Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Psalms 59:4

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Psalms 59:4. They run and prepare themselves — They leave no stone unturned that they may effect my destruction and prevent the building.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Psalms 59:0 Wild dogs

At the time of writing this psalm, David had not yet fled to Gath and Adullam. He was still at Saul’s court, but his repeated military successes stirred up Saul’s jealousy, resulting in another attempt by Saul to spear him (1 Samuel 19:1-10). David escaped to the safety of his own house. Saul then laid a plot to murder him at his home, and David escaped only narrowly (1 Samuel 19:11-17). This psalm concerns the attempt on David’s life at his house.

The psalm opens with a plea for protection against those whose intention is to murder David (1-2). Bloodthirsty people hide in the dark, awaiting the opportunity to kill an innocent man (3-5). David likens them to a pack of wild dogs that prowl the streets at night, seeking some helpless victim that they can attack and tear to pieces (6-7). But they are powerless against God, and therefore they are powerless against those whom he defends (8-10).
David knows that God will destroy these violent people, but he does not want them killed in a way that would appear to be the result of natural causes. He wants their death to occur in such a way that people will see clearly that it is a direct judgment from the righteous God (11-13).
Meanwhile the hungry dogs still prowl. Each night they return, eagerly looking for their victim (14-15). God, however, still guards David, and each morning David praises him afresh for his faithful protection (16-17).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: Set me on high from them that rise up against me Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, And save me from the bloodthirsty men. For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul; The mighty gather themselves together against me: Not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Jehovah. They run and prepare themselves without my fault; Awake thou to help me, and behold. Even thou, O Jehovah, God of hosts, the God of Israel, Arise to visit all the nations: Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors, (Selah)”

“Set me on high” This is often translated either “protect” or “defend,” thus giving us four one-word prayers in this first verse. These are “deliver, protect, deliver, save!” These urgent repeated cries for God’s help emphasize the dramatic nature of the crisis David faced. He was one man, alone, hated, pursued, proscribed by the king, condemned to death without a trial, and an entire army at the disposal of his chief enemy had been commissioned to kill him. Hopeless? No indeed; God was with David!

“From mine enemies” Who were all these enemies of David?

“Saul became his enemy through jealousy; Saul’s partisans took sides with him against David; he had enemies at the court of Achish; there were enemies in his own family; even his son Absalom hated him; even one of his counselors, Ahithophel betrayed him; and besides these, there were foreign enemies on all sides: Philistines, Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Amalekites, Syrians, Mesopotamians, etc.”Ibid., p. 12.

As we have frequently noticed, many of these psalms deal with hatred, opposition, oppression, injustice, slander, violence, etc., encountered by one who trusts God and looks to him continually for deliverance from implacable enemies on all sides. “The constant recurrence of this note in the Psalter is doubtless intended to provide a large measure of comfort and encouragement for the various circumstances of trial to which the godly are exposed.”H. C. Leupold, p. 440.

“Workers of iniquity” David here pleads for deliverance because of the character of his foes. (1) They are evil workers (Psalms 59:2); (2) they are bloodthirsty men (Psalms 59:3), and (3) David has never wronged any of them.

“Not for my transgression… nor my sin… without my fault” This is a three-fold protestation of innocence on David’s part. As Dummelow noted, this may not be taken as proof of David’s being sinless in God’s sight, but “Probably mean that he had done nothing to provoke the hostilities of his enemies.”J. R. Dummelow, p. 352.

“The mighty gather themselves together against me” Spurgeon thought that this means that ’All’ the mighty ones united against David. “No one of them was absent from the muster when there was a saint to be murdered. They were too fond of such sport to be absent.”Charles Haddon Spurgeon, p. 262. We cannot say whether or not Spurgeon was correct in the application of this principle to the situation here; but well we know that such an attitude is very frequently that of the world toward the people of God.

