Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 13:3
Consider [and] hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the [sleep of] death;
3. Behold (Psa 10:14), instead of hiding Thy face, answer me (Psa 3:4) instead of forgetting my need.
Lighten mine eyes ] Revive and quicken me. The eyes are the index of vital energy. They ‘waste away,’ they lose their light, they ‘are darkened,’ by sickness or sorrow (Psa 6:7, Psa 38:10; Lam 5:17). They are ‘enlightened’ when strength and spirits are restored (1Sa 14:27; 1Sa 14:29; Ezr 9:8). It is the light of God’s face, the illumination of His love and favour, which is the source of life (Psa 4:6; Psa 31:16; Psa 36:9).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
3, 4. A prayer, in calmer tone.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Consider and hear me – literally, Look, hear me. God had seemed to avert his face as if he would not even look upon him Psa 13:1; and the psalmist now prays that he would look upon him – that he would regard his wants – that he would attend to his cry. So we pray to one who turns away from us as if he were not disposed to hear, and as if he cared nothing about us.
Lighten mine eyes – The allusion here is, probably, to his exhaustion, arising from trouble and despair, as if he were about to die. The sight grows dim as death approaches; and he seemed to feel that death was near. He says that unless God should interpose, the darkness would deepen, and he must die. The prayer, therefore, that God would enlighten his eyes, was a prayer that he would interpose and save him from that death which he felt was rapidly approaching.
Lest I sleep the sleep of death – literally, Lest I sleep the death; that is, in death, or, as in the common version, the sleep of death. The idea is, that death, whose approach was indicated by the dimness of vision, was fast stealing over him as a sleep, and that unless his clearness of vision were restored, it would soon end in the total darkness – the deep and profound sleep – of death. Death is often compared to sleep. See the note at 1Co 11:30; the note at Joh 11:11, Joh 11:13; 1Th 4:14; Dan 12:2. The resemblance between the two is so obvious as to have been remarked in all ages, and the comparison is found in the writings of all nations. It is only, however, in connection with Christianity that the idea has been fully carried out by the doctrine of the resurrection, for as we lie down at night with the hope of awaking to the pursuits and enjoyments of a new day, so the Christian lies down in death with the hope of awaking in the morning of the resurrection to the pursuits and enjoyments of a new and eternal day. Everywhere else death is, to the mind, a long and unbroken sleep. Compare Jer 51:39, Jer 51:57.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 13:3
Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.
Moral and spiritual death
The Psalmists cry was for a physical deliverance from mortal danger–probably from a violent death at the hands of his enemies. With little or no straining of the words they may be turned into a prayer against the peril of moral and spiritual death. Under the emblem of death, virtuous and pious souls in all ages have been wont to depict a torpor, coldness, and inactivity of the moral and spiritual faculties. We dare not affirm that spiritual death is, like physical death, a final condition.
1. Moral death. The main point in bringing up children is to give moral life, so that at maturity conscience may be in them a living power. You must not only give your child rules of conduct, you must teach him likewise to hate evil and to love goodness. For moral death in the young man or woman there is but one remedy–the opening, lightening of the eyes. Another form of moral death is discoverable in those of maturer years, whose whole morality consists in simple imitation of others by habit, and in ruling the life by the ordinary customs and opinions of ones own little circle. Hundreds and thousands of quite respectable people are destitute of moral life. The essential conditions of moral life are absent. Such temptations as may come to then, are resisted from motives of self-indulgence rather than of self-denial and self-conquest. The worship of ease and respectability has gradually brought them into a state of moral torpor, indifference, and inactivity–has brought upon them, in fact, the sleep of death. Close akin to this is another form of moral death, into which some sink who once knew the nobility and the blessedness of the moral life. They began their worldly career not only innocent, but good, longing and striving to be good; but through adverse circumstances, through the pressure of the struggle for existence, they have been led to follow the evil example of the multitude, to copy their small dishonesties and their petty deceits in the matter of business, and to cease to have scruples in doing things and conniving at things which in their early days they shrank from as wicked. They become morally weaker from day to day, and at last the sleep of death comes over their hearts and consciences, and moral activity or heroic virtue is for them no longer possible. It is forgetfulness of God that most of all brings on this dreadful torpor. For the great mass of people, as they are, I can affirm, without fear of contradiction, that a religious life, a life of earnest prayer to God, is absolutely indispensable to a life of true and lofty morality.
