Psalms 57:3

Psa 57:3 He shall send from heaven, and save me [from] the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.

Ver. 3. He shall send from heaven and save me] Rather than fail, I shall have an angel to rescue me; for although the Lord usually worketh by means, yet he can work by miracles, and will do it if there be a just occasion; howsoever, his mercy and his truth he will be sure to send, and that is enough, He will be seen in the mount, he will repent for his servants when he seeth their power is gone, Deu 32:36, when there is dignus vindice nodus, an extremity fit for Divine power to interpose.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 57:3. He shall send from heaven — Either his angels, as Dan 3:28, or his power and help in some less extraordinary way. As if he had said, There are greater armies in heaven than those that here surround me; and rather than I should perish, he will send them for my deliverance; and save me from the reproach of him, &c. — From that shameful destruction which Saul designs to bring upon me. The Hebrew, however, חרŠ שׁאפי, cheereeph shoapi, may be properly rendered, as in the margin, he reproacheth, or hath reproached, that is, he will certainly put to shame, or reproach him that would swallow me up, by disappointing his expectation, and delivering me from his rage. God shall send forth his mercy and truth — Shall discover them by their proper fruits, namely, by affording his gracious help in pursuance of his promises. “The reader will observe, that mercy and truth are here poetically represented as ministers of God, standing in his presence, ready to execute his pleasure, and employed by him in the salvation of his people.” — Dodd.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. The two clauses stand unconnected in the original, which runs, "He shall send from heaven and save me my pursuer reproaches God shall send," etc. The second clause is really parenthetic, and, as Dr. Driver says ("Hebrew Verbs," "circumstantial," noting the circumstances under which God would take action. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. His mercy, to relieve the psalmist; his truth, to confound the psalmist"s enemies.

"Mercy and truth.

I MARK GOD"S CHARACTER. When God proclaimed his Name to Moses, he put "mercy" in the forefront: "The Lord God merciful;" but "truth" had also its place, for it is added," abundant in truth". (Exo_34:6) The same order is observed in the Psalms. Thus it is said, (Psa_86:15) "Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth". (cf. Psa_89:2)

II SHINE FORTH IN GOD"S JUDGMENTS. What God does shows what he is. His works express his character. "Mercy and truth" are, so to speak, the rails on which his judgments travel. (Psa_25:10 Psa_103:17)

III CHARACTERIZE GOD"S DEALINGS WITH HIS PEOPLE. They need "mercy; and unto the Lord "belongeth mercy". (Psa_62:12) They need "truth," and God is "the God of truth". (Psa_31:5) In the salvation which God has wrought, both are blended in beautiful harmony. (Psa_85:10) As has been quaintly said, "Mercy and truth are but the transverse arms of the cross of Christ. Righteousness and peace are but its upper and lower limbs. The one springs out of the earth, the other has looked down from heaven, and they have kissed each other, in token of God"s love and of his reconciliation with the sons of men.

IV FOUNDATION OF HOPE TO THE CHILDREN OF MEN. Mercy and truth are the two outspread wings of God. Under them there is sure shelter and peace. (Psa_36:7 Psa_61:1-4) Here there is hope for the sinner. (Psa_33:18, 22 78:7) Here there is comfort for the troubled in heart. (Psa_57:3-10) Here there is inspiration for all who are minded to serve God. (Psa_69:13 Psa_98:3 Psa_115:1) Here there is earnest and foreshadowing of the everlasting rest. W.F. (Psa_61:7 Psa_63:7 Psa_138:8)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. (Psa 57:3). He will send from heaven and save me—(when or whom) the devourer reviles, Selah!—God will send his mercy and his truth. The first verb may govern hand, as in Psa 144:7, or help, as in Psa 20:2, or be used absolutely, as in Psa 18:16. The devourer, literally the one gaping after me, snorting with rage against me, or panting for my destruction. See above, on Psa 56:1-2. Without supplying anything, this clause may be taken as a short independent proposition—the devourer has reviled—interposed between the two principal members of the sentence. See above, on Psa 27:8; Psa 45:5. In the last clause, Mercy and Truth seem to be personified, like Integrity and Uprightness in Psa 25:21, Violence and Strife in Psa 55:9. With this clause compare Psa 43:3.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

57:3-4 These verses are a prayer for rescue from powerful enemies. The metaphor of fierce lions describes human enemies; the psalmist feels unable to escape them without God’s intervention (see also 35:11-21; 124:6).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He would rather deliver me by a miracle, than that I should be overcome.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

from . . . swallow me up--that pants in rage after me (Psa 56:2).

mercy and . . . truth-- (Psa 25:10; Psa 36:5), as messengers (Psa 43:3) sent to deliver him.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. He shall send from heaven, and save me] Were there no human agents or earthly means that he could employ, he would send his angels from heaven to rescue me from my enemies. Or, He will give his command from heaven that this may be done on earth.

Selah] I think this word should be at the end of the verse.

