Psalm 17 (Background Scriptures: 1 Samuel 23-26)
Lord’s Day, October 11, 2020
First Christian Church, Owensville, IN
Bart W. Newton, Preaching Minister
(Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.)
To hear an audio recording of this sermon, click on the following line: “In the Shadlow of Your Wings”
Psalm 17: A Prayer of David
1 Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry!
Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!
2 From your presence let my vindication come!
Let your eyes behold the right!
3 You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night,
you have tested me, and you will find nothing;
I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.
4 With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips
I have avoided the ways of the violent.
5 My steps have held fast to your paths;
my feet have not slipped.
6 I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my words.
7 Wondrously show your steadfast love,
O Savior of those who seek refuge
from their adversaries at your right hand.
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings,
9 from the wicked who do me violence,
my deadly enemies who surround me.
10 They close their hearts to pity;
with their mouths they speak arrogantly.
11 They have now surrounded our steps;
they set their eyes to cast us to the ground.
12 He is like a lion eager to tear,
as a young lion lurking in ambush.
13 Arise, O LORD! Confront him, subdue him!
Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword,
14 from men by your hand, O LORD,
from men of the world whose portion is in this life.
You fill their womb with treasure;
they are satisfied with children,
and they leave their abundance to their infants.
15 As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;
when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
• For a couple of weeks not we’ve focused on psalms that express anxiety of the psalmist that comes from trials, tragedies, difficult situations. These are psalms of lament.
• Two Sundays ago, we received Psalm 13, a psalm of personal complaint.
• Last Sunday we received Psalm 55, a psalm of cursing and vengeance.
• Psalm 17 is a special type of lament. It is what’s called a psalm of innocence or a protest of innocence. (Additional Examples: Psalm 5, 7; 26)
• The psalmist, in this case David, declares innocence but not perfection before God.
• “The psalmist understood the distinction between those who imperfectly strive to walk in God’s ways and those who reject God’s ways.”—Dr. Jody Owens
• In other words, it’s about the orientation of the heart.
• In this psalm David has people bent on destroying him and he knows for sure that he’s not given them a single reason to.
• This psalm is made up of six stanzas. Within these six stanzas David makes three crucial demands to God:
• hear (v. 1);
• show (vv. 6-9);
• and subdue (bring down) (v. 13).
• David’s address to God and plea for vindication (vv. 1-2)
17 Hear a just cause, O LORD; attend to my cry!
Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!
2 From your presence let my vindication come!
Let your eyes behold the right!
• V2, GW: Let the verdict of my innocence come directly from you. Let your eyes observe what is fair.
• David isn’t looking for personal vengeance. He wants God to carry out justice against his oppressors.
• David’s acknowledgment of God’s testing and insistence that he is innocent (vv. 3-5).
3 You have tried my heart,
• V. 3A, GW: You have probed my heart.
…you have visited me by night,
you have tested me, and you will find nothing;
I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.
• “Those who resolve not to sin can have great confidence in prayer.” –Lawrence Richards, 365 Day Devotional Commentary, p. 327
4 With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips
I have avoided the ways of the violent.
• On at least 2 occasions David could have killed King Saul who was trying to kill him but he didn’t:
• When David secretly cut off a piece of King Saul’s robe while he relived himself in the cave: 1 Samuel 24:6-7: 6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord's anointed.” 7 So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way. (ESV)
• When David snuck into King Saul’s camp and took the kings spear and water jug while he was asleep: 1 Samuel 26:8-11: 8 Then Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.” 9 But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?” 10 And David said, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. 11 The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. But take now the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let us go.” (ESV)
5 My steps have held fast to your paths;
my feet have not slipped.
• “If the psalmist had not, himself, been at peace with God, he could not have made such a supplication. There is importance in doing the will of God!”—Tesh & Zorn, Psalms, TCPNIVC, V. 1, p. 176
• David’s plea for God’s mercy & protection (vv. 6-9).
6 I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my words.
• V. 6, NLT: I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God.
Bend down and listen as I pray.
• Isn’t this why we pray to God, because we believe He hears and answers?
7 Wondrously show your steadfast love,
O Savior of those who seek refuge
from their adversaries at your right hand.
• V. 7: steadfast love = faithful love (CSB), unfailing love (NLT)
• While in vv. 1-5 David’s plea was for the sake of justice, now in verses 6-9 his plea was for the sake of love.
• God’s justice flows out of his love.
• Lamentatons 3:22-23: 22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning. (NLT)
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye;
• V. 8: Apple = pupil
• V8a, GW: Guard me as if I were the pupil in your eye.
• Think of the protection God has provided for the eye: moisture, eyelids, eyelashes, eyebrows, cheekbones and forehead, etc.
… hide me in the shadow of your wings,
• That is like a mother hen hides her chicks under wings for warmth and protection.
9 from the wicked who do me violence,
my deadly enemies who surround me.
• James 4:8a: Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
• David may be referring to this event: 1 Samuel 23:26-27: 26 Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, 27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.” (ESV)
• David’s description of the wicked (vv. 10-12).
10 They close their hearts to pity;
• Literally, “They are enclosed in their own fat.” They are “wrapped up in themselves.”
• They have “shut out all feeling” (GW) of pity.
…with their mouths they speak arrogantly.
11 They have now surrounded our steps;
they set their eyes to cast us to the ground.
• They are determined to slam David to the ground!
12 He is like a lion eager to tear,
as a young lion lurking in ambush.
• David’s renewed plea for vindication (vv. 13-14).
• This includes two things: 1) Prayer for deliverance (v. 13).
13 Arise, O LORD! Confront him, subdue him!
• Literally—bring him to his knees!
• “They want to throw me to the ground. God, get up and put his knees on the ground!”
• David’s concern is not revenge but justice and vindication.
Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword,
14 from men by your hand, O LORD,
2) Description of the wicked (v.14).
… from men of the world whose portion is in this life.
You fill their womb with treasure;
they are satisfied with children,
and they leave their abundance to their infants.
• V. 14: Portion = inheritance
• v. 14, GW: With your power rescue me from mortals, O Lord,
from mortals who enjoy their inheritance only in this life.
You fill their bellies with your treasure.
Their children are satisfied with it,
and they leave what remains to their children.
• It’s a plea to be delivered from those whose worldview is earthbound. (ESVLSB)
• David’s statement of trust in and satisfaction with God (v. 15)
15 As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;
when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
• “When I awake” may be a reference to when this dark time or incident in David’s life is over. But I think it’s even more than that. This may be an OT glimpse ahead to the time of post resurrection of the saints!
• “[David’s] ambition is not to own earthly wealth, but to enjoy unbroken fellowship with God.” – M’Caw & Motyer, “Psalms”,NBCR, 3rd Ed., p. 461
• Psalm 16:5: Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing.
You guard all that is mine. (NLT)
• All David really wants as an inheritance is to see God!
• What do you want?
• Matthew 5:8: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” –Jesus
• “The godly do not comfort themselves with the thought of transitory ‘blessings.’ They will be satisfied with the ‘likeness’ of God!” –Willem A. VanGemeren (ZNIVBC, V. 1, OT, p. 814)
• Lamentations 3:24-25: 24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!”
25 The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him. (NLT)
Point: “Confident of God’s great love, the innocent Christian chooses righteousness and looks ahead with confidence.” –Lawrence Richards