Sermon Tone Analysis

Psalm 56:1-13 English Standard Version

Psalm 56:superscription

1.

To the choirmaster:

2. according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths.

a.

The reference to a dove in 55:7 may be intended to link Ps 56 to Ps 55 in some way (Kidner).[1]

b.

It could be a tune, a kind of instrument, or a phrase meant to set the mood in which the psalm was to be read.[2]

c.

After the … superscription of Ps 56, we find a phrase that the CSB renders “according to ‘A Silent Dove Far Away.’

” This rendering is preferable to the ESV’s “according to the Dove on Far-off Terebinths.”[3]

d.

The Greek text (LXX) has “concerning the people that were removed from the sanctuary,” perhaps implying a postexilic perspective on the psalm.

The Targum lends support to this view, commenting, “at the time when they are far from their cities, and they return and sing to the Lord of the World, like David the humble and blameless one.”3

These comments are evidence of the use of this individual lament as a community lament in a later era.[4]

3. A Miktam of David,

a. Psalms 56–60 all have the term “Miktam” in their superscriptions, as does Ps 16:1.

HALOT provides “inscription” as a proposed gloss.[5]

b.

A miktam.

Psalms 16 and 56–60 are described by this word.

Eerdmans proposes that, in view of the peril that these psalms expose, it might be a “silent prayer” that David prayed, understanding the noun to come from the verb ktm, “to cover” (the lips), thus suggesting a gesture of silence.[6]

4. when the Philistines seized him in Gath.

a. Again a psalm of the second David Collection has a counterpart in the first.

As David’s great sin gave rise to both 32 and 51, so his flight to Gath gave rise to both 34 and 56.

In each case the psalm in the earlier collection seems to be a later, more considered poem, while the one in the later group looks like an earlier, more spontaneous piece of work.[7]

i. Psalm 34:title Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

1. Psalm 34 is an alphabetic acrostic; Psalm 56 is a non-alphabetic acrostic.

b.

Superscription (56:1).

The historical note refers to an incident from the career of David which happened at Gath.

The reference may arise, in part at least, from a wordplay on the root הלל (“to praise”) in the psalm (vv 5, 11) and the verb “to act like a madman,” (יתהלל) in 1 Sam 21:14 (13).

Also, see the same verb for “fear” in Ps 56:4, 5, 12 and 1 Sam 21:13 (12).

The text in 1 Sam 21 does not actually say that the Philistines held David as a prisoner at Gath, but the context, along with the mention of his escape in 22:1 (note the play on מלט 1 Sam 22:1 and פלט in Ps 56:8), allowed for the conclusion in the superscription.

[8]

i.

The musical-technical Superscription (→ Psalms 16 and 57–60, which have the same term miktām) has been expanded by a temporal phrase alluding to the situation of 1 Sam 21:11–16 (RSV 10–15), in which David is in the power (“in the hands,” 1 Sam 21:14 [RSV13]; “when the Philistines caught him,” v. 1) of the king of Gath.[9]

c.

This continues the way that the superscriptions of Pss 52 and 54 tie those psalms to the period when Saul sought to kill David, and we find the same in Pss 57; 59.

d.

The three central psalms in this grouping (57; 58; 59) share what appears to be a common reference to a tune for singing: ʾal tašḥet(“Do Not Destroy),” while the outer two psalms (56; 60) bear tune names that are distinct—from each other as well as this central phrase.

The constellation of so many common elements leaves a strong impression that these psalms constitute a purposeful collection and arrangement.[10]and

63.

The whole series of psalms following 51, from 52–71, seem tinged with that tale.[11]

e.

There are two stories of David and Gath, in 1 Sam 21:10 [11]–22:1 and 27:1–29:11, though neither says that David was seized.

Although Ps. 34 has already made a link with the first story, it is with this that Ps. 56 also has a number of verbal points of contact: David’s fear (the only occasion fear is attributed to him), the use of the verb hālal (v.

4), yôm (day [v.

6]), the double hălōʾ (is it not?/yes

[vv.

8, 13]).

The heading thus presents the psalm as suggesting how one might pray in a situation like David’s.[12]

i. 1 Samuel 21:10 And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath.

ii. 1 Samuel 21:11 And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land?

Did they not sing to one another of him in dances, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?”

iii. 1 Samuel 21:12 And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath.

iv. 1 Samuel 21:13 So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard.

v. 1 Samuel 21:14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad.

Why then have you brought him to me?

vi. 1 Samuel 21:15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence?

Shall this fellow come into my house?”

vii. 1 Samuel 22:1 David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam.

And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.

f.

With its word “escaped,” 1 Sam 22:1 strongly suggests that David was taken captive by the Philistines while in their land, as the superscription here also indicates.[13]

g.

The imprecations in 54:5; 55:9, 15, 23 link them with 56:7, “repay them for their crime; in wrath cast down the peoples.”

In both Psalms 55 and 56 the psalmist is endangered or persecuted; in each he or she voices a complaint and a request.[14]

Psalm 56:1

1. Be gracious to me, O God,

a.

The invocation here is found also in Psalms 51:1 and 57:1 and internally in other psalms.[15]

2. for man tramples on me;

a. tramples - pursue, chase after, hound, i.e., follow a person with intensity, focus, and haste, implying that to catch up with the object ahead will result in a confrontation or fight, as a figurative extension of an animal pursuing and snapping at the object it is chasing (Ps 56:2[EB 1][16]

3. all day long an attacker oppresses me;

Psalm 56:2

1. my enemies trample on me all day long,

2. for many attack me proudly.

a. Man, an attacker (v.1)

b.

My enemies, many (v.2)

i.

Though this causes him fear, David asserts that he will trust God.

In 56:1–2 (MT 56:2–3), the first line of each verse refers to those who “trample” David, and the second line refers to the individual and the many who “fight” him.[17]

1. Saul – singular

2. Philistines - plural

ii.

The hot pursuit all day implies constant imminent danger, while “slanderers” and “in their pride” may point to Saul’s men rather than to the Philistines, although the reference to the nations (v.

7) looks in the opposite direction[18]

Psalm 56:3

1. (v.3)

When I am afraid,

a.

When – day long (vv.1, 2, 5); the day (v.9)

2. I put my trust in you.

3. (v.4)

In God, whose word I praise,

a.

The word in view likely includes not only all the Scripture available to David but also the promise of God made to him by the prophet Samuel—the promise that he would be king.[19]

b.

Psalm 55:22 Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

4. in God I trust;

5.

I shall not be afraid.