Psalms 61 - Introduction

LXI.

Here we have the prayer of an Israelite living at a distance from his country, and declaring in the simplest possible manner that in spite of this banishment he does not feel remote from God nor deprived of the Divine protection. It is a forecast of the great principle of spiritual worship which Jesus Christ was to proclaim.

Tradition assigns this exquisite little song, with its fine spiritual discernment, to David. The repetition of the imagery of the high tower is in the Davidic style, but many critics think it breathes rather of the time of the captivity. Three equal stanzas of six short lines and elegant rhythm compose the poem.

Title — See title Psalms 4.

Neginah, properly negînath, probably an error for negînôth, as in Psalms 4, as the LXX. and Vulg. (“in hymns”) evidently read it. Or it may be an anomalous form of negînah, which, in Job 30:9, means a satirical song.