Psalms 54:3

_FOR STRANGERS ARE RISEN UP AGAINST ME, AND OPPRESSORS SEEK AFTER MY SOUL: THEY HAVE NOT SET GOD BEFORE THEM. SELAH._ For strangers are risen up against me. The Ziphites, who ought, by the ties of country, to have been David's friends, acted as hostile strangers (Isaiah 25:5), and tried to betray him. So in Psalms 120:5 the Psalmist says. "Woe is me ... that I dwell in the tents of Kedar;" not that he was dwelling among those pagan people, but, figuratively, his countrymen, among whom he dwelt, behaved as unkindly to him as if they were hostile pagan. Stumbling at the difficulty that the Ziphites-countrymen of David's (Joshua 15:24;...

1-3 God is faithful, though men are not to be trusted, and it is well for us it is so. David has no other plea to depend upon than God's name, no other power to depend upon than God's strength, and these he makes his refuge and confidence. This would be the effectual answer to his prayers. Looking unto David, betrayed by the men of Judah, and to Jesus, betrayed by one of his apostles, what can we expect from any who have not set God before them, save ingratitude, treachery, malice, and cruelty? What bonds of nature, or friendship, or gratitude, or covenant, will hold those that have broken through the fear of God? Selah; Mark this. Let us set God before us at all times; for if we do not, we are in danger of despair....

Verse Psalms 54:3. _STRANGERS ARE RISEN UP AGAINST ME_] The _Ziphites_. _AND OPPRESSORS_] Saul, his courtiers, and his army. _THEY HAVE NOT SET GOD BEFORE THEM._] It is on _no religious_ _account_, nor is it to accomplish any _end_, on which they can ask the _blessing_ of God. _SELAH._] This is true....

FOR STRANGERS ARE RISEN UP AGAINST ME - That is, foreigners; those of another nation or land. Saul and his friends who sought the life of David were his own countrymen; these persons who sought go betray him were another people. They attempted to gain the favor of Saul, or to secure a reward from him, by betraying to him an innocent man whom he was persecuting. AND OPPRESSORS SEEK AFTER MY SOUL - Seek after my life. The word here rendered “oppressors” means people of violence; the proud; the haughty; persecutors; tyrants. The word properly denotes those who exert their power in an arbitrary manner, or not under the sanction of law. THEY HAVE NOT SET GOD BEFORE THEM - They do not act as in the presence of God. They do not regard his authority. See the notes at Psalms 36:1. The wo

EXPOSITION THIS is a short psalm, written in a time of great trouble, and containing, first, an earnest prayer for deliverance (Psalms 54:1); and then an expression of confidence in God's aid, and of thankfulness for the deliverance, which is counted as absolutely certain (Psalms 54:4). The "title," which assigns the psalm to David, and makes the occasion his betrayal to Saul by the Ziphites, appears to be trustworthy. PSALMS 54:1 SAVE ME, O GOD, BY THY NAME; _i.e. _by the qualities of which thy "Name" is significant—power, goodness, and truth. AND JUDGE ME; _i.e. _"vindicate me," or "judge my cause." By thy strength;

FOR STRANGERS ARE RISEN UP AGAINST ME,.... Meaning such as Doeg the Edomite, or Heathen soldiers, that Saul had hired and took into his army, who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel; and such as these rose up against David's antitype, the Messiah, Psalms 2:1 Acts 4:27. Or rather the Ziphims, who were of his own nation, yea, of his own tribe, yet used him as barbarously as the very Heathens would have done, or worse; and who, though notwithstanding they were of Israel, might not be Israelites indeed, but strangers to an inward experience of divine and spiritual things: for men may be professors of religion, and yet be strangers to God in Christ, to Christ himself, and the way of salvation by him, and communion with him; to the Spirit of God, and the operations of his grace on the heart; to themselves, their own h

Psalms 54 The Prayer of the Godly _ 1. The prayer for salvation (Psalms 54:1)_ 2. The assurance of faith (Psalms 54:4) During that final apostasy when the man of sin is revealed, the saints among the Jews will suffer persecution as the prophetic Word elsewhere reveals. Here is another prophetic record of their prayers, with a believing anticipation of deliverance....

LIV. THE PSALMIST PRAYS FOR DELIVERANCE FROM POWERFUL AND BITTER FOES. He trusts in God who will destroy his enemies. When that is done, he will offer sacrifice in thanksgiving. His enemies are Jews for who would expect heathen to set God before their eyes (Psalms 54:3)? True, we are told expressly in Psalms 54:3 that the adversaries are strangers, _i.e._ foreigners, but we should read insolent men. _Cf._ also Psalms 86:14. PSALMS 54:1. The name sums up all the attributes of God, but especially His power. See on Psalms 5 and _cf._ Psalms

STRANGERS. aliens: the Ziphites, or the men of Keilah (1 Samuel 23:12). Some codices, with two early printed editions and Arm., read "insolent men". Compare Psalms 86:14. MY SOUL. me, or my life. Hebrew. _nephesh._ App-13. SELAH. Connecting David's danger with David _'_. true and only source ofhelp (App-66)....

This verse is repeated almost verbatim in Psalms 86:14 (a mosaic constructed of fragments of other Psalms), with the change, accidental or intentional, of _strangers_into _proud_. The consonants of the Heb. words zârîm, _strangers_, and zçdîm, _proud_, are almost identical, and some Heb. MSS. and the Targ. read zçdîm here; but the rest of the versions support the Massoretic Text. _and oppressors_&c. Render, and violent men have sought my life, as in 1 Samuel 23:15, "David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life." It has been argued that the terms -strangers" and -violent men" are inapplicable to Israelites, and prove that the title is erroneous. No doubt they are often used of foreign invaders or oppressors ...