GOD IS MY SAVIOR This psalm is a personal lament, through it the believer expresses every morning what he expects of sufferings and troubles, due to the unceasing battle of salvation. Moreover, the tone changes into a song of salvation that fills the soul with joy and peace. This arises from an inner vision of the resurrection of Christ which reflects upon us the spirit of victory even over death, and grants us participation in the divine glory, and bestows upon us unceasing divine blessings. In other words this psalm is both a bitter lament and a joyful song at the same time. It is a military song that we recite during our spiritual battle and a hymn of victory for the teeth of the wicked is broken, so that we consider them ridiculous while God is glorified and His people are blessed. This psalm touches the personal life of David and offers a prophecy concerning the person of Christ, the son of David. It touches the life of every one of us in his personal relationship with his Savior, and also touches the life of the holy community as a whole. The psalm begins in the singular but ends in the plural: "Your blessing is upon your people." IT’S POSITION Psalms 1 and 2 are considered as an introduction to the whole Psalter. In Ps. 1 the psalmist declares that nobody can sing hymns joyfully and praise God without attaining "blessedness"(Ps1: 1). In Ps. 2 the psalmist shows that this blessedness is granted to us by the Messiah-King against whom the evil one and his followers are rebellious, and not due to our own merit. Having considered the first two psalms as an introduction, Psalms 3 and 4 represent the entrance to the collection of the psalms, the former is a morning psalm, and the latter is an evening one (4: 8). Every morning the pious believer sings this hymn as he remembers that he has to suffer but he never loses his inner peace and joy. He looks to the resurrection of Christ that occurred early in the morning and that opens up to him the gates of the kingdom of God. In other words, he is not confused since he attains the new risen life, waiting every morning for His Crucified and Risen Christ to come quickly. PERSONAL LAMENT Psalms 3, 4 and 5 as personal laments were composed as David the Prophet fled from his son Absalom (2 Sam. 15: 8). In Ps. 3 David declares that the battle was not personal between himself and his son, but between God and the devil. In Ps. 4 he sees that righteousness as a source of victory is not his own but God's own righteousness. God Himself is his righteousness. Finally, in Ps. 5 he turns his attention to Ahithophel, the wicked advisor to Absalom who is comparable to the antichrist. Psalm 3 is a personal lament. The psalmist feels personally helpless, totally alone before a converging multitude of hostile people. At the same time, this psalm is so communal, for what affects the personal life of a member has its effect upon the whole community. However, this psalm can be applied to any sad situation, especially when the sufferer feels abandoned and betrayed, hemmed in by hostile people. https://coptic-treasures.com/ 2 Some scholars argue that the author must be a king (like David), imperiled as he is by so many adversaries [2], by "myriads of people" [7]. Others modify this theory and think that it is an individual Israelite who uses phrases that may have been originally part of royal laments1. St. Augustine states that this psalm is set by David on behalf of the Messiah, the Son of David. He says, [The words of this psalm... lead us to believe that we must apply them to the Person of Christ. For they are more in keeping with our Lord's passion and resurrection than with the account which history gives of David's flight before the face of his own rebellious son.] It is interesting to note that this lament psalm has been used in the ancient ritual of exorcism against evil spirits, for the Church sees that her authority over evil and evil spirits is based upon the resurrection of Christ. OUTLINE 1. An appeal to the Lord [1-2]. 2. Confidence in the resurrection [3-6]. 3. A second cry for help [7]. 