Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 3:4
I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.
4. An appeal to past experiences of answered prayer. ‘As often as I called,’ the imperfect tense in the Heb. denotes repeated action or habit ‘he answered me.’ Cp. Psa 4:1; Psa 91:15.
out of his holy hill ] Cp. Psa 2:6. Zion, the seat of the Ark of the covenant, which was the symbol and pledge of Jehovah’s presence, is as it were the centre from which He exercises His earthly sovereignty. Cp. Psa 14:7; Psa 20:2; Amo 1:2. There is possibly a tacit reference to the sending back of the Ark (2Sa 15:25), which may have discouraged some of his followers. He would assure them that its absence does not diminish Jehovah’s power to help.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I cried unto the Lord – That is, in these troubles, as he had always done in affliction. The form of the verb here is future – I will cry or call unto the Lord; probably, however, designed to state a general habit with him, that when troubles came he always called on the Lord. He speaks now of himself as if in the midst of the trouble; gives utterance to the feeling which he has always had in his sorrows; and says, I will call upon the Lord, thus declaring his purpose to make his appeal confidently to him. Thus, the language is not so much retrospective as it is indicative of the uniform state of his mind in the midst of afflictions.
With my voice – Not merely mentally, but he gave utterance to the deep anguish of his soul in words. So the Saviour did in the garden of Gethsemane Mat 26:39; and so, perhaps, most persons do in deep affliction. It is natural then to cry out for help; and besides the fact that we may hope that any prayer then, though mental only, would bring relief by being answered, there is a measure of relief found by the very act of giving utterance or vent to the deep and, as it were, pent-up feelings of the soul. In calmer times we are satisfied with unuttered aspirations, with gentle ejaculations, with sweet mental communion with God; in overwhelming trials we give utterance to our feelings in the earnest language of pleading.
And he heard me – Or, then he hears me; that is, when I call. The psalmist refers to what he had constantly found to be true, that God was a hearer of prayer.
Out of his holy hill – Zion. See the notes at Psa 2:6. That was the place to which David had removed the ark, and which was regarded, therefore, as the special dwelling-place of the Most High. To him, as dwelling in Zion, prayer was accustomed to be offered, and there he was accustomed to answer prayer. To this fact David here refers as one that had been illustrated in his former days. To that God who had thus answered him he felt that he might confidently appeal now.
Selah – Indicating another strophe or musical pause. See the notes at Psa 3:2.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 3:2; Psa 3:4; Psa 3:8
Selah.
Stop and think
That seems to sum up the several meanings of the word Selah. Some say it is a direction to the musicians to play an interlude while the singers ceased; some regard it as a direction to the players to stop and tune their instruments. Others see an injunction to raise heart and voice, harp and organ, to their fullest capacity. Others see a reference to eternity, as if one interposed, World without end, Amen! Many regard the word as equivalent to certain well-known signs in music, bidding you turn back and repeat. In any case, it is as if a solemn rock (sela) stood right across our path, bidding us stop and think. On the ground of this injunction meet all meanings, however divergent they seem. No help for him in God. Stop and think. Selah looks forward as well as back. God has been a shield for David; He can also lift up his head once more, and invest him with glory, the sunshine of the Divine countenance. For us who conduct the services of Gods house, Selah has a message. It bids the preacher rightly divide the word of truth. It bids him compare truth with truth, bringing out things new and old, and fixing each in its most telling place. It says–tune your hearts, voices, instruments. Seek inspiration, do justice to the Divine message and the gospel song, so that with holy passion, and sacred emphasis, and heart-felt pathos you shall lead our hearts to God, and incite our minds to things eternal. (Michael Eastwood.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Psa 3:4
I cried mate the Lord with my voice.
Turning to God in prayer
I. The psalmists exultation. But Thou, O Lord. The second part of the Psalm shows how Davids sense of the Divine presence and protection impelled him to rejoice, as if he were delivered from trial, although not yet actually set free. No sooner does he complain to God than he begins to experience consolation, for never does anyone flee to the Saviour for refuge in vain. But to particularise: what kind of help does the Psalmist receive when he seeks Divine aid? He fled from Absalom defenceless, and God, like a shield, completely protects him: he was in disgrace, God becomes his glory; prostrate, and God lifts up his head. In a word, Jehovah supplements every deficiency. This is ever true. Dost thou desire wisdom? He will be thy wisdom. Glory? He will be thy glory. Riches He will be thy wealth. Yea, He Himself will be all that thou cravest. The sweet sense of Divine compassion cannot be repressed, but will find vent in confession. Thus God is glorified, and the consciousness of His favour is increased by the very act of acknowledgment.
