My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.
This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.
I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.
Introduction to Psalm 56
This psalm deserves an introduction to it. The circumstances of David’s life at the time of his writing this psalm, is such that if known, provides a depth to the statements David’s provides us in this psalm.
To discuss the background, we need to visit 1 Samuel 21:10-15.
1 Samuel 21:10 And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath.
David is on the run from his father-in-law, the king of Israel, and we pick up in the story right after his visit with the priest’s of Nob, where he retrieved the sword of Goliath. Goliath the Philistine, that is.
Next on the route for David was a visit Achish, the Philistine king of Gath, where he sought sanctuary from Saul. This visit with Achish should not be confused with the time he came with his army, offering an alliance to the Philistine king. At that time, Achish provided the City of Ziklag to David as a base camp for his men.
No – David was alone in this visit. He was being chased by the king of Israel, and David was not in fight mode but flight mode.
1 Samuel 21:1 Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David, trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?”
1 Samuel 21:2 And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place.
When in flight mode, if you have ever suffered through the stress and confusion associated with that frenzied state of affairs, it is easy to justify a story or two to accomplish the goal of escape. We find David falling into this justification of deceit with his visit of the city of Nob and visiting the priest Ahimilech. He led the priest to believe he was on a secret mission for the king, when in reality he was running from the king. He informed the priest that he was meeting with his band of men at a predetermined place. This most likely was a stretch of the truth, as there is no mention of any men joining with David immediately after his escape from Saul.
David’s descent into deceit continues as he enters the city of Gath, and is brought before the king of Gath. I can only assume he wanted to find refuge from Saul in the neighboring city, hopefully laying low, drawing little to no attention to himself as he sought to formulate a plan for survival. Such was not the case, for as he approached Achish, the king of Gath, his reputation of being “the king of the land” preceded him.
1 Samuel 21:11 And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land?
What the servants of the King of Gath understood is difficult to know, and it may be immaterial to our current discussion, but to be considered the “king of the land” is quite a statement. His victories overshadowed Saul’s and these accomplishments dogged David’s life, causing the jealousy of Saul and now the tension with Achish.
Could it be that even Saul’s enemies knew that he was but a paper tiger, a king with no reputation worthy of his position, a king who who is being overshadowed by a young, unknown upstart named David. It was such a common saying in Israel that the neighboring enemy cities had heard the claims. Claims that David was ten times the man Saul was.
‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”
At the mention of this news to the king of Gath, fear took greater control of David, causing him to slip even further into deceit, changing his behavior.
1 Samuel 21:12 And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
1 Samuel 21:13 So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard.
My friends, as we look into this Psalm in our next post, let us remember the situation David is in. Fear is controlling David to the point of acting insane, with spittle running down his beard. He is on the run from his own people. He has no-one with him, and apparently no where to hide. He is not the experienced strategist he is destined to, able to call on God to determine correct moves and decisions with confidence. He is entering a period of life that will consist of preparation for his kingship, through suffering and survival.
Fear tried to latch onto the greater David, for even in the garden, He asked for escape, for the cup of suffering to be taken from Him, but He did not succumb to the fear, He did not choose to take the path of flight, but stood against the massive fears running through his thoughts. He is the Greater David. the True King, rightfully so!
Though David is a great man of faith, this excerpt from his life is a reminder that we are but dust, and that the Creator is the One to look to for our safety and Security.
Hope to see you as we consider the text of the 56th psalm in our next post.
Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion.
Considering the Bible 