Psalm 3
Text: CM (BPS, 1973 — alt. MCPC 2012)
1 O LORD, how many are my foes! How many fighting me!
2 They say, “In vain he waits for God; salvation he’ll not see.”
3 You are my shield and glory, LORD; you lifted up my head.
4 I cried out, “LORD!” and from his hill to me his answer sped.
5 I lay down, slept, and woke, again; the LORD is keeping me.
6 I will not fear ten thousand men entrenched surrounding me.
7 Arise, O LORD! Save me, my God! You punish all my foes.
You smite the face of wicked men, their teeth break with your blows.
8 Deliverance is from the LORD, salvation his alone!
O let your blessing evermore be on your people shown!
Tune: Detroit (Supplement to Kentucky Harmony, 1820; harm. Dale Grotenhuis, 2009)
Commentary
Psalm 3 is titled, “A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.” Most of the Psalms in books 1-2 are “of David” — which does not necessarily mean that they are by David. Many of them, like Psalm 3, are connected to certain events in David’s life. This doesn’t mean that David composed them at this time. Rather, it means that we should sing them in memory of those episodes. For Psalm 3, this is especially fitting in light of what we just sang in Psalm 2. In Psalm 2, the Son of David is the Anointed King — the one who will inherit the nations. In Psalm 3, the son of David is one of the “many foes” who rise against me and “set themselves against me.”
This is something that I would like to work on. While we worked hard to make the connections between Psalm 1 and Psalm 2, we did not do as well with the connections between Psalm 2 and Psalm 3 (one of our elders, Mark Hanson, pointed this out to me).
Structure:
Our metrical version follows the five-fold stanza structure of the ESV.
Translation Notes:
The theme of salvation (verses 2, 7, 8) is central to this Psalm — and so a metrical text should use the same word in these places (we used both “deliverance” and “salvation” in verse 8 in order to fill up the meter).
Psalm 3 is the first (and by no means the last) of the imprecatory Psalms. These Psalms remind us that salvation for God’s people involves the destruction of the wicked. After all, God is the one who said, “Vengeance is mine — I will repay.” It is important for us as Christians to remember that God is the one who will “break the teeth of the wicked” (v7).
Tune Notes:
Detroit is a beautiful old folk tune (from the Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony of 1820). The minor key fits the lament — especially considering that we should be thinking of David’s torment over Absalom’s revolt! The rising action of the first line captures well both David’s wail over his innumerable foes (v1), the mockery of the foes (v2), as well as the confidence that emerges over the last three stanzas.
I suggest that accompanists can help here by starting quietly and picking up tempo and volume gradually through stanzas 3-5.
Detroit is found in the CRC Psalter Hymnal (1987) with Psalm 83.
Conclusion
Since this is an unfamiliar tune, I hope to have this recorded soon — but for now, you can hear the tune at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtpkZWOwHig
(And since you cannot make out the words in this recording, it works fine for capturing the melody!)
I have not yet preached on Psalm 3.
— Peter J. Wallace
