Psalm 54

Introduction & Background

“Welcome to Torah Today Ministries, and our continuing series, Tehillim Talks, our studies in the Psalms. And in this episode, we find ourselves in Psalm 54, a very short psalm, only seven verses. But one that’s filled with encouragement and as a faith-building psalm, especially if you find yourself right now between a rock and a hard place, and maybe unfairly being persecuted by the enemies of your soul.

Now, this and the last two Psalms are written, and maybe say inspired by events in David’s life. Psalm 52 was when he was being attacked and persecuted by the villainous and wicked Doeg. To me, one of the most villainous and despised characters in the entire scripture.

And so he talks about the event that led up to him writing Psalm 52. And then in Psalm 53, we have this nameless fool. I don’t know what else to call him. The nameless fool. There’s no name given. But it’s almost as if David decides to take Doeg and analyze him and write a Psalm about what makes a wicked person like Doeg tick. What’s going on inside this twisted dark soul?

But now here in Psalm 54, now we have a mob of people. You might call them many Doegs who are coming after David. And this group of people is called the Ziphites because they are from the town of Ziph. So here is how the preface to the Psalm reads: To the choir master with stringed instruments, a maskeel, a teaching psalm of David. When the Ziphites went and told Saul, is not David hiding among us?”

Background: The Ziphites & Nagoon

“And this is the background to why David wrote the psalm. Just a couple of notes here. Where it says stringed instruments, the word used there, just one word in Hebrew, isn’t really stringed instruments. It’s the word naginot. It’s a word that has occurred several times already in Psalms and will occur again but never taking time to really address it.

But naginot comes from the Hebrew word nagoon, which is simply a wordless melody. It’s traditional in Jewish practice to often sing a nagoon, sometimes before you pray, just to sing a well-established nagoon, some of these beautiful, some very ancient Jewish melodies. It’s a way of your soul and spirit expressing themselves and bypassing the intellect and language center of your brain, and just expressing itself purely and wholeheartedly before God without using words.

So instead of putting wordless melody, they say stringed instruments, because stringed instruments cannot talk, they cannot express lyrics. It’s a teaching psalm of David. Now you can find the story of the Ziphites in 1 Samuel 22 and 23. And this phrase ‘is not David hiding among us’—this is a direct quote from 1 Samuel 23:19, when the Ziphites went to King Saul and said, hey, we know where David’s hiding, he’s hiding with us. And they identify the mountain that he’s hiding at. And so, of course, Saul immediately goes out with his troops to try to capture poor David.

Now what makes this especially sad is that the town of Ziph is in the tribal area of Judah, the tribal home of David himself. He was also from the tribe of Judah. So here, his fellow Judahites or Judeans are turning against him, turning against one of their own, so that they can curry favor with King Saul. This is despicable.”

Division of the Psalm

“So, the Psalm divides itself cleanly into two parts, the first three verses and the last four verses. And we know that it divides here because verse three ends with the word Selah, which indicates some kind of a break.

So the first three verses read like this:

O God, in your name save me, and vindicate me by your might. O God, hear my prayer. Give ear to the words of my mouth, for strangers have risen against me. Ruthless men seek my soul. They do not set God before themselves.”

Appeal to Elohim: Save & Vindicate

“Now, throughout these first three verses, David is using the word Elohim, the name Elohim, not Yad Heh Vav Heh. And if you recall, when you see Elohim, it is a reference to God and his aspect of strict justice. And he’s asking for justice.

In fact, he asked for two things. He says, in your name, save me, and secondly, vindicate me. And that word for vindicate is the word deen, which is a word that means a judge. It can be a noun or a verb. The name Daniel is Dani-el—my judge is God.

And so he’s saying, God, I want you to judge me. Now, that sounds odd to ask God to judge us. But remember, judgment in scripture is a neutral thing. It does not have a negative connotation.

It is very neutral. And as I’ve often used as an illustration before, if you are the plaintiff in a court case, you have been wronged, you’ve been treated unjustly, you look forward to your day in court when a judgment is going to be made, and you’re going to be pronounced as the victim here, the innocent one, and the person who has persecuted you and wronged you is going to be revealed as the wicked one. And then they will have to pay fees or fines or go to jail or whatever. But finally, there’ll be a sense that justice is done.

So if you’re the innocent one, you look forward to your day in court. If you’re the wicked one, the guilty one, you’re dreading your day in court. So David is saying, God, I want you to save me, but I also want you to vindicate me. Because my character has been smeared, I have been lied about, misrepresented. My character has been assassinated. And Lord, I want you to come to my vindication and let people know I’ve not done the wicked things I’ve been accused of. So Lord, please vindicate me. Clear my name.”

Name & Might of God

“So he asks God in his name to save him and to vindicate God through his might, through his strength. There’s a lot going on here. As you look at the two halves of this verse: in your name save me.

And God’s personal name is Yad Heh Vav Heh, a name that indicates mercy, chesed. So Father, by your chesed and mercy, by your name, I want you to live according to who you are as Yad Heh Vav Heh, as Adonai. And because you are a saving God, save me.

