Psalm 20 - Some Trust in Chariots

For the director of music. A psalm of David. David Asks 1 May the Lord answer you when you are in distress;     may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. 2 May he send you help from the sanctuary     and grant you support from Zion. 3 May he remember all your sacrifices     and accept your burnt offerings. 4 May he give you the desire of your heart     and make all your plans succeed. 5 May we shout for joy over your victory     and lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests. David's Assurance 6 Now this I know:     The Lord gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary     with the victorious power of his right hand. David's Acclamation 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,     but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. 8 They are brought to their knees and fall,     but we rise up and stand firm. 9 Lord, give victory to the king!     Answer us when we call!

This Psalm was sung by King David, just before he ventured into battle.  This is a basic 3 part Psalm, 1. David's Request, 2. David receives Assurance and 3. Praise. Throughout the Psalm the name of God creates a common thread that binds the verses together. 1 the name of the God of Jacob 5 the name of our God 7 the name of the Lord our God David Asks David asks God for help, the repeating of the pattern of May .. the Lord .. action forms a nice parallelism. May the Lord answer  may the name of God protect May he help  May he remember May he give May the Lord grant  But 1 line breaks the pattern slightly, which gives it an extra emphasis. May we shout for joy over your victory David is not planning on taking the credit for the battle's victory for himself.  He knows he needs help and he knows who to ask. David knows whose victory it will be and who deserves the praise. David's Assurance In the next part, David is no longer asking. He is stating his assurance that God will help him. It changes from :- May the Lord answer to He answers and May he send help changes to The Lord gives victory. David's Acclamation In the final part David sets up a comparison between the enemy army and his army.  This draws back to the continuing thread started in Psalm 1 about the differences between those who trust in God and are blessed and strong like a  tree, and those who don't and are blown away like winnowed chaff. Some trust in chariots but we trust in the Lord They ...  fall, but we rise The reference to trust in chariots links back to some advice that Moses gave the people back in the desert in Deuteronomy 17:14-17.  Moses warns the people, that once they have conquered the land and settled in it, they may decide to appoint a King over themselves to be like the other nations.  He gives some advice about appointing a King;  He must be an Israelite; Let God choose him not you. And then he gives some advice for the King; The King must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself; He must not take many wives; He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. If the King starts to accumulate horses and gold, he will start to trust in them and not trust in God. David followed this advice - he put his trust in God not in chariots. In 2 Samuel 8:3-11, David captures around 4 thousand of Hadadezer, king of Zobah's horses (4 horses per chariot) - rather than keep them for his army, he hamstrung all but 100 of them. These may have been used ceremonially or for sending messages quickly. Even if he kept them for war, he was going up against King's who had thousands of chariots. David also took gold shields and a great quantity of bronze and silver and gold. King David dedicated these articles to the Lord. David did not put his trust in advanced weaponry or in his gold, he trusted God and 'The Lord gave David victory wherever he went.'