Commonplace –
“Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for He it is that shall tread down our enemies” (Psalm 60:11-12).
In Psalm 60, David again begins with prayers of protection and favor. In verse 6, the Psalm turns to praise, as David writes,
“God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Schechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth” (Psalm 60:6).
God answered and gave David the victory. Regarding Psalm 60 Matthew Henry notes, it was written when “David was in the zenith of his prosperity, and the affairs of [David’s] kingdom seem to have been in a better posture than ever they were either before or after” (Henry 376). Further on Henry writes,
“David, in prosperity, was as devout as David in diversity” (375).
Matthew Henry outlines Psalm 60 as follows,
“I. [David] reflects upon the bad state of the public interests, for many years, in which God had been contending with them (v. 1-3).
II. [David] takes notice of the happy turn lately given to their affairs (v. 4).
III. [David] prays for the deliverance of God’s Israel from their enemies (v. 5).
IV. [David] triumphs in hope of their victories over their enemies, and begs of God to carry them on and complete them (v 6-12)” (Henry 375).
Works Cited
Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 60.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.
Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.
© 2025 Angela Hormberg
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