The Leading Intercessor Speaks To The People By Way Of Intercession (Psalms 20:1-4).
We note here the singular ‘you'. The reference is probably to the whole people seen as one. Or it may be spoken to the king as representing the people. Either way it was probably spoken in the tabernacle/temple precincts while sacrifices were being offered (Psalms 20:3), in a day of trouble, possibly when news had come of raids on their territory and possibly more. We do not all suffer from those now, but we do suffer the encroachments of another Enemy.
‘YHWH answer you in the day of trouble,
The name of the God of Jacob set you up on high,
Send you help from the sanctuary,
And strengthen you out of Zion.'
The leading petitioner (who may be the anointed Prince, or the High Priest) appeals for Yahweh to help them (the people) on the day of trouble that has come on them, and to set them in a place of safety and victory. Reference to ‘the God of Jacob' may recognise that they are like Jacob, the weak and failing side of Jacob/Israel, but at the same time stressing that they are looking to His mercy, precisely because He was the God of Jacob, the weak and failing one who yet proved his strength with God. Or they may be proudly naming their ancestor, and reminding God that they are descended from one who was His chosen, and that they are His chosen in him. Either way the appeal is that He will establish them ‘on high', in the place of honour and victory.
‘The name of the God of Jacob set you up on high.' That is, God as He is revealed through His name.
The deliverance is looked for ‘from the sanctuary', that is from the invisible God acting from Heaven through His throne over the Ark of the Covenant of YHWH in the Holiest of All. They look for strengthening (‘a holding up') in their endeavours, in all they sought to do, a ‘holding up' coming out of Mount Zion, the earthly dwellingplace of God, on which the Tabernacle or Temple stands.
The assumption is that God will hear and answer their cry because by His own choice He has taken up His dwelling among His people, and because He is their God Who has elected to make a covenant with them, and their prince is His anointed one (Psalms 20:6), His chosen.
‘Remember all your offerings,
And accept as fat your burnt offering. Selah'
So as the offerings for YHWH's aid are offered, the petitioner appeals to God to remember all their past offerings which have revealed them as His true covenant people, and to especially note these that are now being offered. The offerings are both an admission of sin, a means of atonement and a token of rededication to God's covenant. To ‘remember' them will be to act in response to them
‘All your offerings.' Possibly in mind are the meal offerings (mincha - ‘gift') which accompanied sacrifices. Also the ‘burnt offering' (‘whole offering', i.e. wholly consumed by fire) which was wholly offered to YHWH. These two composed the daily morning and evening offering (Exodus 29:38-42; Numbers 28:3-8). But they were also offered at other times as well, and the fact that the meal offerings are plural suggests that this is referring to extra offerings possibly resulting from the crisis. ‘Accept as fat' means to treat it as acceptable. The fat was an important part of the offering.
For sacrificial offerings made specifically in preparation for war see 1 Samuel 7:9-10; 1 Samuel 13:9-12 and Jeremiah 6:4 which speaks of ‘sanctifying a war'.
‘Grant you your heart's desire,
And fulfil all your counsel.'
The speaker's final petition is that they will receive what they desire from their hearts, and will be prospered in what they have decided to do in order to deal with the problem on hand.