The Bible Study Hour

Dr. James Boice: David was no stranger to peril. He dodged Saul's javelins and evaded his armies. With few other resources of his own, David called on the great I AM for protection. On this program, we'll look at Psalm 59 from a historical perspective of the life of King David.

Dr. James Boice: Welcome to The Bible Study Hour. A radio and internet broadcast with Dr. James Boice, preparing you to think and act biblically. If we live by our own resources, we eventually come up short. David learned this lesson well as he fled his pursuers.

He knew that his only hope was in the Lord's protection and deliverance. Let's turn together to Psalm 59 as we study David's cry for help.

Dr. James Boice: It's another one of these psalms that has a historical setting in the life of King David. There's a little block of them here at this particular portion of the psalter. The Psalms in books one and two of the psalter, that is about the first 71 or two of the Psalms. The bulk of those are by David, but most of them don't have a historical setting.

We have been introduced to that as something different, beginning with Psalm 51. And that series has continued in a more or less alternating fashion up till now, and it will end with the next Psalm, Psalm 60, which has a very long introduction to it. What we have is one or two of these psalms with this historical setting. And then another Psalm is placed into the series, which does not have a historical setting, but has a theme that matches more or less what appeared before and afterwards.

And then the series takes up again. The way it works is this. Psalms 51 and 2 are given a historical setting. Then Psalm 53 is an interruption. Psalm 54 is historical. Psalm 55 is not. Then you have 56 and 57 that relate to something in the life of David. 58 is not.

And then finally, 59 and 60. Now, from this point on to the end of book two, these psalms are by David, except for the very last one, which is by Solomon. But you'll notice from the headings that no particular historical reference is given. Now, when we get to Psalm 60, we come to a psalm that looks ahead to something that happened much later in David's life during his reign.

Most of these have been from that period when he was fleeing from Saul, before he became king. This Psalm, Psalm 59, looks earlier in this series of events. That is, to the very beginnings of the trouble that he had with Saul. It's described this way. It says, when Saul had sent men to watch David's house in order to kill him.

If you're interested in the historical background for that, you find it in 1 Samuel chapter 19, verses 11 to 18. Let me just review briefly what that section of 1 Samuel says. David was still with Saul in these days. He was serving at the court. But Saul's jealousy was increasing. The women of Israel had invented a little song that goes like this.

Saul has slain his thousands, but David is tens of thousands. Now, that's not the sort of popular diddy that is designed to get you in favor with the king. And David suffered from that. Saul grew increasingly hostile, and there were several occasions when what is described in the Old Testament as an evil spirit came over him.

And while he was in this kind of a mood, he became so hostile that he actually threw his spear at David, when David was there in the banquet hall or wherever it was that they were meeting. He did it twice. And each time David escaped, he got out of the area for a while, and he came back. But after the second one, he began to think it really might be better if I didn't hang around here very long.

And so he thought, well, now it's time to take a short vacation and go home. So he went home. Now he was in his house. We don't know where that was. He was married to Saul's daughter, Michal, at the time. And Saul said to his soldiers, I want you to go down there and surround the house. Do it by night, so he won't know you're coming.

Surround it by night. And when morning comes, I want you to kill him. Now, David's wife, who was the daughter of Saul, knew her father pretty well. It seems like all of the children did. Jonathan knew his father well also. And David's wife said to him that evening, if you don't get out of here tonight and run away, you're going to be killed tomorrow morning.

I suppose that was obvious. Maybe David was a bit slow to grasp it, but at any rate, his wife understood the situation. And so she let him down through the window by a rope. Sort of the way they let the Apostle Paul out of Damascus, when they were looking for his life there. Now, we don't know again the setting of that.

It may have been that the house was a house on the wall of the city. They let him down outside. It may have let him down into an alley or something like that. But at any rate, he got away. And then his very resourceful wife did something else as well. She bought him some time because she had an idol there. It's interesting that they had them.

But she had it and she put it in the bed. It must have been fairly life-size. And then she had a little bit of goat's hair and she put it on the top to look like David's hair. Covered him up and when the soldiers came bursting in in the morning, they found him in bed. She said, he's sick. Well, that wasn't written into their orders.

