Psalm 63:7

Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) Because . . .—Better, For thou hast been my helper; and under the shadow, &c. (For the image see Psalm 17:8; Psalm 36:7; Psalm 57:1; Psalm 61:4.)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 63:7. Because thou hast been my help — When other helps and helpers failed me; because I have known by experience both thy power and will to save those that trust in thee; therefore, in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice — Hebrew, ארנן, aranneen, will I sing: I will confide in thee for the future, and will do it with delight and comfort: I will rest securely and joyfully, and will sing thy praises under thy protection. He alludes either to the wings of the cherubim stretched out over the mercy-seat, between which God was said to dwell; or to the wings of a fowl, under which her helpless young ones have shelter. Thus the recollection of past mercies inclines the true believer still to have recourse, in all his dangers and difficulties, to his strong helper, and to put himself and all his affairs under the wings of an overshadowing providence.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

63:7-11 True Christians can, in some measure, and at some times, make use of the strong language of David, but too commonly our souls cleave to the dust. Having committed ourselves to God, we must be easy and pleased, and quiet from the fear of evil. Those that follow hard after God, would soon fail, if God's right hand did not uphold them. It is he that strengthens us and comforts us. The psalmist doubts not but that though now sowing in tears, he should reap in joy. Messiah the Prince shall rejoice in God; he is already entered into the joy set before him, and his glory will be completed at his second coming. Blessed Lord, let our desire towards thee increase every hour; let our love be always upon thee; let all our enjoyment be in thee, and all our satisfaction from thee. Be thou all in all to us while we remain in the present wilderness state, and bring us home to the everlasting enjoyment of thee for ever.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Because thou hast been my help - Because thou hast interposed to defend me in danger. The idea is, that he had experienced the divine interposition in times of danger, and that this was a reason why he should still confide in God. The argument is, that God's mercy and favor in the past is a reason why we should confide in him in time to come.

Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice - Under the shadow or protection of thy wings will I feel safe. See the notes at Psalm 17:8. Compare Psalm 36:7; Psalm 57:1; Psalm 61:4.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. night—as well as day. Past favors assure him of future, and hence he presses earnestly near to God, whose power sustains him (Ps 17:8; 60:5).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Remember thee: in the mean time, whilst I cannot enjoy thee, I will quiet and comfort myself with the thoughts and remembrance of thy kindness to me. Upon my bed, Heb. upon my beds, implying that he was frequently forced to change his bed and lodging, being driven from place to place. In the night watches; in the several seasons of the night, which was divided into three or four watches; of which see Exodus 14:24 Judges 7:19 Mark 13:35. When others sleep securely, my sleep is interrupted by my perplexity and grief for my absence from thy house, and when I awake my thoughts are fixed upon thee, &c.

I will rejoice; I will rest securely and joyfully in thy protection.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Because thou hast been my help,.... Or, "that thou hast been my help" (s); and so the words may be considered as the subject of his meditation in the night watches, at least as a part of it; and as what gave him a great deal of pleasure to reflect upon, how the Lord had been in times past a present help to him in time of trouble;

therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice; meaning under the protecting power of God, where he knew he was safe, and therefore had reason to rejoice. The allusion is to the chirping of chickens under the wing of the hen; see Psalm 57:1. The Targum is,

"in the shadow of thy Shechinah will I rejoice;''

referring it may be to the Shechinah, or presence of God, between the cherubim, whose wings overshadowed the mercy seat.

(s) "quod", Musculus, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth.

Geneva Study Bible

Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - Because thou hast been my help. God had already delivered David out of so many dangers and troubles, that he felt all the more confidence for the future. Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice (see the comment on Psalm 61:4). Psalm 63:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

This strophe again takes up the כּן (Psalm 63:3): thus ardently longing, for all time to come also, is he set towards God, with such fervent longing after God will he bless Him in his life, i.e., entirely filling up his life therewith (בּחיּי as in Psalm 104:33; Psalm 146:2; cf. Baruch 4:20, ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις μου), and in His name, i.e., invoking it and appealing to it, will he lift up his hands in prayer. The being occupied with God makes him, even though as now in the desert he is obliged to suffer bodily hunger, satisfied and cheerful like the fattest and most marrowy food: velut adipe et pinguedine satiatur anima mea. From Leviticus 3:17; Leviticus 7:25, Grussetius and Frisch infer that spiritualies epulae are meant. And certainly the poet cannot have had the sacrificial feasts (Hupfeld) in his mind; for the חלב of the shelamim is put upon the altar, and is removed from the part to be eaten. Moreover, however, even the Tra does not bind itself in its expression to the letter of that prohibition of the fat of animals, vid., Deuteronomy 32:14, cf. Jeremiah 31:14. So here also the expression "with marrow and fat" is the designation of a feast prepared from well-fed, noble beasts. He feels himself satisfied in his inmost nature just as after a feast of the most nourishing and dainty meats, and with lips of jubilant songs (accus. instrum. according to Ges. 138, rem. 3), i.e., with lips jubilant and attuned to song, shall his mouth sing praise. What now follows in Psalm 63:7 we no longer, as formerly, take as a protasis subsequently introduced (like Isaiah 5:4.): "when I remembered...meditated upon Thee," but so that Psalm 63:7 is the protasis and Psalm 63:7 the apodosis, cf. Psalm 21:12; Job 9:16 (Hitzig): When I remember Thee (meminerim, Ew. 355, b) upon my bed (stratis meis, as in Psalm 132:3; Genesis 49:4, cf. 1 Chronicles 5:1) - says he now as the twilight watch is passing gradually into the morning - I meditate upon Thee in the night-watches (Symmachus, καθ ̓ ἑκάστην φυλακήν), or during, throughout the night-watches (like בּחיּי in Psalm 63:5); i.e., it is no passing remembrance, but it so holds me that I pass a great part of the night absorbed in meditation on Thee. He has no lack of matter for his meditation; for God has become a help (auxilio, vid., on Psalm 3:3) to him: He has rescued him in this wilderness, and, well concealed under the shadow of His wings (vid., on Psalm 17:8; Psalm 36:8; Psalm 57:2), which affords him a cool retreat in the heat of conflict and protection against his persecutors, he is able to exult (ארנּן, the potential). Between himself and God there subsists a reciprocal relationship of active love. According to the schema of the crosswise position of words (Chiasmus), אחריך and בּי intentionally jostle close against one another: he depends upon God, following close behind Him, i.e., following Him everywhere and not leaving Him when He wishes to avoid him; and on the other side God's right hand holds him fast, not letting him go, not abandoning him to his foes.