The psalmist is aware of his poverty, and this is not merely material poverty, although David experienced hardship more than once during his wanderings...
The psalmist is aware of his poverty, and this is not merely material poverty, although David experienced hardship more than once during his wanderings. But he seems to be speaking of another kind of poverty, the one that will be called poverty of spirit.
It is precisely because of this poverty that he becomes able to hear God and accept what He tells him. Therefore, as he asks the Lord for protection from his enemies, the psalmist grieves that they do not set God before them. Thus, his struggle with his enemies becomes not a simple confrontation between “us” and “them,” but a defense of hope in the Lord before a world that does not know Him or is hostile to Him.
Yet even when surrounded by enemies, in the midst of a world ruled by hostility, the psalmist proclaims that all nations will glorify the Lord. Nothing human gave him reason to make such assertions. But these words were not dictated by human reason. David heard this because he was open to God.
85 A recital of past, and prayer for present mercy, Psa 85:1-7.
A prediction of a favourable answer, Psa 85:8-13.
To the chief musician, A psalm for the sons of Korah.
85:1 Captivity - The captives.
85:4 Turn us - Restore us to our former tranquillity, and free us from the troubles which we yet groan under.
85:6 Revive us - Give us a second reviving in bringing home the rest of our brethren, and in restraining our enemies.
85:8 Will hear - Diligently observe. Will speak - What answer God will give to my prayers. Peace - He will give an answer of peace.Saints - Not to all that are called God's people, but only to those who are truly such.
85:9 His salvation - That compleat salvation for which all the Israel of God wait; even the redemption by the Messiah; of which not only Christian, but even Jewish writers understand this place; and to which the following passages properly belong. And the psalmist might well say this salvation was nigh, because the seventy weeks determined by Daniel were begun. Glory - The glorious presence of God, and the God of glory himself, even Christ, who is the brightness of his father's glory.
85:10 Kissed - That great work of redemption by Christ, shall clearly manifest God's mercy in redeeming his people Israel, and in the conversion of the Gentiles; his truth in fulfilling that great promise of sending his son, his righteousness in punishing sin, on his son, and in conferring righteousness upon guilty and lost creatures; and his peace or reconciliation to sinners, and that peace of conscience which attends upon it.
85:11 Truth - Truth among men. Righteousness - And God's justice shall be satisfied: he shall look down upon sinful men with a smiling countenance.
85:13 Before him - As his harbinger. He shall fulfil all righteousness, he shall satisfy the righteousness of God, and shall advance righteousness and holiness among men. Set us - Shall cause us to walk in those righteous ways wherein he walketh.