2. Spiritual death. Moral death is widespread, even among respectable citizens. Spiritual death is equally prevalent among professedly religious people. Torpor, indifference, and inactivity of soul towards God is, I fear, the rule rather than the exception. And this is due to ignorance rather than to baseness, to a darkness which only the light of God can dispel. Spiritual death may be brought on by such means as these: by falseness in the creed detected, but not rejected; by superstition; by an unfounded fear of God; by undue regard for the mere externals of religious observances; by ignorance of what is really essential to true religion. These may be called the intellectual agents of spiritual disease and death. But there are other agents which are practical, such as being over-engrossed in worldly pursuits, giving up regular habits of prayer, seeking too eagerly the pleasures and indulgences of the flesh. We need a knowledge of the truth, which only God can give us, and which is much more than intellectual accuracy and consistency in our creed. The sleep of death may creel, over us when exhausted by the eternal problems which we make for ourselves, or find already made in our search after God. (Charles Voysey, M. A.)
Death in the midst of life
David was under no ordinary distress of mind, arising from some adversity into which he had fallen through the instrumentality of a fellow mortal. David knew that adversity is uniformly attended with one of two results: either a serious consideration of the causes which have brought down these inflictions and a consequent turning to God, or a reckless inattention to and a hardened disregard of the dealings of Gods providence, which eventually lead to an utter disregard of Him here, and an eternal separation from His favour and presence hereafter. In the text we have three petitions–
1. That the Lord would condescend to make him the object of His most gracious consideration. He grounds his plea upon a sense of utter helplessness in the sight of God. How blessed are days of adversity, when they bring with them such distrust in ourselves, and such unshaken confidence in the protection of God!
2. That the eyes of his spiritual understanding might be lightened.
3. That he might not be permitted to sleep the sleep of death. By death the Psalmist does not exclusively mean the separation of soul and body. We are inclined to think he is praying for deliverance from that spiritual death in which all, though naturally alive, are involved, on whose heart the spirit of the living God has not wrought a saving work. (James Robertson, A. M.)
Letting in the light
A passer-by one day asked of an Irishman, whom he observed breaking a large hole in the wall of an old cellar, what he was doing. The answer of Barney was prompt, Shure, an Im lettin out the dark. We spend much time and energy in the same foolish idea; we attack the dark, instead of putting all our powers into the glorious work of letting in the light. Whether the darkness be that of uncivilised ignorance, or infidel prejudice, let us shine in the light of the glorious Gospel, and the darkness will fly. (W. Luff.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. Consider and hear me] Rather, answer me. I have prayed; I am seeking thy face I am lost without thee; I am in darkness; my life draws nigh to destruction; if I die unforgiven, I die eternally. O Lord my God, consider this; hear and answer, for thy name’s sake.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Lighten mine eyes; either,
1. Because I find my counsel insufficient, Psa 13:2, do thou enlighten my mind, and guide me by thy counsel and Spirit into the right way of obtaining thy mercy and help. So this phrase is used Psa 19:8; Eph 1:18. Or,
2. Do thou revive, and comfort, and deliver me from the darkness of death, which is ready to come upon me and to close mine eyes. Nothing is more common than to express great dangers and calamities by darkness, and great comforts and deliverances by light, as Job 15:22; 17:13; 30:26, and by an enlightening of the eyes, as Ezr 9:8. Compare Pro 15:30; 29:13.
