“Welcome to Torah Today Ministries and our continuing series Tehillim Talks, our studies in the Psalms. Today we find ourselves in Psalm 57, which is the sixth in a series of Psalms where David is praying to God for deliverance from enemies who are pursuing him and trying to kill him. This is a pretty common theme in the Psalms, but in this series in the 50s, it’s a very common theme.
Also, this psalm bears a great resemblance to the previous psalm, Psalm 56. There are a number of words, rare words in Hebrew that are used in both of these psalms. And so you could read Psalm 56 and 57 together almost.
So let’s just jump right into it. Now, the attribution of this psalm is quite interesting. It says, to the choir master, according to do not destroy.
Al tashkhet is what that says in Hebrew. Al tashkhet means don’t destroy. Is it a melody?
Is it some event that David is commemorating by this special psalm? The rabbis and the commentators are all over the map trying to figure out why this phrase, al tashkhet, is used. But I think there’s a hint in the next line of the attribution.”
“It says, a mechtam of David. And if you recall, the last psalm, Psalm 56, was a mechtam. And Psalms 56 through 60 are all mechtams, which we think means a favorite psalm, a golden psalm, a special psalm, a psalm that was used more often than other psalms.
But the next phrase says, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Now, what was the episode in the cave when David was fleeing from Saul? And what does that have to do with al tashkhet, do not destroy?
Well, there are a couple of possibilities. First is in 1 Samuel 24 verses 3 through 7. Let me just read this passage to you.
It’s quite fascinating. And it says, and he, David, came to the sheepfolds, by the way, where there was a cave. And Saul went in to the cave to relieve himself.
Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. Now get the picture here. Saul and his men are out hunting down David and David’s men wanting to kill them.
David and his men are hiding in the furthest recesses of a cave. And Saul just so happens to pick that cave to go in to relieve himself. So you get the picture.
There’s Saul near the front of the cave, doing what needs to be done. And here’s David and his men in the back seeing King Saul do this, and thinking, this is our chance. And the men of David said to him, here’s the day of which Adonai said to you, Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.
Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. So, think how quiet David must have been to sneak up on Saul. Maybe Saul decided to take a little nap in there.
I don’t know. But he cuts off the corner of Saul’s robe, where the tzitzit would have been attached. Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe, and afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
He said to his men, Adonai forbid that I should do this thing to my Lord. Adonai’s anointed. To put out my hand against him, seeing he is Adonai’s anointed. So even though he’s my enemy, even though he wants to kill me, he is still God’s anointed king, and I must not raise my hand against him. And if God has ordained me to be his replacement, then it’s up to God to remove Saul.
It’s not up to me. So David persuaded his men with these words, and did not permit them to rise up against Saul. So maybe that’s where our attribution finds this melody, do not destroy, because David told his men, don’t harm Saul, don’t rise up against him.
And Saul rose up and left the cave, went on his way. But two chapters later in 1 Samuel 26, there’s another opportunity where David could have easily killed Saul. Now in this opportunity, David and a few of his men sneak into Saul’s camp.
Somehow they slip past the guards. The entire encampment of Saul is asleep, and they sneak up and there is Saul right there, asleep on the ground. And Abishai, David’s brother, warrior, wanted to say, let me just run a spear through him.
I can do it quietly. He won’t take a breath. He’ll be dead and we can leave.
But David said to Abishai, O tashkitehu, hear that? O tashkitehu, do not destroy him. Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against Adonai’s anointed and be guiltless?
So we find this phrase, O tashkitehu, in 1 Samuel 26, but this doesn’t seem to be inside of a cave. But we do find David’s opportunity to kill Saul in a cave in 1 Samuel 24. But he doesn’t use the term, do not destroy.
He says, do not rise up against Saul. So anyways, this is all speculation, but there does seem to be some connection between these stories and the name of what I assume was a melody, which is called Do Not Destroy. There’s another possibility.
This al tashkhet could be David’s plea. It could be a melody he created that has the spirit of a plea to God to not allow me to be destroyed. Don’t destroy me.
Don’t allow my enemies to destroy me. So it could be any one of these things, a combination of these things. But don’t worry thinking you’ve got to figure out exactly which one it is.
One of the beauties I find of God’s word is that he sometimes puts in a gray area. He gives us some information, but not as much as we would like so we can pin things down. And I think this is God’s way of saying, I’m giving you some hints, explore, see what you find.