4. Salvation belongs to the Lord [8]. The main thought of this psalm is that we attain divine salvation through the resurrection of our Christ in spite of the multitude of adversaries that assail us. CHRIST, THE PERSECUTED ONE 1. "O Lord, how many are those who trouble me!" [1]. David, being now driven out from his place, from the royal city, from the holy ark of the covenant, and from his people by his rebellious son Absalom, who formed a conspiracy against him, to take away, not his crown only but his life (1 Sam. 15) complains to God His refuge. In his flight, he goes up the Mount of Olives, in great grief, he weeps greatly, with his head covered, and marching bare-footed. He weeps, prays and sings this lament. Tribulations could not drive him from God, on the contrary this drives him to the shadow of the resurrection of Christ, the Son of David correlated to suffering and crucifixion. Truly David was suffering for his sin committed with Uriah; and God threatened to raise up against him someone out of his house (2 Sam. 12: 11), yet he did not cast away his trust in his God. Even his grief was changed into joy as he believes in the redeeming work of God. It is not only a great number of enemies, who have risen against the psalmist, but his friends, too [2], have turned their backs on him. He is left alone to endure the trial and through his faith he believed that God never forsakes him. Forsaken by the multitude of enemies and friends, he clings the more firmly to his God2. Tertullian sees that Christ, the Son of David, speaks here to His Father, on our behalf, for in our suffering we feel lonely and helpless. He says, [Hear the Son's utterances respecting the Father: "O Lord, how are they increased that trouble me!" [1]. Almost all the psalms which prophesy of the person of Christ, represent the Son as conversing with the Father - that is, represent Christ as speaking to God3.] Christ had 1 The Jerome Biblical Comm., p/ 576. 2 See Weiser, p. 117. 3 Against Praxeas, 11. https://coptic-treasures.com/ 3 many enemies: the wicked leaders of the Jews, a great multitude and even one of His disciples participate in His crucifixion. 2. David notices that those enemies are malicious, they aim to trouble him, for they blasphemously considered upon God as unable to relieve him: "His danger is so great that God cannot help him. They endeavored to shake his confidence in God and drive him to despair1." "Many say to my soul, There is no salvation for him in his God" [2]... To this end are those speeches, "Let Him come down from the cross, if He be the Son of God;" and again, "He saved others, Himself He cannot save." (Matt. 27:42)... St. Augustine This is the most serious attack that the enemy directs against us, I mean that we lose our trust in God our Savior, which destroys us with despair. Therefore St. John Chrysostom wrote to his fallen friend Theodore, who loved a Jewish woman called Hermoine, and broke his vow of virginity and his life in Christ, to show that by despair he strikes the face of his Savior even more than by his adultery, for despair is a sin of atheism... it is a denial of the redeeming work of God. However great our sin, we have to trust in God our Savior, Bestower of forgiveness. If we lose our hope, all sins enter in our life through despair as St. Philoxinus says. Absalom's rebellion against David was a chastisement for the father's sin. David's sin could remove his glory and make him worthy of death (2 Sam. 12:7), but his son's rebellion could not do that. 3. "I laid down to rest and slept; I awaked" [5]. Many lie down and cannot sleep, due to pain of body, or anguish of mind, or the continual alarms of fear. Many lie down and sleep, and never awake again, they sleep the sleep of death, as the first- born of the Egyptians (Exod. 12:29). It may be appropriately remarked,that it is expressly said, 'I,' to signify that of His own Will Christ underwent death, according to the verse, "therefore does My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man takes it from Me; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:17, 18). St. Augustine "O Lord, how many are those who trouble me?" [1]. It is obvious that unless they had disbelieved in His resurrection, they would never have put Him to death. Their taunts witness to this fact: "If He be the Son of God, let Him now come down from the cross"; and,"He saved others; Himself He cannot save" (Matt. 27:42).. St. Augustine St. Augustine states that this psalm witnesses to both the risen Person of Christ and His Church, which is His own Body (1 Cor. 12:27). It is the psalm of every one of us, who participates in the suffering of our Christ. We should feel joyful even while we suffer, since the power and joy of the resurrection works in us as a daily experience. Thus we attain the fellowship with God. 1 Matthew Henry, Psalm III. https://coptic-treasures.com/ 4 THE LORD IS MY SAVIOR Through the shadow of suffering David the king acknowledges, by the spirit of prophecy, the power of the resurrection of Christ, therefore suffering becomes not a source of loosing his trust in God, but a confirmation of the redeeming work of God, and of discovering God as his Shield, Glory and Lifter of his head. He feels that although he is a runaway he enjoys the divine presence as if he were in Zion, attaining the power of the victorious life over death. 