Psalm 3

A psalm for David, when he fled from his son, Absalom

Lord, why are those who press me hard multiplying in number?

Many rise against me

Many say of me 

there is no salvation for him in God

~ pause ~

But, Lord, you take me into your protection 

my glory 

and the one who lifts up my head

I cried with my voice to the Lord

and he heard me from his holy mountain

~ pause ~

I rested and slept

I awoke

for the Lord will raise me up

I will not be afraid of the innumerable people who attack me on every side

Rise up, Lord 

and save me, my God

Since you have beaten all those who are foolishly my enemies

You have broken the teeth of sinners

Salvation is from the Lord

and your blessing be upon your people

A psalm for David

The passage I rested and slept; I awoke, for the Lord will raise me up lead us to see that this Psalm speaks about the person of Christ. Indeed, the Psalm seems to fit better to the events of the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord than it does to the record of how David fled from his rebellious son. For it was written about Christ’s disciples, “the sons of the bridal chamber do not fast while the bridegroom is with them” (Matt 9:15). It is then no surprise that his ‘treacherous son’ means Judas, the treacherous disciple who betrayed Him.

Christ fled from him when He left with the rest of the disciples to go to the Mount of Olives. Spiritually, Christ - the Power and Wisdom of God - abandoned Judas when the devil took up residence in his mind. As it is written, “satan entered into him” (Jn 13:27), which explains clearly that Christ had fled from him. However, Christ did not give up ground to the devil, it was on Christ’s exit that the devil moved in. This, we may suppose, was the flight mentioned here in this Psalm, so-called because it happened so quickly. As the Lord said to Judas, “what you must do, do it quickly” (Jn 13:27). Even in ordinary conversation when we cannot recall something we say, ‘it has fled my mind’, or it may be said of an expert, ’nothing flies from his mind.’ And so, truth fled from Judas’ mind when this could no longer shine its light in him.

Absalom is translated by some as ‘a father’s peace’. Yet it seems strange, given that in the histories of the kings of Israel and Judah this was a son who waged war against his father. How is Judas to be understood as ‘a father’s peace’, the betrayer of our Lord as recorded in the pages of the New Testament? If read carefully, it is seen that throughout the war with Absalom, David was at peace with his son. Even at the moment of his son’s death he was utterly distraught, saying, “My son, Absalom! My son! My son, Absalom! My son!” (2 Sam 18:33).  We also read in the New Testament how our Lord treated Judas well, even when He knew what was on his mind. How He allowed him to sit at the Last Supper. How He gave him the model of His body and blood. At the very last He accepted his kiss at the moment of betrayal. We can see clearly how Christ displayed peace to his betrayer, who later died horribly, spilling his guts. So, Absalom was called ‘a father’s peace’ because his father was at peace, even though he was not.

Lord, why are those who press me hard multiplying in number?

They had increased so much in numbers that even a disciple of Jesus could be numbered among the total of His persecutors.

Many rise against me. Many say of me: there is no salvation for him in God

It is clear that had they know that Jesus would rise from the dead they would not have killed Him. Why else would they have said, “If he is the Son of God, let him come down from the cross” and “He saved others, but he could not save himself” (Matt 17:42). And Judas would not have betrayed Him had he not been among those who said there is no salvation for him in God; he despised Christ.

But, Lord, you take me into your protection 

He says this to God, in the form of a man, for in taking manhood the Word became flesh.

my glory

And He, the man taken by the Word of God, calls God his glory. For God became one with Him. Those who are proud should learn as they are told by the Apostle Paul, even what they don’t want to hear, “For what do you have that you did not get? And, since you were given it, why do you boast as if you had not been given it?” (1 Cor 4:7).

and the one who lifts up my head

To me, this speaks of the human mind, which has often been called ‘the head of the soul’. This head was so inherent in and joined with the visible obvious of the Word become Man that it was not sidelined by such an awful humiliation as the Passion of Christ.

I cried with my voice to the Lord

This was not a bodily voice creating sound waves in the air. It was the heart’s voice, the voice which is humanly inaudible, but to God it sounds like a cry. This, we read, was how Susanna was heard (Sus 44). The Lord himself commanded that we should go to our private place, the noiseless corners of our heart, and use this voice (Matt 6:6).  However, it is not easy to pray with this voice, when there is no sound from the body. Even when we pray from or heart in silence others thoughts can come into our mind as we are praying. In this case we cannot say I cried with my voice to the Lord. This can only be said it is the soul alone which speaks to God, with nothing is the flesh or its aims, for only God hears the soul, and He hears the soul alone. Such a prayer is truly a cry because it is focussed and strong.

and he heard me from his holy mountain

The prophet Daniel refers to the Lord as a mountain when he writes, “the stone that was not hand-cut grew as big as a mountain” (Dan 2:34-35). However, this passage in the Psalm should not be taken here to be Him, unless He choose to speak in this way through me, and He then subsequently heard me from myself: His holy mountain. I think it is even plainer and less self-conscious if we are to understand it like this: He heard because of His justice. For it was in justice that He, the murdered innocent, rose again from the dead, returning to Him good for evil. In this way he provided a just dessert for Judas, His persecutor, who had repaid His good with evil. As the psalmist writes, “Your justice is like the mountains of God” (Ps 36[35]:6).