And so we can look at all of these ideas I’ve brought out and maybe other ideas that you come up with. And it could be any one or combination of those. But all of them are of value.
All of them provide some insight to us and to God’s workings, into David’s heart and into the events that are happening here and how they apply to our lives. Well, anyways, enough speculation. Let’s get right into the Psalm and see what it can teach us.”
“There it is. Ch’anene, be gracious to me, O God. A phrase which we found also in Psalm 56.
Be gracious to me, for in you my soul takes refuge. And in the shadow of your wings, I take refuge until destructions pass. That’s word for destructions.
It’s kind of an interesting word. It’s usually not translated, destructions. It’s the word hava, hey, vav, hey.
And it’s a word that kind of means to yawn, to open up. It’d be like a pit opening up. But it is sometimes translated destructions.
It’s also translated to be. But here, obviously, it’s translated destructions. And it’s almost as if the enemy is open its mouth, trying to swallow him up.
Almost as if everywhere David steps, there’s a pit he can step into and fall into and die. And so he’s saying that I’m going to take refuge in you, Lord, until these destructions are gone and out of my life.
Now, here’s something about this psalm that is so very different from the previous five psalms where David is praying to the Lord for deliverance from his enemies.
In each one of those psalms, David is moaning about the things that are going on in his life and how these enemies are trying to chase him down, to destroy him, to kill him, even though he’s done nothing wrong. But each of those psalms then ends on an upbeat note, where David reestablishes his faith in God and remembers God’s promises, and each one ends on a positive note.
But in this psalm, Psalm 57, the psalm starts out on a positive note. It’s almost as if David has been going through these experiences where enemies are trying to destroy him, and each time, God delivers him. So when he comes to this, again, this other time, occasion when enemies are trying to destroy him, he’s looking back at God’s track record, and saying, you know what? This is familiar territory for me, and each time, God has delivered me.
He’s going to deliver me this time. So he’s going to go ahead and moan a little bit about what’s going on, but he starts off with, be gracious to me, for in you my soul takes refuge in the shadow of your wings, I take refuge until destruction’s passed. They’re going to go bye-bye, they’re going to be gone, and I’m going to take refuge in you.”
“It’s going to be okay. I pray out to God most high, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. I love that.
I cry out to God who’s going to fulfill his purpose for me. He has a purpose for me, he’s prophesied it over me, and there’s nothing my enemies can do to keep God’s prophecy and promises from coming true.
Now, this phrase fulfills purpose is a word you’re going to recognize. It’s the word Gomer. There it is. Gimel mim resh, Gomer.
This word appears 11 times in scripture, and sixth of those times, it’s a name. Can you guess, you remember whose name it was? If you guessed Hosea’s wife, you’re correct.
Hosea was commanded by God over in chapter 1 of Hosea, verses 2 and 3. It says, Adonai first spoke to Hosea. Adonai said to Hosea, Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking Adonai.
So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. So Gomer is the name of Hosea’s wife. So six of those 11 times is referring to Gomer.
But the other five times that this word is found in the Bible, it’s all in the Book of Psalms. And it also means to accomplish or to cease, to bring to a conclusion. Gomer, to bring to a conclusion.
With that information, you can go back and read Hosea and study and figure out why the name of this lady of the night that Hosea married just so happened to have the name Gomer. What is it that God wanted to bring to a conclusion in the Book of Hosea?
But as I read this in David’s faith that God is going to fulfill his purpose for him, I’m reminded of Philippians chapter one verse six, which says, And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Yeshua HaMashiach.
So whatever work God has begun in you, there’s a day coming when it’ll be brought to completion. Now you might be asking, Well, why can it be brought to completion in my day, in my own life? As the older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve come to appreciate that there are very few things I begin and very few things I finish.
What I mean by that is usually what I think I’m beginning is actually a continuation of what has been begun years earlier, generations earlier. And I’m just stepping in, the baton’s been passed, I’m just continuing on something that was begun long ago. And I find there are very few things that I bring to a conclusion because I find that what I’m doing is passing on the baton to others to carry on the work.
In other words, I just have one leg in this race. I want to run one leg of the race. There have been others before me. Those will come after me. And my job is not to complete the task, but to run my leg of the race the best I can.
