91
📚He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide under
the shadow of the Almighty.
2 📚I will say of the LORD,
“He is my refuge 📖 and
my fortress,
my God; in him I will trust”.
3 📚Surely he will deliver you
from the snare of the fowler,
and from the deadly
plague.
91:3 In this and the following verses the author gives a number of dangers from which God’s protection is needed. “Snare” is the first. The believer is like a bird which the hunter tries to catch. Satan will lay snares for his feet. By “plague” the author may have had in mind the fearful plagues in Egypt and the safety of Israel through them all.⚜
4 📚He will cover you with
his feathers,
and under his wings 📖 you will trust.
His truth will be
your shield 📖 and buckler 📖.
5 📚You will not be afraid
of the terror at night,
or of the arrow
that flies by day,
6 📚Or of the plague
that walks in darkness,
or for the destruction
that lays waste at noon.
91:5-6 God is just as capable of protecting His people from enemy attacks at night as He is from dangers by day. In all circumstances the believer can have peace of mind and a complete sense of security.⚜
7 📚A thousand will fall at your side,
and ten thousand at your
right hand,
but it will not come
near you.
91:7 The believer sheltered by God is indestructible. As long as it is God’s will for him to live he cannot die. Nothing can touch him except what God in His wisdom decides is for his good.⚜
8 📚Only with your eyes you will look
and see the reward of the wicked.
9 📚Because you have made the LORD,
who is my refuge,
the Most High, your habitation,
91:9 The great promises surrounding this verse are only to those who experience its truth. See Ps 90:1.⚜
10 📚No evil will befall you,
no disaster will come near
your dwelling.
11 📚For he will give his angels orders
concerning you,
to protect you in all your ways.
12 📚They will lift you up in
their hands,
so that you do not dash your foot
against a stone.
91:11-12 Satan partly quoted these verses in the temptation of Christ (Matt 4:6). The promise of angelic help is not a mere poetic figure. The angels are real and powerful beings whom God sends to minister to His people (Ps 34:7; Dan 6:21-22; Acts 12:11; Heb 1:14). The angels can guard these dwellers in God from even small obstacles such as a stone that could cause them to stumble and fall.⚜
13 📚You will tread on the lion
and cobra;
the young lion and the serpent
you will trample under foot.
91:13 Such a mention of a lion and a serpent brings to mind Satan, a roaring lion going about to devour (1 Pet 5:8), and a serpent full of deadly poison (Rev 12:9). Dwellers in God have power to trample even such a mighty foe under foot. See Luke 10:19-20; Jam 4:7.⚜
14 📚The LORD says,
“Because he has set his love on me,
I will deliver him.
I will set him on high,
because he has known my name.
15 📚He will call on me, and I will
answer him.
I will be with him
in trouble.
I will deliver him, and honour him.
16 📚With long life I will satisfy him,
and show him my salvation”.
91:1-16 Many scholars have thought that Moses wrote this psalm, but we cannot be sure of it. In any case it is a psalm that fits very well after Psalm 90, a prayer of Moses. Both psalms speak of God as being the dwelling place of believers (Ps 90:1; 91:1, 9). But 90 emphasizes the anger of God against sin; this one emphasizes the complete protection and victory God gives. The apostle Paul gives the essence of this psalm in Rom 8:31. “Almighty”(v-1) – in Hebrew “Shaddai” (Gen 17:1). The great promises made in this psalm are only for those who abide under God’s protection. They are not for those who live as they please and try to use God only when danger or trouble comes.⚜
91:14-16 Here God Himself speaks directly through the writer. Notice that the promises here are only for those who truly love God. Such people God will deliver, exalt, answer, protect, honor, and satisfy. The promise of long life is in accordance with other Old Testament promises such as Ex 20:12 and Deut 5:33; 6:2 (this is not an emphasis of the New Testament). Only love God, and the Bible has many great promises for you.⚜