The rabbis of Roman times said the
Psalms were not arranged in their order of composition, because the psalms
written when David was fleeing from Saul (e.g. Psalms 54, 56, 57 and 59) come
after the psalm about Absalom’s rebellion (Psalm 3), something which happened
many years later.
We see the same thing here in Psalm 62.
Although Psalms 59 and 63 were written when he was still a young outlaw fleeing
from Saul, Psalms 60 and 62 date from the time when he was king. In Psalm 62 we
can see this from two things. First, he speaks of those seeking to topple him
from his exalted position (v. 4). He wouldn’t have said that if he was still
hiding in caves. And, second, the psalm is ascribed to Jeduthun, one of the
three directors of music whom David appointed to offer continual praise to God
in Jerusalem night and day.
This ministry of praise and worship
which David set up was something new for Israel. There is no hint that the
Israelites sang continual praises to God in Moses’ time. Nor in the time of the
judges. Nor in Saul’s time. But David initiated it. And the result was that, in
one generation, Israel’s story was turned from defeat to victory, from
continual oppression by the Philistines, to complete subjugation of their
enemies on every side.
Seek for yourself a praising heart. It
will be the best medicine for all your sorrows, and will make a door for the
Holy Spirit to enter your life and turn your darkness to light.
Il est bon de
louer Dieu, Hallelujah!
Attribution:
David, ca. 1408–10, by Lorenzo Monaco (Piero di Giovanni), Italian, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gwynne Andrews and Marquand Funds, and Gift of Mrs. Ralph J. Hines, by exchange, 1965, www.metmuseum.org.
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