That reminds me of Perkaya Vot, Chapter 2, verse 21, where Rabbi Tarfon says, it is not for you to complete the task, but neither are you free to stand aside from it.
Our job is to do what God gives us to do. The results are in His hands. And if you’re always trying to measure the effect of your work by trying to measure the results, you’re going to be very disappointed.
Because judgment day is when the results are all revealed. It’s this day of Yeshua HaMashiach, where we will stand before God and our work is brought to completion, and then we’ll say, Oh, now I see why you had me live my life the way you did. Now I see the value and the purpose of the work you gave me, which oftentimes did not seem that productive and fruitful.
But now I see that I had this part in the big picture. So David is saying, I know that God will fulfill His purpose for me. He will bring it to accomplishment. He will bring it to a proper conclusion. He will gomer his work.”
“And then verse three, he will send from heaven and rescue me.
He will put to shame him who tramples me. And there’s that word, sh’af, that rare word in the Bible that we encountered in Psalm 56. Here it is again in 57.
And you’ll notice the red vertical line on the left, because I am guessing at the best translation of this. And I’m sure I’m off. Every translator wrestles with this verse, trying to figure out how to translate it properly.
So I encourage you to look at other translations and see how other translators wrestle with this verse. And then he has a selah and then says, God will send his steadfast love, his chesed and his emet, his truth. God will send his chesed and his emet, his steadfast love, his loving kindness and his truth.
What a positive way for this psalm where David’s pleading with God. What a wonderful way for it to begin. If only we could begin to get in the habit of facing every challenge in our life, not with worry and begging and anxiety, but with praise to God, saying, Lord, I’m going through a tough spot here, but I know you’re going to take care of it.
I have every confidence in you that you’re going to get glory from this. So Father, I am looking forward to the conclusion from the beginning. I’m praising you ahead of time and thanking you now for the deliverance I know you will provide.”
“So verses four through six. My soul is in the midst of lions. I lie amid fiery beasts.
Or it could also be translated, I lie among those who breathe fire. So he’s saying, I’m in a tough spot. I’m in the midst of lions, and people are breathing fire, or there are these fiery things around me.
The children of man whose teeth are spears and arrows whose tongue is a sharp sword. Does that sound familiar? Do you remember back in Psalm 55, this phrase, his speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart.
His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. And again, David is talking about men whose speech is destructive, whose lashon hara, whose evil speech is destroying lives, destroying kingdoms, destroying souls, whose evil speech is doing the work of Satan himself. Remember, Satan’s only weapon is his mouth, and the venom of his mouth is deception and lies.
That’s the only tool he’s got. He invented the lie. He’s the father of it. He’s a master liar, but that’s the only weapon he’s got for him.
Whereas we have the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, the word of truth. And if believers could only hold to truth, to real truth, instead of treating deceptions as if those deceptions were true, if we could distinguish the difference, and with practice, and with humility, and with going before the Lord, we can distinguish deception from truth.
And if we held to the truth, Satan would be defanged. There would be nothing he could do.
With every world war, every battle, every conflict between one person and another, every theological conflict that causes division in a body, it’s all caused because somewhere along the line, someone is listening to a lie and believing it, and then maybe passing it on.”
“Well, let’s move on. Verse five. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth.
They set a net for my steps. My soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they’ve fallen in to it themselves.
What I love about these two verses is that in the previous Psalms, leading up to this, David’s down here just begging God, please look at what’s going on. Help, help, help.
But it’s like now through faith, David is now looking down from God’s point of view. And he says, be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be over all the earth.
And it’s almost like David said, and as I praise you and glorify you, I begin to see my situation, I see me and I see my enemies from your perspective. And he’s saying, oh, look down there. They set a net for my steps.
My soul has been bowed down. Well, they dug a pit in my way, and they fell into it themselves. If only we could begin to look at ourselves from God’s point of view.
If we could look at ourselves impersonally, and just look at ourselves as one person among other people in the middle of a game board of a war going on, but look at it from God’s point of view, knowing that he has it under control, that God runs the world, that he is sovereign. We’ll have so much more peace in our lives. So much more peace.”
“And then we come to the last section of the Psalm, verses 7 through 11. My heart is steadfast. I love that.
It could also be my heart is established. Just an hour or so before I came here to record this teaching, I got curious about that word steadfast. And it’s the word nachon, nachon.