“Arise to visit all the nations” This line has given commentators a lot of trouble. The usual explanation is that of Yates, “Although basically the lament of an individual, it has overtones which adapt it to national use also.”Wycliffe Bible Commentary of the Old Testament, Old Testament, p. 516. This is the third time that we have encountered this world-wide international element in the Psalms. (See Psalms 56:7; Psalms 57:9, and again here). Please see discussion of all these. It is an earmark of Davidic authorship in all three. Kidner pointed out that this international flavor even existed in that very early prayer in the life of David, before his victory over Goliath. He prayed, “I come to thee in the name of Jehovah of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied… I will smite thee, and take thy head from off thee.., that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel” (1 Samuel 17:45-46).

“Here the picture widens as David now king (when this Psalm was written), applies the personal prayer to a larger situation, i. e., that of the nation.”Derek Kidner, Vol. 1, p. 212. Our own view differs from this in that we think the supposition that the psalm was written years after the event that prompted it, after David was king, is unnecessary.

Leupold also sustained this same view: At the very time when Saul’s men were surrounding the house of David with the intention of killing him, the Philistines were also harassing Israel (it will be remembered that when David was in the cave of Adullum, Saul had to leave off the pursuit to repel an attack from the Philistines).

“Thus when David reflected upon his own distress (in this Psalm), he felt that when God took his case in hand, God would also, at the same time, deliver Israel from the attacks of the heathen.”H. C. Leupold, p. 441.

Thus the mention of “the nations” here is quite natural and understandable.

“God of hosts… God of Israel… visit all the nations” Three reasons are given here as grounds for David’s prayer for God’s intervention. “(1) He is the God of hosts, (2) He is the covenant God of Israel, and (3) He is also the God of all nations”New Bible Commentary Revised, p. 487.

This first paragraph ends with the word “Selah,” which was probably some kind of a musical direction to the singers.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

They run and prepare themselves - That is, they “hasten” to accomplish this; they are quick to obey the command of Saul requiring them to slay me. The word “prepare” refers to whatever was deemed necessary to enable them to accomplish what they had been commanded to do - arming themselves, making provision for their journey, etc.

Without my fault - That is, without anything on my part to deserve this, or to justify Saul and those employed by him in what they attempt to do. David, in all this, was conscious of innocence. In his own feelings toward Saul, and in all his public acts, he knew that he had sought only the king’s welfare, and that he had been obedient to the laws.

Awake to help me - That is, “arouse,” as one does from sleep. See the notes at Psalms 7:6. Compare Psalms 35:23. The word rendered “to help me,” is rendered in the margin, “to meet me.” This is the meaning of the Hebrew. It is a prayer that God would meet him, or come to him, and aid him.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

4.Awake to hasten for my help, and behold. In using this language, he glances at the eagerness with which his enemies, as he had already said, were pressing upon him, and states his desire that God would show the same haste in extending help as they did in seeking his destruction. With the view of conciliating the divine favor, he once more calls upon God to be the witness and judge of his cause, adding,and behold The expression is one which savours at once of faith and of the infirmity of the flesh. In speaking of God, as if his eyes had been hitherto shut to the wrongs which he had suffered, and needed now for the first time to be opened for the discovery of them, he expresses himself according to the weakness of our human apprehension. On the other hand, in calling upon God to behold his cause, he shows his faith by virtually acknowledging that nothing was hid from his providential cognisance. Though David may use language of this description, suited to the infirmity of sense, we must not suppose him to have doubted before this time that his afflictions, his innocence, and his wrongs, were known to God. Now, however, he lays the whole before God for examination and decision.

