Psalm 57:5

Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 57:5. Be thou exalted above the heavens — That is, higher than the heavens, or to the highest degree possible. Glorify thy power and goodness, thy justice and faithfulness, by my deliverance; all which attributes are exposed to censure and reproach while thou sufferest the ungodly to oppress and triumph over the righteous, who put their trust in thee. Let thy glory be above all the earth — Above all men upon earth, some of whom do now audaciously lift up themselves against thee, and act as if they thought themselves above thee, and able to counteract thy designs. Or, through all the earth, as the Hebrew may be rendered. Spread the fame of thy glorious perfections through all nations. Display thy glory, not only among thy own people, but in such a manner that even the heathen may be forced to acknowledge and admire it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

57:1-6 All David's dependence is upon God. The most eminent believers need often repeat the publican's prayer, God be merciful to me a sinner. But if our souls trust in the Lord, this may assure us, in our utmost dangers, that our calamities will at length be overpast, and in the mean time, by faith and prayer, we must make him our refuge. Though God be most high, yet he condescends so low, as to take care that all things are made to work for good to his people. This is a good reason why we should pray earnestly. Look which way we will on this earth, refuge fails, no help appears; but we may look for it from heaven. If we have fled from the wrath to come, unto Jesus Christ, he that performed all things needful to purchase the salvation of his people, will do for us and in us all things needful for our enjoyment of it. It made David droop to think there should be those that bore him so much ill-will. But the mischief they designed against him, returned on themselves. And when David was in the greatest distress and disgrace, he did not pray, Lord, exalt me, but, Lord, exalt thine own name. Our best encouragement in prayer, is taken from the glory of God, and to that, more than to our own comfort, we should have regard in all our petitions for mercy.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens - Compare Psalm 8:1. The language here is that of a man who in trouble lifts his thoughts to God; who feels that God reigns; who is assured in his own soul that all things are under his hand; and who is desirous that God should be magnified whatever may become of himself. His prime and leading wish is not for himself, for his own safety, for his own deliverance from danger; it is that "God" may be honored - that the name of God may be glorified - that God may be regarded as supreme over all things - that God may be exalted in the highest possible degree - an idea expressed in the prayer that he may be exalted "above the heavens."

Let thy glory be above all the earth - The honor of thy name; thy praise. Let it be regarded, and be in fact, "above" all that pertains to this lower world; let everything on earth, or that pertains to earth, be subordinate to thee, or be surrendered for thee. This was the comfort which David found in trouble. And this "is" the only true source of consolation. The welfare of the universe depends on God; and that God should be true, and just, and good, and worthy of confidence and love - that he should reign, - that his law should be obeyed - that his plans should be accomplished, - is of more importance to the universe than anything that merely pertains to us; than the success of any of our own plans; than our health, our prosperity, or our life.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. This doxology illustrates his view of the connection of his deliverance with God's glory.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Be thou exalted; glorify thy power, and goodness, and justice, and faithfulness by my deliverance, all which are exposed to censure and reproach, whilst thou sufferest ungodly wretches to oppress and triumph over the innocent and righteous, that put their trust in thee.

Above the heavens, i.e. higher than the heavens, or to the highest degree possible; or above all the false gods which are supposed to reside in heaven.

Above all the earth, i.e. above all men upon earth, some whereof do now audaciously lift up themselves against thee, and above thee. Or, through (as the Hebrew particle is commonly rendered, and it is no new thing to have the same word or particle diversely taken in the same verse, as hath been formerly showed) the whole earth; not only amongst thine own people, but so that the heathens shall be forced to acknowledge and admire thy glorious deeds.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens,.... That is, show thyself to be God, that sittest in the heavens, and art higher than they, by saving me, and disappointing mine enemies; that I, and those that are with me, may magnify the Lord and exalt his name together. The Targum is,

"be thou exalted above the angels of heaven, O God;''

let thy glory be above all the earth; that is, above all the inhabitants of the earth, as the Chaldee paraphrase: let the glory of God in my deliverance be seen by all that dwell upon the earth; for by how much the lower and more distressed his case and condition were, by so much the more would the glory of God be displayed in bringing him out of it. Nothing lies nearer the hearts of the people of God than his glory; this is more desirable than their own salvation: David breathes after the one, when he says nothing of the other, that being uppermost; though his meaning is, that the one might be brought about by the other.

