This Psalm consists of two divisions, separated by Selah.

i. A prayer for help in imminent peril from godless enemies (Psalm 54:1-3).

ii. A profession of unshaken confidence that God will defend and avenge the Psalmist, with a vow of thanksgiving for the deliverance which he is well assured is in store for him (Psalm 54:4-7).

The title refers the Psalm to the time of David’s persecution by Saul. When David became aware that the men of Keilah, with selfish ingratitude, intended to surrender him to Saul, he fled with his men to the wilderness of Ziph, a district to the S. E. of Hebron. But the Ziphites “came up to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in the strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert?” (1 Samuel 23:19). Saul came down to seek David, who was in imminent peril of being surrounded and captured, when Saul was compelled to withdraw in order to repel a Philistine raid. On a subsequent occasion (unless the narrative in 1 Samuel 26:1 ff is only another account of the same incident) the Ziphites repeated their treachery, and again betrayed David’s hiding-place.

It is argued that this reference is excluded by the description of the Psalmist’s enemies in Psalm 54:3 as ‘strangers’ and ‘violent men,’ terms elsewhere applied to foreign oppressors This no doubt is the general meaning of the words; but it is difficult to say positively (see note) that they could not have been applied to Israelites. Otherwise the Psalm suits the occasion. If not written by David, it may have been placed in his mouth by some later Psalmist. But its language is so general, that no positive conclusion can be formed from its contents as to the particular circumstances under which it was composed.

The Psalm is a Proper Psalm for Good Friday.

The title may be rendered with R.V., For the chief Musician; on stringed instruments. Maschil of David: when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, Doth not David hide himself with us?

1. by thy name] God’s name is the manifestation of His character, the sum of His revealed attributes. The Psalmist can appeal to it, for He has declared that it is His will to save those who put their trust in Him. Cp. Psalm 5:11.

judge me] Do me justice. Confident in the goodness of his cause, he is sure that if right is done him, he will be delivered. Cp. 1 Samuel 24:15; Psalm 7:8; Psalm 9:4; Psalm 26:1; Psalm 35:24; Psalm 43:1.

by thy strength] R.V., in thy might. God has not only the will, but the power to deliver His servant. He is “a mighty one who will save” (Zephaniah 3:17).

3. This verse is repeated almost verbatim in Psalm 86:14 (a mosaic constructed of fragments of other Psalms), with the change, accidental or intentional, of strangers into proud. The consonants of the Heb. words zârîm, strangers, and zçdîm, proud, are almost identical, and some Heb. MSS. and the Targ. read zçdîm here; but the rest of the versions support the Massoretic Text.

and oppressors &c.] Render, and violent men have sought my life, as in 1 Samuel 23:15, “David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life.” It has been argued that the terms ‘strangers’ and ‘violent men’ are inapplicable to Israelites, and prove that the title is erroneous. No doubt they are often used of foreign invaders or oppressors (Isaiah 25:2 ff; Isaiah 29:5; Ezekiel 31:12; cp. Isaiah 1:7; Ezekiel 7:21); but ‘violent men’ or ‘terrible ones’ is not exclusively so used (Job 6:23; Jeremiah 15:21), and might well be applied to Saul and his followers; while the Ziphites might be designated ‘strangers,’ in view of their unneighbourly behaviour. It is however possible that ‘strangers’ refers to the men of Keilah, whom there is some ground for regarding as Canaanites. The peculiar term ‘lords’ or ‘owners’ applied to the men of Keilah (1 Samuel 23:11-12) seems to have been specially (though not exclusively) used of Canaanites. See Joshua 24:11; Jdg 9:2 ff; and J. S. Black’s note on the latter passage in the Smaller Cambridge Bible for Schools.

they have not set God before them] They have no regard for God’s will, and no fear of His judgements. Cp. Psalm 10:4-5; Psalm 36:1; and contrast Psalm 16:8; Psalm 18:22. Under other circumstances loyalty to Saul might have required the Ziphites to surrender David: as it was, they were simply fighting against God in making themselves the tools of Saul’s blind rage, for it must have been well known that God intended David to be Saul’s successor.

4. God is mine helper] Taught by his past experience he can say not merely that God will help him, but that God is on his side, so that the issue cannot be doubtful.

the Lord is with them that uphold my soul] R.V., is of them that uphold my soul: perhaps better, is the Upholder of my soul. The expression is an idiomatic one, and “the sense is not that God is the support of the Psalmist among many others, but that He is so in a supreme degree, that He sums up in Himself the qualities of a class, viz. the class of helpers (so Psalm 118:7). Comp. Jdg 11:35, ‘Alas, my daughter, thou hast bowed me down; even thou art my greatest troubler.’ ” (Cheyne). For uphold cp. Psalm 3:5 (sustaineth); Psalm 51:12.

4–7. A confident expectation of deliverance and vow of thanksgiving.

5. He shall requite the evil unto them that lie in wait for me:

Destroy thou them in thy truth.

God will cause the evil which they are plotting to recoil upon their own heads: or, according to the K’thîbh or written text (Introd. p. li), The evil shall return &c.: cp. Psalm 7:16. Enemies (A.V.) is a peculiar word found only in Psalm 5:8; Psalm 27:11; Psalm 56:2; Psalm 59:10, meaning those who lie in wait for him, like fowlers (Jeremiah 5:26 R.V.), or a leopard for its prey (Hosea 13:7). Jerome renders it insidiatores.

in thy truth] For Thou canst not be false to Thy promise to deliver me.

6. I will freely sacrifice unto thee] Or, With a free will I will sacrifice unto thee. So the LXX and Jer. R.V., with a freewill offering. But cp. Numbers 15:3, “a burnt offering or sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or of freewill, or in your set feasts.”

I will praise thy name, O Lord] R.V., I will give thanks unto thy name. Cp. Psalm 52:9. Lord, i.e. Jehovah, appears here, contrary to the general usage of the book. It may have been retained, or restored, in a familiar formula. For it, viz. Thy name, is good. Cp. Psalm 52:9, and Psalm 54:1.

7. For he hath delivered me] Such a transition from the second person of Psalm 54:6 to the third person is quite possible: cp. the converse transition in Psalm 54:5 : but the subject of the verb maybe ‘the Name of Jehovah.’ Cp. Leviticus 24:11; Isaiah 30:27.

The perfect tense (‘hath delivered’ … ‘hath seen’) looks back from the hour of thanksgiving upon an answered prayer. Cp. Psalm 52:9, “because thou hast done it.”

hath seen his desire] Cp. Psalm 37:34; Psalm 52:6; Psalm 59:10; Psalm 92:11; Psalm 112:8; Psalm 118:7. Such rejoicing over the fall of enemies is not of the spirit of the Gospel. But the ‘salvation’ for which the Psalmist prays is a temporal deliverance, which can only be effected at the expense of the implacable enemies who are seeking his life; and it will be a vindication of God’s faithfulness and a proof of His righteous government at which he cannot but rejoice. The defeat of evil and the triumph of good presented themselves to the saints of the O.T. in this concrete form, which sometimes has a ring of personal vindictiveness about it, yet, fairly considered, is in its real motive and character elevated far above a mere thirst for revenge. See Introd. pp. lxxxviii ff.