Lest I sleep the sleep of death, i.e. lest I sink under my burden and die; for death is oft called a sleep in Scripture, as Job 3:13; 14:12; Psa 76:5; Joh 11:11.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. lighten mine eyesdim withweakness, denoting approaching death (compare 1Sa 14:27-29;Psa 6:7; Psa 38:10).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Consider [and] hear me, O Lord my God,…. The psalmist amidst all his distresses rightly applies to God by prayer, claims his interest in him as his covenant God, which still continued notwithstanding all his darkness, desertions, and afflictions; and entreats him to “consider” his affliction and trouble, and deliver him out of it; to consider his enemies, how many and mighty they were; and his own weakness his frame, that he was but dust, and unable to stand against them: or to “look” u upon his affliction, and upon him under it, with an eye of pity and compassion; to have respect to him and to his prayers, and to turn unto him, and lift up the light of his countenance upon him: and so this petition is opposed to the complaint in Ps 13:1; and he further requests that he would “hear” him; that is, so as to answer him, and that immediately, and thereby show that he had not forgotten him, but was mindful of him, of his love to him, and covenant with him;
lighten mine eyes: meaning either the eyes of his body, which might be dim and dull through a failure of the animal spirits, by reason of inward grief, outward afflictions, or for want of bodily food; which when obtained refreshes nature, cheers the animal spirits, enlightens or gives a briskness to the eyes; see 1Sa 14:27; or else the eyes of his understanding, Eph 1:18; that he might behold wondrous things in the law of God, know the things which were freely given to him of God, see more clearly his interest in him, and in the covenant of his grace, and have his soul refreshed and comforted with the light of God’s countenance; and he be better able to discern his enemies, and guard against them; and be directed to take the best method to be delivered and secured from them. The people of God are sometimes in the dark, and see no light; especially when benighted, and in sleepy frames; and it is God’s work to enlighten and quicken them;
lest I sleep [the sleep] of death; a natural death w, which is comparable to sleep, and often expressed by it; and which sense agrees with lightening the eyes of his body, as before explained; or rather the sense is, lift up the light of thy countenance, revive thy work in the midst of the years; let me see thy goodness in the land of the living, that I may not faint and sink and die away. Or it may be an eternal death is designed; for though true believers shall never die this death, yet they may be in such circumstances, as through unbelief to fear they shall. The Targum paraphrases the word thus;
“enlighten mine eyes in thy law, lest I sin, and sleep with those who are guilty of death.”
u “intuere”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “aspice”, Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius. w , Homer. Iliad. 11. v. 241. “ferreus somnus”, Virgil. Aeneid. 10. v. 745, & 12. v. 309.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(Heb.: 13:4-5) In contrast to God’s seeming to have forgotten him and to wish neither to see nor know anything of his need, he prays: (cf. Isa 63:15). In contrast to his being in perplexity what course to take and unable to help himself, he prays: , answer me, who cry for help, viz., by the fulfilment of my prayer as a real, actual answer. In contrast to the triumphing of his foe: , in order that the triumph of his enemy may not be made complete by his dying. To lighten the eyes that are dimmed with sorrow and ready to break, is equivalent to, to impart new life (Ezr 9:8), which is reflected in the fresh clear brightness of the eye (1Sa 14:27, 1Sa 14:29). The lightening light, to which points, is the light of love beaming from the divine countenance, Psa 31:17. Light, love, and life are closely allied notions in the Scriptures. He, upon whom God looks down in love, continues in life, new powers of life are imparted to him, it is not his lot to sleep the death, i.e., the sleep of death, Jer 51:39, Jer 51:57, cf. Psa 76:6. is the accusative of effect or sequence: to sleep so that the sleep becomes death (lxx ), Ew. 281, e. Such is the light of life for which he prays, in order that his foe may not be able at last to say (with accusative object, as in Jer 38:5) = , Psa 129:2, Gen 32:26, I am able for him, a match for him, I am superior to him, have gained the mastery over him. , on account of the future which follows, had better be taken as temporal ( quum) than as expressing the reason ( quod), cf. , Psa 38:17.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
3. Look upon me, answer me. As when God does not promptly afford assistance to his servants, it seems to the eye of sense that he does not behold their necessities, David, for this reason, asks God, in the first place, to look upon him, and, in the second place, to succor him. Neither of these things, it is true, is prior or posterior in respect of God; but it has been already stated in a preceding psalm, and we will have occasion afterwards frequently to repeat the statement, that the Holy Spirit purposely accommodates to our understanding the models of prayer recorded in Scripture. If David had not been persuaded that God had his eyes upon him, it would have availed him nothing to cry to God; but this persuasion was the effect of faith. In the meantime, until God actually puts forth his hand to give relief, carnal reason suggests to us that he shuts his eyes, and does not behold us. The manner of expression here employed amounts to the same thing as if he had put the mercy of God in the first place, and then added to it his assistance, because God then hears us, when, having compassion upon us, he is moved and induced to succor us. To enlighten the eyes signifies the same thing in the Hebrew language as to give the breath of life, for the rigour of life appears chiefly in the eyes. In this sense Solomon says,
