Psalms 3:2 - Exposition

Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. When Absalom first raised the standard of revolt, there were no doubt many who looked to see some signal Divine interposition on behalf of the anointed king and against the rebel; but when David fled, and with so few followers ( 2 Samuel 15:18 ), and in his flight spoke so doubtfully of his prospects ( 2 Samuel 15:26 ), and when no help seemed to arise from any quarter, then we can well understand that men's opinions changed, and they came to think that David was God-forsaken, and would succumb to his unnatural foe (comp. Psalms 71:10 , Psalms 71:11 ). Partisans of Absalom would see in David's expulsion from his capital a Divine Nemesis ( 2 Samuel 16:8 ), and regard it as quite natural that God should not help him. Selah . There is no traditional explanation of this word. The LXX . rendered it by διάψαλμα which is said to mean "a change of the musical tone;" but it is against this explanation that selah occurs sometimes, as here, at the end of a psalm, where no change was possible. Other explanations rest wholly on conjecture, and are valueless.