The security of God's protection.
A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son.
Title.— לדוד מזמור mizmor ledavid; the word mizmor comes from זמר zemer, to cut, to etch or engrave, and denotes a psalm or song; not, I think, as Mr. Le Clerc supposes, because these composures were cut into short periods; but because they were set to music, and cut into notes, the song being engraven with the tune; so that it is properly, A psalm in score. The occasion upon which it is declared to have been written, and the nature of the hymn, shew it to have been David's; and it was impossible that a hymn could be composed with greater propriety or nobler sentiments of religion, upon so extraordinary an event as that of the rebellion of his own son, who had drawn several from most of the tribes of Israel into the conspiracy; so that he was given over by many as absolutely lost, and his enemies thought it was beyond the power of God to save him. Chandler. The psalm is also in some degree typical of our Saviour's sadness and agony, and of his prayer on mount Olivet; (Luke 22:39; Luke 22:41.) the very same mount to which David went up, when he is supposed to have poured forth the substance of this prayer. See 2 Samuel 15:30. For more concerning the titles of the psalms, see the first note on the next psalm.