Psa 17:13-15 | KingComments | STEP | With begins the third and final section of the psalm, which consists of . In this section it is about the salvation of the oppressed righteous that results from the destruction of the enemy by the LORD. This section also begins with a prayer. The description of the wicked once again impressed David as to his mortal enmity. He cries out to the LORD to arise, go to the wicked, and bring him low ( ). When the LORD arises, it causes terror among His opponents ( ). He then exalts Himself in His full, impressive magnitude, so to speak. Then He goes to the wicked, who is paralyzed with dismay, and strikes him down. Bring him low means that He brings him down from his pretended high position by killing him. When the LORD kills the wicked with His sword, the righteous will be delivered from him. The sword of God, “Your sword”, is His Word ( ). He kills His opponents with the sword that comes from His mouth ( ). This is a different use of God’s Word than the use David made of it, for he used it to stay on his guard against going astray ( ). He asks the LORD not only for deliverance from the wicked, but for deliverance “from men … from men of the world, whose portion is in [this] life” ( ). For this he appeals to “Your hand”, that is, he wants God to intervene in the lives of these men. These men, these kind of men – they are emphatically mentioned twice – are characterized by the fact that they live for the here and now. They have their portion in this life. They live by the motto, “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” ( ; ). It is the spirit of Esau who squandered the future blessing of the firstborn right for an instant bite of good food ( ; ). This category of people is always referred to in the book of Revelation as “those who dwell on the earth” ( ). Their portion is in the greatest possible contrast to David’s portion, who says that the LORD is his portion ( ). That is an eternal portion, while the portion of the men of the world is limited to this life, the short life on earth here and now. They can fill their bellies with the good things of life. That they are able to do so, they owe to God. He gives it to them from His sources ( ), but these are hidden from them because they banish Him from their thinking. They even get so much that they can also satisfy their children. What those children have left over from that, they leave to their children. It all seems wonderful; the blessing passes from one generation to the next. At the same time there is great drama in it. They can leave it to their children, but that is because they themselves can take nothing of it with them when they die. Then begins for them the endless eternity of doom and gloom.

‏ Psalms 17:13-15

Prayer for Deliverance From the Wicked

With Psa 17:13 begins the third and final section of the psalm, which consists of Psa 17:13-15. In this section it is about the salvation of the oppressed righteous that results from the destruction of the enemy by the LORD. This section also begins with a prayer.

The description of the wicked once again impressed David as to his mortal enmity. He cries out to the LORD to arise, go to the wicked, and bring him low (Psa 17:13). When the LORD arises, it causes terror among His opponents (Isa 2:19). He then exalts Himself in His full, impressive magnitude, so to speak. Then He goes to the wicked, who is paralyzed with dismay, and strikes him down. Bring him low means that He brings him down from his pretended high position by killing him.

When the LORD kills the wicked with His sword, the righteous will be delivered from him. The sword of God, “Your sword”, is His Word (Eph 6:17). He kills His opponents with the sword that comes from His mouth (Rev 2:16 ; Rev 19:15). This is a different use of God’s Word than the use David made of it, for he used it to stay on his guard against going astray (Psa 17:4).

He asks the LORD not only for deliverance from the wicked, but for deliverance “from men … from men of the world, whose portion is in [this] life” (Psa 17:14). For this he appeals to “Your hand”, that is, he wants God to intervene in the lives of these men.

These men, these kind of men – they are emphatically mentioned twice – are characterized by the fact that they live for the here and now. They have their portion in this life. They live by the motto, “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (Isa 22:13; 1Cor 15:32). It is the spirit of Esau who squandered the future blessing of the firstborn right for an instant bite of good food (Gen 25:29-34; Heb 12:16).

This category of people is always referred to in the book of Revelation as “those who dwell on the earth” (Rev 3:10 ; Rev 6:10 ; Rev 8:13 ; Rev 11:10 ; Rev 13:8 ; 14 ; Rev 14:6 ; Rev 17:8). Their portion is in the greatest possible contrast to David’s portion, who says that the LORD is his portion (Psa 16:5). That is an eternal portion, while the portion of the men of the world is limited to this life, the short life on earth here and now.

They can fill their bellies with the good things of life. That they are able to do so, they owe to God. He gives it to them from His sources (Acts 14:17), but these are hidden from them because they banish Him from their thinking. They even get so much that they can also satisfy their children. What those children have left over from that, they leave to their children.

It all seems wonderful; the blessing passes from one generation to the next. At the same time there is great drama in it. They can leave it to their children, but that is because they themselves can take nothing of it with them when they die. Then begins for them the endless eternity of doom and gloom.

The Hope of the Righteous

In this verse we see the great blessing of the righteous which forms a huge contrast to the fate of the wicked one and all the wicked in the previous verse (cf. Phil 3:19-20). Prophetically, this means that the wicked will be exterminated and the faithful remnant in the realm of peace will be satisfied in righteousness.

David confidently says that he will “behold” God’s face “in righteousness”. He will be in God’s presence by virtue of the righteousness God has proven to him and not by virtue of his own righteousness, for he does not have any. He will be with God by virtue of the work of Christ Who worked this righteousness for him with God.

The satisfaction this gives is eternal. This is an enormous contrast to the satisfaction of the wicked in Psa 17:14. Those who partake of the resurrection, the awakening, will eternally see God’s face (Rev 22:4a), eternally enjoy His presence, eternally be satisfied with God’s likeness. The likeness of God is Christ in Whom God will be visible for all eternity.

For us, New Testament believers, this is already true now. After all, we live in a spiritual sense in the world of the resurrection because we have died and risen with Christ. Because of this we already see Him (Heb 2:9), Who is the “image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15; 2Cor 4:4; Jn 14:9). When we are with Him, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is (1Jn 3:2).

The psalm ends in a similar way to the previous one (Psa 16:11). There it is more the personal joy of the Lord Jesus when, having passed through death, He sees the face of God in the resurrection. Here He is more the Leader of all who will also be like Him satisfied with the likeness of God in the resurrection because in this psalm He is united with the believers.