The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"hear," Hebrew ya'ancha (יַעַנְךָ), answer thee. The psalm opens as the voice of a congregation praying for their king before he goes into battle. It is a beautiful thing: the people do not simply watch their leader ride out, they intercede for him. "The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble", may God answer your prayer when distress presses hard.

"day of trouble," yom tzarah (יוֹם צָרָה), a day of distress, tight straits. This is how the people of God support one another, by carrying each other to the throne in the day of trouble, asking that God's own name would be the defence. Before the battle is fought with the sword, it is fought on the knees.

"name," shem (שֵׁם), the revealed character and person of God. To pray "the name... defend thee" is to make God's revealed character the stronghold: not our resources but who God is.

"God of Jacob," elohei ya'aqov (אֱלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב). Why "the God of Jacob"? Because Jacob was the man of many troubles who again and again met God in his distress, at Bethel, at Peniel, and found Him faithful; the God of Jacob is the God who answers in the day of trouble.

"defend thee," yesaggevkha (יְשַׂגֶּבְךָ), set thee on high, out of reach. And "the name of the God of Jacob defend thee", may the very name of God set you up on high, beyond the reach of the enemy.

Explanation

Listen to the shape of this opening and you will hear that it is not really a prayer about the king so much as a prayer poured over him, one blessing after another cascading down. Read straight through verses 1-5: "The LORD hear thee... defend thee... send thee help... strengthen thee... remember... accept... grant thee... fulfil." Blessing upon blessing, every line a fresh wish laid on the king's head, like Aaron's benediction turned toward a man about to ride into danger. This is what intercession looks like when love is behind it: not one careful request, but an overflow. And there is a larger design worth seeing. Psalm 20 has a twin next door. This psalm is the prayer before the battle, all petition and hope; Psalm 21 is the praise after the battle, all thanksgiving for the victory won ("The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD... thou hast given him his heart's desire," 21:1-2). The two belong together, going out and coming home, and together they teach the rhythm of a life of faith: we go into every day of trouble covered in the prayers of God's people, and we come back to lay the victory at His feet.

Gospel Focus

"The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble", these words were answered in fullest measure for Jesus Christ, the true King, in His own day of trouble. In Gethsemane, facing the cross, "he... offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared" (Hebrews 5:7). The King went into the deepest day of trouble, and the God of Jacob answered Him, not by sparing Him the cross, but by raising Him from the dead. And now the risen Christ is Himself our defence in our day of trouble, for the name that defends His people is His own name: "the name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe" (Proverbs 18:10). What the congregation prayed for their king, we have in Christ, who both prays for us as our great Intercessor, "he ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25), and shelters us in His name. When your day of trouble comes, remember that the King has gone through the darkest day before you and been heard, and that His name is set on high as your stronghold. Run into it, and be safe.

Word Study

"now know I," Hebrew attah yadati (עַתָּה יָדַעְתִּי), now I have come to know with certainty. The tone shifts from petition to assurance. "Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed." Prayer has risen into confidence; the people are so certain God will answer that they speak of the victory as already sure.

"saveth," hoshia (הוֹשִׁיעַ), from yasha, to save, deliver. Notice the ground of assurance: not that the king's army is bigger, but that he is the LORD's anointed and the LORD saves His anointed. Faith moves from "the LORD hear thee" to "now know I that the LORD saveth", from asking to assurance, because it rests on the character of God.

"his anointed," meshicho (מְשִׁיחוֹ), his Messiah. The king is called God's "anointed", his mashiach, the one set apart and empowered by God, and the confidence is not in the anointed one's own might but in the LORD who saves him. When God has set a man apart for His purpose, God Himself undertakes his defence.

"holy heaven," shamei qodsho (שְׁמֵי קָדְשׁוֹ). God will "hear him from his holy heaven", the answer comes down from heaven itself.

"saving strength," gevurot yesha (גְּבֻרוֹת יֵשַׁע), the mighty deeds of salvation. He hears him "with the saving strength of his right hand", the deliverance wrought by God's mighty, saving power. This is the confidence of faith: not presumption in our own strength, but certainty in God's saving power exerted on behalf of those who are His.

"of his right hand," yemino (יְמִינוֹ). The right hand is the hand of God's strength, and it is that hand, not the king's own, which wins the day.

