Chapter Fifty-Four

If we take into account the vividness of the details in the author’s depiction of his state given the sentiments revealed in Jerusalem and the calamities that threatened the writer, and that all these persecutions were directed against the person of the author of the psalm, then David must be considered as such an author; persecutions were directed against him and no one better than he could know his spiritual state in this position, and all the upheavals in Jerusalem mentioned by the psalm coincide with the known and described in the historical books events from David’s life. The psalm was written during David’s persecution by Absalom, when Ahithophel had already turned against him (Ps 54:14-15) and when he prepared to flee from Jerusalem (Ps 54:7-9).

O Lord! Hear my prayer and help me, oppressed by the wicked (2-4). I have lost courage and am ready to flee to the wilderness (5-9). Confound the union and cohesion of my enemies, who have seized the city and bring wickedness and treachery into it (10-12). My friend has become my enemy (13-15). Punish them, O Lord. I will call upon You constantly (16-18). The Lord will save me and destroy my enemies for their constancy in treachery and wickedness (19-22). The Lord will save the righteous, and his enemies will be brought low (23-24).

Psalm 54:4. From the voice of my enemies, from the oppression of the wicked, for they bring malice upon me and in anger they persecute me. The verse introduces the reason for “the sorrow... and the trembling” (Ps 54:3) of David, that is, the dejected state of his spirit. This is the hostile attitude toward him from his opponents and the disorders in public life that already became clearly evident during the dominant position of his enemies in Jerusalem. The enemies of David not only spoke against him (“the voice of my enemies”), but also proceeded to hostile actions against him (“in anger they persecute” – manifest their enmity through actions). For example, they “bring malice upon” David, that is, accusations of violation of the law by him. Such violations were spoken of in those slanders which Absalom spread among the people about his father, as a bad, unjust and negligent ruler.

Psalm 54:5. My heart is in anguish within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me; Psalm 54:6. Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me. Psalm 54:7. And I said, “Oh that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; Psalm 54:8. I would wander far away and lodge in the wilderness; Psalm 54:9. I would hasten to find shelter from the wind, from the tempest. The disturbance of the inhabitants and their dissatisfaction with David had assumed such proportions that the latter wished with the swiftness of a dove to go away to the wilderness to find rest from the constant oppressive expectation of a rude attack from his enemies. Comparison with a dove, the swiftest of birds in its flight, indicates the degree of danger to which David was exposed. He awaited a “storm” and “tempest,” that is, an outbreak of the disturbance which had already been well prepared.

Psalm 54:10. Confuse them and divide their tongues, for I see violence and strife in the city; The strength of the enemies and, consequently, the degree of danger to David, depended on their cohesion, which is why David prays to the Lord to “confuse” his enemies. He also prays that the Lord would sow discord and strife among them, and make fruitless their efforts to achieve the goal of their evil wishes (David’s destruction), as fruitless was the attempt of the post-flood people, through the confusion of their languages, to finish the Tower of Babel (“divide their tongues”). The enemies deserve such destruction. David already sees how their temporary dominion in Jerusalem was accompanied by the development of “violence and strife” in the city, that is, the disorders which they brought into life,

Psalm 54:11. Day and night they prowl around upon its walls; malice and trouble are in its midst; Psalm 54:12. Destruction is in its midst; oppression and deceit do not depart from its streets: A more specific indication of the sentiments that prevailed at that time in life is given by David in the words: “malice and trouble,... oppression and deceit” in his city. By malice must be understood a general indication of the self-will of David’s enemies, manifested in a gross violation of the Law of Moses, to which every disposition and administration should have conformed; “trouble” – suffering, which indicates both the defenselessness of each one seeking justice and that David’s enemies pursued personal advantage without regard to whether this would be grievous to others. “Oppression” – bribery, treachery, flattery, partiality. On the walls, as well as in the squares and at the gates of the city, judicial proceedings and discussion of public affairs were ordinarily conducted among the Hebrews, as among all eastern peoples: thus, both in public and in judicial matters, arbitrariness and self-will then reigned in Jerusalem.