“
The poor and the deceitful man meet together; the Lord lighteneth both their eyes.” (Pro 29:13)
And when Jonathan fainted for hunger, the sacred history relates that his eyes were overcast with dimness; and again, that when he had tasted of the honeycomb, his eyes were enlightened, (1Sa 14:27.) The word sleep, as it is used in this passage, is a metaphor of a similar kind, being put for death. In short, David confesses, that unless God cause the light of life to shine upon him, he will be immediately overwhelmed with the darkness of death, and that he is already as a man without life, unless God breathe into him new vigor. And certainly our confidence of life depends on this, that although the world may threaten us with a thousand deaths, yet God is possessed of numberless means of restoring us to life. (273)
(273) “ Toutesfois Dieu ha en main des moyens infohis de nous restablir ca vie.” — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Lighten.Literally, give light to my eyes that I may not go to sleep in death, i.e., go to sleep and never wake; sleep unto death, as the LXX. (Comp. for the nature of the fear, Psa. 6:5; and for the form of expression, 1Sa. 14:27; 1Sa. 14:29.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Consider me From dejection of mind David turns to prayer with a more softened and hopeful tone. “Consider;” that is, behold, look; give direct, immediate, attention.
Lighten eyes His sorrow had dimmed the lustre of his eyes, which the divine joy and salvation alone could restore.
On the figure, see 1Sa 14:27 ; 1Sa 14:29.
Sleep of death Literally, lest I shall sleep the death. This language is the strongest that the Hebrew supplies to denote that without help from God death must soon end the dreadful conflict. See Jer 51:39
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Consider, answer me, O YHWH my God:
Lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Lest my enemy say, I have prevailed against him;
Lest my adversaries rejoice when I am moved.
Yet the situation is getting desperate. He pleads for YHWH to consider his case and deal with it. He is very much aware that death may not be far away, so the situation is serious. And he prays that his enemy might not triumph over him simply because he himself is in despair and becomes careless or uncaring. He does not want him to be able to gloat over his removal. This could again well fit David’s problems with Saul. But it could also have in mind any continual dangerous threat against a ruler.
‘Consider, answer me.’ He urgently presses YHWH to look at the situation, and respond. Let him no longer forget him and hide His face from him. For it is a genuine response that he desires, not just comfort.
‘Lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.’ The light in the eye can reveal the situation of the soul. He is weary of what he is facing. He feels that life is going from him. He wants YHWH to lift him from his state of resignation and imbue him with life, (which indicates that he already feels half dead), and to bring new light to his eyes so that he is again confident and again looks for and receives YHWH’s positive response. For he does not want to die at the hand of his enemy.
Or the thought may be that he wants God’s light to shine on Him, that He wants the evidence of His presence in His activity on his behalf, so as to save him from death.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Psa 13:3. Lighten mine eyes The meaning of this phrase may perhaps be best judged of by Jonathan’s speech, 1Sa 14:29 for he, being very hungry and ready to faint, dipped his rod in an honeycomb, and ate of it; and the text saith, his eyes were enlightened; i.e. he was refreshed by it. But this enlightening of the eyes may, by an easy metaphor, be applied to the political state. When in any time of affliction, expressed frequently by darkness and gloominess, a person is relieved and refreshed, his eyes are said to be enlightened in proportion to that refreshment which hungry fainting persons receive by meat. So Ezr 9:8. The restitution, after captivity, giving the Jews a little reviving in their bondage, is styled God’s lightening their eyes. And so in this place the sadness which lay upon David was parallel to a fainting fit of hunger in the body, or to captivity in a state, which, if it were not speedily relieved, would soon end in death.
REFLECTIONS.Though cast down by affliction, while we have a throne of grace open, we never need despair. Hither David flies with his complaints and prayers.
1. He bewails his present dejected state, and expostulates with God on the length and severity of his sufferings. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Not that God’s all-comprehending mind ever forgets, or that his people especially are neglected or forsaken of him; but it is the language of unbelieving fear, by which our foolish hearts aggravate their sorrows. For ever? Every moment seems long to the afflicted, especially to those who, as the summit of their other griefs, experience darkness and desertion in their souls. How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? with this support all other evils would be tolerable; but this withdrawn, adds aggravated weight to the burden. How long shall I take counsel in my soul? uncertain how to act, and filled with anxious care; whilst, in a labyrinth of trials, no way appears to extricate myself from them, having sorrow in my heart daily.
