The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"set apart," Hebrew hiflah (הִפְלָה) from palah, to distinguish, set apart, treat as special. Against the sneers of those who would shame him, David asserts a settled truth: "the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself." God has distinguished, marked out, and claimed the godly as His own special possession.

"godly," chasid (חָסִיד), the one devoted to God, marked by covenant faithfulness and love. The word chasid speaks of one bound to God in covenant love. Such a person is not at the mercy of his enemies, for he belongs to God, who has set him apart for Himself. And there follows a precious promise: "the LORD will hear when I call unto him." Because the godly belong to God, God hears their prayers.

"for himself," lo (לוֹ), for His own possession. This is the confidence of every believer: we are not our own, we are God's, set apart by Him, and therefore He attends to our cry. "The LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure" (Psalm 135:4); "ye are a chosen generation... a peculiar people" (1 Peter 2:9). To know that God has set us apart for Himself is deep security in a hostile world. Men may despise us, but God has claimed us; men may not hear us, but God will. The godly one rests, not in his own strength, but in the God who has made him His own and promises to hear him.

Explanation

The verb behind "set apart" (palah) is a plague word. It is what God did in Egypt when He set apart Goshen so the swarms and the murrain fell on the Egyptians but never touched Israel, "the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel" (Exodus 11:7). David reaches for that same word for himself: as God once drew a line through Egypt that judgment could not cross, so He has drawn a line around the godly and marked them off as His own. And notice the order of the verse, for it matters. The hearing comes second: "the LORD hath set apart... the LORD will hear." God does not hear us into belonging; He hears us because we already belong. Prayer is answered on the ground of a relationship already settled, not earned in the moment of asking.

Gospel Focus

"The LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself", this setting apart is fulfilled gloriously in the Gospel, where God claims a people for His own through Jesus Christ. Christ "gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people" (Titus 2:14). Believers are "sanctified," set apart, "in Christ Jesus" (1 Corinthians 1:2), "chosen... in him before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4). We belong to God not because we were worthy, but because Christ purchased us with His blood: "ye are not your own... ye are bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). And because we are His, He hears us: through Christ "we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father" (Ephesians 2:18), and "this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us" (1 John 5:14). The godly one whom the LORD set apart foreshadows the Godly One above all, Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God, whom the Father always heard (John 11:42), and in whom we too are heard. So in a world that shames and rejects the faithful, the believer rests in this: God has set me apart for Himself in Christ, I belong to Him, and He hears me when I call. No enemy can undo that claim, for we are kept by the God who chose us and bought us with the precious blood of His Son.

Word Study

"gladness," Hebrew simchah (שִׂמְחָה), joy, rejoicing. While the world around him asks, "Who will shew us any good?" (v6), chasing after material prosperity, David has found a deeper and higher joy: "Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased." This is a profound testimony to the superiority of joy in God over every earthly pleasure. David, in distress and want, was happier than the prosperous in their abundance, because his joy was in the LORD. "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee" (Psalm 73:25).

"corn," dagan (דָּגָן), grain. The harvest of grain was one of the very pictures of earthly abundance and celebration, the height of what the world calls happiness. A good harvest and a full barn were the standing measure of a prosperous year, and it is precisely that measure David reaches for when he weighs his own joy.

"wine," tirosh (תִּירוֹשׁ), new wine. The flowing of new wine belonged to the same picture of plenty, the other half of the season of celebration. But David says the gladness God has put in his heart surpasses even that.

"increased," rabbu (רַבּוּ), abounded. The world's happiness depends on circumstances, a good harvest, a full barn, increasing wealth, and it fluctuates with them. But the gladness God gives is a joy in God Himself, independent of circumstances, and greater than the best the world can offer. Here is the secret of contentment: a heart gladdened by God does not need the world's corn and wine to be satisfied, for it has found in God a joy the world can neither give nor take away.

