Psalm - 3

Psalm - 3

Introduction

One of my favorite OT accounts is that of Joseph in the back half of Genesis.

Walk through story of his life

Genesis 50:15-21 - 15 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” 16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: 17 ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

What you meant for evil, God took and turned it into good…good for me, good for all these other people. There is a combination of lament (you meant evil) and confidence (God brought good). That truth and this combination are at the heart of Psalm 3.

Psalm 3:1-8 - A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.

 O Lord, how many are my foes!

Many are rising against me;

2 many are saying of my soul,

“There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah

3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,

my glory, and the lifter of my head.

4 I cried aloud to the Lord,

and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah

5 I lay down and slept;

I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.

6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people

who have set themselves against me all around.

7 Arise, O Lord!

Save me, O my God!

For you strike all my enemies on the cheek;

you break the teeth of the wicked.

8 Salvation belongs to the Lord;

your blessing be on your people! Selah

Right out of the gate we see some details that make this psalm unique.

it is the first psalm that has a superscript (title).It is the first psalm that is called a psalmIt is the first psalm to ascribe an author and historical situation

Historical Situation

2 Samuel 11 - David and Bathsheba

2 Samuel 12 - Nathan’s rebuke

- Solomon is born

2 Samuel 13:1-2 - Now Absalom, David's son, had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar. And after a time Amnon, David's son, loved her. 2 And Amnon was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her.

- fakes that he is sick and she cares for him. He rapes her.

2 Samuel 13:14-15 - 14 But he would not listen to her, and being stronger than she, he violated her and lay with her.

15 Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Get up! Go!”

- two full years later Absalom has been plotting. Gathers all David’s sons. Kills

Amnon. Absalom flees.

2 Samuel 14 - David wants Absalom home. He is his son. Joab arranges it.

- two full years without seeing David. But they reunite at end of chapter.

2 Samuel 15:1-6 - After this Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. 2 And Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate. And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, “From what city are you?” And when he said, “Your servant is of such and such a tribe in Israel,” 3 Absalom would say to him, “See, your claims are good and right, but there is no man designated by the king to hear you.” 4 Then Absalom would say, “Oh that I were judge in the land! Then every man with a dispute or cause might come to me, and I would give him justice.” 5 And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. 6 Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

- growing conspiracy and loyalty to Absalom.

- declare him King in Hebron. 200 men plus more. Ahithophel, David’s counselor.

2 Samuel 15:12b - And the conspiracy grew strong, and the people with Absalom kept increasing.

- David has no choice but to flee for his life.

2 Samuel 15:13-14 - 13 And a messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.” 14 Then David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee, or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom. Go quickly, lest he overtake us quickly and bring down ruin on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”

- they all leave, but David leaves 10 concubines behind to run palace.

- David has friends who are loyal. Abiathar and Zadok attempt to help. But David

leaves in shame.

2 Samuel 15:30-31 - 30 But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered. And all the people who were with him covered their heads, and they went up, weeping as they went. 31 And it was told David, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”

- Hushai comes to go with David. But David sends him back as a secret spy to

try to counsel Absalom.

2 Samuel 15:37 - 37 So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city, just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.

- on his walk to safety, David is verbally assaulted by Shimei, a relative of King

Saul. He throws stones at David and curses him.

2 Samuel 16:7-8 - 7 And Shimei said as he cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man! 8 The Lord has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.”

- Absalom now enters Jerusalem and wants to establish dominance. What does

he do? Ahithophel counsels him to sleep with David’s concubines in full

view of the public. And he does.

- Now it’s time to finish what he started. How do we take out David?

2 Samuel 17:1-4 - Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. 2 I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down only the king, 3 and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace.” 4 And the advice seemed right in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

- Absalom calls in Hushai, David’s friend and counselor.

2 Samuel 17:5-8 - 5 Then Absalom said, “Call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he has to say.” 6 And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, “Thus has Ahithophel spoken; shall we do as he says? If not, you speak.” 7 Then Hushai said to Absalom, “This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.” 8 Hushai said, “You know that your father and his men are mighty men, and that they are enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war; he will not spend the night with the people.

- David’s an expert in war, he has the mighty men…delay the attack.

2 Samuel 17:14 - 14 And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom.

- Why would God do that? Because that is exactly what David prayed for in

15:31.

- Hushai’s counsel works. The attack on David is delayed and this gives David

enough time to gather more forces.

2 Samuel 18 - Absalom attacks, but David’s armies prevail. It’s not even close.

- Absalom was known for his good looks and long, flowing hair. Well, he is

fleeing from David’s army on a donkey and rides into a forest. He rides

under a large oak tree and his hair gets caught in the branches. He is

hanging there by the hair. Joab, David’s general hears about it and

executes him, thus ending the rebellion.

