Shadow of thy wings.—See Note, Psalm 17:8.

Until these calamities.—Danger of destruction gives the feeling of the Hebrew better than “camities.”

For my soul trusteth in thee - See the notes at Psalm 56:3. He had nowhere else to go; there was no one on whom he could rely but God.

Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge - Under the protection or covering of his wings - as young birds seek protection under the wings of the parent bird. See the notes at Psalm 17:8. Compare Psalm 36:7.

Until these calamities be overpast - Compare Job 14:13, note; Psalm 27:13, note; also at Isaiah 26:20, note. He believed that these calamities "would" pass away, or would cease; that a time would come when he would not thus be driven from place to place. At present he knew that he was in danger, and he desired the divine protection, for under "that" protection he would be safe.

Ps 57:1-11. Altaschith—or, "Destroy not." This is perhaps an enigmatical allusion to the critical circumstances connected with the history, for which compare 1Sa 22:1; 26:1-3. In Moses' prayer (De 9:26) it is a prominent petition deprecating God's anger against the people. This explanation suits the fifty-eighth and fifty-ninth also. Asaph uses it for the seventy-fifth, in the scope of which there is allusion to some emergency. Michtam—(See on [599]Ps 16:1, title). To an earnest cry for divine aid, the Psalmist adds, as often, the language of praise, in the assured hope of a favorable hearing.

1. my soul—or self, or life, which is threatened.

shadow of thy wings—(Ps 17:8; 36:7).

calamities—literally, "mischiefs" (Ps 52:2; 55:10).

2 I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.

3 He shall send groin heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.

4 My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.

5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth.

6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah.

Psalm 57:1

"Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me." Urgent need suggests the repetition of the cry, for thus intense urgency of desire is expressed. If "he gives twice who gives quickly," so he who would receive quickly must ask twice. For mercy the Psalmist pleads at first, and he feels he cannot improve upon his plea, and therefore returns to it. God is the God of mercy, and the Father of mercies, it is most fit therefore that in distress we should seek mercy from him in whom it dwells. "For my soul trusteth in thee." Faith urges her suit right well. How can the Lord be unmerciful to a trustful soul? Our faith does not deserve mercy, but it always wins it from the sovereign grace of God when it is sincere, as in this case where the soul of the man believed. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." "Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge." Not in the cave alone would he hide, but in the cleft of the Rock of ages. As the little birds find ample shelter beneath the parental wing, even so would the fugitive place himself beneath the secure protection of the divine power. The emblem is delightfully familiar and suggestive. May we all experimentally know its meaning. When we cannot see the sunshine of God's face, it is blessed to cower down beneath the shadow of his wings. "Until these calamities be overpast." Evil will pass away, and the eternal wings will abide over us till then. Blessed be God, our calamities are matters of time, but our safety is a matter of eternity. When we are under the divine shadow, the passing over of trouble cannot harm us; the hawk flies across the sky, but this is no evil to the chicks when they are safely nestling beneath the hen.

Psalm 57:2

"I will cry." He is quite safe, but yet he prays, for faith is never dumb. We pray because we believe. We exercise by faith the spirit of adoption whereby we cry. He says not, I do cry, or I have cried, but I will cry, and indeed, this resolution may stand with all of us until we pass through the gates of pearl; for while we are here below we shall still have need to cry. "Unto God most high" - Prayers are for God only; the greatness and sublimity of his person and character suggest and encourage prayer: however high our enemies, our heavenly Friend is higher, for he is "Most high," and he can readily send from the height of his power the succour which we need. "Unto God that performeth all things for me." He has cogent reason for praying, for he sees God performing The believer waits and God works. The Lord has undertaken for us, and he will not draw back, he will go through with his covenant engagements. Our translators have very properly inserted the words, "all things," for there is a blank in the Hebrew, as if it were a carte blanche, and you might write therein that the Lord would finish anything and everything which he has begun. Whatsoever the Lord takes in hand he will accomplish; hence past mercies are guarantees for the future, and admirable reasons for continuing to cry unto him.

Psalm 57:3

"He shall send from heaven." If there be no fit instruments on earth, heaven shall yield up its legions of angels for the succour of the saints. We may in times of great straits expect mercies of a remarkable kind; like the Israelites in the wilderness, we shall have our bread hot from heaven, new every morning; and for the overthrow of our enemies God shall open his celestial batteries, and put them to utter confusion. Wherever the battle is more fierce than ordinary, there shall come succours from headquarters, for the Commander-in-chief sees all. "And save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up." He will be in time, not only to rescue his servants from being swallowed up, but even from being reproached. Not only shall they escape the flames, but not even the smell of fire shall pass upon them. O dog of hell, I am not only delivered from thy bite, but even from thy bark. Our foes shall not have the power to sneer at us, their cruel jests and taunting gibes shall be ended by the message from heaven, which shall for ever save us. "Selah." Such mercy may well make us pause to meditate and give thanks. Rest, singer, for God has given thee rest! "God shall send forth his mercy and his truth." He asked for mercy, and truth came with it. Thus evermore doth God give us more than we ask or think. His attributes, like angels on the wing, are ever ready to come to the rescue of his chosen.

