Heading.
‘For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of YHWH, who spoke to YHWH the words of this song in the day that YHWH delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. And he said,'
This Psalm, dedicated to the Choirmaster, and therefore now prepared for public worship, is a revision of 2 Samuel 22:1-51. It was a Psalm written in the first place in order to express David's gratitude to God for all his deliverances once he had reached the plateau of security as king and ruler over his wide dominions, and to begin with he had in mind especially his deliverance from the hand of Saul. All his trials and problems now seemed behind him, and he gave glory to YHWH.
And indeed in the future he would continue to be victorious, over all but himself. But like all men, although he was able to conquer his world, he was not able to conquer the sin within. And through that, great king though he was, he would continually learn the grace of God to a repentant sinner. In this he was different from the greater David who would one day come to be the Saviour of the world, for He would be the One ‘Who knew no sin'. And this greater David is also in mind, for the blessing David is describing is not just for himself. It is for his seed for evermore (Psalms 18:50).
But his own failure is not the theme of the Psalm, the whole aim of which is to glorify YHWH for what He is to His own, and what He does for them. Everything is concentrated on that. Everything that has happened in his packed life is seen in that light. It is all about what YHWH has done and will continue to do.
His greatest delight was in the fact that he was ‘the servant of YHWH', a mirror of the great Servant yet to come (Isaiah 42:1-4; Isaiah 49:1-6; Isaiah 52:13 to Isaiah 53:12). It was this that gave meaning to his life. This above all is why his life was significant, because YHWH had chosen him and called him to serve Him. And he delighted in doing so. And this is his testimony. The title ‘servant of YHWH' is a rare one in Scripture, used regularly of Moses, and twice of Joshua. It was a title of high honour.
And yet all of us may in our own way (or should we say in His way) be ‘servants of YHWH'. The position is open to all who will respond.
For in the end this is not just a personal psalm. It may have been initially but it has become a part of the worship of God's people. Each one who is faithful to Him can apply its thought to himself. Each one can, as it were, step into David's skin and experience what he has experienced, and partake in God's blessings to the king.