TS - That is the historical setting of Psalm 3. Let’s go back to the Psalm and walk through it. This Psalm isn’t here to memorialize the event of this rebellion, but to provide a model of how to respond when we find ourselves in situations where it feels like the world and its problems are overwhelming to us.

DAVID’S PROBLEM (V. 1-2)

These verses are the lament part of the psalm. He is lamenting, aching, about what is happening.

MANY FOES RESIST ME (V. 1)

Notice the repetition of ‘many.’ 3x he says it. He is concerned of the growing conspiracy and rebellion. That’s what 2 Samuel told us…the conspiracy is growing. David is heart-broken that so many defy him, betray him, and go to Absalom. Even his own personal counselor, Ahithophel, abandons him.

‘Foes’ is a word that t means enemy, opposition. Those who have taken their stand against me. And it seems like the world is now out to get David. Until now, this has been a time of international peace. So the danger isn’t from the outside, but from within.

Many foes are ‘rising’ against me. He will use that word ‘rise’ later. Here, the sense of it means to rebel. It is a military word used to rise to action. These traitors are rising up against him…and rising in number.

MANY FOES RIDICULE ME (V. 2)

This is a reference to Shimei, the guy from Saul’s family that cursed David as he walked along. David is broken and embarrassed. He is literally walking barefoot and head down in shame. Shimei kicks him while he is down. And his message is devastating…God won’t help you. God can’t save you.

Many are saying of my ‘soul’ - word for breath. It is that part that comes from within. The inner man. They are saying of my very being…God won’t save.

Salvation is the Hebrew word yeshua that we know so much about. This is the Hebrew spelling of Jesus’ name. Here he isn’t using it in reference to eternal salvation, but to rescue or deliverance from this threat. Used 136x in Psalms.

Apparently, these who ridicule him have never read Psalm 2. It is God’s definitive answer about how he will respond to his king…God himself installed King David on that throne and called him his son. Whose side do you think God is going to take? But I imagine this was tough for David to hear. He’s the revered King. He has already endured so much to get to the throne. It’s been successful so far. And now his own son rebels. Embarrassing. Perhaps God has abandoned you, David.

Spurgeon - “It is the most bitter of all afflictions to be led to fear that there is no help for us in God.”

Now we have another first for this Psalm…the use of Selah. This is likely a musical term that means ‘pause.’ It’s used 73x in the Psalms, all at the end of stanzas, except for Psalm 55 and 57 in the middle of a sentence. This was the musical note for the singer to pause and the music to grow to intensity. So for us as the readers it is there telling us to pause and think about what was just said.

Enemies are rising. Has God abandoned. You think about that. You think about your battles you have to fight.

DAVID’S PROTECTION (V. 3-4)

GOD IS MY SHIELD (V. 3A)

But you…now he has shifted his focus. Just as he could slip into the depths of despair over the rising rebellion, he focuses his thoughts, not on his enemies, but on his God.

James Montgomery Boice - “When a believer gazes too long at his enemies, the force arrayed against him seems to grow in size until it appears to be overwhelming. But when he turns his thoughts to God, God is seen in his true, great stature, and the enemies shrink to manageable proportions.”

When Moses sent the 12 spies into Canaan to prepare them to cross into the Promised Land, 10 of them reported that there was no way we could win.

Numbers 13:27-33 - 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.” 30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

They didn’t focus on the good of the land. But much more devastating, they didn’t focus on the God who had promised them victory in the land.

Yes, David is in real danger here. His kingdom and his life could be taken from him at any moment. God is the only defense he has…all else has been stripped away. But God is the only defense he needs. God is a shield, a defender.

- word used of ‘scales’ on Leviathan in Job 41:15

- frequent image in Psalms

7:10; 18:2,30,35; 28:7; 33:20; 35:2; 59:11; 76:3; 84:9,11,18; 115:9,10,11; 119:114; 144:2

God is a special kind of shield…not just in front, but all around me.

GOD IS MY SOVEREIGN (V. 3B)

God is my shield and my glory. The word glory chabod means weight or substance. It is used of a ‘reputation.’ Who is David’s attention on? It is not on his reputation now as people are thinking less of him. His focus is on God, who is the weight of David’s life. David has his throne because God gave it to him. David has had victory because God gave it to him. That crown is not David’s glory. That success is not David’s glory. The Lord is his glory. ‘Glory’ denotes substance. God is the substance of his life.

