Psalms 56

To the chief Musician upon Jonath-elem-recho-kim, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.

There is no cause to question the correctness of the title which assigns this psalm to the time and perils of David’s sojourn at the court of Achish. 1 Samuel 21:10. It was a bold and hazardous policy which led him to take refuge with a heathen king, an enemy of Israel, whose champion David himself had slain in single combat. But the mad fury of Saul seemed to make it necessary. His stay, however, was short. The conspiracy of the courtiers threw him into the greatest danger, and he was glad to escape with his life, though it was by strategy. At a later period King Achish gave David Ziklag, a village in the south of the Philistine territory, where he dwelt secure from Saul, and from the intrigues of the Philistine court, though exposed to the Bedouin robbers of the desert. This psalm should be studied in connexion with Psalms 34, , 142. The divisions are four, the first and third ending with a refrain. Psalms 56:1-4 give utterance to his plaintive prayer and abiding trust in God; Psalms 56:5-7 tell the wary and malicious methods of the conspirators; Psalms 56:8-11 present the true characteristic of the author, the most childlike sensibility in his appeals to God, blending with a heroic faith Psalms 56:10-11 being the refrain of Psalms 56:4, with some enlargement; Psalms 56:12-13, the profession of the vows of God, with praise for deliverance.

TITLE:

Upon Jonath-elem-recho-kim Concerning the silent dove among strangers. Furst thinks this to have been the title of an old poem, after which the psalm was to be sung; but it is better to regard it as enigmatical, denoting the subject of the psalm, that is, David himself, who was now as a silent dove in a far-off land.

When the Philistines took him “When the Philistines seized him,” or held him prisoner. So אהז , ( ahhaz,) imports. He was evidently a prisoner when he feigned himself mad, and thus obtained release. 1 Samuel 21:13.

In Gath One of their five principalities, and the native city of Goliath. It was a rich and powerful city, but the site has long been lost. Dr. J.L. Porter, however, with much probability, identifies it with the ruins of Tell-es-Safieh, on the borders of Judah and Philistia, ten miles east of Ashdod, and about as far south-east of Ekron.