Psalm 13:3-4

3. Behold, [or look upon me,] answer me, O Jehovah my God; enlighten mine eyes, lest I sleep in death; 4. Lest my enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those who afflict me rejoice if I should fall.

3. Look upon me, answer me. As when God does not promptly afford assistance to his servants, it seems to the eye of sense that he does not behold their necessities, David, for this reason, asks God, in the first place, to look upon him, and, in the second place, to succor him. Neither of these things, it is true, is prior or posterior in respect of God; but it has been already stated in a preceding psalm, and we will have occasion afterwards frequently to repeat the statement, that the Holy Spirit purposely accommodates to our understanding the models of prayer recorded in Scripture. If David had not been persuaded that God had his eyes upon him, it would have availed him nothing to cry to God; but this persuasion was the effect of faith. In the meantime, until God actually puts forth his hand to give relief, carnal reason suggests to us that he shuts his eyes, and does not behold us. The manner of expression here employed amounts to the same thing as if he had put the mercy of God in the first place, and then added to it his assistance, because God then hears us, when, having compassion upon us, he is moved and induced to succor us. To enlighten the eyes signifies the same thing in the Hebrew language as to give the breath of life, for the rigour of life appears chiefly in the eyes. In this sense Solomon says,

“The poor and the deceitful man meet together; the Lord lighteneth both their eyes.” (Proverbs 29:13)

And when Jonathan fainted for hunger, the sacred history relates that his eyes were overcast with dimness; and again, that when he had tasted of the honeycomb, his eyes were enlightened, (1 Samuel 14:27.) The word sleep, as it is used in this passage, is a metaphor of a similar kind, being put for death. In short, David confesses, that unless God cause the light of life to shine upon him, he will be immediately overwhelmed with the darkness of death, and that he is already as a man without life, unless God breathe into him new vigor. And certainly our confidence of life depends on this, that although the world may threaten us with a thousand deaths, yet God is possessed of numberless means of restoring us to life. ⁴

4. Lest my enemy. David again repeats what he had a little before said concerning the pride of his enemies, namely, how it would be a thing ill becoming the character of God were he to abandon his servant to the mockery of the ungodly. David’s enemies lay, as it were, in ambush watching the hour of his ruin, that they might deride him when they saw him fall. And as it is the peculiar office of God to repress the audacity and insolence of the wicked, as often as they glory in their wickedness, David beseeches God to deprive them of the opportunity of indulging in such boasting. It is, however, to be observed, that he had in his conscience a sufficient testimony to his own integrity, and that he trusted also in the goodness of his cause, so that it would have been unbecoming and unreasonable had he been left without succor in danger, and had he been overwhelmed by his enemies. We can, therefore, with confidence pray for ourselves, in the manner in which David here does for himself, only when we fight under the standard of God, and are obedient to his orders, so that our enemies cannot obtain the victory over us without wickedly triumphing over God himself.

Psalm 13:5

5. But I trust in thy goodness; my heart shall exult in thy salvation. I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me. ⁵

