 59:9;

[and] the God of my mercy; Psalms 59:9- :.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      8 But thou, O LORD, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision.   9 Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.   10 The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies.   11 Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.   12 For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.   13 Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.   14 And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.   15 Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.   16 But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.   17 Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.

      David here encourages himself, in reference to the threatening power of his enemies, with a pious resolution to wait upon God and a believing expectation that he should yet praise him.

      I. He resolves to wait upon God (Psalms 59:9; Psalms 59:9): "Because of his strength" (either the strength of his enemies, the fear of which drove him to God, or because of God's strength, the hope of which drew him to God) "Will I wait upon thee, with a believing dependence upon thee and confidence in thee." It is our wisdom and duty, in times of danger and difficulty, to wait upon God; for he is our defence, our high place, in whom we shall be safe. He hopes, 1. That God will be to him a God of mercy (Psalms 59:10; Psalms 59:10): "The God of my mercy shall prevent me with the blessings of his goodness and the gifts of his mercy, prevent my fears, prevent my prayers, and be better to me than my own expectations." It is very comfortable to us, in prayer, to eye God, not only as the God of mercy, but as the God of our mercy, the author of all good in us and the giver of all good to us. Whatever mercy there is in God, it is laid up for us, and is ready to be laid out upon us. Justly does the psalmist call God's mercy his mercy, for all the blessings of the new covenant are called the sure mercies of David (Isaiah 55:3); and they are sure to all the seed. 2. That he will be to his persecutors a God of vengeance. His expectation of this he expresses partly by way of prediction and partly by way of petition, which come all to one; for his prayer that it might be so amounts to a prophecy that it shall be so. Here are several things which he foretels concerning his enemies, or observers, that sought occasions against him and opportunity to do him a mischief, in all which he should see his desire, not a passionate or revengeful desire, but a believing desire upon them, Psalms 59:10; Psalms 59:10. (1.) He foresees that God would expose them to scorn, as they had indeed made themselves ridiculous, Psalms 59:8; Psalms 59:8. "They think God does not hear them, does not heed them; but thou, O Lord! shalt laugh at them for their folly, to think that he who planted the ear shall not hear, and thou shalt have not them only, but all such other heathenish people that live without God in the world, in derision." Note, Atheists and persecutors are worthy to be laughed at and had in derision. See Psalms 2:4; Proverbs 1:26; Isaiah 37:22. (2.) That God would make them standing monuments of his justice (Psalms 59:11; Psalms 59:11): Slay them not; let them not be killed outright, lest my people forget. If the execution be soon done, the impressions of it will not be keep, and therefore will not be durable, but will quickly wear off. Swift destructions startle men for the present, but they are soon forgotten, for which reason he prays that this might be gradual: "Scatter them by thy power, and let them carry about with them, in their wanderings, such tokens of God's displeasure as may spread the notice of their punishment to all parts of the country." Thus Cain himself, though a murderer, was not slain, lest the vengeance should be forgotten, but was sentenced to be a fugitive and a vagabond. Note, When we think God's judgments come slowly upon sinners we must conclude that God has wise and holy ends in the gradual proceedings of his wrath. "So scatter them as that they may never again unite to do mischief, bring them down, O Lord, our shield!" If God has undertaken the protection of his people as their shield, he will doubtless humble and abase all those that fight against them. (3.) That they might be dealt with according to their deserts (Psalms 59:12; Psalms 59:12): For the sin of their mouth, even for the words of their lips (for every word they speak has sin in it), let them for this be taken in their pride, even for their cursing others and themselves (a sin Saul was subject to, 1 Samuel 14:28), and lying. Note, There is a great deal of malignity in tongue-sins, more than is commonly thought of. Note, further, Cursing, and lying, and speaking proudly, are some of the worst of the sins of the tongue; and that man is truly miserable whom God deals with according to the deserts of these, making his own tongue to fall on him. (4.) That God would glorify himself, as Israel's God and King, in their destruction (Psalms 59:13; Psalms 59:13): "Consume them in wrath, consume them; that is, follow them with one judgment after another, till they be utterly ruined; let them be sensibly, but gradually wasted, that they themselves, while they are in the consuming, may know, and that the standers-by may likewise draw this inference form it, That God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth." Saul and his party think to rule and carry all before them, but they shall be made to know that there is a higher than they, that there is one who does and will overrule them. The design of God's judgments is to convince men that the Lord reigns, that he fulfils his own counsels, gives law to all the creatures, and disposes all things to his own glory, so that the greatest of men are under his check, and he makes what use he pleases of them. He rules in Jacob; for there he keeps his court; there it is known, and his name is great. But he rules to the end of the earth; for all nations are within the territories of his kingdom. He rules to the ends of the earth, even over those that know him not, but he rules for Jacob (so it may be read); he has an eye to the good of his church in the government of the world; the administrations of that government, even to the ends of the earth, are for Jacob his servant's sake and for Israel's his elect,Isaiah 45:4. (5.) That he would make their sin their punishment, Psalms 59:14; Psalms 59:14, compare Psalms 59:6; Psalms 59:6. Their sin was their hunting for David to make a prey of him; their punishment should be that they should be reduced to such extreme poverty that they should hunt about for meat to satisfy their hunger, and should miss of it as they missed of David. Thus they should be, not cut off at once, but scattered (Psalms 59:11; Psalms 59:11), and gradually consumed (Psalms 59:13; Psalms 59:13); those that die by famine die by inches, and feel themselves die, Lamentations 4:9. He foretels that they should be forced to beg their bread from door to door. [1.] That they should do it with the greatest regret and reluctancy imaginable. To beg they are ashamed (which makes it the greater punishment to them), and therefore they do it at evening, when it begins to be dark, that they may not be seen, at the time when other beasts of prey creep forth, Psalms 104:20. [2.] That yet they should be very clamorous and loud in their complaints, which would proceed from a great indignation at their condition, which they cannot in the least degree reconcile themselves to: They shall make a noise like a dog. When they were in quest of David they made a noise like an angry dog snarling and barking; now, when they are in quest of meat, they shall make a noise like a hungry dog howling and wailing. Those that repent of their sins mourn, when in trouble, like doves; those whose hearts are hardened make a noise, when in trouble, like dogs, like a wild bull in a net, full of the fury of the Lord. See Hosea 7:14, They have not cried unto me with their heart when they howled on their beds for corn and wine. [3.] That they should meet with little relief, but the hearts of people should be very much hardened towards them, so that they should go round about the city, and wander up and down for meat (Psalms 59:15; Psalms 59:15), and should get nothing but by dint of importunity (according to our marginal reading, If they be not satisfied, they will tarry all night), so that what people do give them is not with good-will, but only to get rid of them, lest by their continual coming they weary them. [4.] That they should be insatiable, which is the greatest misery of all in a poor condition. They are greedy dogs which can never have enough (Isaiah 56:11), and they grudge if they be not satisfied. A contented man, if he has not what he would have, yet does not grudge, does not quarrel with Providence, nor fret within himself; but those whose God is their belly, if that be not filled and its appetites gratified, fall out both with God and themselves. It is not poverty, but discontent, that makes a man unhappy.

