Heading ‘A psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son.'
The headings of the Psalms were clearly very ancient and this may well therefore be a reliable tradition.
The context in which this psalm was written by David is thus stated to be the civil war in Israel caused by the rebellion of Absalom, the son of David, as he wrought to seize the kingdom from under David's control (2 Samuel 15-18). This is probably why it follows Psalms 2, whose message is pertinent here. Even his own nation rages and his own people have risen up against YHWH's anointed, a ‘king' has set himself against him, and taken counsel together with his advisers. They wanted to be free from his iron control.
The Psalm brings out the attitude of such peoples. They think that he is a write-off. They say of him, ‘there is no help for him in God' (Psalms 3:2). They consider that God has finished with him. But they had forgotten that it was YHWH Who had set him on the holy hill of Zion, and that He was merciful to those who called on Him. And they thus do not realise that from that holy hill He will reach out and deliver him (Psalms 3:4).
The rebellion caused David great bitterness of soul. His complacency had been shattered, his anguish that his beloved son would do this to him tore at his heart, and even his triumph over Absalom would cause a bitterness all the greater because of the death of his son. Here in this Psalm we have depicted his personal despair at such an unexpected event, and how he responded to it. And that is why it was retained and sung. It was a continuing reminder that however bitter the circumstances might be in a man's life, God can provide a solution to them.
Some have argued that the psalm does not contain a sufficiently clear reference to what happened and is therefore simply a more general psalm. But there is no evidence for their position apart from that, and we can argue quite reasonably that David is here expressing his own personal emotions and spiritual battles, rather than praying about the circumstances in detail. He is not concerned with the details of the situation, but with God, and with his own emotions and how it affected him personally.
Furthermore it is likely that he did not want to include mention of his son in it, the son whom he loved who had betrayed him, for that would have meant giving details of his betrayal. It would have seemed like a betrayal of love on his own part. So it was deliberately a very personal prayer even though produced for public usage. It brings out just how personally he felt the situation.
The Psalm splits up into four sections.
1) The distress in which he found himself (1-2).
2) His recognition of God's help and protection (3-4).
3) His confidence in the midst of danger (5-6).
4) His prayer for deliverance, and cry for blessing on his people (7-8).