1. The enemies try to shake David's trust in God since He’s unable to relieve him; but he's driven to God as his shield, his glory and the lifter up of his head [3]: a. God as his shield [3]: Absalom had the crowds with him, but the rejected, outcast and fugitive king David had God as his protector and the shield which saves him from any kind of danger. He is his encourager and victory. He says, "But You, O Lord, are a shield for me" [3]. Let them say what they will, but he is sure that his God would never desert him. He has experienced dealing with Him,( God is his own, protects him as his Lord and protector.) The work (of God) is that we conquer and that we attain victory over the enemy in the great battle1. St. Cyprian b. God as his glory [3]: David was now in disgrace, the crown had fallen from his head, his son was rebellious, the people were against him; but he has God for his own inner glory and honor (Isa. 60:19). c. The psalmist is convinced that God, his inner glory [3], will "lift up his head" with joy, out of his troubles, i.e., will restore his honor before his enemies ( Satan and his angels), men and the heavenly creatures. The Lord alone can grant him victory and salvation, thus causing him to rejoice. 2. David was driven out from the holy city, and from the ark on the holy mountain, but God who dwells there fills all the earth and can hear the voice of David's heart wherever he is. The enemies could not form a gulf between the communication of God's grace and His man, David, who says, "He answers me from His holy mountain" [4]. By faith David receives answers of peace from the holy mountain in spite of his banishment. In (psalm 2: 6) we see Christ is set King upon the holy hill Zion, and it is through Him, whom the Father hears always, that our prayers are heard. The reference to the Lord's holy hill [4], the place of the Lord's sanctuary, the earthly counterpart of His heavenly room2 is a clear call to bring every human problem into the Lord's sacred presence. 3. Absalom is a symbol of Satan who incites the nations (Jews and Gentiles) against the Son of David in the battle of Calvary. Therefore, this psalm is recited by the bishop or the priest on Good Friday, during the rite of the burial of Christ, saying, "I lay down and slept" [5], looking at Christ's death and resurrection as sleep and awakening. Satan believed that he had destroyed Christ and had got rid of Him upon His crucifixion. He did not realize that Christ's death was merely a slumber which is followed by an awaking. Our Christ uttered strong cries in His sufferings, and was heard for He is the 1 Ep. 76: 5. 2 NIV Study Bible, p. 788. https://coptic-treasures.com/ 5 obedient Son, by whom the Father is pleased. Therefore, though He laid down in the tomb, and slept the sleep of death, yet He was awoke the third day in incorruption. The Psalmist starts with the scene of the arena of the battle, but immediately his sight is concentrated on the Lord, the Source of victory, peace and salvation, and on His blessing on God's people. It is a divine battle through which victory over the unseen enemy is sure, God's salvation is obtained, and God's people are blessed [8]. This psalm has been called "a Morning Psalm" for David declares that he used to sleep in perfect peace even while being pursued because of his confidence in the Lord. We pray this psalm in the morning, complaining to our Savior that there is a multitude of vices and lusts attacking our minds in the law of sin. These mock our souls but we hope in Him as our Savior. THE VOICE OF THE HEART The psalmist who was used to worshiping God before the holy ark in the holy city, now is far away, marching bare-footed. He pours out his heart to the Lord who answers him from the holy mountain of the Church, as if David, who is banished, is inside the house of God, or in heaven itself. "With my voice have I cried unto the Lord" [4]; that is, not with the physical voice, which is drawn out with the sound of the vibration of the air; but with the voice of the heart, which to men speaks not, but with God sounds as a cry. By this voice Susanne was heard; and with this voice the Lord Himself commanded that prayer should be made in closets (Matt. 6: 6), that is, in the recesses of the heart noiselessly This is the prayer of all the