Because *thou* hast made Jehovah, my refuge, the Most High, thy dwelling-place,
Verse 9 marks a turn in the psalm. The voice changes. Someone now speaks to another, pointing to the Most High as that person's dwelling. Who is speaking? Who is he speaking to? And what does it mean to make God a home, not just a refuge? Commentators work through all three questions.
The psalm reads like a conversation. After the opening statement and Messiah's own answer, a fresh speaker joins at verse 9 and addresses Him.
In verse 9 I understand Israel speaks. That is, the Spirit personifies Israel addressing Messiah: "Because you have taken Jehovah, who is my refuge, … as your habitation," almighty power shall guard you. This continues to verse 13. In verse 14 Jehovah Himself speaks of Him as the One who has set His love on Him.
Commentators differ on who speaks. Another writer points to a different translation of the first clause. On that reading, the speaker of verse 2 returns here:
The psalm brings in two speakers. One speaks in verse 2. He speaks again in the first clause of verse 9, translated by the Revised Version, "For You, Jehovah, are my refuge." All the rest, up to and including verse 13, is spoken by the other.
The psalm gathers several names of God. One writer reads its opening lines as a riddle with an answer. Where the ESV says "the LORD," the older translation quoted here says "Jehovah."
In Psalm 91 we get all these names of God (except Father, a name God had not yet revealed) grouped together in their proper connection. "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of Jehovah, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God [Elohim]; in Him will I trust." That is, whoever has the secret of who the Most High is will have the blessings of Abraham's God. Jehovah is the God of the Jews. So Messiah, in the second verse, answers, as it were, the riddle set in the first… In verses 3-8 the Spirit declares what follows from this (verse 9 is the Jewish people speaking). Jehovah puts His seal on it in verses 14-16.
The older wording, "habitation," means the place where a person lives, not a shelter used in a crisis. The promise attached to it even speaks of a tent.
He has made Jehovah — the refuge of His saints, the Most High — His habitation. Heaven opens toward Him as a result. Notice the words here for the first time, "my refuge." … And He has made Him His habitation. He did not claim to do it, nor work at it, but did it — He lived in God as a new and perfect Man… Notice the word "tent." With all the perfection of Manhood that is His, He is still a stranger and pilgrim on the earth.
Satan used the next two verses of this psalm against Christ Himself.
And now notice those words: "For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone" (Ps. 91:11-12). Satan did not quote the whole of the verse. He left out those four words "in all your ways." How crafty the enemy is.
Darby points to what Christ chose instead of the promised rescue.
For the present, Christ gave up the claim to deliverance that flows from this promise, choosing perfect obedience and trusting His Father completely. Satan would have used it to take Him out of the path of obedience, into distrust and His own will — in vain, as we know. Yet He who walked that path of submission still made good all the fruit of this promise for those who follow Him in the same trust in Jehovah on earth.
So how does a person live in that dwelling?
What then should we understand by "dwelling in the secret place"? Every voice in the Psalm attaches such blessing to it. To use New Testament language, does it not speak of the inner life of secret communion with Divine Persons? … To have part with Christ, and abide in Him, is to live in communion with Him where He is. To live such a life is to dwell "in the secret place."
Even what comes against a believer serves God's will.
God, being loved and trusted, appears on behalf of His own (Rom. 8:28). The creature, which lines up against the sufferer, obeys the will of the Almighty Lover of his soul. All this turns to confidence and security. The soul that dwells in His secret is safe. No plague can reach that dwelling.
- Riddle — The psalm sets a puzzle. Whoever knows the secret of who the Most High is receives all the blessings of Abraham's God.
- Answer — Messiah solves it in verse 2 by taking Jehovah, the God of Israel, as His refuge.
- Echo — Verse 9 answers back and speaks to Him. Because you made the Most High your home, almighty power guards you.
- Habitation — Not shelter claimed in a crisis, but a home lived in. And lived in as a pilgrim, since the promise speaks of a tent.
- Warning — Satan quoted the next verses to Christ but dropped "in all your ways." Christ chose obedience over self-chosen rescue.
There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy tent.
Psalm 91:10 is the second half of a sentence: verse 9 sets the condition, and this verse states what follows from it. Satan quoted this passage to Christ, and godly people have died of plague while trusting it — so who may claim the promise, and how?
The safety here is not a charm against trouble. It follows from the line before, where a man makes the Most High his home. One writer traces the logic:
The Lord Jesus lived in a hostile world, yet He made God His refuge — in fact His permanent dwelling place (v. 9). So no evil could fall on Him, and no plague could even come near. To come near Him, it would first have to come near God, His dwelling place (v. 10).
Another writer explains what that dwelling means:
In our New Testament language, does it not speak of the inner life of secret communion lived with the Divine Persons? Is this not the life the Lord points to when He says, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me," and again, "Abide in Me"? … To have part with Christ, and abide in Him, is to live in communion with Him where He is. To live such a life is to dwell "in the secret place."
The verse says "tent," not house. That one word changes the picture of the protected man:
So evil has no hold on Him, and no opening against Him: "no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent." Notice the word "tent": for all the perfection of Manhood that is His, He is still a stranger and pilgrim on the earth… His home is in God, yet He is in a world that is not His own.
Verses 9 to 13 read as the witness of a faithful few who had proved God for themselves:
As we understand it, this is the voice of the godly remnant, borne out in their testimony and their experience with God… It is the voice of those who have known this trust in God for themselves, and who can now bear witness about the Son of God. At the start of Luke, Zacharias and Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary, Simeon and Anna each bear witness to the greatness and the majesty of the LORD.
The devil quoted the next two verses to Jesus in the wilderness — but not all of them:
Satan did not quote the whole of the verse. He left out those four words "in all your ways." Ah, how crafty is the enemy. To the blessed Lord he as it were suggests: "The scripture is plain that that promise applies to You. Now is Your opportunity to show that it does apply to You."
Christ had every right to the promise, yet He gave it up:
For the present, Christ gave up the claim to deliverance that flows from this, and chose perfect obedience instead, trusting His Father without reserve. How He did so belongs to deeper views of the purposes of God and of the paths of the blessed One Himself. Satan would have used this promise to take Him out of the path of obedience, and into distrust and His own will… Yet He who walked that perfect path of submission has still made good all the fruit of everything here, for those who walk after Him in this same trust in the LORD on earth.
after_note: DISCUSS
Commentators differ here. One applies the verse to the Christian now:
The clearer and more important bearing of this precious Psalm, though, is on the Christian now… Loved and trusted, God acts for His own (Rom. 8:28)… So the soul that dwells in His secret place is safe. No plague can reach that dwelling.
Others warn against treating the psalm as a promise of safety here and now. One backs the warning with a story:
A dear saint of God I knew, now at rest with Him, took up the providential blessings of Psalm 91. When the plague was raging around him in the East, he felt sure it would not come near his house. The plague seemed to leave for a time without touching him. But it soon came back and took his wife… We are not to look for rescue out of troubled circumstances. We are to learn our God as the God of resurrection in the middle of death.
- Dwell — the promise belongs to the one who has made God his home. Nothing can reach him without first reaching God.
- Secret — that home is the inner life of communion with Christ, His own "Abide in Me" — not a formula to recite in danger.
- Tent — the protected man lives in a tent. He is a pilgrim, at home in God while the world around him is not his own.
- Ways — Satan cut "in all your ways" out of his quotation. The promise guards the obedient path, and Christ gave up deliverance rather than step off it.
- Difference — commentators differ about claiming it today. One says the soul that dwells in God is safe now. Another warns that expecting escape misleads, and points to knowing God as the God of resurrection in the middle of death.