Psalm 6 Story behind the Psalm

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Psalm Overview

Overview

The Story Behind Psalm 6

In order to understand a Psalm, we have to understand not only what is said, but also what is assumed and left unsaid. Psalm 6, like many other Psalms, assumes a certain state of affairs (a story "behind the Psalm"). We can summarise the story behind Psalm 6 as follows: YHWH disciplines David (with sickness?) for his sin, and David's opportunistic enemies approach to take advantage of the situation. Suffering from sickness and surrounded by enemies, David cries out to YHWH for mercy and healing. YHWH hears David's weeping and turns from anger to mercy, and David commands his enemies to depart.

Background ideas

  • The King is God's son, and, just as a father disciplines his son, so God promised to disciple the king when he disobeyed. "I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him... But my love will never be taken away from him (2 Sam. 7:14-15).
  • Sickness is a common form of divine punishment, and it was interpreted as a sign of divine rejection.
  • The king's enemies would always be seeking an opportunity to seize power.

Background situation

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Expanded Paraphrase

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  • Close but Clear (CBC) translation
  • Assumptions which provide the most salient background information, presuppositions, entailments, and inferences

v. 1

For the director, with stringed instruments, on the octave. A psalm by David.[1]

v. 2

YHWH, (you are my father and I, the king, am your son.)[2] (I have sinned against you,)[3] (and you have become angry,)[4] (and you have begun to discipline me)[5] (as a father disciplines his son)[6]. (I accept your fatherly discipline, but I only ask that you) do not correct me in your anger (lest I die)[7], and do not discipline me in your wrath.

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v. 3

(Instead of anger) Have mercy on me, YHWH, for I am languishing (due to the sickness which you have brought on me as discipline for my sin),[8] (sickness being a common punishment for sin).[9] Heal me, YHWH, for my bones have become dismayed. (My sickness has brought me near death),[10] (and the nearness of death has made be deeply afraid and distressed).

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v. 4

And my soul has become very dismayed. And you, YHWH, how long (will you continue to discipline me in your anger)?

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v. 5

Turn back (from your anger), YHWH. Rescue my soul (from death). Help me for the sake of your loyalty. (You made a covenant with me, and you are committed to fulfilling your covenant obligations.)[11] (You have said that your loyalty would never depart from my house.)[12]

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v. 6

(You should act because I am close to death.) (And if I die, I will not be able to praise you), For there is no commemoration of you in the world of the dead. In Sheol, who praises you? (No one praises you in Sheol).[13]

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v. 7

(See the desperateness of my situation; see how close to death I am). I have grown weary because of my groaning. I drench my bed every night. With my tears I melt my couch.[14] (It is as though I am already in Sheol, the place where you are not named.)

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v. 8

My eye has wasted away because of vexation. It has become weak because of all my adversaries. (I am vexed because of my enemies, who have exacerbated the situation). (They have interpreted my sickness as a sign of sin and divine rejection, and they seek to take advantage of my weak position).[15]

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v. 9

(YHWH promised that his loyalty would not move away from me). (So, in my authority as the king, with YHWH still on my side, I say,) Move away from me, all workers of evil. (You have done evil in God's sight by opposing his anointed king.) (And, by opposing YHWH's anointed, you have opposed YHWH himself).[16] For YHWH (has not rejected me. Instead, he) has heard the sound of my weeping.

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v. 10

YHWH has heard my supplication. (He will turn from anger and have mercy). YHWH will take up my request. (He will heal me). (This means that I will be vindicated, and it will become clear that YHWH has not rejected me as king). (And, when I am vindicated, then you will be shown to be in the wrong, having opposed YHWH's rightful king.) (YHWH will punish you, and you will be exposed as evil-doers and public failures).

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v. 11

(YHWH, according to your justice)[17] Let all my enemies be shamed and very dismayed (just as I was shamed and dismayed). Let them turn back. Let them be shamed in an instant.

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Endnotes

  1. ↑ For an evaluation of the arguments for an against interpreting לדוד as an indication of Davidic authorship, see Ledavid
  2. ↑ In Israel, as in the wider Ancient Near East, the king was referred to as God's son (e.g. Ps. 2:7; 2 Sam. 7:14). "The Canaanite and ANE culture shows that the notion of the king as a son of god was well established" (Peter Gentry, "A Preliminary Evaluation and Critique of Prosopological Exegesis," SBJT 23.2, 2019: 113).
  3. ↑ The verbs "correct" and "discipline" imply some negative behavior. This inference is supported by comparison to similar Psalms (Pss. 38; 41) in which sin is explicit. Many commentators have made this same point. E.g., NET Bible note on v. 2 (2001): “The implication is that the psalmist has sinned, causing God to discipline him.” Cf. Anderson 1972:88; Rogerson & McKay 1977:32; Kraus 1988:162; etc.
  4. ↑ "Anger" is presupposed in the phrase "your anger" (v. 2).
  5. ↑ The following verses suggest that the act of correction/discipline is already in progress. See notes on | Verbal Semantics.
  6. ↑ cf. Prov. 13:24; 23:13-14; cf. 2 Sam. 7:14
  7. ↑ Discipline in anger without mercy could lead to death (cf. Ps. 118:18; Prov. 19:18).
  8. ↑ "In the Psalms, sickness is closely linked with sin" (Pss. 41:4; 107:17-20) (Keel 1997:62).
  9. ↑ E.g. 2 Sam. 24:13-15; see SDBH on נֶגַע
  10. ↑ See v. 6, which assumes a real threat of death.
  11. ↑ See 2 Sam. 7; cf. Ps. 89:4. YHWH is abounding in covenant loyalty (Ex. 34:6).
  12. ↑ See 2 Sam. 7:14-15.
  13. ↑ More information on Sheol.
  14. ↑ Beds were sometimes associated with sickness (e.g. 2 Kgs. 1:4; Ps. 41:4).
  15. ↑ It was commonly (though not always correctly) assumed that sickness is the result of sin (cf. Pss. 41:4; 107:17-20; Job 4:7-11, 8:1-22, 11:13-20; cf. John 9:2). Thus, "The reference to enemies may be the result of a common experience of the sick in ancient Israel; many persons believed that the sick were sinners, being judged by God, so that even a sick man's friends might become his enemies (Craigie 1983:94). Furthermore, the sickness of a king would give opportunity to his enemies, whether domestic or foreign (cf. Pss. 38:13, 17; 41:6-11), who perceived that the king was abandoned by his God. In Psalm 41, for example, the king's "lament centres not on his ailment but on the opportunity it gives to his enemies, those perpetual accompaniments of a king's life. Respectful visitors to the sickbed secretly plot his overthrow" (Eaton 1975:45).
  16. ↑ The enemies of the king are the enemies of his God and vice-versa. "The Israelite king's view of his enemies can be compared with that of other sacred kings. The Assyrian king, for example, considered his enemies as enemies of his gods, guilty of impious rebellion" (Eaton 1975:141).
  17. ↑ Lex talionis (Lev. 24:20); imprecatory prayers in the psalms are rooted in the law of just retribution (cf. Crisis,_Cursing,_and_the_Christian).
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