II. Method of gaining deliverance. The Psalmist therefore unfolds the method which he, had adopted–turning to God in prayer–I cried unto the Lord with my voice. For let no man think that God bestows His grace on those who do not seek it, or opens the heavenly door to those who do not knock, still less to those who despise and refuse His proffered mercy. In this way He disciplines our faith, although He never grants the least favour because there is anything meritorious in our prayers.
III. The Divine response. And He heard me–from the heavenly sanctuary, and also from the earthly tabernacle then radiant with the Divine presence. This is added so that all may know that God answers supplications, in harmony with His will, as quickly as we offer them, and thus causes success in prayer to stir us up to renewed petitions. The answer which was vouchsafed to David–God replying by deeds rather than by words–is specified at the end of the next verse, the Lord sustained me. What he had stated before in several words, Thou art a shield for me my glory, and the lifter up of my head, he afterwards expresses in a single phrase, the Lord sustained me, thereby indicating his sense of Divine protection in the very midst of persecution. (Robert Rollocks.)
Prayer answered
John Rutledge, of Buffalo, a godly sailor, was used very much in winning his swearing, licentious fellows for the Saviour. They had left Buffalo when the lake was still dangerous with floating ice, and they had accomplished three-quarters of their way, when one morning, to the great alarm of crew and skipper, they saw the ice closing upon them. There was just a narrow passage straight ahead, and it was fast closing. If the ice close it will crush the ship to pieces like a tinderbox, and they will all be lost. The mens faces grew white, for the wind ceased and the calm came, as if to let the ice nip them and grip them to destruction. John Rutledge asked the skippers leave to go down to his cabin and pray. The captain was a godless man, but eternity was nigh, and he believed in John Rutledge. He had sailed with John for many a voyage; and the Christian had commended Christ by his life. Happy soul when the man that works by you,–when your comrades, at any rate, acknowledge your fidelity to Jesus. They may not like you, but yet they believe in you up to the hilt; and they trust in you even when they profess to despise you. John Rutledge got the skippers leave to go down to the cabin and pray. As he was there on his knees a few of the men gathered with him, and amongst them the captain. Rutledge prayed that God would guide the vessel, that God would steer the craft, that God would deliver them. The men heard, and listened attentively. As they returned to deck, the man at the wheel greeted them with, There is hope.
The wind is nor-nor-east. The wind began to sough and sigh and fill the sails, and the ice began to part; and the men said to the captain, Shall we spread more canvas? No, he replied, not a stitch. Somebody else is guiding this ship. Let her alone. A happy life is that when difficulties come, when rebellions arise, when doubts all drop upon deck, for the man to be able to say, Let her drive; there is Someone else controlling and guiding.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. I cried unto the Lord with my voice] He was exposed to much danger, and therefore he had need of fervour.
He heard me] Notwithstanding my enemies said, and my friends feared, that there was no help for me in my God; yet he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah: mark this, and take encouragement from it. God never forsakes those who trust in him. He never shuts out the prayer of the distressed.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
With my voice; the witness of my faith and fervency of affections.
Out of his holy hill; either out of heaven, so called Psa 15:1; compare Isa 66:1. Or rather,
2. Out of the hill of Zion, where God was especially present, the ark being there at this time; towards which the saints then used to direct their prayers, and from thence God heard and answered and blessed them, Psa 128:5; 134:3.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. cried . . . heardSuch hasbeen my experience. The latter verb denotes a gracious hearing oranswering.
out ofor, “from.”
his holy hillZion (Ps2:6). His visible earthly residence.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I cried unto the Lord with my voice,…. The experience which the psalmist had of being heard in prayer, was what gave great encouragement to his faith, as to his interest in God and salvation by him, when his enemies were so increased about him; for crying here is to be understood of prayer, as it is often used in this book of Psalms: and so the Targum renders it, “I prayed”; and this designs vocal prayer. Sometimes there is a crying in prayer and no voice heard, as it is said of Moses, Ex 14:15; and was the case of Hannah, 1Sa 1:13; but this was with a voice, and a loud one, as in Ps 55:17; denoting ardour, fervency, and importunity; and such prayer avails much with God. The object addressed in prayer is the Lord, the God of his life, and who was able to save him, and supply all his wants;
and he heard me out of his holy hill; either out of the church, the holy hill of Zion, Ps 2:6; where David prayed and God granted his presence, and gave an answer to his prayers; or out from the mercy seat and ark, which was a type of the propitiatory, Christ, and which David had brought to his own city, the hill of Zion; or from heaven, the habitation of God’s holiness: David was a man of prayer, and he was often heard and answered by God. And this also is true of Christ, he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to God Heb 5:7, that was able to save him; and he was heard by him, yea, the Father always heard him: and God is a God hearing and answering the prayers of his people, sooner or later: sometimes before, sometimes at, and sometimes after their crying to him.
