Psalm 20

This psalm has the subscript: "A psalm of David." It is quite possible that David wrote this psalm himself, but we get the impression that it was written for David. The Adam Clarke's Commentary gives us a whole mise-en-scène, in which all who are participants in the psalm are in the court of the tabernacle. In his commentary we read: "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 Sam. 10:6-8; 1 Chr. 19:7>. It is one of the Dialogue Psalms, and appears to be thus divided: Previously to his undertaking the war, David comes to the tabernacle to offer sacrifice. This being done, the people, in the king's behalf offer up their prayers; these are included in the three first verses: the fourth was probably spoken by the high priest; the fifth, by David and his attendants, the last clause, by the high priest; the sixth, by the high priest, after the victim was consumed; the seventh and eighth, by David and his men; and the ninth, as a chorus by all the congregation." From a New Testament perspective we may see this psalm applied foremost to Jesus Christ.

In the psalms of David it is not unusual that David speaks about another person, as if he is separated from himself, and yet he speaks about himself. We see this, for instance, in Psalm 110. David must have been aware that he spoke about matters that were beyond him, and about persons who were higher than he was, but with whom he was closely connected.

It is also possible that this song was composed for David's son, Solomon, at the moment of his ascension to the throne, but there is no internal evidence of this. The psalm is general in tone. "The day of trouble," (the NIV says: "when you are in distress"), is not a day that has already arrived; it is somewhere in the future.

Days of trouble appear in everybody's life. This psalm, therefore, has a wide application. We can pray this psalm as a prayer for many of our loved ones. The text suggests strongly that there is love for the person who is addressed. The one who prays wants his son to learn the secret of prayer, so that he will know where to turn in "the day of trouble." We can teach our children all kinds of things, except intimacy with God; they will have to learn that by themselves. This psalm is a prayer that I have prayed this for my own sons. If we really love our children, their spiritual life and their relationship with God will be our greatest concern in our intercession for them. We cannot leave them a better present than the example of our own constant, intimate fellowship with the Lord. If we ask in prayer for our children what we do not possess ourselves, our prayers are, of course, without much value. God guarantees that He will hear this kind of prayer. By the mouth of Asaph He says: "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."¹ That is one of the reasons that God permits days of trouble to appear in our lives.

"The name of the God of Jacob" stands both for the character of God, as well as for our own miserable condition. Intentionally, God is not called "the God of Israel" here, that is the God of him who wrestled with God and who was victorious. God identifies himself with the one who grabs people's heel to trip them, the one who cheated others, and himself most of all. Jacob was the man who begged for God's grace, and so he conquered himself.² God is the God who forgives our deceit, and who adds His Name to ours. The Apostle Paul says: "God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."³ Through forgiveness of our sins we become partakers of the Name of God, that is of His character; that is what makes us impregnable. The NIV says: "May the name of the God of Jacob protect you." The KJV reads: "The name of the God of Jacob defend thee." The Hebrew word translated with "protect" is sagab, which is defined by Strongs as "to be (causatively, make) lofty, especially inaccessible; by implication, safe, strong; used literally and figuratively." The Brown Driver Brigg's Definition gives: "to be high, to be inaccessibly high." We will be impregnable in the day of trouble because the Name of the Lord has been given to us as a protection. Ultimately this Name will be ours. John says in Revelation about the servants of God: "They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads."⁴ Thus we will be completely identified with the Person and character of God, because He will be "all in all."⁵ When the character of God will become visible in us, the Evil One will have lost his grip on us completely, as he had no hold on the man Jesus Christ. Jesus said to His disciples: "The prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me."⁶

In vs. 2 the poetical parallel is interesting: "May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion." David had built his house on Mount Zion. Ever since that time Zion has become symbolic for heaven itself. Zion represents the miracle of God's revelation on earth. As far as David was concerned, God lived in his home and sat on the throne of the universe in his house.

The New Unger's Bible Dictionary says about Zion: "Originally the rock escarpment on the ridge between the Kidron and the Tyropeoean valleys of Jerusalem. Subsequently the term was widened to include the entire western ridge of early Jerusalem. Centuries later the term was applied to the entire city <Ps. 126:1; Isa. 1:26-27>. By the fourth century the name of Zion was adapted to the southern portion of the western hill." In this psalm Zion is identical to the sanctuary. The fascinating feature of this psalm is that David mixes everyday life on earth with the supernatural in the use of the name Zion and the sanctuary. This suggest that the ordinary life of God's children is supernatural by nature.

In vs. 3 the Hebrew uses two different words for sacrifices and burnt offerings. The first is minchah, which Strong's defines as "a donation; euphemistically, tribute; specifically a sacrificial offering (usually bloodless and voluntary);" the second is `olah which literally means something ascending, like a flight of stairs, or something going up in smoke, "usually a holocaust." The word minchah is used in Leviticus for a grain offering. `Olah is mainly used for a bloody sacrifice, which had to be consumed completely by the fire on the altar.

