1 > In Yahweh, I take refuge. How can you say to my soul, "Flee as a bird to your mountain!"
I have put my trust in God. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
David abode in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill-country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God didn't deliver him into his hand.
On that same day, some Pharisees came, saying to him, "Get out of here, and go away, for Herod wants to kill you."
You will keep [him] in perfect peace, [whose] mind [is] stayed [on you]; because he trusts in you. Trust in Yahweh forever; for in Yah, Yahweh, is an everlasting Rock.
I said, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! Then I would fly away, and be at rest. Behold, then I would wander far off. I would lodge in the wilderness." Selah.
Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning: and Michal, David's wife, told him, saying, If you don't save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be slain.
Those who know your name will put their trust in you, For you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Weren't the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, with chariots and horsemen exceeding many? yet, because you did rely on Yahweh, he delivered them into your hand.
Asa cried to Yahweh his God, and said, Yahweh, there is none besides you to help, between the mighty and him who has no strength: help us, Yahweh our God; for we rely on you, and in your name are we come against this multitude. Yahweh, you are our God; don't let man prevail against you.
David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.
David went there to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said to the king of Moab, Please let my father and my mother come forth, [and be] with you, until I know what God will do for me.
David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. The servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David the king of the land? Didn't they sing one to another about him in dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?'" David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 11
Commentary on Psalms 11 Matthew Henry Commentary
Psalm 11
In this psalm we have David's struggle with and triumph over a strong temptation to distrust God and betake himself to indirect means for his own safety in a time of danger. It is supposed to have been penned when he began to feel the resentments of Saul's envy, and had had the javelin thrown at him once and again. He was then advised to run his country. "No,' says he, "I trust in God, and therefore will keep my ground.' Observe,
In times of public fear, when the insults of the church's enemies are daring and threatening, it will be profitable to meditate on this psalm.
To the chief musician. A psalm of David.
Psa 11:1-3
Here is,
Psa 11:4-7
The shaking of a tree (they say) makes it take the deeper and faster root. The attempt of David's enemies to discourage his confidence in God engages him to cleave so much the more closely to his first principles, and to review them, which he here does, abundantly to his own satisfaction and the silencing of all temptations to infidelity. That which was shocking to his faith, and has been so to the faith of many, was the prosperity of wicked people in their wicked ways, and the straits and distresses which the best men are sometimes reduced to: hence such an evil thought as this was apt to arise, Surely it is vain to serve God, and we may call the proud happy. But, in order to stifle and shame all such thoughts, we are here called to consider,
In singing this psalm we must encourage and engage ourselves to trust in God at all times, must depend upon him to protect our innocence and make us happy, must dread his frowns as worse than death and desire his favour as better than life.