Psalms 56:1 - Meaning and Application

David writes this psalm while putting himself in God’s hands by faith, even after fear and poor judgment had put him among the Philistines. He had fled to Gath, the Philistine city, to escape Saul, forgetting how they had once been hostile because he had killed Goliath, the Philistine champion. But they soon turned on him and put him in danger there (1 Samuel 21:10-11). In that situation he changed his behavior, yet his spirit was so calm that he likely wrote this psalm, and Psalm 34, at the same time.

This psalm is called a Michtam, which means a “golden psalm.” Some other psalms have that title too, but this one has a special phrase in its heading: Jonath-elem-rechokim, which means “the silent dove far away.” Some take this as a picture of David himself. He longed for the wings of a dove so he could fly away. He was harmless, gentle, and patient like a dove, but he had been driven from his nest and from the sanctuary (Psalm 84:3). He had to wander far from home and look for shelter in foreign lands. There he was like the doves of the valleys, sad and mourning, yet silent. He did not complain against God or speak bitterly against the people who hurt him. In this he pointed forward to Christ, who was silent like a sheep before its shearers, and he sets an example for Christians, who should also be silent doves wherever they are and whatever wrong is done to them.

In this first part of the psalm, David first complains to God about the malice and wickedness of his enemies. He does this to show both why he feared them and why God should rise up against them (Psalm 56:1). His prayer is, “Be merciful to me, O God!” That request holds everything good we need when we come to God’s throne of grace. If we receive mercy there, we receive all we truly need to be happy. It also shows our best plea, not our own worth, but God’s mercy, his free and rich mercy. David asks for mercy from God because he could find no mercy from men. He had fled from Saul’s cruel hands only to fall into the cruel hands of the Philistines. “Lord,” he says in effect, “be merciful to me now, or I am lost.” God’s mercy is what we can run to and trust in, and what we should pray for in faith when dangers close in on every side.

He then complains that his enemies were many (Psalm 56:2). They thought they could overpower him by numbers. He asks God to notice this and to show that, when the proud act arrogantly, God is above them. It is a matter of honor for God to help one person against many. If God is on our side, then no matter how many oppose us, we can rightly say there are more with us.

He also says they were barbarous. They wanted to swallow him up, and nothing less would satisfy them (Psalm 56:1-2). They came at him with full fury, like wild animals that tear apart their prey (Psalm 27:2). It was man against man, people from whom he should have expected some humanity. Even wild beasts usually do not prey on their own kind, but evil people will devour a good person if they can. They are only human, weak and fragile, and David asks God to make them know that (Psalm 9:20).

They were also united against him (Psalm 56:6). Though they were many and had different interests, they joined together to oppose David, just as Herod and Pilate later joined against the Son of David. They were powerful too, far too strong for him unless God helped him. He says they fight against him and oppress him, so that he is nearly overpowered and brought to his limit.

They were clever and crafty as well (Psalm 56:6). They hid themselves and carefully covered their plans so they could carry them out more effectively. They hid like a lion in its den, watching his steps. In other words, they watched everything he said and did, looking for something to accuse him of, just as Christ’s enemies watched him (Luke 20:20). They kept an eye on all his movements so they could find a chance to hurt him and set traps for him.

They were also spiteful and malicious. They twisted everything he said, even when he meant it honestly and spoke carefully (Psalm 56:5). They stretched his words on the rack, trying to force meanings out of them that were never there. In this way they made him seem guilty because of a single word (Isaiah 29:21), misreporting him to Saul and making Saul even angrier against him. Their whole purpose was to ruin David, so they twisted every word with evil intent.

Finally, they were restless and never let up. They kept waiting for his life, for his precious life, as hunters wait for prey. They wanted his death (Psalm 56:6). They fought against him daily (Psalm 56:1), kept trying to swallow him up daily (Psalm 56:2), and daily twisted his words (Psalm 56:5). Their hatred did not allow even a pause in hostility. This is how Satan and his agents oppose the kingdom of Christ and the good of his holy religion. If we truly stand with Christ, we should not think it strange when we are treated this way. Better people than we have suffered so. They persecuted the prophets in the same way.

In the midst of these complaints, David turns to encourage himself in God, in God’s promises, power, and providence (Psalm 56:3-4). Before he finishes describing his enemies, he is already triumphing in God’s care. He decides that God will be his confidence, especially when danger is strongest and every other support has failed. “When I am afraid,” he says, in the day of my fear, when I am terrified from outside and timid within, “I will trust in you.” That trust will quiet his fears. There are times that are, in a special way, times of fear for God’s people, and in those times it is both their duty and their good to trust God as their own God and to know whom they have trusted. This steadies the heart and keeps it at peace.

He also resolves to make God’s promises the matter of his praise (Psalm 56:4). We have good reason to do the same. “In God I will praise,” he says, meaning not only God’s works, but also his word. He will thank God for a promise even before it has been fulfilled. “In God,” that is, by his strength and help, “I will both boast in his word and give him glory for it.” Some understand “his word” to mean his providences, every event God orders and appoints. Then the sense is, “When I speak well of God, I will also speak well of everything he does.”

Supported by God, he can challenge every enemy. “When I have put my trust in God, I am safe and at peace, and I will not fear what mere people can do to me.” They are only flesh, and they can do little. In fact, they can do nothing unless God allows it. As we must not trust human power when it is on our side, so we must not fear human power when it is against us.

He also looks ahead to the fall of those who fight against him, and of all others who try to secure themselves by evil means (Psalm 56:7). “Will they escape by wickedness?” They hope to avoid God’s judgment as they avoid human justice, by violence, deceit, and every form of unfairness and betrayal. But will they escape? No, certainly not. A sinner’s own sin will never protect him, and neither bold pride nor false religion will get him off at God’s court. God will, in his anger, bring such people down and cast them out (Romans 2:3). No one is so high, and no one is so firmly set, that God’s justice cannot bring him low, both from his rank and from his false security. Who can fully grasp the power of God’s anger, how far it can reach, and how strongly it can strike?