Psalm 20:2

Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 20:2-4. Send thee help from the sanctuary — Either from heaven, as it is expressed Psalm 20:6; or, rather, from the tabernacle in Zion, where the ark then was; toward which the Israelites directed their prayers, and from which God heard and answered them. Thus it is explained in the next clause. Remember — Namely, with acceptance, as it follows; all thy offerings — Offered either by thee, or by us thy people in thy behalf. And accept thy burnt-sacrifice — Hebrew, ידשׁנה, jedasheneh, turn to ashes, by fire sent from heaven in token of acceptance, as was usual. Grant thee according to thy own heart — That is, that good success which thy heart desires; and fulfil all thy counsels — Thy present designs for the glory of God and the good of his and thy people.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

20:1-9 This psalm is a prayer for the kings of Israel, but with relation to Christ. - Even the greatest of men may be much in trouble. Neither the crown on the king's head, nor the grace in his heart, would make him free from trouble. Even the greatest of men must be much in prayer. Let none expect benefit by the prayers of the church, or their friends, who are capable of praying for themselves, yet neglect it. Pray that God would protect his person, and preserve his life. That God would enable him to go on in his undertakings for the public good. We may know that God accepts our spiritual sacrifices, if by his Spirit he kindles in our souls a holy fire of piety and love to God. Also, that the Lord would crown his enterprises with success. Our first step to victory in spiritual warfare is to trust only in the mercy and grace of God; all who trust in themselves will soon be cast down. Believers triumph in God, and his revelation of himself to them, by which they distinguish themselves from those that live without God in the world. Those who make God and his name their praise, may make God and his name their trust. This was the case when the pride and power of Jewish unbelief, and pagan idolatry, fell before the sermons and lives of the humble believers in Jesus. This is the case in every conflict with our spiritual enemies, when we engage them in the name, the spirit, and the power of Christ; and this will be the case at the last day, when the world, with the prince of it, shall be brought down and fall; but believers, risen-from the dead, through the resurrection of the Lord, shall stand, and sing his praises in heaven. In Christ's salvation let us rejoice; and set up our banners in the name of the Lord our God, assured that by the saving strength of his right hand we shall be conquerors over every enemy.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Send thee help - Margin, thy help. So the Hebrew. The idea is, such help as he needed; such as would make him safe.

From the sanctuary - From the tabernacle, or the holy place where God was worshipped, and where he was supposed to reside, Exodus 28:43; Exodus 29:30; Exodus 35:19; Exodus 39:1. This was his seat; his throne; where he abode among the people. Here, too, it would seem that he had been worshipped, and his aid implored, in view of this expedition; here the royal psalmist had sought to secure the divine favor by the presentation of appropriate sacrifices and offerings Psalm 20:3. The prayer here is, that God would accept those offerings, and hear those supplications, and would now send the desired help from the sanctuary where he resided; that is, that he would grant his protection and aid.

And strengthen thee - Margin, as in Hebrew, support thee. The idea is, that he would grant his upholding hand in the day of peril.

Out of Zion - The place where God was worshipped; the place where the tabernacle was reared. See the note at Psalm 2:6.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. strengthen thee—sustain in conflict; even physical benefits may be included, as courage for war, &c., as such may proceed from a sense of divine favor, secured in the use of spiritual privileges.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

From the sanctuary; either,

1. From heaven, as it is expressed, Psalm 20:6. Or rather,

2. From the tabernacle in Zion, as it is explained in the next words, where the ark then was; toward which the Israelites directed their prayers, and from which God heard and answered them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Send thee help from the sanctuary,.... Meaning either from the tabernacle, the holy place, where was the ark, the symbol of the divine Presence; or rather heaven, the habitation of God's holiness unless the same is meant by it as by Zion, in the next clause, the church of God, from whence he sends the rod of his strength;

and strengthen thee out of Zion; and the "help" and "strength" prayed for are not to be understood of that assistance and support, which Christ, as man, had from his Father, at the time of his sufferings, which were promised him, and he believed he should have, and had, Psalm 89:21; since these petitions follow that which relates to his exaltation; but of the help and strength afforded to the apostles and ministers of Christ, after they had received the commission from him to preach the Gospel to every creature; when, as a full answer to these petitions, God worked with them, greatly assisted them, strengthened them with strength in their souls; confirmed the word with signs and wonders following; made it the power of God to salvation to multitudes; and so strengthened the cause, interest, and kingdom of the Redeemer.

