Psalm 60

Psalm 60

A Psalm of

King David

A Picture of a Hill in Israel.

In Psalm 60,

we realize that

David and his fighting men

can easily tell

that God was no longer

making their way victorious.

They feel

rejected and abandoned.

They remember God's past help.

They remember when they were strong

in the Power of God.

As the leader,

David is not only emotionally dealing with it, 

but he is in charge

of a fighting force of downcast men. 

~ ~ ~

I remind you that,

God made a covenant with Israel.

If they were faithful to God,

he would give them victory in battle.

See Deuteronomy 4:1, 1 Chronicles 22:13, 2 Chronicles 24:20,

Deuteronomy 4:32.

The book of Jeremiah
is full of God speaking about this topic.
For example,
Jeremiah 11:4-5.

~ ~ ~

David recognizes that his personal sin

or the sin of the nation

has resulted

in this situation.

Yet, David knows that God will not abandon Israel forever. 

Notes to the Reader

I am highlighting

a video

from a

Jewish speaker who loves Jesus

as his Lord and Savior.

Below the video

I have written Psalm 60

in the New American Standard translation

and

included my notes among the verses.

Important Note:

The biblical introduction to Psalm 60

is

verses 1-2

in the

Speaker's

Hebrew Bible.

 - Introduction - 

This is the speaker's verse 1...

For the music director;

according to

Shushan Eduth.

A Mikhtam of David,

to teach;

The speaker's verse 2.

when he fought with Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah,

and Joab ** returned,

and killed twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.

** In Hebrew, Joab is Yoav

 J is pronounced as Y and B is often pronounced as V.

Psalm 60 

The Speaker's verse 3 is our verse 1.

God, You have rejected us. You have broken us;
You have been angry; restore us!

Rejected, or you could say -  abandoned

David is not saying that God has forever rejected or abandoned them. 

David is meaning that

in the short term

God is not helping them in battle.

And God is not helping because of David's sin.

We do not know what sin this psalm refers to.

² You have made the land quake, You have split it open;
Heal its cracks, for it sways.

Sways - falling, tottering, collapsing

³ You have made Your people experience hardship;
You have given us wine to drink that makes us stagger.

Sin sometimes has difficult consequences.

King David was the leader

of God's people

so HIS sin affected all the nation.

⁴ You have given a banner to those who fear You,

That it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah

The Bible is clear that

God wants us to have

"Fear of the Lord."

To get a fuller understanding of the phrase click here.

The proper

"Fear of the Lord"

propels us

to get serious

about God

and about what his word says.

The Fear of the Lord

changes people

so that

they give God priority.

-

When people give God priority and proper respect,

they demonstrate in their life 

The Fear of the Lord.

Nes

is Strong's Hebrew word # 5251.

Nes means miracle, sign, banner, standard, mark.

Fear of the Lord

brings

Victory into our life.

Victory is related to being in God's will.

James 4:7 tells us that

being obedient to God gives Victory.

Submit to God

Resist the devil

And

he will flee from you.

James 4:7

God wants to work in your life.

God works for the sake of his truth. 

God works for our ultimate victory.

⁵ That Your beloved may be rescued,
Save us with Your right hand, and answer us!

In this section,

I will respond to the speaker

who knows the following

but didn't make his message clear...

Most of God's promises

are for those in covenant with him.

Unsaved people do experience God's love -
but the
unsaved do not
experience God's love in the
abundant amount
that the
one who loves God will experience it.

God's love for all people

propels him to give everyone good gifts.

God says in James 1:17, 

 Every good gift and every perfect gift
is from above,
and comes down
from the
Father of lights,
with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

~ ~ ~

Every good gift in your life is a gift from God.

⁶ God has spoken in His holiness: 

“ I will triumph, I will divide up Shechem,
and measure out the
Valley of Succoth.

The word translated

triumph

is the Hebrew word

Alaz

which means triumph, rejoice, exult, jubilant

Here David is speaking

prophecy

that he will conquer new lands.

Note

At one point,

King David's kingdom was much larger than the land of Israel today.

⁷ Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim also is the helmet of My head;
Judah is My scepter.

Helmet

speaks of strength or protection.

Consider also reading Psalm 108.

Many of the verses are the same in both psalms.

Psalm 108:8 is Psalm 60:7.

More about

Judah is My scepter...

Genesis 49:10 NKJV

says,

The scepter shall not depart from Judah,

Nor a lawgiver

from between his feet,

Until Shiloh comes;

And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.

Reflection Points

Judah was one of the sons of Jacob.

David was a descendant of Judah.

Jesus is a descendant of Judah through the line of Mary.

Jesus is the ultimate ruler with the ultimate scepter.

The Scepter is a symbol of Kingship.

⁸ Moab is My washbowl;
I will throw My sandal over Edom;
Shout loud, Philistia, because of Me!”

David will defeat these groups.

Cultural Note:

in the Middle East today,

intentionally showing

the bottom of your shoe

while talking with someone

or talking about someone

is an insult.

Verses 9-12

⁹ Who will bring me into the besieged city? 
Who will lead me to Edom?

¹⁰ Have You Yourself not rejected us, God?
And will You not go out with our armies, God?

¹¹ Oh give us help against the enemy.
For rescue by man is worthless.

¹² Through God we will do valiantly.
And it is He who will trample down our enemies.

Psalm 108:10-13 NLT

Who will bring me into the fortified city?
    Who will bring me victory over Edom?
¹¹ Have you rejected us, O God?
    Will you no longer march with our armies?
¹² Oh, please help us against our enemies,
    for all human help is useless.
¹³ With God’s help we will do mighty things,
    for he will trample down our foes.

God draws David's thoughts to the promises of God. 

David remembers that it is God who gave them this land. 

David realizes that God's promises are still standing. 

For links

to all our Psalm pages - click Here 

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