Psalms 140:1 - Meaning and Application

In this, as in other ways, David pointed ahead to Christ. He suffered before he ruled, and he was brought low before he was lifted up. Just as many people loved David and wanted to honor him, many others hated and envied him and tried to harm him. We see that in these verses.

First, David describes his enemies. He shows them in their true colors as dangerous men, and also as wicked men whom he had no reason to think God would favor. There seems to have been one main leader among them, whom he calls the evil man and the violent man (Psalm 140:1, 4). He likely means Saul. The Aramaic paraphrase names both Doeg and Ahithophel (Psalm 140:9), but they lived in very different times. Violent people are evil people.

There were many others with this one man, and David treats them as true children of the serpent. They were very crafty and planned evil with great skill. They had set their scheme in motion carefully, trying to bring down a good man by making him sin, by stirring up trouble, by ruining his reputation, by crushing his influence, and by taking his life (Psalm 140:2, 4). They hid traps, spread nets, and set snares like hunters, hoping their plans would stay hidden until it was too late (Psalm 140:5). Powerful persecutors have often also been shrewd politicians, which makes them even more dangerous. But the Lord protects the simple, even when no human cleverness can help them.

They were also full of hatred, as malicious as Satan himself. David says they sharpened their tongues like a serpent, which sends out its poison through its tongue. Their words were so hateful that it seemed as if they had nothing under their lips but snake venom (Psalm 140:3). Through lies and evil advice, they aimed to destroy David, but they did it secretly, like a person being bitten by a snake hidden in the grass. They also tried to spread their malice to others, making them even worse than themselves. A poisonous tongue makes people like the old serpent, and poison on the lips is always a sign of poison in the heart.

They were also joined together against him. David says many of them had gathered for war against him (Psalm 140:2). People who cannot agree on anything else can often agree to persecute a good man. Herod and Pilate could unite in that, and in this they act like Satan, who is not divided against himself, with all the devils agreeing in Beelzebub.

They were proud too (Psalm 140:5), full of themselves and sure of success. In that, they also resembled Satan, whose great sin was pride and whose ruin came through pride. The pride of persecutors may terrify the oppressed for a time, but it can also encourage them, because the more arrogant persecutors are, the closer they are to ruin. Pride goes before destruction.

Then David prays to God to keep him from them and from being swallowed up by them: “Lord, deliver me, preserve me, keep me” (Psalm 140:1, 4). He asks that they not succeed in taking his life, ruining his name, crushing his future, or stopping him from coming to the throne. He also asks to be kept from doing what they do, or what they want him to do, or what they hope he will do. The more malice we see in our enemies, the more earnestly we should pray for God’s protection. Believers can trust that they are safe in him, and they can rest in that safety with calm hearts. Those whom God preserves are truly safe. If God is for us, who can be against us?

David then turns to God and, by doing so, he rises above his persecutors (Psalm 140:6, 7). When his enemies sharpened their tongues against him, he did not sharpen his tongue against them. Their lips held snake venom, but grace was on his lips. We see that here in what he says to the Lord, because that is where he looked when danger surrounded him. It is a great comfort that we have a God to go to.

He found comfort, first, in belonging to God: “I said, You are my God.” If God is my God, then he is also my shield and strong protector. In dark and dangerous times, it is good to hold fast to our relationship with God by faith. He also found comfort in having access to God. He was not only brought into covenant, that is, into a binding relationship with God, but also into fellowship with him. He could speak to God and expect a peaceful answer. So he could say with humble confidence, “Hear the voice of my prayers, Lord.”

He also found comfort in the help and happiness he had in God: “Lord God” or “Jehovah Adonai.” As Jehovah, God is the self-existent and all-sufficient one, perfectly complete in himself. As Adonai, he is David’s Master, ruler, and support. So he is the strength of my salvation, my strong Savior, and even my salvation itself. All David’s hope rests on him, and he is all in all to make David happy and keep him safe until that happiness is fully reached.

David also draws comfort from what God had already done for him before: “You have covered my head in the day of battle.” He could say, as he had argued before Saul, that he had often risked his life in the open field for the good of his country. And in those dangers, God had wonderfully protected him. God had given him a better helmet than Goliath’s to guard his head. So David reasons, in effect, “Lord, you kept me safe in battles with the Philistines. Do not let me fall now because of the secret schemes of false-hearted Israelites.” God is just as able to guard his people from hidden plots as from open attack. And the mercy and power he has shown us in one kind of danger should strengthen our trust in him in another. Nothing can shorten the Lord’s right hand.