And the first place you find that word nachon is in Genesis and the story of Joseph and Pharaoh. If you recall, Joseph was in prison and Pharaoh had a dream and Joseph was brought from the prison, cleaned up and brought before Pharaoh to hear Pharaoh’s dream. Pharaoh tells, it’s actually two dreams, he tells his dreams to Joseph.
And Joseph sees a repetition in the dreams. And so Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dreams. And this is what it says, Genesis 41, 32.
And he says in the repetition or the doubling of Pharaoh’s dreams means that the thing is nachon. It is established by God. It is steadfast.
God will shortly bring it about. So here Pharaoh has a dream, but it’s doubled and the word nachon is used. Joseph says, what you’ve dreamed means that is established by God. It’s going to happen exactly as your dream prophesies.
And so here with that in mind, David says, my heart is nachon. Oh God, my heart is nachon. It is steadfast. It is established.
In the previous Psalms, we saw David’s heart kind of beg God, you know, help me. Don’t forget me. Look at me. I’m about to die.
But in this Psalm, David is saying, my heart is established. I have confidence that God is going to take care of me. He has a purpose for me.
And I’ve been down this road before with people trying to kill me. And God has delivered me every time. So why should I start worrying now?
And then he says, I will sing and make melody. Now, think about this. People are out trying to kill David. It’s the king, it’s the government who is out to get David, to kill him, to destroy him, to eradicate him. David says, you know what? I think I’ll get out my harp. Let’s make a song. Let’s sing a song.”
“And then he says, Awake my chvod.
Now, this word chvod appears in the end of the psalm. We’ll come to it again. And I translate it a little differently there.
The word chvod, its basic definition is weight. Something has weight, has chvod. And sometimes it’s translated that way, is weight.
But it’s more often translated as glory. The chvod of the Lord is over the earth. The whole earth is filled with his chvod,his honor, his glory.
So what does it mean when David says, Awake my glory, my honor, my chvod? Awake, O harp and lyre, I will awake the dawn. What’s he saying here?
This is what I think he’s saying. He’s saying, when I acquit myself with honor, when I walk through a situation with faith and dignity and truth and honor, then I am bearing God’s image. And we are to be God’s image bearers. He created Adam to be in his image and after his likeness.
And we are to be image bearers of God. But that image has been deeply flawed because of sin. But when we do walk in faith and in uprightness, and we acquit ourselves with honor, we bear God’s image, that image is a glorious one.
I think that’s what David had in mind when he said this. So he says, Awake, oh harp and lyre, I will awake the dawn. So he’s going to sing a song.”
“Now this word, dawn, is an interesting word. It’s the word shachar, or shachor. That word can be pronounced two ways.
The spelling doesn’t change. When we pronounce it shachor, it means black. When it’s pronounced shachar, it means dawn or morning.
This is why the morning prayers are called shacharit, the morning prayers. But isn’t it interesting that God ordained that the same word, shachor, shachar, it’s the same spelling, same three letters, can mean either black or mean sunrise. Why is this?
Well, you know the saying, it’s always darkest before the dawn. That is true. And when you reach the darkest place in your life, guess what? It’s almost sunrise.
And though weeping may endure for the night, joy comes in the morning. And so when you’re going through the worst pains in your life, like labor pains, they get worse right before the birth.
And all pain is labor pain. So whatever pain you’re going through, there’s a birth in progress. And so what seems so shachor, just be patient, it will become shachar very soon.
But do you actually awake the dawn? Does the sun rise because I go out before sunrise and pray for the sun to rise? No, of course not. It’s going to rise whether I’m asleep in bed or out praying.
It doesn’t make any difference. It’s going to come up. But David says, it’s almost as if he’s saying, you know what, it’s a dark time in my life, but it’s time to get out the musical instruments and to begin to sing and awaken the dawn, to do the work of the angels, to welcome the dawn that is coming, because as sure as the sun is going to rise, I’m just that certain that God is going to deliver me from this dark place in which I find myself right now.
What an amazing and hopeful and wonderful song.”
“Verse 9, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations.
Now here’s this word, amim, peoples. And we saw this also back in Psalm 56. This is the word amim.
And it seems like there’s a play on words because when he uses the word nations here, it’s a very similar word, but it’s the word umim. Now if you look at the two words, you’ll notice they’re identical except for the first letter.