Geneva Study Bible

{f} Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.

(f) Do not permit me to be destroyed to the contempt of your Name.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. The thought of man’s murderous hostility naturally leads up to the prayer that God will manifest Himself in majesty. From the confusions of earth the Psalmist looks up to God. Cp. Psalm 11:4 ff.; Psalm 36:5 ff.

Be thou exalted] Or, Exalt thyself. Cp. Psalm 21:13; Psalm 46:10. God is exalted in majesty (Isaiah 6:1): what is needed is that He should manifest His supreme authority (Isaiah 2:11 ff.) over these insolent rebels.

Though rhythmically divided, the two clauses are logically one: ‘exalt Thyself in Thy glory above heaven and earth.’

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; or, exalt thyself, O God, above the heavens; i.e. show forth thy might in such a signal way that the heavens (i.e. the angels) may stand to gaze at it. Let thy glory be above all the earth. Let thy exaltation equally draw the attention of the whole earth. Psalm 57:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

By means of the two distinctive tense-forms the poet describes his believing flight to God for refuge as that which has once taken place (חסיה from חסה equals חסי out of pause, like the same forms in Psalm 73:2; Psalm 122:6), and still, because it is a living fact, is ever, and now in particular, renewed (אחסה). The shadow of the wings of God is the protection of His gentle, tender love; and the shadow of the wings is the quickening, cordial solace that is combined with this protection. Into this shadow the poet betakes himself for refuge now as he has done before, until הוּות, i.e., the abysmal danger that threatens him, be overpast, praeteriverit (cf. Isaiah 26:20, and on the enallage numeri Psalm 10:10, Ges. ֗147, a). Not as though he would then no longer stand in need of the divine protection, but he now feels himself to be specially in need of it; and therefore his chief aim is an undaunted triumphant resistance of the impending trials. The effort on his own part, however, by means of which he always anew takes refuge in this shadow, is prayer to Him who dwells above and rules the universe. עליון is without the article, which it never takes; and גּמר (Psalm 57:3) is the same, because it is regularly left out before the participle, which admits of being more fully defined, Amos 9:12; Ezekiel 21:19 (Hitzig). He calls upon God who accomplisheth concerning, i.e., for him (Esther 4:16), who carrieth out his cause, the cause of the persecuted one; גּמר is transitive as in Psalm 138:8. The lxx renders τὸν εὐεργετήσαντά με, as though it were גּמל עלי (Psalm 13:6, and frequently); and even Hitzig and Hupfeld hold that the meaning is exactly the same. But although גמל and גמר fall back upon one and the same radical notion, still it is just their distinctive final letters that serve to indicate a difference of signification that is strictly maintained. In Psalm 57:4 follow futures of hope. In this instance "that which brings me deliverance" is to be supplied in thought to ישׁלח (cf. Psalm 20:3) and not ידו as in Psalm 18:17, cf. Psalm 144:7; and this general and unmentioned object is then specialized and defined in the words "His mercy and His truth" in Psalm 57:4. Mercy and truth are as it were the two good spirits, which descending from heaven to earth (cf. Psalm 43:3) bring the divine ישׁוּעה to an accomplishment. The words חרף שׁאפי sdro standing between a and c have been drawn by the accentuators to the first half of the verse, they probably interpreting it thus: He (God) reproacheth my devourers for ever (Sela). But חרף always (e.g., Isaiah 37:23) has God as its object, not as its subject. חרף שׁאפי is to be connected with what follows as a hypothetical protasis (Ges. 155, 4, a): supposing that he who is greedy or pants for me (inhians mihi) slandereth, then Elohim will send His mercy and His truth. The music that becomes forte in between, introduces and accompanies the throbbing confidence of the apodosis.

