This psalm appears to have two settings as its context or agenda—from which the psalm springs. In verses 1-10, David appears to be celebrating his mighty deliverance from death under the prior reign of king Saul. Perhaps David was looking back on this deliverance upon being crowned king of Israel. Then the scene changes in verses 11-17. David is no longer looking back at God’s deliverance of him from king Saul. Now David is facing what may well be the period as a king, after his great sins of adultery, murder and deception, when God fulfilled the prophecy of Nathan the prophet. Nathan told David in II Samuel 12: 11, “Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives and before your eyes, give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it, your sin, you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.” David’s own son, Absalom rebelled against David his father, and took the kingdom from David temporarily. It appears Psalm 40: 11-17 is speaking about this very time of rebellion of Absalom when David fled Jerusalem for his life with a few of his faithful followers. In short, the psalm breaks down into (1) Praise for God’s mighty past deliverances from what appeared to be certain death, v. 1-10 and secondly into (2) Prayer for God’s mighty present deliverance in the face of almost certain death again. The psalm thus breaks down into two parts—first praise and then prayer. We all need this psalm. Let’s study the two parts, Praise & Prayer.
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