Psalm 61

Psalm 61- To the Chief Musician. On a stringed instrument. A Psalm of David 1 Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. 2 From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 3 For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. 4 I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah A recent paper of Maggie’s for seminary was a major source for this post. She— Maggie Cantey— wrote a paper on Psalm 61 in a class on the Psalms. Her faith is a source of great joy for me. She waits on the voice of God, making no quick decisions— a good lesson for me. “‘Title— To the Chief Musician. On a stringed instrument. A Psalm of David.’ There is not much in Ps 61 that aids in understanding the historical context of the psalm... It seems most likely that this is during the early monarchy and Davidic Era...” (Maggie Cantey) when he fled from his inheritance of Judah. “‘Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer.’ incline your ears to my prayer.” (Maggie’s personal translation from the Hebrew)— “‘From the end of the earth I will cry to You.’ 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.” (C. J. Ellicott) “‘When my heart is overwhelmed.’—Literally, in the covering of my heart, the verb being used (Psalms 65:13) of the valleys covered with corn, and metaphorically, as here, of ‘the garment of heaviness,’ which wraps a sad heart (Psalms 102 title; Isaiah 57:16).” (C. J Ellicott)... and I am “ready to sink, and fail and [perhaps] die.” (John Gill) “When faintness is mentioned elsewhere in the Bible it is referring to faintness caused by, ‘hunger and thirst and [religious] persecution by enemies’ and is often present in lament.” (Maggie Cantey] Then “‘lead me’ ... away from the ends of the earth and lead to the ‘rock that is higher than I.’” (Maggie Cantey) “...which otherwise I cannot ascend.” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) “He alludes to their custom of securing themselves in rocks. God’s power and promise are a rock that is higher than we. In these we must take refuge, and in these must we abide... But we cannot get upon this rock unless God lead us by his power. ‘I will put thee in the cleft of the rock,’ Exodus 33:22’.” (Joseph Benson) “The fathers think Jesus Christ is meant by this high rock.” (Adam Clarke) “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through Him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.” (2 Corinthians 1:20) “‘For You have been a shelter to me, and a strong tower from the enemy.’ This suggests that in the past, God has been a refuge and strong tower for the psalmist. He is now looking back at what God has done for him and hoping God will answer this petition by doing the same thing again.” (Maggie Cantey) “You see, the experience of the past may confirm our hope for the future, for He is the ‘same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever,’ and ‘they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee.’” (J. W. Reeve, M. A.) “Let us, then, show the soundness of David’s argument. If it be not sound, and God, though He once loved us and sought to do us good, doth now no longer love us, then He, the unchangeable must have changed. But is the Lord’s arm shortened that He cannot save? The mercies, therefore, that memory adduces cannot have exhausted Him; otherwise He were not Almighty; nay, they actually pledge Him to assist me, otherwise He were not unchangeable.” (H. Melvill, B. D.) “‘I will abide in Your tabernacle forever;’ The Hebrew word עלם ôlam, when applied to God or His perfections, denotes everlasting existence; but when applied to men, it is equivalent to an age...” (Jos. Sutcliffe), as Samuel was pledge by his mother Hannah to serve God as long as he lived, 1 Samuel 1:11. All those who are in Christ will suffer for righteousness sake. But they can find refuge in His sanctuary in the types of the earthly sanctuary of which Christ is the antitype. “‘I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.’ I will seek refuge in the hiding place of your wings’ (Maggie’s translation)... There are multiple ways to interpret the wings. One explanation is that the wings ‘may allude to the winged creatures associated with [covering] the ark [or the mercy seat].’..., especially if the first half of the verse is about the temple and the ark is held in the holy of holies- God’s dwelling place in the temple.” (Maggie Cantey) “Selah”— mediate on this! “When you find this word you are to rouse yourself to great stanzas. You are to open the door of your soul for analogies. You are to spread the wings of your imagination for flight.” (T. De Witt Talmage) In things eternal, King David longed for the mercy seat of God’s tabernacle, built on the refuge of Rock of Christ His King! “His hope is, that not only he shall be restored to the fellowship of the saints, at the tabernacle in Jerusalem, but also that he shall be [one day] in God’s company in heaven, represented by the tabernacle, and that for ever.” (David Dickson) 5 For You, O God, have heard my vows; You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name. 6 You will prolong the king’s life, his years as many generations. 7 He shall abide before God forever. Oh, prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him! 8 So I will sing praise to Your name forever, that I may daily perform my vows. “For You, O God, have heard my vows;’ to service. “One understanding of v.5 is that this verse is evidence that God has heard the psalmist prayer and that God has taken away the anxiety from the original petition in v. 2. It can be viewed as a turning point- God responds to the petition.” (Maggie Cantey)— “‘You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name.’ So, then, they that fear God have an heritage. Not, perhaps, in this world.... And as to spiritual good— they have indeed ‘a goodly heritage. The Lord is their portion and His promises, and the inheritance in heaven.’ Now, this heritage is given. And we may know that we possess it. ‘Thou hast given me,’ etc. Can we read our title clear? ‘Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness.’” (W. Jay) “‘You will prolong the king’s life, his years as many generations.’ The words are very emphatic, and can refer to no ordinary person. Literally, ‘Days upon days thou wilt add to the king; and his years shall be like the generations of this world, and the generations of the world to come.’” (Adam Clarke) “Yes, the words may actually apply to David, as Spurgeon declared, ‘In a very limited and modified sense.’” (Coffman Commentary) “... God would add days on to the days he has already permitted for the king. Barnes writes, ‘the language does not necessarily mean that he would have a long life, but that he would still be permitted to live.’” (Maggie Cantey) Thus: “David probably could not have foreseen the magnificent fulfilment of this prayer, which was destined, in the fulness of time, to be granted `in Christ Jesus,' above all that he could have asked or thought.” (Kinder) for “‘He shall abide before God for ever.’ The Hebrew word עלם ôlam, when applied to God or his perfections, denotes everlasting existence; but when applied to men, it is equivalent to an age,...” (Joseph Sutcliffe) depending on the salvation of the subject. “‘Oh, prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve Him!’, that is Christ. “‘So I will sing praise to Your name forever.’ Praise is a large part of the Christian vow. Except as we each and ALL abide in the Vine “we must wholly drop all thoughts of David king of Israel in this precious portion of the Psalm; for of none could the Holy Ghost speak in language like this, but of Jesus, who is Jehovah's King in Zion before God forever. Here we behold Him, concerning whom the angel spake, when announcing His incarnation, the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end. Luke 1:32-33. Hail! thou almighty King of kings, and Lord of lords! etc. Philippians 2:10-11.” (Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary) From- “IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY—.. .Even in the 21st century there is persecution and injustice on all levels of society and all areas of the world. It can still feel like a battle for many people to continue to put their trust in God despite the circumstances they find themselves in. For some people this psalm speaks to a purely a spiritual struggle and for others this psalm voices their cry for physical protection and strength. It is just as important now as it was when the psalm was written for us to trust in God’s faithfulness to us and to help each other trust in His faithfulness to that the hope that is expressed in v. 8 can be experienced by all believers.” (Maggie Cantey)