Geneva Study Bible

Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. the sanctuary] Here, as the parallel out of Zion shews, the earthly sanctuary is meant. See notes on Psalm 3:4, Psalm 14:7; and cp. Psalm 20:6.

strengthen] Lit. support; the same word as hath holden me up in Psalm 18:35.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - Send thee help from the sanctuary. "The sanctuary" here is undoubtedly the holy place which David had established on Mount Zion, and in which he had placed the ark of the covenant. God's help was always regarded as coming especially from the place where he had "set his Name." In the original it is, "Send thy help" - the help thou needest and prayest for. And strengthen thee out of Zion; rather, support thee. Psalm 20:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 20:2-6) Litany for the king in distress, who offers sacrifices for himself in the sanctuary. The futures in Psalm 20:2, standing five times at the head of the climactic members of the parallelism, are optatives. ימלּא, Psalm 20:6, also continues the chain of wishes, of which even נרננה (cf. Psalm 69:15) forms one of the links. The wishes of the people accompany both the prayer and the sacrifice. "The Name of the God of Jacob" is the self-manifesting power and grace of the God of Israel. יעקב is used in poetry interchangeably with ישראל, just like אלהים with יהוה. Alshךch refers to Genesis 35:3; and it is not improbable that the desire moulds itself after the fashion of the record of the fact there handed down to us. May Jahve, who, as the history of Jacob shows, hears (and answers) in the day of distress, hear the king; may the Name of the God of Jacob bear him away from his foes to a triumphant height. שׂגּב alternates with רומם (Psalm 18:49) in this sense. This intercession on the behalf of the praying one is made in the sanctuary on the heights of Zion, where Jahve sits enthroned. May He send him succour from thence, like auxiliary troops that decide the victory. The king offers sacrifice. He offers sacrifice according to custom before the commencement of the battle (1 Samuel 13:9., and cf. the phrase קדּשׁ מלחמה), a whole burnt-offering and at the same time a meat or rather meal offering also, מנחות;

(Note: This, though not occurring in the Old Testament, is the principal form of the plural, which, as even David Kimchi recognises in his Lexicon, points to a verb מנח (just as שׂמלות, גּבעות, שׁפחות point to שׂמל, גּבע, שׂפח); whereas other old grammarians supposed נחה to be the root, and were puzzled with the traditional pronunciation menachôth, but without reason.)

for every whole offering and every shelamim - or peace-offering had a meat-offering and a drink-offering as its indispensable accompaniment. The word זכר is perfectly familiar in the ritual of the meal-offering. That portion of the meal-offering, only a part of which was placed upon the altar (to which, however, according to traditional practice, does not belong the accompanying meal-offering of the מנחת נסכים, which was entirely devoted to the altar), which ascended with the altar fire is called אזכּרה, μνημόσυνον (cf. Acts 10:4), that which brings to remembrance with God him for whom it is offered up (not "incense," as Hupfeld renders it); for the designation of the offering of jealousy, Numbers 5:15, as "bringing iniquity to remembrance before God" shows, that in the meal-offering ritual זכר retains the very same meaning that it has in other instances. Every meal-offering is in a certain sense a מנחת זכּרון a esnes . Hence here the prayer that Jahve would graciously remember them is combined with the meal-offerings.

As regards the ‛olah, the wish "let fire from heaven (Leviticus 9:24; 1 Kings 18:38; 1 Chronicles 21:26) turn it to ashes," would not be vain. But the language does not refer to anything extraordinary; and in itself the consumption of the offering to ashes (Bttcher) is no mark of gracious acceptance. Moreover, as a denominative from דּשׁן, fat ashes, דּשּׁן means "to clean from ashes," and not: to turn into ashes. On the other hand, דּשּׁן also signifies "to make fat," Psalm 23:5, and this effective signification is applied declaratively in this instance: may He find thy burnt-offering fat, which is equivalent to: may it be to Him a ריח ניחח [an odour of satisfaction, a sweet-smelling savour]. The voluntative ah only occurs here and in Job 11:17 (which see) and Isaiah 5:19, in the 3 pers.; and in this instance, just as with the cohortative in 1 Samuel 28:15, we have a change of the lengthening into a sharpening of the sound (cf. the exactly similar change of forms in 1 Samuel 28:15; Isaiah 59:5; Zechariah 5:4; Proverbs 24:14; Ezekiel 25:13) as is very frequently the case in מה for מה. The alteration to ידשּׁנה or ידשׁנהּ (Hitzig) is a felicitous but needless way of getting rid of the rare form. The explanation of the intensifying of the music here is, that the intercessory song of the choir is to be simultaneous with the presentation upon the altar (הקטרה). עצה is the resolution formed in the present wartime. "Because of thy salvation," i.e., thy success in war, is, as all the language is here, addressed to the king, cf. Psalm 21:2, where it is addressed to Jahve, and intended of the victory accorded to him. It is needless to read נגדּל instead of נדגּל, after the rendering of the lxx megaluntheeso'metha. נדגּל is a denominative from דּגל: to wave a banner. In the closing line, the rejoicing of hope goes back again to the present and again assumes the form of an intercessory desire.