Selah; on this word, [See comments on Ps 3:2].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Confidence in God. | |
4 I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. 5 I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. 6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about. 7 Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. 8 Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.
David, having stirred up himself by the irritations of his enemies to take hold on God as his God, and so gained comfort in looking upward when, if he looked round about him, nothing appeared but what was discouraging, here looks back with pleasing reflections upon the benefit he had derived from trusting in God and looks forward with pleasing expectations of a very bright and happy issue to which the dark dispensation he was now under would shortly be brought.
I. See with what comfort he looks back upon the communion he had had with God, and the communications of his favour to him, either in some former trouble he had been in, and through God’s goodness got through, or in this hitherto. David had been exercised with many difficulties, often oppressed and brought very low; but still he had found God all-sufficient. He now remembered with pleasure,
1. That his troubles had always brought him to his knees, and that, in all his difficulties and dangers, he had been enabled to acknowledge God and to lift up his heart to him, and his voice too (this will be comfortable reflection when we are in trouble): I cried unto God with my voice. Care and grief do us good and no hurt when they set us a praying, and engage us, not only to speak to God, but to cry to him, as those that are in earnest. And though God understands the language of the heart, when the voice is not heard (1 Sam. i. 13), and values not the hypocritical prayers of those who cause their voice to be heard on high (Isa. lviii. 4), vox et prterea nihil—mere sound, yet, when the earnestness of the voice comes from the fervency of the heart, it shall be taken notice of, in the account, that we cried unto God with our voice.
2. That he had always found God ready to answer his prayers: He heard me out of his holy hill, from heaven, the high and holy place, from the ark on Mount Sion, whence he used to give answers to those that sought to him. David had ordered Zadok to carry back the ark into the city when he was flying from Absalom (2 Sam. xv. 25), knowing that God was not tied, no, not to the ark of his presence, and that, notwithstanding the distance of place, he could by faith receive answers of peace from the holy hill. No such things can fix a gulf between the communications of God’s grace towards us and the operations of his grace in us, between his favour and our faith. The ark of the covenant was in Mount Zion, and all the answers to our prayers come from the promises of that covenant. Christ was set King upon the holy hill of Zion (Ps. ii. 6), and it is through him, whom the Father hears always, that our prayers are heard.
3. That he had always been very safe and very easy under the divine protection (v. 5): “I laid myself down and slept, composed and quiet; and awaked refreshed, for the Lord sustained me.” (1.) This is applicable to the common mercies of every night, which we ought to give thanks for alone, and with our families, every morning. Many have not where to lay their head (but wander in deserts), or, if they have, dare not lie down for fear of the enemy; but we have laid ourselves down in peace. Many lie down and cannot sleep, but are full of tossings to and fro till the dawning of the day, through pain of body, or anguish of mind, or the continual alarms of fear in the night; but we lie down and sleep in safety, though incapable of doing any thing then for our own preservation. Many lie down and sleep, and never awake again, they sleep the sleep of death, as the first-born of the Egyptians; but we lie down and sleep, and awake again to the light and comfort of another day; and whence is it, but because the Lord has sustained us with sleep as with food? We have been safe under his protection and easy in the arms of his good providence. (2.) It seems here to be meant of the wonderful quietness and calmness of David’s spirit, in the midst of his dangers. Having by prayer committed himself and his cause to God, and being sure of his protection, his heart was fixed, and he was easy. The undutifulness of his son, the disloyalty of his subjects, the treachery of many of his friends, the hazard of his person, the fatigues of his march, and the uncertainty of the event, never deprived him of an hour’s sleep, nor gave any disturbance to his repose; for the Lord, by his grace and the consolations of his Spirit, powerfully sustained him and made him easy. It is a great mercy when we are in trouble to have our minds stayed upon God, so as never either to eat or sleep with trembling and astonishment. (3.) Some of the ancients apply it to the resurrection of Christ. In his sufferings he offered up strong cries, and was heard; and therefore, though he laid down and slept the sleep of death, yet he awaked the third day, for the Lord sustained him, that he should not see corruption.
4. That God had often broken the power and restrained the malice of his enemies, had smitten them upon the cheek-bone (v. 7), had silenced them and spoiled their speaking, blemished them and put them to shame, smitten them on the cheek reproachfully, had disabled them to do the mischief they intended; for he had broken their teeth. Saul and the Philistines, who were sometimes ready to swallow him up, could not effect what they designed. The teeth that are gnashed or sharpened against God’s people shall be broken. When, at any time, the power of the church’s enemies seems threatening, it is good to remember how often God has broken it; and we are sure that his arm is not shortened. He can stop their mouths and tie their hands.