saints, the odor of sweetness, which ascends up in the sight of the Lord. St. Augustine Tertullian states that it is the voice of the Word, who used to speak in the prophets, that now prays to His Father1. If it is the voice of David why does he say, "With my voice"? For there is no need to say this expression, for everybody cries by his own voice. But Christ says that to reveal His love as He cries with His own voice to ask His Father for our sake. St. Justine2 states that the Lord who remained upon the tree almost until evening, then was buried at eventide; then on the third day He rose again is the same who cried and was answered. If Christ cried as our representative and was heard of the father for our sakes, then this answer was issued from His holy mountain [3], which is Christ Himself. Every answer is realized through Him, or through our faith in Him. St. Augustine speaks about Christ as the Mountain: ["And He answers me from His holy mountain" [3]. Another prophet applies the term mountain to our Lord Himself, when he writes that "the stone that was cut out of a mountain without hands became a great mountain" (Dan. 2:34, 35)]. THE RISEN CHRIST "I lie down to rest and I sleep, I awake and rise, for the Lord sustains me"[4]. The psalmist speaks of the inner quietness with which he goes to sleep in the Lord's care in spite of the many dangers surrounding him, because of his confidence in the Lord. 1 Against Marcion 4: 13. 2 Dialogue with Trypho, 97. https://coptic-treasures.com/ 6 Truly it was a dark night of temptations and he struggled much, but his trust in the Lord was more established. Through the night of temptations the Sun of Righteousness shines within our hearts granting us His joyous risen life. The psalmist speaks here about death as a "sleep" and resurrection as an "awakening." For the separation of the body from the soul for the believer is just a temporary sleep, while the separation of the soul from Her God is eternal death. A sinner, while he is living, is dead to God; and a righteous man, though dead, is alive unto God. For such death is a sleep, as David said, "I lay down and slept, and awoke" [4]. Again Isaiah said, "They that sleep in the dust shall awake" (26: 19). And our Lord said concerning the daughter of the chief of the synagogue, "the damsel is not dead, but sleeping a slumber" (Matt 9: 24). And concerning Lazarus, He said to His disciples, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to waken him" (John 11: 11). And the apostle said, "We shall not all sleep, but shall be changed" (1 Cor. 15: 51). And again he said, "Concerning those that sleep, be you not grieved" (1 Thess. 4: 13)1. Fr. Aphrahat St. Justine in his first apology declares that the Son is speaking here2. He not only figuratively calls the resurrection of Christ rising from sleep; but to the descent of the Lord into the flesh he also applies the figurative term sleep3. St. Clement of Alexandria THE TEETH OF SINNERS The psalmist does not mean the literal meaning of the "teeth." Origen says, [It is perfectly clear that in these passages (ps3:7; 5:9; 55:9 etc.) the members can in no way be applied to the visible body, but must be referred to the parts and powers of the invisible soul.] "You break the teeth of sinners" [7]. Those who are in revolt against God's king are compared to wild beasts, whose offensive weapons are their teeth. David prays that the Lord, like a Warrior, will defeat the taunting enemies, disarming them. The Lord has already smitten the enemies by His resurrection, just as a man breaks the teeth of the wild beasts to present them helpless even before the children. You have broken the teeth of the sinners" [7]..., that is the words of sinners are cursing the Son of God, brought to nought, as it were to dust; so that we may understand "teeth" thus, as words of cursing (Gal.5: 15)...( The teeth of sinners can also be taken as reference to the chiefs of sinners ...) The teeth of sinners can also signify their ringleaders, who exert their influence in order to cut off men from the way of the upright, and incorporate them into the society of evildoers. To these teeth are opposed the teeth of the Church, by whose authority believers are cut off from the errors of paganism and heretical doctrines and are thus directed to turn to church, the Body of Christ. With these teeth Peter was told to eat the 1 Demonstration 8 of the Resurrection of the dead, 18. (See also the First Epistle of St. Clement "of Rome", 26). 2 Apology 1: 38. 