2. In his distress, when severely thrust at, and the length of his trials almost overcoming his hopes of relief, he lifts up his heart to God. Consider, look upon my distressed case with concern for my suffering; and hear me mourn in my prayer; O Lord my God, in whom I will still trust, though thou slay me. Thou art my God, and I will never quit my plea of interest in thy regard. Note; If we can say, my God, under our deepest trials, surely there is hope of their end. The matter of his prayer is, Lighten mine eyes, dim with sorrow and fear; shine into me to dispel the clouds of unbelief; guide me in the way, that I may see the door of escape open, and be refreshed and comforted after this night of spiritual darkness, lest I sleep the sleep of death, pine away in my body, decay in my soul, or perish in my iniquities.
3. He urges the malicious pleasure that his enemies would take in his fall, and the dishonour which would consequently be cast on God. Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; for Satan triumphs in the success of his devices; and those that trouble me, my persecuting foes, rejoice when I am moved; tempted to sin, or to despair under it. Note; The world takes a malicious pleasure in the christian’s fall; and men are happy, if they can find any thing to make them hope that he is no better than themselves.
4. He expresses his humble confidence, that, amidst all he felt, God would support and comfort him. But I have trusted in thy mercy; merit I disclaim, hope or help in myself I have none; but in thee I trust; and therefore my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation: thine, for thou art able to save to the uttermost; and therefore I will encourage my soul in hope. I will sing unto the Lord, the gratitude of my heart shall speak in my joyful lips, because he hath dealt bountifully with me; he hath, for faith realises the promise, and gives present subsistence to the expected relief. Note; (1.) When we come to God in our miseries, in prayer to pour out our souls to him, he will send us away rejoicing; and, like Hannah, our countenance shall no more be sad, 1Sa 1:18. (2.) Singing of psalms is the ancient practice of God’s saints; and wherever there is found a heart to trust him, there will be a mouth to praise him.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
It is profitable when our complaints lead to prayer. That affliction, be it what it may, which leads to Jesus is blessed. Jesus himself, being in an agony, prayed more earnestly. Oh! how very sweet and sanctified is it, to trace the manhood of Jesus in his footsteps going before us. Luk 22:44 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 13:3 Consider [and] hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the [sleep of] death;
Ver. 3. Consider and hear me, O Lord my God ] He turns him to God in this peck of trouble (for they seldom come single), and pleads the covenant, “My God,” beseeching him to see and hear both at once how it fared with him, and to send him seasonable and suitable help. It were wide with the faithful if they had not their God to repair unto in distress, pouring out their souls into his blessed bosom. This they must do most earnestly, when under a cloud of desertion; as our Saviour, being in an agony, prayed more fervently, Luk 22:44 ; and as Micah, having lost his gods, set up his note, Jdg 18:24 .
Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep death
Surge, ne longus tibi somnus unde
Non times, detur (Hor. lib. 3, Oba 1:11 NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: PSALM 13:3-4
3Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4And my enemy will say, I have overcome him,
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.
Psa 13:3-4 This strophe is a prayer for God to answer his prayer questions of Psa 13:1-2.
There is a series of three imperatives (i.e., prayer requests).
1. consider (lit. look) BDB 613, KB 661, Hiphil imperative, cf. Psa 80:14; Lam 1:11; Lam 2:20; Lam 5:1
2. answer BDB 772, KB 851, Qal imperative
3. enlighten (lit. cause to shine) BDB 21, KB 24, Hiphil imperative; this may be used in the sense of
a. God answer my prayer with knowledge of your revelation (cf. Psa 6:7; Psa 19:8)
b. God deliver me from death (cf. Psa 38:10)
Also notice that NASB has lest three times (MT, BDB 814, twice).
1. lest I die
2. lest my enemy brag
3. lest my adversaries rejoice
hear = answer.
Lighten mine eyes = Revive me.
sleep the sleep of death = sleep my last sleep. Hebrew Figure of speech Polyptoton. App-6.
