Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 59:4
They run and prepare themselves without [my] fault: awake to help me, and behold.
They run and prepare themselves – That is, they hasten to accomplish this; they are quick to obey the command of Saul requiring them to slay me. The word prepare refers to whatever was deemed necessary to enable them to accomplish what they had been commanded to do – arming themselves, making provision for their journey, etc.
Without my fault – That is, without anything on my part to deserve this, or to justify Saul and those employed by him in what they attempt to do. David, in all this, was conscious of innocence. In his own feelings toward Saul, and in all his public acts, he knew that he had sought only the kings welfare, and that he had been obedient to the laws.
Awake to help me – That is, arouse, as one does from sleep. See the notes at Psa 7:6. Compare Psa 35:23. The word rendered to help me, is rendered in the margin, to meet me. This is the meaning of the Hebrew. It is a prayer that God would meet him, or come to him, and aid him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. They run and prepare themselves] They leave no stone unturned that they may effect my destruction and prevent the building.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They run to and fro, first to receive Sauls commands and then to execute them with all speed and diligence.
Prepare themselves; or, dispose themselves, here and there round about my house, that they may catch me when I go out of it.
To help me, Heb. to meet me, as I come abroad and to conduct me away with safety.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4, 5. prepare, c.literally,”set themselves as in array.”
awake(Compare Psa 3:7Psa 7:6), appeals to God in Hiscovenant relation to His people (Ps9:18).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They run and prepare themselves without [my] fault,…. Or, “without sin [in me]”; or “without punishment [in them]”; so the same word is rendered, 1Sa 28:10. “They run”, in an hostile manner, “against me”, as the Syriac version adds; or like dogs up and down, about the city, to find him and kill him; see Ps 59:7. Or this may denote their readiness and swiftness to shed blood, Pr 1:16; “and prepare themselves” with weapon, with instruments of death, as the men did that were sent to kill him; and as the band of men that came with Judas to take Christ prepared themselves with swords and staves. The Targum is,
“they order or ordain war;”
which they prosecuted without any occasion of it from him, and wilt, impunity in them. Wherefore it follows,
awake to help me; or “to meet me” n; see Ge 46:29; with succour and supplies, and to deliver out of the hands of enemies. The Lord, though he neither slumbers nor sleeps, yet seems to be asleep when he does not arise to help his people, but suffers the enemy to prevail; and when he seems to take no notice of their case, but hides his eyes, and shuts them as a man asleep. Hence the following petition,
and behold; the distress the psalmist was in, and the wickedness and malice of his enemies against him.
n “in occursum meum”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Gejerus, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. Awake to hasten for my help, and behold. In using this language, he glances at the eagerness with which his enemies, as he had already said, were pressing upon him, and states his desire that God would show the same haste in extending help as they did in seeking his destruction. With the view of conciliating the divine favor, he once more calls upon God to be the witness and judge of his cause, adding, and behold The expression is one which savours at once of faith and of the infirmity of the flesh. In speaking of God, as if his eyes had been hitherto shut to the wrongs which he had suffered, and needed now for the first time to be opened for the discovery of them, he expresses himself according to the weakness of our human apprehension. On the other hand, in calling upon God to behold his cause, he shows his faith by virtually acknowledging that nothing was hid from his providential cognisance. Though David may use language of this description, suited to the infirmity of sense, we must not suppose him to have doubted before this time that his afflictions, his innocence, and his wrongs, were known to God. Now, however, he lays the whole before God for examination and decision.
He prosecutes the same prayer with still greater vehemency in the verse which succeeds. He addresses God under new titles, calling him Jehovah, God of Hosts, and the God of Israel, the first of which appellations denotes the immensity of his power, and the second the special care which he exerts over the Church, and over all his people. The manner in which the pronoun is introduced, and Thou, etc., is emphatical, denoting that it was as impossible for God to lay aside the office of a judge as to deny himself, or divest himself of his being. He calls upon him to visit all the nations: for although the cause which he now submitted was of no such universal concernment, the wider exercise of judgment would necessarily include the lesser; and on the supposition of heathens and foreigners being subjected to the judgment of God, it followed that a still more certain and heavy doom would be awarded to enemies within the pale of the Church, who persecuted the saints under the guise of brethren, and overthrew those laws which were of divine appointment. The opposition which David encountered might not embrace all nations; but if these were judicially visited by God, it was absurd to imagine that those within the Church would be the only enemies who should escape with impunity. In using these words, it is probable also that he may have been struggling with a temptation with which he was severely assailed, connected with the number of his enemies, for these did not consist merely of three or four abandoned individuals. They formed a great multitude; and he rises above them all by reflecting that God claims it as his prerogative, not only to reduce a few refractory persons to submission, but to punish the wickedness of the whole world. If the judgments of God extended to the uttermost parts of the earth, there was no reason why he should be afraid of his enemies, who, however numerous, formed but a small section of the human race. We shall shortly see, however, that the expression admits of being applied without impropriety to the Israelites, divided, as they were, into so many tribes or peoples. In the words which follow, when he deprecates the extension of God’s mercy to wicked transgressors, we must understand him as referring to the reprobate, whose sin was of a desperate character. We must also remember, what has been already observed, that in such prayers he was not influenced by mere private feelings, and these of a rancorous, distempered, and inordinate description. Not only did he know well that those of whom he speaks with such severity were already doomed to destruction, but he is here pleading the common cause of the Church, and this under the influence of the pure and well-regulated zeal of the Spirit. He therefore affords no precedent to such as resent private injuries by vending curses on those who have inflicted them.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) They run and prepare.These words might both be taken in a military sense. For run, see Psa. 18:29; Job. 15:26; Job. 16:14.
Help me.Literally, as in margin, meet. It is found in a hostile sense, and never in the sense of helping. A suggested emendation, Awake to my calling, and behold, removes the difficulty.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. They run and prepare themselves Military terms to denote the rapidity and order of their movements, and their eagerness for the combat.
Awake to help me Hebrew, to meet me. He prays that God’s movement to meet him as a protector may be more expeditious than theirs to destroy him.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 59:4. They run and prepare themselves i.e. Diligently and eagerly set about my destruction.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 59:4 They run and prepare themselves without [my] fault: awake to help me, and behold.
Ver. 4. They run and prepare themselves ] At Saul’s command, never inquiring into the cause, right or wrong; but taking his will for warrant good enough.
Awake to help me
And behold
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
run: 1Sa 19:12-24, Pro 1:16, Isa 59:7, Act 23:15, Rom 3:15
awake: Psa 5:6, Psa 35:23, Psa 44:23, Isa 51:9
help me: Heb. meet me
Reciprocal: Gen 40:15 – done 1Sa 19:11 – sent messengers Job 8:6 – he would Job 21:27 – ye wrongfully Psa 64:4 – the perfect Psa 109:3 – fought Psa 119:86 – they Hab 1:4 – for
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Psa 59:4. They run To and fro, first to receive Sauls commands, and then to execute them with all diligence; and prepare themselves With the utmost speed and fury, to do me a mischief; or, they dispose themselves, as , jeconanu, may be properly rendered. They place themselves here and there about my house, that they may catch me when I go out of it. Awake to my help Hebrew, , likraati, to meet me, as I come abroad, and to conduct me away with safety. And behold With an eye of pity; take cognizance of my case, and exert thy power for my relief.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
David again cried out for divine help. He asked Yahweh as the God of armies and the God of Israel to come to his aid. He broadened his request to include his nation that suffered similarly at the hands of hostile Gentile neighbors.