1 Jehovah answer thee in the day of trouble,
The name of the God of Jacob set thee on high;
2 Send thy help from the holy place,
And from Zion hold thee up;
3 Remember all thy meal offerings,
And thy burnt offerings may He find fat; Selah.
4 Give thee according to thy heart,
And all thy counsel may He fulfil.
5 May we exult in thy salvation, and in the name of our God wave our
standards;
Jehovah fulfil all thy petitions!
6 Now I know that Jehovah saves His anointed;
He will answer him from his Holy heaven, with mighty deeds of the
salvation of His right hand.
7 These boast in chariots, and these in horses;
And we--in the name of Jehovah our God we boast.
8 They--they are bowed down, and fall;
And we--we are risen, and stand firm.
9 Jehovah, save!
May the King hear us in the day when we call.
This is a battle song, followed by a chant of victory. They are
connected in subject and probably in occasion, but fight and triumph
have fallen dim to us, though we can still feel how hotly the fire
once glowed. The passion of loyalty and love for the king, expressed
in these psalms, fits no reign in Judah so well as the bright noonday
of David's, when "whatever the king did pleased all the people."
Cheyne, indeed, would bring them down to the Maccabean period, and
suggests Simon Maccabæus as the ruler referred to. He has to put a
little gentle pressure on "king" to contract it to fit the man of his
choice, and appeals to the "good old Semitic sense" of "consul." But
would not an appeal to Hebrew usage have been more satisfactory? If
"king" means "king," great or small, the psalm is not post-exilic, and
the Davidic date will not seem impossible. It does not seem impossible
that a poet-king should have composed a national hymn praying for his
own victory, which was the nation's also.
The psalm has traces of the alternation of chorus and solo. The nation
or army first pours out its united prayer for victory in vv. 1-5, and is
succeeded by a single voice (possibly that of the officiating priest or
the king himself) in ver. 6, expressing confidence that the prayer is
answered, which, again, is followed by the closing chorus of many voices
throbbing with the assurance of victory before a blow is struck, and
sending one more long-drawn cry to God ere battle is joined.
The prayer in vv. 1-5 breathes self-distrust and confidence in
Jehovah, the temper which brings victory, not only to Israel, but to
all fighters for God. Here is no boasting of former victories, nor of
man's bravery and strength, nor of a captain's skill. One name is
invoked. It alone rouses courage and pledges triumph. "The name of the
God of Jacob set thee on high." That name is almost regarded as a
person, as is often the case. Attributes and acts are ascribed to it
which properly belong to the Unnameable whom it names, as if with some
dim inkling that the agent of revealing a person must be a person. The
name is the revealed character, which is contemplated as having
existence in some sense apart from Him whose character it is.
Possibly there is a reference to Gen. xxxv. 3, where Jacob speaks of
"the God who answered me in the day of my distress." That ancient
instance of His power to hear and help may have floated before the
singer's mind as heartening faith for this day of battle. To "set on
high" is a familiar natural figure for deliverance. The earthly
sanctuary is Jehovah's throne; and all real help must come thence, of
which help His dwelling there is a pledge. So in these two verses the
extremity of need, the history of past revelation, and the special
relation of Jehovah to Israel are woven into the people's prayer for
their king. In vv. 3, 4, they add the incense of their intercession to
his sacrifices. The background of the psalm is probably the altar on
which the accustomed offerings before a battle were being presented (1
Sam. xiii. 9). The prayer for acceptance of the burnt offering is very
graphic, since the word rendered "accept" is literally "esteem fat."
