Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119:105)
Psalm 5 (NIV)
For the director of music. For flutes. A psalm of David.
1 Give ear to my words, O LORD,
consider my sighing.
2 Listen to my cry for help,
my King and my God, for to you I pray.
3 In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait in expectation.
Pleading for God’s attention during his morning devotions.
4 You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil;
with you the wicked cannot dwell.
5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence;
you hate all who do wrong.
6 You destroy those who tell lies;
bloodthirsty and deceitful men the LORD abhors.
Recognition of God’s holiness and assumption that those who go against Yahweh will be rejected and punished.
7 But I, by your great mercy,
will come into your house;
in reverence will I bow down
towards your holy temple.
8 Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness
because of my enemies –
make straight your way before me.
In response to Yahweh’s mercy to himself the psalmist worships and pleads for Yahweh’s guidance in finding an easy way forward in spite of the enemy’s opposition.
9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
their heart is filled with destruction.
Their throat is an open grave;
with their tongue they speak deceit.
10 Declare them guilty, O God!
Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,
for they have rebelled against you.
These enemies were untrustworthy and grossly sinful so he demands their downfall.
11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
12 For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favour as with a shield.
In contrast, he expects that Yahweh will protect his own, including himself, who trust him and live righteously.
Notes
1. Psalm 5 appears to be a psalm of a godly person who has daily morning devotions and is committed to putting Yahweh first in every area of his life. This is in contrast to his enemies who are evil and destructive. They are beyond any hope of salvation so need to be destroyed while the godly enjoy Yahweh’s favour. This jars with a Christian spirit of forgiveness and a passion to see the lost find salvation, however wicked they are. It is tempting to skip on; ‘that was in the days of the Old Covenant so is now irrelevant,’ we think; and quickly turn the pages to something more savoury.
2. But there are some helpful and positive things to learn from this psalm.
3. Psalm 5 is one of the nearly 70 psalms referred to as Psalms of Lament. They were written by those who were suffering significant trauma because of experiencing serious trouble from oppression or persecution. During such experiences, even the godliest can be distracted from their faith and can focus on their hurts or the desire for retribution. Yahweh knows what we are going through when we experience such devastating situations. He understands and here in these Lament Psalms are examples from which we can benefit.
4. Lamenting is a way of expressing our hurt and anger and that is a good thing. If we do not acknowledge and express our hurts they will be like a cancer eating away at our spirit causing untold damage to our faith, peace of mind and relationships. Expressing our hurts, even blaming Yahweh for our troubles, as happens in some psalms, is wholesome. Yahweh can cope! He already knows how we are feeling so we are not saying anything he does not know already. It is important though that we do not stay over-long with our intemperate outbursts. Yahweh’s heart is to see us move on, to find healing for our hurts, to rediscover Yahweh’s calling and faithfulness and to grow in spiritual maturity so we can continue to be channels of Yahweh’s grace and blessing to others.
5. Here is an analysis of the features of lamenting that appear in Psalm 5.
6. The lament is addressed to Yahweh. Three times the psalmist uses God’s name, Yahweh, the name God revealed to Moses for his people to use (Exodus 3:13-15). That means that every time they addressed Yahweh they were reminded not only of his power and authority but also that he was known personally. Yahweh cared. In most English Bible translations Yahweh is written as ‘the LORD.’ That is a title, not a name, so we miss some spiritual riches by following this ancient, but unscriptural, Jewish custom.
7. His complaint (9) is about evil people whose word cannot be trusted. He appears to be overwhelmed. He cannot do anything himself about this except cry out to Yahweh.
8. It is not so clear in English translations but in the original Hebrew his requests are presented as aggressive demands, for ‘give ear,’ ‘consider’ and ‘listen’ (1-2) use the imperative tense.
9. Nevertheless, he ends by expressing his faith and trust in Yahweh (12). Such a dichotomy is characteristic of laments where the suffering is very personal and deep, affecting multiple aspects of spirit and soul.
10. And it is only temporary, hopefully. In Psalm 11, that relates to another occasion, though we do not know which came first, David laments without being aggressive – he uses no imperative tenses.
11. Psalm 5 is a typical lament. David transfers his own shock and anger to Yahweh and assumes Yahweh will adopt his own attitude. He recreates Yahweh in his own image! This is normal human psychology. We all do it, for when we are seriously hurt, whether it be physically, emotionally, spiritually or all three in one combination or another, our own hurts can overwhelm us. We cannot see beyond them. We reject the perpetrators of our hurts and want retribution. Trying to understand their behaviour and forgiving them, which would be a godly response, may not be considered. David contrasts his enemies’ evil behaviour with his own devotion to prayer and to Yahweh’s ways (as he recognises them) and claims this permits him to expect Yahweh to follow his orders. That is an expression of his self-centredness and is not an indication of Yahweh’s approval of his behaviour.
12. He wrote a song, this psalm, about his experience. It must have struck a chord with others as it became popular and was adopted into the national songbook which became what we know as the Book of Psalms. That might suggest that there were many people, perhaps even most of the nation, who were obsessed with their own experiences of suffering antagonism and were equally far away from an understanding of Yahweh’s true character. So they used this lament to express their confusion.