They didn't know what to do. He was supposed to be well. They went back to Saul and they said, he's sick. And Saul said, you, you idiots. I don't care whether he's sick or not. Bring him up here in the bed. I'll kill him when you bring him. And so they went back down, but of course, by that time, David was long gone.

Now, that's the setting. There are several things in this Psalm that make us think that it applies to something a little bit broader. You notice, perhaps, that in two of the verses, in verse 5 and verse 8, it refers to all those nations. Rouse yourself to punish all the nations, verse 5. And again, you scoff at all those nations in verse 8.

And a little further on, it talks about the ends of the earth. That is verse 13. Now, that doesn't sound entirely appropriate, given that historical setting that I've described. But what probably has happened is this, is that later on, this psalm that had a strict historical setting was broadened slightly. So that when these phrases were added, it's a way of saying that what David experienced there when when Saul's soldiers like fierce dogs were out to get him, happens to all of us all the time.

And we would all perish if it weren't that we have a strong God who defends us. God defended David then, defends us as well. And so we read the Psalm that way. Now, Marvin Tate is one of the commentators, and he says that very clearly, and I think well. He says, the Psalm reminds us that we've not escaped the problems of enemies and their evil work in human society.

The dogs still prowl about in our communities and towns, just as they did in the ancient world. Dogs which embody the devouring, malignant persons and forces in human affairs. Law no longer mediates justice. And so he says, like the ancient Israelite communities, or like David beforehand, we have to look to Jehovah, our great God for our defense.

Now, how about an outline? Well, this is one of those psalms, and I mentioned the nature of them earlier, when we were looking at Psalm 57, that has a refrain. That is, there's a little couplet that is repeated in the psalm. You find this one in verse 9. O my strength, I watch for you. You, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.

And then you find it again, with a slight variation in verse 17 at the very end. O my strength, I sing praise to you. You, O God, are my fortress, my loving God. So, what you have here are two parts to a psalm. And that's the easiest way to outline it. Except that when you look at the two parts, you find parallels there as well.

This business of dogs, it's mentioned in verse 6, the first part, is repeated in verse 14 in the second part. And when you begin to analyze those parts, each of the parts really have two parts. So the outline is, it sounds complicated, but it's really not. It goes something like this. First of all, you have an appeal to God by David, verses 1 to 5.

And secondly, you have a description of David's fierce foes, verses 6 to 8. And then the refrain. Then in the second half, that happens all over again, though with variations. So you have part four, David's second appeal to God. That's verses 10 through 13. And then a second description of his foes, verses 14 to 16.

And finally, the refrain is repeated. Now, that's the way we need to look at it. I'm going to look at each of the parts. These first two verses, when David begins to appeal to God, are filled with urgency, and we have to say there that we mustn't miss the urgency. Sometimes when we read the Psalms, we read them as more or less abstract poetry, with a lot of beautiful ideas, and we're detached from the emotion of the moment.

And so, it doesn't seem to have a great deal of urgency to us. But it certainly did to David, and he has captured this in the language. It's, I suppose, more evident in the Hebrew, but you can get it even in the English. You notice there in those first two verses, that there are four direct appeals to God in these verbs.

Deliver, protect, deliver, and save. The way we would talk about it is say that these are sentence prayers. The kind that have been drawn out of David, forced out of him by the danger of the moment. And so it's always right to pray that way and to pray in urgency. But now I want you to see this, because I think this is very significant.

There's a great lesson here. The urgency that leads us to utter what we call swift sentence prayers to God should not obscure or limit our ability to appeal to God in our prayers by reason, or in other words, to have thoughtful prayers. Because that, of course, is exactly what David does in the next verses.

Those verses 3 to 5 give us three reasons why David has the right to appeal to God and why God should hear his prayer. Isn't that interesting? It starts off with these urgent appeals. Deliver, protect, deliver, save. But then, in a reasoned way, although in a very brief scope, because this is poetry, he begins to present his case to God.

What are the reasons? Well, you have one in each verse. First of all, there's the danger that's facing David. He reminds God of it. Now God's omniscient, of course. What that means is that God knows everything. You don't have to tell God things he doesn't know. But on the other hand, when we're talking to him, it's certainly right for us to present before him the things that are bothering us.