Explanation

Do not miss the little word "their." David is not comparing his good times to his bad times; he is comparing his gladness now, in a lean and pressured hour, to other people's joy in the fat years when "their corn and their wine increased." His worst still outweighs their best. Corn and wine, with oil, were the standard triad of covenant blessing, the very things God promised to pour on an obedient people (Deuteronomy 7:13). David has done something remarkable with them: he has leapfrogged the gifts to lay hold of the Giver. The harvest is God's blessing, but God Himself is better than His blessing, and the man who has the Giver is gladder empty-handed than the man who has only the gifts is with full barns.

Gospel Focus

"Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased", the joy that surpasses all earthly abundance is found in fullness in Jesus Christ, in whom God gives a gladness the world cannot match. Jesus came that our joy might be full: "these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (John 15:11), a joy no man can take away (John 16:22). The kingdom of God is "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:17), and the God of hope fills believers "with all joy and peace in believing" (Romans 15:13), rejoicing "with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8) even amid trials. This joy does not depend on corn and wine, on wealth or ease, but on Christ Himself, and so it can abound in poverty and persecution as well as in plenty. Paul learned to be content and even to rejoice in every state (Philippians 4:11-12), for his gladness was in the Lord: "rejoice in the Lord alway" (Philippians 4:4). The world keeps asking, "Who will shew us any good?", and keeps coming up empty, for no harvest can fill the soul. But the believer has found the answer: the light of God's countenance in the face of Jesus Christ, a joy greater than all the world's increase. Seek not your gladness in the world's corn and wine, which never satisfies, but in the Lord, who puts in the heart a joy that no circumstance can diminish and no enemy can steal.

Word Study

"peace," Hebrew shalom (שָׁלוֹם), wholeness, well-being, peace. The psalm ends with one of Scripture's most peaceful verses: "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety." Whether the "peace" is the daily rest of the night or the deeper peace of the soul, the ground is the same: the LORD alone is our safety.

"sleep," ishan (אִישָׁן). David lies down and sleeps, not because the danger is gone, but because his safety rests in God alone. This is the fruit of a heart set apart for God and gladdened by Him: it can rest. Anxiety cannot sleep, for it trusts in itself and finds no rest; but faith lays down its head, commits the night to God, and sleeps in peace. "He giveth his beloved sleep" (Psalm 127:2).

"only," levadad (לְבָדָד), alone, God alone. The word "only" is emphatic: it is the LORD alone who makes him dwell in safety, not armies, not walls, not his own vigilance. Note how the day closes: not with worry over the many who rise up, but with the quiet confidence that God alone keeps us safe.

"safety," betach (בֶּטַח), security, trust. He can sleep in peace because his security is in God, and God does not sleep. To lie down in peace and sleep is the mark of a soul at rest in God, and it is one of the sweetest gifts of faith.

Explanation

Psalms 3 and 4 are evening-and-morning twins. Psalm 3 is a morning psalm, "I laid me down and slept; I awaked"; Psalm 4 is its evening companion, "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep." Together they wrap a single day, sundown to sunrise, in the keeping of God. And the last word hides a further comfort. The Hebrew behind "only" (levadad) also means "alone, in solitude"; it is the word of the promise that "Israel then shall dwell in safety alone" (Deuteronomy 33:28). David, a hunted man with an army at his heels, claims for one sleeping body what was promised to a whole nation: to lie down solitary and yet perfectly safe, because the safety was never in numbers or walls, but in the LORD alone.

Gospel Focus

"I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety", the peace that lets the believer rest is the peace of God secured by Jesus Christ, our only safety. Christ is Himself our peace, "he is our peace" (Ephesians 2:14), who "made peace through the blood of his cross" (Colossians 1:20), so that "being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). Because our deepest safety, peace with God, is settled in Christ, we can rest through every night and every storm. Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you... Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27), and He gives "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding" to guard our hearts (Philippians 4:7). And He alone is our safety, "neither is there salvation in any other" (Acts 4:12); we dwell in safety not by our own strength but by the keeping power of God, "kept by the power of God through faith" (1 Peter 1:5). This peace reaches even to the last sleep, for the believer who lies down in death does so in peace, safe in Christ, to wake in resurrection. So end each day as David did: lay down your burdens and your fears, rest in the Christ who is your peace and your only safety, and sleep in the confidence that the LORD who never slumbers keeps you through the night, and will keep you unto the day of Jesus Christ.