Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary
Select a resource above

Psalm 62

Song of Trust in God Alone

To the leader: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

1

For God alone my soul waits in silence;

from him comes my salvation.

2

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall never be shaken.

 

3

How long will you assail a person,

will you batter your victim, all of you,

as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?

4

Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence.

They take pleasure in falsehood;

they bless with their mouths,

but inwardly they curse. Selah

 

5

For God alone my soul waits in silence,

for my hope is from him.

6

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall not be shaken.

7

On God rests my deliverance and my honor;

my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.

 

8

Trust in him at all times, O people;

pour out your heart before him;

God is a refuge for us. Selah

 

9

Those of low estate are but a breath,

those of high estate are a delusion;

in the balances they go up;

they are together lighter than a breath.

10

Put no confidence in extortion,

and set no vain hopes on robbery;

if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

 

11

Once God has spoken;

twice have I heard this:

that power belongs to God,

12

and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord.

For you repay to all

according to their work.


1. Nevertheless, my soul is silent towards God. Should the translation I have followed be adopted, the psalm is to be considered as beginning abruptly, in the usual style of compositions of an impassioned kind. 409409     “Sicuti patheticae sententiae ut plurimum defectivae sunt.” — Lat. “Comme nous scavons que les propos dits de quelque affection vehemente, le plus souvent sont imparfaits.” — Fr. Of this we have an instance in Psalm 73, where the prophet, who had been agitated with doubts, as we shall see more particularly afterwards, suddenly brings his mind to a fixed decision, and, in the way of cutting off all further subject of debate, exclaims, “Yet God is good to Israel.” And so it is, I conceive, in the psalm before us. We know that the Lord’s people cannot always reach such a measure of composure as to be wholly exempt from distraction. They would wish to receive the word of the Lord with submission, and to be dumb under his correcting hand; but inordinate affections will take possession of their minds, and break in upon that peace which they might otherwise attain to in the exercise of faith and resignation. Hence the impatience we find in many; an impatience which they give vent to in the presence of God, and which is an occasion to themselves of much trouble and disquietude. The Hebrew particle אך, ach, is often used in an exclusive sense, and has been rendered by some, only; it is also employed in an affirmative sense, and has been rendered truly, or certainly. But in order to arrive at its full meaning, we must suppose that David felt an inward struggle and opposition, which he found it necessary to check. Satan had raised a tumult in his affections, and wrought a degree of impatience in his mind, which he now curbs; and he expresses his resolution to be silent. 410410     The import of the Hebrew word is “patient silence.” The Septuagint reads, “Ουχι τῶ Θεῶ ὑποταγήσεται ἡ ψυχή μου? “Shall not my soul be subject to God?” And doubtless the Psalmist intended to say that his soul was quiet, submissive, and subject; the rebellious affections being tamed and subdued. With respect to the translation of our English Bible, “Truly my soul waiteth upon God,” Dr Adam Clarke remarks, “I do not think that the original will warrant this translation.” He reads, “Surely to God only is my soul dumb;” which he thus explains: “I am subject to God Almighty. He has a right to lay on me what He pleases; and what He lays on me is much less than I deserve; therefore am I dumb before God. The Vulgate, and, almost all the versions, have understood it in this sense: ‘Nonne Deo subjecta erit anima mea? Shall not my soul be subject to God?’” With this agree the version and interpretation of Calvin. The word implies a meek and submissive endurance of the cross. It expresses the opposite of that heat of spirit which would put us into a posture of resistance to God. The silence intended is, in short, that composed submission of the believer, in the exercise of which he acquiesces in the promises of God, gives place to his word, bows to his sovereignty, and suppresses every inward murmur of dissatisfaction. The Hebrew word דומיה, dumiyah, which I have rendered is silent, some consider to be the noun; and it is of little consequence which translation we adopt.

The particle אך, ach, in the second verse, I would render in the same way as in the first. The believer triumphs in one encounter with temptation only to enter upon another; and here David, who appeared to have emerged from his distress, shows that he had still to struggle with remaining difficulties. We meet with the same particle no fewer than six times throughout the psalm. This, too, may explain the many titles which he applies to God, each of which is to be considered as a foil by which he would ward off the attacks of the tempter. The expression in the close of the verse, I shall not be greatly moved, implies his persuasion that he might be overtaken with afflictions, (for he was well aware that he could claim no exemption from the common lot of humanity,) but his conviction, at the same time, that these would not overwhelm him, through the good help of God. We shall find him saying afterwards, in so many words, I shall not fall; perhaps because he felt, as he advanced in prayer, that he had greater boldness in despising affliction. Or the expressions may be taken as synonymous in the two places. The truth itself is unquestionable. The believer may be overthrown for a time; but as he is no sooner cast down than he is raised up again by God, he cannot properly be said to fall. He is supported by the Spirit of God, and is not therefore really prostrated and overcome.


VIEWNAME is study