Psalm 54:13. For it is not an enemy who taunts me – then I could bear it; not one who hates me who magnifies himself against me – from him I could hide; Psalm 54:14. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion and my intimate friend, Psalm 54:15. With whom we shared sweet fellowship, and walked together to the house of God. These public sentiments had a heavy effect on David, who had all his life labored for its good ordering and now saw the destruction of his reforms. But not in this alone lay the special grief, the soul’s heaviness: if David had merely encountered insults and haughty speech from his enemies, he could have endured them or withdrawn, but David’s suffering is broader and deeper: he encountered betrayal from the very closest and trusted person, upon whom, like all his enemies, he prays to God to send punishment (16). – “But it is you, a man like myself,” that is, a trusted person from whom David hid nothing; “my companion and my intimate friend” – one upon whom David was accustomed to rely and from whom he hid nothing (“we shared sweet fellowship”); “walked together to the house of God,” that is, the union and closeness of David with this person also found expression in their similar religious disposition, which is why they went together to the house of God. One cannot but recognize in such a person Ahithophel, David’s close friend, but then his traitor.

Psalm 54:16. Let death come upon them; let them go down alive to Sheol, for there is evil in their dwellings and in their hearts. “Let death come upon them; let them go down alive to Sheol” – may the Lord strike them with death and bring them alive down to Sheol, that is, not having reached a natural end of life, having perished prematurely, since they not only rule wickedly (see 11, 12), but deception reigns in their family life also (“in their dwellings”). The swift destruction of such people, thoroughly corrupted and harmful, is fully desirable.

Psalm 54:17. But I call upon God, and the Lord will save me. Psalm 54:18. Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice, Psalm 54:19. And he will bring my soul to safety from the attacks upon me, for many oppose me. Since even his close friend turned against David, the latter can seek help only from God, which is why he promises to call upon Him constantly, both in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. In this threefold prayer some see an indication that David, even in exile, continued strictly to observe the custom of threefold prayer before the temple, which was required of every pious Hebrew.

Psalm 54:20. God will hear and humble them, he who is enthroned from of old, because they do not change and do not fear God. David is confident that his prayer to God for the destruction of his enemies will be heard, since there is “no change” in them in their behavior and thoughts; there is in them no fear, arising from the consciousness of responsibility before God for their evil deeds, and therefore there can be no mercy for them.

Psalm 54:21. He stretches out his hand against his allies; he violates his covenant. The enemies of David are depicted by this verse as oppressors of the peaceable inhabitants of Jerusalem. From the Hebrew text, moreover, this verse should more precisely be understood as relating to Ahithophel. The exact translation would be: “He lays his hand on those who were with him in peace,” that is, on David and his devoted followers.

Psalm 54:22. His speech is smoother than butter, but war is in his heart; his words are softer than oil, but they are drawn swords. The terrible judgment of God which the enemies of David have deserved by their deeds, their evil disposition: they speak flatteringly, with false sympathy (“his speech is smoother than butter”), yet in their heart is evil; their words are gentle, but they are spoken to deceive the trusting person into ruin him (“they are drawn swords”). Such treachery David experienced from his false friends and the same he saw firmly established in public life. From the Hebrew text this verse refers to Ahithophel: “his speech is smoother than butter, but in his heart is war.”

Psalm 54:23. Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved. Psalm 54:24. But you, O God, will bring them down to the pit of destruction; the bloodthirsty and deceitful will not live out half their days. But I put my trust in you. David encourages himself and, at the same time, every one innocently suffering and persecuted – with the hope in God, Who “will never permit the righteous to be moved,” will not allow the righteous to become a subject of ridicule, of shameful speech that would pass from generation to generation, but will always protect him, will not permit his destruction. The enemies and persecutors of the righteous the Lord will bring down to the “pit of destruction,” that is, into a pit which was ordinarily dug deep in the earth in the form of a jug, with a relatively narrow opening, into which criminals were cast and from which there could be no escape, that is, the Lord will destroy them irretrievably. All in general “the bloodthirsty and deceitful will not live out half their days,” – all who rose up against David, thirsting to bring about a state revolution even through violence, with the shedding of blood (here are understood Ahithophel, Absalom and his friends, who did not scruple at and did not fear even civil strife) and acted through deceptions, as indeed Absalom acted, drawing popular sympathy to himself by spreading false reports about David, will not survive half the span of their appointed life. This last was literally fulfilled in Absalom, who perished in the flower of his years. Ps 53 and Ps 54 are used in worship as part of the sixth hour, commemorating the crucifixion of Christ, when His enemies in their enmity toward Christ “did not set God before them” (Ps 53:5) and when a person close to Him (Judas) turned out to be a traitor (Ps 54:14-15). By this reminder the Church admonishes believers not to become like these enemies, but with sincere faith and purity of heart to approach the hearing and participation in the celebration of the Great Sacrifice of Christ.