Biblion Bible Commentary
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Cast Your Burden on Yahweh
Psalms 55:1-23
1 For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David. Listen to my prayer, God. Don’t hide yourself from my supplication. · WEB
A man wishes he could fly away from a city where the danger is a friend, and is told instead to hand over the weight.
I am restless in my complaint, and moan... My heart is severely pained within me. The terrors of death have fallen on me. Fearfulness and trembling have come on me. Horror has overwhelmed me Psalms 55:2–5.
Five words for the same condition in two verses. The psalm is describing panic, and it does not attempt to make it dignified.
I said, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! Then I would fly away, and be at rest. Behold, then I would wander far off. I would lodge in the wilderness" Psalms 55:6–7.
The most human wish in the Psalter. Not for the enemy's defeat, not for vindication — for escape, to anywhere, and specifically to the empty country where nobody is. The psalm records the longing without granting it and without rebuking it.
For I have seen violence and strife in the city. Day and night they prowl around on its walls Psalms 55:9–10.
The walls that were supposed to keep danger out have violence patrolling them. The threat is not outside the city.
For it was not an enemy who insulted me, then I could have endured it... But it was you, a man like me, my companion, and my familiar friend. We took sweet fellowship together. We walked in God's house with company Psalms 55:12–14.
The heart of the psalm. He states plainly that an enemy's attack would have been bearable — he could have taken it, or avoided the man. What has broken him is that it came from someone he prayed with. They had walked to worship together.
Let death come suddenly on them. Let them go down alive into Sheol Psalms 55:15.
The imprecation follows immediately, and its violence is inseparable from what has just been described. This is the language of a man whose closest friend has turned, and the collection prints it rather than editing it into something more presentable.
Evening, morning, and at noon, I will cry out in distress Psalms 55:17.
Three fixed times, which became the pattern of Jewish daily prayer and is what Daniel was doing at his window Daniel 6:10. A man in this state does not pray spontaneously; he prays on a schedule, because the schedule is what survives when nothing else does.
His mouth was smooth as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords Psalms 55:21.
Two comparisons, each pairing something soothing with something lethal. It is the most exact description of a certain kind of betrayal in Scripture.
Cast your burden on Yahweh and he will sustain you Psalms 55:22.
The answer to the wish for wings, and it is not what was asked for. He wanted to be somewhere else; he is told to put down the weight where he is. Peter takes the verse up almost unchanged 1 Peter 5:7, and the reason he attaches is the one the psalm implies: because he cares for you.
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