Psalms 131 - Introduction

This brief psalm is entitled “A Song of Degrees of David.” There is nothing in it to forbid the idea that it was composed by him, for it is wholly in his spirit and manner. It is not known, however, on what occasion it was written, nor why it has a place among the “Songs of Degrees.” It would seem to have been prepared on some occasion when the author had been charged with being of a lofty and proud spirit; with meddling in matters that were above him, or above his condition in life; or with making such suggestions about public affairs as were considered to indicate a self-confident, or an aspiring mind. Without being able to determine this by any certain facts, the supposition which would seem most to accord with the contents of the psalm would be that it was written when he was a young man; when he had expressed, in the presence of others, some sentiments on public affairs which were interpreted by them as denoting a forward and self confident spirit.

If so, then this psalm was probably a private meditation on what he had done, and was of the nature of a personal examination of his spirit and motives. Knowing, as we do, what David was afterward - his great talents as a warrior and a king, and his ability to manage public affairs - it would not, in itself, be strange or improbable that, in early life, and even when a shepherdboy, he might have advanced opinions which would be regarded as beyond his age, as unbecoming his condition, and as manifesting a disposition to meddle with matters above him; and that he might have been rebuked for this. If it were so, we may suppose that a pious and a modest youth would give himself to self-examination, to determine whether that was the spirit which actuated him, and this psalm may have been the result of such an examination: a deep self-consciousness that such was not the spirit which influenced him; that these were not the motives which prompted him to do what he had done.

The psalm, therefore, may, perhaps, without impropriety, be regarded as furnishing evidence of the early manifestation of a disposition on the part of David to study public affairs, and of an early manifestation of a knowledge on that subject which was regarded as above his years and his station; and, at the same time, of his readiness to profit by rebuke, and to examine his real motives; and of his consciousness that he was not actuated by self-confident and aspiring views. The psalm manifests a humble spirit, and a spirit of confident trust in God. If the interpretation thus suggested could be confirmed - or if it may be allowed - the psalm would be one of the most valuable records of the early life and character of David. It would add to the interest of this conjecture, if we might suppose that this psalm was left among the effusions of his early years - among, as we should say, his “private papers,” and was discovered after he was dead, and was then arranged and published among these “Songs of Degrees.”