Psalm 59: a prayer for protection
Clearly written by David, this psalm of prayer begs God for protection from killers sent by Saul to prowl around David’s house and dispatch him if possible.
If these men were indeed sent by Saul, what I find interesting is that there’s no mention of him in the psalm. Instead of focusing on the originator of the problem, David focuses on his tools. It’s puzzling, until we think about David’s behavior when Saul fell asleep in the mountain cave. David had a very good opportunity to get rid of him once and for all, but instead, he chose to simply cut a piece of his cape. What were his words to his followers, who urged him to kill Saul? I’m paraphrasing, but he said something like this: “God forbid I touch God’s anointed!” We see a clearcut differentiation (in David’s mind) between someone who’s been anointed by God, and someone who’s just a regular human being. Why?
His behavior begs the question of whether that’s self-preservation, or true respect for God. After all, he’d been anointed as well. While I think it’s a mix of both, I do believe, given his behavior in connected situations, that he truly believed those anointed, or set apart by God, were to be respected, as they embodied God’s living will for his people. This belief was shared by most Israelites as well. All we need do to confirm this is to think back about what happened at Solomon’s anointing and coronation. Even though his elder brother Adonijah wanted to claim that right and staged a pseudo-coronation, as soon as people heard Solomon had been anointed by the prophet Nathan and Zadok the priest, they abandoned Adonijah.
This sheds further light on this psalm, because we understand how it is that David dares to instruct God about these wicked men’s punishment in verse 11, or dares tell God to “wake up” in verse 4. Overall, there’s a sense of certainty that pervades this psalm. I don’t get a sense of despair when I read it. David rests sure in the knowledge that he’s anointed, and that God will preserve him, and it shows.
