John Calvin Commentary Psalms 56:1

"Be merciful unto me, O God; for man would swallow me up: All the day long he fighting oppresseth me." — Psalms 56:1 (ASV)

Be merciful unto me, O God! for man swallows me up. It would be difficult to determine whether he speaks here of foreign or domestic enemies. When brought to King Achish, he was like a sheep between two bands of wolves, an object of deadly hatred to the Philistines on the one hand, and exposed to equal persecutions from his own fellow-countrymen.

He uses the indefinite term man in this verse, though in the next he speaks of having many enemies, to express more forcibly the truth that the whole world was combined against him, that he experienced no humanity among men, and stood in the utmost need of divine help.

The term daily would suggest that he refers more immediately to Saul and his faction. But in general, he deplores the wretchedness of his fate in being beset by adversaries so numerous and so barbarous. Some translate שאף, shaaph, to regard, but it is more properly rendered to swallow up,—a strong expression, denoting the insatiable rage with which they assailed him.

I have adhered to the common translation of לחם (lacham), though it also signifies to eat up, which might be more consistent with the metaphor already used in the preceding part of the verse. It is found, however, in the sense to fight against, and I was unwilling to depart from the received rendering.

I will only observe in passing, that those who read in the second member of the verse, many fighting with me, as if he alluded to the assistance of angels, mistake the meaning of the passage, for it is evident that he uses the language of complaint throughout the verse.