I rested and slept

Note here that the text states clearly I. It was by His own will that He went to death, just as He had said He would: “My father loves me. I lay down my life and I take it up again. No man takes it from me. I have power to lay it down. I have power to pick it up again” (John 10:17-18). He says, ‘you did not take and kill me against my will; no, I rested and slept, I awoke, for the Lord will raise me up.’ There are several places in scripture where ’sleep’ means ‘death’. The Apostle Paul writes, “I do not wish you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep” (1 Thess 4,13). When the psalmist writes I rested and slept the two verbs are the same. This is a common feature in scripture (as explained in the commentary above on Psalm 2). However, the Greek repetition ἐγὼ ἐκοιμήθην καὶ ὕπνωσα (I rested and slept) can be translated differently, for example, ‘I fell asleep and was sleeping deeply’. This can be read as, ‘fell asleep’ for the moments of dying, and ’sleeping’ as being dead. For falling asleep precedes sleeping just as waking up precedes being awake. I rested and slept can be understood better as, ‘I succumbed to my Passion, and then death followed’ then ‘I awoke, for the Lord will raise me up’. Never think that repetitions in scripture are merely figures of speech.

I awoke, for the Lord will raise me up

What is remarkable here is that the psalmist writes both in the past and the future tenses in the same sentence. He said I awoke in the past and will raise me up in the future. He states this with confidence: the rising again will come when He is raised up. Here is a prophesy of the future which is clearly linked to an event in the past, indicating that both are significant. For although prophesy concerns the knowledge of a future event, in the mind of the prophet it is already good as done. Every verb tense in scripture carries its own meaning.

I will not be afraid of the innumerable people who attack me on every side

We read in the gospels that Christ was surrounded by a huge mob who stood around Him watching as He suffered on the cross.

Rise up, Lord, and save me, my God

It is not that He calls upon God to rise up, as if God is sleeping or lying down. Often in scripture the writer asks God to do what he needs Him to do for him; not on every occasion, but the context can often fit. For God is said to speak when He speaks through a person by His gift, through the prophets and apostles or whatever messenger He chooses to speak truth. For example, the Apostle Paul writes, “Do you seek proof of Christ, who speaks in me” (2 Cor 13:3). He does not say, ‘I speak for Christ by His power in me’, no, he states clearly that it is Christ speaking by His gift.

Since you have beaten all those who are foolishly my enemies

This is not a single sentence that runs, ‘Rise up, Lord, and save me, my God since you have beaten all those who are foolishly my enemies’.  For God did not save Christ because God had already defeated Christ’s enemies. God raised Christ then God beat His enemies. The order of events is rise up which precedes the beaten. The correct way to read this is, Since you have beaten all those who are foolishly my enemies, you have broken the teeth of sinners. The teeth of sinners have been broken because God has beaten all those who oppose Christ. The punishment for these sinners is to have their teeth broken for their words which cursed the Son of God, which ate into Him; it all came to nothing; like dust. Their teeth was their cursing. The Apostle Paul speaks of these teeth, “If you bite each other, you should not be surprised if you eat each other” (Gal 5:15). 

The teeth of sinners can also mean the leaders of sinners who use their authority to take people out of Christian fellowship and to join them to ungodly people. These teeth are opposed by the Church’s teeth, leaders with the authority create new Christians from the errors of paganism and other -isms, and bring them then into the Body of Christ. The Apostle Peter was told he use his teeth to eat animals, and so to kill in pagans what they had been and to change them into what he now was (Acts 10:9-16).

The Church’s teeth are also spoken of when we read, “Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep, coming up from the bath, every one of them carrying twins, and not one of them is barren” (SoS 4:2, 6:6). These teeth are those who teach correctly, and do what they teach: “Let your deeds shine before people, so that they can bless your Father in heaven” (Matt 5:16). Here the Lord is speaking to those who act with His authority, and to those who look to them and believe that it is He who speaks and acts through these people. They have been separated from this world, passing from there into membership of the Church. The Church’s leaders are correctly said to be teeth, as white as shorn sheep. They have discarded the burdens of worldiness, they have been washed as if in a bath, and washed clean from the filth of their sins through the sacrament of baptism.

But why are they “carrying twins”? Because they fulfil the two great commandments which Christ spoke of, “On these two commandments hang all of Torah and the Prophets” (Matt 22:40). They love God with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their mind, and they love their neighbour as themself. None of them are alone, that is “barren”, for they bear much fruit for God.

This then is how we are to understand the passage you have broken the teeth of sinners: ‘You have reduced the leaders of sinners to nothing, by beating all who oppose without reason’. For we read in the gospels that it was the leaders who persecuted Christ, whereas the people of no standing honoured Him.

Salvation is from the Lord, and your blessing be upon your people

In this final sentence the psalmist tells us what to believe, and he prays for believers. When he writes Salvation is from the Lord he is speaking to people, and when he writes and your blessing be upon your people he is no longer 

talking to people, he is now speaking directly to God, asking God’s blessing on these same people who were just told Salvation is from the Lord. What else does he say? That no person can save themselves, only the Lord can save from the death caused by sin. As the Apostle Paul writes, ‘I am a wretched man. Who can save me from this bodily death? The grace of God through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 7:24-25).

