Psalm 17 Study Notes

17:9 David’s enemies longed to take his life.

17:10-12 The Hebrew in v. 10 is literally “they have closed up their fat.” Fat represented prosperity, but such a state of abundance could and often did lead to callousness and rebellion (73:7; Dt 32:15; Jr 5:28). The idea here is that these enemies of God had become uncaring toward him and were surrounding the psalmist (both here and in v. 9) to attack a person who was faithful to God. The Hebrew text at the beginning of v. 11 is literally “our steps,” which is difficult. They advance against me is from the Latin Vulgate, a reading that is more understandable and fits the context. On the lion imagery, see note at 7:1-2.

17:13-14 Rise up probably expresses the military idea of preparing for battle since it is linked with your sword (see note at 7:6-8). The meaning of world here is similar to the use of the Greek cosmos in the NT to describe the world system that is against God. These men belong to the world system, and their inheritance or portion was only in this earthly life (see Ec 9:9). God would fill their bellies with punishment, so much so that it would continue in the generations to come (Ex 20:5; Dt 5:9; Jb 21:19).

17:15 Seeing God’s face is equivalent to receiving blessings from him (see note at 4:6). There is a contrast between this faithful one being satisfied with God and the wicked being satisfied with God’s punishment in v. 14. Its use in v. 14 is sarcastic in comparison to here.