3 Stromata 5: 14. https://coptic-treasures.com/ 7 animals when they had been killed, that is, by killing paganism in the Gentiles, and changing them into what he was himself (a member of Christ's body). St. Augustine The teeth that are sharpened against God and His people shall be broken, for His arm is never slow to save! SALVATION BELONGS TO THE LORD [8] "Salvation belongs to the Lord, and Your blessing is upon Your people" [8]. What does it mean? No man should take any credit to himself, because the Lord alone can deliver us from the death of sin. The psalm ends with a note of victory. This verse perhaps was sung as a refrain by the entire congregation, who stands before the Lord, their royal King. The Lord's glory is manifest in the salvation and blessing of His people. St. Irenaeus wrote, "The glory of God is in the living human being" [Gloria Dei, vivens homo]. God is glorified in man who has been granted life and salvation. Consequently, the main thought of this psalm is that God is the Saviour of man as well as His whole people or congregation. "How many are saying of my soul, There is no salvation for him in his God. But You , O Lord, are my protector, my glory, and the lifter up of my head" [2,3]. @B CROSS1 = For otherwise the enemies could never hope to destroy the Church which was spreading in every place, unless they supposed that the Lord had no care for her... "The lifter up of my head," who is Christ of course, for in taking on humanity, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1: 14), He has also taken upon Himself the Church, and has made us sit together with Him in the heavenly places" (Eph. 2:6). When the Head goes before and ascends to heaven the other members will follow; for, " who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (Rom. 8: 35). Justly then does the Church say, "You are my glory and the lifter of my Head". St. Augustine St Augustine makes a comparison between the earthly and heavenly cities, saying: [The earthly lifts up its head in its own glory, the Heavenly City says to its God, "My glory, You lift up my head" [3]. In the former, the lust for domination rules over its princes as over the nations it subjugates; in the latter both those placed in authority and those subject to them serve one another in love, the rulers by their counsel, the subjects by obedience. The one city loves its own strength shown in its powerful leaders; the other says to its God:"I will love you, my Lord, my strength" (Ps. 18:1)1.] The enemy in mocking the psalmist uses a general word for God "Elohim" [2], saying that He has abandoned him, while the psalmist uses the word Jehovah [the Lord] that designates God and His covenant with His people. In singing this psalm in time of suffering, we consider ourselves participating in the suffering of our Christ and attaining the strength of His resurrection which is a blessing that fills us in many ways: 1 City of God. 14: 24. https://coptic-treasures.com/ 8 1. We enjoy the risen life [5]. 2. We get rid of fear even of the countless enemies who set themselves against us all around [6]. 3. The teeth of the wicked (their wickedness) are broken, but they themselves could be saved by repentance. 4. God is glorified in us since we have attained salvation [8]. 5. The people are blessed by God [8]. In other words David feels that his salvation which he has attained from his God personally has its effect not only on his life but also on the life of the wicked ones before whom he witnesses and on the people as a whole. It is worthy to note that wars and battles mentioned in the Old Testament are historical events that offer spiritual meaning for the Christian person, looking to Satan and sin as his true enemies. Unless those carnal wars (i.e. of the Old Testament) were a symbol of spiritual wars, I do not think that the Jewish historical books would ever have been passed down by the apostles to be read by Christ's followers in their churches... Thus, the apostle, being aware that physical wars have become personal battles of the soul against spiritual adversaries, gives orders to the soldiers of Christ like a military commander when he says, "Put on the armor of God so as to be able to hold your ground against the wiles of the devil" (Eph. 6: 11)1. Origen 1 In Joshua, hom, 15:1. https://coptic-treasures.com/ 9 Prayer How many are those who trouble me? May they throw me even in a grave... There I shall find You who are risen, and I shall be risen with You. Why do they destroy my life in despair? You are my glory, and the lifter of my head! May You break the teeth of sinners, and redeem their souls!
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