Psalm 3: Enemies Surround

Enemies Surround

The ordered, predictable Psalms 1 & 2 world disappears in Psalm 3. Life can be difficult, peppered with loss, betrayal, tribulation, sickness, and much more. How do we react? Do we get angry, shout at God, and give up? Or, do we hold fast in faith and trust? Psalm 3 affords a partial answer. As we face our own personal anguish, the words of this psalm can become our own.

Modern Renditions

Psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.

This is the first psalm to reveal a historical context. It enables us to walk with David, his lament, and his subsequent deliverance. Throughout the ages, Psalm 3 awakens again and again as suffering, abuse, and betrayal abound. Its message truly is ubiquitous.

¹Yahweh, how my adversaries have increased!
Many are those who rise up against me.

Who are these foes? Maybe they are those cool kids cruelly bullying a vulnerable classmate. Or, it’s a community that sides with a respected leader against an abuse victim. How about backstabbers unjustly attacking and even destroying a former colleague. Slanderers are found among those fanning torrents of malicious gossip.

Sometimes the enemies arise from within. These can be the most pernicious, especially those that strangle a person with the shame of past failures. And finally, the victim might not be us at all. We might stand with a suffering family member or friend.

²Many there are who say of my soul, “There is no help for him in God.”

I can hear voices: “They’re getting what they deserve,” or: “it’s karma,” or: “they surely are exaggerating” or: “enough already.” People can be brutal.

Selah.

Pause! Reflect! Does God care? Will he answer?

³But you, Yahweh, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.

⁴I cry to Yahweh with my voice,
and he answers me out of his holy hill.

The scene changes. The emotion transforms from a head downcast to one lifted up. Paul writes about this as he faces prison, beatings, attacks:

Taking up the shield of the faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16).

Though Paul persecuted the Church (1 Cor 15:9) and called himself the chief of sinners, God was with him (1 Tim 1:15–16). Regardless of past sins, children of God have the right to boldly cry out to the LORD (Heb 4:16). He is not distant but near. He listens.

Selah.

Reflect again, this time with confidence.

⁵I laid myself down and slept.
I awakened; for Yahweh sustains me.

⁶I will not be afraid of tens of thousands of people
who have set themselves against me on every side.

Confidence bring peace. With peace, sleep comes easily. We rest in the LORD and though enemies abound, fear is gone.

⁷Arise, Yahweh! Save me, my God!
For you have struck all of my enemies on the cheek bone.
You have broken the teeth of the wicked.

Time for action! The psalmist shouts an ancient metaphor, “Shut them up!”

⁸Salvation belongs to Yahweh.
Your blessing be on your people.

He is our only hope. God’s blessings remain on those who trust in him.

Selah.

A final pause. Reflect!

Historically David and Eternally Jesus

The experience of Jesus was very different from that of David, but at the same time there are many similarities. Both live in this psalm.

Favor at a young age

At a young age David defeated the giant Goliath (1 Sam 17:50) and was valued by the king (1 Sam 16:21).
At a young age scholars of the day “were amazed at his (Jesus’s) understanding and his answers (Luke 2:47).”

Favor as they matured

As David matured, all Israel and Judah loved him as he “went out and came in before them (1 Sam 18:16).”
As Jesus matured he “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men (Luke 2:52).”

How quickly things change

David was betrayed by his son Absalom who “stole the hearts of the men of Israel (2 Sam 15:6).”
Jesus was betrayed by his close friend Judas (Matt 26:50). The people of his hometown even sought to throw Him headlong off a cliff (Luke 4:29). The masses welcomed Jesus as King (John 12:13) when he entered Jerusalem. Within a week. a mob repeatedly shouted, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him! (John 19:15).”

Charged as lawbreakers

David was guilty of both adultery and murder (2 Sam 11). He took no action after his son Abdon raped his half-sister Tamar (2 Sam 13:2–22). Still, David found forgiveness (2 Sam 12:13).
Unlike David, Jesus did nothing wrong, yet he was charged with blasphemy (John 10:33), and was crucified between two thieves as a lawbreaker (Matt 27:38).

Taunts and mockery

David was mocked as he fled (2 Sam 16:5–8; Ps 3:2) and despaired as he fled Jerusalem (Ps 3:1–2).
Jesus cried out “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? (Matt 27:46).” The mocking was ferocious:
Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”

Likewise the chief priests also mocking, with the scribes, the Pharisees, and the elders, said, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

The robbers who were crucified with him cast on him the same reproach. (Matt 27:39–44).

God is faithful

As David remembered God and his promises (Ps 3:3–4), he went from despair to boldness. God answered.
Jesus knew the Father was with him as he exclaimed, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit (Luke 23:46)” and “It is finished (John 19:30).”

Peace came

David slept peacefully and waited for vindication (Ps 3:5–6).
Jesus slept three days in the tomb as the forces of evil had their hour (Luke 22:53).

Praise and deliverance

David turned to praise (Ps 3:7); his kingdom was restored and his enemies were shut up.
He (God) “raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all (Eph 1:20–23).”

Concern for God’s people

David turns from his personal needs to concern for the people (Ps 3:8).
Jesus rose from the dead and declared: “Peace be to you (John 20:19).”

Conclusion

David was delivered. Jesus was resurrected. What about those who are not delivered, or even are destroyed? The enemy always attempts to separate us from our trust in God. This being said, there are no easy answers to this dilemma. Perhaps different questions can provide a bit of comfort. For example: “Will they get away with it? Is there justice?” If God is Good, I am confident we know the answers.

Thanks for Listening.

For Further Meditation

Athanasius, “letter to Marcellinus: On the Interpretation of the Psalms.”
Rashi, “On Psalms 3.”
C. Hassell Bullock, Encountering the Book of Psalms, (Baker 2001).
Joseph Galineau, The Psalms: A New Translation Singing version, (Paulist Press, 1991).
Dereck Kidner, Kidner Classic Commentaries: Psalms 1–72, (IVP Academic, 1973).
Christopher Ash, The Psalms: A Christ Centered Commentary: Psalms 1–50, Vol. 2, (Crossway, 2024).
Temper Longman III and David E. Garland, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Vol. 5, (Zondervan, 2008).

Reflections on the Psalms

Dan Harvey, author of Wrestling with Faith and Experiencing the Apocalypse, secondlooknow.com

Psalm 3: Enemies Surround

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