II. See with what confidence he looks forward to the dangers he had yet in prospect. Having put himself under God’s protection and often found the benefit of it, 1. His fears were all stilled and silenced, v. 6. With what a holy bravery does he bid defiance to the impotent menaces and attempts of his enemies! “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that either in a foreign invasion or an intestine rebellion set themselves, or encamp, against me round about.” No man seemed less safe (his enemies are numerous, ten thousands; they are spiteful and resolute, “They have set themselves against me; nay, they have prevailed far, and seem to have gained their point; for they are against me round about on every side, thousands against one”), and yet no man was more secure: “I will not be afraid, for all this; they cannot hurt me, and therefore they shall not frighten me; whatever prudent methods I take for my own preservation, I will not disquiet myself, distrust my God, nor doubt of a good issue at last.” When David, in his flight from Absalom, bade Zadok carry back the ark, he spoke doubtfully of the issue of his present troubles, and concluded, like a humble penitent, Here I am; let him do to me what seemeth to him good, 2 Sam. xv. 26. But now, like a strong believer, he speaks confidently, and has no fear concerning the event. Note, A cheerful resignation to God is the way to obtain a cheerful satisfaction and confidence in God. 2. His prayers were quickened and encouraged, v. 7. He believed God was his Saviour, and yet prays; nay, he therefore prays, Arise, O Lord! save me, O my God! Promises of salvation do not supersede, but engage, our petitions for it. He will for this be enquired of. 3. His faith became triumphant. He began the psalm with complaints of the strength and malice of his enemies, but concludes it with exultation in the power and grace of his God, and now sees more with him than against him, v. 8. Two great truths he here builds his confidence upon and fetches comfort from. (1.) That salvation belongeth unto the Lord; he has power to save, be the danger ever so great; it is his prerogative to save, when all other helps and succours fail; it is his pleasure, it is his property, it is his promise to those that are his, whose salvation is not of themselves, but of the Lord. Therefore all that have the Lord for their God, according to the tenour of the new covenant, are sure of salvation; for he that is their God is the God of salvation. (2.) That his blessing is upon his people; he not only has power to save them, but he has assured them of his kind and gracious intentions towards them. He has, in his word, pronounced a blessing upon his people; and we are bound to believe that that blessing does accordingly rest upon them, though there be not the visible effects of it. Hence we may conclude that God’s people, though they may lie under the reproaches and censures of men, are surely blessed of him, who blesses indeed, and therefore can command a blessing.
In singing this, and praying it over, we must own the satisfaction we have had in depending upon God and committing ourselves to him, and encourage ourselves, and one another to continue still hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
4. With my voice have I cried unto the Lord. He here informs us that he had never been so broken by adversity, or cast down by impious scornings, (42) as to be prevented from addressing his prayers to God And it was an infallible proof of his faith to exercise it by praying even in the midst of his distresses. Nothing is more unbecoming than sullenly to gnaw the bit with which we are bridled, and to withhold our groaning from God, (43) if, indeed we have any faith in his promise. Nor is there a redundancy of expression in these words, I have cried with my voice David distinctly mentions his voice, the better to express that how much soever the ungodly might rage against him, he was by no means struck dumb, but pronounced, in a loud and distinct voice, the name of his God; and to do this was a difficult matter under so grievous and severe a temptation. He also particularly mentions his voice, in order to show that he opposes the voice of prayer to the tumultuous outcries of those who either blame fortune or curse God, or give way to excessive complainings; those in short, who with passionate confusion pour forth their immoderate sorrow. But David’s meaning appears to me to be principally this, that amidst the blasphemies of his enemies by which they endeavored to overwhelm his faith, he was not put to silence, but rather lifted up his voice to God, whom the ungodly imagined to have become his enemy. He adds that he cried not in vain, to encourage all the godly to the like constancy. As to the expression, from the hill of his holiness or, which signifies the same things from his holy hill, it is improperly explained of heaven, as has been done by some. Heaven, I indeed confess, is often called, in other places, God’s holy palace; but here David has doubtless a reference to the ark of the covenant, which at that time stood on Mount Sion. And he expressly affirms that he was heard from thence, though he had been compelled to flee into the wilderness. The Sacred History relates, (2Sa 15:24,) that when Abiathar the priest commanded the ark to be carried by the Levites, David would not suffer it. And in this the wonderful faith of the holy man appears conspicuous. He knew that the Lord had chosen Sion to be the dwelling place of the ark, but he was, notwithstanding, willing rather to be torn from that sacred symbol of the divine presence, (which was painful to him as if his own bowels had been torn from him,) than make any innovation not sanctioned by the will of heaven. Now, he boasts, that although he was deprived of the sight of the ark, and notwithstanding the distance to which he was removed from it, God was near him to listen to his prayers. By these words he intimates that he kept a due medium, inasmuch as he neither despised the visible sign, which the Lord had appointed on account of the rudeness of the times, nor by attaching a superstitious importance to a particular place, entertained carnal conceptions of the glory of God. Thus, he did not idly scatter words which would vanish into air, as unbelievers are wont to do, who pray also but are in doubt to what place they ought to direct their speech. David turned himself directly towards the tabernacle, whence God had promised to be merciful to his servants. Hence the confidence with which he prayed; and this confidence was not without success. In our day, since there is fulfilled in Christ what was formerly shadowed forth by the figures of the law, a much easier way of approach to God is opened up for us, provided we do not knowingly and willingly wander from the way.
