1 Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to battle: 2 my loving kindness, my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge; who subdues my people under me. 3 Yahweh, what is man, that you care for him? Or the son of man, that you think of him? 4 Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away. 5 Part your heavens, Yahweh, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke. 6 Throw out lightning, and scatter them. Send out your arrows, and rout them. 7 Stretch out your hand from above, rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, out of the hands of foreigners; 8 whose mouths speak deceit, Whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. 9 I will sing a new song to you, God. On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you. 10 You are he who gives salvation to kings, who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword. 11 Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners, whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. 12 Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace. 13 Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision. Our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields. 14 Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets. 15 Happy are the people who are in such a situation. Happy are the people whose God is Yahweh. A praise psalm by David.
This psalm is also ascribed to David. It is almost entirely a compilation of passages from other psalms - particularly Ps. 18 - newly arranged. Compare Psalm 18:34, with Psalm 144:1; Psalm 18:2, Psalm 18:46, with Psalm 144:2; Psalm 18:9, with Psalm 144:5; Psalm 18:14, with Psalm 144:6; Psalm 18:16, with Psalm 144:7. Compare also Psalm 8:4, with Psalm 144:3; Psalm 104:32, with Psalm 144:5; Psalm 33:2-3, with Psalm 144:9; Psalm 33:12, with Psalm 144:15; Psalm 128:3, with Psalm 144:12. In itself considered there is nothing improbable in the supposition that David himself should have made such a selection, or should have employed language which he had used before, adapting it now to a new purpose, and making such additions as would fit it for the new occasion for which it was intended. It would not be possible now, however, to ascertain the occasion on which this arrangement was made, or its specific design. There is, evidently, a remembrance of former mercies; there was impending danger; there is an earnest prayer that God would interpose as he had done in former times; there is a promise of new songs of praise if God would interpose; there is a looking forward to the prosperity - the joy - which would result if God did thus interpose and save the nation.
In regard to the occasion on which the psalm was written, perhaps the conjecture of Kimchi is the most probable, that it is a prayer against the attempts of foreign nations to overthrow the Hebrew people, in some of the numerous wars in which David was engaged after he had come to the possession of the crown. The different parts of the psalm can be better explained on this supposition than perhaps on any other. This would make proper all the expressions in regard to the past Psalm 144:1-2; the uncertainty and instability of earthly things and the weakness of man Psalm 144:3-4; the necessity of the divine interposition as in former times Psalm 144:5-8; the reference to foreigners Psalm 144:7-8, Psalm 144:11; the purpose to praise God Psalm 144:9-10; the allusion to the happiness of a people whose God is the Lord, and to the prosperity which would follow his interposition Psalm 144:12-15.
The psalmist praises God for his goodness, Psalm 144:1, Psalm 144:2. Exclamations relative to the vanity of human life, Psalm 144:3, Psalm 144:4. He prays against his enemies, Psalm 144:5-8; and extols God's mercy for the temporal blessings enjoyed by his people, Psalm 144:9-15.
The Hebrew, and all the Versions, attribute this Psalm to David. The Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic, term it, A Psalm of David against Goliath. The Syriac says, "A Psalm of David when he slew Asaph, the brother of Goliath." Calmet thinks, and with much probability, that it was composed by David after the death of Absalom, and the restoration of the kingdom to peace and tranquillity. From a collation of this with Psalm 18, of which it appears to be an abridgment, preserving the same ideas, and the same forms of expression, there can be no doubt of both having proceeded from the same pen, and that David was the author. There is scarcely an expression here of peculiar importance that is not found in the prototype; and for explanation I must refer generally to the above Psalm.
INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 144
A Psalm of David. This psalm was written by David; not on account of the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, by a spirit of prophecy, as Theodoret; but on his own account, after he was come to the throne, and was king over all Israel; and was delivered from the was between him and Israel, and from the war of the Philistines, as Kimchi observes, having gained two victories over them: or it was written between the two victories, and before he had conquered all his enemies; since he prays to be delivered from the hand of strange children, Psalm 144:7. R. Obadiah thinks it was written on the account of his deliverance from Absalom and Sheba; but the former is best. Some copies of the Septuagint, and also the Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions, have in their titles these words,
"against Goliath;''
and so Apollinarius; as if it was written on account of his combat with him, and victory over him; but this clause is not in the Hebrew Bibles; nor could Theodoret find it in the Septuagint in the Hexapla in his time. The Syriac inscription is still more foreign to the purpose,
"a psalm of David, when he slew Asaph the brother of Goliath.''
R. Saadiah Gaon interprets this psalm of the times of the Messiah; and there are several things in it which are applicable to him.
(Psalm 144:1-8) David acknowledges the great goodness of God, and prays for help.
(Psalm 144:9-15) He prays for the prosperity of his kingdom.
Taking Courage in God before a Decisive Combat
Praised be Jahve who teacheth me to fight and conquer (Psalm 144:1, Psalm 144:2), me the feeble mortal, who am strong only in Him, Psalm 144:3-4. May Jahve then be pleased to grant a victory this time also over the boastful, lying enemies, Psalm 144:5-8; so will I sing new songs of thanksgiving unto Him, the bestower of victory, Psalm 144:9-10. May He be pleased to deliver me out of the hand of the barbarians who envy us our prosperity, which is the result of our having Jahve as our God, Psalm 144:11-15. A glance at this course of the thought commends the additional inscription of the lxx (according to Origen only "in a few copies"), πρὸς τὸν Γολιάδ, and the Targumist's reference of the "evil sword" in Psalm 144:10 to the sword of Goliath (after the example of the Midrash). Read 1-Samuel 17:47. The Psalm has grown out of this utterance of David. In one of the old histories, just as several of these lie at the foundation of our Books of Samuel as sources of information that are still recognisable, it was intended to express the feelings with which David entered upon the single-handed combat with Goliath and decided the victory of Israel over the Philistines. At that time he had already been anointed by Samuel, as both the narratives which have been worked up together in the First Book of Samuel assume: see 1-Samuel 16:13; 1-Samuel 10:1. And this victory was for him a gigantic stride to the throne.
If אשׁר in Psalm 144:12 is taken as eo quod, so that envy is brought under consideration as a motive for the causeless (שׁוא), lyingly treacherous rising (ימין שׁקר) of the neighbouring peoples, then the passage Psalm 144:12-15 can at any rate be comprehended as a part of the form of the whole. But only thus, and not otherwise; for אשׁר cannot be intended as a statement of the aim or purpose: in order that they may be...(Jerome, De Wette, Hengstenberg, and others), since nothing but illustrative substantival clauses follow; nor do these clauses admit of an optative sense: We, whose sons, may they be...(Maurer); and אשׁר never has an assuring sense (Vaihinger). It is also evident that we cannot, with Saadia, go back to Psalm 144:9 for the interpretation of the אשׁר (Arab. asbh 'lâ mâ). But that junction by means of eo quod is hazardous, since envy or ill-will (קנאה) is not previously mentioned, and וימינם ימין שׁקר expresses a fact, and not an action. If it is further considered that nothing is wanting in the way of finish to the Psalm if it closes with Psalm 144:11, it becomes all the more doubtful whether Psalm 144:12-15 belonged originally to the Psalm. And yet we cannot discover any Psalm in its immediate neighbourhood to which this piece might be attached. It might the most readily, as Hitzig correctly judges, be inserted between Psalm 147:13 and Psalm 147:14 of Ps 147. But the rhythm and style differ from this Psalm, and we must therefore rest satisfied with the fact that a fragment of another Psalm is here added to Psalm 144:1-15, which of necessity may be accounted as an integral part of it; but in spite of the fact that the whole Psalm is built up on a gigantic scale, this was not its original corner-stone, just as one does not indeed look for anything further after the refrain, together with the mention of David in Psalm 144:10., cf. Ps 18:51.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.