He prosecutes the same prayer with still greater vehemency in the verse which succeeds. He addresses God under new titles, calling him Jehovah, God of Hosts, and the God of Israel, the first of which appellations denotes the immensity of his power, and the second the special care which he exerts over the Church, and over all his people. The manner in which the pronoun is introduced, and Thou, etc., is emphatical, denoting that it was as impossible for God to lay aside the office of a judge as to deny himself, or divest himself of his being. He calls upon him to visit all the nations: for although the cause which he now submitted was of no such universal concernment, the wider exercise of judgment would necessarily include the lesser; and on the supposition of heathens and foreigners being subjected to the judgment of God, it followed that a still more certain and heavy doom would be awarded to enemies within the pale of the Church, who persecuted the saints under the guise of brethren, and overthrew those laws which were of divine appointment. The opposition which David encountered might not embrace all nations; but if these were judicially visited by God, it was absurd to imagine that those within the Church would be the only enemies who should escape with impunity. In using these words, it is probable also that he may have been struggling with a temptation with which he was severely assailed, connected with the number of his enemies, for these did not consist merely of three or four abandoned individuals. They formed a great multitude; and he rises above them all by reflecting that God claims it as his prerogative, not only to reduce a few refractory persons to submission, but to punish the wickedness of the whole world. If the judgments of God extended to the uttermost parts of the earth, there was no reason why he should be afraid of his enemies, who, however numerous, formed but a small section of the human race. We shall shortly see, however, that the expression admits of being applied without impropriety to the Israelites, divided, as they were, into so many tribes or peoples. In the words which follow, when he deprecates the extension of God’s mercy to wicked transgressors, we must understand him as referring to the reprobate, whose sin was of a desperate character. We must also remember, what has been already observed, that in such prayers he was not influenced by mere private feelings, and these of a rancorous, distempered, and inordinate description. Not only did he know well that those of whom he speaks with such severity were already doomed to destruction, but he is here pleading the common cause of the Church, and this under the influence of the pure and well-regulated zeal of the Spirit. He therefore affords no precedent to such as resent private injuries by vending curses on those who have inflicted them.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Psalms 59:1-17

Psalms 59:1-17 is another one of those "destroy not" prayers of David, when Saul sent and they watched the house to kill him. His wife, Michael, let him out of the window in a basket and David escaped. But the men were watching the house of David to kill him. And David wrote this psalm on that occasion.

Deliver me from my enemy, O God: defend me from them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from the bloody men. For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgressions, nor for my sin, O LORD ( Psalms 59:1-3 ).

It was just because of Saul's jealousy; it wasn't that David had done anything wrong.

They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold. Thou therefore, [O God,] O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all of the heathen: be not merciful to the wicked transgressors ( Psalms 59:4-5 ).

Just be merciful to me, Lord, in my wickedness. Isn't that the way that it goes?

They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and they go around about the city ( Psalms 59:6 ).

Here are these guys out there and they are barking like dogs, and David knew who they were.

They belch out with their mouth: and swords are in their lips: and who, say they, that does hear? But thou, O LORD, shall laugh at them; and thou shalt have all of the heathen in derision. Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defense. The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desires upon my enemies. Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield. For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying of which they speak. Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city. Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied. But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defense and refuge in the day of my troubles. Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defense, and the God of my mercy ( Psalms 59:7-17 ).

So three times over in the psalm, God is spoken of as David's defense. And it's surely neat to have God as our defense. Now, I have discovered that God will be my defense as long as I let Him be my defense. But if I seek to take up my own defense, then God will let me defend myself. And I have found that I really can't defend myself adequately. And 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

1. The conspiracy of David’s enemies 59:1-5

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Psalms 59

The occasion for this individual lament psalm was evidently the event the writer of 1 Samuel recorded in Psalms 19:8-14, namely: Saul’s attempt to kill David in his bed at home. David asked God to defend him from the attacks of bloodthirsty men and to humiliate them so everyone might recognize God’s sovereignty.

