Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 54:4

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 54:4. Behold, God is mine helper — This would naturally occur to him when he saw that Saul was obliged to leave the pursuit, and go to defend his territories, when he was on the very point of seizing him. God, whose providence is ever watchful, had foreseen this danger, and stirred up the Philistines to make this inroad just at the time in which Saul and his army were about to lay hands on David. Well might he then say, "Behold, God is mine helper."

Is with them, that uphold my soul. — נפשי naphshi, my life. This may even refer to the Philistines, who had at this time made an inroad on Israel. God was even with his own enemies, by making them instruments to save the life of his servant.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 52-54 Those who act treacherously

When David fled from Saul he obtained urgently needed provisions from the priests at Nob (1 Samuel 21:1-9). He was seen by Doeg, an Edomite and a servant of Saul, who reported the matter to Saul. In a typical fit of mad vengeance, Saul ordered Doeg to kill all the priests at Nob, something that Doeg was very willing to do (1 Samuel 22:6-23). On hearing of Doeg’s butchery, David wrote a poem against him, which has been preserved in the Bible as Psalms 52:0 (see heading).

David denounces Doeg for his pride, treachery and hatred of all that is good (52:1-4). Doeg will surely meet a terrible death, which good people will recognize as a just punishment from God (5-7). His impending ruin is in contrast to the fruitfulness of the believer, who lives his life in the fellowship of God and his people (8-9).

Psalms 53:0 is a repetition of Psalms 14:0 with minor adjustments. The purpose in repeating it here was probably to add further comment on the character of Doeg described in the previous psalm. For notes on the psalm see commentary on Psalms 14:0.

Psalms 54:0 also belongs to the time of David’s flight from Saul. It was written against the people of the town of Ziph, who betrayed David to Saul when they found that he was hiding in the wooded hills nearby (1 Samuel 23:19-24). David prays to God to save him and punish his enemies (54:1-5). Confident that God will hear him, he looks forward to the day when he can show his gratitude to God by sacrifice (6-7).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Behold, God is my helper: The Lord is of them that uphold my soul. He will requite the evil unto mine enemies: Destroy thou them in thy truth.”

“The Lord is of them that uphold my soul” “This is a literal rendition of the Hebrew”;H. C. Leupold, p. 420. but the thought is not that the Lord is merely one of David’s helpers, but that it is no other than God himself who supports and aids all of those helpers who are helping David. “Like a string of zeroes, our many friends stand for nothing, unless the Lord sets himself as a unit in front of them; then their number is innumerable.”Charles Haddon Spurgeon, p. 248. Who were David’s human helpers? They were the “six hundred men”; they were the “thirty-three mighty men”; they were “all in Israel who loved the Lord,” and who prayed to be rid of the blatant paganism of Saul.

“He will requite the evil unto mine enemies” “The center of the Psalm is God’s faithfulness; therefore right will be vindicated and enemies will be punished.”Anthony L. Ash, p. 187. Nothing is further from the Spirit of God than the foolish notion that God is never really going to punish anybody.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Behold, God is mine helper - That is, God alone can aid me in these circumstances, and to him I confidently look.

The Lord is with them that uphold my soul - My friends; those who have rallied around me to defend me; those who comfort me by their presence; those who sustain me in my cause, and who keep me from sinking under the burden of my accumulated troubles.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

4.Behold! God is my helper Such language as this may show us that David did not direct his prayers at random into the air, but offered them in the exercise of a lively faith. There is much force in the demonstrative adverb. He points, as it were, with the finger, to that God who stood at his side to defend him; and was not this an amazing illustration of the power with which faith can surmount all obstacles, and glance, in a moment, from the depths of despair to the very throne of God? He was a fugitive amongst the dens of the earth, and even there in hazard of his life — how, then, could he speak of God as being near to him? He was pressed down to the very mouth of the grave; and how could he recognize the gracious presence of God? He was trembling in the momentary expectation of being destroyed; and how is it possible that he can triumph in the certain hope that Divine help will presently be extended to him? In numbering God amongst his defenders, we must not suppose that he assigns him a mere common rank amongst the men who supported his cause, which would have been highly derogatory to his glory. He means that God took part with those, such as Jonathan and others, who were interested in his welfare. These might be few in number, possessed of little power, and cast down with fears; but he believed that, under the guidance and protection of the Almighty, they would prove superior to his enemies: or, perhaps, we may view him as referring, in the words, to his complete destitution of all human defenders, and asserting that the help of God would abundantly compensate for all. ⁽²⁹¹⁾

