Psalms 20:1

_THE LORD HEAR THEE IN THE DAY OF TROUBLE; THE NAME OF THE GOD OF JACOB DEFEND THEE;_ Israel's prayer for its anointed king in battle. So the Church's prayer for her Messiah's triumph. Psalms 20:1 and Ps Israel's prayer for its anointed king in battle. So the Church's prayer for her Messiah's triumph. Psalms 20:1 and Psalms 21:1 form a pair. Psalms 20:1.-Prayer that the God of Jacob would help Israel's King in the coming conflict (Psalms 20:1); assurance that Yahweh will save His Anointed King and people ...

The inscription shows that the psalm was composed by David; but though he was its author, there is no absurdity in his speaking of himself in the person of others. The office of a prophet having been committed to him, he with great propriety prepared this as a form of prayer for the use of the faithful. In doing this, his object was not so much to commend his own person, by authoritatively issuing a royal ordinance enjoining upon the people the use of this prayer, as to show, in the exercise of his office as a teacher, that it belonged to the whole Church to concern itself, and to use its endeavors that the kingdom which God had erected might continue safe and prosperous. Many interpreters view this prayer as offered up only on one particular occasion; but in this I cannot agree. The occasion of its composition at first may have arisen from some particular battle which was about to be fo...

PSALM XX _A prayer for the king in his enterprises, that his prayers may_ _be heard, his offerings accepted, and his wishes fulfilled_, 1-4. _Confidence of victory expressed_, 5, 6. _Vain hopes exposed; and supplication made for the king_. 7-9. NOTES ON PSALM XX It is most likely that this Psalm was penned on the occasion of David's going to war, and most probably with the Ammonites and Syrians, who came with great numbers of _horses_ and _chariots_ to fight with him. See 2 Samuel 10:6;...

THE LORD HEAR THEE IN THE DAY OF TROUBLE - According to the view expressed in the introduction to the psalm, this is the language of the people praying for their king, or expressing the hope that he would be delivered from trouble, and would be successful in what he had undertaken, in the prosecution of a war apparently of defense. The word” trouble” here used would seem to imply that he was beset with difficulties and dangers; perhaps, that he was surrounded by foes. It seems that he was going forth to war to deliver his country from trouble, having offered sacrifices and prayers Psalms 20:3 for the purpose of securing the divine favor on the expedition. The point or the moment of the psalm is when those sacrifices had been offered, and when he was about to embark on his enterprise. At that moment the people lift up the voice of sympathy and of encouragement, and

EXPOSITION THIS psalm seems to have been composed for a special occasion, when David was about to proceed on an expedition against a foreign enemy. It is liturgical, and written to be recited in the court of the tabernacle by the high priest and people. The date of its composition is after the transfer of the ark from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David (2 Samuel 6:12-10), as appears from Psalms 20:2. The conjecture which attaches it to the Syrian War described in 2 Samuel 10:17-10, is probable. There is no reason to doubt the authorship of David, asserted in the title, and admitted by most critics. The psalm divides into two portions—the first of five, and the s

THE LORD HEAR THEE IN THE DAY OF TROUBLE,.... All the days of Christ were days of trouble; he was a brother born for adversity; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs; he had his own sorrows, and he bore the griefs of others; he was persecuted by Herod in his infancy; he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness; he was harassed by the Scribes and Pharisees continually; he was grieved at the hardness, impenitence, and unbelief, of that perverse and faithless generation of men, and was sometimes made uneasy by his own disciples: at some particular seasons his soul or spirit is said to be troubled, as at the grave of Lazarus, and when in a view of his own death, and when he was about to acquaint his disciples that one of them should betray him, John 11:33; but more particularly it was a day of trouble with him, when he was in the garden, heavy, and sore amazed, and his sweat was, a

The 20 th Psalm is a prayer for the King; not only for David or Solomon, but for «great David's greater Son,» the true King of the Church. As if the Church saw Jesus going forth to his work, she offers up a prayer for him. Psalms 20:1. _The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;_ And so it came to pass; in that dread night in Gethsemane, Jesus «was heard in that he feared.» The God of wrestling Jacob heard the cries of his dear Son, and defended him, or supported him, as it is in the marginal reading. Psalms 20:2. _Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;_ And you know how there came, from yonder heavenly Jerusalem, an angel strengthening him. The celestial messenger stood. at his side amidst

DEFEND Hebrew, "set thee on an high place....

Psalms 20 Christ and His Salvation as Contemplated by His People _ 1. What God has done for Christ (Psalms 20:1)_ 2. The salvation His people enjoy (Psalms 20:5) Psalms 20:1. “My Redeemer” was the last word of the previous Psalm. Christ the Redeemer of His people is revealed in this Psalm. His death and sacrificial work, revealed in Psalms 22:1, are here anticipated. He who humbled Himself has been heard by Jehovah, He has set Him upon high (marginal reading), He has sent Him help, He has accepted His great offering, the whole burnt of

XX. A prayer for deliverance from national disaster, changing (probably after the sacrifice has been offered) into confidence at Psalms 20:6; Now know I, etc. The mention of a king or anointed one would seem to place the Ps. in pre-exilic times, unless we are prepared to carry it down to the reign of Aristobulus I (p. 608), the first of the Maccabees who took the royal title (105 B.C.). Certainly the religious tone is in favour of a Maccabean date. PSALMS 20:9. Follow _mg._...