But you are also a mighty God. As a mighty God, you are God over the whole world. And I want you to vindicate me. Please clear my name. O God, hear my prayer, give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers have risen up against me.

Now, it’s interesting. As I mentioned before, the Ziphites were not strangers. They were also members of the tribe of Judah, just as David was. But because they’re acting in a way that’s uncharacteristic—not only of a Jew, but especially of one who’s of the tribe of Judah—he says they’re strangers. They’re behaving like strangers. They have risen against me. Ruthless men seek my soul. They do not set God before themselves.”

Setting Adonai Before Us

“When I read this, I was immediately reminded of Psalm 16 verse 8. And many times you go into a synagogue, this verse will be put on the wall somewhere in the synagogue in Hebrew. And it’s this: I have set Adonai always before me, because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

But those words, I have set Adonai always before me. Now think about that for a moment. Who am I to set Adonai anywhere? He’s God, he’s unmovable. He is everywhere. How can I set God before me?

Well, when it comes to my own attention, and to where I address and direct my eyes and my mind, I am in control of what I set before me. And David is saying, I conscientiously set God before me. And this is something we have to do with intention or it won’t get done.

So we sometimes just assume because God is everywhere, that he’s in everything. He’s omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. He’s just always there. But if we do not remind ourselves of that and purposefully set him before us so that we see everything through him, we’ll forget him altogether. We will live lives as if he does not even exist. We must intentionally set him before us at all times.”

Selah – Break After Verse 3

“Note in Psalm 86, 14 is a similar verse to what we just read here in Psalm 54: O God, insolent men have risen up against me. A band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.

If we do not conscientiously set God before us constantly, day by day, moment by moment, we too can become ruthless. We too, in all practicality, can become godless. So let’s make sure we set God before us at all times. Let’s always remember him and remind ourselves and do what’s necessary to keep our minds focused on him.

Okay, so there’s our Selah, which tells us this is the end of this section.”

God’s Timely Rescue

“So how does verse four begin? It begins with an exclamation: Look, God’s helping me.

Why did David suddenly turn from moaning in verses one through three to all of a sudden, hey, look, God’s helping me? Well, you have to go back to the story. And if we go back to 1 Samuel 23, we find an interesting, almost a comical situation, look back on it. But Saul’s men have come to the mountain where David is. David’s on one side of the mountain with his group of men. Saul is on the other side of the mountain with his group of men, and they start circling each other. And if somebody zigs when they should zag, they’re going to run right into each other.

But anyways, this situation is pretty tenuous, and it can’t last. And if something doesn’t happen, David realizes, I’m a dead man. But then we come to 1 Samuel, chapter 23, starting with verse 26, this is what it says:

Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul, as Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them. So as this was happening, it says, a messenger came to Saul, saying, hurry and come for the Philistines have made a raid against the land. So Saul returned for pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore, that place was called the Rock of Escape.

So right when things are getting tense and David realizes, OK, King Saul is going to catch me and my men. This is the end. Right then, a messenger comes and says, Saul, you’ve got to go back home, the Philistines have attacked. So Saul turns and leaves. So no wonder David says, look, God is helping me. Who could have foreseen the Philistines attacking exactly when they did and the messenger arriving to King Saul exactly when he did?”

The Talmud’s Reminder of Mercy

“And there’s a saying in the Talmud that is very apt for this situation. In Talmud, Tractate Brachot, page 10a, it says: Even though a sharp sword is resting upon your neck, do not despair of God’s mercy.

You know, I found in my life and as I read through the scriptures, God never arrives too early or too late. He arrives when it will be too late if one more second goes by. He always arrives at the last moment, just to kind of let you know it’s him. He never—God never does anything T-O-O, too. Too early, too late, too fast, too slow. He just does it perfectly. And that’s how we know it’s him. Because one moment later would have been too late, and God doesn’t do anything T-O-O.”

Supporting the Soul (Verse 4)

“So we continue on: Look, God is helping me. My master is supporting my soul.

So we see this word soul a couple of times. He came and he’s supporting my soul. And back in verse three, he says, for strangers have risen against me, ruthless men seek my soul. So they came to take David’s life, his nephesh, but God is supporting his nephesh, his soul, his very self.”

God’s Justice on the Wicked (Verse 5)

“He will return the evil to those who lie in wait for me. There’s this principle in scripture. You find it in—is it this week’s or last week’s Torah portion?—Deuteronomy 19:19, but you find it also throughout Proverbs, that whatever plot a wicked man sets against a righteous man, the wicked man falls into the plot himself.

Kind of like the story of Haman. One of my favorite verses on this subject is Proverbs 26:27, which says, Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.

So the wicked man digs a pit for the righteous man, but who falls in it? The wicked man. The wicked man rolls a rock downhill to crush the righteous man. It’ll roll back uphill and crush the wicked man. It’s just an inescapable principle of scripture. And we can just trust God to take care of us.”