And that's what David does. He says, look, they're lying in wait for me. Fierce men are conspiring against me. Now, let's apply that. And let's do it this way. Are you in danger? Well, tell God about it. A lot of people live in our cities and areas where they're in danger much of the time. Let God know. He's your defense.

Tell him about that. He knows, of course, but you tell him anyway. Are you discouraged? Lots of people are discouraged today. Tell God about it. Let him know. He knows it, of course, but tell him anyway. Are you worried about the future? You're not sure about your job. Maybe you're about to lose it. You're in school.

You're not sure you're going to make it this semester, whatever it may be. Tell God about it. He knows about it. Tell him about it anyway. That's what David does. You know, there was an old saint, I understand, on one occasion who, when he was in danger, knowing that he belonged to God, used to argue this way. He used to call out to God and say, God, your property is in danger.

And he was talking about himself. Now, if you belong to God, you're his property. Let him know. That's the first argument. The second argument is David's innocence. That was an important matter to him because he repeats it several times. Look, for no offense or sin of mine, O Lord. He denies an offense, he denies a sin.

And the next verse says the same thing. I have done no wrong, and yet they are ready to attack me. Now, David is not claiming to be sinless, of course. He knew perfectly well that he was a sinner, just as you and I had better know it. But that isn't the point here. You see, he's not talking about being innocent in the sight of God.

It was the absolutely holy one. He's talking about being innocent over against his enemy who is pursuing him without cause. What he's saying is, I'm innocent where Saul is concerned. I haven't done anything to offend him. It's a wonderful thing when you and I are in trouble and we can say that. You see, it's not always the case.

Quite often, because in human affairs, and people are all sinners, we get into situations where it may not be mostly our fault, but it's partially our fault, and so forth. That limits the way we can pray, but it's a great thing. And it is sometimes the case. I should even say often the case where we can say, Lord, in this matter, I really have not sinned before you.

At any rate, when you do that, then you're able to appeal to God boldly, and that's what David does. Here's the third thing in his argument before God. That's the character of God himself, is that is presented in the names of God. You know, one of the most striking features of this Psalm are the names of God. And here in verse 5, you have those names in profusion.

Oh, Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel. Now, that is really a powerful collection. The first of the words that occurs there is Yahweh, the great name for God, Jehovah, that was given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Now, that, as God explained it on that occasion, means, I am that I am. I am the self-existent one.

I don't need any helpers. I'm adequate to every situation. So it's quite right for David to appeal to God as his Yahweh, Jehovah. Remember, in the second book of the psalter, that name is not so common. In the second book, the name for God, Elohim, tends to predominate. So it's even more striking to find this word Yahweh there.

The second name is Elohim, the Savva Oth, or Sabaoth. And that means Lord God of hosts. And when that word hosts, or the armies, is used, it has a double meaning. The Lord of hosts, Jehovah Sabaoth, is the God of the armies of Israel, but he is also the God of the heavenly legions who stand behind the earthly armies.

Now, at this point, David doesn't have any any real earthly legions. You know, he was still in a position of authority with Saul, but when he was at his home, he didn't have any soldiers to protect him. So what he's really reminding himself here is that God controls these heavenly forces. And so when he appeals to God, he appeals to the strong God in that respect.

And then the last name is Eloe Israel, and it means the God of Israel. And when you bring in the name Israel, well, what you're talking about is the covenant God. He's the God who entered into a special covenantal relationship with his people, promising to be to them a God and to be that forever and ever. Now, that God was David's God.

And so when he prays, he reminds himself and God that it's not to a weak God that he is praying. He's praying to the God of the universe who has entered into a covenant relationship with his people and commands the heavenly legions. You see, that makes a great deal of difference. One of the commentators says, the writer recalls God's unique power by employing the various and most familiar names by which he was known in Israel.

And that is absolutely right. You see, when you can pray as David does, Oh, Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, my God, you've said a great deal. And you can be greatly encouraged and comforted. So that's the first section. Now, in the second section, he begins to talk about his enemies and describe them, and he refers to them as dogs.

