properly · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
God
אֱ֭לֹהִים'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
man
אֱנ֑וֹשׁ'e.No.osh
H582
a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
up
שְׁאָפַ֣נִיshe.'a.Fa.ni
H7602
to inhale eagerly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
fighting
לֹחֵ֥םlo.Chem
H3898
to feed on · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
daily
הַ֝יּ֗וֹםhai.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
oppresseth
יִלְחָצֵֽנִיyil.cha.Tze.ni
H3905
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Samuel 29:4 And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow return, that he m…
Psalms 16:1 Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.
Psalms 31:9 Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.
Psalms 59:1 Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me.
Psalms 69:13-16 But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salv…
1 Samuel 21:11-15 And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying,…
Psalms 27:2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
Psalms 60:1 O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 56:1-7
David, in this psalm, by his faith throws himself into the hands of God, even when he had by his fear and folly thrown himself into the hands of the Philistines; it was when they took him in Gath, whither he fled for fear of Saul, forgetting the quarrel they had with him for killing Goliath; but they soon put him in mid of it, Sa1 21:10, Sa1 21:11. Upon that occasion he changed his behaviour, but with so little ruffle to his temper that then he penned both this psalm and the 34th. This is called Michtam - a golden psalm. So some other psalms are entitled, but this has something peculiar in the title; it is upon Jonath-elem-rechokim, which signifies the silent dove afar off. Some apply this t…
Be merciful unto me, O God,.... For David could expect no mercy at the hands of men, among whom he was, whose tender mercies were cruel; he being at Gath, the city of Goliath, whom he had slain, and whose sword he had now with him; and among his brethren and friends, who he might justly fear would revenge his death upon him: wherefore he betakes himself to God, and pleads not any merit or righteousness of his own, but implores the grace and mercy of God; and he might expect to find grace and mercy in this his time of need, since there is mercy with the Lord; he is plenteous in it, distributes it freely, delights in so doing, and does it constantly; his mercy endures for ever, it is from ever…
Psalm 56:1-4
1. Be merciful unto me, O God! for man swallows me up [327] he fighting against me, daily oppresseth me. 2. Mine enemies daily swallow me up: surely they be many [328] that fight against me, O Most High! [329] 3. In the day that I was afraid, I did put my trust in thee. 4. In God I will praise his word; in God I have put my trust: I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
1 Be merciful unto me, O God! for man swallows me up [330] It would be difficult to determine whether he speaks here of foreign or domestic enemies. When brought to King Achish he was as a sheep between two bands of wolves, an object of deadly hatred to the Philistines on the one hand, and exposed to equal p…
The Church Fathers
And what is the drift of what we have just been singing to the Lord in the psalm? "Have mercy on me, Lord, because man has trampled on me." "Man" means whoever lives according to merely human criteria. Well, anyway, those who live according to God's standards are told, "You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High." But to the reprobate, who were called to be children of God but preferred rather merely to be human, that is, to live only according to human standards, "you," it says, "shall die like people and fall like one of the princes." Surely the fact that we human beings are mortal should serve to teach us our place, not to make us boastful. What does a worm, which is due to die tomorrow, have to boast about?
"Have mercy upon me, Lord, because man has trampled me underfoot; all day long he wages war and afflicts me." The virgin mother Church, who gives birth to the faithful people and yet does not lose her virginity, asks her heavenly bridegroom with pious tears that she would not be allowed to be oppressed by her enemies, even as she recognizes that she still dwells in the misfortune of this world. "Trampled underfoot" refers back to that which he had spoken in the title in regards to the winepress, for wine is pressed out to the same degree that a grape is thoroughly crushed. Here he absolutely indicates the "man" to be the devil, just as in the gospel the Lord speaks of the very man, "Now the hostile man, who sowed the thistles, is the devil." The phrase "all day long he wages war and afflicts me" follows. He describes what the holy church endures in this world, namely, that she is recognized to be enduring the attacks of the devil without any letup, just as the apostle says, "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and authorities of this darkness." It is a dire war because it is hidden. It is a difficult war because it is being waged with one who is stronger. For what sort of war is it to come into conflict with an enemy and not to see his ambushes? Also, our adversary is not lacking in diligence and does not ever withdraw when defeated, but he comes back all the more savagely to the same extent that he happened to be able to be defeated by divine grace. But we call it a war in a figure of speech, using the word in a sense opposite to its meaning (antiphrasis7), much as we speak of a grove which has no glow or a fish pond which has no fish. Therefore, let no one of the faithful complain that he is harassed by the very frequent contrivances of the devil, because if we wish to belong to Christ, we will always endure the devil as our enemy here.