13. Notice that there is no hint that the psalmist was condemned or rejected by Yahweh for expressing such angry, ungodly and self-centred thoughts. But equally, there is no reason to believe this means that Yahweh approved his behaviour.
14. Further insight comes from studying the Hebrew poetic structure of the psalm which has five strophes in a chiastic pattern as shown below.
Psalm 5
Trauma damages godliness
| A | 1 Give ear to my words, O Yahweh, consider my sighing. 2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. 3 In the morning, O Yahweh, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. | As a righteous man he pleaded for Yahweh’s attention as a recognition of his devotion. |
| B | 4 You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. 5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong. 6 You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men Yahweh abhors. | David presents a caricature of Yahweh’s attitude to the wicked. |
| X | 7 But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down towards your holy temple. 8 Lead me, O Yahweh, in your righteousness because of my enemies – make straight your way before me. | David expects his own reverence will be met by mercy and he will be guided by Yahweh. |
| B1 | 9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit. 10 Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against you. | David demands Yahweh accepts his analysis (B) of the wicked and how they should be treated. |
| A1 | 11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. 12 For surely, O Yahweh, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favour as with a shield. | Acknowledges that Yahweh’s attention and protection are there for the righteous. |
15. Parallelism is a major feature of Hebrew poetry. It starts with the repetition of a thought in each poetic line so the second part repeats, contrasts with or in one way or another builds on the first part – though occasionally there are 3 parts as shown in verses 3 and 8. The line arrangement is indicated with indentations of the second and third parts.
16. The lines are then grouped into strophes with each strophe addressing an idea that is an aspect of the theme of the Psalm. Parallelism comes into this again as in this psalm there is a chiastic structure with the first strophe linked to the last (A-A1), the second with the next to last (B-B1). In the centre is single strophe (X) and that contains what is intended to be the key message of the Psalm.
17. Such strophes are sometimes called stanzas but I reserve stanza to describe the subsection of a longer psalm. Not all translations show the same arrangement. For example, Psalm 5 has a slightly different layout in GNB compared to NIV. Variations like this relate to the translation process.
18. The main aspect of Hebrew parallelism is the linking of ideas. This is a remarkable feature as it means it is reproducible in other languages. I take this as an aspect of Yahweh’s role in the inspiration of Scripture.
19. Notice how this works out in each strophe.
20. Strophe A:
1 Give ear to my words, O Yahweh,
consider my sighing.
2 Listen to my cry for help,
my King and my God, for to you I pray.
3 In the morning, O Yahweh, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait in expectation.
David, the psalmist, demand’s Yahweh’s attention (‘give ear,’ ‘consider’ and ‘listen’ are in the imperative, they are not requests but demands) and this is a daily activity. It is as if he expects Yahweh to drop everything else and take notice – and more than that – to do exactly what he demands!
21. Strophe B:
4 You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil;
with you the wicked cannot dwell.
5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence;
you hate all who do wrong.
6 You destroy those who tell lies;
bloodthirsty and deceitful men Yahweh abhors.
The psalmist declaims Yahweh’s holiness and righteousness but in a negative way by emphasising what he would not do. There is no mention of Yahweh’s love for sinners and desire for their repentance. This is not therefore a description of Yahweh’s character that is presented in other Scriptures. For example, contrast this with the compassionate character of Yahweh in the face of Israel’s sin that Nehemiah and his people appreciated (Nehemiah 9:16-21). That same compassion was available to other nations too, as illustrated by Jonah’s story (Jonah 3:10-4:2, 4:11).
22. How could David have failed to understand Yahweh’s character? And is this the same David who wrote Psalm 11, for example? Once again in Psalm 11 David is facing danger from his enemies but he is content to trust Yahweh. There are no demands in Psalm 11! We need to consider why Psalm 5 is different.
23. Strophe X
7 But I, by your great mercy,
will come into your house;
in reverence will I bow down
towards your holy temple.
8 Lead me, O Yahweh, in your righteousness
because of my enemies –
make straight your way before me.
The ‘But I’ that introduces the strophe suggests the writer is contrasting himself to such evil people and therefore ‘deserves’ Yahweh to answer his prayer demands. Yes, there are more imperatives! There is no ‘please’, no begging, no pleading – just demands: ‘Lead me,’ ‘Make straight your way.’
24. Strophe B1:
9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
their heart is filled with destruction.
Their throat is an open grave;
with their tongue they speak deceit.
10 Declare them guilty, O God!
Let their intrigues be their downfall.
Banish them for their many sins,
for they have rebelled against you.
Here he describes the sin of his strophe X enemies that seem to be those described in strophe B. It is all about bad speaking – he complains about their mouth, throat and tongue telling lies that express the evil in their heart. The clue to understanding why the evil, wicked, arrogant, bloodthirsty and deceitful people of strophe B expressed such bad speaking is in strophe X where he calls them ‘my enemies.’ By this he indicates that the bad speaking is directed against himself. He declares them guilty and demands (yes, ‘declare’ and ‘banish’ are more imperatives!) that Yahweh takes action and does what he wants. He is so self-centred. Surely a godly psalmist would have committed them to Yahweh’s mercy and intervention so they had a chance to repent and act differently.
