This psalm is addressed to "the chief Musician," and purports to be a psalm of David. On the meaning of the phrase "To the chief Musician," see the notes at the title to Psalm 4:1-8. There can be no doubt that the inscription which ascribes it to David is correct, and that he was the author. The occasion, however, on which it was composed is unknown, and cannot now be ascertained. Most of the Jewish and many Christian interpreters have supposed that it was written when David was in the wilderness of Maon, and when, having been betrayed (as to the place of his retreat) by the Ziphites, he was hotly pursued by Saul and his host, 1-Samuel 23:19-26. There is, however, no particular reason for referring it to this period of his life, for there were many occasions to which it would be equally applicable.
Its general purpose is to inspire confidence in God in other hearts - from the experience of the psalmist - from that manifested favor by which he had been brought through his troubles. See Psalm 31:23-24. The psalm refers to the dangers which surrounded its author at the time referred to; his fears and apprehensions in those dangers; his calm confidence in God amid his dangers; the deliverance from trouble which was vouchsafed to him; his joy and gratitude for deliverance; and the lessons which others might learn in their trials from the divine dealings toward him in his. That the psalmist was in trouble or danger when he penned this psalm there can be no reason to doubt; that he prayed earnestly at that time for deliverance is clear; but it is also plain that in the psalm he refers to former troubles, and to the deliverance which God had granted to him in those troubles, and that he seeks and derives consolation and assurance from the dealings of God with him then. In some parts of the psalm he refers to his present afflictions; in other parts to the trials of other days, and to his deliverances in those trials; in the entire psalm he inculcates the duty of confiding in God, from his own experience of His mercy, and from his own reliance upon Him.
The contents of the psalm are as follows:
I. Prayer to God for deliverance from his sufferings and his enemies, on the ground of his confidence in Him, and his previous experience of His mercy, Psalm 31:1-8.
II. Description of his troubles and of the calamities under which he was oppressed; or an enumeration of his present distresses, Psalm 31:9-13. He says that he is in trouble, and that his eye is consumed with grief, Psalm 31:9; that his life is spent with grief, and his years with sighing, that his strength failed, and that his bones were consumed, Psalm 31:10; that he is a reproach among his neighbors and an object of dread to his acquaintances, or that they fled from him, he was so abject, forsaken, and afflicted, Psalm 31:11; that he was forsaken and forgotten like a dead man who had passed away from the recollection of mankind, Psalm 31:12; that he was slandered, and that people conspired together to take away his life, Psalm 31:13.
III. Calm confidence in God in these times of trouble; or a calm committing of all into His hands, under an assurance which he felt that all would be well, Psalm 31:14-20. He says that he trusted in God, Psalm 31:14; and that his times were in the hand of God, Psalm 31:15; he prays that God would deliver him, Psalm 31:15-18; he finds comfort and peace in the assurance of the divine goodness and mercy, Psalm 31:19; and in the assurance that God would hide them that trusted in Him from the pride of man, and would keep them safely in His pavilion, Psalm 31:20.
IV. Thanks for deliverance, Psalm 31:21-22. He seems to have found the deliverance, even while he prayed, or to have had such an assurance of it that he could speak of it as if it were already his. He felt that he had been hasty in supposing that he would be cut off; and seems to have reproached himself for even a momentary doubt in regard to the goodness of God, Psalm 31:22.
V. The lesson furnished to others by his experience, Psalm 31:23-24. It is a lesson of encouragement to all in similar circumstances, prompting them to be of good courage; to be cheered by his example and experience; never to despond; never to cease to trust God. Because He had found God to be a refuge and strength, he calls upon all others to believe that they would also find him such if they likewise trusted in Him.

