Psalm 144-- A Psalm of David.
1 Blessed be Yahweh my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle. 2 My lovingkindness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take refuge, who subdues the peoples under me. 3 Yahweh, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You are mindful of Him? 4 Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow. 5 Bow down Your heavens, O Yahweh, and come down; touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. 6 Flash forth lightning and scatter them; shoot out Your arrows and destroy them. 7 Stretch out Your hand from above; rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, from the hand of foreigners, 8 Whose mouth speaks lying words, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. 9 I will sing a new song to You, O Elohim; on a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You, 10 The One who gives salvation to kings, who delivers David His servant from the deadly sword.11 Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouth speaks lying words, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood— 12 that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as pillars, sculptured in palace style; 13 that our barns may be full, supplying all kinds of produce; that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields; 14 that our oxen may be well laden; that there be no breaking in or going out; that there be no outcry in our streets. 15 Happy are the people who are in such a state; happy are the people whose Elohim is Yahweh!
A Psalm of David— “after he was come to the throne, and was king over all Israel.” (John Gill) “David‘s praise of God as his all-sufficient help is enhanced by a recognition of the intrinsic vanity of man. Confidently imploring God‘s interposition against his enemies, he breaks forth into praise and joyful anticipations of the prosperity of His kingdom, when freed from vain and wicked men.” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown) It is “a very delightful hymn, suited to the times of the Gospel.” (Robert Hawker)—“a vision of Christ rejoicing;—after his passion—risen in glory.” (Christopher Wordsworth)
“‘Blessed be Yahweh my Rock, who trains my hands for war,’ etc. (1)—Thus He taught Gideon to fight with the innumerable host of Midian by sending to their homes twenty-two thousand, and retaining but ten thousand of his soldiers: and then again by reducing that remnant to the little band of three hundred who lapped when brought down to the water. Thus he taught Samson by abstaining from strong drink, and by suffering no razor to pass over his head. Thus he taught the three kings in the wilderness to war against their enemies, not by any strength of their armies, but by making ditches in the desert. Thus he taught David himself by waiting for the sound of the going in the tops of the mulberry trees. And so he taught the arms of the True David to fight when stretched on the cross: nailed, to human sight, to the tree of suffering, but, in reality, winning for themselves the crown of glory: helpless in the eyes of scribes and Pharisees; in those of archangels, laying hold of the two pillars, sin and death, whereon the house of Satan rested, and heaving them up from, their foundation.” (Ayguan, in Neale and Littledale)— “‘my lovingkindness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take refuge, who subdues the peoples under me.’ (2) Is not the spiritual victory of every believer achieved by God? Truly it is He who teaches his hands to war and his fingers to fight; and when the final triumph shall be sung in heaven, the victor's song will be, ‘Not unto me, O Lord, not unto me, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake.’”(John Morison) He then speaks man’s mortality.
“‘Yahweh, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?’ (3a) Take him in his four elements, of earth, air, fire, and water. In the earth, he is as fleeting dust; in the air, he is as a disappearing vapour; in the water, he is as a breaking bubble; and in the fire, he is as consuming smoke.” (William Seeker)— “‘Or [what is] the son of man,’ — that is, Jesus— that You are mindful of Him?’ (3b) Therfore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will? For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. But one testified in a certain place, saying: 'What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You take care of him?’ (Ps 8:3) You have made Him a little lower than the angels; you have crowned Him with glory and honor, and set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet.' (Cp. Ps 8:4-6; Hebrews 2:1-13)
“‘Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.’ Bow down Your heavens, O Yahweh, and come down; touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.’ This was never so remarkably fulfilled as in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, when heaven and earth were, as it were, brought together. Heaven itself was, as it were, made to bow that it might be united to the earth. God did, as it were, come down and bring heaven with him... It was a most strange and wonderful thing. But this will be more remarkably fulfilled still by Christ's second coming,... ; and then the mountains shall smoke, and shall indeed flow down at his presence, as in Isa 64:1.” (Jonathan Edwards)
“‘Flash forth lightning and scatter them; shoot out Your arrows and destroy them’ in Your wrath, according to Your Word. ‘Stretch out Your hand from above; rescue me and deliver me out of great waters [multitudes of people], from the hand of foreigners, whose mouth speaks lying words, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.’ (6-8) When they shake hands with others, as if they were their friends, they intend thereby to deceive them." (Bishop Patrick)— And then “‘I will sing a new song to You, O Elohim; on a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You,’ (9) employing all my fingers employed in battle—This harp - כנור kinnôr — “is often mentioned as having been used to express the pious feelings of David... It is early mentioned as having been invented by Jubal; Genesis 4:21...... it is also mentioned by Laban in the description which be gives of various solemnities, in regard to which he assures the fleeing Jacob that it had been his wish to accompany him with all the testimonials of joy - ‹with music - תף tôph and כנור kinnôr Genesis 31:27. In the first age it was consecrated to joy and exultation. Hence, it is referred to as the instrument employed by David to drive away the melancholy of Saul 1 Samuel 16:16-22, and is the instrument usually employed to celebrate the praises of God...” (Albert Barnes) The New Testament song is the same as that sung by Old Testament saints, namely, salvation. See sweet stanzas of it, Psalms 40:3; Revelation 5:9.” (Robert Hawker)
The crux of the matter is the curse— For You are “the One [King of kings] who gives salvation to kings, who delivers David His servant from the deadly sword. Rescue me’— lit. ‘rid me’— “‘and deliver me’ and the new earth ‘from the hand of foreigners,’— non-Israelites— ‘whose mouth speaks lying words, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.’ etc. (4-11) But he then for the true Israelite, he asks the covenant blessings which Moses had promised on their children, on their cattle, and on their lands. Deuteronomy 28:29.“ (Joseph Sutcliffe)—“‘that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as pillars, sculptured in palace style; that our barns may be full, supplying all kinds of produce; that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields; that our oxen may be well laden; that there be no breaking in or going out; that there be no outcry in our streets.!’ (12-14) “The king prays that the nation will enter a new age, where security and prosperity are enjoyed by all. He prays that families will grow and flourish, that fields and flocks will be fruitful, and that people will enjoy peace and contentment. ‘Happy are the people who are in such a state; happy are the people whose Elohim is Yahweh.’ (15) Thus he reminds the people that they can expect such blessings only if they maintain their loyalty to [Yeshua] God [of Israel].” (Bridgeway Bible Commentary)