GOD IS MY STRENGTH (V. 3C)

God is the lifter of my head. David doesn’t have the strength, David doesn’t have the confidence on his own to even lift his head. 2 Samuel tells us his walked with his head down in shame. But God is the lifter of his head. There is a sense to this idea that it means God will exalt him again. That God is giving David the assurance that he will continue to reign as king. But there is also this sense that he is doing this personally for David. Not about his reign as king, but about his relationship as child.

GOD IS MY SAVIOR (V. 4)

David now shifts from talking directly to God to talking about God. David is king, but he now appeals to The King, the higher king.

I cried aloud - the word means shout or proclaim…used 27x in Psalms

- used of God in Exodus 34:6

- means to summons in Psalm 105:16 - when he summoned a famine

- this is a cry out asking God to intervene.

He answered me…indeed he did. Do you remember what David prayed in 2 Samuel 15:31? That Ahithophel’s counsel be made to seem foolish. And his counsel is then ignored, counsel that would’ve caused Absalom to win, and Hushai’s counsel was heeded, which saved David.

From his holy hill…from Jerusalem, from the temple mount (already saw in 2:6). We already know God’s answer to this rebellion and when David cries out…I have installed my king on my holy hill.

Spurgeon - “We need not fear a frowning world while we rejoice in a prayer-hearing God.”

Selah…now you think about that!

DAVID’S PEACE (V. 5-6)

GOD SUSTAINS ME (V. 5)

David is at such peace regarding God’s character that in the midst of all this he sleeps. Only God can grant rest during such stress and chaos. And he woke again, because God sustained him.

Psalm 121:1-8 - I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;

the Lord is your shade on your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

8 The Lord will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore.

David says, I lay down…word means to recline or relax. They are mounting a rebellion against him and he is sitting in his Lazy Boy, trusting God to move. The Lord sustains.

- word means to support or supply…typically translated as uphold

- Psalm 37:17 - the Lord upholds the righteous

- Psalm 51:12 - uphold me with a willing spirit

- Psalm 54:4 - the Lord is the upholder of my life

- Psalm 145:14 - the Lord upholds

This verse about waking up in the morning makes this psalm called a “morning psalm” as opposed to an “evening psalm” which is Psalm 4.

GOD SECURES ME (V. 6)

No matter how many may rise up against him, God is with him.

John Knox - One man with God is always in the majority.

The size of the enemy is inconsequential when God is on your side. They have ‘set themselves’ against him. Word means to ‘set your eyes’ or ‘set your heart’ on something. They have focused on him. Their gaze has settled on him. All they think about, dream about, scheme about is his downfall.

Against me all around…but that is ok because God is a shield who is all around. It does’t matter where the attack comes from…God has him protected.

DAVID’S PETITION (V. 7-8)

RISE UP, LORD (V. 7A)

Arise Lord…this is military language. He used this word in verse 1 saying many are rising up against him. No matter. God, rise up in defense. God, rise up to defeat. This word is a call to action. It is used in Numbers 10:35 - 35 And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.”

Regularly used in Psalms:

7:6; 9:9; 10:12; 17:13; 44:26; 74:22; 82:8; 132:8

This is why David has such confidence. Yes he laments what is happening, he isn’t disconnected from reality. He simply knows that God hears him when he prays and this prayer lines up with God’s will. He already knows the answer.

RESCUE ME, LORD (V. 7B)

Small imprecatory section - strike enemies on cheek and break teeth. They are ridiculing. They are cursing. This will shut them up. Teethless mouths cannot devour.

These verbs for strike and break are both in the present perfect tense…so they have a past tense aspect and present tense application. So this could be translated…”you have always struck down my enemies and you have always broken the teeth of the wicked, and I know that you always will.”

RESTORE US, LORD (V. 8)

This final verse comes full circle. The primary issue of David’s trouble was that God may have abandoned him. Even God can’t save him. But now he comes to the definitive conclusion…Salvation is from God. I can’t save myself. Only God intervening can do anything.

Blessing be on your people…David acknowledges this isn’t just about him. The entire nation suffers if God abandons David. If Absalom wins, the nation loses. So God’s action on David’s behalf is for the benefit and blessing of all God’s people. Selah!

Application

when we are opposed, when troubles rise, we can pray with confidence because God’s plan is never thwarted by the world. God plus anyone is a majority. He is the only defense needed.

Romans 8:31-39 - 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

we cannot live in our own strength.

Jeremiah 17:5 - Thus says the Lord:“Cursed is the man who trusts in man

and makes flesh his strength,

whose heart turns away from the Lord.

confidence came from two sources:Personal knowledge of God’s characterPersonal experience of answered prayer

realize in humility the core truth of our lives…if God does not intervene, we are dead.