Psalm 39
The Adam Clarke Commentary remarks about the title: "The title says, To the chief Musician, Jeduthun himself, A Psalm of David. It is supposed that this Jeduthun is the same with Ethan, <1 Chr. 6:44>, compared with <1 Chr. 16:41>; and is there numbered among the sons of Merari. And he is supposed to have been one of the four masters of music, or leaders of bands, belonging to the temple. And it is thought that David, having composed this Psalm, gave it to Jeduthun and his company to sing. But several have supposed that Jeduthun himself was the author. It is very likely that this Psalm was written on the same occasion with the preceding. It relates to a grievous malady by which David was afflicted after his transgression with Bath-sheba." As is evident from our notes on the previous psalm, we do not share Adam Clarke's thought that that psalm was written in connection with David's affair with Bathsheba.
Jeduthun, who is mentioned in the caption, was one of the three choir directors appointed by David to lead the singing in the temple, and to be responsible for the music played. The two other ones were Asaph and Heman. We read about them in First Chronicles: "With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the rest of those chosen and designated by name to give thanks to the LORD, 'for his love endures forever.' Heman and Jeduthun were responsible for the sounding of the trumpets and cymbals and for the playing of the other instruments for sacred song. The sons of Jeduthun were stationed at the gate. David, together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals. Here is the list of the men who performed this service: From the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah and Asarelah. The sons of Asaph were under the supervision of Asaph, who prophesied under the king's supervision. As for Jeduthun, from his sons: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah and Mattithiah, six in all, under the supervision of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied, using the harp in thanking and praising the LORD." There was a group of 288 people, who were all related to the three mentioned above, and who stood under their direction. Their task was to prophesy under accompaniment of musical instruments. Prophecy, in this context, means, undoubtedly, more than foretelling the future. It was probably a state of ecstasy connected with the supernatural assignment given to those men. The emphasis was particularly upon giving thanks to the Lord, and singing His praises. The field of prophecy was a large one, which encompassed all aspects of fellowship between God and man. The fact that David dedicated this psalm to Jeduthun would indicate that prophecy can be based upon a prepared script. Jeduthun was asked to prophecy with the words David had composed for him. This gives to the content of this psalm an even greater depth, but it does not make the interpretation any easier.
The central thought of this poem seems to be that man's mortality is the result of God's wrath upon the sin of man. But if we dig a little deeper below the surface there appear to be more profound thoughts. A Dutch translation of this psalm has the caption: "A prayer for acceptance."1 The question is acceptance of what? A Dutch poet has written the following lines: "The non-resistant heart was confined with those who had become passive. One begins by accepting life, and finally, one accepts death."
This psalm, however, seems to open with a protest. The protest is never put in words, but the inner rebellion comes through clearly. David wrestles with the reality of death. He knows that he will succumb to death's power in the end, because he faces a force that he can never vanquish, but he rebels against this with all his strength and energy.
As far as death is concerned, we often see a good deal of pious acceptance that has nothing to do with a relationship with God. Another Dutch author of the previous century, who was a declared Atheist,2 cut through to the heart of the problem by dissecting a death announcement, which said: "We rest in the Lord's will." His comment was that he had never seen any add which said: "We are not finished with this matter yet!" God did not create man so that man would die. Dying is the most degrading experience a human being can undergo. Everyone who accepts death without any protest should be ashamed of himself.
Jesus protested against death. We see in John's Gospel that Jesus was "deeply moved" at Lazarus' grave. We read: "When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. … Jesus wept. … Jesus, once more deeply moved.…"3 TLB says: "He was moved with indignation and deeply troubled." The Greek word translated "deeply moved" is embrimaomai, which Strongs defines as: "to snort with anger; to have indignation on, i.e. (transitively) to blame, (intransitively) to sigh with chagrin, (specially) to sternly enjoin." Jesus' attitude indicates that accepting death without protest is a godless demeanor. At Lazarus' grave, Jesus "was not finished with this matter yet!" Not only did He raise Lazarus from the grave, but in His own death and resurrection He conquered death for each one of us. We ought to shout "hurray" at David's protest against death. But protest against death was only part of David's struggle. After all, his horizon was more limited than ours.
In the opening verses, David seems to say that the presence of the wicked was a reason for him to modify his attitude and speech. Evidently the wicked were good for something! They make David realize that he has a testimony to maintain. Who are "the wicked?" The Hebrew word rasha` is in the singular, and it means, according to Strongs, "an (actively) bad person." The intent is, probably not in the first place, a human being, but the Evil One himself. Why does David feel he has to be so careful in what he says? A little further in this psalm he cannot restrain himself, but then, in vs. 9, he is silent again, this time as a result of God's intervention. David's initial silence may have been caused by a sense of guilt. He wants to voice a protest against death, but the realization that there is a connection between his sins and his death forces him to keep his mouth shut. The devil knows how to manipulate such feelings with great dexterity. He tries to make us believe that we ought to accept death because we sinned against God. This is a clever, but demonic device. He, who is the author of sin and death, tries to tell us that we have to die because we are guilty.
The opening verses of this psalm seem to be full of contradictions. David keeps silent in order not to sin, but at the same time he feels short changed by his own silence. Finally, the inner pressure builds up to the point that he can no longer keep himself in check. Man was created in the image of God. The image of the immortal God within us rebels against human mortality. This crisis experience is complicated by the fact that we are sinners. But, once we realize that our sins have been forgiven, the complications are reduced to a tension between life and death, immortality, and mortality. The confusion of contradictory emotions in David's heart can be attributed to the fact that his sense of being forgiven was incomplete.