(291) The phrase, אדני בסמכי, Adonai besomkey, which Calvin renders, “The Lord is with them that uphold,” is translated by Hammond, “The Lord among the sustainers;” and he remarks, that this form of expression, which is not unusual among the Hebrews, signifies no more than “God is my upholder; not one of many upholders, but my only upholder.” Thus, when Jephtha (Judges 11:35) tells his daughter, “Thou art among the troublers of me,” or “one of them that trouble me,” the meaning simply is, that she very much grieved and troubled him. So Psalms 55:18, “There were many with me;” i e. , “God was with me,” which is as good as the greatest multitude. This is the sense in which the learned Castellio understands the passage, rendering it, “Dominus is est qui mihi vitam sustentat;” “The Lord is he who sustains my life;” and he defends it by the above and like arguments. With this the Septuagint agrees: “Κυριος ἀντιλήπτωρ τὢς ψνχὢς μου,” “The Lord is the defender of my soul;” and also the Syriac, Arabic, and Aethiopic.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 54:1-7

Psalms 54:1-7 is to the chief musician on a stringed instrument. A prayer of David. When the Ziphims came and said to Saul, "David is hiding down in the wilderness of Ziph." And so, even as he didn't care about Doeg telling Saul where he was, neither did he care about the Ziphims. So he has a few choice words for them.

Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength. Hear my prayer, O God; and give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers [the Ziphites] are risen up against me, and the oppressors seek after my soul: and they have not set God before them. Behold, God is my helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul. He shall reward evil unto my enemies: cut them off in thy truth. I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O LORD; for it is good. For he hath delivered me out of all trouble: and my eye hath seen the desire upon my enemies ( Psalms 54:1-7 ).

So David's prayer that God would honor him, and take care of his enemies. so I have learned not to seek to defend myself, but to leave my defense completely in the hands of God. Now, if you want God to defend you, then you have to just commit yourself to the hands of God and not seek to defend yourself. God is my defense. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 54

David composed this individual lament psalm after the Ziphites had told King Saul where he was hiding (1 Samuel 23:19). He expressed great confidence in God’s protection of him in it. The psalm is a fitting prayer for any believer who is maligned by others.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

David was confident that God would help and sustain him. He also believed God would punish those who opposed him, and he asked God to do so. He could pray this way because what his adversaries were doing was contrary to God’s will.

"The imprecation is not vindictive but expressive of trust in divine justice. Evil must be repaid." [Note: VanGemeren, p. 391.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. Confidence in God 54:4-7

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Behold, God [is] mine helper,.... This being a matter of wonder to be helped in so extraordinary a manner, and a sure and certain case, and what was deserving the attention of others; for the encouragement of their faith and hope in like cases, a "behold" is prefixed unto it: and what is here said is true of David's son, the Messiah, and is expressed by him in much the same language, Isaiah 50:9; and of all the saints whom the Lord helps, as at first conversion, out of the pit wherein is no water, out of the horrible pit, the mire and clay of nature's darkness, ignorance, and unbelief; so out of all their afflictions and temptations, and out of the hands of all their enemies; he helps in the exercise of grace, and in the discharge of duty; and he helps to all mercies, temporal and spiritual, needful for them; which help is quick and present, seasonable and suitable, always sufficient; and is what they have reason to expect both from what he has said to them in promise, and from what he has done for them;

the Lord [is] with them that uphold my soul; that ministered to his sustenance, as Abigail did, and that gathered to him and joined him, and exposed their lives in the defence of him; these the Lord was with, blessed, protected, and afforded them his gracious presence. Such there were with Christ; who followed him in the regeneration; who ministered to him of their substance, whom God rewarded in a way of grace; and he blesses them that bless his, and do good to them; they being the excellent in the earth, in whom is his delight, the apple of his eye, and his jewels. Or the sense is, that the Lord is he that upheld his soul; not only the chief of his upholders, but the only one: so R. Moses l interprets it, that he is the alone upholder, and is instead of all upholders, and answers to them all; who upheld his soul in life, and followed him with his goodness: as when God is said to be the first, and "with the last", the meaning is, that he is the first and the last, Isaiah 41:4; see Psalms 118:7; so he upheld the soul of Christ in the wilderness, and in the garden, and on the cross; see Isaiah 42:1. And he upholds all his people in a providential way in their beings, and supplies them with all the necessaries of life; and, in a spiritual way, maintaining their spiritual life, supplying them with all grace, bearing them up under all trials, holding up their goings in his ways, and preserving them to the end.

l Apud Aben Ezram in loc.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      4 Behold, God is mine helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul.   5 He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth.   6 I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O LORD; for it is good.   7 For he hath delivered me out of all trouble: and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies.