God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.] Here mercy and truth are personified. They are the messengers that God will send from heaven to save me. His mercy ever inclines him to help and save the distressed. This he has promised to do; and his truth binds him to fulfil the promises or engagements his mercy has made, both to saints and sinners.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3 He shall send from heaven, and save me. David, as I have repeatedly had occasion to observe, interlaces his prayers with holy meditations for the comfort of his own soul, in which he contemplates his hopes as already realised in the event. In the words before us, he glories in the divine help with as much assurance as if he had already seen the hand of God interposed in his behalf. When it is said, he shall send from heaven, some consider the expression as elliptical, meaning that he would send his angels; but it seems rather to be an indefinite form of speech, signifying that the deliverance which David expected was one not of a common, but a signal and miraculous description. The expression denotes the greatness of the interposition which he looked for, and heaven is opposed to earthly or natural means of deliverance. What follows admits of being rendered in two different ways. We may supply the Hebrew preposition מ, mem, and read, He shall save me from the reproach; or it might be better to understand the words appositively, He shall save me, to the reproach of him who swallows me up. The latter expression might be rendered, from him who waits for me. His enemies gaped upon him in their eagerness to accomplish his destruction, and insidiously watched their opportunity; but God would deliver him, to their disgrace. He is said to strike his enemies with shame and reproach, when he disappoints their expectations. The deliverance which David anticipated was signal and miraculous; and he adds, that he looked for it entirely from the mercy and truth of God, which he represents here as the hands, so to speak, by which his assistance is extended to his people.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(3) He shall send . . .—The selah in the middle of this verse is as much out of place as in Psa_55:19. The LXX. place it after Psa_57:2. The marginal correction of the second clause is decidedly to be adopted, the word “reproach” is here being used in the sense of “rebuke.” For the verb “send,” used absolutely, comp. Psa_18:16.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. He shall send from heaven] There is no need to supply an object to the verb here. The object is introduced when the verb is repeated according to the characteristic peculiarity of this Psalm. For the meaning cp. Psa_20:2, and perhaps Psa_18:16, though see note there.

from the reproach &c.] Better, (For) he that would swallow me up (or, crush me, Psa_56:1, note) hath reproached. The object of the verb may be God, Whom the enemy blasphemes in denying His willingness to help His servant (Isa_37:23-24); or the Psalmist, whom he taunts with being deserted by his God (Psa_42:10; Psa_55:12). The rendering of A.V. marg., he reproacheth him that would swallow me up, is contrary to usage, for the word is never used of God rebuking men.

Selah here is probably misplaced, cp. Psa_55:19. In the LXX it follows Psa_57:2.

God shall send forth &c.] God’s lovingkindness and truth (cp. Psa_42:8, Psa_43:3) are almost personified as “ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation.” It is in virtue of the lovingkindness which is the foundation of His covenant, and of the faithfulness which is an inalienable attribute of His nature, that God will send help to His servant.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He shall send from heaven, and save me,.... His angel, as the Targum adds; or his angels, as Kimchi; who are ministering spirits, sent forth by him, to encamp about his people, and guard them, as they did Jacob when in fear of Esau, Gen 32:1; or to deliver them out of trouble, as Peter when in prison, Act 12:7; or rather the sense may be, that David did not expect any help and deliverance in an human way, by means of men on earth; but he expected it from above, from heaven, from God above, and which he believed he should have; and he might have a further view to the mission of Christ from heaven to save him, and all the Lord's people; and which he may mention, both for his own comfort, and for the strengthening of the faith of others in that important article;

from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Meaning Saul; see Psa 56:1. The Targum renders it,

"he hath reproached him that would swallow me up for ever;''

and to the same sense the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, Arabic, and Syriac versions; disappointed them, and filled them with reproach, shame, and confusion.

Selah; on this word; see Gill on Psa 3:2.

God shall send forth his mercy and his truth; shall manifest and display the glory of these his perfections, his mercy and grace, his truth and faithfulness, in his deliverance and salvation; and which are remarkably glorified in salvation by Christ Jesus; and who himself may be called "his grace and his truth" (n), as the words may be rendered; he being the Word of his grace, and truth itself, and full of both; and by whom, when sent forth, grace and truth came, Joh 1:14; it may also intend a constant supply of grace, whereby God would show forth the truth of his promises to him.

(n) "gratiam et veritatem suam", Cocceius, Gejerus, Michaelis.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He shall send from heaven - That is, from himself; or, he will interpose to save me. The psalmist does not say “how” he expected this interposition - whether by an angel, by a miracle, by tempest or storm, but he felt that help was to come from God alone, and he was sure that it would come.

And save me from the reproach ... - This would be more correctly rendered, “He shall save me; he shall reproach him that would swallow me up.” So it is rendered in the margin. On the word rendered “would swallow me up,” see the notes at Psa 56:1. The idea here is, that God would “rebuke” or “reproach,” to wit, by overthrowing him that sought to devour or destroy him. God had interposed formerly in his behalf Psa 57:2, and he felt assured that he would do it again.

