Psalms 64:1-10
1 Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:
3 Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:
4 That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.
5 They encourage themselves in an evil matter:a they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?
6 They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart, is deep.
7 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.
8 So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away.
9 And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing.
10 The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.
DESCRIPTIVE TITLE
A Prayer against the Evil Tongues of Conspirators, who are Destroyed by Their Own Weapon.
ANALYSIS
Stanza I., Psalms 64:1-4 a, Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies, whose Chief Weapon is described. Stanza II., Psalms 64:4 b - Psalms 64:6 a, Plotting to Employ the Weapon with Crushing Effect. Stanza III., Psalms 64:6 b - Psalms 64:9, Sudden Overthrow of the Enemies by their Own Instrument to the Astonishment of Onlookers and the Glory of God. Refrain, calling for Joy and Praise.
(Lm.) A PsalmBy David.
1
Hear O God my voice in my complaining,[685]
[685] Or: soliloquy.
from dread peril by the foe shalt thou guard my life:
2
Thou shalt hide me from the council of evil-doers,
from the conspiracy[686] of the workers of iniquity:[687]
[686] Cp.=Br. on Psalms 2:1.
[687] Or: mischief (naughtinessDr.).
3
Who have sharpened like a sword their tongue,
have made ready their arrowa bitter word:
4
to shoot in secret places at the blameless.
Suddenly they shoot at him without fear:
5
They strengthen for themselves a wicked thing,
they recount the hiding of snares:[688]
[688] Or: lures.
they sayWho will look at them?[689]
[689] That is: the snares, well-concealed as they are. Some transpose the Heb. words, and render: They say to themselvesWho will see?
6
They devise acts of injusticehave hidden[690] a plot.
[690] So some cod. Others: completedGn.
It is plottedeach one draweth near with deep mind;
7
And God shooteth at themsuddenly have appeared their wounds,
8
yea he maketh stumble each oneagainst themselves is their tongue!
9
All looking on them wag the head[691] and all men fear,
[691] Or: take flightO.G.
and declare the doing of God his work[692] they ponder.
[692] Some cod. (w. Sep., Vul.): works. (pl.)Gn.
10
Glad be the righteous man in Jehovah when he hath taken refuge in him,
Now may glory all the upright in heart.
(Lm.) To the Chief Musician.
PARAPHRASE
Lord, listen to my complaint: Oh, preserve my life from the conspiracy of these wicked men, these gangs of criminals.
3
They cut me down with sharpened tongues; they aim their bitter words like arrows straight at my heart.
4
They shoot from ambush at the innocent. They meet in secret to set their traps. He will never notice them here, they say.
5
They keep a sharp lookout for opportunities of crime. They spend long hours with all their endless evil thoughts and plans.[693]
[693] Literally, And the inward thought and the heart of everyone is deep.
6
But God Himself will shoot them down. Suddenly His arrow will pierce them.
7
They will stagger backward, destroyed by those they spoke against. All who see it happen will scoff at them.
8
Then everyone shall stand in awe and confess the greatness of the miracles of God; at last they will realize what amazing things He does!
9
And the godly shall rejoice in the Lord, and trust and praise Him.
EXPOSITION
It is easy to see that at times David suffered severely from false and venomous tongues. This method of assailing him was naturally most employed before the power of suppression came into his hands; also when for the time he had lost it, or it was already slipping from him. Doeg (52) represents the former period of exposure to this weapon, and Ahithophel (55, 62) the latter. Probably the former period was the more extended, and offered the more numerous occasions of defamation to David's detractors. It is possible to say how soon the earlier crusade of the tongue against David began: probably as soon as Saul showed himself ready to listen to evil reports concerning him, and therefore while yet Jonathan stood between his father and the young Bethlehemite; and therefore Jonathan may naturally have been an unknown and unsuspected instrument Divinely made ready for putting evil tongues to shame. We cannot, of course, dogmatise, where we are without detailed information; but it is, to say the least, quite conceivable, that when the detractors had succeeded in gaining Saul's ear, and had been pouring into it carefully and maliciously concocted stories to David's hurt, the appearance of his son on the scene, with newer and more authentic information, might have served to blow to the winds the cobwebs of venomous slander, and for the time being at least bring down on the slanderers-' heads the wrath of the monarch thus baulked of his prey. Some such climax as this seems to be required to give a realistic verisimiltude to this remarkable psalm. One can almost see the conspirators drawing near to Saul with plots hidden in their inscrutable minds, suddenly dismayed as by an arrow from God by the unexpected appearance and report of a man whom with all their cunning, they had left out of their account. Their surprise and confusion would naturally turn their tongues against themselves, and complete the failure of their deep-laid plots. Coming to the young harpist's knowledge, what more natural than that he should embalm the memory of these early God-given triumphs in song! The difficulty perhaps is, to people those early days with the needful factors of such experiences. And yet, human nature must then have been very different from what it is now, if there were not several Doegs among Saul's retainers; and if, under every appearance to the contrary, David had not several rivals at heart. There were probably several aspirants for Merab's hand and for Michal'S; and, young as he was, the son of Jesse was probably well advised by his native good sense and caution when he suspected foul play, as he appears to have done, in being incited to aspire to wed one of the king's daughters (1 Samuel 18:23).
From some such point of view as that suggested by these reminiscences, we can reperuse this psalm with added interest. Unused to the wicked ways of the world, the youthful courtier may well have felt keenly those early slanders as so many sharpened swordsas envenomed arrows. But even slanders must be made colourable; and so, to give effect to the bitter word, there must be invented a wicked thing. A plausible story must be worked out of incidents false and true: the unsuspecting object of envy must be entrapped unawares into sayings and doings which can easily be made to appear suspicious; and so the bitter word is let fly as part of a plot. Sayings and doings are interwoven with sufficient cunning to fit the story to do fatal damage; until, by God, they are suddenly exploded, and the slanderers are held up to infamy. Such decisive victories of truth have many a timein David's history, in Israel's history, and in our ownmade righteous men glad in Jehovah, and sustained in just glorying the upright in heart.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1.
Rotherham offers a reasonable supposition for the time and place of the writing of this psalm. Discuss his position.
2.
This is a psalm about the power of the tongue. Please notice the graphic descriptions of David's evil speaking enemies. Do we have such today?
3.
What is the difference between slander and gossip? Discuss.
4.
What specific requests to God does David make concerning these evil talkers? Are we justified in asking the same for those who speak against us?
5.
David has not only a complaint but a confidence. Can we always be confident that the innocent or the righteous will not be slain with the tongue of the wicked? Discuss.