The verses 4-6 can be read in two different ways: We could say that David wants to see his life in the right perspective, so he can live intelligently. The foolishness of most humans is due to the fact that they act as if life on earth is endless, and that they will never be called upon to give account. Jesus illustrates this mentality in the parable of the rich man who, one year, had a bumper crop and said: "This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, 'You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' "4 Moses says the same thing in the psalm that bears his name: "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."5 David is afraid he will live irresponsibly, and therefore he compares those few years man lives on earth with God's eternity.
We can also interpret these words in this way, that David asks God to give him insight in what will happen to him. He sees himself as a man who has sinned, but has received forgiveness; as one who should be immortal, but who will yet have to die. He says to God: "Help me to understand this."
This is a most profound prophecy. The word Selah is certainly appropriate here. In his Commentary on the Psalms, George Knight translates Selah as an intermezzo played by trumpets. He thinks it strange that the trumpets would sound at this place, but I believe that God Himself plays the trumpet here, because He is so happy with David's question!
Some of the paradoxes, which abound in this psalm can be traced to the fact that there was so little insight, in David's days, into the resurrection of the dead. The concept of life after death may have become rather vague in this epoch. David seems to search for this truth in this psalm, without fully grasping what he gropes for. If we see man's life as nothing more than his existence between birth and death, then, in fact, it is a "mere handbreadth," and "a breath." Here we need the redeeming word of the New Testament. Jesus says: "I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."6 And the Apostle John encourages us with the words: "The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."7 David seems to believe this truth, but he does not completely grasp it. He hears the sounding of the bells in the distance. That is the hope in the verses 7-9. He knows that the Lord has more for him than meets the eye, and this fills him with expectation and hope. He suspects some of the truth that, if God is the living God, He cannot be the God of the dead, but that He must be the God of the living. As Jesus says: "But about the resurrection of the dead-- have you not read what God said to you, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."8 This hope silences David's protest against death.
David's silence in vs. 9 is different from his silence in vs. 1. There is an enormous difference between accepting death because there is no alternative, and accepting death because Jesus conquered death, and holds in His hands the keys of death and Hades.9 As Christians, we face death from the viewpoint of Christ's resurrection.
This does not take away anything from the fact that death is an unnatural phenomenon. But we know that our Lord Jesus Christ stands on the other side of the door and awaits us. We may also be confident that He will take us by the hand and lead us when the critical moment arrives. So, on the one hand, we should protest against death; on the other hand we may keep still because God has already protested for us in the death and resurrection of His Son.
All this would be relatively simple, if it were not for the fact that sin is a reality to us, and in us. That is the reason David's prayer for salvation from all his transgressions is so pertinent. This is the meaning of his words: "Do not make me the scorn of fools." God will rehabilitate us after our scornful experience with death. The decomposition of our bodies is painful and shameful, but God will clothe us with our heavenly dwelling. The Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians: "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."10
The similarity between Paul's words and David's psalm is amazing. Both sigh because of the symptoms of their mortality. The breaking down of our bodies, and the deterioration that comes with old age are not pleasant experiences. Solomon calls this "the evil days," when he says in Ecclesiastes: "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw nigh, when you will say, 'I have no pleasure in them'; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain; in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut; when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low; they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along and desire fails; because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets; before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it."11
David sees in this destruction of his tent an indication of God's chastisement on his sin. In a sense this is true. Also the idea that we live on this earth as foreigners is found both in this psalm and in Paul's writing. David says: "For I dwell with you as an alien, a stranger, as all my fathers were." And Paul writes: "Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord."12
The last verses of this psalm are in the minor key; yet, the Holy Spirit uses a theme that belongs in the major key. We wonder how the accompaniment must have sounded. The words stranger and alien have both a negative and a positive connotation. They mean that, as Christians, we do not belong to this world; we are part of a different culture. We are only passing through, and this world is not our final destination. Positively, it means that we have a better homeland. The Apostle Paul writes: "Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."13 This resurrection renewal is part of our being aliens in this world. David did not know anything about this. He fell in the category of those of whom the writer to the Hebrews says: "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country-- a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."14 If we really live on this earth as aliens, God will not be ashamed to be called our God.
The writer to the Hebrews says, in essence, the same as Jesus says in John's Gospel: "Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me."15 The status of a spiritual refugee is a very honorable standing.
David speaks here about being a stranger as a constant experience, although the crossing of the desert, and the conquest of Canaan were ancient history for him. All the fathers, who were strangers also, were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who had died a millennium earlier. So, being an alien must have been a spiritual experience for David. David could have copied this last verse, "Look away from me, that I may rejoice again before I depart and am no more," from the book of Job. Both David and Job thought that their suffering was the direct result of God's intervention in their lives. If God would no longer pay so much attention to them, they would feel much better, and their joy would return! But Job's story proves that things are not as easy as that. It is true that God's intervention causes pain, just as the lancing of a boil is painful. But not lancing the boil is even more painful and can lead to death. Dying is an awful experience, but if, in our present sinful condition, we would not die, we would be much worse off. The fact that God does not look away from us is our salvation. It also ought to be the source of our joy.