Psalms of David
Most of the first 10 songs attributed to David in the second book of Psalms have in the title an event in the life of David. Although this psalm does not have this in the title, the events mentioned fit the rebellion of Absolom.
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Psalms in Book 2 are like Book 1 in that they are mostly lament and distress although they now include a communal voice in addition to the singular voice of the first book.
The books of Psalms are roughly themed like this:
Book 1: Psalms 1 – 41: God is beside us.
Book 2: Psalms 42 – 72: God goes before us
Book 3: Psalms 73 – 89: God is all around us.
Book 4: Psalms 90 – 106: God is above us.
Book 5: Psalms 107 – 150: God is among us.
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.
55 Give ear to my prayer, O God,
and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
2 Attend to me, and answer me;
I am restless in my complaint and I moan,
3 because of the noise of the enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they drop trouble upon me,
and in anger they bear a grudge against me.
4 My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5 Fear and trembling come upon me,
and horror overwhelms me.
6 And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest;
7 yes, I would wander far away;
I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
8 I would hurry to find a shelter
from the raging wind and tempest.”9 Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues;
for I see violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go round it
on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it;
11 ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud
do not depart from its market-place.
12 For it is not an enemy who taunts me—
then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—
then I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a man, my equal,
my companion, my familiar friend.
14 We used to take sweet counsel together;
within God’s house we walked in the throng.
15 Let death steal over them;
let them go down to Sheol alive;
for evil is in their dwelling place and in their heart.16 But I call to God,
and the Lord will save me.
17 Evening and morning and at noon
I utter my complaint and moan,
and he hears my voice.
18 He redeems my soul in safety
from the battle that I wage,
for many are arrayed against me.
19 God will give ear and humble them,
he who is enthroned from of old, Selah
because they do not change
and do not fear God.20 My companion stretched out his hand against his friends;
Psalm 55 ESV Paragraph breaks added.
he violated his covenant.
21 His speech was smooth as butter,
yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
yet they were drawn swords.
22 Cast your burden on the Lord,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.
23 But you, O God, will cast them down
into the pit of destruction;
men of blood and treachery
shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust in you.
Psalm 55 is the last of 5 psalms called maskil in the introduction. Most Christian sources simply say the meaning of maskil is unclear. The ESV translation of the Bible says, “Probably a musical or liturgical term.”
When I wrote about Psalm 42 two years ago I said maskil meant enlightened or wise, which it still does in some areas of Judaism when applied to a person, according to JewishEncyclopedia.com. Back then I equated psalms called maskil with wisdom writings such as Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. I still use that definition of maskil but have found it does not quite fit these five songs.
Often words have two meanings or more. This is particularly true of Hebrew which has a much smaller number of words than English. Another meaning of maskil, when given to a person, is a position lower than rabbi, an apprentice or a novice. But it also has the opposite meaning of a wise or experienced man. In both cases the maskil in these five Psalms means instruction. Events in David’s life are being used to teach lessons on how to deal with opposition.
Psalm 55 comes in four parts:
- A cry for help. Verses 1 to 8
- A plea for justice. Verses 9-15
- Confidence that God will hear. Verses 16-19
- The wicked will be judged. Verses 20-23
The first two of these sections look at the human condition of a person in deep trouble who has been betrayed. Part 1 looks inward to how that person feels. Part 2 concentrates on the enemies.
Parts 3 and 4 look at God’s perspective, firstly of the individual and lastly of the persecutors.
There are verses here that speak into people’s hearts. Verse 6 talks about David wanting to escape from real life-threatening danger. Who has not wanted to run away from a stressful situation? Verse 22 says, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.”
What a change between the beginning and end of this song. It starts with the desire for safety by a very scared man, probably David scared of his son Absolom who has taken over the throne. The details of what was happening in Jerusalem fits in with what Absolom did, but David’s love for his son shown in his mourning when Absolom dies makes the “destroy, O Lord” prayer in verse 9 problematic. The other contender would be King Saul, but David twice refused to kill him. That’s why I think it is Absolom who inspired the song.
Who was the familiar friend is not the point of Psalm 55, there is no title. The point of the psalm is that it is an instruction, this is how you should bring your concerns to God. Begin by telling God how you feel and how you see your problem. Those bits about revenge on people who hurt you, the sort of thing that would have people worrying about your spiritual state if you said them aloud in church are OK, say them. I’m more worried about the spiritual condition of those who would censor people’s prayers. Be honest with God, if you are sad be sad in prayer, if you are angry be angry in prayer. God does not tone police prayer, if he did the book of Psalter would be a lot shorter.
Prayer does not stop there in your sorrow. If you are important to God, and you are, your emotions are important to God, but prayer is a two-way thing and the greater part is God’s attitude. David has poured his heart out and realises that justice is better left to God and that God can be trusted.
These five Psalms from 51 to 55 show how to deal with a number of hard times and include God’s rebuke, protection and justice.
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Proof-reading through this, I realised I was preaching to myself.
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Making an ass of myself 