The third and fourth Psalms are closely connected and should be studied together. The one is a morning hymn, after a night spent safely in the midst of danger (Psalm 3:5); the other an evening hymn, when the danger, though less imminent, has not passed away (Psalm 4:8). The spirit and the circumstances are the same: there are resemblances of language and of structure. Compare Psalm 3:1 (“they that distress me”) with Psalm 4:1 (“in distress”); Psalm 3:2 with Psalm 4:6 (“there be many that say” is an expression peculiar to these two Psalms); Psalm 3:3 with Psalm 4:2; Psalm 3:5 with Psalm 4:8; and on the structure of Psalms 4 see below. They are clearly the work of the same author, in the same crisis of his life. That author is in high position (Psalm 3:6) and speaks with a tone of authority (Psalm 4:2 ff.); he is attacked by enemies, not apparently foreigners (Psalm 3:1; Psalm 3:6), whose project is profane and unprincipled (Psalm 4:2; Psalm 4:4-5): his cause is pronounced desperate (Psalm 3:2), but with unshaken faith he appeals to the experience of past deliverances, and with absolute confidence casts himself upon Jehovah for protection and deliverance.

We can hardly be wrong in accepting the title which states that the third Psalm was written by David when he fled from Absalom his son, and the third Psalm carries the fourth with it. Of that flight a singularly graphic account is preserved in 2 Samuel 15-18. Read in the light of it, these Psalms gain in point and force and vividness. The peril of his position and the ingratitude of the people must be realised in order to estimate duly the strength of the faith and the generosity of feeling, to which these Psalms give expression. The absence of any reference to Absalom himself is thoroughly natural. Comp. 2 Samuel 18:33.

It has been suggested that the precise occasion of Psalms 3 was the morning after the first night following upon David’s flight from Jerusalem. That night however was spent in the passage of the Jordan, in consequence of Hushai’s urgent message (2 Samuel 17:15-22), and we must rather think of the morning after some night later on, perhaps the next, which had been marked by unexpected rest, in contrast to the sudden alarms of the previous night.

The fourth Psalm was written somewhat later, when David had had time to reflect on the true character of the rebellion; perhaps at Mahanaim, which was his head-quarters for some time.

The second Psalm describes the Kingdom of the Lord’s Anointed threatened by enemies from without: the third and fourth tell of a time when it was in danger from intestine foes. All three alike are inspired by the conviction that human schemes are impotent to frustrate the Divine purpose.

The Psalm is divided into four stanzas, each, with the exception of the third, closed by a Selah.

i. The present distress, Psalm 3:1-2.

ii. God the source of help and protection, Psalm 3:3-4.

iii. Confidence in the midst of danger, Psalm 3:5-6.

iv. Prayer for deliverance, and blessing on the people, Psalm 3:7-8.

1. they … that trouble me] R.V. mine adversaries: lit. they that distress me. Cp. Psalm 4:1.

increased … many] “The conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom. And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom” (2 Samuel 15:12-13; cp. 2 Samuel 16:15).

many are they that rise up against me] lit. many are rising up against me. The rebellion is in full progress and gathering strength. The phrase is used of enemies in general, but is specially appropriate to insurgents against the established government. Cp. 2 Samuel 18:31-32.

1, 2. David lays his need before Jehovah. He is threatened by a rebellion which hourly gathers fresh adherents. His cause is pronounced utterly desperate.

2. Faint-hearted friends may be meant, as well as insolent enemies like Shimei, who professed to regard the king’s calamities as the divine punishment for his past crimes (2 Samuel 16:8 ff.).

of my soul] The ‘soul’ in O.T. language is a man’s ‘self;’ it represents him as a living, thinking, conscious individual.

help] Or, salvation, as in Psalm 3:8; where see note. Cp. ‘save me’ in Psalm 3:7. But the words ‘soul’ and ‘salvation’ are not primarily to be understood in a spiritual sense.

in God] As distinguished from men. All help, divine as well as human, fails him in his need. Hence the general term God is used. But where David expresses his own confident assurance (Psalm 3:8) or pleads for help (Psalm 3:4), he uses the covenant name Jehovah. The LXX however, which P.B.V. follows, reads, in his God.

