Bible Commentary - Psalms 27

Psalm 27 continues some of the patterns of Psalm 26.  It is ostensibly another prayer psalm, after a fashion; it doesn’t have a clear “problem statement”, though David does mention a nebulous collection of enemies gathering to destroy him.  In addition, verse 1 establishes a tone of prayer or intercession.  The emphasis in that verse is upon God’s protection against David’s enemies or fears.  This first verse reminds me of the opening to Psalm 18, where in Ps 18:2 David applies many epithets to God, describing him as a “rock”, “fortress”, “stronghold” and so on.  In this case the opening has a similar tone, with David describing God as his “light”, “salvation” and “defense of my life”.  After the opening these two psalms diverge however, and I will argue that Psalm 27 is much more a devotional psalm than a prayer psalm.

The similarity I perceive between this psalm and Psalm 26 is how in both cases the temple is a source of deliverance for David.  In Psalm 26 it was David “going about the altar” washing his hands in innocence, while in this chapter it is dwelling in the temple itself that becomes David’s “secret place” where he will be “concealed” from “the day of trouble” (v. 5).  In the first case, David’s activity around the temple is a reflection of his innocence and inner purity.  In the second case, rather than being symbolic of David’s personal character, the temple is reimagined as a fortress or shelter in the midst of the storms of life.  We can imagine David just hiding out in the temple while enemies swirl around him.

Yet, this is clearly metaphorical language.  It’s not that David expected the temple to be some kind of fortress, impervious to attack, but that by dwelling in the presence of God that God would become his protector wherever he went, and the temple is what signifies God’s presence.  David’s son, king Solomon, ordered Joab’s death when Joab fled into the temple and took hold of the horns of the altar there (1 Kings 2:28-29).  This shows that it is not the physical temple that protects people from death, but rather based on our spiritual or emotional relationship to the God who lives there.

The temple becomes our shelter when, like David, we make it our home.  It is the years of living in the presence of God that keeps us safely with him during the day of trouble.  It is the time that David spent “going about the altar” that makes it his “secret place” and his “rock”.  The one who flees to the temple only in the day of trouble will find that the shelter he is claiming does not recognize him, and perhaps does not accept him.  It certainly didn’t accept Joab, anyway.

It is impossible for us to separate the devotion to God in verse 4 from the protection of God in verse 5.  In fact, I would say one of the most striking aspects of Psalm 27 is the blending of devotion and dedication to God, with descriptions of David’s many enemies and conflict.  They are interwoven repeatedly: verse 1 speaks of devotion, verses 2-3 speak of conflict, verse 4 speaks of devotion, verses 5-6 speak of conflict again, verses 7-11 speak of devotion again (mostly), verses 12-13 are conflict again, and verse 14 is largely devotion.

This is different from a typical prayer psalm.  Rather than focusing on petition (asking God for help), the central effect is to focus our attention on devotion to God as the solution for conflict.  In fact, it’s difficult to isolate a specific petition in this psalm.  This psalm has several uses of the imperative to ask God for things, but David is not really asking for deliverance from his problems.  He asks for God to “hear… when I cry” (v. 7), to “not hide your face” and several related claims(v. 9), and to “teach me your ways” (v. 11).  The first one is vaguely intercessional, but the other two prayers are pretty clearly devotional, i.e. “do not hide your face” and “teach me your ways” are focused on strengthening David’s relationship with God, rather than improving his physical circumstances.

The emotional center of Psalm 27 is in verses 4 and 8.  However, in this devotional psalm David nonetheless spends a lot of time talking about his enemies and conflict.  Rather than focusing on the danger, he focuses much more on his victories and security over his enemies.  The driving power behind those victories is his devotion to God.  The overall effect is this: through our devotion to God, we can be victorious over our enemies and adverse circumstances.  David acknowledges his struggles, but remains focused on God and does not even feel the need (at present) to plead for deliverance.  Instead he makes a basic assumption that he will find victory in the shelter of God’s presence, and seemingly finds no need to ask for help so long as God is with him.  While there are a handful of prayers, I would argue that they do not express the thematic center of this psalm which, as I previously described, is devotion to God.

Lastly, this psalm ends with yet another twist.  David’s conclusion is that we should “wait for the LORD”.  He feels it so strongly that he says it twice.  This is a passive behavior, but it also expresses an underlying faith that God is bringing the solution to your life’s problems.  It’s difficult to tie this to the devotional themes of the psalm.  Perhaps this confidence in God is the result of David’s life of devotion.  It is also the response to the enemies and conflict that he faces.  Rather than taking an active stance to defeat his enemies, David simply believes that the power of God will arrive to defeat his enemies and to bring him victory.

If I may try to summarize, my interpretation of this psalm is that so long as David focuses on his devotion to God and seeks God first, he believes that God will deliver him from his enemies and bring him victory in battle.  Devotion to God is the center of his life, and even with minimal intercession, he believes that by staying in God’s presence God will grant him deliverance almost directly as a consequence of that.  After a life of devotion, the only thing you need to do to have victory is to “wait for the LORD” to bring it.