(42) Par les mocqueries malheureuses des meschans. — Fr. By the pitiful scornings of the wicked.
(43) D’esloigner de Dieu nos gemissemens, et les luy cacher — Fr. To withhold our groanings from God, and to conceal them from him,
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) With my voice.That is, aloud. The verbs are present, expressing the habit of the royal psalmist.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. I cried he heard me Literally, I will cry, and he will hear me. Although the vauv conversive ( ) would make the future here a past tense, yet it should be construed as really future, and the preterite form only given for intensity and assurance, as if the answer had already come. The idea is, “I will cry, and he will assuredly hear me.” But see Psa 3:6.
Out of his holy hill That is, Zion. The reference to the place whence the answer of prayer should proceed is a recognition of the ordained methods of inquiring of God, and suggests the strong churchly and pious heart of David.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 3:4 I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.
Ver. 4. I cried unto the Lord with my voice ] I prayed aloud and lustily; I roused up myself, and wrestled with God: and this was the ground of his courage and confidence. So Esther, when she had fasted and prayed, put her life in her hands, and was fearless. So Christ, when, being in an agony, he had prayed more earnestly, went and met his enemies in the face; though before his soul was heavy to the death, and he began to be out of the world, as the word signifieth, Mat 26:37 , .
And he heard me out of his holy hill
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
cried = shall cry.
heard = will answer.
holy hill. See note on Psa 2:6.
Selah. Connecting the peace which comes from prayer, as in Php 1:4, Php 1:6. See App-66.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I cried: Psa 22:2-5, Psa 34:6, Psa 50:15, Psa 66:17-19, Psa 86:3, Psa 86:4, Psa 91:15, Psa 116:1-4, Psa 130:1, Psa 130:2, Psa 138:3, Psa 142:1-3, Isa 65:24, Jer 29:12, Jer 29:13, Mat 7:7, Jam 5:13
he: Psa 34:4
his: Psa 2:6, Psa 43:3, Psa 99:9, Psa 132:13, Psa 132:14
Reciprocal: Neh 9:4 – cried Psa 3:2 – Selah Psa 4:4 – Selah Psa 5:2 – unto the Psa 6:8 – for Psa 6:9 – hath heard Psa 15:1 – holy Psa 28:1 – Unto Psa 77:1 – I cried Lam 3:56 – hast Hab 3:3 – Selah
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 3:4-5. I cried unto the Lord with my voice By prayer I commended myself to the divine protection; and he heard me out of his holy hill Out of heaven, so called Psa 15:1. I laid me down and slept Securely, casting all my cares upon God. I awaked As after a sweet and undisturbed sleep, as though no danger had been near me. It was an argument of settled courage, and shows the unspeakable advantage of a true and genuine confidence in God, that David was able, in such distressing and dangerous circumstances, thus to lie down, calmly sleep, and wake in peace. But what cannot that man do who is sustained of God, propped up by him, as the word , jesmecheni, properly signifies, by inspiring his mind with confidence and courage. Chandler. But let it be remembered, this peace and serenity were the effects of pardoning love, and not experienced by him till, in consequence of genuine repentance for his foul transgressions, he was made a partaker of forgiveness, and tasted that the Lord is gracious: see Psa 32:3-5.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
David viewed God’s preservation of him through the night, before he wrote this psalm, as a token confirmation of God’s complete deliverance from Absalom. The king had petitioned God in prayer for safety, and the Lord had answered from Mount Zion-where David had pitched a tent for the ark of the covenant (2Sa 6:17). The Lord’s answer was His protection through the night (cf. 2Sa 17:16; 2Sa 17:21-22).