Psalm 17 - In the shadow of Your wings

A prayer of David. Faithful Me 1 Hear, Lord, a cause that is just; pay heed to my cry. Turn your ear to my prayer— no deceit is on my lips. 2 Let my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right. 3 You probe my heart, you examine me at night you test me, and find that I have planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed. 4 Though people tried to bribe me, I have kept myself from the ways of the violent through what your lips have commanded. 5 My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not stumbled. Frightened Me 6 I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. 7 Show me the wonders of your great love, you whose right hand saves those who take refuge in you from their foes. 8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings 9 from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me. 10 They close up their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance. 11 They have tracked me down, they now envelop me, with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground. 12 They are like a lion hungry for prey, like a fierce lion crouching in cover. Faithful You 13 Rise up, Lord, confront them, strike them down; with your sword rescue me from the wicked. 14 By your hand save me from such people, Lord, from those of this world whose reward is in this life. May what you have stored up for the wicked fill their bellies; may their children gorge themselves on it, and may there be leftovers for their little ones. 15 As for me, I will be vindicated and will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your glory.

David is in trouble.  We don't know the exact incident that has David running to God for help, but this is not a general prayer, he is asking about  a particular traumatic event. This is a 3-part Psalm. In part 1, Faithful Me, David testifies to his own faithfulness, his innocence. In part 2, Frightened Me, he tells God about the enemy's attack. In part 3, Faithful You, he prays for justice, for vindication and delivery from the faithful friend he relies on. This Psalm starts with a nice parallel linkage. 1 Hear, Lord, a cause that is just;     a                      b specific pay heed to my cry.      a              b general Turn your ear to my prayer—      a                      b general no deceit is on my lips.     b specific Instead of the usual - a b a b - parallelism or - a b b a - reverse parallelism/ chiasmus structure, we have a more complicated structure. The 3 a's Hear, Pay Heed and Turn your ear show a progression: Hear - hear what I am saying; Pay Heed - Pay attention to me; Turn your ear - Move closer so you can really pay attention and don't miss anything. The 4 b's describe what needs paying attention to.  The 2 middle b's my cry and my prayer are general, surrounding them is the specific topic of the prayer a cause that is just and no deceit. In Isaiah 29:13 God complains "These people say they are mine. They honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." Here David is setting out to show that he is not just paying lip-service, his heart is pure, he is following God's commands. David is seeking vindication from God. He has invited God to investigate and interrogate and check he is doing everything right. This is very brave and confident thing to say - would you want  God to probe around and check out all the dark corners of your heart? 3 You probe my heart, you examine me at night you test me, Job in ch 7:18-19 complains about God's probing but David is welcoming it. For you examine us every morning and test us every moment. Why won’t you leave me alone, at least long enough for me to swallow! David doesn't stop there, he encourages God not to just examine him in the morning when his defences are up and he is wide awake and ready with the excuses, but examine me at night, when my defences are down.  Don't just examine me, test me like you do when refining metal like we saw in Psalm 11. 6 I call on you, my God, for you will hear me; turn your ear to me and you hear my prayer. 7 Show me the wonders of your great love, you whose right hand saves those who take refuge in you from their foes. 8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings There are 2 progressions in the frightened me stanza that build the sense of danger in the poem.   David's requests for help build; Hear me - Turn your ear - Show me your love - Keep me - Hide me.  The metaphor shadow of your wings shows God as a large bird of prey, protecting his little chicks. 9 from the wicked who are out to destroy me, from my mortal enemies who surround me. 10 They close up their callous hearts, and their mouths speak with arrogance. 11 They have tracked me down, they now envelop me, with eyes alert, to throw me to the ground. 12 They are like a lion hungry for prey, like a fierce lion crouching in cover. The 2nd progression shows the enemies advancement and builds a feeling of threat.  My enemies surround me, they track me down, they envelop me, they throw me to the ground.  The magnitude of the threat is enhanced with a simile about a lion crouching ready to strike.