Chapter Six

The inscription indicates that the performance should be accompanied by stringed instruments.

The psalm was most likely written during the time of Absalom’s uprising being prepared. The latter, resting most directly on ambitious schemes, was at the same time an expression of God’s judgment upon David for the transgression he committed with Bathsheba and Uriah: as one who had destroyed the family happiness of another, he had to bear punishment in his own family. David saw the connection between his transgression and this uprising, and in most of the psalms from this time he, depicting himself as pursued unjustly by the people (Ps 3:2), repents before God of his sin and asks for His compassion, which we see also in this psalm.

David prays to God for compassion toward him in view of his severe soul and physical sufferings (2-8). In this repentance and prayer he gains confidence in God’s help, and therefore tells his enemies that their persecutions will be unsuccessful (9-11).

Psalm 6:2. O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger, and do not chastise me in Your wrath. “Do not rebuke me in anger and do not chastise me in wrath.” David was acutely aware of his guilt before God, and the weight of the transgression he committed so oppressed him that he prayed to God only for compassion according to His great mercy, not because David acknowledged any merits before God.

Psalm 6:3. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled; Psalm 6:4. And my soul is greatly troubled; But You, O Lord—how long? David’s sufferings were both physical, in a deep illness that had seized his entire organism (“my bones are troubled,” see Ps 37:4-8), and mental, in the consciousness of his sins before God.

Psalm 6:6. For in death there is no remembrance of You; in the grave, who will give You praise? David presents a new reason why he asks God for his compassion. His present physical state and moral illness are such that, in his understanding, they should lead to death, to Sheol, and there “there is no remembrance of You; in the grave, who will give You praise?” Remembrance of God consists in being permeated by His commandments, which require external manifestation; to praise God means not only to compose hymns in His honor, but to glorify Him by one’s deeds. Both of these are denied to those living in Sheol, as a place of inactivity and spiritual tension in the expectation of the future judgment of God (Job 14:12-14). Thus the death of David in his present situation would not give him the opportunity to fulfill his purpose on earth, and it is for the granting of this opportunity that he prays.

Psalm 6:8. My eye has grown dim from grief; it has wasted away because of all my enemies. David mourns his sins; he no longer has tears enough, and his eyes are inflamed (“my eye has grown dim from grief”); “it has wasted away because of all my enemies”—has become weak, poorly distinguishing objects from tears caused by my misfortunes (“because of my enemies”).

Psalm 6:9. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping, Psalm 6:10. The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord will accept my prayer. Psalm 6:11. Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled; let them turn back and be suddenly ashamed. David’s penitential prayer to God was accompanied by some indication from God that it was accepted by Him, and therefore the character of its content changes; David turns with a demand to the lawless ones to depart from him, and believes that his enemies will be ashamed by the failure of their persecution. These lawless enemies were supporters of Absalom, gradually gathering around him and increasingly showing hostility toward David.