25. Strophe A1:
11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad;
let them ever sing for joy.
Spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
12 For surely, O Yahweh, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favour as with a shield.
This second ‘But’ introducing strophe A1 suggests he is again contrasting himself to the evil people of strophe B. What he says here is true of Yahweh as he is revealed in Lamentations 3:22-26:
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
and as followers of Jesus we rejoice in the breadth and depth of this salvation that Jesus has brought to us (Matthew 9:36):
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
However, in the context of this psalm the writer seems to be limiting such blessing to people like himself. Is there a link back to strophe A suggesting that the ‘righteous’ are those who pray fervently daily, and to strophe X where he promotes his religious devotion as a reason for expecting Yahweh’s approval? According to him, it seems, Yahweh’s love, care and protection are available only to the righteous as he defines them and not at all to such evil sinners.
26. Now we can see how the psalm is linked together. It is created chiastically. On the outside in strophes A-A1, it is held together by the psalmist’s relationship with Yahweh that was based on his assessment of his own righteousness. It was a relationship of trust and devotion, though that is qualified by the demands that Yahweh does what the writer expects of him.
27. In contrast in strophes B-B1 he describes the opposition of the wicked, those who do not follow Yahweh and are actively antagonistic to the writer.
28. In the centre, strophe X, is the key message of the psalm about Yahweh’s mercy and salvation, his commitment to his people who are thereby moved to worship and devotion.
29. So here we have it, the literary structure is part of the psalm’s message. It is easier now to see the narrative of the psalm, though there are no clues about its possible relation to any of the events in David’s life that we know about. It starts with strophe B1 that describes people who have been telling lies about David. He is shocked and angry. He hates them for it and would like to destroy them but is not powerful enough to take revenge. So, he assumes Yahweh will take over. He believes that because he prays regularly and fervently and is devoted in his religious practices (strophe A) he can claim Yahweh’s attention. Yahweh will surely see his enemies in the same light! Yahweh must also hate them and will therefore be willing to destroy them! That, of course is untrue. Not then, not now, not ever. Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is patient and longsuffering, he encourages people to repent and put their lives right. For example, see Scriptures such as:
You warned them to return to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, by which a man will live if he obeys them. Stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen. For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you admonished them through your prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you handed them over to the neighbouring peoples. But in your great mercy you did not put an end to them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and merciful God (Nehemiah 9:29-31).
Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? (Romans 2:40).
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).
30. It would be easy to condemn David for his false understanding, intemperance and aggressive reaction to those who had deeply hurt him. We might decide he has rejected Yahweh and turned his back on him. A backslider.
31. However, there is a different perspective we need to consider.
32. Some believers will have difficulty accepting that a psalm that expresses such antagonism to God and has such an ungodly attitude to others could be included in Scripture.[1] However, a text such as,
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17),
does not mean every word of Scripture is an expression of how God wants us to behave. This psalm is an example of how scripture has a role in ‘rebuking and correcting.’
33. This is not a nice psalm at all but it reminds us that Yahweh knows us intimately. It is here because this is the way believers may pray when they lose sight of Yahweh’s true character (the God we meet in Jesus in the New Testament is the Yahweh of the Old Testament). See Hosea 11:1-11 for a description of Yahweh’s love and compassion though his people have rejected him. He has and does and always will love sinners and is distressed for their sinfulness and longs for them to repent and turn to him.
34. This psalm is as relevant today as it was in 1000 BC for we too suffer trauma. We can behave in the same way as David did. I believe Yahweh has allowed this psalm to be included in Scripture as an example and warning. It features aspects of prayer that are embarrassing and harmful yet are entirely understandable when we consider the situation in which such prayers are made.
35. David’s attitude is not an expression of his righteousness as he claims but is, at best, an expression of how he has been traumatised by his bad experiences. He has turned his focus away from Yahweh to himself and his sense of hurt. In God’s grace this will be a passing phase for David as he moves on in the Journey of Grief toward healing, integration and new beginnings.
36. Psalm 5 is NOT David’s life story. It is a snapshot of a phase in David’s life that we all go through when we are traumatised. There is recovery. There is hope. Snapshots of other stages in the Journey of Grief appear in other psalms such as 11, 12, 13, 58, 88 and 137.
37. Visit ‘The Journey of Grief‘ in ‘Background’ drop-down list for an overview of this journey.
Endnote
[1] Erich Zenger, A God of Vengeance? Understanding the Psalms of Wrath, trans. By Linda M. Maloney (Louisville, KY, Westminster John Knox Press, 1996), includes Psalm 5 in his introductory chapter under the heading, ‘Unpleasant and Repulsive Psalms’ p. 3.
Written: 16 December 2021
Published: 21 December 2022
Revised: 24 February 2024