In Psalm 57:5, on the contrary, we may follow the interpretation of the text that is handed down and defined by the accentuation, natural as it may also be, with Luther and others, to take one's own course. Since לבאים (has Zarka (Zinnor) and להטים Olewejored, it is accordingly to be rendered: "My soul is in the midst of lions, I will (must) lie down with flaming ones; the children of men - their teeth are a spear and arrows." The rendering of the lxx, of Theodotion, and of the Syriac version accords with the interpunction of our text so far as both begin a new clause with ἐκοιμήθην (ודמכת, and I slept); whereas Aquila and Symmachus (taking נפשׁי, as it seems, as a periphrastic expression of the subject-notion placed in advance) render all as afar as להטים as one clause, at least dividing the verse into two parts, just as the accentuators do, at להטים. The rendering of Aquila is ἐν μέσῳ λεαινῶν κοιμηθήσομαι λάβρων; that of Symmachus: ἐν μέσῳ λεόντῶν εὐθαρσῶν ἐκοιμήθην; or according to another reading, μεταξὺ λεόντων ἐκοιμήθην φλεγόντων. They are followed by Jerome, who, however, in order that he may be able to reproduce the נפשׁי, changes אשׁכבה into שׁכבה: Anima mea in medio leonum dormivit ferocientium. This construction, however, can be used in Greek and Latin, but not in Hebrew. We therefore follow the accents even in reference to the Zarka above לבאים (a plural form that only occurs in this one passage in the Psalter, equals לביים). In a general way it is to be observed that this לבאים in connection with אשׁכּבה is not so much the accusative of the object as the accusative of the place, although it may even be said to be the customary local accusative of the object with verbs of dwelling; on שׁכב cf. Ruth 3:8, Ruth 3:14, and Psalm 88:6; Micah 7:5 (where at least the possibility of this construction of the verb is presupposed). But in particular it is doubtful (1) what להטים signifies. The rendering "flaming ones" is offered by the Targum, Saadia, and perhaps Symmachus. The verb להט obtains this signification apparently from the fundamental notion of licking or swallowing; and accordingly Theodotion renders it by ἀναλισκόντων, and Aquila most appropriately by λάβρων (a word used of a ravenous furious longing for anything). But להט nowhere means "to devour;" the poet must, therefore, in connection with להטים, have been thinking of the flaming look or the fiery jaws of the lions, and this attributive will denote figuratively their strong desire, which snorts forth as it were flames of fire. The question further arises, (2) how the cohortative אשׁכבה is meant to be taken. Since the cohortative sometimes expresses that which is to be done more by outward constraint than inward impulse-never, however, without willing it one's self (Ew. 228, a) - the rendering "I must," or "therefore must I lie down," commends itself. But the contrast, which has been almost entirely overlooked, between the literal beasts of prey and the children of men, who are worse than these, requires the simple and most natural rendering of the cohortative. We need only picture to ourselves the situation. The verb שׁכב here has the sense of cubitum ire (Psalm 4:9). Starting from this אשׁכבה we look to Psalm 57:9, and it at once becomes clear that we have before us an evening or nightly song. David the persecuted one finds himself in the wilderness and, if we accept the testimony of the inscription, in a cave: his soul is in the midst of lions, by which he means to say that his life is exposed to them. Here bold in faith, he is resolved to lie down to sleep, feeling himself more secure among lions than among men; for the children of men, his deadly foes both in word and in deed, are worse than beasts of prey: teeth and tongue are murderous weapons. This more than brutal joy at the destruction of one's neighbour

(Note: Cf. Sir. 25:15, in the Hebrew: אין ראשׁ מעל ראשׁ פתן ואין חמה מעל חמה אויב (no poison exceeds the poison of the serpent, and no wrath exceeds the wrath of an enemy).)

which prevails among men, urges him to put forth the prayer that God, who in Himself is exalted above the heavens and the whole earth, would show Himself by some visible manifestation over the heavens above as the exalted One, and the prayer that His glory may be, i.e., may become manifest (or even: exalted be His glory, ירוּם), over the whole earth beneath, - His glory which to His saints is a health-diffusing light, and to the heartless foes of men and God a consuming fire, - so that the whole world shall be compelled to acknowledge this glory in which His holiness manifests itself, and shall become conformed to it after everything that is hostile is overthrown.