The psalmist, with strong confidence in God, in a time of distress prays earnestly for deliverance, Psalm 31:1-5. He expresses his abhorrence of evil, Psalm 31:6; gratefully mentions former interpositions of God, Psalm 31:7, Psalm 31:8; continues to detail the miseries of his case, Psalm 31:9-18; points out the privileges of them that fear God, Psalm 31:19, Psalm 31:20; shows that God had heard his prayers, notwithstanding he had given himself over for lost, Psalm 31:21, Psalm 31:22; calls on the saints to love God, and to have confidence in him, because he preserves the faithful, and plentifully rewards the proud doer, Psalm 31:23, Psalm 31:24.
This Psalm contains no notes of time or place, to help us to ascertain when, where, or on what account it was written. Nor have we any certain evidence relative to the author: it might have been written by David during his persecution by Saul. Some think Jeremiah to have been the author: the thirteenth verse begins exactly with the same words as Jeremiah 20:10. There are several other apparent references to passages in the book of Jeremiah, which shall be produced in the notes.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 31
To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. This psalm, according to Arama, was composed by David when in Keilah; but, according to Kimchi and others, when the Ziphites proposed to deliver him up into the hands of Saul; and who, upon their solicitations, came down and surrounded him with his army, from whom in haste he made his escape, and to which he is thought to refer in Psalm 31:22. Theodoret supposes it was written by David when he fled from Absalom, and that it has some respect in it to his sin against Uriah, in that verse.

(Psalm 31:1-8) Confidence in God.
(Psalm 31:9-18) Prayer in trouble.
(Psalm 31:19-24) Praise for God's goodness.

Surrender of One Sorely Persecuted into the Hand of God
In Ps 31 the poet also, in ואני אמרתּי (Psalm 31:23), looks back upon a previous state of mind, viz., that of conflict, just as in Psalm 30:7 upon that of security. And here, also, he makes all the חסידים partakers with him of the healthful fruit of his deliverance (cf. Psalm 31:24 with Psalm 30:5). But in other respects the situation of the two Psalm is very different. They are both Davidic. Hitzig, however, regards them both as composed by Jeremiah. With reference to Ps 31, which Ewald also ascribes to "Jremj," this view is well worthy of notice. Not only do we find Psalm 31:14 recurring in Jeremiah, Jeremiah 20:10, but the whole Psalm, in its language (cf. e.g., Jeremiah 20:10 with Lamentations 1:20; Psalm 31:11 with Jeremiah 20:18; Psalm 31:18 with Jeremiah 17:18; Psalm 31:23 with Lamentations 3:54) and its plaintive tenderness, reminds one of Jeremiah. But this relationship does not decide the question. The passage Jeremiah 20:10, like many other passages of this prophet, whose language is so strongly imbued with that of the Psalter, may be just as much a reminiscence as Jonah 2:5, Jonah 2:9; and as regards its plaintive tenderness there are no two characters more closely allied naturally and in spirit than David and Jeremiah; both are servants of Jahve, whose noble, tender spirits were capable of strong feeling, who cherished earnest longings, and abounded in tribulations. We abide, though not without some degree of hesitation, by the testimony of the inscription; and regard the Psalm as a song springing from the outward and inward conflict (lxx ἐκστάσεως, probably by a combination of Psalm 31:23, ἐν ἐκστάσει, בחפזי, with 1-Samuel 23:26) of the time of Saul. While Psalm 31:12 is not suited to the mouth of the captive Jeremiah (Hitzig), the Psalm has much that is common not only to Ps 69 (more especially Psalm 69:9, Psalm 69:33), a Psalm that sounds much like Jeremiah's, but also to others, which we regard as Davidic; viz., the figures corresponding to the life of warfare which David then lived among the rocks and caves of the wilderness; the cheering call, Jeremiah 31:25, cf. Psalm 22:27; Psalm 27:14; the rare use of the Hiph. הפליא Psalm 31:22; Psalm 17:7; the desire to be hidden by God, Psalm 31:21, cf. Psalm 17:8; Psalm 64:3; etc. In common with Ps 22 this may be noted, that the crucified Christ takes His last word from this Psalm, just as He takes His last utterance but three from that Psalm. But in Psalm 31:10-14, the prefigurement of the Passion is confined within the limits of the type and does not undergo the same prophetical enhancement as it does in that unique Ps 22, to which only Ps 69 is in any degree comparable. The opening, Psalm 31:2, is repeated in the centonic Ps 71, the work of a later anonymous poet, just as Psalm 31:23 is in part repeated in Psalm 116:11. The arrangement of the strophes is not very clear.