Psalms 55:9 - Meaning and Application

David here complains about his enemies. Their wicked plots had brought him, if not to the end of his faith, then to the end of his strength and reason, and he prays against them by the spirit of prophecy. We should notice, first, the kind of enemies he describes. They were among the worst sort of people, and his words fit Absalom, David’s rebellious son, and his followers very well.

He complains about Jerusalem, the city that strangely sided with Absalom and turned away from David. So David had no one there he could trust, except his own guards and servants. It was as if the faithful city had become unfaithful. David did not hear this only from others, he saw it for himself, and it grieved him deeply. He saw nothing in the city but violence and strife (Psalms 55:9). When people became disloyal to David, they also became harsh toward one another.

If David walked along the city walls, he saw violence and strife going around it day and night, as if guarding the city (Psalms 55:10). The very plans they used to strengthen the city were built on violence and conflict. There was no real honesty or love left among them. If he looked into the heart of the city, he found harm and injury, people wronging and troubling one another. Wickedness of every kind was there. Deceit and lies did not leave her streets (Psalms 55:11). This may also refer to their cruel treatment of David’s friends and everyone they knew stayed loyal to him. They harmed them by trickery or force whenever they could.

What a sad picture this is of Jerusalem, the royal city, and more than that, the holy city. It was so soon after the throne of judgment and the testimony of Israel had been placed there. Is this the city people call the perfection of beauty? (Lamentations 2:15). Is Jerusalem, the home of God’s priests, so badly taught? Can the city David built become so ungrateful to David himself that it becomes too hot for him to live in? We should not be shocked at the corruption and disorder in Christ’s church on earth. Instead, we should long for the New Jerusalem, where there will be no violence or strife, no harm or guilt, and nothing unclean will ever enter.

He also complains about one of the chief leaders of the conspiracy, a man who worked hard to stir up suspicion, misrepresent David and his rule, and turn the city against him. This man accused David of misusing his power, or failing to use it well, which was Absalom’s cruel claim: "There is no man appointed by the king to hear you" (2 Samuel 15:3). Such charges were spread widely among the people. David seems to ask, who was leading this work? "Not an open enemy, not Shimei, one of the bitter opponents. Then I could have borne it, because I would not have expected better from him." David later showed patience under Shimei’s curses. "Not someone who said plainly that he hated me. Then I would have guarded myself and hidden my plans from him, so he could not have betrayed me. But it was you, a man my equal" (Psalms 55:13).

The Chaldee paraphrase says this was Ahithophel, and nothing in that revolt seems to have hurt David more than hearing that Ahithophel had joined Absalom (2 Samuel 15:31). Ahithophel had been the king’s counselor (1 Chronicles 27:33). David says, in effect, "You were my equal, someone I valued as myself, a friend as close as my own soul. I shared my secrets with you, and you knew my mind as well as I did. You were my guide, the man I consulted and followed in my affairs. I made you chief in the council, a leading officer in the kingdom, my close companion and familiar friend. And now this is the man who abuses me. I was kind to him, but he has proved deeply ungrateful. I trusted him, but he has acted with base treachery. He could not have done me half this harm if I had not shown him such honor."

That would be painful to any honest heart, but this was not all. This traitor had seemed a saint, or he would never have been David’s close friend (Psalms 55:14). They had taken counsel together and spent many hours together in religious talk. Dr. Hammond understands it this way: they joined together in the worshiping assembly, and David gave him the right hand of fellowship in holy worship, then they walked together to the house of God to join in public service.

This teaches us three things. First, there has always been, and always will be, a mix of true and false believers in the visible church. For a long time, we may see no difference between them, but God, who knows the heart, does. David went to God’s house in sincerity, while Ahithophel went in hypocrisy. The Pharisee and the tax collector went together to the temple to pray, but in time the difference between the genuine and the false will be made clear. Second, worldly wisdom can carry people a very long way in a public profession of religion, as long as religion is useful and popular. In David’s court, no one seemed more devoted than Ahithophel, yet his heart was not right with God. Third, we should not be surprised if we are badly deceived by people who make great claims about religion and friendship. David himself, though very wise, was deceived this way, and that should make our own disappointments easier to bear.

Then David prays against them, and we should both respect and take comfort in these words, as prophecies. But we should not copy them into our own prayers against private enemies. He asks, first, that God would scatter them, as he did the builders of Babel (Psalms 55:9). "Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues," he says. That is, break their plans by making them disagree and clash with one another. Send a bad spirit among them, so they will not understand each other, but will grow jealous and suspicious. God answered this prayer when he turned Ahithophel’s advice into foolishness by setting Hushai’s counsel against it. God often destroys the church’s enemies by dividing them. No people are more likely to fall than those divided against themselves. A kingdom or cause split into parts cannot stand for long.

He also prays that God would destroy them, as he did Dathan and Abiram and their companions, who joined against Moses. Their throats were like open graves, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them. That was a new act of judgment from God at the time (Numbers 16:30).

But David prays that this may happen again, or something like it (Psalm 55:15): “Let death seize them by God’s command, and let them go down quickly to the grave. Let them be dead, buried, and completely destroyed in an instant, because wickedness is where they are, and it is in the middle of them.” The souls of unrepentant sinners go down alive into hell, because they fully feel their misery. They continue to live, so that they may keep being miserable.

This prayer also points forward to the complete, final, and everlasting ruin of all who, whether in secret or openly, oppose and rebel against the Lord’s Messiah.