Lord, do this: bless your people who look to you for salvation! 

There is another way that this Psalm can be read in order to see the person of Christ: by allowing the whole of Christ to speak. By this I mean His entire Body of which He is the Head. As the Apostle Paul writes, “You are the body of Christ, and you are its members”(1 Cor 12:27). For He is the Head of this Body, as it is written, “Instead acting as truth in love, may we increase in him in everything, who is the head, that is, Christ, from whom the entire body is united and linked” (Eph 4:15-16).  The psalmist says that this is why the Church, founded on the storms of the world’s persecutions, which continue, and Christ her Head say Lord, why are those who press me hard multiplying in number? They wish to exterminate the name ‘Christian’. They say there is no salvation for him in God for their singular hope is to destroy the Church and its global coverage, if God does not care for her. But, Lord, you take me into your protection by our being in Christ, in that Man. The Church has entered into Him by the Word “who was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14) in order that “He has made us sit together with him in heavenly places” (Eph 2:6).

Where the Head goes, so the other parts of the Body follow. As the Apostle Paul writes, ‘What shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom 8:35). It is correct then that the Church should say Lord, you take me and call Him my glory. She cannot speak of her own excellence, she speaks only of He who in His graced mercy makes her what she is. the one who lifts up my head can only be Him, “the first-born from the dead”  (Col 1:18) who ascended into heaven. 

I cried with my voice to the Lord and he heard me from his holy mountain

This is the prayer of all the saints, pungent with sweetness, that rises up in the sight of the Lord. The Church is heard from this mountain, that is, the Head; or by God’s justice which frees His elect and punishes her persecutors. The people of God can then say I rested and slept, I awoke, for the Lord will raise me up, so that they may be taken - joined - to their Head. It is said to these people, “Wake up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will take hold of you” (Eph 5:14). They are taken from being among sinners, for “they that sleep, sleep during the night” (1 Thess 5:7).

They can also say I will not be afraid of the innumerable people who attack me on every side for unbelievers really are all around us, seeking to destroy, if only they could, the name ‘Christian’. But, why should we be frightened of them? For our love burns brightly, fuelled by the blood - the oil - of the martyrs of Christ.

Rise up, Lord, and save me, my God

We, as the Body, can speak directly to the Head as the Body was saved at His Resurrection, for when He “ascended on high He led captivity captive, giving gifts to men” (Eph 4:8; Ps 67:18 LXX). The psalmist spoke this from God’s secret plans, His plans for the ripe harvest spoken about in the gospel, to be gathered in and saved by His Resurrection. The Lord of the earth gave His life for us.

Since you have beaten all those who are foolishly my enemies, you have broken the teeth of sinners

Now, when the Church rules, the enemies of Christians are sick with confusion. There cursing and their leaders come to nothing. And so, believe this, Salvation is from the Lord, and we say to You, our Lord, your blessing be upon your people.

Lord, why are those who press me hard multiplying in number?

In another way, each one of us can also say this when lusts and bad habits press on our mind, although we resist them, towards the law of sin. For despair creeps in as our bad habits accumulate, as though these vices were mocking our soul. It is as if the devil and his angels were at work through their poisonous prompting in order to make us despair. The psalmist speaks truthfully: many say of me there is no salvation for him in God. For He condescended to take on the nature of a man in Christ.

my glory

So no-one else can take this title.

and the one who lifts up my head

This may refer either to Christ, our Head, or it may refer to each of individual’s spirit, which is the head of the soul and the body. As the Apostle Paul writes, “the head of the woman is man, and the head of man is Christ” (1 Cor 11:3). However, the mind is lifted up - “with the mind I serve God” (Rom 7:25) - in order to bring down the rest of the person into perfect obedience at the resurrection of the body, then “death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor 15:54). 

I cried with my voice to the Lord

This is done with that inner and focused voice.

and he heard me from his holy mountain

This speaks about the Father and the Son. At the Father’s command the Son brought us help, and He now mediates for us so that the Father may hear us.

I rested and slept; I awoke, for the Lord will raise me up

Certainly all the faithful can say this since we each can recall the death of our sin and the gift of new life.

I will not be afraid of the innumerable people who attack me on every side

This is the universal experience of the Church at all times and in all places. In addition we each have temptations which surround us, and so we say Rise up, Lord, and save me, my God. That is: ‘make me rise up!’

Since you have beaten all those who are foolishly my enemies

This is a well planned intention of God’s purposes against the devil and his angels. They rage, not just against the entire body of Christ, but against each individual Christian.

You have broken the teeth of sinners

Each and every person has their own haters. And we all have against us the author of sins. Together their aim is to cut us off from the Body of Christ. But - Salvation is from the Lord! However, take note of this: guard yourself against pride. So must be able to say, “my soul is glued to you” (Ps 62:81 LXX).

and your blessing be upon your people

That is, upon each one of us.