1 Listen to my prayer, God. Don't hide yourself from my supplication. 2 Attend to me, and answer me. I am restless in my complaint, and moan, 3 Because of the voice of the enemy, Because of the oppression of the wicked. For they bring suffering on me. In anger they hold a grudge against me. 4 My heart is severely pained within me. The terrors of death have fallen on me. 5 Fearfulness and trembling have come on me. Horror has overwhelmed me. 6 I said, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! Then I would fly away, and be at rest. 7 Behold, then I would wander far off. I would lodge in the wilderness." Selah. 8 "I would hurry to a shelter from the stormy wind and storm." 9 Confuse them, Lord, and confound their language, for I have seen violence and strife in the city. 10 Day and night they prowl around on its walls. Malice and abuse are also within her. 11 Destructive forces are within her. Threats and lies don't depart from her streets. 12 For it was not an enemy who insulted me, then I could have endured it. Neither was it he who hated me who raised himself up against me, then I would have hidden myself from him. 13 But it was you, a man like me, my companion, and my familiar friend. 14 We took sweet fellowship together. We walked in God's house with company. 15 Let death come suddenly on them. Let them go down alive into Sheol. For wickedness is in their dwelling, in the midst of them. 16 As for me, I will call on God. Yahweh will save me. 17 Evening, morning, and at noon, I will cry out in distress. He will hear my voice. 18 He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, although there are many who oppose me. 19 God, who is enthroned forever, will hear, and answer them. Selah. They never change, who don't fear God. 20 He raises his hands against his friends. He has violated his covenant. 21 His mouth was smooth as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. 22 Cast your burden on Yahweh, and he will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be moved. 23 But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you. For the Chief Musician. To the tune of "Silent Dove in Distant Lands." A poem by David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
This psalm is entitled "A Psalm of David," and there is every reason to believe that it is properly ascribed to him. It is addressed to "the chief Musician" - to be by him set to appropriate music, that it might be employed in the public worship of God. See the notes at the title to Psalm 4:1-8. On the word "Neginoth" in the title, see also the note in the Introduction of Psalm 4:1-8.
The occasion on which the psalm was composed is not indicated in the title, nor can it be with certainty ascertained. The author of the Chaldee Paraphrase refers the psalm to the time of Absalom and to his rebellion, and this is also the opinion of the Jewish expositors in general. They suppose that the psalm was composed on occasion of the departure of David from Jerusalem, when he had heard of the rebellion, and that the psalm has special reference to the time when, having fled from the city, and having come to the ascent of the Mount of Olives, while all was consternation around him, he learned that Ahithophel also was among the conspirators, which was the consummation of his calamity, 2-Samuel 15:31. Others suppose that the psalm was composed when David was in Keilah, and when, surrounded by foes, he was apprehensive that the inhabitants of that place would deliver him into the hand of Saul, 1-Samuel 23:1-12. Of all the known events in the life of David, the supposition which regards the psalm as composed during the rebellion of Absalom, and at the special time when he learned that the man whom he had trusted - Ahithophel - was among the traitors, is the most probable. All the circumstances in the psalm agree with his condition at that time, and the occasion was one in which the persecuted and much-afflicted king would be likely to pour out the desires of his heart before God. Paulus and DeWette have remarked that it is evident from the psalm that the enemies to whom the author refers were inhabitants of the same city with himself, and that the danger was from treason within the walls of the city, Psalm 55:1 O. This seems not improbable, and this agrees well with the supposition that the scene of the psalm is laid in the time of the rebellion of Absalom.
The contents of the psalm are as follows:
(1) The prayer of the psalmist that God would hear his cry, Psalm 55:1-3.
(2) a general description of his trouble and sorrows, as being so great that he was overwhelmed, and such as to make him wish for the wings of a dove that he might fly away, and be at rest, Psalm 55:4-8.
(3) the causes, or sources of his trouble, Psalm 55:9-14;
(a) The general fact that he was surrounded by enemies; that there were violence, strife, and mischief in the city, Psalm 55:9-11.
(b) The particular fact that someone in whom he had put confidence, and who had been his special friend, was, to his surprise, found among his enemies, and had proved himself faithless to him, Psalm 55:12-14.