      II. He expects to praise God, that God's providence would find him matter for praise and that God's grace would work in him a heart for praise, Psalms 59:16; Psalms 59:17. Observe,

      1. What he would praise God for. (1.) He would praise his power and his mercy; both should be the subject-matter of his song. Power, without mercy, is to be dreaded; mercy, without power, is not what a man can expect much benefit from; but God's power by which he is able to help us, and his mercy by which he is inclined to help us, will justly be the everlasting praise of all the saints. (2.) He would praise him because he had, many a time, and all along, found him his defence and his refuge in the day of trouble. God brings his people into trouble, that they may experience his power and mercy in protecting and sheltering them, and may have occasion to praise him. (3.) He would praise him because he had still a dependence upon him and a confidence in him, as his strength to support him and carry him on in his duty, his defence to keep him safe from evil, and the God of his mercy to make him happy and easy. He that is all this to us is certainly worthy of our best affections, praises, and services.

      2. How he would praise God. (1.) He would sing. As that is a natural expression of joy, so it is an instituted ordinance for the exerting and exciting of holy joy and thankfulness. (2.) He would sing aloud, as one much affected with the glory of God, that was not ashamed to own it, and that desired to affect others with it. He will sing of God's power, but he will sing aloud of his mercy; the consideration of that raises his affections more than any thing else. (3.) He would sing aloud in the morning, when his spirits were most fresh and lively. God's compassions are new every morning, and therefore it is fit to begin the day with his praises. (4.) He would sing unto God (Psalms 59:17; Psalms 59:17), to his honour and glory, and with him in his eye. As we must direct our prayers to God, so to him we must direct our praises, and must look up, making melody to the Lord.