James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary
Psalms 60:12
‘GOD IS OUR REFUGE AND OUR STRENGTH’
‘Through God we shall do valiantly.’
This is a national psalm to be taught to the people (Deuteronomy 31:19). As 44 was sung by the sons of Korah when the Edomites were taking advantage of David’s absence to invade the land, so this psalm was composed after victory had been assured. Shushaneduth means the lily of testimony, and may refer to the name of the tune to which this psalm was set. Aram is Syrians: the Syrians which dwelt between the two floods, Euphrates and Tigris, had become confederate with the Syrians of Zobah (2 Samuel 10:6; 2 Samuel 10:8; 2 Samuel 10:16; 2 Samuel 10:19). For the whole story, see 2 Samuel 8.
I. The first stanza tells of disaster.—Cast-off and broken-down, the land trembling and rent, the people learning hard lessons, and reeling in the weakness of drunken men. The measure to which it was set is said in the margin to mean ‘Lily of Testimony,’ whilst the object is described in the inscription, ‘Michtam of David to teach.’ It is good to hold up the mirror, to ascertain what and where we are. The time spent in diagnosing the disease is far from being lost. Let us learn what we are, that we magnify the grace that has raised us from our low estate, and made us to sit with princes.
II. But through it all God yearns over His beloved, and waits to save with His right hand.
III. No sooner is the prayer uttered than the answer is at hand.—God speaks in his holiness.
God is here described as the Holy One, separated from all created and finite beings, and therefore above all deceit and vacillation. He had promised to give His people the land which He promised to their forefathers, and David rejoices in the assurance that it must be so. Already he claims his inheritance to the full, and though it was not actually in his possession, he exults in the certainty that it is already his.
The recent invasion of the Edomites had opened the eyes of the chosen people, and especially of their king, to the high value of those ancient promises that had guaranteed to them the possession and enjoyment of the whole land: and the psalm proceeds to name several particular places, objects, and tribes, which really describe and cover their inheritance to its full extent. Shechem stands for the Western, and Succoth for the Eastern sides of the Jordan.
Illustration
‘The composition of the psalm has been placed correctly in the time before the battle in the valley of salt rather than afterwards, because it is necessary to suppose that the Edomites had fallen upon the land, laying it waste from the south when David had marched against his powerful enemies in the north and victoriously forced them back, but sent off his general Joab against the Edomites. To this laying waste the land, the lamentation which begins the psalm refers (2 Samuel 8:1). There is then a reference to Divine incitement (2 Samuel 8:4) which introduces the prayer for Divine help (2 Samuel 8:5), which passes over into the appropriation of a Divine oracle promising victory (2 Samuel 8:6). Upon this is based the renewed petition, intensified by its inconsistency with the present situation (2 Samuel 8:9) into pressing supplication for Divine assistance (2 Samuel 8:11).’