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.
For he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, to keep thee in all thy ways
Psalm 91 promises an unseen escort to anyone who shelters with the Most High. The devil later quoted this verse to Jesus and cut it short, which raises the two questions below: whose protection is this, and on what terms does it hold?
Commentators read the surrounding verses as spoken to Christ in His life on earth, with heaven's resources placed at His disposal for the journey.
Moreover, the resources of heaven are available for Him throughout His earthly pathway. The angels are charged to keep Him in all His ways.
The reason for the guard is the state of the world He walked through.
So even here heaven opens to Him. He is in a hostile world, and must have an escort; and angels are charged concerning Him, to keep Him in all His ways. The world He walked through was in disorder, and its events might look random. Those blessed feet had to be kept from harm.
One writer follows the promise through the Gospel accounts. Enemies tried to kill Jesus again and again, and failed — until the cross.
He had walked a rough road. But in all His ways God had given His angels charge over Him. They had carried Him in their hands, so that He would never strike His foot against a stone. So although His enemies hated Him bitterly, they could not hurt Him. Once they led Him to the edge of the cliff their town stood on. They meant to throw Him down into the depths below. But He walked straight through the middle of them and went on His way unharmed... No hatred, from men or from demons, had been able to break through the unseen ring of angels. But for this terrible hour God withdrew that protection.
The devil urged Jesus to throw Himself down from the top of the temple. He quoted this verse aloud, but left off its last words. One writer shows what that cut did.
The tempter's aim here was to separate two things God always puts together: the end, and the way to reach it... Satan separates them here. He separates the end from the way by leaving out of the psalm he quotes the very words that make up the way to the end. What were those words? "To guard you in all your ways."
Another writer notes that Satan also skipped the next verse, for a different reason.
When Satan tempted the Lord, he said nothing about the next verse: "You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot" (v. 13). Satan knew that the lion, the cobra, the young lion and the serpent all stood for himself. No wonder he ignored such a verse!
Jesus answered with a different line of Scripture. His answer shows what it means to put God to the test.
Satan tampered with the plain written word, in its letter and in its spirit. After "to guard you" he left out "in all your ways."... And what was the Lord's answer? "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." The true Israelite does not need to put God to the test. If you suspect a thief is working for you, you may mark a coin to see whether he steals it. Am I going to set a test like that for God, to see whether He will keep His word?
The verse is not only about Christ. Writers link it to the hidden service angels keep giving to believers.
This shows the ministry of angels. They do not serve us in spiritual things, for the Spirit of God does that. They care for the daily needs of believers (Heb. 1:14), and here for the needs of the Lord Jesus Himself.
God does not tell us how that service works.
We are not told how, except that they protect us through God's ordering of everyday events. Details would open the door to the imagination of unbalanced minds. Instead we are left with this great comfort. Angels serve us, unseen and unnoticed, in the way we need, and God directs them in His love and wisdom.
The missing words carry the practical point. God promises protection along His road, not along ours.
We can always count on God's protecting hand when we are walking in the path of duty. But we may be walking a path of our own choosing. We may be seeking our own pleasure, our own interest, our own ends. Then to talk of counting on God would be wicked presumption.
- Ways — the promise carries a road with it. Angels guard you "in all your ways," and the ways in view are God's, not self-chosen ones.
- Escort — Christ walked a hostile world with a heavenly guard. Enemies could not touch Him until the appointed hour.
- Omission — Satan quoted the verse but cut the words about ways. That splits the promised end from the path to it.
- Test — Jesus refused to stage a rescue to prove God's word. Faith trusts God instead of setting traps for Him.
- Comfort — angels still serve believers in daily matters, unseen and unexplained. That comforts the obedient, and gives no cover for presumption.
They shall bear thee up in [their] hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
This verse sits inside a promise of protection so complete that it rules out even a stumble — and the devil quoted it to Jesus at the top of the temple. Whom does it address, and why did the Lord Jesus refuse to act on a promise that was truly His own?
Commentators read the words about angels as God's promise to the Messiah. It covers the smallest accident as well as the greatest danger.
In Psalm 91 a divine message addresses Messiah. It tells Him that because of His perfection in faith, His moral glories, God would be His security against all frailty, accident, hesitation, danger, or damage of every kind. Then God Himself speaks, affirming this and recognising Messiah's perfection in affection, just as the message had recognised His perfection in faith and morals.
The promise was not poetry. It held every day of Christ's life on earth — until one terrible hour.
He had walked a rough road. But in all His ways God had given His angels charge over Him. They had borne Him up in their hands, so that at no time would He dash His foot against a stone. So, though His enemies hated Him with a fierce hatred, they could not hurt Him. They led Him to the edge of the cliff their city stood on, meaning to hurl Him into the depths below. But He walked through the middle of them and went His way unharmed. The very stones they picked up to throw at Him stuck to their murderous hands while He "passed by." No malice, from men or devils, had been able to break through the unseen angelic guard. But for this terrible hour that protection was taken away. An angel brought Him help from heaven in the garden and then withdrew, and He turned to His foes and said, "This is your hour, and the power of darkness" (Luke 22:43-53).
The devil quoted this promise to Jesus, but he cut it short. The missing words change everything.
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." Satan did not quote the whole of the verse. He left out those four words "in all your ways." How crafty the enemy is. To the blessed Lord he suggests, as it were: "The Scripture is plain that this promise applies to You. Now is Your opportunity to show that it does apply to You." He suggests that He should fling Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, and so prove that the Scripture applied to Him, and so make Himself an object of great interest to men.