(4) his earnest prayer for the destruction of his enemies, Psalm 55:15.
(5) his own confidence in God; his reliance on the divine mercy and protection in the time of trouble and danger; and his assurance that God would interpose in his behalf, Psalm 55:16-21.
(6) a general exhortation, as a practical lesson from all that had occurred, to trust in God - to cast every burden on him - with the assurance that the righteous would never be moved, but that the wicked must be subdued, Psalm 55:22-23.
David, in great danger and distress from the implacable malice of his enemies, calls on God for mercy, Psalm 55:1-5; wishes he had the wings of a dove, that he might flee away, and be at rest, Psalm 55:6-8; prays against his enemies, and describes their wickedness, Psalm 55:9-11; speaks of a false friend, who had been the principal cause of all his distresses, Psalm 55:12-14; again prays against his enemies, Psalm 55:15; expresses his confidence in God, Psalm 55:16-18; gives a farther description of the deceitful friend, Psalm 55:19-21; encourages himself in the Lord, and foretells the destruction of his foes, Psalm 55:22, Psalm 55:23.
The title, "To the chief Musician upon Neginoth, A Psalm of David, giving instruction." This is the same as the preceding, Psalm 54:1-7 (note), which see.
INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 55
To the chief Musician on Neginoth, Maschil A Psalm of David. The occasion of this psalm was either the persecution of Saul, or the conspiracy of Absalom. Some think it was written when David understood that the inhabitants of Keilah would deliver him into the hands of Saul, 1-Samuel 23:12; and others when the Ziphites attempted a second time to do the same, 1-Samuel 26:1; but since a single person is spoken of that magnified himself against him, Psalm 55:12; and Ahithophel seems to be designed; it may be thought rather to be written on account of Absalom's rebellion, and Ahithophel's counsel against him; who is considered by many Christian interpreters as a type of Judas, the betrayer of our Lord; and, indeed, there are many things in this psalm, if not the whole, which may be truly applied to Christ, as will be seen in the following exposition of it.
(Psalm 55:1-8) Prayer to God to manifest his favour.
(Psalm 55:9-15) The great wickedness and treachery of his enemies.
(Psalm 55:16-23) He is sure that God would in due time appear for him.
Prayer of One Who Is Maliciously Beset and Betrayed by His Friend
Psalm 54:1-7 is followed by another Davidic Psalm bearing the same inscription: To the Precentor, with accompaniment of stringed instruments, a meditation, by David. It also accords with the former in the form of the prayer with which it opens (cf. Psalm 55:2 with Psalm 54:3.); and it is the Elohimic counterpart of the Jahve- Psalm 41:1-13. If the Psalm is by David, we require (in opposition to Hengstenberg) an assignable occasion for it in the history of his life. For how could the faithless bosom friend, over whom the complaint concerning malicious foes here, as in Psalm 41:1-13, lingers with special sadness, be a mere abstract personage; since it has in the person of Judas Iscariot its historical living antitype in the life and passion of the second David? This Old Testament Judas is none other than Ahithphel, the right hand of Absalom. Ps 55 belongs, like Psalm 41:1-13, to the four years during which the rebellion of Absalom was forming; only to a somewhat later period, when Absalom's party were so sure of their cause that they had no need to make any secret of it. How it came to pass that David left the beginnings and progressive steps of the rebellion of Absalom to take their course without bringing any other weapon to bear against it than the weapon of prayer, is discussed on Psalm 41:1-13.
Hitzig also holds this Psalm to be Jeremianic. But it contains no coincidences with the language and thoughts of Jeremiah worth speaking of, excepting that this prophet, in Psalm 9:1, gives utterance to a similar wish to that of the psalmist in Psalm 55:7, and springing from the same motive. The argument in favour of Jeremiah in opposition to David is consequently referred to the picture of life and suffering which is presented in the Psalm; and it becomes a question whether this harmonizes better with the persecuted life of Jeremiah or of David. The exposition which follows here places itself - and it is at least worthy of being attempted - on the standpoint of the writer of the inscription.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.