A prayer of David
17
📚Hear a righteous cause, O LORD.
Be attentive to my cry,
give ear to my prayer,
that does not come
out of deceitful lips.
2 📚Let my vindication come
from your presence.
Let your eyes look
at the things that are right.
17:1-2 Once again David prays in a time of great danger – vs 9,11,12. It is clear too that his enemies had brought unjust charges against him – vs 1,2. So David cried to God for two things – vindication (v 2), and preservation (vs 7,9,13). The event in David’s history that fits this psalm seems to be Saul’s pursuit of him in the desert areas of southern Israel. See 1 Sam 23:24—24:22. At that time David was sure of his righteous conduct, and wanted the Lord to judge between him and Saul – 1 Sam 24:11-12, 15.⚜
3 📚You have tested my heart.
You have visited me
in the night.
You have tried me,
and will find nothing.
I am determined that
my mouth will not
transgress.
17:3 David does not mean that he is sinless and has no fallen nature (note at 18:23). He means that in the charges his enemies made against him there was no truth at all. He had not sinned against his persecutors either in word or in deed – v 5. There is no spirit of self-righteousness here. David is merely conscious of his integrity (compare Job 31; Acts 23:1; 1 Cor 4:4).⚜
4 📚Concerning the works
of men,
by the word of your lips
I have kept myself from
the paths of the destroyer.
5 📚Uphold my steps
in your paths,
so that my footsteps
do not slip.
6 📚I have called to you,
for you will hear me, O God.
Bow down your ear to me;
hear my words.
17:6 David’s conscience was clear. This gave him great confidence in prayer. See Ps 66:18; 1 John 3:21-22. If we live like the wicked we should not expect God to reward us as if we were righteous.⚜
7 📚Show your marvellous
loving kindness,
O you who save by your right hand
those who put their trust
in you from those
who rise up against them.
17:7 Here we have a long and precious title given to God. Let us use it when Satan attacks.⚜
8 📚Keep me as the apple
of your eye 📖.
Hide me under the shadow
of your wings 📖,
9 📚From the wicked
who oppress me,
from my deadly enemies,
who surround me.
10 📚They have closed up
their fat hearts.
With their mouths
they speak proudly.
11 📚They have now surrounded us
in our steps.
They have set their eyes
bowing down to the earth
12 📚Like a lion that is
greedy for its prey,
and like a young lion
lurking in secret places.
13 📚Arise, O LORD! Disappoint him!
Hurl him down!
By your sword deliver
my soul from the wicked,
17:13 Note at Ps 35:8.⚜
14 📚By your hand from men,
O LORD,
from men of the world 📖
who have their portion
in this life,
and whose belly you fill with your
hidden treasure.
They are satisfied
with children,
and leave the rest of their
possessions to their babies.
15 📚As for me, I will see
your face in righteousness;
I will be satisfied when
I awake 📖 with your likeness.
17:15 David contrasts his enemies with himself – they are wicked, he is righteous; they see their prosperity, he will see God’s face; they are satisfied with things of this world, he will be satisfied when he rises to experience God’s likeness. Compare Matt 5:8; Rom 8:29; 1 John 3:2-3; Rev 22:4.⚜