"The focus of the psalm is on God-the Deliverer (Psalms 59:1-9) and the Judge (Psalms 59:10-17)." [Note: Wiersbe, The . . . Wisdom . . ., p. 201.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The beleaguered psalmist explained the reason for his request. Violent men were laying a trap for him, even though he had done nothing to deserve their hostility.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

David again cried out for divine help. He asked Yahweh as the God of armies and the God of Israel to come to his aid. He broadened his request to include his nation that suffered similarly at the hands of hostile Gentile neighbors.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

They run and prepare themselves without [my] fault,.... Or, "without sin [in me]"; or "without punishment [in them]"; so the same word is rendered, 1 Samuel 28:10. "They run", in an hostile manner, "against me", as the Syriac version adds; or like dogs up and down, about the city, to find him and kill him; see Psalms 59:7. Or this may denote their readiness and swiftness to shed blood, Proverbs 1:16; "and prepare themselves" with weapon, with instruments of death, as the men did that were sent to kill him; and as the band of men that came with Judas to take Christ prepared themselves with swords and staves. The Targum is,

"they order or ordain war;''

which they prosecuted without any occasion of it from him, and wilt, impunity in them. Wherefore it follows,

awake to help me; or "to meet me" n; see Genesis 46:29; with succour and supplies, and to deliver out of the hands of enemies. The Lord, though he neither slumbers nor sleeps, yet seems to be asleep when he does not arise to help his people, but suffers the enemy to prevail; and when he seems to take no notice of their case, but hides his eyes, and shuts them as a man asleep. Hence the following petition,

and behold; the distress the psalmist was in, and the wickedness and malice of his enemies against him.

n לקראתי "in occursum meum", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus, Michaelis.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

To the chief musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David,

when Saul sent and they watched the house to kill him.

      1 Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me.   2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.   3 For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD.   4 They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.   5 Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.   6 They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.   7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear?

      The title of this psalm acquaints us particularly with the occasion on which it was penned; it was when Saul sent a party of his guards to beset David's house in the night, that they might seize him and kill him; we have the story 1 Samuel 19:11. It was when his hostilities against David were newly begun, and he had but just before narrowly escaped Saul's javelin. These first eruptions of Saul's malice could not but put David into disorder and be both grievous and terrifying, and yet he kept up his communion with God, and such a composure of mind as that he was never out of frame for prayer and praises; happy are those whose intercourse with heaven is not intercepted nor broken in upon by their cares, or griefs, or fears, or any of the hurries (whether outward or inward) of an afflicted state. In these verses,

      I. David prays to be delivered out of the hands of his enemies, and that their cruel designs against him might be defeated (Psalms 59:1; Psalms 59:2): "Deliver me from my enemies, O my God! thou art God, and cast deliver me, my God, under whose protection I have put myself; and thou hast promised me to be a God all-sufficient, and therefore, in honour and faithfulness, thou wilt deliver me. Set me on high out of the reach of the power and malice of those that rise up against me, and above the fear of it. Let me be safe, and see myself so, safe and easy, safe and satisfied. O deliver me! and save me." He cries out as one ready to perish, and that had his eye to God only for salvation and deliverance. He prays (Psalms 59:4; Psalms 59:4), "Awake to help me, take cognizance of my case, behold that with an eye of pity, and exert thy power for my relief." Thus the disciples, in the storm, awoke Christ, saying, Master, save us, we perish. And thus earnestly should we pray daily to be defended and delivered form our spiritual enemies, the temptations of Satan, and the corruptions of our own hearts, which war against our spiritual life.

      II. He pleads for deliverance. Our God gives us leave not only to pray, but to plead with him, to order our cause before him and to fill our mouth with arguments, not to move him, but to move ourselves. David does so here.

      1. He pleads the bad character of his enemies. They are workers of iniquity, and therefore not only his enemies, but God's enemies; they are bloody men, and therefore not only his enemies, but enemies to all mankind. "Lord, let not the workers of iniquity prevail against one that is a worker of righteousness, nor bloody men against a merciful man."

