Psalm 03
PSALM THREE The sub-title of this psalm is "A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom."45 When we compare this third psalm, written at the end of David's reign, with psalm two, which was written at the beginning, at the occasion of the conquest of Jerusalem, we find the highest and the lowest points of David's life next to each other.
In order to gain a clear understanding of the situation, we must remember the background of David's flight. Absalom's revolt was part of the punishment God sent upon David after his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of Uriah.46 The prayer of David in this third psalm, therefore, is not the prayer of an innocent man, but of a sinner who has received pardon. The circumstances that press in upon him are the consequences of his own deeds. This gives an awesome depth to this poem!
David surely found it difficult to forgive himself. God's forgiveness was instantaneous, when David confessed. We read: "Then David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the LORD.' Nathan replied, 'The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.'"47 We can understand, though, that the devil will have played on David's emotions; when the pressure built up, he must have asked himself often how real God's forgiveness was.
The psalm begins with David's realization of the overwhelming number of his enemies. But most bitter of all was the fact that his own son, Absalom, threatened his life. From David's words at the death of Absalom, "O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you-- O Absalom, my son, my son!"48 we understand that David felt how utterly he had failed in his parental love. In the opening verses of this psalm, David penetrates immediately to the core of the problem. The point was not that men had forsaken him, however painful that might be, but the insinuation was: "God will not deliver him." His adversaries denied the possibility that God had forgiven David. The devil always manages to find the weakest point in our armor. It is true that David should have died, but his son died in his stead. It is doubtful that David would have understood the depth of this event, but his fasting and prayer during the sickness of the little boy indicate that he wrestled with it.49 The analogy between the death of his son and the death of God's Son on Golgotha, however, was hidden from his view. From a legal point of view, David's sins had been paid for and that is the reason that he did find deliverance with God, in spite of the outward circumstances. We can see, therefore, in this psalm a celebration of God's forgiveness and of restoration of the sinner in the most impossible situations.
There is a remarkable resemblance between the lesson God wanted Abraham to learn and the one taught to David. Abraham experienced in his own life what it meant to give up his son; he did this in innocence, without reference to any particular sin in his life. David learned the lesson as a guilty man who had forfeited his life through sin. During his days of fasting and prayer he shared, in a way, in God's deepest emotions regarding Golgotha, but now, since God had made a provision for his sin, there is reconciliation and forgiveness for even the most repulsive sin of adultery and murder. Abraham's prophecy: "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided,"50 applied here also.
This psalm was probably written on the occasion of David's first night outside the palace. As a fugitive, he turned to God and he discovered that, not only, did God protect and honor him, but that God, Himself was that protection. Vs. 3 says: "But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head." Let us pause and allow the wonder of this discovery to penetrate: God guarantees, with His own Person, David's safety; He is David's shield that covers him. What does this mean to someone who had to flee for his life because of his own fault? David must have been overwhelmed by the realization of what God's forgiveness would bring about. The greatest joy in my own experiece was the discovery that Christ died specifically for those things about which I felt guilty.
In the three images David uses in vs. 3, "a shield," "my glory" and "the lifter up of my head," he says: "God is my protection, my honor and my courage to face life. The lifting up of the head takes away the feeling of shame David must have had. With these words David proclaims the Gospel, probably without knowing it. If God is our shield, the arrows and bullets that are fired upon us will hit Him instead of us. There is no better image to describe what Christ did for us. "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed."51
David knew that his flight from Absalom was part of God's punishment for his sin; but then he discovered that this punishment brought suffering to God Himself and that he went free. "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him."52 Who could have conceived that God would Himself receive the blows that are meant for us. Even more wonderful is the fact that God covers us with His honor. David's sin of murder and adultery had robbed him effectively of his own honor. God honors the man who confesses his sin, and He becomes his honor. There is no higher honor than the glory of God, and that is the honor God bestows upon us. Sin means "falling short of the glory of God"53; grace covers us with this glory. Not only does God cover and honor us, but He is Himself our shield and the lifter up of our heads; this presupposes intimate fellowship with God. God does not just give us certain things and privileges and then sends us on our way; it is only if we walk with Him that He becomes to us what we are not in ourselves. We do lift up our own heads, but this is a natural reflex to what God does for us. It would be impossible to be covered with God's glory and then let our head hang low.
