The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"shield," Hebrew magen (מָגֵן), a shield, protector. David's enemies had sneered, "There is no help for him in God" (v2), the cruelest taunt of all, that even God had abandoned him. David answers with a triumphant "But thou, O LORD." Against every voice of despair he sets the LORD Himself, and names three things God is to him. The first is a "shield", protection surrounding him on every side; the enemies may rise up, but God stands between. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1). David does not deny the danger; he answers it with God.

"glory," kevodi (כְּבוֹדִי), my honor. The second is "my glory": when his honor had been stripped away, his throne lost, his dignity trampled, God Himself was his glory, the source of a worth no enemy could take.

"lifter up of mine head," merim roshi (מֵרִים רֹאשִׁי), the One who raises my head. The third is "the lifter up of mine head", the One who raises the bowed head of the discouraged, restoring hope and courage to the downcast. When we are brought low, God lifts the head. This is the confidence of faith in the darkest hour: whatever men say, whatever we have lost, the LORD Himself is our shield, our glory, and the lifter of our head.

Explanation

The superscription sets the scene: this is David "when he fled from Absalom his son." Remember how that flight looked. As David climbed the slope of Olivet he "wept as he went up, and had his head covered" (2 Samuel 15:30), a king in mourning, his face hidden in shame, his own son sitting on his throne. Now read the third title again against that picture: God is "the lifter up of mine head." The very head David had covered in grief as he fled, God promises to raise. And the middle title lands just as hard, for Absalom had stolen the hearts of Israel and with them David's royal glory; yet God is "my glory," an honour no rebellion can carry off. The titles are not chosen at random; each one answers a specific wound of that terrible day.

Gospel Focus

"Thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head", all that David found in the LORD is ours in fullness through Jesus Christ. He is our shield, for "the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil" (2 Thessalonians 3:3), and no enemy, not even Satan, can pluck us from His hand (John 10:28). He is our glory, for we glory not in ourselves but "in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:3); when the world strips away our earthly honor, Christ is a glory that cannot be taken, and we are "accepted in the beloved" (Ephesians 1:6). And He is the lifter up of our head: the same Jesus who was Himself bowed to the dust in death was raised in glory, and He lifts up all who are cast down, "God, that comforteth those that are cast down" (2 Corinthians 7:6). When shame, defeat, or despair bow our heads, Christ lifts them, for in Him we are forgiven, accepted, and destined for glory. The taunt "there is no help for him in God" is silenced forever at the cross and empty tomb, where God proved that He does not abandon His own but delivers them. So in every trouble, whatever enemies rise or voices mock, we answer as David did, "But thou, O LORD," and find in Jesus a shield that never fails, a glory that never fades, and a hand that lifts the lowest head to share in His own exaltation.

Word Study

"laid me down," Hebrew shakhavti (שָׁכַבְתִּי). Here is one of the most beautiful evidences of true faith: "I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me." Surrounded by an army of rebels seeking his life, David was able to lie down and sleep peacefully. "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety" (Psalm 4:8).

"slept," ishanah (אִישָׁנָה). Anxiety keeps the troubled awake; but faith rests, because it entrusts the night to God. Sleep is itself an act of trust, a daily reminder that we are not the ones who keep ourselves; we must let go of control and rest in another's care. For the believer, that Other is God. The measure of our peace is often the quality of our sleep in trouble.

"awaked," heqitzoti (הֱקִיצוֹתִי). David slept, and woke again. Of the three verbs that make up his night, this is the one he lays at God's door, for on a night when an army was hunting him the wonder was not the lying down but the opening of his eyes in the morning.

"sustained," yismekheni (יִסְמְכֵנִי) from samakh, to uphold, support. David woke because "the LORD sustained me", the LORD held him up, guarded him, kept him through the darkness. "he that keepeth thee will not slumber" (Psalm 121:3). When the heart truly rests in God's sustaining care, it can sleep though ten thousand rise up against it. David's peaceful sleep in the midst of rebellion is a testimony to the reality of his trust, and a pattern for every anxious soul: lay down your burdens and your fears, and let the LORD who never sleeps sustain you through the night.