3. a shield for me] More significantly the original, a shield about me. A natural metaphor for a warrior-poet. Cp. God’s promise to Abraham, Genesis 15:1; Deuteronomy 33:29; Psalm 18:2, &c.

my glory] The honour of the Israelite king was derived from Jehovah, whose representative he was. Cp. Psalm 21:5; Psalm 62:7; and see note on Psalm 4:2. My worship (P.B.V.) = my honour or glory.

the lifter up of mine head] A general truth. David is still confident that as Jehovah raised him from low estate to royal dignity, and brought him up from depths of trouble in times past, He can even now save him and restore him to the throne. Cp. 2 Samuel 15:25.

3, 4. Men may say that God has forsaken him, but he knows that it is not so.

4. An appeal to past experiences of answered prayer. ‘As often as I called,’—the imperfect tense in the Heb. denotes repeated action or habit—‘he answered me.’ Cp. Psalm 4:1; Psalm 91:15.

out of his holy hill] Cp. Psalm 2:6. Zion, the seat of the Ark of the covenant, which was the symbol and pledge of Jehovah’s presence, is as it were the centre from which He exercises His earthly sovereignty. Cp. Psalm 14:7; Psalm 20:2; Amos 1:2. There is possibly a tacit reference to the sending back of the Ark (2 Samuel 15:25), which may have discouraged some of his followers. He would assure them that its absence does not diminish Jehovah’s power to help.

5. The pronoun is emphatic:—I, pursued by enemies, despaired of by friends:—and the words refer to the actual experience of the past night. The calmness which could thus repose in the face of danger was a practical proof of faith.

sustained] R.V. sustaineth. The tense suggests the unceasing, ever active care by which he is upheld. The same word is used in Psalm 37:17; Psalm 37:24; Psalm 71:6; Psalm 145:14. Contrast Psalm 27:2.

5, 6. Not only past but present experience justifies this confidence.

6. Cp. Psalm 27:3. Numbers were on the side of Absalom, and but for the divinely sent infatuation which made him reject Ahithophel’s clever advice, in all probability David’s handful of followers would have been overwhelmed without effort (2 Samuel 17:1 ff.).

set themselves against me] A private individual could hardly speak thus; and we are reminded of Ahithophel’s counsel to strike one blow at the king, and save a civil war.

7. Arise, O Lord] The opening words of the ancient marching-shout of Israel, rich in memories of deliverance and victory. See Numbers 10:35. Cp. Psalm 68:1.

for thou hast smitten] Again, as in Psalm 3:4, appeal is made to the experience of the past as the ground of prayer. Hitherto Jehovah has put His enemies to shame, and destroyed their power for mischief. The buffet on the cheek was a climax of insult which shewed that all spirit and power of resistance were gone. Cp. 1 Kings 22:24; Job 16:10; Lamentations 3:30; Micah 5:1. Then, by a natural figure (how appropriate in David’s mouth! cp. 1 Samuel 17:34), the wicked are pictured as ferocious wild beasts, rushing upon their prey, but suddenly deprived of their power to hurt. Cp. Psalm 58:6.

7, 8. The Psalm concludes with a prayer for deliverance as in times past, and for a blessing on the people.

8. Salvation] R.V. marg. victory unduly limits the thought, though no doubt it is the particular form in which David desires to see Jehovah’s saving power manifested. ‘Save’ is the constant prayer, ‘salvation’ the constant desire, of the Psalmists. The Hebrew words thus rendered denote primarily enlargement, liberation from a state of confinement and distress, power to move freely and at will, and so deliverance generally. Such deliverance comes from Jehovah alone: it is eagerly sought as the proof of His favour. It is, mainly at least, temporal and material, and is looked for in this life; for in the O.T. this life is the sphere of God’s dealings with His people. But the word grows with the growth of revelation, till it gains an inexhaustible fulness of spiritual meaning in the N.T.

thy blessing is upon thy people] Rather as R.V., thy blessing be upon thy people. This prayer reveals the noble heart of the true king, to whom the welfare of his people is more than his own personal safety. Like Him of whom he was the type, he intercedes on behalf of the rebels, for ‘thy people’ cannot be limited to the loyal few. The whole nation is still Jehovah’s people, though they have been misled into revolt against His king. As the sequel shewed, the revolt was the work of a party, not of the nation (2 Samuel 19:9).