Psalm 54

Psalm Category: Psalm of Individual Lament

Central Thought: David relies on God in suffering, and that suffering foreshadows what David’s descendant, Christ Jesus, would bear for us.

Many of David’s psalms describe in desperate tones the persecution and betrayal that he suffered in his ascent to the throne of Israel. Psalm 54 contains this familiar setting and mood—this time in reference to the intrigue of the Ziphites who collaborated with Saul against David (cf. 1 Sam. 23:19). There are enough such psalms, whose catalyst is persecution and whose cast is adversarial, to make the conflicts of David a prominent theme in the psalter.

Themes such as these have contributed to the waning use of the psalter in today’s churches, where finding modern relevance in these scenes of ancient conflict is perhaps viewed as too great a challenge. Perhaps it is because such psalms lack the upbeat tone that some have come to expect (or demand) from music in worship. “He will repay my enemies for their evil; Cut them off in your truth” (Ps. 54:5), is the kind of thought, typical of Davidic psalms, that is rarely echoed in form or substance in modern praise music. Be that as it may, it is still a fair question: Why is the persecution, hardship, and suffering of David given such a principal place in the psalter, and, therefore, in the worship of the church?

An answer to this question must begin with David himself. The covenant promise of God, which began its course in Genesis 3:15 with the promise of a Savior, became progressively clearer through redemptive history until, in time, the prophetic imagery of a suffering servant and savior king converged upon David (2 Sam. 7). It fell to David to experience and reflect something of the work of his greater Son who would sit on his throne forever. David, in effect, was a living prophecy or a “type” of Christ. This explains why the New Testament so effortlessly applies the Davidic psalms to Christ without pausing to prove the connections. Such connections (and there are many) would have no force without the assumption that Davidic psalms, in essence, are messianic. Not everything Davidic is messianic; David does not emerge sinless in the Psalms or in history, but it is clear that his experience as expressed in the psalter points to someone greater than himself, ultimately to Christ.

The most prominent aspect of David’s experience recorded in the psalter is his persecution at the hands of various adversaries. David had to suffer many things before becoming king; his schooling was betrayal, hatred, and persecution. It is precisely this element of David’s psalms that are most often applied by the New Testament to Christ, who “learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). The trajectory of David’s career, from persecuted outcast to king of God’s people, is reflected in the humiliation and exaltation of Christ.

David’s psalms, then, do not simply record the vicissitudes of his career; they speak of the work of Christ. This is why the Psalms that preserve the prophetic picture of David’s persecution maintain such power and relevance in the praise of the church. In these Psalms, the sufferings of Christ are related in the first person, ultimately by Christ Himself. David, as a prophet, reflects the passion of Christ and gives voice to it, making these psalms a unique testimony to the saving work of our Lord. While the gospels give a third-person account of the sufferings of Christ, the Psalms give a first-person account. When singing them, we use the Lord’s words to praise Him for His work and thank Him for what He suffered for our sake.

If not for this point, Psalm 54 might go unnoticed. It does not convey the peace of Psalm 23, the majesty of Psalm 104, the emotion of Psalm 51, or the joy of Psalm 96. It is not among the psalms routinely identified as messianic, nor is it quoted in the New Testament. Yet, ultimately, this modest little psalm reaches far beyond what we can readily comprehend—that is, the depth of persecution and suffering that David’s greater Son was willing to endure for the sake of our eternal joy.

—C. J. Williams