A jump from the temple was a way of the devil's choosing, not one of God's ways.
The Lord's answer draws the line between resting on a promise and demanding proof of it.
The Lord replies with the words of Scripture: "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." Trusting Him and counting on His gracious ways is not testing Him. The Israelites tested the LORD by questioning whether He was among them. They should have counted on His presence, His help, and His care. Jesus did not need to prove the faithfulness of God to His own word; He was sure of it and counted on it. He knew that the LORD would give His angels charge over Him, and this not outside, but to keep Him in all His ways.
The same service continues, and it is care of a particular kind.
This shows the ministry of angels. They do not serve us spiritually — the Spirit of God does that — but they care for the everyday needs of believers (Heb. 1:14), and in this case, of the Lord Jesus Himself.
Scripture says little about the method, and one writer sees a mercy in that silence.
Scripture clearly shows that angels are active on behalf of the "heirs of salvation." We are not told in what way, except that they protect us through God's providence. Giving details would only open the door to the imagination of unbalanced minds. Instead we have this great comfort. Angels serve us, unseen and unnoticed, in a way that meets our needs, and God directs them in His love and wisdom.
- Addressed — The promise speaks to the Messiah, and guarantees Him security against accident and danger of every kind.
- Proved — It held all through His life. A cliff edge, stones in angry hands: nothing could touch Him until the hour of darkness, when that protection ended.
- Twisted — Satan quoted the words but stopped short, dropping "in all your ways" and turning a promise of protection into a dare.
- Conditioned — The promise covers God's ways, not ours. Counting on His care is trust; demanding a display of it is putting Him to the test.
- Shared — The same angels now serve the heirs of salvation, unseen, in ways God has not spelled out and we need not guess.
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot.
This verse makes a startling promise to anyone who shelters in God: the deadliest creatures alive become something to walk on. Commentators read the "you" here as the Messiah first of all — so when did He tread these beasts down, and can His people stand there too?
The psalm reads like a conversation. One voice makes a claim, another answers, and the promise of verse 13 belongs to the reply.
Psalm 91 gives us an even greater variety of such dialogue between Jehovah and the godly Jewish remnant about the Messiah. In answer to Christ's reliance on Jehovah in verse 2, the godly remnant express their conviction of His security from all evil, and of the judgment of His wicked foes in verses 3-13. And Jehovah responds to His love with the assurance of love and deliverance and exaltation.
The animals are not separate dangers but one enemy in different disguises. Each disguise matches a way he works. Older translations call the last creature a "dragon", where the ESV has "serpent".
He will triumph over all the power of the devil, whether coming against Him as the lion, the adder, or the dragon. As the lion, the devil wields a destructive power over man; as the adder, he beguiles men (2 Cor. 11:3); as the dragon he persecutes (Rev. 12).
The pair covers two kinds of attack: the open charge and the hidden strike. Neither one slows His step.
But there is the power of the enemy also, "the lion and the adder" — force and craft. Both must give way to Him. He does not turn aside; He tramples them under His feet. Good is destined to win. It must be so, or God would not be the One who rules… We do not see things work out this simply, and there is plenty of room left for testing and for faith. But the rule itself is absolute, and must be.
The devil used this psalm against Jesus in the wilderness. He stopped one verse short.
Satan did not mention the next verse in his temptation of the Lord (v. 13). Of course Satan knew that the lion, the adder, the young lion and the serpent were all pictures of Satan himself, so he would rather ignore such a verse! It is a striking fact: he knows from Scripture that his end is destruction, yet he keeps on in his evil course in bold and hostile defiance of God Himself.
The picture suggests crushing strength. The way He won looks like the opposite.
In this psalm the Lord Jesus is seen simply as the One who depends on God for His protection. He never takes the offensive against the enemy, unless verse 13 is an exception. Yet even here, in treading on the young lion and the serpent, He made no display of amazing power. He defeated Satan by pointing to the Word of God (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10). Later, at the cross, "He trod all His foes beneath His feet by being trodden down."
Verse 13 is not a new idea. It answers a sentence spoken in Eden — and the closing verses of the psalm quietly supply the other half of that sentence.
Of old it had been predicted that the Seed of the woman should crush the serpent's head. In verse 13 we accordingly read of Him treading on the adder and trampling under His feet the dragon. But the prediction also stated that in doing this His own heel should be bruised. In verses 14 to 16 we can see something of what this means… He would be set on high: so He must first have been brought low. He is to know what trouble is… He is to be satisfied with long life: that implies He must come face to face with death.
The promise reaches past Christ to those who walk as He walked. The link is close communion with Him.
May we not say this? It is the one who follows the Lord's example, and walks in secret communion with Christ, who will be conscious of divine protection and will overcome the power of the devil. It makes no difference whether the devil comes in his might as a roaring "lion" seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:9), or in subtle craft as the serpent (2 Corinthians 11:3), or as the persecuting dragon (Revelation 12:3).
- Dependence — The trampling in verse 13 belongs to the One who leaned wholly on God for protection. The victory grows out of that shelter.
- Disguises — Lion, adder and dragon are one enemy in different costumes: destroying, beguiling, persecuting. Force and craft alike must give way.
- Deception — Satan quoted this psalm to Jesus but skipped verse 13. He knows his own end from Scripture, so he hides the verse that names it.
- Defeat — Christ conquered by pointing to Scripture in the wilderness and by being trodden down at the cross. He crushed the serpent's head, and His own heel was bruised.
- Descent to us — Those who walk in the same dependence, in secret communion with Christ, overcome the same enemy.