There are two silent letters in Hebrew. One of them is aleph, and the other is ayan. So they don’t have a sound of their own. They just take whatever vowel is assigned to it.
And in this case, it’s an a sound, amim, peoples. And over here, it’s umim, which also means peoples, but can also mean terrors. Interesting play on words.
This is part of the poetry, what David’s doing. So we could read this verse this way. I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples.
I will sing praises to you among the terrors. Even when there’s terrors being brought against me, I’m still going to give thanks to you because you run the world. The peoples don’t. The terrorists don’t run the world.
So I’m going to continue giving thanks to you because I know the end of the story. Verse 10, for your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your truth to the clouds.”
“Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your kavod, and here I translate it glory. Let your kavod, your glory be over all the earth.
What an amazing song. Let your glory be over all the earth. Because eventually the souls of the world, the enemies of the world, the attackers, the terrorists, the ones who want to speak wickedness and evil against you and spread lies, eventually all of that comes to an end.
And what’s left is God’s glory, God’s people, and shalom, God’s kingdom. So let’s be like Yeshua, where in Hebrews it says of him, who for the joy that was set before him, looking at the goal, down at the end, he endured the cross.
So if we can focus on the end of the story, because the story has a great ending, and we know from Yeshua’s first miracle, God serves the best wine last. The best is yet to come. Things are going to get better.
And so whatever we’re going through now, it’s all right. Get out your harp. Start singing a song. And bear God’s image, especially during the shachor, when it’s so dark, because the shachar, the morning, is coming.
So I hope this psalm has been a blessing to you. It has been such a blessing to me. And I look forward to seeing you back here with Psalm 58, when I get it ready.
So until then, I wish you Shalom and God bless
To the choirmaster: according to “Do Not Destroy”. A Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave.
1-3 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for in You my soul takes refuge, and in the shadow of Your wings I take refuge until destructions pass. 2 I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills (His) purpose for me. 3 He will send from heaven and rescue me. [He will put to] shame him who tramples me. Selah – God will send His steadfast love and truth.
גמר (gomer) = “accomplish” / “cease”
4-6 My soul is in the midst of lions. I lie amid fiery [beasts] – the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongue is a sharp sword. 5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let Your glory be over all the earth! 6 They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah
7-11 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! 8 Awake, my honor [chavod]! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn!
שחר (shachor) = “black” or (shachar) = “dawn”
9 I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations. 10 For Your steadfast love is great to the heavens, Your truth to the clouds. 11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let Your glory [chavod] be over all the earth!
אמים (umim) = “terrors” / “peoples”
עמים (amim) = “peoples”
REFERENCES:
Attribution
1Samuel 24:3-7 And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which Adonai said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. He said to his men, “Adonai forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, Adonai’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is Adonai’s anointed.” So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to rise up against Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.
1Samuel 26:9 But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him (אל תשחיתהו, al tashchiteihu), for who can put out his hand against Adonai’s anointed and be guiltless?”
Verse 1
Psalms 5:9 For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction (הוה, havah). Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongue.
Psalms 91:3 For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the destructive (הוה, havah) pestilence.
Verse 2
Hosea 1:2-3 When Adonai first spoke through Hosea, Adonai said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking Adonai.” So he went and took Gomer (גמר), the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Yeshua Hamashiach.
Pirkei Avot 2:21 – “It is not for you to complete the task, but neither are you free to stand aside from it.” (R’ Tarfon)
Verse 4
Psalm 55:21 His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords.
Verse 6
Psalm 7:15 He has dug a pit and hollowed it out, and has fallen into the hole which he made.
Proverb 26:27 He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him.
Proverb 28:10 He who leads the upright astray in an evil way will himself fall into his own pit. But the blameless will inherit good.
Verse 7
Genesis 41:32 “And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is steadfast (נכון, nachon) by God, and God will shortly bring it about.”
Verse 8
Psalm 77:6 I said, “Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.”…
Verse 9
Romans 15:9 …and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”
Job 20:25 It is drawn forth and comes out of his body; the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder; terrors(עמים, umim) come upon him.
Subscribe to our newsletter and we’ll keep you informed of new videos, interesting insights and valuable resources to guide your spiritual journey.
© Torah Today Ministries - All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy
