PSALMS 20

PSALM 20

STROPHE DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

NASB	NKJV	NRSV	TEV	NJB
Prayer for Victory Over Enemies	The Assurance of God's Saving Work	Prayer for the King's Victory in Battle	A Prayer for Victory	Prayer for the King
MT Intro For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
20:1-3	20:1-3	20:1-3	20:1-5	20:1-2
				20:3-4
20:4-5	20:4-5	20:4-5
				20:5a
				20:5b
20:6-9	20:6	20:6-8	20:6-8	20:6
	20:7-8			20:7-8
	20:9	20:9	20:9	20:9

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Bible Interpretation Seminar"

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects (reading cycle #3). Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

CONTEXTUAL INSIGHTS

This may have been a liturgical prelude to battle, as Psalm 21 is a liturgy of welcoming home the victorious king and army. There are eight IMPERFECTS used in a JUSSIVE sense in vv. 1-5.
The offerings of Ps. 20:3 (i.e., "meal" and "fat") may have been the expected sacrificial offerings before a battle.
The song/shout and the banners of Ps. 20:5 may have been the expected ways of welcoming home a victorious king. Psalm 21 may be the song referred to in Ps. 20:5.

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: PSALM 20:1-3
¹May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high!
²May He send you help from the sanctuary
And support you from Zion!
³May He remember all your meal offerings
And find your burnt offering acceptable! Selah.

20:1-3,4-5 This strophe is a prayer, as is Ps. 20:4-5, to plead with YHWH to help His covenant representative (i.e., the Davidic king, cf. 1 Sam. 8:7; 10:19) in battle (cf. Ps. 20:5,7).

Notice the series of IMPERFECTS used in a JUSSIVE sense (cf. NASB, NRSV, REB, NIV, JPSOA, i.e., prayer requests) in Ps. 20:1-5.

May the Lord answer you – BDB 772, KB 851, Qal IMPERFECT
May the name of the God of Jacob set you securely on high – BDB 960, KB 1305, Piel IMPERFECT
May He send you help from the sanctuary – BDB 1018, KB 1511, Qal IMPERFECT
May He support you from Zion – BDB 703, KB 761, Qal IMPERFECT
May He remember all your meal offerings – BDB 269, KB 269, Qal IMPERFECT
May He grant you your heart's desire – BDB 678, KB 733, Qal IMPERFECT, cf. Ps. 21:2; 37:4
May He fulfill all your counsel/purpose – BDB 569, KB 583, Piel IMPERFECT
May He fulfill all your petitions – same as #7

20:1 "in the day of trouble" This is a recurrent phrase (cf. Gen. 35:3; 2 Kgs. 19:3; Ps. 50:15; 77:2; 86:7; Prov. 24:10; 25:19; Isa. 37:3; Jer. 16:19; Obad. 1:12,14; Nah. 1:7; Hab. 3:16). It stands for many different life problems that occur in this fallen world. The good news is that God is aware of our problems (i.e., Exod. 3:7-8) and is with us in the midst of those problems (i.e., Psalm 23). He is the answer to all human need and amazingly He is pursuing us!

The term "day" (BDB 398) has several connotations. Here, it denotes a period of time, not a 24 hour period exclusively.

SPECIAL TOPIC: DAY (YOM)

▣ "the name of the God of Jacob" This is a collective term for the covenant descendants of the Patriarchs. There are two Special Topics that illuminate this phrase.

▣
NASB	"set you securely on high"
NKJV, Peshitta	"defend you"
NRSV, TEV, NJB, LXX	"protect you"
JPSOA	"keep you safe"
REB	"be your tower of strength"

The MT VERB (BDB 960, KB 1305, Piel IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense) is from the root "to be high," and thereby inaccessible and secure (cf. Ps. 59:1; 69:29; 91:14; 107:41). This is the same imagery of a high, defensible fortress used in Ps. 18:2!

20:2 "from the sanctuary. . .from Zion" These are parallel lines of poetry. Both refer to the temple in Jerusalem. It was not built in David's day but the tabernacle was there. Jerusalem was built on seven hills; the temple was built on Mt. Moriah (cf. 1 Chr. 21:18; 2 Chr. 3:1). Mt. Zion was the site of the Jebusite fortress captured by David (cf. 2 Sam. 5:7; 1 Chr. 11:5), as well as the site for his palace. It came to be the name used for the entire city of Jerusalem and the phrase "daughter of Zion" for the Israelite people (cf. 2 Kgs. 19:21).

Notice that Ps. 20:6 uses the phrase "from His holy heaven," which is another parallel.

SPECIAL TOPIC: MORIAH, SALEM, JEBUS, ZION, JERUSALEM

20:3 "meal offerings" See SPECIAL TOPIC: GRAIN OFFERING

▣ "burnt offerings" See SPECIAL TOPIC: BURNT OFFERINGS

▣ "Selah" See note at Ps. 3:2 and Introduction to Psalms, VII.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: PSALM 20:4-5
⁴May He grant you your heart's desire
And fulfill all your counsel!
⁵We will sing for joy over your victory,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners.
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.

20:4 "your heart's desire" This is "the" issue of peace and trust. A good example of an appropriate desire for a Davidic King is Solomon's prayer of dedication of the temple (cf. 1 Kgs. 8:22-61).

