Psalm 59
Read 1 Samuel 19:11-18
“Saul also sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him, and
to slay him in the morning: and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou
save not thy life to night, tomorrow thou shalt be slain. So, Michal let David
down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped. And Michal took an
image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster,
and covered it with a cloth. And when Saul sent
messengers to take David, she said, He is sick.
“And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring
him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him. And when the messengers were come
in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats' hair for his
bolster. And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away
mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let
me go; why should I kill thee?
“So, David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and
told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in
Naioth.”
Commentaries by Dennis Edwards
Psalm 59:1 Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me
from them that rise up against me.
We see David over and over again
praying against his enemies. Yet, we see David over and over again letting God
do the fighting for him. Maybe he had read in Deuteronomy 32:35 where God said,
“To Me belongs vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time:
for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon
them make haste.”
Apostle Paul, likewise, makes
the same point and quotes from that passage in his defence of letting God be
responsible for vengeance.
Romans 12:19-21 “Dearly beloved,
avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written,
Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy
hunger, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink: for in so doing, thou shalt
heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with
good.”
Apostle Paul has, also, quoted from
Proverbs 25:21-22 in the section about feeding your enemy and heaping coals of
fire on his head, in the day of judgment.
Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount in a like manner had mentioned we should not be vengeful.
Matthew 5:39,40,43,44 “But I say
unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on the right
cheek, turn to him the other, also. And if any man will sue thee at the law,
and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak, also. … Ye have that it has
been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto
you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."
Apostle Peter had lifted up the
sword to smite the Temple guards who came against Jesus in the Garden of
Gethsemane. Jesus rebuked him and said, “Put up again thy sword unto his place:
for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword,” Matthew 26:52.
That same Apostle later wrote, “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him
not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. … Wherefore, let them
that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to
Him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator,” 1 Peter 4:16.19. Peter was
saying not to take up vengeance, but to willing accept our lot of suffering for
Christ’s sake. We should follow Jesus' example.
The time will soon come when God
will poor out His vengeance on the wicked. As Christians we need to be patient
until that day comes. “In your patience possess ye your souls,” Luke 21:19. Even
the souls of them which were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony
which they held, when they asked God to avenge their blood, were told to be
patient and wait, “yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also
and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled,”
Revelation 6:11b.
The judgment of the wicked is
coming. Though it seems to tarry, wait for it. It will come. God’s word
predicts it will come. Jesus said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world:
if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, … but now is My
kingdom not from thence.” It will be at the sounding of the seventh trumpet
that we will hear great voices in heaven saying, “The kingdoms of this world
are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for
ever and ever,” Revelation 11:15. Until that time we need to be patient.
Psalm 59:2-4 Deliver me from the
workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men. For, lo, they lie in wait for
my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for
my sin, O Lord. They run and
prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.
The wicked hate us not because
of our sins, but because of our faith and our lifestyle that expose their sins and lack
of faith in the most High God. They hate us because they hate God.
Psalm 59:5 Thou therefore,
O Lord God of hosts, the
God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked
transgressors. Selah.
As David prayed, we, too, can
pray against our enemies. We can pray for their judgment and for their salvation.
Psalm 59:6-7 They return at
evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. Behold,
they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they,
does hear?
The wicked of the past and
present are like the Antichrist of Daniel 7:25a, “And he shall speak great
words against the most High.” In Revelation 13:5-6, we see the same attributes.
“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies…
And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and
His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.” The wicked antichrists
blaspheme God and His name without impunity. God, however, does hear and will
reward them presently.
Psalm 59:8 But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt
have all the heathen in derision.
We have seen the Lord laughing
at the wicked in earlier psalms. How ridiculous man is to think he can
blaspheme God and get away with it.
Psalm 2:6-5 "He (the Lord) that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure."
Psalm 37:12-13 "The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes upon him with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh at him: for He sees that his day is coming."
Psalm 59:9 Because of his
strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.
David’s enemies are too strong
for him, as ours are for us today. David waits upon God to be his defence. We
should do likewise.
Psalm 59:10 The God of my mercy
shall prevent me (or be with me): God shall let me see my desire upon my
enemies.
David knows it is God’s mercy
that enables him to stand and not his own righteousness, God is “the God of my
mercy.”
Psalm 59:11-12 Slay them not,
lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord
our shield. For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them
even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.
Again, we see the attributes of
the wicked in their lying mouths and pride. Jesus, when addressing the
Pharisees accused them of being children of the devil, the father of all lies.
John 8:44 “Ye are of your father
the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is liar, and the father of it.”
In Jude we see on the Lord's return He will execute judgment upon those whose mouths have run hard against God and the godly.
Jude 14-16 "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints (at the Battle of Armageddon), to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaking great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage."
Psalm 59:13 Consume them in
wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God rules in
Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.
Every knee shall one day bow, and every tongue shall one day confess that Jesus Christ is Lord of Lord, and King of Kings,
Psalm 59:14-15 And at evening
let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the
city. Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not
satisfied.
If we don’t find repentance and
come into the arms of Jesus there is a “fearful looking for of judgment and
fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries,” or God haters, Hebrews
10:26.
On the New Heaven and New earth,
outside the heavenly city, it looks like God in His mercy allows some of the
wicked to continue to live in the spiritual dimension. We find outside the
gates of the city “dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and
idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes lies,” Revelation 22:15. Earlier in
Revelation 21:8 we see the same group having “their part in the lake of fire
burning with brimstone: which is the second death.”
Perhaps the degree of sin is different between the two groups. Some were beyond repentance. Others may have had a chance of some sort of repentance in the spiritual dimension. Perhaps, their sins were not as grievous as the first group. Therefore, God in His mercy extends them mercy and allows them to live outside the city. Could these and other such souls be the nations in need of healing and salvation outside the heavenly city walls? They may be the souls to whom we, the saved living inside the city, will go to with the leaves from the tree of life for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 22:2 "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the trees were for the healing of the nations."
Psalm 59:16-17 But I will sing
of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast
been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble. Unto thee, O my strength,
will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.
God’s mercy is great. His mercy
endures to all generations.
Exodus 34:6-7a “And the Lord
passed by Moses and proclaimed, The LORD. The LORD God, merciful and gracious,
longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear
the guilty.”
Our God is a God of mercy, but
to be true and righteous He must judge and punish the guilty who repent not, nor
come unto God by Jesus Christ, the author of salvation and eternal life. To those
who come unto God by Him, He is a refuge and a defence., a strong tower. The
righteousness run into Him and are safe. For He is "a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat," Isaiah 25:4 b.