Now, we have to understand what he means here. Sometimes we say, you dog, and it doesn't mean a whole lot. These are the wild dogs of an Eastern ancient city. They were very seldom pets in the ancient world. Apparently, they were on occasion because, you know, when Jesus talked to the Canaanite woman, he said, it's not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs.

So it does sound like the children sometimes had little pets that were dogs, but generally not. The reason was obvious. Most people were poor. You didn't waste money on animals. And so you had wild dogs, and they roamed around the city, and they did a very useful thing, and that is they were the scavengers. You didn't have sewage systems either, and people would just throw the garbage out.

And I might point out, they didn't have as much garbage as we did either. But whatever they had, they would throw out, and then these dogs would range around the city, especially at night and consume it. Now, David says, my enemies are like that. When I was studying this, I came across a very funny description of this by an Englishman who visited Constantinople in the last century, and he wrote a description of what he found there.

You know, he came from England, he got to this Eastern city, and he couldn't believe it. When he tried to go to bed at night, it was so noisy because of all these wild dogs. Here's his description. The whole city rang with one vast riot. The yelping, howling, barking, growling, and snarling was all merged into one uniform and continuous even sound.

For hours, it was no lull. I went to sleep, and I woke again. And still, with my windows open, I could hear the same tumult going on. And it wasn't until daybreak that anything like tranquility was restored. Well, when I read that, I thought, you know, since I live in a big city, and I've lived in the city for a quarter of a century, that probably I wouldn't have found it quite as noisy there as the Englishman did.

He probably came from the English downs somewhere, where it's absolutely quiet at night. He never heard a thing. And he couldn't believe how bad it was. But nevertheless, you understand what he's describing. Now, David is saying, look, this is what it's like. These soldiers of the king are like these wild dogs, snarling and prowling about the city, and they're out to get me.

Now, I ask the question, is David afraid of the dogs? Well, the answer, of course, is no. There are times as you read the Psalms when David really does seem to be afraid. And we have seen some of them, but you don't detect any of that in this Psalm. The reason he's not afraid is that God is not afraid.

The reason I say that is the way he finishes up the section. But you, O Lord, laugh at them. You scoff at all those nations. There are several times in the Psalms where God is said to laugh at his adversaries. Psalm 2, verse 4, we know that very well. Also Psalm 37, verse 13. Well, that's what David says here.

God is laughing at them. So why should I be troubled by them? I am sure that although this Englishman could hardly sleep at night, that David slept very well when he escaped that night because he knew that God was protecting him. Now, with verse 9, we come to the first occurrence of this refrain. We're going to look at it more fully the second time around, but I want you to notice here the one difference between this occurrence of the refrain and the last.

They're both alike, except for the phrase in verse 9, I watch for you, which becomes I sing praise to you in the second repetition. Now, that phrase, I watch for you, is important. That probably is the key to the Psalm. David has his eyes on God. When you read that, it makes you think, at least it makes me think of Habakkuk.

You recall that Habakkuk was in a similar situation. God had told him in answer to his prayer that he was going to send the Babylonians against the city, and eventually the city of Jerusalem was going to be overrun. Now, if ever there were wild dogs barking at the city gates, it was in those days. And there was no game.

When they surrounded the city, they killed people, and they took the rest off into slavery. It was a horrible thing to contemplate, and Habakkuk is really disturbed about it. And he does what he can do. He quiets himself down, and he thinks about things, and he reviews the character of God, and he tries to apply it to the situation, but he still can't really understand why God is doing what God is doing.

God has said, I'm bringing the Babylonians for judgment, but he looks at his people and the Babylonians, and he says, well, the Babylonians are more evil people than my people. So how can you use a more evil people to judge a people that are certainly not sinless, and they are wicked, but not as wicked as they are?

And he doesn't really get an answer to that. He doesn't know what to do. And so what you find in the very middle of the prophecy are these words, I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts, and I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. And it's in response to that.

While he's waiting, that God gives the word that the Apostle Paul then picks up and uses for the very heart of the gospel. The just shall live by faith. What you find in the second chapter of Habakkuk is God's answer, both in terms of the just and the wicked. He says, in those days, the just have to live by faith.

