Psalms 3:4 Commentary

When David wrote Psalm 3 he was in this plight, for he was fleeing from Absalom his son. That was perhaps the blackest hour of all his varied history, for its details bore a strongly retributive character. He had sown to the flesh and was now reaping a perfect whirlwind of corruption.

In this conclusion they were absolutely wrong. Precisely the opposite was true. There was no help for him anywhere but in God, as the next two verses show. Jehovah was a shield of protection to him. He was also the One in whom he could make his boast, the One who would lift up his head when men sought to cast him down. To Jehovah he cried, and was heard "out of His holy hill."

We venture to say that David would never have written thus in Psalm 3, on the occasion of his flight from Absalom, if he had not previously written Psalm 51, as the outpouring of his heart in the confession of his great transgression. But having judged himself, and acknowledged his sin, he was restored to communion with God; and therefore was able to face with confidence in Him the tribulation that came on him according to God's governmental dealings.

Let us then keep short accounts with God. If we sin we have an Advocate with the Father, so our course is to judge ourselves, and confess, when we shall be restored to communion with God, and be able to accept whatever may come upon us in the way of discipline, without losing confidence in Him. Then in the midst of the trouble we may find God to be our Shield and Glory, and ultimately our Deliverer.

...and also the election of Zion, which is material in the historical course of dealings, for Zion is the holy hill. Hence David so importantly brings out all the course of them; he was the godly man and rejected king, though anointed in the midst of the ungodly...

In Psalms 3 and 4, viewed as applicable to Messiah, they are in the full consciousness of His glory and title. The godly man is set apart for Jehovah... Messiah enters into it in Spirit so as to associate His title and confidence with them... They cannot be separated from Him, nor will He from them. The body of the people are against the godly man — but he is set apart for God.

So another testifies: "I cried unto Jehovah with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill" (Ps. 3:4)... Fellow-believer, the same is our privilege! Such is "the boldness" we have towards Him, that "if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us" (1 John 5:14). This involves brokenness of our own wills, spirituality; without which our thoughts and feelings do not move in the line of His will.