For Sermon Central researchers: Over the next few days I will be posting a series of sermons on Psalms as time permits. In my personal studies I have found psalms to be richer and more thought-provoking than I had ever realized. Too often I have swept swiftly through psalms without slowing down to inquire as thoroughly as I should into the depths of meaning and feeling that are expressed by the psalmists. Upon deeper examination and reflection, I find the psalms to be highly relevant to Christians in every age. My most recent foray into the psalms led me to conduct a series of studies in the Psalms recently.
The studies were held in a class environment suitable for pauses for questions and comments, and to discuss “thought questions” where the meanings are not readily apparent, as is often the case in poetry. My notes include suggested points for such pauses. However, I developed the material with the view in mind that the series may be well used as sermons. There is an introductory sermon that describes what psalms are (whether they are in the 150-chapter book or elsewhere) and explains the approach. In brief, I only presented selected psalms that I believe to be representative of the collection in the book of Psalms. The selected psalms were presented in no particular order in the series of classes; however, I suggest that anyone using this material as a series begin with the Introductory sermon and follow it with Psalms 1 and 2 in that order, as the first two operate as a pair. Beyond that, the selected psalms may be presented in any order.
We will not look at every psalm, or every verse of the ones we do.
To get as much enjoyment as we can from our study, I will do some (but not all) of the reading from the KJV, which I believe is the most beautiful of the English bible translations. For clarity we will also use other versions, mainly ESV, which I have used for several years and the one I have come to prefer.
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Psalm 17 is titled “A prayer of David” - one of the only 2 psalms so titled (the other being Psalm 86).
On a comparison of the "titles" in the Hebrew with those in the Septuagint (the Hebrew bible in use in Jesus’ time) shows that those in the Septuagint were taken from in the Hebrew originals. The origin of the titles, then, is at least as early as the second century B.C. when the Hebrew bible was translated into Koine Greek. But more likely, the titles were very old at that time.
The question of whether they were written by the psalms’ authors and are therefore part of the inspired text can never be settled to the satisfaction of all, and it hardly matters. They are nearer in time to the writing of the Psalm than any other information we have, and nothing of importance depends on whether they are part of the inspired text.
In the absence of a reason to think otherwise, for today’s purpose we will consider David to be the author of Psalm 17.
Read Psalm 17
The psalm has two main parts:
David’s claim of innocence
Prayer for refuge
Before we leave this room today I want us to carefully consider -
What are we to take away from this Psalm?
How does it inform or direct us?
The case for the David’s innocence in vs 1-5 is summed up in v5:
“My steps have held fast to your paths; my feet have not slipped. “
Are verses 1-5 factually true?
Romans 3:23 leaps into our minds, conveniently reminding us that all have sinned – and not only have all sinned, but all have fallen short of the glory of God, which we seldom talk about. We usually refer to that passage as a proof text that no one is without sin, without considering what it is to fall short of the glory of God. But that’s a subject for another day.
But Paul hadn’t written that verse and David hadn’t read it. Nevertheless, David should have known whether he had sinned.
Then did David believe his claim – though false - was true?
That question raises another question…since the Holy Spirit is the channel through which all scripture was given, wouldn’t the Holy Spirit have prevented any scripture-writer from giving US untrue things? Perhaps we can get the answers this morning, at least with regard to Psalm 17.
But isn’t it obvious that David’s claims aren’t true? At the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia, Paul told the group that David was a man after God’s heart. But that’s not because David never sinned.
What do we know of sins that David committed?
Adultery and murder come readily to mind of course, but there were other occasions in which David unmistakably sinned:
1. Using a census to measure the strength of his army.
2 Samuel 24:1-2 ESV Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go, number Israel and Judah." So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, who was with him, "Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people."
When it was done, David realized he had sinned.
2 Samuel 24:10-14 ESV But David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly." And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, "Go and say to David, 'Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.'" So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, "Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me." Then David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man."
2. Fleeing the irrational wrath of Saul upon Jonathan’ warning, David came to Nob. (1 Samuel 21)
He lied to Ahimelech the priest:
V2 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.'
That was a lie.
David requested bread for himself and his men, and because there was no other, they were given the bread was removed from the tables of shewbread in the tabernacle (which was then at Nob).
Setting aside the tricky question of whether David and his men sinned by eating the bread from the tabernacle – which was for the priests to eat after its sacred purpose was served – unquestionably David lied to induce Ahimelech to give him the bread.
Someone may say, “If Saul is the enemy David is concerned with, all of the sins we have mentioned had not yet been committed.” That is likely true. So one suggest that this psalm was written early in David’s life – while Saul was trying to kill David – before all of the sins we know about.
But that requires us to assume that – if David’s claims in Psalm 17:1-5 are true, David actually had lived sinlessly well into his adulthood when this psalm was written. Apart from his claims in this psalm, we don’t have the information to establish that idea as a premise.
But we are not left to deduce that David had no sins when he wrote this psalm. As we shall soon see, we know for certain that David had sins, and we know enough about them to be certain that – if considered globally – David’s claims in Psalm 17:1-5 cannot be true.
If we set aside David’s sins after he became king of Israel, there are earlier sins to be accounted for, and David knew it:
Psalms 25:1-3 KJV A Psalm of David. Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
Psalms 25:7 KJV Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O LORD.
Psalms 25:11 KJV For thy name's sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.
David was acutely conscious of his own sins – including those he had committed in his youth.
