Vain Is the Help of Man
1 For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A teaching poem by David, when he fought with Aram Naharaim and with Aram Zobah, and Joab returned, and killed twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt. God, you have rejected us. You have broken us down. You have been angry. Restore us, again. 2 You have made the land tremble. You have torn it. Mend its fractures, for it quakes. 3 You have shown your people hard things. You have made us drink the wine that makes us stagger. 4 You have given a banner to those who fear you, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah. 5 So that your beloved may be delivered, save with your right hand, and answer us. 6 God has spoken from his sanctuary: “I will triumph. I will divide Shechem, and measure out the valley of Succoth. 7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is the defense of my head. Judah is my scepter. 8 Moab is my wash basin. I will throw my sandal on Edom. I shout in triumph over Philistia.” 9 Who will bring me into the strong city? Who has led me to Edom? 10 Haven’t you, God, rejected us? You don’t go out with our armies, God. 11 Give us help against the adversary, for the help of man is vain. 12 Through God we will do valiantly, for it is he who will tread down our adversaries.
A national defeat is described as God's own doing, and then God speaks and treats the whole region as household furniture.
For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A teaching poem by David, when he fought with Aram Naharaim and with Aram Zobah, and Joab returned, and killed twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt. God, you have rejected us. You have broken us down. You have been angry. Restore us, again.
Four clauses, three of them accusations, and the fourth a request. The heading places this during campaigns in the north while, it appears, a disaster occurred elsewhere — the sort of reverse that happens when an army is committed in the wrong direction.
You have made the land tremble. You have torn it. Mend its fractures, for it quakes.
The image is an earthquake, and the psalm asks the one who caused the crack to repair it. There is no attempt to find another author for the disaster.
You have shown your people hard things. You have made us drink the wine that makes us stagger.
Defeat is described as forced drunkenness — a nation reeling, unable to walk straight, and not by its own choice.
You have given a banner to those who fear you, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.
One verse of light in the middle of the complaint. A banner is a rallying point, and it is given for a stated reason: because of the truth. Whatever has gone wrong militarily, something is still worth forming up around.
6 God has spoken from his sanctuary: “I will triumph. I will divide Shechem, and measure out the valley of Succoth. 7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is the defense of my head. Judah is my scepter.
God answers, and the answer is a survey of the country as though it were being parceled out on a map. The tribal territories are claimed one by one, from Shechem in the hill country outward, and each is assigned a use.
Moab is my wash basin. I will throw my sandal on Edom. I shout in triumph over Philistia.”
The three hostile neighbors are demoted to domestic objects. MOAB, the ancient enemy across the Salt Sea, is the bowl a man washes his feet in; EDOM is where he tosses his sandals when he comes in, and PHILISTIA on the coast is shouted over. It is deliberately dismissive, and it is the answer to a psalm that opened by saying God had rejected his people. The nations that have just beaten them are, in this speech, furniture.
Haven’t you, God, rejected us? You don’t go out with our armies, God.
The psalm returns to the complaint after the oracle, which is honest. Hearing the promise did not settle the question.
11 Give us help against the adversary, for the help of man is vain. 12 Through God we will do valiantly, for it is he who will tread down our adversaries.
The conclusion is not passive. Man's help is worthless and the army will still march — we will do valiantly — and the reason given is who treads the adversary down.
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