The Adam Clarke Commentary says about the `Olah: "`OLAH and `OWLAH, BURNT-offering, from `aalah, "to ascend," because this offering, as being wholly consumed, ascended as it were to God in smoke and vapor. It was a very expressive type of the sacrifice of Christ as nothing less than his complete and full sacrifice could make atonement for the sin of the world. In most other offerings the priest, and often the offerer, had a share, but, with the whole burnt-offering, all was given to God." Neither of these sacrifices was directly connected with the issue of sin, although Adam Clarke mentions the atonement for the sin of the world in the above quote. The grain offering was a symbol of man's surrender of his life as the bearer of God's image to his Creator; the burnt offering was the expression of divine love, as is demonstrated in the surrender of the Son to the Father. We should therefore see this psalm, in the first place, as a prophecy about the offering of Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, made of Himself to the Father, as the First Person. In that sense, this psalm is an intercessory prayer by David for his Son, in the deepest meaning of the word.

We do not know what David felt as he wrote this poetry. We do not even know if he wrote these words for the benefit of his son Solomon; but he must have felt a special kind of excitement, caused by the Holy Spirit, because he surely must have sensed intuitively that what he wrote went far beyond his own comprehension. Every love a father experiences for his son is, in a way, an expression of God's love for Jesus. How much deeper must David have felt this love, since Jesus was, in fact, his own Son.

We could say that this psalm of David was a first edition of this kind of poetry, to which we can relate also. What more can we pray for our children than that they will learn to understand the secret of surrender to God, and the fulfillment of their beings in the love of the Father?

The fact that the grain offering and the burnt offering, which are sacrifices that are not directly linked to sin, are specifically mentioned is an indication that, at this point, the problem of sin has been taken care of. The son, who is the object of this intercessory prayer, has already taken the first steps on the road of salvation. The father does not pray for his son's salvation, but for the completion of his relationship with God through the surrender of his body to the Lord, and the denial of self because of his love for the Father. Blessed is the father who desires such things for his son!

We always tend to think of the worst when we realize that surrender to God means giving up our own ambitions. God had said to Moses: "The burnt offering is to remain on the altar hearth throughout the night, till morning, and the fire must be kept burning on the altar."⁷ But ambitions that are surrendered to God have a tendency to rise from the dead. Otherwise David could not have said: "May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed." It is only after we have decided that our desires and our plans have to be surrendered to the Lord, that He can trust us sufficiently to give us the desires of our hearts and make our plans succeed. Jesus' words: "ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you," would endanger our very lives if our desires and plans were not sanctified. That is why the Lord said: "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you." ⁸ This sanitizing of our desires and plans is the immediate result of our bringing of the grain offering and the burnt offering. If we really love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength,⁹ our desires and plans will be motivated by this love. God will make our plans succeed because they are His plans. The first psalm says about the man who loves God, who delights is in the law of the LORD, and meditates on his law day and night: "He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers."¹⁰ Both verses say basically the same thing. Also the words "desire of your heart," the "plans" in vs. 4 and "request" in vs. 5 carry the same meaning. There is also the mention of a victory in this last verse, but it is not specified on whom victory is gained. In the light of the preceding thoughts, where, as we saw, there is a psychological struggle about the desires, plans, and requests, we could say that the victory is, in the first place, a victory over self. It seems suicidal to put our ambitions on the altar, but God does not deal in dead souls; He wants the surrender of our will, our mind, and our emotions so He can trust us. We will discover that, once we have put our all on the altar, we will have more initiative and will become more creative than we were before.

But victory does, of course, not apply to victory over self alone. We may be our own worst enemy; we are not the only one. Our most powerful opponent is the devil, who tries to manipulate our ego. He tries to blackmail us. Once we have put ourselves on God's altar, the devil will have lost most of the ground needed for this blackmail. When Paul says: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms,"¹¹ he puts "flesh and blood" on the second place in our struggle; he acknowledges their existence.

Where the NIV says: "We will shout for joy when you are victorious," the KJV translates: "We will rejoice in thy salvation." The Hebrew word is yeshuw` ah, which Strongs defines as: "something saved, i.e. (abstractly) deliverance; hence, aid, victory, prosperity." Salvation is also a kind of victory, but the word suggest that the person was attacked by someone else and that the attacker was defeated. The intercessor rejoices in the answer to his prayer.

In the statement "We will shout for joy when you are victorious," the intercessor is put in the plural. It may be that David uses the pluralis majestatis of his royal status. But it is also true that one never prays alone. In the first place, there is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in us and through us. Paul says in Romans: "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."¹² Also, God wants us to function as members of His body as we pray and intercede for others. Thus, the joy of answered prayer is a shared joy. Jesus says that the outcome of prayer is joy. "Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete."¹³ In this psalm joy demonstrates itself in the form of a victory parade, a march with banners to the glory of God. A banner symbolizes honor and glory; it exemplifies participation in the war; it stands for the identity of the army. The capture of a banner by the enemy means a moral defeat for the whole battalion. The victory, or salvation, of the one who is the object of the intercessory prayer is a great stimulus for the intercessors. They experience great joy when they see their prayers answered; so they break out in shouts of joy, and lift up their own banners in the Name of God.