Psalm 57:4

"My soul is among lions." He was a very Daniel. Howled at, hunted, wounded, but not slain. His place was in itself one of extreme peril, and yet faith made him feel himself secure, so that he could lie down. The cave may have reminded him of a lion's den, and Saul and his band shouting and yelling in their disappointment at missing him, were the lions; yet beneath the divine shelter he felt himself safe. "And I lie even among them that are set on fire." Perhaps Saul and his band kindled a fire in the cavern while they halted in it, and David was thus reminded of the fiercer fire of their hate which burned within their hearts. Like the bush in Horeb, the believer is often in the midst of flames, but never consumed. It is a mighty triumph of faith when we can lie down even among firebrands and find rest, because God is our defence. "Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword." Malicious men carry a whole armoury in their mouths; they have not harmless mouths, whose teeth grind their own food as in a mill, but their jaws are as mischievous as if every tooth were a javelin or an arrow. They have no molars, all their teeth are canine, and their nature is canine, leonine, wolfish, devilish. As for that busy member the tongue, in the case of the malicious, it is a two-edged, keen, cutting, killing sword. The tongue, which is here compared to a sword, has the adjective sharp added to it, which is not used in reference to the teeth, which are compared to spears, as if to show that if men were actually to tear us with their teeth, like wild beasts, they could not thereby wound us so severely as they can do with their tongues. No weapon is so terrible as a tongue sharpened on the devil's grindstone; yet even this we need not fear, for "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that riseth against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn."

continued...Al-taschith signifies destroy not; which some think to be a preface containing the sum of the Psalm, and reminding David of his great distress, in which he then was; which obliged him to make fervent prayers to God that he would not destroy him, nor give him up into the hands of his enemies, who always designed and desired to destroy him, and now seemed to have a fair opportunity to do it.

The cave; either,

1. That of Adullam, 1 Samuel 22:1; or,

2. That of En-gedi, 1 Samuel 24:1.

The psalmist in prayer fleeth to God for protection and favour in his dangerous condition, Psalm 57:1-5; describeth the wicked projects of his enemies, Psalm 57:6, and encourageth himself from God’s mercy to praise him, Psalm 57:7-11.

Be merciful unto me: the repetition implies both the greatness of his danger, and the fervency of his spirit in this request, and withal that his whole trust and hope was in God’s mercy. In the shadow of thy wings, i.e. of thy protection; to which alone I trust, and not to the shadow of this dark cave, in which I now hide myself. These calamities; or, the time of these calamities, which I know will shortly have an end.

for my soul trusteth in thee; or "in thy word"; as the Targum; and in thee only, both as the God of providence and the God of grace; and a great act of faith this was to trust in the Lord in such circumstances; and it was not a bare profession of trust, but it was hearty and sincere; his "soul" trusted in the Lord; he trusted in him with all his heart and soul, and trusted him with his soul or life: and this he makes a reason or argument for mercy; seeing, as the mercy of the Lord is an encouragement to faith and hope; so the Lord has declared, that he takes pleasure in those that hope and trust in it; wherefore mercy may be expected by such;

yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge; or "I will hope" (l); the meaning is, that he would betake himself to the power and protection of God, and make him his refuge from the enemy: the allusion is either to the hen, or any other bird covering its young with its wings, when a bird of prey is near, till that is gone; or to the cherubim, whose wings overshadowed the mercy seat, between which the glory of God dwelt; and so the Targum,

"in the shadow of thy Shechinah, or glorious Majesty, will I trust;''

which agrees with his applying to the mercy seat, or to God on a throne of grace and mercy: and here he determines to abide,

until these calamities be overpast; the storm of them was over, which was very black and threatening. The Targum is,

"until the tumult is over;''

and so the Syriac version; until Saul and his men were gone, of whom he was afraid. The Septuagint version, and those that follow it, render the words "until sin passeth away"; the cause of these troubles; unless sin is put for sinful men; and so the sense is as before; see Isaiah 26:20.

(k) "gratiam fac mihi", Junius & Tremellius, Cocceius; so Piscator, Ainsworth. (l) "sperabo", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus; "spero", Tigurine version, Musculus, Michaelis.

(a) This was either the beginning of a certain song, or the words which David uttered when he stayed his affection.

(b) He compares the afflictions which God lays on his children, to a storm that comes and goes.