Psalm 3: David’s enemies

The first thing you’ll notice about Psalm 3 is the comment before verse 1. This is the first psalm “of David.”

The first two psalms didn’t have a title like this. They set the foundation for the relationship between the Lord and his people. That relationship was established by the Law of the Lord (Psalm 1), and implemented in the reign of the Lord and his anointed (Psalm 2).

Now in Psalm 3, we turn to the Lord’s Anointed. All the remaining psalms in Book 1 are “of David,” with one exception (Psalm 33).

So, are you ready for the privilege of listening in on the king’s prayers?

Psalm 3 (NIV)
A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.
¹ Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me!
² Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.”
³ But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
⁴ I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain.
⁵ I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
⁶ I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.
⁷ Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.
⁸ From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.

Okay, so what do you do with that? Most of us don’t have enemies trying to kill us. I know people who skip over psalms with negative feelings, searching for more positive vibes.

But the Psalms won’t let us escape the king’s enemies. They’re everywhere! You’ll end up skipping Psalms 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 17, 18, and so on. What’s the point? Why do we need to know about David’s many foes?

As with any Scripture, we need to know what it meant for them before we know what it means for us. Stick with it; it’s so worth it!

Psalm 3 in Israel’s story

The compilers provided two clues on how to understand this Psalm: 1) The voice is David’s. 2) The setting is David fleeing from Absalom.

You’ll read of David’s reign in 2 Samuel. David fought other nations, until the Lord gave him rest from all his enemies (2 Samuel 7:1, 9, 11). But then David discovered his enemies were among his own people, even in his own house. Absalom was David’s son:

2 Samuel 15:10, 14 (NIV)
¹⁰ Absalom sent secret messengers throughout the tribes of Israel to say, “As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpets, then say, ‘Absalom is king.’ ” …
¹⁴ David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “Come! We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom.”

So, the first time we hear David’s voice in the Psalms, the compilers refer us to that story. Why? There’s nothing specific about Absalom in the psalm.

The compilers assembled the Psalms after the exile. The kingdom had died. As the prophets kept saying, it died not because of the avarice of foreign empires, but because God’s own people rebelled against God’s sovereign authority.

Absalom’s rebellion was not an irrelevant detail from the past. It was the early indicator of what goes wrong as the family rejects the Law of the Lord (Psalm 1) and refuses the reign of the Lord and his anointed (Psalm 2). Absalom’s rebellion is at the heart of the kingdom struggle that unfolds in the Psalms.

Psalm 3 is about David’s lament as he fled from his son, but David’s grief is relevant for his people beyond his own lifetime. Psalm 3 keeps working at multiple levels, and spans the generations:

• It is the story of David’s own son taking the kingship from him, exiling him and his people from Jerusalem. It’s Absalom taking God’s people into his own power.
• It’s also the story of later enemies taking the kingship from David, exiling his people from Jerusalem. It’s Babylon taking God’s people into their empire.
• It’s what happened to Jesus too. His enemies — from God’s house — handed the King of the Jews over to their enemies to be put to death.

That’s why we can’t escape the enemies in the Psalms. Rebellion against God’s reign is the sin of the world. This is the recurring problem that must be dealt with if God is to save his people and restore his reign to the earth. It’s the heart of the whole Bible narrative.

Psalm 3 in light of Christ

When God’s anointed king (the Christ) was raised, he said:

Luke 24:44 (NIV)
“This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

Don’t skip over the Psalms that discuss enemies. Read them as the core story: the enemies of God’s reign. Pursue the question of how God is restoring his reign to earth through a son of David, his Anointed.

Psalm 3 was not predicting Jesus, his crucifixion, or his resurrection. But Jesus was the anointed king, facing the enemies of God within Israel as well as the nations, entering into the death of the kingship on behalf of his people.

So, read the Psalm with me in the light of Christ.

Psalm 3:1-2 (NIV)
¹ Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me!
² Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.”

What do you imagine people were thinking as they watched Jesus’ crucifixion? Peter? Mary? The soldiers? The leaders of his own people?  (Hint: Luke 23:35.)

Psalm 3:7-8 (NIV)
⁷ Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. ⁸ From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.

David’s prayer was answered centuries later when God raised his anointed from the dead. That’s when God broke the teeth of the powers that held God’s people captive. The resurrection of the Son of God unseated the power of death that had been destroying humanity since Abel.

The resurrection of God’s Christ is how God has brought deliverance for the earth. The blessing of God’s reign over his people was restored as the resurrected son ascended the throne.

Does that approach make Psalm 3 relevant for us? What do you think?

Adapted from “Formed in God’s Story: Psalms.” Full notes and podcasts here.

Related posts

• Of David (Psalms)
• The Lord’s Law (Psalm 1)
• The Lord’s reign (Psalm 2)