Psa 13:3-4
Psa 13:3-4
THE FOUR LINES OF PRAYER
“Consider and answer me, O Jehovah, my God:
Lighten mine eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Lest mine enemy say; I have prevailed against him;
Lest mine adversaries rejoice when I am removed.”
These lines tell how the distressed psalmist turned to God in prayer, the last resource and the first, of every child of God. “Take it to the Lord in prayer.” Right there is the answer, the ultimate answer, the only answer to all the problems associated with our earthly pilgrimage.
This prayer promptly phased into exclamations of rejoicing as the supplicant, conscious of the fact that indeed the Lord had heard his cry, was once more aware of the loving presence of God in his life.
It should be noted that in Psa 13:4, the psalmist’s prayer for the avoidance of death is based upon the premise that, “If he dies, his enemies will interpret his death in such a way as to mock his trust in God.
“The doctrine is taught here (in Psa 13:4) that God’s honor is bound up with the deliverance of his people. It was this very fact to which the great Jewish leader Moses appealed when God, at one time, expressed a purpose of destroying Israel, and of developing through Moses a new Chosen People. Moses pleaded with God not to do such a thing, saying:
“If thou kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness” (Num 14:15-16).
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 13:3. This is a fervent prayer for help from God. David’s eyes had become heavy from sorrow and felt the dreariness that comes from much weeping. His condition was so grievous that gloom was overshadowing him like the shades near the river of death. That is why he prayed for light to brighten his eyes.
Psa 13:4. David’s chief concern was the thought of being overcome by his enemies. He could have endured any amount of discomfort that would come in the natural course of events. The thing that he prayed to avoid was the triumph of his enemies over him.
Consider: Psa 9:13, Psa 25:19, Psa 31:7, Psa 119:153, Lam 5:1
lighten: Psa 18:28, 1Sa 14:27, 1Sa 14:29, Ezr 9:8, Luk 2:32, Rev 21:23
lest: Jer 51:39, Jer 51:57, Eph 5:14
Reciprocal: 2Ch 6:40 – my God Psa 7:1 – O Psa 17:6 – incline Psa 19:8 – enlightening Psa 21:4 – asked Psa 34:5 – and were Psa 38:16 – For I said Psa 54:2 – General Psa 76:5 – they Psa 94:17 – dwelt Pro 29:13 – Lord
Psa 13:3-5. Lighten mine eyes Because I find my own counsels insufficient, do thou enlighten my mind, and guide me by thy counsel into the right way of obtaining thy merciful help. Or, he means, Do thou revive, and comfort, and deliver me from the darkness of death, which is ready to come upon me, and to close mine eyes. Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him Namely, by my art or strength; which will reflect dishonour on thee, as if thou wert either unfaithful and unmindful of thy promises, or unable to fulfil them. Therefore prevent, or repress this their arrogance and blasphemy, and maintain thine own honour. I have trusted in thy mercy Neither their threats and boastings, nor my own dangers, shall shake my confidence in thy mercy promised to me.
2. Petition for an answer 13:3-4
David needed information and wisdom in view of his need. If he did not receive them from the Lord soon, he despaired of life. "Lightening the eyes" refers to refreshing one’s vital powers (cf. 1Sa 14:27; 1Sa 14:29; Ezr 9:8). If he died, his enemy, who was also the Lord’s enemy, since David was God’s representative, would conclude he had overcome him and would rejoice. The "sleep of death" may be a metaphor for deep depression and suffering. [Note: VanGemeren, p. 140.]
"His thought is dominated by one anxiety only, the anxiety that he might waver in his faith and lose confidence in God and so might provide for his adversaries the opportunity of gaining an easy victory [cf. Num 14:15-16]." [Note: A. Weiser, The Psalms: A Commentary, p. 163.]
"Awareness of God and the enemy is virtually the hallmark of every psalm of David; the positive and negative charge which produced the driving-force of his best years." [Note: Kidner, p. 78.]
"We do not need to engage in any ontological speculation about whether God knows this [problem] before the speech is spoken. Inside the psalm the speech proceeds on the assumption that Yahweh is now being told what Yahweh needs to know. And that, of course, is the premise on which all serious prayer operates." [Note: Brueggemann, p. 59.]
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)