Psalms 5:1-12

This is a morning prayer before going to the sanctuary. The chief difficulty in ascribing it to David lies in the reference (Psalms 5:7) to 'thy holy temple.' The word means a 'palace,' and is not strictly applicable to the tent which David provided for the ark (2 Samuel 6:17). But it was used of the sanctuary at Shiloh. (1 Samuel 1:9), and may have been poetically transferred to David's humbler tent; or it may be figuratively employed to denote the heavenly temple. The Psalmist appeals to God for hearing (Psalms 5:1), contrasts the exclusion of the wicked from God's presence with his own access (Psalms 5:4), asks for guidance in the midst of his enemies (Psalms 5:8), and prays for their overthrow and for the triumph of the righteous (Psalms 5:10). This is one of the Pss. for Ash Wednesday.

Title.—Nehiloth] RM 'wind instruments.'