... in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen. Through the prayers of our
holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen. Glory
to You, our God, Glory to You.
O Heavenly King,
the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things,
Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us
from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy
Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).
Glory be to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in the
beginning, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
To the chief Musician on Shushan–eduth, Michtam of David, to
teach; when he strove with Aram–naharaim, and with Aram–zobah, when Joab
returned, and struck twelve-thousand Edomites in the valley of salt.
O God, You have cast us off. You have scattered us. You have been displeased. Turn Yourself to us again. You have made the earth tremble. You have broken it. Heal the breaches of it: for it shakes. You have showed Your people hard things. You have made us drink the wine of
astonishment. You have given a banner to
those who fear You, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Consider.
That Your beloved may be delivered. Save [with]
Your right hand, Hear me.
God has spoken in His holiness. I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and measure
out the valley of Succoth. Gilead [is] Mine, Manasseh [is] Mine. Ephraim also [is] the strength of My head. Judah [is]
My lawgiver. Moab [is] My washbasin. Over Edom I
will cast out My shoe. Philistia, you triumph
because of Me.
Who will bring me [to] the strong city? Who
will lead me to Edom? [Will] not You, O God, [Who] has cast us off? [You],
O God, [Who] went not out with our
armies? Give us help from trouble: for
vain [is] the help of man. Through God, we shall do valiantly: for He
shall tread down our enemies.
__________________
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[1] The
major difference between Psalm 60 and Psalm 108 is that Psalm 60 prays about
the main defeat before the last Battle of Salt, while Psalm 108 sings praise
after the last Battle of Salt. This battle
is not known in detail, but may be associated with the Battle of Rabbah, where
Uriah the Hittite was slain (2 Samuel 11).
It may be that Joab was attacked from the rear by an Edomite uprising
occasioned by David’s sin: however, this is not possible to establish.
In any case, God was displeased with Israel, and punished them. Since Israel’s wars are not ordinary wars,
but wars of Yahweh against demonism, it was a rare occurrence for Yahweh not to
go out with the army (Joshua 7:4, 11, 18-26, Achan’s sin; 1 Samuel 4, sins of
Eli’s sons), and always brought about by sin.
Since David did not go out in 2 Samuel 11, and terrible consequences
followed we make a connection because we are unaware of any other. David also sinned in ordering a census (2
Samuel 24), but the deaths on that occasion were due to pestilence.
This appears to be some sort of Israelite battle hymn derived
from the promises of God.
Again, this is an attack against a fortified (strong) city, a
city with a wall, and armed defenses, located near the Valley of Salt.
We have a humanly common way of getting ourselves into
calamity. “You [Lord] did not lead us
into calamity” from the Lord’s Prayer.
No, we got into trouble (temptation) all by ourselves. The usual reason is that we prayed after we
acted, rather than before, or we did something else foolish in opposition to
the Law of God. Had we acted prayerfully
in accordance with the Law of God, we would not be in trouble. Our obedience to God’s Law is the gracious
gift of God in Christ Jesus, but how frequently we forget who we are, and we
neglect prayer. In this case, David ends
up praying after defeat; but God is gracious, so David has to repeat his
prayer, giving thanks for victory.
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