That is, they have to trust me, even though things seem to be going badly. But he reminds Habakkuk in that chapter, in the second half of it, that he is going to judge the wicked. Just because he uses the wicked to judge those who should be righteous, but are not very, so does he also in his own time judge the wicked.

God is going to do right. You can be sure of that. But in the meantime, live by faith. Well, that's what Habakkuk learned and it's what he did. Now, David is doing exactly the same thing. You see David in this Psalm, on the run, surrounded by soldiers, without any real place to turn, and we've seen some of the problems he had when he tried to find a refuge.

David in those circumstances simply says, I'm going to trust God and keep my eyes on God. Now, there are times in life. Let me say that when you and I can do no more. Sometimes there are things that we can do. We're in a situation where if we just tackle it, we can actually improve it. And sometimes we're in a situation where we're surrounded by Christian friends.

And that's good because they supply the kind of support we need. And that should be the case, and generally is. But there are times when there's really nothing you can do, and you don't have any support at all. And in an occasion like that, what you need to do simply is keep your eyes on God. In other words, watch for him.

David does it. Oh, my strength, I watch for you. You, O God, are my fortress, my loving God. Now, I said in the second half of this, he does the same thing all over again. And if you want the outline, it's this. He appeals to God again, and then he describes his enemies again, and then finally, you have the refrain again.

But it's never simply a repetition. The second time around, it goes up a notch. And that's what happens here. You see, in the first time, when he appealed to God, he was really thinking about himself. When he appeals to God the second time, he's really thinking about what God is able to do. God is able to destroy these enemies.

He asked God to destroy them. But what's unique in this section is something that we haven't seen before. Verse 11, he says, do not kill them, O Lord, our shield, or my people will forget in your might make them wander about and bring them down. Now, we know he does want these wicked people to be overcome eventually, because that's what he says later on, consume them in wrath, consume them till they are no more.

But what he's saying here earlier is, don't do it right away. Handle them in such a way that my people will learn from it, because, you see, if the righteous prevail and the ungodly are simply quickly overturned, well, the righteous very soon forget that. And he said, make a lesson of these people for the benefit of those who are righteous.

Now, that's a very important thing to see about evil and God's handling of evil. We don't have time to explore it at great length, but you see sometimes people use the existence of evil and the persistence of evil, sometimes even the success of evil persons as an argument against God, even against the existence of God.

If there is a God, why would he permit such things to happen? Obviously, he permits such things to happen. I can't understand why he would permit such things to happen. Therefore, he's either foolish or there's no God. You see, that's the way the argument goes. Absolutely arrogant on our part to think that we can encompass what God is doing in history in matters of good and evil.

But that's the way the argument goes. What David is saying here, just a tiny little bit of the argument, but he had a great deal of understanding. What David is saying is that God allows evil in the world for the benefit of the righteous, so that we might learn from it. And if I may say so, putting it in the broadest possible context, that's what history is all about.

What God is showing is that evil doesn't work. Let evil go on and unfold itself. Eventually, it brings itself down. And when you talk about goodness, sometimes when you try to live and do the right thing, you suffer for it, but in the end, that's the better way to live. The real meaning of history in my judgment is that in situations exactly comparable to what the wicked are going through, those who are righteous and serve God will do the right thing regardless of the consequences, and even the angels look on and say, isn't that marvelous, that these people in those circumstances live for God, and as we do that, we demonstrate, even before the angels, that that's the right way.

And that's what David, in a very preliminary way, is saying here. Verse 13 sums it up. At the very end. Then it will be known to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob. You see, that's what he's concerned about, that God be known, and that God be glorified, and that can be in his own circumstances, whatever it may be.

That must have been a great principle with David because we find it on his lips in other places. Way back in his early life, when he was just a boy and he went out to fight with Goliath. That's what he said in his battle with Goliath. He told that Philistine champion before he killed him. This day, the Lord will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head, and the whole world will know that there's a God in Israel.