      We have here the lively actings of David's faith in his prayer, by which he was assured that the issue would be comfortable, though the attempt upon him was formidable.

      I. He was sure that he had God on his side, that God took his part (Psalms 54:4; Psalms 54:4); he speaks it with an air of triumph and exultation, Behold, God is my helper. If we be for him, he is for us; and, if he be for us, we shall have such help in him that we need not fear any power engaged against us. Though men and devils aim to be our destroyers, they shall not prevail while God is our helper: The Lord is with those that uphold my soul. Compare Psalms 118:7, "The Lord taketh my part with those that help me. There are some that uphold me, and God is one of them; he is the principal one; none of them could help me if he did not help them." Every creature is that to us (and no more) that God makes it to be. He means, "The Lord is he that upholds my soul, and keeps me from tiring in my work and sinking under my burdens." He that by his providence upholds all things by his grace upholds the souls of his people. God, who will in due time save his people, does, in the mean time, sustain them and bear them up, so that the spirit he has made shall not fail before him.

      II. God taking part with him, he doubted not but his enemies should both flee and fall before him (Psalms 54:5; Psalms 54:5): "He shall reward evil unto my enemies that observe me, seeking an opportunity to do me a mischief. The evil they designed against me the righteous God will return upon their own heads." David would not render evil to them, but he knew God would: I as a deaf man heard not, for thou wilt hear. The enemies we forgive, if they repent not, God will judge; and for this reason we must not avenge ourselves, because God has said, Vengeance is mine. But he prays, Cut them off in thy truth. This is not a prayer of malice, but a prayer of faith; for it has an eye to the word of God, and only desires the performance of that. There is truth in God's threatenings as well as in his promises, and sinners that repent not will find it so to their cost.

      III. He promises to give thanks to God for all the experiences he had had of his goodness to him (Psalms 54:6; Psalms 54:6): I will sacrifice unto thee. Though sacrifices were expensive, yet, when God required that his worshippers should in that way praise him, David would not only offer them, but offer them freely and without grudging. All our spiritual sacrifices must, in this sense, be free-will-offerings; for God loves a cheerful giver. Yet he will not only bring his sacrifice, which was but the shadow, the ceremony; he will mind the substance: I will praise thy name. A thankful heart, and the calves of our lips giving thanks to his name, are the sacrifices God will accept: "I will praise thy name, for it is good. Thy name is not only great but good, and therefore to be praised. To praise thy name is not only what we are bound to, but it is good, it is pleasant, it is profitable; it is good for us (Psalms 92:1); therefore I will praise thy name."

      IV. He speaks of his deliverance as a thing done (Psalms 54:7; Psalms 54:7): I will praise thy name, and say, "He has delivered me; this shall be my song then." That which he rejoices in is a complete deliverance--He has delivered me from all trouble; and a deliverance to his heart's content--My eye has seen its desire upon my enemies, not seen them cut off and ruined, but forced to retreat, tidings being brought to Saul that the Philistines were upon him, 1 Samuel 23:27; 1 Samuel 23:28. All David desired was to be himself safe; when he saw Saul draw off his forces he saw his desire. He has delivered me from all trouble. Either, 1. With this thought David comforted himself when he was in distress: "He has delivered me from all trouble hitherto, and many a time I have gained my point, and seen my desire on my enemies; therefore he will deliver me out of this trouble." We should thus, in our greatest straits, encourage ourselves with our past experiences. Or, 2. With this thought he magnified his present deliverance when the fright was over, that it was an earnest of further deliverance. He speaks of the completing of his deliverance as a thing done, though he had as yet many troubles before him, because, having God's promise for it, he was as sure of it as if it had been done already. "He that has begun to deliver me from all troubles, and will at length give me to see my desire upon my enemies." This may perhaps point at Christ, of whom David was a type; God would deliver him out of all the troubles of his state of humiliation, and he was perfectly sure of it; and all things are said to be put under his feet; for, though we see not yet all things put under him, yet we are sure he shall reign till all his enemies be made his footstool, and he shall see his desire upon them. However, it is an encouragement to all believers to make that use of their particular deliverances which St. Paul does (like David here), 2 Timothy 4:17; 2 Timothy 4:18, He that delivered me from the mouth of the lion shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me to his heavenly kingdom.