Psalm 63

1 O God, my God, I cry to thee early; my soul has thirsted for thee: how often has my flesh longed after thee, in a barren and trackless and dry land!

2 Thus have I appeared before thee in the sanctuary, that I might see thy power and thy glory.

3 For thy mercy is better than life: my lips shall praise thee.

4 Thus will I bless thee during my life: I will lift up my hands in thy name.

5 Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness; and my joyful lips shall praise thy name.

6 Forasmuch as I have remembered thee on my bed: in the early seasons I have meditated on thee.

7 For thou hast been my helper, and in the shelter of thy wings will I rejoice.

8 My soul has kept very close behind thee: thy right hand has upheld me.

9 But they vainly sought after my soul; they shall go into the lowest parts o the earth.

10 They shall be delivered up to the power of the sword; they shall be portions for foxes.

11 But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that swears by him shall be praised; for the mouth of them that speak unjust things has been stopped.

Psalm 63 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 63

\\<>\\. This psalm was composed by David, either when he was persecuted by Saul, and obliged to hide himself in desert places, as in the forest of Hareth, the wildernesses of Ziph, Maon, and Engedi, \1Sa 22:5 23:14,24,25 24:1\; all which were in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:55,62; or when his son Absalom rebelled against him, which obliged him to flee from Jerusalem, and go the way of the wilderness, where Ziba and Barzillai sent him food, lest his young men that were with him should faint there, \2Sa 15:23 16:2 17:29\. The Septuagint version, and those that follow that, call it the wilderness of Idumea, or Edom, as the Arabic version; and so the Chaldee paraphrase, ``in the wilderness which was on the border of the tribe of Judah;'' as Edom was, Jos 15:21; so the Messiah, David's son, was in a wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil, and where he was hungry and thirsty in a literal sense, as David was here in a spiritual sense, as the psalm shows, Mt 4:1,2; and the church of God, whom David sometimes represents, is said to be in a wilderness, where she is fed for a time, and times, and half a time, even during the whole reign of the antichristian beast, Re 12:14; and, indeed, all the saints are, at one time or another, in a desert condition, and while they are here are in the wilderness of the people, Ho 2:14, Eze 20:35.