Verses 3 and 4 are a counterpart to the verses 1 and 2. Over against the many foes stands God Himself. The apostle Paul says: "If God is for us, who can be against us?"54
David states: "Many are saying of me, 'God will not deliver him,' " but then he testifies: "To the LORD I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill." David believes in an "open system" where God intervenes in history as an answer to prayer. We need such a perspective in order to maintain a healthy spiritual attitude when circumstances close in upon us and the horizon dims.
The crying aloud should be seen, more as an expression of intensity of prayer, than as volume of voice. God wants us to be completely involved when we pray, so that we ask with our head and heart and will. The "holy hill" is probably an idiomatic expression such as "the sacred mountain," Isaiah speaks about. It is said about Satan: "You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.'"55 The almighty, eternal God listens to the words of mortal man and answers him when he calls upon Him. The possibilities of prayer are unlimited.
From vs. 5 we conclude that David wrote this psalm on the second day of his exile. According to the record in Second Samuel,56 David spent the first night on the other side of the river Jordan. Thus David's prayer was heard; upon hearing that Ahithophel was among the conspirators with Absalom, he had said to the Lord: "O LORD, turn Ahithophel's counsel into foolishness."57 Probably to his own amazement, David had fallen asleep tired and exhausted at the end of the first day and found himself refreshed the next morning. He accepted the fact that his body had been able to relax, in spite of the circumstances, as a gift of God. In the same way Peter was able to sleep the night before his supposed execution.58 Faith relaxes. David attributes the fact that he slept well to God's sustaining of his soul. The Hebrew word that is translated "sustained" is camak, which literally means "to prop." That is a beautiful word in this context. God puts a prop under that which is about to collapse. Emotionally David would have collapsed if it were not for his fellowship with God.
In considering this episode of David's life, we see both the tragedy of his moral failure and the power of God's forgiveness. David sees himself in a different light; he is a warrior for whom to be afraid would be the greatest defeat. It is interesting to observe that a person rarely sees himself as he really is. The real problems will come to the surface from time to time, as we see in David's reaction to Absalom's death, but they are not a conscious part of daily life. Man doesn't know himself as he really is. David seems to be more concerned about the fact that people could take him for a coward than anything else. David's attitude may also indicate that he endeavors to find his balance on the emotional level of his life, after having found it on the spiritual level. He knows that God has forgiven him, but emotionally he has trouble accepting this fact. David was not a coward by nature; yet when he realized that there was an absolute absence of fear in his heart under these circumstances, he considered this to be the result of God's supernatural intervention. When David said: "I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side," he was not bragging, but was amazed that God could bring about this quiet feeling in his heart under these circumstances.
II Sam. 18 describes the battle between David's army and Absalom's. This third psalm describes the spiritual breakthrough in this battle. Wars on earth are shadows of the struggle that takes place in the heavenlies. Victory over the devil was won when David made a profession of faith in God. David's prayer had been: "Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked." The Lord arose and struck all his enemies on the jaw and broke the teeth of the wicked.
David hoped that Absalom's life would be spared in this, but that was not to be. Absalom's death was, probably, the most merciful solution to the problem. The boy had grown into a mature criminal. After the murder of his brother, the conspiracy against his father and the adultery with his father's wives and concubines, there would have been no hope for a restoration of relationships. Absalom knew nothing of the transparent fellowship with God, that was characteristic for his father. He was caught deeply in the net that Satan had spread for him, and when he died, the devil received what was his already. For this purpose, Satan used as an instrument of death a man who had no scruples: Joab.
David was the object of "A Severe Mercy," but he did not understand this yet. He was correct, however in stating: "From the LORD comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people." The only hope for the healing of the rift that had split Israel in two was an act of divine intervention.