One wish moved the sacrificing king and the praying people. Their common
desire was victory, but the people are content to be obscure, and their
loyal love so clings to their monarch and leader that they only wish the
fulfilment of his wishes. This unity of feeling culminates in the
closing petitions in ver. 6, where self-oblivion wishes "May we exult in
thy salvation," arrogating none of the glory of victory to themselves,
but ascribing all to him, and vows "In the name of our God we will wave
our standards," ascribing victory to Him, its ultimate cause. An army
that prays, "Jehovah fulfil all thy petitions," will be ready to obey
all its captain's commands and to move in obedience to his impulse as if
it were part of himself. The enthusiastic community of purpose with its
chief and absolute reliance on Jehovah, with which this prayer throbs,
would go far towards securing victory anywhere. They should find their
highest exemplification in that union between Christ and us in which all
human relationships find theirs, since, in the deepest sense, they are
all Messianic prophecies, and point to Him who is all the good that
other men and women have partially been, and satisfies all the cravings
and necessities which human relationships, however blessed, but
incompletely supply.
The sacrifice has been offered; the choral prayer has gone up. Silence
follows, the worshippers watching the curling smoke as it rises; and
then a single voice breaks out into a burst of glad assurance that
sacrifice and prayer are answered. Who speaks? The most natural answer
is, "The king"; and the fact that he speaks of himself as Jehovah's
anointed in the third person does not present a difficulty. What is the
reference in that "now" at the beginning of ver. 6? May we venture to
suppose that the king's heart swelled at the exhibition of his subjects'
devotion and hailed it as a pledge of victory? The future is brought
into the present by the outstretched hand of faith, for this single
speaker knows that "Jehovah has saved," though no blow has yet been
struck. The prayer had asked for help from Zion; the anticipation of
answer looks higher: to the holier sanctuary, where Jehovah indeed
dwells. The answer now waited for in sure confidence is "the mighty
deeds of salvation of His right hand," some signal forthputting of
Divine power scattering the foe. A whisper may start an avalanche. The
prayer of the people has set Omnipotence in motion. Such assurance that
petitions are heard is wont to spring in the heart that truly prays, and
comes as a forerunner of fulfilment, shedding on the soul the dawn of
the yet unrisen sun. He has but half prayed who does not wait in
silence, watching the flight of his arrow and not content to cease till
the calm certainty that it has reached its aim fills his heart.
Again the many voices take up the song, responding to the confidence
of the single speaker and, like him, treating the victory as already
won. Looking across the field to the masses of the enemy's cavalry and
chariots, forces forbidden to Israel, though employed by them in later
days, the song grandly opposes to these "the name of Jehovah our God."
There is a world of contempt and confidence in the juxtaposition.
Chariots and horses are very terrible, especially to raw soldiers
unaccustomed to their whirling onset; but the Name is mightier, as
Pharaoh and his array proved by the Red Sea. This reference to the
army of Israel as unequipped with cavalry and chariots is in favour of
an early date, since the importation and use of both began as soon as
Solomon's time. The certain issue of the fight is given in ver. 8 in a
picturesque fashion, made more vigorous by the tenses which describe
completed acts. When the brief struggle is over, this is what will be
seen--the enemy prone, Israel risen from subjection and standing firm.
Then comes a closing cry for help, which, according to the traditional
division of the verse, has one very short clause and one long drawn
out, like the blast of the trumpet sounding the charge. The intensity
of appeal is condensed in the former clause into the one word "save"
and the renewed utterance of the name, thrice referred to in this
short psalm as the source at once of strength and confidence. The
latter clause, as in the A.V. and R.V., transfers the title of King
from the earthly shadow to the true Monarch in the heavens, and
thereby suggests yet another plea for help. The other division of the
verse, adopted in the LXX. and by some moderns, equalises the clauses
by transferring "the king" to the former ("O Lord, save the king, and
answer us," etc.). But this involves a violent change from the second
person imperfect in the first clause to the third person imperfect in
the second. It would be intolerably clumsy to say, "Do Thou save; may
He hear," and therefore the LXX. has had recourse to inserting "and"
at the beginning of the second clause, which somewhat breaks the jolt,
but is not in the Hebrew. The text, as it stands, yields a striking
meaning, beautifully suggesting the subordinate office of the earthly
monarch and appealing to the true King to defend His own army and go
forth with it to the battle which is waged for His name. When we are
sure that we are serving Jehovah and fighting for Him, we may be sure
that we go not a warfare at our own charges nor alone.