Humans must be diligent to follow God's revealed desire for us and not the desires of our own fallen, selfish, immediate hearts!

20:5
NASB	"We will sing for joy"
NKJV, LXX	"we will rejoice"
NRSV, TEV, JPSOA	"we shout for joy"
NJB	"with joy we can hail. . ."
REB	"Let us sing aloud your praise"
Peshitta	"We will be glorified"

This VERB (BDB 943, KB 1247, Piel COHORTATIVE) denotes a "shout" for good or bad, depending on the context. Here it is rejoicing over the military victory accomplished by YHWH (cf. Zeph. 3:14).

▣ "in the name of our God" The "name" had special meaning in Israel (see SPECIAL TOPIC: "THE NAME" OF YHWH). YHWH appears in v. 5c.

Here, the word used for Deity is Elohim. It denonted the Deity of creation, provision, and order.

SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY, C.

▣ "we will set up our banners" This follows דגל (BDB 186, KB 213, Qal IMPERFECT [found only here in the OT] used in a COHORTATIVE sense). The JPSOA translates it as "standards." It would be an expected welcome procedure for the victorious king and military.

The NET Bible (p. 875) recommends an emendation to another verbal root, נגיל, from BDB 162 with PREPOSITION. The NET Bible suggests this fits the parallelism better and also notes Ps. 89:16, where the VERB is used in connection with "in Your name."

▣ "petitions" This rare NOUN (BDB 982) is found only twice in the OT, here and Ps. 37:4. The VERB root (BDB 981) means "ask." The root occurs in several biblical names (cf. 1 Sam. 9:2,3,5; 1 Chr. 1:48,49; 4:24; 6:24).

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: PSALM 20:6-9
⁶Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
With the saving strength of His right hand.
⁷Some boast in chariots and some in horses,
But we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God.
⁸They have bowed down and fallen,
But we have risen and stood upright.
⁹Save, O Lord;
May the King answer us in the day we call.

20:6-9 The psalmist (i.e., the King, a priest, or a collective SINGULAR; Ps. 20:9 fits this last option best) affirms his confidence that YHWH will respond appropriately.

Now I know ‒ BDB 393, KB 390, Qal PERFECT (see SPECIAL TOPIC: KNOW)
YHWH saves ‒ BDB 446, KB 448, Hiphil PERFECT (see SPECIAL TOPIC: SALVATION [OT])

The VERB denotes a settled confidence (cf. Ps. 56:9; 118:6; Rom. 8:31-39). YHWH will hear and answer positively (cf. Ps. 20:6b,c). The King and the covenant people are part of a larger universal redemptive plan for all humanity.

SPECIAL TOPIC: YHWH'S ETERNAL REDEMPTIVE PLAN

20:6 "His anointed" This is the Hebrew VERB "anoint" (BDB 603), which became a popular title for God's Special Coming King (cf. Ps. 2:2; 18:50).

▣ "from His holy heaven" This is an idiom for the temple/tabernacle in Jerusalem, located on Mt. Moriah.

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE HEAVENS AND THE THIRD HEAVEN

▣ "His right hand" This is a Hebrew idiom of power, authority to act.

SPECIAL TOPIC: ANTHROPOMORPHIC LANGUAGE TO DESCRIBE GOD

SPECIAL TOPIC: HAND

20:7 The VERB "boast" (BDB 269, KB 269, Hiphil IMPERFECT) is literally "cause to remember," with the connotation of rejoicing or praising in some past event or blessing or person. It denotes that in which one trusts.

human power (i.e., chariots, horses, soldiers, weaponry, etc.)
YHWH and His promises

The concept of "boasting" is significant in the Bible; note especially Jer. 9:23-24. See the use of the concept in Paul's writings in the Special Topic below.

Here are some good parallel texts – Deut. 20:1; 31:6,8; Jdgs. 7:2; 1 Sam. 17:45,47; 2 Chr. 20:17; 32:8; Ps. 33:16,17; 44:2-3,4-8; 60:11-12; 146:3-7; 147:10; Prov. 21:31; Isa. 31:3; Jer. 17:5; Zech. 4:6! What are you trusting in/boasting about?

SPECIAL TOPIC: BOASTING

20:8 Note the antithetical parallelism of the two poetic lines in v. 5. There are consequences to our words/actions!

SPECIAL TOPIC: HEBREW POETRY

20:9 "Save, O Lord" This is an exclamatory prayer request (BDB 446, KB 448, Hiphil IMPERATIVE (cf. Ps. 3:7; 6:4; 17:13).

SPECIAL TOPIC: SALVATION (OT)

SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY, D.

▣ "May the King answer us in the day we call" The grammatical form of the VERB is a Qal IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense.

The LXX and several English translations see it referring to the prayers of the people for the King (cf. Ps. 20:6; Ps. 21:7; NRSV; TEV; NJB; REB).
"King" may refer to YHWH (cf. Targums' UBS Handbook, p. 202; also note Ps. 98:6; 145:1).

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

List all the prayer requests that start with "may. . ." in verses 1-5.
What does "may He grant you your heart's desire" mean?
Does verse 5 imply a military victory? Why?
Who is YHWH's "anointed"?