John Calvin Commentary Psalms 55:1

"Give ear to my prayer, O God; And hide not thyself from my supplication." — Psalms 55:1 (ASV)

Give ear to my prayer, O God! From the language with which the psalm opens, we may conclude that David at this time was suffering heavy distress. It must have been no ordinary amount of distress that produced such an overwhelming effect on a saint of his distinguished courage.

The translation that has been given of אריד, arid, I will prevail, does violence to the context. For, far from boasting of the fortitude that would govern his address, he is anxious to convey an impression of his wretchedness by intimating that he was constrained to cry out aloud.

What is added in the third verse, By reason of the voice of the enemy, may be viewed as connected either with the first verse or the one immediately preceding, or with both. By the voice some understand such a noise as is caused by a multitude of men, as if he had said that the enemy was mustering many troops against him; but he rather alludes to the threats that we may suppose Saul was in the habit of venting against this innocent prophet.

The interpretation, too, that has been given of casting of iniquity upon him (as if it meant that his enemies loaded him with false accusations) is strained and scarcely consistent with the context. The words are designed to correspond with the following clause, where it is said that his enemies fought against him in wrath. Therefore, to cast iniquity upon him means, in my opinion, nothing more than to discharge their unjust violence upon him for his destruction, or iniquitously to plot his ruin.

If any distinction is intended between the two clauses, perhaps fighting against him in wrath may refer to their open violence, and the casting of iniquity upon him to their deceitful treachery. In this case, און, aven, which I have translated as iniquity, will signify hidden malice. The affliction of the wicked is here to be understood in the active sense of persecution.

And in applying the term wicked to his enemies, he does not so much level an accusation against them as implicitly assert his own innocence. Our greatest comfort under persecution is conscious rectitude—the reflection that we have not deserved it. For from this springs the hope that we will experience the help of the Lord, who is the shield and defense of the distressed.