In the Lord put I my trust
Not in himself, in his own heart, nor in his own righteousness
and strength; nor in men, the greatest of men, the princes of the
earth; nor in his armies, or any outward force; but in the Lord,
as the God of providence and of grace; and in the Messiah, in his
person and righteousness; so the Chaldee paraphrase renders it,
"in the Word of the Lord do I hope": and the phrase denotes a
continued exercise of faith in the Lord; that he was always
looking to him, staying himself on him, and committing himself
and all his concerns to him; for he does not say, I "have", or I
"will", but I "do", put my trust in the Lord; at all times, even
in the worst of times, and in the present one; wherefore he is
displeased with his friends for endeavouring to intimidate him,
persuading him to flee and provide for his safety, when he had
betaken himself to the Lord, and was safe enough;
how say ye to my soul, flee [as] a bird to your
mountain?
they compare him to a little, fearful, trembling bird, wandering
from its nest, moving through fear from place to place, whereas
his heart was fixed, trusting in the Lord; and this gave him a
disgust: they advise him to flee either "from" his mountain, so
Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; that is, either from Judea,
which was a mountainous country, especially some parts of it; or
from Mount Zion, or rather from the mountain in the wilderness of
Ziph, or the hill of Hachilah, where David sometimes was, (
1 Samuel
23:14 ) ( 26:1 ) ; or
it may be rendered "to your mountain", as we, so the Targum; that
is, to the said place or places where he had sometimes hid
himself; and this they said to his "soul", which was very cutting
and grieving to him; the word rendered "flee" in the "Cetib", or
writing of the text, is (wdwn) , in the plural, "flee ye"; but is pointed for,
and in the "Keri", or marginal reading, is (ydwn) , "flee thou"; the latter
agrees with this being said to David's soul, the former with the
phrase "your mountain", and both are to be taken into the sense
of the words; not as if the one respected David's soul only, and
the other both soul and body, as Kimchi and Ben Melech observe;
but the one regards David's person, and the other his companions,
or the people with him; and contains an advice, both to him and
them, to flee for their safety; the reasons follow.