Psalm 5
Text: 77 77 D (The Psalter, 1912; adapted by Rowland Ward, 1991; alt. MCPC, 2012)
1 Hear my words, O LORD my God; to my groans attentive be.
2 Hear my cry, my King, my God, for to you alone I pray.
3 When the morning comes, O LORD, you shall hear my pleading cry;
when the dawn comes, I will watch, and direct my prayers on high.
4 Truly, you are not a God who in evil takes delight;
evil shall not dwell with you, 5 nor the proud stand in your sight.
Evildoers you do hate; 6 you destroy all those who lie;
for the LORD abhors and hates those who murder and deceive.
7 But in your abundant grace to your house I will draw near;
looking to your holy place, in your fear I’ll worship there.
8 Guide me safely, O my LORD, in your perfect righteousness;
since my enemies are near, make straight paths before my face.
9 Not one word they say is true; from their heart destruction comes;
like an open grave their throat; and they flatter with their tongues
10 Make them bear their guilt, O God; by their counsels let them fall;
cast them out for all their sins, for against you they rebel.
11 But let all who flee to you find their refuge and rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy; spread protection over them.
Those who truly love your name will exult in you always.
12 For you bless the righteous, LORD, and you shield him with your grace.
Tune: Aberystwyth (Joseph Parry, 1876)
Commentary
Psalm 5 is titled, “To the Choirmaster: for the Flutes. A Psalm of David.” Note on authorship: the reference to the “holy temple” may suggest that this Psalm was written in the days of Solomon or later. The phrase “A Psalm of David” does not require that David himself actually wrote it. It is not likely that David would refer to the tabernacle as a temple, or speak of entering God’s “house” (v7). David was most painfully aware that God did not have a house, and only God’s intervention prevented him from building a temple (2 Samuel 7).
So why do these Psalms have the title, “A Psalm of David”? I would argue that the Davidic titles of the Psalms (especially here in books 1-2) are reminders for us to sing these Psalms with a Davidic focus — which means a Messianic focus. As these Psalms were sung in the temple, and as they were drawn together into the Psalter, they would have been constant reminders of how David was central to Israel’s future (think of how God told Ezekiel that he would “set up over them one shepherd, my servant David” (Ezekiel 34:23). The idea that you have to choose between a “David-centered” or a “Christ-centered” interpretation of the Psalms is wrong headed, because David is the Christ.
Structure:
Our five stanzas take their shape from the ESV layout of Psalm 5 in five stanzas. We considered the Sing Psalms text — but that required ten stanzas, which broke the Psalm up awkwardly. And since Aberystwyth has been used so much in our churches, we thought it prudent to work of off the text
Translation Notes:
The 1912 Psalter text (which is set to Aberystwyth in the Trinity Hymnal #51) needed considerable work, which Rowland Ward began in his 1991 Complete Book of Psalms for Singing. The whole Psalms was largely retranslated to bring it into conformity with our desire to eliminate the use of “Jehovah” and other archaic language, as well as to restore the language of “groaning” in verse 1. One comparison may be especially helpful:
Verse 10 (ESV) — “Make them bear their guilt, O God; let them fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out, for they have rebelled against you.”
(1912 Psalter in TH) — “Bring, O God, their plans to naught, hold them guilty in thy sight,
for against thee and thy law they have set themselves to fight.
(Ward in CBPS) “Give them justice, O my God; them for all their sins expel,
in their own schemes catch their feet: you they hate, and thus rebel.
(BPW) Make them bear their guilt, O God; snare them in the things they planned!
Cast them out for all their sins: rebels who against you stand.
(MCPC) — “10 Make them bear their guilt, O God; by their counsels let them fall;
cast them out for all their sins; for against you they rebel.
Verse 10 makes four points: 1) make them bear their guilt; 2) let them fall by their own counsels; 3) cast them out for their sins; and 4) do all this because they have rebelled against you. The 1912 Psalter leaves out #3, Ward alters counsels to schemes; the BPW changes “fall” to “snare.”
Again, I don’t claim that we have succeeded in every line — but working through the Hebrew text with Bryan Estelle was tremendously helpful.
Tune Notes:
Aberystwyth is a beautiful, haunting Welsh tune. Given that the Psalmist opens with a cry for help and a reminder to God that he hates all evildoers, this Psalm needs a tune that has some darkness in it. On the other hand, at the center of the Psalm — stanza 3 (verses 7-8) — there is the robust confidence of a man who enters God’s house and bows down toward the holy temple. Aberystwyth works with this as well, by bringing in the major at the beginning of the 3rd and 4th lines.
Furthers, Aberystwyth is used with Psalm 5 in the Trinity Hymnal (#51) and the Trinity Psalter, as well as the BPS and the BPW, so we knew that we would be summarily executed if we tried to replace this…
Conclusion
My sermon on Psalm 5 can be found at: http://peterwallace.org/sermons/Ps05.htm
— Peter J. Wallace
