Psalms 63:9

DAVID PROPHESIES THE END OF THE REVOLT

"But those that seek my soul to destroy it,

Shall go into the lower parts of the earth.

They shall be given over to the power of the sword:

They shall be a portion for the foxes.

But the king shall rejoice in God:

Every one that sweareth by him shall glory;

For the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped."

"Those ... shall go into the lower parts of the earth" (Psalms 63:9). This is merely an Old Testament manner of speaking of the grave. In Ephesians 4:9, Paul referred to the grave of Jesus as "the lower parts of the earth." The meaning here is simply that the enemies of the king shall die.

"They shall be given over to the power of the sword" (Psalms 63:10). Twenty thousand of Absalom's forces were slain by the sword in the battle that ended the rebellion, which was fought in the forest of Ephraim (2 Samuel 18:7f). But that was far from all of it. "The forest devoured more people that day than the sword." Thus, more than twenty-thousand more were numbered among the slain.

"They shall be a portion for the foxes" (Psalms 63:10). "The word here should be translated `jackals,' as that is the meaning of it,"[11] as is indicated by the alternative reading in the American Standard Version margin.

What a remarkable fulfilment of David's prophecy came to pass. With no less than forty-thousand of Absalom's partisans to be buried, there was no earthly way that such a feat could have been accomplished. Thousands were left where they fell to become the food of beasts. "The jackals are the scavengers of the East. They prey on dead bodies, and assemble in troops on battlefields to feast on the slain."[12]

Kidner noted that, "The jackals are the final scavengers, consuming the remains of the kill rejected by larger beasts. The wicked are, in other words, the very leavings of mankind."[13]

Evaluated by any criteria known, David's prophecies here are among the most remarkable in the Bible. Never was a rebellion snuffed out as suddenly and thoroughly as was Absalom's, several facets of which were outlined in the prophecies.

1. The enemies went down to death. Absalom and Ahithophel, the leaders, led the way.

2. Forty-thousand of the rebel army died in the forest of Ephraim.

3. The bodies of the dead provided food for the wild beasts.

4. Many were left unburied, for there was plenty left for the jackals.

5. The king rejoiced in God, throne restored, enemies all dead; back at home.

None of these details are missing from the prophecy.