Persecution and Martyrdom

“Now, this doesn’t mean we won’t be persecuted by the wicked. We will. We’re pretty much promised that we will. In fact, you or I might even die as a martyr at the hands of wicked people.

But if we do, then this is God’s will, the persecution to refine us and to make our testimony magnified. You know, persecution is like a spiritual PA system. And when you’re persecuted and you stand against it, your message to the world and the light you bring to the world is amplified in a way that never would be without the persecution.

So persecution against the righteous, again, is like a spiritual PA system, a spiritual power amp. And then martyrdom—well, I have news for you. You’re gonna die. We’re all gonna die. And the way you die can be very purposeful, or it can just be easy and you can just pass away in your sleep, which is kind of what I prefer.

But to die as a martyr, again, it amplifies your testimony to the world. When you stand strong and your life is taken from you, and God’s right there with you. And there’s something about that that brings great glory to him and great reward to you.

So it’s not that the wicked ever win. They don’t. But what they may perceive as a momentary victory, God is using to bring even a greater victory. And, you know, through Messiah we are more than conquerors.”

The Chessboard Analogy

“Here’s a way to picture this. I don’t know if you’re a chess player. I’m a very mediocre one. But imagine sitting at a chess board and you can picture the pieces there.

Each side has 16 pieces. So over there, there’s the enemy side, and he’s got his eight pawns and the king and the queen, a pair of rooks, a pair of bishops, a pair of knights. But on my side of the board, I’ve got a little bit of a different setup.

First of all, there’s no king on the board because my King is in heaven. So they can’t capture my King. He’s beyond being captured. There’s just no way it’s going to happen.

And all 16 pieces on my side of the board, they’re all queens. If you know anything about chess, the queen’s the most powerful piece on the board. Because it can move like a rook, it can move like a bishop, it can move any number of squares, forwards, backwards, sideways, diagonally. It’s a powerful piece.

And I’m pretty confident that if I could play with this arrangement, where all my pieces are queens, my King is in heaven, you could put me across the board from the greatest chess champion who’s ever lived or ever will live, and I’ll win. Because it’s completely stacked in my favor.

That’s the way life is. That’s the way life is spiritually, when we have given our lives completely and totally to God, we simply cannot lose. We just can’t lose. To the world, they can’t see that our side of the board is made of totally powerful pieces. They can’t quite see that. But we win nevertheless, whether they can see it or not. Well, anyways, maybe it’s a very dumb analogy, but I think it’s one might stick in your mind.”

The Enemies: Sureerim

“Now, I put in a bold red here, those who lie in wait for me. Now, your translation probably says, my enemies. He will return the evil to my enemies. But it’s a very unique word used here for enemies. The single singular is the word sureer.In this, it’s plural, sureerim, but it’s the same word sureer.

And the word sureer means those who lie in wait, those who are trying to catch you doing something wrong. I love the way Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch defines this word. Let me just read it to you. He defines sureerim as, quote, those who lie in wait, those who seek to find something they deem blameworthy in another person, unquote.

I bet you’ve had such people in your lives. They’re not interested in the truth. They’re not interested in seeing the whole picture. Something has happened. They decided, you’re the enemy, you’re wrong, you’re the problem, you’re the source of their unhappiness. So all they’re looking for is something that is blameworthy in you.

And that they will latch on, they will amplify, and they will publicize. But anything righteous and good and selfless about you, they don’t see at all. A sureer is a wicked person to be. It’s a wicked attitude to take. And David is saying here, he will return the evil to the sureerim, those who are lying in wait for me.

What will God do? He will return the evil. If you are a sureer, and there’s someone in your life, and all you can see is what’s wrong with them, and you’re always looking to catch them, committing some sin, some shortcoming, something blameworthy, God will return that on you.

But if you are trying to catch people doing good, then God will judge you the same way. He’ll always catch you doing what’s right, and compliment you on it, reward you for it. So which kind of person you want to be?”

Truth & Thanksgiving (Verses 5–7)

“And then it goes on: By your truth, some translations say faith, but that is incorrect. The word here is emet, truth. By your truth, put it into them. God is truth. God will behave and respond in a certain way, in a way that’s according to truth. And according to truth, the wicked receive back on themselves what they try to perpetrate on others.

So he’s simply saying, God, act according to your character. You’re a God of truth. So by your truth, put an end to them. Bring this foolish behavior of theirs to a stop.

With a free will offering, I will sacrifice to you. I will give thanks to your name. And again, remember in the first verse, David is appealing to God’s name for salvation. And here he’s saying, I will give thanks to your name. I will give thanks to your name. And now we see the word Adonai, Yad He Vav He, because God has now demonstrated his character of chesed, of loving kindness, of mercy, out of affection.

I will give thanks to your name, Adonai, for it is good. For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.”

Closing Blessing

“It’s a beautiful short little psalm, but I really encourage you to go back to 1 Samuel. Read chapters 22, 23, and then come back and read this psalm that was inspired by those events.

So, I hope this has been a blessing to you. And I look forward to meet you back here for Psalm 55. And until then, I wish you shalom and may God bless.”