The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"save me," Hebrew hoshi'eni (הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי), from yasha, the root of the name Jesus. Betrayed by the men of Ziph, David does not cry for an army but for rescue from God Himself. The verb is the root that stands behind the name of the Saviour, and it is the first word out of the hunted man's mouth.

"by thy name," beshimkha (בְּשִׁמְךָ). God's "name" is His revealed character and person, all that He is. The Ziphites had betrayed David's earthly hiding place, but the name of God is a refuge no informer can disclose, so he prays, "Save me, O God, by thy name."

"judge me," tedineni (תְּדִינֵנִי), vindicate me, plead my cause. The word belongs to the courtroom. David is not asking to be examined but to be cleared, for God to take up his case against those who have misrepresented him and give the verdict.

"by thy strength," bigvuratekha (בִּגְבוּרָתֶךָ). He pairs the name with power, "judge me by thy strength", for God's name is no empty word but is backed by His might. David's God has a name he can call on and a strength that can answer, and the betrayed man throws himself on both.

Explanation

Feel the sharp fitness of what David asks and when he asks it. The men of Ziph had just done a very particular kind of harm: they told Saul where David was hiding, "Doth not David hide himself with us?" His earthly hiding place had been given away by informers; the refuge he trusted among men turned out to be no refuge at all, because men can betray it. And precisely here he cries, "Save me, O God, by thy name." Do you see the move? The hiding place among the hills of Ziph could be disclosed by a traitor; the name of God cannot. When every human shelter has been exposed, there remains one refuge no informer can reveal and no enemy can surround, the name of the LORD, which "is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe" (Proverbs 18:10). And notice he asks to be saved by the name and judged (vindicated) by the strength, the two set side by side. It is a caution against a hollow religion that trusts the name of God as a charm while doubting His power to act. David's God has a name he can call on and a strength that can answer, and the betrayed man throws himself on both.

Gospel Focus

"Save me, O God, by thy name", and the name by which God saves is now fully revealed as the name of Jesus, for yasha, "save," is the very root of that name, "thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). What David asked in shadow we have in substance: salvation 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), and "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13). The name of Jesus is the strong tower into which the hunted and betrayed may run and be safe, the refuge no enemy can expose or storm. And it is a name backed by strength, for the same Jesus who saves is "declared to be the Son of God with power... by the resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:4); His name is no empty charm but the power of God unto salvation. So when men fail you, when every earthly shelter is given away, flee to the name that cannot be betrayed. Call on the name of Jesus, and be saved, and vindicated, by the God whose name and strength are one.

Word Study

"behold," Hebrew hinneh (הִנֵּה), a call to attention. Against the "strangers" and "oppressors" of verse 3, David sets one steadying fact, and he prefaces it with a summons to look. The "behold" tells the reader where to fix the eye: not on the threats, but on what follows.

"God is mine helper," Elohim ozer li (אֱלֹהִים עֹזֵר לִי). Verse 3 had ended with the oppressors' fatal omission, "they have not set God before them." Verse 4 is the reply: the very God they left out of their sums is the decisive One now ranged on David's side.

"the Lord," Adonai (אֲדֹנָי). The title means Master, Sovereign. It is not merely a well-wisher who has taken David's side but the One with authority over the whole situation, including over Saul and the Ziphites.

"with them that uphold," besomkhei (בְּסֹמְכֵי), among the upholders, sustainers. A quietly beautiful clause: "the Lord is with them that uphold my soul." David counts his supporters again, and the last name on the list is the LORD Himself; God has taken His place among the few who stand with him.

"my soul," nafshi (נַפְשִׁי). Nefesh is the whole living self, the life of the man. What his few friends are holding up is not merely his cause or his fortunes but David himself, and God has joined them in the holding.

Explanation

The power of verse 4 is best seen by reading it right after verse 3, for the two verses hinge on a single, fatal omission. David describes his enemies in verse 3 and ends with the telling clause: "they have not set God before them." That is the oppressors' whole miscalculation, they did their planning as though God were not a factor in the equation, plotting against David with God left entirely out of their sums. And verse 4 is the reply: "Behold, God is mine helper." The very God they omitted from their calculations is the decisive One now ranged on David's side. Men who reckon without God will always be surprised by the outcome, because they have discounted the largest quantity in the problem. Then comes a quietly beautiful clause: "the Lord is with them that uphold my soul." David may be badly outnumbered, hunted by Saul's forces with only a handful of loyal men; but he counts his supporters again, and the last name on the list is the LORD Himself. God has joined the smaller side. So the sum is not "David and his few against Saul and his many," but "David, his few, and the LORD" against the rest, and that changes the arithmetic completely. It is never the number of your friends that decides the matter, but whether the LORD has enrolled Himself among them.