Explanation

Three verbs make a complete night: "I laid me down," "and slept," "I awaked." Notice which one David credits to God, the last. It is no great feat to lie down; the wonder, on a night when assassins were abroad and a whole army sought his life, was to open his eyes again in the morning, "for the LORD sustained me." Every waking is a small resurrection, a life handed back that was never owed to us. And there is a quiet irony in the scene. The hunted man sleeps soundly while, somewhere across the valley, the conspiracy that wants him dead lies awake plotting. Guilt and ambition cannot rest; trust can. The safest pillow in Israel that night belonged to the man with the fewest defences and the most faith.

Gospel Focus

"I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me", the peace that let David sleep in danger is the peace Christ gives His people, and His own sleep and waking point us to the resurrection. Jesus slept in the stern of the boat while the storm raged, so perfectly did He rest in His Father, and rose to still the wind and sea (Mark 4:38-39). He calls the weary to His rest: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28), and gives "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding" (Philippians 4:7), so that we may "be careful for nothing" (Philippians 4:6). Many have seen in David's "I laid me down and slept; I awaked" a foreshadow of Christ's death and resurrection: He lay down in the sleep of death and awoke in resurrection, for the Father sustained Him and would not leave His soul in the grave (Acts 2:27). And because Christ rose, His people can face even the sleep of death without fear, for we too shall wake: "them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him" (1 Thessalonians 4:14). So the believer sleeps in peace, both the nightly sleep that trusts God through the dark, and the final sleep of death that trusts Him to raise us. Whatever storms surround you, lay down your head in trust; the LORD who sustained David, who raised His Son, and who never slumbers, will keep you through every night, and wake you at last to everlasting day.

Word Study

"salvation," Hebrew yeshuah (יְשׁוּעָה), deliverance, salvation, the root behind the name Yeshua, Jesus. David rests the whole matter of his deliverance in God with a great confession: "Salvation belongeth unto the LORD." And beautifully, the Hebrew word for salvation here, yeshuah, is the very root of the name Jesus, Yeshua, "the LORD saves." David could not have known how fully his words would be answered: that salvation would come, not merely as an act of God, but in the person of God the Saviour, Jesus, whose very name means "salvation belongs to the LORD."

"belongeth unto the LORD," laYHWH (לַיהוָה). Salvation is not something David can manufacture, earn, or seize; it belongs to God, it is His to give. This is one of the foundational truths of all Scripture: deliverance, rescue, salvation in every sense, is the LORD's work, His prerogative, His gift. "Salvation is of the LORD" (Jonah 2:9). Whatever our trouble, this is the resting place: salvation belongeth unto the LORD, and He is willing and able to save.

"blessing," birkathekha (בִּרְכָתֶךָ). The psalm closes not with David's triumph but with God's blessing on all His people: "thy blessing is upon thy people." The deliverance David sought was not for himself alone but for the whole people of God. So the psalm that began with one man's terror ends with the LORD's salvation and the LORD's blessing resting upon all who are His.

Explanation

Watch the psalm change number in its final breath. From the first verse to the seventh it is intensely, almost claustrophobically personal, "they that trouble me," "my glory," "I cried," "I laid me down," one man alone against a crowd. Then the last line suddenly opens outward: "thy blessing is upon thy people." The psalm began by counting enemies, "many are they that rise up against me" (v1); it ends by remembering a greater "many," the whole people of God among whom the hunted man belongs. Private rescue widens into corporate blessing. The believer's deliverance is never merely his own; the man saved alone discovers he was never really alone, but one of a people the LORD blesses together.

Gospel Focus

"Salvation belongeth unto the LORD", this is the very heartbeat of the Gospel, and it is embodied in the name of Jesus. When the angel announced His birth, he said, "thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21), the name Yeshua meaning "the LORD is salvation." Salvation belongs to the LORD, and the LORD came in flesh to accomplish it: "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). Because salvation is God's work and not ours, it is sure and free, "by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). We do not save ourselves; we receive the salvation that belongeth unto the LORD, wrought by the LORD Jesus at the cross. And His blessing rests upon all His people, "blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3). So David's closing word is the sinner's surest hope: stop trying to save yourself, and rest in the God to whom salvation belongs, made known and made ours in Jesus, whose very name declares it. Salvation belongeth unto the LORD, and the LORD, in Christ, has freely given it to His people for ever.