Psalms 54:3 - Exposition

For strangers are risen up against me . David's designation of his foes as "strangers" has been made an argument against the trustworthiness of the "title," since the Ziphites were Israelites of the tribe of Judah ( Joshua 15:55 ). But he might well call those "strangers" who were treating him as an alien. Comp. Psalms 120:5 , where "the psalmist, heavily oppressed by his countrymen, complains that he dwelt in Mesheeh and Kedar" (Hengstenberg). And oppressors seek after my soul ; or, my life. The phrase is exactly that used in 1 Samuel 23:15 , when David was in the wilderness of Ziph, in a wood, and "saw that Saul was come out to seek his life. " They have not set God before them (comp. Psalms 86:14 ). David, on the contrary, "set the Lord always before him" ( Psalms 16:8 ).