Explanation

Something quietly dramatic happens in this verse, and it is easy to miss in translation: the grammar changes. All through verses 1-5 the voice was plural, a whole congregation speaking to "thee", "we will rejoice in thy salvation." Suddenly, in verse 6, a single voice cuts in: "Now know I." One speaker, perhaps the king himself, perhaps a priest with a word from God, steps out of the choir to declare that the answer is certain. And the hinge is the little word "now" (attah). What has happened between verse 5 and verse 6 to turn hope into "now I know"? The clue lies just before, in verse 3: "accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah." The offering has been made and, it seems, accepted, a token of God's favour given, and out of that accepted sacrifice springs sudden certainty. Trace, too, where the help travels. In verse 2 it was to come "from the sanctuary... out of Zion," from the earthly temple; now in verse 6 the eye lifts higher, "he will hear him from his holy heaven." Faith follows the answer up from the altar on the ground to the throne in the heights, and rests there. Assurance is not worked up by effort; it is given at the altar, where the sacrifice is accepted.

Gospel Focus

"Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed", the anointed one is, in the deepest sense, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, whom the LORD saved by raising Him from the dead with the saving strength of His right hand. The word "anointed," mashiach, is the very title Messiah, and "saving," yesha, is the root of the name Jesus. The psalm, prayed of an earthly king, sings ultimately of the King of kings: God heard His Anointed from holy heaven and answered Him, not by keeping Him from death, but by conquering death, "whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death" (Acts 2:24), and exalting Him "by his right hand" (Acts 2:33; 5:31). The right hand of God, the very "saving strength" of this psalm, is where the risen Christ now sits. And because the LORD saved His Anointed, all who belong to the Anointed are saved: our victory is secured in His. So we face our battles knowing that the LORD saves His Anointed and everyone hidden in Him. The tomb is empty; the King is risen and enthroned at the right hand of power. "Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed", and in Christ the Anointed, He saves us too.

Word Study

"trust," Hebrew yazkiru (יַזְכִּירוּ), literally "make mention of" or "call to remembrance." Here stands one of the great dividing lines of Scripture. "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God." Notice, the psalm does not say chariots and horses are useless in themselves; it says they are the wrong object of trust. The question is never whether we have means, but where our confidence rests.

"we will remember," nazkir (נַזְכִּיר), the matching verb on the believer's side. To "remember the name of the LORD" is to call to mind who He is and to lean the whole weight of our confidence on Him rather than on our resources.

"chariots," rekhev (רֶכֶב). Chariots were the tanks and armies of the ancient world, the visible, impressive strength that nations relied on. And the next verse gives the outcome: "They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright." Those who trust their chariots collapse; those who trust the LORD stand.

"horses," susim (סוּסִים), the mightiest military technology of the ancient world. The horse belonged to the same visible strength that men muster and count. "The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD" (Proverbs 21:31).

"name," shem (שֵׁם), the LORD, YHWH, our God. And the contrast is stark: they put their confidence in what they can see and count and muster; we put our confidence in the name of the LORD, the unseen but almighty God. The world's confidence fails at the last; faith's confidence stands for ever.

Explanation

The Hebrew makes this a contest of what you name. The word rendered "trust" is yazkiru, literally "they make mention of," they call the name of their chariots to mind and boast in it; and it is answered by the same verb of us, nazkir, "we will make mention of the name of the LORD." Both sides invoke a name. The world names its weapons; the believer names his God. So the real question the verse asks is not "what do you own?" but "what name rises to your lips when the day of trouble comes?", for the name you reach for in the crisis is the god you actually trust. And watch the postures collapse and rise in the next line (v8): "They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright." The very bodies tell the outcome. Those who leaned on chariots go down face-first; those who leaned on the Name are lifted to their feet. It is the whole psalm in a single picture, two confidences, two destinies, and the word we are risen waiting, as the New Testament will show, for a fuller meaning than the men who first sang it could have guessed.

Gospel Focus

"Some trust in chariots... but we will remember the name of the LORD our God", and the name of the LORD our God is revealed and given to us in Jesus, for His very name means "the LORD saves." Salvation has never come by chariots and horses, by human strength or achievement, but by the name of the Lord: "neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). At the cross, the world's power, Rome's might and the rulers' chariots, seemed to triumph, and Christ hung in weakness; yet "they are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright," for on the third day the crucified King rose and the powers of darkness collapsed. The Christian's whole confidence rests not on the chariots of self, wealth, cleverness, or human strength, but on the name of Jesus, in whom the LORD our God has come to save. So we set up our banners in His name (v5), and we go into every battle remembering not our resources but our Redeemer. Those who trust in chariots are brought down; those who trust in the name of the Lord Jesus are risen with Him and stand upright, now and for ever.