You see, he didn't say, I'll cut off your head and then they'll make a hero out of me. That's not what David was thinking. You see, he had always the glory of God in mind. And that's what he's praying here in this second part. The second time he talks about his enemies, verses 14 to 16. Again, he refers to them as dogs.

It's the same image and so on, but he has a different thought here. What he suggests here is that they're going to go around about the city, hunting for their food, but they're not going to be satisfied. Verse 15. And of course they weren't. They didn't get David. David got away. They had to go back to the king and say, we missed him.

And so they missed him, and Saul missed him too. Indeed, he did ride along incident after incident until finally Saul himself perished. Now, that's something else to remember about evil. Sometimes evil looks good, and in our culture, it's certainly glamorized. But you see what the Bible tells us is that evil is never really satisfying.

You can do the evil thing, but it's dissatisfying. The great image of that back in the very beginning of the Bible, in the Garden of Eden. When God judged the serpent who had been instrumental in the fall of our first parents, the judgment said, you will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

Now, a snake doesn't actually eat dirt, of course. But that's a way of saying that everything that he tastes will turn to dust in his mouth, to use our own image. And you see, that's the way it is with sin. Sin looks glamorous at the beginning, but it always turns to dust along the way. And in the final analysis, it is not satisfying.

What's satisfying? God is satisfying. That's why we need to get to know God. We're made for God. Augustine said, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you. But when we find our rest in God, we really do find rest, and we find satisfaction too. As far as the godly goes, Psalm 23 described it. God's going to prepare a table for them, even in the presence of their enemies, and goodness and love is going to follow them all the days of their lives.

And David knew that and demonstrated it for all to see. Well, we come to the very last verse. This is the final occurrence of the refrain. And it's a great testimony. Oh, my strength, I sing praise to you. You, O God, are my fortress, my loving God. It's a great testimony, particularly when we remember that at this point in his life, his outward circumstances hadn't changed a bit.

You see, he may have escaped and gotten away. We don't know exactly when he wrote it, but he was still running from Saul, and he was still in danger of his life. So it's a great testimony. But even more so when you look at this. Remember I said there's that slight change in the Psalm? Praise that's used earlier about watching is changed to singing here.

That's why I say it goes up a notch. He says, O my strength, I sing praise to you, you, O God, and so on. I ask the question, what brought him to that point of jubilant exclamation? Well, the answer is found in what he said earlier. The reason he's singing now is that he was watching earlier. The reason he's able to praise God now is that he had his eyes on God earlier in the Psalm.

I think it's interesting that in the Hebrew language, that's why we have this slight variation, the words that are translated watch and sing are identical, except for a single letter. And if I can apply it this way, I think it's valid. I think it's a way of saying that keeping one's eyes on God is only a stroke away from singing his praises and rejoicing in him.

You don't always see that at the time. But if you have your eyes on God, you sing eventually. So, let me ask it this way, do you lack joy? Is it hard for you to sing God's praises? Well, perhaps it's because you're not watching for God. You're not thinking about God. You don't have your mind on God. Habakkuk had exactly the same experience of David.

Remember I referred to him earlier? Habakkuk, who didn't understand what was happening in history, was puzzled by it, or had the great moral dilemma, and finally said, I'll set myself upon my watchtower and I'll wait to see what he'll say to me. He had exactly the same experience because having done it, and having eventually heard from God, in the very last stanza he breaks out into song.

Now, let me point out, his circumstances have not changed either. But at the end, he's singing anyway. And so here's what you have him singing. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, and though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will be joyful in God my savior. And the last line say, the sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer and he enables me to go on the heights. Those are the words of somebody who has learned to wait on God. Here's a final quote from Alexander McLaren. He says, trust God as what he is, and trust him because of what he is.

And see to it that your faith lays hold on the living God himself and on nothing besides. If you do that, regardless of the circumstances, eventually you'll end up singing. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for the wonderful promises that we have in this great Psalm. And for the lessons as well, and as we have studied them, we've seen how our lives in some areas measure up and in other areas do not.

So help us to learn from it, and above all, to do what really is the central thing, to fix our eyes on you. To begin to think and focus as Christian people ought to do. And so, as we see you work, give us the joy of song. For Jesus sake, amen.

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