Selah - This seems here to be a mere musical pause. It has no connection with the sense. See the notes at Psa 3:2.

God shall send forth his mercy - In saving me. He will “manifest” his mercy.

And his truth - His fidelity to his promise; his faithfulness to those who put their trust in him. He will show himself “true” to all the promises which he has made. Compare Psa 40:11.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He shall send, either,

1. His angels, as Dan 3:28. Or,

2. His help. Or,

3. His hand; which is understood after this verb, 2Sa 6:6, by comparing 1Ch 13:9, where it is expressed. Or rather,

4. His mercy and his truth as it here follows, where also this verb is repeated before those words. Save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up, i.e. from that shameful destruction which they design to bring upon me. Or rather, as it is rendered in the margin of our Bible, and by many others, and as it is in the Hebrew, he hath reproached (i.e. he will certainly put to shame or reproach) him that would swallow me up, by disappointing his expectation, and delivering me from his rage.

Shall send forth his mercy and his truth, i.e. shall discover them by their proper fruits, to wit, by affording his gracious help in pursuance of his promises.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 3. He shall send from heaven. If there be no fit instruments on earth, heaven shall yield up its legions of angels for the succour of the saints. We may in times of great straits expect mercies of a remarkable kind; like the Israelites in the wilderness, we shall have our bread hot from heaven, new every morning; and for the overthrow of our enemies God shall open his celestial batteries, and put them to utter confusion. Wherever the battle is more fierce than ordinary, there shall come succours from headquarters, for the Commander in chief sees all.

And save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. He will be in time, not only to rescue his servants from being swallowed up, but even from being reproached. Not only shall they escape the flames, but not even the smell of fire shall pass upon them. O dog of hell, I am not only delivered from thy bite, but even from thy bark. Our foes shall not have the power to sneer at us, their cruel jests and taunting gibes shall be ended by the message from heaven, which shall for ever save us.

Selah. Such mercy may well make us pause to meditate and give thanks. Rest, singer, for God has given thee rest!

God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. He asked for mercy, and truth came with it. Thus evermore doth God give us more than we ask or think. His attributes, like angels on the wing, are ever ready to come to the rescue of his chosen.

Ver. 3. Him that would swallow me up. If I were to take you to my house, and say that I had an exquisite fat man, and wished you to join me in eating him, your indignation could be restrained by nothing. You would pronounce me to be crazy. There is not in New York a man so mean that he would not put down a man who should propose to have a banquet off from a fellow man, cutting steaks out of him, and eating them. And that is nothing but feasting on the human body, while they will all sit down, and take a man's soul, and look for the tender loins, and invite their neighbours in to partake of the little titbits. They will take a man's honour and name, and broil them over the coals of their indignation, and fill the whole room with the aroma thereof, and give their neighbour a piece, and watch him, and wink as he tastes it. You all eat men up... You eat the souls, the finest elements of men. You are more than glad if you can whisper a word that is derogatory to a neighbour, or his wife, or his daughter... The morsel is too exquisite to be lost. Here is the soul of a person, here is a person's hope for this world and the world to come, and you have it on your fork, and you cannot refrain from tasting it, and give it to some one else to taste. You are cannibals, eating men's honour and name and rejoicing in it--and that, too, when you do not always know that the things charged against them are true; when in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the probabilities are that they are not true. Henry Ward Beecher, 1870.

Ver. 3. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth, viz., to save me. That is to say, God, to manifest his mercy, and vindicate the truth of his promises, will save me. The reader will observe, that mercy and truth are here poetically represented as ministers of God, standing in his presence, ready to execute his pleasure, and employed by him in the salvation of his people. Samuel Chandler.

Ver. 3. His mercy and his truth. He need not send down angels, he need send but mercy and truth down, which elsewhere it is said he prepares in the heavens. Ps 61:7. He prepares commissions for them, and sends them down with them for execution. Thomas Goodwin.

Ver. 3. The saints comfort in adversity.

I. All contingencies are provided for: He shall (or

will) send.

II. The highest resources are available: from

heaven.

III. The worst foes will be overcome in the end: him

that would swallow me up.

IV. By the holiest means: mercy and truth. R. A. G.

Ver. 3. The celestial messengers. What they are. The certainty of their being sent. Their efficient operation. The grateful receiver.

Ver. 3. (last clause). The harmony of the divine attributes in salvation. Mercy founded on truth, truth vindicating mercy. Mercy without injustice, justice honoured in mercy.

Psalms 57:4*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. He shall send from heaven—David steadfastly refused to take vengeance into his own hands against Saul and his evil counsellors, but left the questions of his vindication and of his promised accession to the throne wholly with God.

The reproach—The slander of his enemies was the keenest edge of his sufferings.

Swallow me up—See on Psa_56:1-2.

Mercy and… truth—See on Psa_25:10, and compare “light and truth,” Psa_43:3-4. David asked and desired no mercy which was against truth; but in the triumph of these lay all his hope.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Send forth - Will discover them, by affording his gracious help in pursuance of his promises.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.