Psalm 5: A Prayer for Guidance
To the Chief Musician. With flutes. A Psalm of David.
1 Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. 2 Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I will pray. 3 My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up.
This is metaphorically “a morning hymn, as the preceding was an evening hymn. We have seen from the conclusion of the last Psalm that David was very happy, and lay down and slept in the peace and love of his God. When he opens his eyes on the following morning, he not only remembers but feels the happiness of which he spoke; and with his first recollections he meditates on the goodness and mercy of God, and the glorious state of salvation into which he had been brought.” (Clarke) “The situation is different from that in Psalms 3. In that Psalm David is fleeing, here he is in Jerusalem and anticipates going up to the Temple service.” (Keil & Delitzsch) But David is fully aware that evil still abounds.
Thus, the king must still abide in the Vine. “‘Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, etc.’— the ground of his prayer. God, as David's King, standing at the head of the Israelite theocracy, cannot let evil triumph in His kingdom...” (Matthew Poole) “My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord;’— after the battle of the prior day. “In the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up.” For the war, even the conflict of the ages, still rages on until all God’s enemies are put under His feet.
4 For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. 5 The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; you hate all workers of iniquity. 6 You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
“‘Evil will not sojourn with you, the arrogant will not stand in your sight.’ To sojourn was to stay as a guest (compare Psalms 15:1)…
‘You hate all workers of iniquity, you will destroy him who speaks lies, YHWH abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.’ The worker of iniquity is the one who practises what is morally worthless and wrong, he acts contrary to God’s Instruction. Such are ‘hated’ by God because He is a holy God and must recoil from sin. Speaking lies and being a man of deceit are also spoken against in the strongest terms. Deceit is constantly condemned throughout the Bible… We are told in the New Testament that the liar will never enter God’s heavenly kingdom (Revelation 21:27 cp. Psalms 14:5). So men of violence and deceit are ‘abhorred’ by Him. Notice the strength of the verbs which reveal God’s attitude; hated, destroyed, abhorred. Sin is no light matter.” (Peter Pett)
7 But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple. 8 Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make Your way straight before my face. 9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is destruction; their throat is an open tomb; they flatter with their tongue.10 Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against You.;
“’But as for me, I will come into Your house’— today into the type but tomorrow (metaphorically) into the the Antitype— “’in the multitude of Your mercy;’—trusting only in thy great mercy.— ‘In fear of You,’— With an holy dread and reverence of thy majesty— ‘I will worship toward Your holy temple’— looking towards it, when I cannot come to it.” (Wesley)
Therefore—> “’Lead me’; direct my heart, and counsels, and affairs, and all the course and actions of my life.— ‘In thy righteousness’; in thy righteous laws; which sometimes are called righteousness, as Psalms 119:172 Matthew 3:15…—‘Because of mine enemies’; that I may give them no occasion of slandering me, or religion for my sake. ‘Make Your way,’— that is, the way wherein thou wouldst have me to walk, or the course which thou wouldst have me to take; for God’s precepts or counsels are most commonly called his way.— ‘straight before my face.’ or plain, or smooth, that I may clearly discern it, and readily walk in it, without mistake, or let, or stumbling, or offence.“ (Matthew Poole)
“‘For there is no faithfulness in their mouth’ - There is nothing in them which can be confided in; nothing in their promises and declarations. They are false and treacherous, and I can, therefore, only appeal to thee. ‘Their inward part is destruction.‘— Not only their external conduct, but their hearts, their principles, their motives. This was fairly to be inferred from their conduct. The object of the psalmist is to show that they were wholly depraved in all that properly constitutes character or that entered into moral conduct.” (Albert Barnes) “‘Their throat is an open sepulchre’— wide opened ready to devour all that come within their reach. A metaphor from wild beasts gaping for the prey.” (John Wesley) “‘They flatter’ — or, ‘make smooth’— ‘with their tongue.” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) Rather than total devotion to David or in other cases, speaking the truth in love, they flatter him, like their father Absolom.
“St. Paul quotes this, among other scriptures, to prove the depravity of both Jews and Gentiles in an unconverted state. (Romans 3:9-20.) If the Israelites, with all their advantages, manifested such hateful dispositions, in opposing ‘the man after God’s own heart,’ and afterwards in their conduct towards their promised Messiah; it is plain that the whole race must be corrupt and alienated from God; that nothing, except an internal renovation by the Spirit of God can make them holy; and that they can never find acceptance with God, upon the ground of their own obedience to His righteous laws; but must be saved mercifully, if at all.” (Thomas Scott, Explanatory Notes, Practical Observations on the book Psalms)
“'Pronounce them guilty,' literally 'destroy thou them',- 'O God.' All these apparently imprecatory declarations should be translated in the future tense, to which they belong; and which shows them to be prophetic. ‘Thou wilt destroy them; thou wilt cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions,’ etc.” (Adam Clarke)—“for they have rebelled against You.” Thus after they rise again, "Thou wilt bring to ruin; thou wilt cause to perish; that is, cause to perish as the wicked are caused to perish, by being punished. The idea is that God could not approve their cause; could not favor them; could not give them prosperity, and that they must be overthrown and punished…” (Albert Barnes) with the second death.
11 But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. 12 For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield.
“’But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You;... For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favor,’ that is eternal life. "You will surround him as with shield,’ literally a spear. You are his or her eternal bodyguard.
Thus: "Thou wilt encircle him with favour, as with a fence of spears; as a prince is encircled with spears or spearmen.” (Thomas Coke) The righteous may perish in battle, but not eternally. They shall rise again!