      2. He pleads their malice against him, and the imminent danger he was in from them, Psalms 59:3; Psalms 59:3. "Their spite is great; they aim at my soul, my life, my better part. They are subtle and very politic: They lie in wait, taking an opportunity to do me a mischief. They are all mighty, men of honour and estates, and interest in court and country. They are in a confederacy; they are united by league, and actually gathered together against me, combined both in consultation and action. They are very ingenious in their contrivances, and very industrious in the prosecution of them (Psalms 59:4; Psalms 59:4): They run and prepare themselves, with the utmost speed and fury, to do me a mischief." He takes particular notice of the brutish conduct of the messengers that Saul sent to take him (Psalms 59:6; Psalms 59:6): "They return at evening from the posts assigned them in the day, to apply themselves to their works of darkness (their night-work, which may well be their day-shame), and then they make a noise like a hound in pursuit of the hare." Thus did David's enemies, when they came to take him, raise an out cry against him as a rebel, and traitor, a man not fit to live; with this clamour they went round about the city, to bring a bad reputation upon David, if possible to set the mob against him, at least to prevent their being incensed against them, which otherwise they had reason to fear they would be, so much was David their darling. Thus the persecutors of our Lord Jesus, who are compared to dogs (Psalms 22:16), ran him down with noise; for else they could not have taken him, at least no on the feast-day, for there would have been an uproar among the people. They belch out with their mouth the malice that boils in their hearts, Psalms 59:7; Psalms 59:7. Swords are in their lips; that is, reproaches that would my heart with grief (Psalms 42:10), and slanders that stab and wound my reputation. They were continually suggesting that which drew and whetted Saul's sword against him, and the fault is laid upon the false accusers. The sword perhaps would not have been in Saul's hand if it had not been first in their lips.

      3. He pleads his own innocency, not as to God (he was never backward to own himself guilty before him), but as to his persecutors; what they charged him with was utterly false, nor had he ever said or done any thing to deserve such treatment from them (Psalms 59:3; Psalms 59:3): "Not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord! thou knowest, who knowest all things." And again (Psalms 59:4; Psalms 59:4), without my fault. Note, (1.) The innocency of the godly will not secure them from the malignity of the wicked. Those that are harmless like doves, yet, for Christ's sake, are hated of all men, as if they were noxious like serpents, and obnoxious accordingly. (2.) Though our innocency will not secure us from troubles, yet it will greatly support and comfort us under our troubles. The testimony of our conscience for us that we have behaved ourselves well towards those that behave themselves ill towards us will be very much our rejoicing in the day of evil. (3.) If we are conscious to ourselves of our innocency, we may with humble confidence appeal to God and beg of him to plead our injured cause, which he will do in due time.

      4. He pleads that his enemies were profane and atheistical, and bolstered themselves up in their enmity to David, with the contempt of God: For who, say they, doth hear?Psalms 59:7; Psalms 59:7. Not God himself, Psalms 10:11; Psalms 94:7. Note, It is not strange if those regard not what they say who have made themselves believe the God regards not what they say.

      III. He refers himself and his cause to the just judgment of God, Psalms 59:5; Psalms 59:5. "The Lord, the Judge, be Judge between me and my persecutors." In this appeal to God he has an eye to him as the Lord of hosts, that has power to execute judgment, having all creatures, even hosts of angels, at his command; he views him also as the God of Israel, to whom he was, in a peculiar manner, King and Judge, not doubting that he would appear on the behalf of those that were upright, that were Israelites indeed. When Saul's hosts persecuted him, he had recourse to God as the Lord of all hosts; when those maligned him who in spirit were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel he had recourse to God as the God of Israel. He desires (that is, he is very sure) that God will awake to visit all the nations, will make an early and exact enquiry into the controversies and quarrels that are among the children of men; there will be a day of visitation (Isaiah 10:3), and to that day David refers himself, with this solemn appeal, Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah--Mark that. 1. If David had been conscious to himself that he was a wicked transgressor, he would not have expected to find mercy; but, as to his enemies, he would say he was no transgressor at all (Psalms 59:3; Psalms 59:4): "Not for my transgression, and therefore thou wilt appear for me." As to God, he could say he was no wicked transgressor; for, though he had transgressed, he was a penitent transgressor, and did not obstinately persist in what he had done amiss. 2. He knew his enemies were wicked transgressors, wilful, malicious, and hardened in their transgressions both against God and man, and therefore he sues for justice against them, judgment without mercy. Let not those expect to find mercy who never showed mercy, for such are wicked transgressors.