Psalm 5:2

Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:1-6 God is a prayer-hearing God. Such he has always been, and he is still as ready to hear prayer as ever. The most encouraging principle of prayer, and the most powerful plea in prayer, is, to look upon him as our King and our God. David also prays to a sin-hating God. sin is folly, and sinners are the greatest of all fools; fools of their own making. Wicked people hate God; justly are they hated of him, and this will be their endless misery and ruin. Let us learn the importance of truth and sincerity, in all the affairs of life. Liars and murderers resemble the devil, and are his children, therefore it may well be expected that God should abhor them. These were the characters of David's enemies; and such as these are still the enemies of Christ and his people.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hearken unto the voice of my cry - My cry for assistance. The word "voice" refers to the utterance of his desires, or to his "expressed" wishes in a time of trouble.

My King, and my God - Though he was himself a king, yet he acknowledged his subjection to God as his supreme Ruler, and looked up to Him to protect him in his dangers, and to restore him to his rights. He was, at the same time, his God - his covenant God - to whom he felt that he was permitted to come in the hour of trouble, and whose blessing he was permitted to invoke.

For unto thee will I pray - He had no one else to go to in his troubles, and he felt that he "might" approach the living God. It was his fixed purpose - his regular habit - to pray to him, and to seek his favor and friendship, and he felt that he was permitted to do so now.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. Hearken—incline the ear (Ps 10:17; compare Ps 61:2)—give close attention.

my cry—that is, for help (Ps 61:2; Jer 8:19).

my King—thus by covenant relation interested in my cause.

The Treasury of David

2 Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will Ipray.

"The voice of my cry." In another Psalm we find the expression, "The voice of my weeping." Weeping has a voice - a melting, plaintive tone, an ear-piercing shrillness, which reaches the very heart of God: and crying hath a voice - a soul-moving eloquence; coming from our heart it reaches God's heart, Ah! my brothers and sisters, sometimes we cannot put our prayers into words: they are nothing but a cry: but the Lord can comprehend the meaning, for he hears a voice in our cry. To a loving father his children's cries are music, and they have a magic influence which his heart cannot resist. "My King and my God." Observe carefully these little pronouns, "my King, and my God." They are the pith and marrow of the plea. Here is a grand argument why God should answer prayer - because he is our King and our God. We are not aliens to him: he is the King of our country. Kings are expected to hear the appeals of their own people. We are not strangers to him; we are his worshippers, and he is our God: ours by covenant, by promise, by oath, by blood.

"For unto thee will I pray." Here David expresses his declaration that he will seek to God, and to God alone. God is to be the only object of worship: the only resource of our soul in times of need. Leave broken cisterns to the godless, and let the godly drink from the Divine fountain alone. "Unto thee will I pray." He makes a resolution, that as long as he lived he would pray. He would never cease to supplicate, even though the answer should not come.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

It is the part and duty of a king to answer the just and humble desires of his subjects. To thee alone will I direct all my prayers, and therefore from thee alone I expect succour and relief.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Hearken unto the voice of my cry,.... Which seems to intend more than groans or words, even a loud outcry, as of a person in great distress; such as the strong crying of Christ, in the days of his flesh, when on the cross, forsaken by God, deserted by his friends, and surrounded by his enemies, Hebrews 5:7; and such, in some measure, was the case of David. The arguments used by him, that the Lord would hearken to him, are as follow: and the first is taken from his interest in the Lord, and his relation to him,

my King and my God; the Lord was David's King in a civil sense; though David was a king over others, yet the Lord, who is the King of kings, was King over him, and he owned him to be so; he was set upon the throne by him, had his kingdom from him, and was accountable to him: and he was his King in a natural sense, the kingdom of nature and providence belonging to him, as he was his Creator, preserver, protector, and defender; and in a spiritual sense, he being delivered from the dominion of other lords, sin, Satan, and the world, and brought to a subjection to him by his Spirit and grace; and so to own him as his King and Lawgiver, as well as his Saviour. And he was his God; not in a general way, as he is the God of the spirits of all flesh living; nor merely in the peculiar way in which he was the God of the people of Israel; but in a most special manner, as being his covenant God and Father in Christ. He was his God, not only as the God of nature and providence, but as the God of all grace; who had distinguished him by special and spiritual blessings and favours; and whom David loved, believed in, and worshipped as his God. And this his interest in him, and relation to him, he uses with great pertinence and propriety, as an argument that he might be heard by him; since the Lord was his King, and he his subject; the Lord was his God, and he one of his people; the Lord was his father, and he a child of his; and therefore entreats and hopes to be heard; see Isaiah 63:15. His next argument is taken from his resolution to pray to him, and to continue to do so:

for unto thee will I pray; and only to thee: not to the gods of the Heathen, to idols, the works of men's hands, who can neither hear nor save: and to thee always; suggesting, that he would never leave off praying till he was heard; he would give him no rest, day nor night, until he received an answer.

Geneva Study Bible

Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

2. my cry] A word specially used of an imploring cry to God for help (Psalm 22:24; Psalm 28:2; &c.).

my King, and my God] Cp. Psalm 84:3. The language is all the more significant, if the petitioner was David. He appeals to Him, Whose chosen representative he was.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - Hearken unto the voice of my cry (comp. Psalm 27:7; Psalm 28:2; Psalm 64:1; Psalm 119:149; Psalm 130:2; Psalm 140:6). The Oriental habit of making requests in loud and shrill tones is the origin of these forms of speech. My King. David was "king" over Israel; but Jehovah was "King" over David (comp. Psalm 10:16; Psalm 29:10; Psalm 44:4; Psalm 47:6, etc.). And my God (see Psalm 84:3). For auto thee will I pray. To thee, i.e., and to no other. Psalm 5:2

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

(Heb.: 5:2-4) The introit: Prayer to be heard. The thoughts are simple but the language is carefully chosen. אמרים is the plur. of אמר (אמר), one of the words peculiar to the poetic prophetical style. The denominative האזין (like audire equals aus, οὖς dare) belongs more to poetry than prose. הגיג (like אביב) or מחיר (like מחיר) occurs only in two Psalms לדוד, viz., here and Psalm 34:4. It is derived from הגג equals הגה (vid., Psalm 1:2) and signifies that which is spoken meditatively, here praying in rapt devotion. Beginning thus the prayer gradually rises to a vox clamoris. שׁועי from שׁוע, to be distinguished from שׁוּעי (inf. Pi.) Psalm 28:2; Psalm 31:23, is one word with the Aram. צוח, Aethiop. צוּע (to call). On הקשׁיב used of intent listening, vid., Psalm 10:17. The invocation מלכּי ואלהי, when it is a king who utters it, is all the more significant. David, and in general the theocratic king, is only the representative of the Invisible One, whom he with all Israel adores as his King. Prayer to Him is his first work as he begins the day. In the morning, בּקר (as in Psalm 65:8 for בּבּקר, Psalm 88:13), shalt Thou hear my cry, is equivalent to my cry which goes forth with the early morn. Hupfeld considers the mention of the morning as only a "poetical expression" and when getting rid of the meaning prima luce, he also gets rid of the beautiful and obvious reference to the daily sacrifice. The verb ערך is the word used of laying the wood in order for the sacrifice, Leviticus 1:7, and the pieces of the sacrifice, Leviticus 1:8, Leviticus 1:12; Leviticus 6:5, of putting the sacred lamps in order, Exodus 27:21; Leviticus 24:3., and of setting the shew-bread in order, Exodus 40:23; Leviticus 24:8. The laying of the wood in order for the morning offering of a lamb (Leviticus 6:5 [Leviticus 6:12], cf. Numbers 28:4) was one of the first duties of the priest, as soon as the day began to dawn; the lamb was slain before sun-rise and when the sun appeared above the horizon laid piece by piece upon the altar. The morning prayer is compared to this morning sacrifice. This is in its way also a sacrifice. The object which David has in his mind in connection with אערך is תּפלּתי. As the priests, with the early morning, lay the wood and pieces of the sacrifices of the Tamı̂d upon the altar, so he brings his prayer before God as a spiritual sacrifice and looks out for an answer (צפּה speculari as in Habakkuk 2:1), perhaps as the priest looks out for fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice, or looks to the smoke to see that it rises up straight towards heaven.