The Book of Psalms

Word Study

"the secret place," Hebrew seter (סֵתֶר), hiding place, covert. The psalm opens with a promise to the one who makes his home in God: "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High." A covert is a hidden shelter, and the promise is not to the one who visits it but to the one who lives there.

"the most High," Elyon (עֶלְיוֹן). The hiding place belongs to the highest of all. There is no power above Him from which His covert could be exposed, and nothing that can reach over Him to the one sheltering underneath.

"the shadow of the Almighty," tzel Shaddai (צֵל שַׁדַּי). "Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." To be in a man's shadow is to be that close to him; the promise is not distant protection but nearness, standing so near God that His shade falls over you.

"refuge," machseh (מַחְסֶה). "I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge." A refuge is a place run to in danger, and the psalmist makes the confession his own by speaking it aloud: not a refuge, but my refuge.

"fortress," metzudah (מְצוּדָה). To the refuge is added a stronghold: "my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust." The one word speaks of shelter to run into, the other of walls that hold when the enemy arrives.

"the snare of the fowler," pach yaqush (פַּח יָקוּשׁ). A pach is a trap set to catch a bird before it ever sees the danger -- hidden peril, not open attack. It is from exactly this that the promise runs, "Surely he shall deliver thee."

"his feathers," evrato (אֶבְרָתוֹ). Against that hidden trap the psalm sets the tenderest image in the chapter: God covering His own the way a mother bird spreads her feathers over her young, the very picture Jesus later takes up over Jerusalem, "even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings" (Matthew 23:37).

"shield and buckler," tzinnah vesocherah (צִנָּה וְסֹחֵרָה). Two distinct pieces of armor, not one repeated for emphasis: the tzinnah was a large body-shield a soldier could crouch fully behind, the socherah a smaller round shield for close, quick defense -- one for the whole battle, one for the moment of danger, together covering every kind of attack.

Explanation

Three things in these opening verses deserve a close look. First, the names. In just two verses the psalm heaps up four titles for God, "the most High" (Elyon, the supreme, above all), "the Almighty" (Shaddai, the all-sufficient), "the LORD" (the covenant name), and "my God", as if to say: look who your refuge is. The one who shelters you is the highest and mightiest, the sufficient and the faithful. Second, the movement from truth to trust. Verse 1 states a general principle: "he that dwelleth... shall abide." But verse 2 turns it personal: "I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God." The promise is for whoever dwells in God, but it becomes real only when the general "he" becomes a personal "my", when you stop admiring the shelter and step inside it, saying, "He is my refuge." Third, the tender picture of how God protects. The Almighty who rules the universe is portrayed as a mother bird: "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust." The same God who is Shaddai, all-powerful, stoops to the gentleness of a hen gathering her chicks beneath her wings, so that the weakest, most helpless thing may be safe. Power and tenderness meet in the God of this psalm. And note the one condition that governs every promise: "he that dwelleth." Not he that visits, not he that occasionally runs to God in a crisis, but he that lives there, whose settled home is the secret place. The safety of the psalm belongs to the abiding soul.

Gospel Focus

"He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust", this very image fell from the lips of the Lord Jesus as He wept over Jerusalem: "how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" (Matthew 23:37). The sheltering wings of the Almighty are the arms of Christ, longing to gather and protect His own. To "dwell in the secret place of the most High" is, in gospel terms, to abide in Christ, for He is our hiding place: "your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3), and we are those "who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us" (Hebrews 6:18). The tragedy of Jerusalem was that the shelter was open and they "would not" come under the wings. So the promise of Psalm 91 turns into an invitation: do not admire the refuge from a distance. Come in. Make Christ your dwelling place, say of Him, "He is my refuge," and abide under the shadow of the Almighty who is mighty to save and tender to shelter.

Word Study

"habitation," Hebrew ma'on (מָעוֹן), dwelling, home. To the one who makes God his home the promise runs, "he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways."

"no evil befall thee," lo te'unneh eleikha ra'ah (לֹא־תְאֻנֶּה אֵלֶיךָ רָעָה). Te'unneh comes from anah, "to happen, to meet, to befall." The promise is not that evil ceases to exist in the world, but that it will not "find" or "meet" the one who dwells under God's covering.

"give his angels charge," mal'akhav yetzavveh-lakh (מַלְאָכָיו יְצַוֶּה־לָּךְ). Mal'akhav, "his angels," is the same word (mal'akh) used of both human messengers and heavenly ones. Yetzavveh is from tsavah, "to command, to give a charge or order" -- the same verb used of God's commands to Israel's leaders. The picture is of angels under direct orders from God on the believer's behalf.

"to keep thee," lishmorkha (לִשְׁמָרְךָ). From shamar, "to keep, guard, watch over" -- the same verb behind Adam's original charge in Eden "to keep" the garden (2:15) and the Aaronic blessing, "The LORD bless thee, and keep thee" (Numbers 6:24).

"in all thy ways," bekhol-derakhekha (בְּכָל־דְּרָכֶיךָ). The keeping is not limited to a few dangerous stretches of the road. Wherever the believer's path actually runs, the charge given the angels runs with it.