Just as we are not alone in our praying, so we are not alone in our warfare either. The battle in which the son is victorious is also the battle in which the father participates. We may not carry the same banners, but we face the same enemy. The banners may be different, but they are all lifted up in the Name of the same God. After all, the battle is His, not ours. The victory of the one is the encouragement of the other. This keeps the battle going and it secures the victory.

It seems as if "the desires" of vs. 4 and "your request" in vs. 5 are identical, but a closer look reveals that there is a difference between the victory and what follows. There is a suggestion in "May the LORD grant all your requests," that the desires of one's heart are only met in the Person of God Himself. Our deepest desires are never satisfied with objects, but only by the Lord Himself.

Vs. 6 opens with: "Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed." Our intercession for others will evoke an unshakable assurance in our own hearts. There is nothing more edifying to our faith than to see our prayers for others answered. Faith is not a leap in the dark. Not only are the facts of salvation reliable, but there are also personal experiences of answered prayer upon which we can fall back; our experience proves to us that God does not leave or forsake us.

Vs. 6 is still part of the prayer, which is the topic of the first section of this psalm; but there is a breakthrough of joy and praise in this verse as a proof of the presence of faith that grasps the promise, as if the request had already been granted. This is the attitude Jesus advises us to take when He says: "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."¹⁴

In vs. 6 the request has, in fact, been granted; God has answered and He has acted. The phrase: "Now I know … does not speak of a vague hope but of certainty. David knows for a fact that God saves and gives the victory. Again the KJV translates the word howshiya` with "to save." TLB renders the phrase with: " 'God save the king'-- I know he does!" God has given salvation to the son, at the request of his father. In vs. 1 David had prayed for his son: "May the LORD answer you when you are in distress," in vs. 6 he concludes that God has already answered his prayer. The implication is that the son has learned to pray himself, and that he has seen his prayers answered. Intercession has brought about life!

The answers come from the sanctuary, from Zion. Like the father before, now the son too, has entered into a personal relationship with the living God. It started when he saw his father pray and receive answers. This example stimulated him, and he learned to ask and to receive from God. Being a praying parent is the greatest gift a parent can give his child.

The Hebrew says literally "with the strength of saving," or, as the KJV translates it "the saving strength." The word is pregnant with meaning. Other versions, such as the RSV, render it, "mighty victories," or TLB, "great victories." These "acts of salvation" are closely related to the facts of salvation, which are events in the life of Jesus upon which our salvation is based. If we see this psalm as a prophecy, as prayer by David for the Son of David, it would be very appropriate to draw this line. God's great acts of salvation are particularly the resurrection and the ascension of our Lord. Upon those facts are founded our salvation and our sanctification. It is only natural that we would want to shout for joy and lift up our banners in connection with those facts.

As he looks up, David sees what the people who threaten him put their trust in. Horses and chariots have taken various forms throughout the centuries. During World War II Churchill and Stalin conferred together about strategies to counter the attack of Nazi Germany. Churchill mentioned the influence of the Pope in the affairs of the world, to which Stalin retorted: "The Pope, how many divisions does he have?" The words God spoke through the prophet Zechariah have never lost their power: " 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty."¹⁵ A man, who trusts in chariots and horses, or in nuclear arms, ultimately puts trust in himself alone. Books could be filled about the psychology of trusting in chariots and horses. World history is filled with samples of this mentality, and so it is in our own time. But there are also examples of people who put their trust in the Name of the Lord their God. Prince William of Orange, the founder of the house of Orange, the father of the Netherlands, stated that he had made a covenant with the Potentate of all potentates. It is to this covenant that the Netherlands owes its existence as a nation. David, as a young man, evinced this attitude, and put it into practice when he said to Goliath: "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied."¹⁶ According to Paul's words to the Corinthians, boasting in the Lord means to be in Christ Jesus, "who has become for us wisdom from God-- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, it is written: 'Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.' "¹⁷

Trusting or boasting in the Name of the Lord God means confessing His attributes. It also implies that we are partakers of the divine nature. Boasting in the Name of Yahweh Elohim makes a man invincible, and it protects him, as David says in vs. 1. In practice it means the difference between being brought to our knees and falling, or rising up and standing firm. The word "rise up" implies that the man of God is not immune against stumbling. The difference between a believer and an unbeliever is not in the sustaining of injuries, but in the falling or rising. The Flemish poet, Guido Gezelle wrote: "One stumbles, and is wounded often and seriously…." The way of the man without God leads downward. David uses the words "brought to their knees and fall." The way of the man of God leads upwards: "rise up and stand firm." To stand firm means to maintain the position in the conquered territory. Jesus Christ gave us the victory. It is not required of us that we bring down the devil, but God wants us to maintain what was given to us. Victory is God's gift to us; it is not our achievement. God gives victory to the king.

We assume that the king here is the son of David for whom this prayer was prayed. "Answer us when we call!" can be interpreted in two different ways. The KJV says: "Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call." People who receive answers to their prayers from God ought to answer the prayers of others also. Those who receive a blessing should become a blessing.