Psalms 56:4

56:1-7 Be merciful unto me, O God. This petition includes all the good for which we come to throne of grace. If we obtain mercy there, we need no more to make us happy. It implies likewise our best plea, not our merit, but God's mercy, his free, rich mercy. We may flee to, and trust the mercy of God, when surrounded on all sides by difficulties and dangers. His enemies were too hard for him, if God did not help him. He resolves to make God's promises the matter of his praises, and so we have reason to make them. As we must not trust an arm of flesh when engaged for us, so we must not be afraid of an arm of flesh when stretched out against us. The sin of sinners will never be their security. Who knows the power of God's anger; how high it can reach, how forcibly it can strike?

In God I will praise his word,.... Or praise him for his words for the whole Scripture that was then in being; for those testimonies which were David's counsellors in times of difficulty and distress; and particularly for some word of promise made unto him, he was persuaded would be fulfilled, and in which he gloried and made his boast of, and on which his faith and hope were built; and this he did, and determined to do, in the strength of the Lord, and by the assistance of his grace; in God I have put my trust; either in times past, and was not ashamed or confounded; or now, as he determined he would in Psalm 56:3; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me: or continue to fear any or all of my enemies; though I have been afraid of them, I will shake off these fears, trusting in the Lord, and depending on his word. Or, "what can flesh do unto me?" (t) which is as grass, and the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field. Poor, frail, mortal man! what can he do against me, if God be for me? And therefore why should I fear? Men may contrive schemes, form weapons, and attempt many things against the saints, but can execute nothing, except permitted by the Lord; and the utmost they can do, when suffered, is to kill the body. (t) So Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis.

(4) In God. —This verse, which forms the refrain ( Psalm 56:11-12 are wrongly separated), is as it stands hardly intelligible, and the text is rendered suspicious by the fact that the LXX. read “my words,” instead of “his word,” and by the omission of the suffix altogether in Psalm 56:11 , where the first clause of the refrain is doubled. The obvious treatment of the verse is to take the construction as in Psalm 44:8 , “I praise God with my word,” i.e., in spite of all my enemies I find words to praise God. I will not.—Rather, I fear not What can flesh do?

Verse 4. ? In God I will praise his word; rather, through God; i.e. "with God's help, by his grace," I am ready to praise whatever sentence he pronounces, whatever flat goes forth from him. In God I have put my trust (so again, ver. 11). This is at once the refrain and the keynote of the psalm. In all dangers, in all troubles, whatever happens, whatever seems to be impending, the psalmist will never relinquish his trust in the Almighty. I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. This is the true martyr spirit. Compare our Lord's words, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell" ( Matthew 10:28 ). Psalm 56:4

In God I will praise his word: the sense is, either, 1. I will praise or boast in the Lord’s word, or the Lord for his word. Or, 2. With or by the Lord (i.e. by his favour or help) I will praise his word. Or rather, 3. This, as I humbly conceive: There are many things to be praised and celebrated in God, his power and wisdom, &c.; but amongst all, and above all, I shall at this time praise him for his word, which he hath magnified above all his name, as is said, Psalm 138:2 , even for his promises of protection and deliverance made to his people in all their exigencies, and particularly and especially for that promise of the kingdom made to me; for which I will now praise him, because I am as sure of its accomplishment as if I had it already in mine hand. Flesh; infirm and mortal men, altogether unable to oppose thy infinite Majesty; called flesh by way of contempt, as Psalm 78:39 Isaiah 31:3 Jeremiah 17:5 .

4 . in God I will praise his word ] In God’s strength, by the help of His grace, I shall be enabled to praise His words of promise ( Psalm 130:5 ). Cp. Psalm 44:8 . This rendering is preferable to the possible alternative, In God do I make my boast, even in his word . in God &c.] R.V., In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid; what can flesh do unto me? Flesh , synonymous with man in Psalm 56:11 , denotes man on the material side of his nature, as a frail and perishable being, contrasted with God the Eternal and Almighty. Cp. Psalm 78:39 ; Genesis 6:3 ; Job 10:4 ; Isaiah 40:5-6 ; Jeremiah 17:5 .