Dictionary and topics
Gath — A wine-vat, one of the five royal cities of the Philistines (Josh. 13:3) on which the ark brought calamity (1 Sam. 5:8, 9; 6:17). It was famous also as being the birthplace or residence of Goliath (1…
Jonath-elem-rechokim — Dove of the dumbness of the distance; i.e., “the silent dove in distant places”, title of Ps. 56. This was probably the name of some well known tune or melody to which the psalm was to be sung.
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
אלהים and אנושׁ, Psa 56:2 (Psa 9:20; Psa 10:18), are antitheses: over against God, the majestic One, men are feeble beings. Their rebellion against the counsel of God is ineffective madness. If the poet has God's favour on his side, then he will face these pigmies that behave as though they were giants, who fight against him מרום, moving on high, i.e., proudly (cf. ממּרום, Psa 73:8), in the invincible might of God. שׁאף, inhiare, as in Psa 57:4; לחם, as in Psa 35:1, with ל like אל, e.g., in Jer 1:19. Thus, then, he does not fear; in the day when (Ges. ֗123, 3, b) he might well be afraid (conjunctive future, as e.g., in Jos 9:27), he clings trustfully to (אל as in Psa 4:6, and frequently, Pro…
Ps 56 This individual lament moves from petition to confidence two times (56:1-4, 5-13).
56:title David was seized by Philistines concerned about his loyalties and brought before King Achish (1 Sam 21:10-15).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 56:1
Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.
Be merciful unto me, O God. In my deep distress my soul turns to thee, my God. Man has no mercy on me, therefore double thy mercy to me. If thy justice has let loose my enemies, let thy mercy shorten their chain. It is sweet to see how the tender dove like spirit of the psalmist flies to the most tender attribute for succour in the hour of peril. For man would swallow me up. He is but thy creature, a mere man, yet like a monster he is eager for blood, he pants, he gapes for me; he would not merely wound me, or feed on my substance, but he would fain swallow me altogether, and so make an end of me. The…
Let whatsoever holy men therefore that are suffering pressing from those that have been put afar off from the saints, give heed to this Psalm, let them perceive here themselves, let them speak what here is spoken, that suffer what here is spoken of....Private enmities therefore let no one think of, when about to hear the words of this Psalm: "Know ye that for us the wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against princes and powers, and spiritual things of wickedness," [Ephesians 6:12] that is, against the devil and his angels; because even when we suffer men that annoy us, he is instigating, he is inflaming, as it were his vessels he is moving. Let us give heed therefore to two enemies, him whom we see, and him whom we see not; man we see, the devil we see not; man let us love, of the devil beware; for man pray, against the devil pray, and let us say to God, "Have pity on me, O Lord, for man has trodden me down" [Psalm 56:1]. Fear not because man has trodden you down: have thou wine, a grape you have become in order that you should be trodden. "All day long warring he has troubled me," every one that has been put afar off from the saints. But why should not here be understood even the devil himself? Is it because mention is made of "man"? does therefore the Gospel err, because it has said, "A man that is an enemy has done this"? [Matthew 13:28] But by a kind of figure may he also be called a man, and yet not be a man. Whether therefore it was him whom he that said these words was beholding, or whether it was the people and each one that was put afar off from holy men, through which kind the devil troubles the people of God, who cleave to holy men, who cleave to the Holy One, who cleave to the King, at the title of which King being indignant they were as though beaten back, and put afar off: let him say, "Have pity on me, O Lord, for man has trodden me down:" and let him faint not in this treading down, knowing Him on whom he is calling, and by whose example he has been made strong. The first cluster in the winefat pressed is Christ. When that cluster by passion was pressed out, [Isaiah 63:3] there flowed that whence "the cup inebriating is how passing beautiful!" Let His Body likewise say, looking upon its Head, "Have pity on me, O Lord, for man has trodden me down: all day long warring he has troubled me." "All day long," at all times. Let no one…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Psalms 56:1 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
