The superscription of this psalm says that it is “A Psalm of David.” There is nothing in the psalm to make us think otherwise, and the circumstances from David’s life described here are familiar to us. Out of jealousy and unbelief, Saul sought to murder David (e.g., 1 Sam 19:11; 20:31; 21:10–22:2). More than once, David was, as it were, surrounded by mobs of evildoers, both before he was king over the united kingdom and after (e.g., 2 Samuel 15). Just as wicked Absalom plotted against his father, the king, despite the grace and mercy that David had shown him (2 Sam 14:28–33), so, too, another servant, to whom the king had been nothing but gracious, also plotted against a good king (1 Kings 1:5).
The Request (vv. 1–6)
Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
from the throng of evildoers,
who whet their tongues like swords,
who aim bitter words like arrows,
shooting from ambush at the blameless,
shooting at him suddenly and without fear.
They hold fast to their evil purpose;
they talk of laying snares secretly,
thinking, “Who can see them?”
They search out injustice,
saying, “We have accomplished a diligent search.”
For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep.
The psalmist cries out to God for deliverance from those who plot against him. Their weapons are not swords and spears but plots and words. They are the plots of the wicked, but the plotters are not far from the king. They are near enough for words to do damage. They have, the psalmist says, sharpened their tongues the way a warrior sharpens his knife, sword, and spear—to achieve maximum injury when they are deployed against an opponent.
The king is innocent, blameless, but that does not slow the plotters because the king has what they want: control, authority, and power. Their concern is not for the kingdom (and least of all for the king) but for themselves. It matters not that the king is good and righteous and that he rules in the best interest of the kingdom and its subjects. This is why their purposes are evil. This is why they plot in secret and lay snares for the king. Ultimately, they are thieves, seeking to steal what is not theirs, what God has not given to them. Instead of pursuing justice like faithful servants of the king, all their desires are corrupted, and they seek to accomplish the opposite of justice. The inner mind and heart of man is deep.
The Redeemer (v.7a)
But God shoots his arrow at them.
Plotters like Absalom and Judas always think that they are smarter than God. They really seem to think that God does not see their plotting, that the God who knows everything from all eternity in a single act, an act we affirm but which we can never comprehend, does not see their secrets.
The psalmist, however, knows God and the reality behind what the wicked think is real, and, like Paul in Ephesians 2:4, he captures that reality in two words: “but God.” The Lord, who had taken David from the pasture and made him shepherd over the united kingdom, had promised to make a great name for David, to give him peace, to raise up offspring, and establish his kingdom and the “throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Sam 7:13).
The Lord would shoot his arrow at the enemies of the king in a way that they did not expect. As he promised David, he would chastise him for his sins, but he would not remove his Spirit from him as he had Saul.
The Ruin (vv. 7b–9)
They are wounded suddenly.
They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them;
all who see them will wag their heads.
Then all mankind fears;
they tell what God has brought about
and ponder what he has done.
When the Lord strikes the enemies of the kingdom, his victory is swift and sure. “They are wounded suddenly.” The very weapons they wielded against the Lord’s anointed are turned against them. “They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues.” The very same enemies who plotted will be made to endure scorn. Those who look at them will deride them.
We often pretend to live in a closed universe, as if we live in a great machine with no one at the controls. We fancy that with AI we will be as god, but how easily the God who is turns the tables and reminds us who is really in charge. How quickly the Lord gets our attention when there is a great earthquake, fire, tornado, or act of war. Remember how the churches were full after 9/11, how many people cried out to God for help? What is the first thing people say when they look out the window to see a mile-wide tornado barreling toward them? They call out to God reflexively, instinctively.
So it is when the Lord turns the tables on his enemies. It is not just the Israel of God who sees, but everyone sees. They repeat to others what the Lord has done. His fame spreads. They “ponder what [God] has done.” Those who seemed to be so clever, so powerful, and so crafty are, in a moment, reduced to dust and helplessness.
The Rejoicing (v. 10)
Let the righteous one rejoice in the Lord
and take refuge in him!
Let all the upright in heart exult!
There are two reactions to the wonderful saving work of God: fear and faith. The pagans, who know they are obligated to God and will one day face him in judgment but who work feverishly to suppress that knowledge, react in slavish fear. They bow down elaborately. Because they do not know God truly, savingly, they suppose that they can bribe him or earn his favor. They pray thoughtless and truly stupid things, as if God were some sort of cosmic slot machine whose lever they can pull to their favor if only they can find the right combination of words.
Those who by God’s free, sovereign favor know God in Christ; who know his mercy, kindness, and grace to sinners do not react in slavish fear but in faith. Those who know God to be their father, for Christ’s sake alone, flee to him as a child flees to his father. They take refuge in him. They rejoice to see his king vindicated. Those whose hearts have been made new by grace exult in the marvelous reversal he has accomplished.
David never saw that reversal. He died an old and bitter man, preserved in salvation only by the grace of God. He died plotting against his enemies (1 Kings 2:5–9).
For the Christian, it is nearly impossible to read this psalm and not think of our Lord Jesus, against whom Judas secretly plotted: “Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him” (Mark 14:10–11). The Lord, however, was not surprised by Judas, and that betrayal was just the beginning of a series of betrayals. When push came to shove, Peter, who had declared that he would rather die than betray Jesus (Mark 14:31) betrayed him nonetheless, and all it took was a few questions from a little girl to bring a burly fisherman to lies and tears (Mark 14:66–72). Peter was not the only one. Peter had declared that he would not deny Jesus, and Mark adds, “And they all said the same” (Mark 14:31), but at the cross where were they? Scripture says, “Then all the disciples left him and fled” (Matt 26:56).
Truly our Lord was the victim of plots for his entire earthly ministry. Almost as soon as he had begun proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God (Mark 1:15) and the salvation he was to accomplish, the Pharisees and the other leaders of the people sought to murder him (John 5:18; 7:1, 19, 25; 8:37, 40; 11:53). They sharpened their tongues, they sought to trap him with carefully crafted questions, but little did they understand that they were doing spiritual battle with the Word of God incarnate (John 1:1, 14). It was he who gave the Scriptures through the prophets.
They took their sharp tongues to Pilate, and in turn, his men put their sharp nails in Jesus’s hands and feet. Pilate and the Jews thought they were rid of King Jesus, but before he was ever affixed to the cross, Jesus knew better: “‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die” (John 12:32–33). His cross was his victory because it was there he conquered sin and death, Pilate, and those who put him to death. On the cross, God shot his arrow at them, and they were suddenly wounded. They were brought to ruin.
When they crucified Jesus of Nazareth, as they had crucified so many others, they did not expect what came next. At noon, the sky grew deathly dark (Matt 27:45). It stayed that way for three hours. After Jesus cried out to God and died, the temple was torn in two “from top to bottom” (Matt 27:51), as only God could do it. The earth shook, the rocks were split, and on top of that some people were raised from the dead (Matt 27:52). “When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” (Matt 27:54).
Indeed, he was and is. Therefore, the story does not end at Golgotha. In a wonderful sense, it only really begins there. Because the confession of the centurion and the others was true, Jesus of Nazareth, King of Kings, did not remain in the tomb. On the third day, with yet another unexpected earthquake (Matt 28:2), he was vindicated as the truly righteous God-man that he is (1 Tim 3:16). “Let the righteous one rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him! Let all the upright in heart exult!”
©R. Scott Clark. All Rights Reserved.
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R. Scott Clark
R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.
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