In God I will praise his word - The meaning of this seems to be, "In reference to God - or, in my trust on God - I will especially have respect to his "word" - his gracious promise; I will make that the special object of my praise. In dwelling in my own mind on the divine perfections; in finding there materials for praise, I will have special respect to his revealed truth - to what he has "spoken" as an encouragement to me. I will be thankful that he "has" spoken, and that he has given me assurances on which I may rely in the times of danger." The idea is, that he would "always" find in God that which was the ground or foundation for praise; and that that which called for special praise in meditating on the divine character, was the word or promise which God had made to his people. I will not fear what flesh can do unto me - What man can do to me. Compare the notes at Matthew 10:28 (notes); Romans 8:31-34 (notes); Hebrews 13:6 (notes).

אלהים and אנושׁ, Psalm 56:2 ( Psalm 9:20 ; Psalm 10:18 ), are antitheses: over against God, the majestic One, men are feeble beings. Their rebellion against the counsel of God is ineffective madness. If the poet has God's favour on his side, then he will face these pigmies that behave as though they were giants, who fight against him מרום, moving on high, i.e., proudly (cf. ממּרום, Psalm 73:8 ), in the invincible might of God. שׁאף, inhiare, as in Psalm 57:4 ; לחם, as in Psalm 35:1 , with ל like אל, e.g., in Jeremiah 1:19 . Thus, then, he does not fear; in the day when (Ges. ֗123, 3, b) he might well be afraid (conjunctive future, as e.g., in Joshua 9:27 ), he clings trustfully to (אל as in Psalm 4:6 , and frequently, Proverbs 3:5 ) his God, so that fear cannot come near him. He has the word of His promise on his side (דּברו as e.g., Psalm 130:5 ); בּאלהים, through God will he praise this His word, inasmuch as it is gloriously verified in him. Hupfeld thus correctly interprets it; whereas others in part render it "in Elohim do I praise His word," in part (and the form of this favourite expression in Psalm 56:11 is opposed to it): "Elohim do I celebrate, His word." Hitzig, however, renders it: "Of God do I boast in matter," i.e., in the present affair; which is most chillingly prosaic in connection with an awkward brevity of language.

The exposition is here confused by Psalm 10:3 and Psalm 44:9 . הלּל does not by any means signify gloriari in this passage, but celebrare; and באלהים is not intended in any other sense than that in Psalm 60:14 . בּטח בּ is equivalent to the New Testament phrase πιστεύειν ἐν. לא אירא is a circumstantial clause with a finite verb, as is customary in connection with לא, Psalm 35:8 , Job 29:24 , and עב, Proverbs 19:23 .

11 . make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers ] R.V. make confession (marg. Or, give thanks ) unto the Lord, the God of your fathers . ‘Make confession’. Literally ‘give thanksgiving or praise’. The substantive is connected with the verb which in its reflexive form means, as in Ezra 10:1 , ‘made confession’. It is found elsewhere in these books ( Nehemiah 12:27 ; Nehemiah 12:31 ; Nehemiah 12:38-40 ; 2 Chronicles 29:31 ; 2 Chronicles 33:16 ) with the meaning of ‘thanksgiving’, which is the general sense of the word in other books ( Leviticus 7:12-13 ; Leviticus 7:15 ; Psalm 26:7 ; Psalm 42:4 ; Psalm 50:14 ; Psalm 50:23 ; Psalm 56:12 ; Psalm 100:4 ; Psalm 107:22 ; Psalm 116:17 ; Psalm 147:7 ; Isaiah 51:3 ; Jeremiah 17:26 ; Jeremiah 30:19 ; Jeremiah 33:11 ; Amos 4:5 ; Jonah 2:9 ). The only possible exception is Joshua 7:19 ‘My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and make confession (marg. Or, give praise ) unto him’. There, as in this passage, ‘make confession’ is a good paraphrase rather than a strict translation. ‘Praise’ was given to God by the utterance of confession. The penitent who renounced his sin and threw himself upon the mercies of God rendered that true praise of trust and love, from which ‘confession’ springs. Cf. Psalm 50:23 ‘Whoso offereth the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifieth me’. On ‘the Lord, the God of your fathers’, see note on Ezra 8:28 . and do his pleasure ] The words of praise to be verified in action.