Psalms 31 - Introduction

Worn out in mind and body, despised, defamed, and persecuted, the Psalmist casts himself upon God. Faith upholds him as he recalls past mercies; despondency overwhelms him as he thinks of his present distress; till the clouds clear, and the sunlight of God's goodness floods his soul.

The Psalm falls into three divisions.

i. Professions of trust and prayers for deliverance grounded upon the experience of past mercies (Psalms 31:1-8).

ii. Urgent pleading, with a pathetic description of the extremity of his need (Psalms 31:9-18).

iii. Grateful celebration of God's goodness, once more demonstrated in the deliverance of the Psalmist, who looks back in surprise upon his own faint-heartedness, and concludes by exhorting all the godly to take courage (Psalms 31:19-24).

Most of the earlier commentators suppose that the Psalm was written by David in the wilderness of Maon, and point to the coincidence between in my haste(Psalms 31:22), and "David made hasteto flee" (1 Samuel 23:26). The Sept. translators appear to have seen in that verse a reference to the occasion of the Psalm, for they add ἐκστάσεως (for desperation) to the title, and ἐν τῇ ἐκστάσει μου (in my desperation) is their rendering in Psalms 31:22.

But the situation of the Psalmist and the tone of the Psalm would rather suggest that Jeremiah, or some prophet in similar circumstances of persecution, was its author. Comp. Psalms 31:10 with Jeremiah 20:18; -the broken vessel" (Psalms 31:12) with Jeremiah 22:28; Jeremiah 48:38; Psalms 31:13 with Jeremiah 20:10; Psalms 31:17 with Jeremiah 17:18; Psalms 31:22 with Lamentations 3:54. Still it is quite possible that Jeremiah may be using the words of the Psalm which was familiar to him.

The striking difference in the tone of Psalms 31:9 from that of 1 8 and 19 24 suggests the possibility that these verses may be a later addition: and it is noteworthy that the parallels with the Book of Jeremiah occur almost exclusively in Psalms 31:9, while the first and third divisions resemble Psalms which have good claims to be regarded as Davidic. But the change of tone may only correspond to a change of situation.

The latter part of the Psalm has several parallels with Psalms 28. With Psalms 31:21 acomp. Psalms 28:6 a; with Psalms 31:22 bcp. Psalms 28:2; Psalms 28:6; with Psalms 31:23 cp. Psalms 28:4. Comp. too Psalms 31:22 (as for me) with Psalms 30:6; and the invitation in Psalms 31:23 with Psalms 30:4.