The Psalmist does not as yet feel how much he has profited by praying; but depending upon the hope of deliverance, which the faithful promise of God enabled him to entertain, he makes use of this hope as a shield to repel those temptations with the terror of which he might be greatly distressed. Although, therefore, he is severely afflicted, and a multiplicity of cares urge him to despair, he, notwithstanding, declares it to be his resolution to continue firm in his reliance upon the grace of God, and in the hope of salvation. With the very same confidence ought all the godly to be furnished and sustained, that they may duly persevere in prayer. Whence, also, we gather what I have formerly adverted to, that it is by faith we apprehend the grace of God, which is hidden from and unknown to the understanding of the flesh. As the verbs which the Psalmist uses are not put in the same tense, different meanings may be drawn from the different tenses; but David, I have no doubt, here wishes to testify that he continued firm in the hope of the deliverance promised to him, and would continue so even to the end, however heavy the burden of temptations which might press upon him. Accordingly, the word exult is put in the future tense, to denote the continued exercise of the affection spoken of, and that no affliction shall ever shake out of his heart the joy of faith. It is to be observed, that he places the goodness of God first in order, as being the cause of his deliverance, — I will sing unto the Lord I translate this into the future tense. David, it is true, had not yet obtained what he earnestly desired, but being fully convinced that God was already at hand to grant him deliverance, he pledges himself to give thanks to him for it. And surely it becomes us to engage in prayer in such a frame of mind as at the same time to be ready to sing the praises of God; a thing which is impossible, unless we are fully persuaded that our prayers will not be ineffectual. We may not be wholly free from sorrow, but it is nevertheless necessary that this cheerfulness of faith rise above it, and put into our mouth a song on account of the joy which is reserved for us in the future although not as yet experienced by us; ⁶ just as we see David here preparing himself to celebrate in songs the grace of God, before he perceives the issue of his troubles. The word גמל, gamal, ⁷ which others render to reward, signifies nothing else here than to bestow a benefit from pure grace, and this is its meaning in many other passages of Scripture. What kind of thanksgiving, I pray you to consider, would that be, to say that God rewarded and rendered to his servant due recompense? This is sufficient to refute the absurd and trifling sophism of those who wrest this passage to prove the merit of works. In short, the only thing which remains to be observed is, that David, in hastening with promptitude of soul to sing of God’s benefits before he had received them, places the deliverance, which was then apparently at a distance, immediately before his eyes.

---

← Psalm 12 · Contents · Psalm 14 →

Footnotes

1. It was the opinion of Theodoret that this psalm was composed by David, not during his persecution by Saul, but when Absalom conspired against him; and the reason which he assigns for this opinion is, “that the trouble which Saul gave him was before his great sin, and so he was full of confidence; but that of Absalom was after it, which made him cry out in this doleful manner.” — Bishop Patrick’s Paraphrase on the Book of Psalms. ↩

2. “Mais permet que pour un temps ils s’entortillent en de longs discours sans venir au poinct.” — Fr. ↩

3. “Ne sachans on se tourner.” — Fr. ↩

4. “Toutesfois Dieu ha en main des moyens infohis de nous restablir ca vie.” — Fr. ↩

5. The Septuagint here add another line, namely Και ψαλω τω ὀνοματι Κυριου του ὑψιστου, “And I will sing to the name of Jehovah, the Most High.” This line, which is the same with that which concludes the seventh psalm, has probably been lost in the Hebrew copy. “The conclusion of the psalm,” says Lowth, “is manifestly defective; it ends with an odd hemistich wanting its correspondent. The LXX. have happily preserved it. That it is not a double translation of the single hemistich, now in the Hebrew, is apparent from the difference of the latter Greek hemistich, which does not at all correspond with the words of the former.” — Dr Lowth, in Merrick’s note on this place. ↩

6. “Qui ne nous est point encore presente.” — Fr. ↩

7. גמל Signifies “to return, to requite, to recompense, in whatever manner, whether evil for evil, good for evil, evil for good, or good for good.” — Parkhurst. Those who argue from this passage for the merit of good works, make the argument to rest on the notion of retribution attached to the word. But although it uniformly mean, to reward, no conclusive argument could here be drawn from this passage in support of that doctrine. What God bestows upon his people is sometimes called a reward in Scripture; not, however, because they can claim it as due to them by justice, but to express God’s approbation of obedience, and the connection between obedience and happiness. Besides, גמל, also means to deal kindly with, especially when applied to God, See Psalm 119:17, and 142:7. The word has this meaning in Arabic; and that it is to be thus understood in the passage before us is supported by the ancient versions. The Septuagint reads εὐεργετήσαντι; and the Vulgate, bona tribuit, hath bestowed upon me good. The Arabic and Ethiopic adopt the same reading. ↩