Psalms 140:1

PSALM 140

A PRAYER FOR PROTECTION AGAINST PERSECUTORS

This, like the other psalms in this group, is from the pen of David, according to the superscription, which is as reliable as any other information that has come down to us concerning the authorship of the Psalms.

Barnes summed up the matter of authorship, writing, "This also is a psalm of David ... It bears every mark of David's style and spirit; and there can be no doubt that he was the author of it."[1]

The bitter conflict that marked David's life with all kinds of vicious and unscrupulous enemies is reflected in every line of this composition.

As for the occasion, Delitzsch noted that, "It may be explained from the circumstances of the rebellion of Absalom."[2] The mention of "evil man" in the singular (Psalms 140:1) and the "head of those that compass me about" (Psalms 140:9) have led some to view the reference in those verses to king Saul and to the choice of David's conflict with that monarch as the occasion. However, in the opinion of C. Short, "The speaker is a king in danger from crafty, violent and rebellious subjects,"[3] which, if true, would rule out the occasion of David's struggle against Saul.

Dahood writes that, "The archaic forms of the language point to an early date of composition,"[4] thus strongly favoring Davidic authorship.

The thoughts and vocabulary of David as revealed in other psalms ascribed to him are found in practically every verse here. We shall mention these verse by verse in the notes below. We reject as unprovable the speculations that interpret these likenesses to David's other psalms as mere, "Quotations and adaptations of earlier psalms,"[5] strung together by some imitator. The psalm before us has every conceivable earmark of originality, intense personal feeling, and genuine concern for the danger of threatening, unscrupulous enemies.

A strong emotional surge is evident in the psalm itself. Whereas Psalms 140:1-9 are orderly and systematically put together, the three sections each ending with "Selah," when the psalmist came to the imprecatory prayer against his enemies he poured it out like hot rocks from a volcano, ignoring the ordinary rules observed in the first nine verses. No imitator could possibly have done a thing like that!

Psalms 140:1-3

STROPHE I

"Deliver me, O Jehovah, from the evil man;

Preserve me from the violent man:

Who devise mischiefs in their heart;

Continually do they gather themselves together for war.

They have sharpened their tongue like a serpent;

Adders' poison is under their lips.

(Selah)"

"From the evil man" (Psalms 140:1). Although this has been interpreted both as "the leader,' of enemies and as "a collective" indicating many enemies, "More probably the singular form has a collective force."[6] Miller agreed with this. "`Evil men' and `violent men' (RSV) are singular forms in the Hebrew, but the plural verbs in Psalms 140:2,3 indicate that these singular forms are used in a collective sense."[7]

"Who devise mischiefs in their heart" (Psalms 140:2). "`Mischiefs' is a very suggestive and comprehensive term. It always means scheming, underhanded plotting to do some evil thing. Only two other times in the whole Bible do we find the plural 'mischiefs' as used here, in Deuteronomy 32:23 and in the Davidic Psalms 52:2."[8]

"They gather ... together for war" (Psalms 140:2). These words do not fit the times of David's conflict with Saul, referring rather to Absalom's `war' against his father David.

"They have sharpened their tongue" (Psalms 140:3). Like the word `mischiefs,' this image of a `sharp tongue' also appears in the Davidic Psalms 52:2, where we have, "tongue ... like a sharp razor." Still another Davidic Psalm (Psalms 57:4) mentions the `sharp tongue.'

"Adders' poison is under their lips" (Psalms 140:3). Paul's quotation of this as an evidence of human sinfulness (Romans 3:13) is, "The poison of asps is under their lips." The switch from "adders" to "asps" came because Paul quoted from the LXX. Both serpents were poisonous.

As DeHoff commented on these verses, "God's children who have felt the sharp tongues of the servants of Satan have no difficulty understanding this verse and knowing how David felt."[9]