John Calvin Commentary Psalms 54

Save me, O God! As David was at this time placed beyond the reach of human assistance, he must be understood as praying to be saved by the name and the power of God, in an emphatic sense, or by these as distinct from the usual means of deliverance.

Though all help must ultimately come from God, there are ordinary methods by which He generally extends it. When these fail, and every earthly support is removed, He must then take the work into His own hands. It was in such a situation that David here fled to the saints’ last asylum and sought to be saved by a miracle of divine power. By appealing, in the second part of the verse, to God as his judge, he asserts his uprightness.

And it must strike us all that, in asking for divine protection, it is an indispensable prerequisite that we be convinced of the goodness of our cause, as it would demonstrate the greatest profanity for anyone to expect that God should patronize iniquity. David was encouraged to pray for deliverance by the goodness of his cause and his consciousness of integrity; nor did he entertain a single doubt that, on presenting this to God, He would act as his defender and punish the cruelty and treachery of his enemies.

Hear my prayer, O God! The language is expressive of his earnestness. He was led to this fervor of supplication by the extremity of his present circumstances, which is alluded to in the following verse, where he complains of being surrounded by men fierce, barbarous, and unrestrained by a sense of religion.

There was no necessity for his informing God of a fact which was already known to him; but he disburdens his own heart by venting the cause of his fear and disquietude. By calling his enemies strangers, he seems to refer to their barbarity, whether he applied the name to the Ziphites only, or, in general, to the whole army of Saul.

Others consider him, in this term, to refer to their degeneracy as children of Abraham; and it is true that the Jews are repeatedly stigmatized by the prophets under this form of expression, when they had cast themselves out of the Church of God by their profligacy or impiety. But in this passage it seems to be used in a different sense.

As even enemies are accustomed, in some measure, to respect the ties of kindred and relationship, David would point out to us the monstrous inhumanity of the men who now surrounded him, by the fact that they assaulted him as strangers, as persons who had never known him, or as if he had been born in some distant part of the world.

He calls them, also, terrible ones, not mighty, or powerful ones, as some have translated the word; for that falls short of the meaning intended by David, which was, that they were divested of all humanity, and ready to rush upon him like wild beasts. Hence the fear with which he resorted to the protection of God.

He adds, that they sought after his soul, to denote that nothing would content their insatiable cruelty but his life. And the better to express the unbridled nature of their fury, he tells us that they had no respect to God. The only thing which could be supposed, in the circumstances, to act as a restraint upon their minds, was the consideration of there being a judge in heaven to whom they were amenable for their conduct; and being insensible to this, what moderation could be expected of them?

Behold! God is my helper Such language as this may show us that David did not direct his prayers at random into the air, but offered them in the exercise of a lively faith. There is much force in the demonstrative adverb. He points, as it were, with the finger, to that God who stood at his side to defend him; and was not this an amazing illustration of the power with which faith can surmount all obstacles, and glance, in a moment, from the depths of despair to the very throne of God?

He was a fugitive among the dens of the earth, and even there in danger of his life — how, then, could he speak of God as being near to him? He was pressed down to the very mouth of the grave; and how could he recognize the gracious presence of God? He was trembling in the momentary expectation of being destroyed; and how is it possible that he can triumph in the certain hope that Divine help will soon be extended to him?

In numbering God among His defenders, we must not suppose that He assigns Him a mere common rank among the men who supported his cause, which would have been highly derogatory to His glory. He means that God took part with those, such as Jonathan and others, who were interested in his welfare. These might be few in number, possessed of little power, and cast down with fears; but he believed that, under the guidance and protection of the Almighty, they would prove superior to his enemies. Or, perhaps, we may view him as referring, in the words, to his complete destitution of all human defenders, and asserting that the help of God would abundantly compensate for all.

He shall reward evil unto mine enemies. Since the verb ישיב, yashib, can be translated he shall cause to return, it seems to indicate not only the punishment but also the kind of punishment that would be inflicted upon his enemies, as their wicked schemes recoil upon their own heads.

Some assign an optative meaning to the verb, understanding the words as expressing a wish or prayer. However, I see no reason why it should not be understood strictly in the future tense, and I believe David indicates his certain expectation that this favor, for which he had already prayed, would be granted.

It is quite common to find the Psalmist's prayers interspersed with sentences of this kind, inserted to stimulate his faith, as is the case here, where he declares the general truth that God is the righteous judge who will recompense the wicked.

To confirm his hopes, he refers particularly to the truth of God. For nothing can support us in the hour of temptation—when divine deliverance may be long delayed—except a firm conviction that God is true and that He cannot deceive us by His divine promises. His confidence in obtaining his request was grounded on the fact that God could no more deny His word than deny Himself.

I will freely sacrifice unto thee. According to his usual custom, he commits, if deliverance were granted, to be grateful for it; and undoubtedly, he also promises here to thank God formally when he would have an opportunity to do so.

Although God primarily considers the inner disposition of the heart, that would not excuse neglecting the rites prescribed by the Law. He would testify his gratitude for the favor he received by sacrifices, in the way common to all God's people, and thus, by his example, be a means of encouraging others to their duty.

And he would sacrifice freely: by which he is not referring to the fact that thanksgiving sacrifices were optional for worshippers, but rather to the eagerness and cheerfulness with which he would pay his vow once he had escaped his present dangers. Most people make generous promises to God as long as they are under the immediate pressure of affliction, but as soon as they are relieved, they fall back into their natural carelessness and forget the Lord's goodness.

But David commits to sacrificing freely, and in a different way from the hypocrite, whose religion stems from servility and compulsion. The passage teaches us that when we come into God's presence, we cannot expect acceptance unless we bring a willing mind to His service.

The last clause of this verse, and the following verse, clearly refer to the time when the Psalmist had received the deliverance he sought. It is true that the whole psalm must have been written after his deliverance; but up to this point, it should be seen as recording the prayer he used while still exposed to danger.

We should now suppose him relieved from his anxieties and adding a fresh expression of his gratitude. Nor is it unlikely that he refers to mercies he had experienced at other times in his life, mercies recalled to his memory by the deliverance more immediately brought to our attention in the preceding verses. Thus, he is to be understood as declaring, in a more general sense, that the name of God was good, and that he had been delivered out of all trouble.

I have already referred, in a former psalm (Psalms 52:6), to the sense in which the righteous are said to see the destruction of their enemies. It is a view of the event that is accompanied by joy and comfort.

And if anyone should ask whether it is permissible for God's children to feel pleasure in witnessing God's judgments executed on the wicked, the answer is obvious: it all depends on the motive that influences them. If their satisfaction comes in any way from gratifying a depraved feeling, it must be condemned; but there is certainly a pure and blameless delight we may feel in observing such displays of divine justice.