"bear thee up," yissa'unkha (יִשָּׂאוּנְךָ). From nasa, "to lift, to carry, to bear" -- the same verb Moses uses of God carrying Israel through the wilderness "as an eagle... beareth them on her wings" (Deuteronomy 32:11). The image is not of angels merely watching, but of angels carrying, the way a parent carries a child over rough ground.

Explanation

This is the passage the devil quoted, and getting it right means seeing exactly what he left out. When Satan tempted the Lord Jesus to fling Himself from the pinnacle of the temple, he cited these very words: "he shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up." But mark what he dropped. The psalm says the angels keep God's servant "to keep thee in all thy ways", and the devil cut out "in all thy ways." That little phrase is everything. The promise of protection is given to the one walking in God's ways, going about the path of obedience and duty; it is not a charm to cover a reckless stunt of self-will. To leap from the temple to test whether God would catch you is not one of "thy ways"; it is presumption, and Jesus answered, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." So the passage teaches two truths at once. First, the reality of angelic keeping is wonderful and true: God really does commission His angels to guard His people along the paths He appoints, "to keep thee in all thy ways." Second, that keeping is no license for presumption. Faith trusts God on the road He has marked; presumption demands that God protect us on roads of our own choosing. And notice what "no evil befall thee" does and does not mean. It does not promise that no hardship ever touches the believer, Scripture and experience forbid that reading, but that no ultimate evil can finally harm the soul whose habitation is God; even what looks like harm is turned to good for such a one.

Gospel Focus

"He shall give his angels charge over thee", the Lord Jesus, who refused to misuse this promise, is the One in whom it is truly fulfilled. He would not presume upon the Father by a needless leap; He walked the appointed way, the way of obedience that led to the cross, and trusted God upon it. And the angels the devil dared Him to summon came at the Father's own timing: after the temptation, "the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him" (Matthew 4:11), and in Gethsemane "there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him" (Luke 22:43). These same angels serve us, for they are "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation" (Hebrews 1:14). And the promise that "no evil" can finally befall the one whose habitation is God is sealed in Christ, for "we know that all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28). Nothing can truly harm the soul that abides in Him. So trust God along the road He has marked for you, refuse the devil's invitation to presume, and rest in the keeping that guarded the Lord Jesus and guards His own.

Word Study

"hath set his love upon me," Hebrew chashaq (חָשַׁק), clung to, was bound in love. The psalm closes with God Himself speaking, promising deliverance to the one who loves Him: "Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him." The word is one of clinging, a love that fastens on and will not let go.

"I will set him on high," asaggevehu (אֲשַׂגְּבֵהוּ). The answer to that clinging is to be lifted out of reach: "I will set him on high." What was pictured earlier as a fortress is here an elevation, a height the danger cannot climb to.

"hath known my name," yada shemi (יָדַע שְׁמִי). "Because he hath known my name." Knowing the name is not reciting it but knowing the God who bears it, which is why it stands beside love as the reason for the promise.

"with long life," orekh yamim (אֹרֶךְ יָמִים). "With long life will I satisfy him." Length of days is offered not as a bare number of years but as a fullness, days that satisfy rather than merely accumulate.

"shew him my salvation," ar'ehu bishu'ati (אַרְאֵהוּ בִּישׁוּעָתִי). The last promise of the psalm is a sight, not a possession: God will let him see the salvation that belongs to God Himself. The one who sheltered in the secret place is finally shown what he was sheltering in.

Explanation

The closing of the psalm changes speakers, and that change is itself a comfort. Through the whole psalm someone has been speaking about God, "he shall cover thee... he shall give his angels charge." Now, in the last three verses, God Himself speaks, and sets His own seal on every promise: "Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I..." Count the "I wills" that follow, they come like a cascade: I will deliver him, I will set him on high, I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him, I will honour him, I will satisfy him, I will show him my salvation. Seven promises pour out of the mouth of God. And notice the ground on which they all rest, stated twice: "because he hath set his love upon me... because he hath known my name." The word for "set his love" (chashaq) means to cling, to be bound in affection, the same word used of a man who longs for and attaches himself to the one he loves. The whole flood of God's protection is released not by the believer's strength or merit, but by his clinging love and his knowledge of God's name. Weak faith that simply holds fast to God unlocks the promises of the Almighty. And see where the cascade climbs: it does not stop at rescue or long life, but rises to the highest gift of all, "and shew him my salvation." The final thing God gives the one who loves Him is not merely deliverance from trouble, but the sight of God's own salvation, God Himself as the soul's reward.

Gospel Focus

"With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation", the last and highest promise of the psalm points straight to Jesus Christ, for God's salvation has a name, and that name is Jesus (which means the LORD is salvation). When aged Simeon took the infant Christ in his arms, he said, "mine eyes have seen thy salvation" (Luke 2:30), to be shown God's salvation is to see Christ. And "long life" opens, in the gospel, into life without end, for the Lord Jesus says, "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish" (John 10:28). The clinging love that unlocks all these promises is itself the gift of grace, for "we love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19); our feeble hold on God is the answer to His mighty hold on us. So make this psalm your dwelling: set your love upon the Lord, know His name, call upon Him in the day of trouble, and He will deliver, be with you, honour you, and at the last satisfy you with the sight of His salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom every promise of the secret place is yea and Amen.