Day 120

Psalm 55: Read here – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2055&version=NASB

Most commentators fit this psalm to Absalom’s rebellion (2 Samuel 15-18) and the trusted associate as Ahithophel. This is an Ode to the oppressed. A ‘Maskil’ is a contemplation. Notice the pattern found in the song. It begins with distress (v1-8) where David is thinking of himself. It then moves to imagination where he is thinking of his foes and his sorry circumstances (v9-15.) Then as David always does, it moves to confidence, as he thinks about God and the assurance that he can have by doing so. 

When he cried ‘do not hide yourself from my supplication’ one can’t help but think of that dread hour when Jesus cried similar words as He bore our sins upon the cross – His father did hide himself! Here David had mental anguish with no peace. 

He would like to just ‘escape’ (v4-8) from his present problems; who doesn’t identify with David’s longings and desire here.  

It is some comfort for us to know that there are spiritual giants who have had this urge, whether they have succumbed to it like Elijah (1Kings 19:3ff.) or withstood it like Jeremiah (Jeremiah 9:2; 10:19). David wanted to simply ‘fly away’(v6), but he did not. What we need is not a change of circumstances but a change of spirit. Security is not always to be found in solitude. 

The answer to the prayer of v9-11 is recorded in 2 Samuel 17:1-23 when there was a division of opinion among Absalom’s advisers Ahithophel and Hushai. Then follows a reflection on the bitterness of being betrayed by a friend. V12-14 became a messianic prophecy that was fulfilled in John13:18,19&26. The worst of enemies are false friends. The connection of David’s words here with his sin against Uriah is stunning. What David was unwittingly describing in this moving passage was also the essence of his own treachery to Uriah, one of his staunchest friends (2Samuel 23:39). This was the ultimate cause of what he was now experiencing, as Nathan prophesied when he said, “The sword will never depart from your house.” David’s household became dysfunctional because he was unable to deal with Absalom’s sin.