Gospel Focus

"Behold, God is mine helper", this confidence is made unshakable for the believer in Jesus Christ, in whom God has proved Himself our helper for ever. The writer to the Hebrews takes up these very words as the church's boast: "we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me" (Hebrews 13:6). The God who is our helper did not stay distant but came near in Christ, "God with us" (Matthew 1:23), and gave the strongest possible proof that He is on our side: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32). If God has done that, then the great question of Romans is settled: "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). Our enemies, like David's, may reckon without God, but they cannot reckon Him away; He is the helper who has enrolled Himself on the side of His people in Christ. And He has promised never to leave that side, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5). So lift up the same "Behold": God is your helper in Jesus, and no number arrayed against you can outweigh the LORD who stands with you.

Word Study

"freely," Hebrew bindavah (בִּנְדָבָה), as a freewill offering, willingly, spontaneously. David closes with worship: "I will freely sacrifice unto thee." The nedavah was the offering the law never required but always welcomed, given not from obligation but from a glad, overflowing heart.

"sacrifice," ezbecha (אֶזְבְּחָה). Rescued by God's name, David does not offer the bare obligatory sacrifice. Gratitude does not calculate the minimum it owes; his thank-offering is worship poured out as a gift rather than paid as a debt.

"praise thy name," odeh shimkha (אוֹדֶה שִׁמְךָ). The psalm ends where it began. He had prayed, "Save me, O God, by thy name"; now the same name that saved him becomes the theme of his thanksgiving.

"for it is good," ki-tov (כִּי־טוֹב). The reason given for the praise is not merely what the name has done for him but what the name is in itself. It is good, and worth praising whether or not the danger has yet lifted.

"delivered," hitzilani (הִצִּילַנִי). Notice the confidence of the tense: "for he hath delivered me", spoken as an accomplished fact, though Saul is still hunting and the danger may still press. This is faith's grammar, praising for the rescue before the rescue is fully in hand.

"out of all trouble," mikkol-tzarah (מִכָּל־צָרָה). Tzarah is distress, straitness, the tight place. David does not say out of some of it but out of "all" of it, leaving nothing outstanding; the man who began by crying "Save me" ends by singing that he has been saved.

Explanation

Two small words in these closing verses carry the whole spirit of the psalm's faith. The first is "freely." David's thank-offering is a nedavah, a freewill offering, the kind of sacrifice the law never required but always welcomed, given purely out of a heart that wants to give. There is a world of difference between worship paid as a debt and worship poured out as a gift; gratitude does not calculate the minimum it owes, it looks for ways to give beyond duty. Rescued by God's name, David does not offer the bare obligatory sacrifice; he brings a glad, spontaneous one. The second word is hidden in the tense: "for he hath delivered me out of all trouble." Read the psalm from the top and you realize the trouble may not yet be over, Saul is still hunting, the danger is still real, but David speaks of the deliverance as already accomplished, in the past tense, because he is so sure of the God he has prayed to. This is faith's grammar: it dares to praise for the rescue before the rescue is fully in hand, treating God's promise as good as done. The man who began by crying "Save me" ends by singing "he hath saved me," and nothing in between has visibly changed except that he has met his God in prayer. That meeting was enough to turn the petition into a song.

Gospel Focus

"I will freely sacrifice unto thee... for he hath delivered me out of all trouble", the freewill offering of praise is the worship of the redeemed, and its ground is the finished deliverance won in Jesus Christ. Because Christ has delivered us, our sacrifice is no longer the blood of beasts but the glad, spontaneous "sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name" (Hebrews 13:15). And the believer can sing, even more surely than David, "he hath delivered me," for our deliverance is not merely hoped for but accomplished at the cross and sealed by the empty tomb: God "hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Colossians 1:13). The past tense of faith is fully warranted in Christ, "it is finished" (John 19:30). Like David, we may praise for a rescue that is as good as done, for the decisive battle is already won, and "he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it" (Philippians 1:6). So offer the freewill sacrifice of a thankful heart, and say with confidence, "he hath delivered me," for the name you called upon, Jesus, has saved you out of all trouble, and will bring you home.