Yet in Psalm 17, David offers a claim to “sinlessness” as an inducement for God to protect David from his enemies.
What are we to see in this?
David didn’t base his plea for refuge on a false claim of innocence.
If the claims of David are true at all (as I am sure they are), they are true within a frame of reference.
[Draw a picture frame on white board]
Placing scriptures in an unintended frame of reference lies at the root of much mischief Satan has spread across the Christ-worshipping world.
But I don’t want to descend into pointing out and taking smug satisfaction in the errors of others. The attitude, “I’ve got it all figured out and you’ve got it wrong” lies at the roots on the other side of the “mischief tree.”
The claims of David in vs 1-5 ARE TRUE WITH REFERENCE TO DAVID’S REFUSAL TO RETALIATE FOR THE WRONGFUL PERSECUTION HE SUFFERED FROM HIS ENEMIES; Saul, Absalom, etc.
Did David have a chance to kill Saul? Of course he did, and he declined to act on it. In this David did not sin. And that – his conduct toward his personal enemies - is the context of the Psalm. The nation of Israel’s enemies is another subject.
When we call on God for refuge, protection from enemies, or other blessings, does it strengthen our case to say such things? If David, having obviously sinned, could claim to be blameless, may we also do so on the same criterion – and place the claim within a frame of reference and not globally?
Even if we had a track record like David’s with regard to our enemies, it’s not mine to say what God would do with our request. I learned long ago from the first and second chapters of Job that far more is involved in God’s actions than I can speak for with my meager wisdom. Far be it from me to say “If we do this, God does that” because factors unknown to me may have a bearing on God’s acts.
What did David know about justification, redemption and reconciliation, and the means of erasing sin?
However much David knew – or didn’t know – about God’s plan to deal with sin, David expects his vindication to come from the right place – (v2) the presence of the Lord, which is where it matters.
David apparently had some knowledge or expectation of the removal of guilt.
Psalm 51:2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
Psalm 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Psalm 32:1-5 Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
David has a need, which he expresses in the way of a request, or group of requests.
Psalm 17:6-7 – read
Broadly, David’s plea was for steadfast love:
The words “steadfast love” appear 123 times in the psalms, and 71 times in the rest of the bible, all in the OT (ESV).
More specifically, David states his request in vs 13-14a – read
David’s prayer was for:
V7 A showing of steadfast love manifested in
refuge (v7)
“Keep me as the apple of your eye” (v8)
hide me in the shadow of your wings” (v8)
Confront his enemy (v13)
“Subdue him!” (the enemy) (v13)
“Deliver my soul” (v13)
V7 David had some adversaries (Saul, Absalom, Ahithophel).
Is he referring to Israel’s enemies, or his personal foes?
(The tone of the psalm is personal, suggesting that the enemy a personal one.)
V10-12 David characterizes his enemies (they are wicked).
Did God answer David’s prayer favorably? Let’s see what David thought:
Whoever arranged the Psalms apparently did so with an eye for context and related content. In the very next psalm, David wrote:
Psalms 18:2-6 ESV The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.
Psalms 18:16-17 ESV He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.
David was certain that there was a cause / effect direct relationship between his blamelessness and the Lord’s protection:
In Psalm 18:1-24 David seems to credit his righteousness as the reason God answered his prayer.
Psalms 18:19-24 ESV He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me. The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his rules were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me. I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt. So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
That’s what David believed.
What is our take-away from this Psalm?
The lesson is not that David was sinless. He wasn’t, we know it and he knew it.
The lesson isn’t that we must be sinless, and remind God of it, for him to grant our requests. We aren’t sinless, just as David wasn’t.
The lesson isn’t that some degree of moral and spiritual excellence, even in the presence of some sins for which we have sought forgiveness, gives us leverage in our dealings with God. More is involved than how good we are, just as it was with Job.
But there are lessons in the psalm.
David simply laid his case before God. If we are correct in our analysis, David had not sinned toward his personal enemies, and it was fair to seek divine vindication in that context, which is the context of the psalm.
Furthermore, David placed his request before the throne of heaven, not claiming that God was obligated to answer affirmatively, David’s uprightness notwithstanding. Although he hoped for the sought-for outcome, he didn’t know whether it would happen. We assume that Psalm 18 shows a favorable outcome to David’s requests in Psalm 17, the assumption resting on the belief that the psalms are arranged in a contextual and meaningful order.
When a passage of scripture seems to say something we think is false (for example, David’s seeming claim of sinlessness), we need to look at it in the light of all other scripture that deals with the same subject. If it doesn’t harmonize with the scriptures as a whole, we must examine our understanding of the scripture at hand, or other scriptures, with the view that each passage must be understood in the illuminating rays of the other scriptures - and be prepared to (1) revise our views of one or more scriptures, or (2) seek a frame of reference
How does v15 relate to the rest of the psalm?
As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
Does it have anything to do with David’s vindication, or his prayer for refuge as spelled out in vs 1-14?
Or did it burst forth unbidden from a heart filled with the love and reverence he had for God?
I’m not certain I have the final answer, but it is interesting to ask, “What does David mean by, ‘I shall be satisfied with your likeness?’”
Does David mean he longs to know God, but realizes that in this life he will only know a “likeness” of God who dwells in unapproachable light?
Or (as I rather believe) by “your likeness” is David seeking for HIMSELF to be made in the likeness of God, and with that Godlike quality he will be satisfied?
To be like God.
A noble hope.
