Psalm 60 To the Chief Musician. Set to “Lily of the Testimony.” A Michtam of David. For teaching. When he fought against Mesopotamia and Syria of Zobah, and Joab returned and killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. 1 O God, You have cast us off; You have broken us down; You have been displeased; Oh, restore us again! 2 You have made the earth tremble; You have broken it; Heal its breaches, for it is shaking. 3 You have shown Your people hard things; You have made us drink the wine of confusion. 4 You have given a banner to those who fear You, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah 5 That Your beloved may be delivered, save with Your right hand, and hear me. 6 God has spoken in His holiness: “I will rejoice; I will divide Shechem and measure out the Valley of Succoth. 7 Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet for My head; Judah is My lawgiver. 8 Moab is My washpot; over Edom I will cast My shoe; Philistia, shout in triumph because of Me.” 9 Who will bring me to the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom? 10 Is it not You, O God, who cast us off? And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies? 11 Give us help from trouble, for the help of man is useless. 12 Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies. “This Psalm is dedicated to the Chief Musician to the tune of Shushan Eduth, ‘the Lily of Testimony’. Compare for this the similar tune for Psalms 80 (shushannim eduth - ‘lilies of testimony’). It is a Michtam, a cry for cover and protection, and was for the purpose of teaching. Possibly the aim was that it should be learned by heart. The background to the Psalm was when David had invaded Syria (Aram) to the north (2 Samuel 8:3-8), defeating the kings of Zobah and Damascus. Seemingly the Edomites to the south, with the assistance of the Syrians, had taken advantage of the opportunity to invade Southern Judah. It was at this point that the Psalm was written, when Judah was in despair at this sudden and unexpected invasion by their enemies, a despair shared by David as he learned news of what was going on. Subsequently he sent Joab and Abishai to deal with this invasion with the result that a Syrian-Edomite alliance in the South was driven back, inflicting heavy casualties (2 Samuel 8:13-14).” (Peter Pett) “‘O God, You have cast us off.’ Instead of being our general in the battle, thou hast left us to ourselves; and then there was only the arm of flesh against the arm of flesh, numbers and physical power were left to decide the contest." (Adam Clarke) “‘You have broken us down;’ Hebrew word is used by David, 2 Samuel 5:20, as a suitable term for the overthrow of the Philistines in the sense of breaking through, as frequently elsewhere, e. g. Psalm 80:12; 89:40, of breaking through a wall and figuratively, e.g. Psalm 106:29; Exodus 19:22, of the crushing blows of God.” (J. P. Lange) “’You have been displeased. Oh, restore us again!' Forgive our sins and then lead us again in battle against the common enemies of Israel. "'You have made the earth tremble,' that is the land of Canaan from their invasion in the southland. "'You have broken it;' the wall of protection around us. "'Heal its breaches, for it is shaking.’ That is, presaging nothing but ruin and downfall, unless it be speedily underpropped, and the breaches thereof made up and healed. Thus did David look upon Israel's disease, and hereupon it was that he was so deeply affected with it, so earnestly desiring the cure of it.” (John Brinsley) “‘You have given a banner to those who fear You, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah’ David, as king over all Israel, is that very banner. It was He that lead the host in battle, who would rule over them. Jesus will come again in glory and sit on the throne of His father David. “Is not Jesus the banner and ensign which God hath set up to His people? Isaiah 11:10. And doth not the church rejoice when Jesus brings her into his banqueting house, and sets His banner of love over her? Song of Solomon 2:4.” (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary) Selah "That Your beloved may be delivered, save with Your right hand, and hear me.” “‘You have shown Your people hard things;’ God will be sure to plough His own ground, whatsoever becometh of the waste; and to weed His own garden, though the rest of the world should be let alone to grow wild.” (John Trapp) “‘You have made us drink the wine of confusion’: This was none other that the hand of Yahweh, according to His Word— the consequences of disobedience, that is “madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart,” Deuteronomy 28:28; as it is written therein. Wine is a symbol of doctrine. So, nobody could discern good and evil. “‘God has spoken in His holiness.’ That is, by Samuel He hath promised, as He is an holy God, and true of His Word, that I should be king of all Israel, and now He hath performed it. (2 Samuel 5.) Yet Calvin speaks of it as not yet performed; but the course of the history makes it plain that David was now king over the parts of which he here speaketh—> ‘I will divide Shechem.’ as subjects to me as Joshua having the land under him, divided it amongst his people: so David being king over all the parts of the land, divides to his followers such portions as belonged unto them by inheritance, from which happily some of them had been expelled by the time of Ishbosheth his reign; or some families in the time of those wars might be utterly wasted away, and so the king having free power to dispose of their lands, might give them amongst his men, and take part to himself.” (John Mayer)— “‘Gilead is mine and Manasseh is mine.’ That is to say, I will possess myself of them and rule over them; not as a conqueror over slaves, but as a lord over subjects, as a father over children, owning and acknowledging them as mine. They are my inheritance, and shall be my people, my subjects.” (John Brinsley) “’Ephraim also is the strength of mine head.’ The strong and warlike tribe of Ephraim being to the state what the helmet is to the warriors in battle; or, perhaps the allusion is to Deuteronomy 33:17: 'His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the nations.'" (J. J. Stewart Perowne) This is the place of the remnant church in the last days. “‘Judah is My lawgiver,’ i.e., all his subjects should be brought under one Head, one governor, who should give them laws, according to which they should be ordered or governed, which power and authority belonged to the tribe of Judeah, according to that prophecy of Jacob (Genesis 49:10), to which the psalmist here alludes. No way, no means to bring the people unto unity, to bring them into one body, but by bringing them under on head, one law giver, by whose laws they may be regulated and governed. Now in the church, and in matters of religion, this one Head is Christ, even that ‘Lion of the tribe of Judah,’ as he is called (Revelation 5:5). He is the Law giver of his church, and let him so be. This will be found one, aye, and the only means to breed an holy and religious unity, and bring home straying, wandering sheep.” (John Brinsley)This the place of Christ. In contrast God says: “‘Moab is My washpot.’ They are the tail and not the head. “The enmity between Moab, Israel, and Judah is especially evident in a series of prophetic oracles leveled against the Moabites (Is 15-16; Jer 9:25-26; 48; Am 2:1-3; Zep 2:8-11).” (Tyndale Bible Dictionary) “’And over Edom I will cast My shoe.' The biblical term Edom, meaning ‘red,’ denotes either the name of the land or the name of Esau, in remembrance of the red pottage or stew for which he exchanged his birthright (Gn 25:30; 36:1, 8, 19)... At the time of the rise of the Israelite monarchy, Saul fought successfully against Edom (1 Sm 14:47). Doeg the Edomite was the chief of Saul's herdsmen (21:7; 22:9, 18-22). At the beginning of the 10th century BC, David defeated Edom in the Valley of Salt and killed many Edomites (2 Sm 8:13; 1 Chr 18:12). [But here the victory is attributed to Joab who fought on behalf of his lord, King David.] Thereafter, David placed garrisons in Edom, and the Edomites became his subjects (2 Sm 8:14).” (Tyndale Bible Dictionary) "'Philistia, shout in triumph over Me,' as thou didst in former years use to triumph and insult over the poor Israelites. It is an ironical expression, signifying that her triumphs were come to an end." (Matthew Poole) And David asks: “‘Who will bring me to the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom?’ The entrance to Petra is by a narrow gorge, lined by lofty precipices, formed by the channel of a rivulet. This defile is nearly two miles in length. At some places the overhanging rocks approach so near to each other that only two horsemen can proceed abreast.” (Dr. William King Tweedie) He answers: “’Is it not You, O God, who cast us off? And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies? Give us help from trouble, for the help of man is useless. Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies.’ It is Christ our King who will lead us to Zion and crush the heads of His enemies, even Satan.