Psalms 20 and 21 form a pair of royal Psalms. Psalm 20 is a prayer of supplication that LORD will give the king success in battle. Psalm 21 is a prayer of thanksgiving for honoring the request in Psalm 20.

Psalm 20

1-5 – The congregation or nation speaking to the king asks the LORD to give the king success in battle.

6-8 – The congregation speaks about the king; they proclaim their faith in the LORD alone to give the king victory.

9 – Here is a final plea to the LORD to save the king in battle

Psalm 21

1-7 – We begin with a prayer of thanksgiving that the LORD has given the king success in battle. Verse 7 is the stated assumption that the LORD’s blessing on the king is because the king trusts in the LORD.

8-12 – The congregation appears to be talking to the king and they declare their confidence in the king’s future success.

13 – The LORD is praised for his strength and power to give the king success in battle.

Psalm 19 celebrates the Torah, the Law of Moses, which sets out the requirements of the Covenant people in relationship with God. In particular, the Law is celebrated as the supreme revelation of God, until of course the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

1-6 – The heavens declare the glory of God: including, his power, wisdom, worthiness of honor and worship. This is the general revelation of God about himself, but without words.

7-11 – The Law of the LORD, the Torah, is the LORD’s specific revelation of himself through words. The Law of the LORD is perfect for reviving the soul. This includes God’s testimony about himself, his laws, his precepts, his commandments, and his rules. Again, all of which are true and perfect. They enlighten and reward the one who keeps them.

12-14 – This Psalm leads the singer to a humble response, to look at one’s own sins and failures. The Psalmist asks to be kept from presumptuous sins that have dominion or power over us. Finally, the Psalmist comes to verse 14, which uses words of sacrifice and worship, that his words and his meditations would be acceptable as a sacrifice in God’s sight.

Psalm 18 is a royal song. It celebrates the way God has shown love for his people by giving the Davidic monarchy and by preserving David through many dangers. The text of this Psalm is almost identical to 2 Samuel 22. 2 Samuel 22 is David’s personal expression of gratitude to the Lord. Psalm 18 is an adaptation of the song for the whole nation to sing because their wellbeing is now tied to the Davidic Kings. The nation is praying that the Davidic Kings would be great leaders, so that the nation may carry out their God given purpose of bringing light to the gentiles.

1-3 – The Lord is my strength. Here is the main theme of the Psalm. The LORD is my:

Strength, my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. The LORD is my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. (v:18 – my support)

The Lord keeps David safe against his enemies.

4-6 – In my distress, I prayed to God for help. God heard my voice and rescued me.

7-19 – Here is an imaginative scene of a heavenly rescue.

20-30 – David claims his own righteousness, and God rewarded David in this deliverance.

- 30 – following the LORD’s perfect (blameless) way, enables a man to become blameless

31 – 45 – The LORD has given David mercy. God’s gift of mercy was military prowess over the enemy.

46 – 50 – The LORD is faithful to his anointed king. David’s prominence has come from the LORD and not David’s own power or greed or lust.

49 – Paul uses this verse in Romans 15:9 as part of his proof that it was always God’s plan that the gentiles receive the light and the knowledge of God through a Davidic King, in this case Jesus.

Psalm 17 is an individual lament by a person who is suffering and unjustly accused wrongdoing, similar to Psalm 7, and asks God for vindication to bring the Psalmist innocence to light.

1-2 – This is the request for vindication.

3-5 – Here the Psalmist claims he is innocent of any wrongdoing. He asserts that he is a godly man whose ways are blameless.

6-9 – The Psalmist asks for an answer to his prayer and then specifies the request for protection against violent adversaries. Poetic metaphors, hide me in the shadow of your wings and keep me as the apple of your eye. See Deuteronomy 32:10.

10-12 – The wicked enemies have no pity. Their hearts are closed, and they speak arrogantly, eagerly looking for an opportunity to destroy the Psalmist.

13-14 – The Psalmist asks for to defeat the wicked attackers. The only reward for these wicked people will be in this life, and even that will be given to their children as inheritance when they are but infants, marking an early death.

15 – In contrast, the Psalmist expresses confidence in that because of his own blameless ways, after death he will awake from the sleep of death and behold the face of God.

Psalm 16 is a hymn praise where those who sing entrust themselves to the Lord in confidence and contentment in his care.

1-2 – The Lord is my refuse, the only one on whom I can rely on for my well-being.

3-4 – My delight is being with the godly, those who also rely on the Lord for their well-being. The saints are the godly, in contrast to the ungodly who run after idols and false gods.

5-6 – The Psalmist expresses contentment with God by referencing his allotment of the land of Israel which provides for his sustenance. This is the family inheritance.

7-8 – The Psalmist expresses further contentment in God’s presence and moral instruction. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Compare this to Psalm 15, where the one who walks blameless and does what is right shall never be moved or shaken.

9-11 – The Psalmist expresses his final contentment thinking about the everlasting joy that he will have after death in heaven with God, At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 15 is a hymn celebrating the ideal worshipper of the Lord. The singing congregation does not claim to have all of these ideal qualities, but in describing these qualities, the members yearn to have them more and more.

Who will dwell in the house of the LORD? What does the ideal worshipper of God look like?

In v:2-5b – The answer is given that ideal worshipper of God is one whose walk with God is blameless. Here “to walk” is “to do what is right.” Verse 2 is the general answer, the remaining answers in 3-5b are simply examples of the main point.

Please note that these answers deal with matters of character and go beyond the Law of Moses. Jesus taught the same point in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.

5c – The person who has embraced the covenant promises may be confident that God will ensure his stability.

Psalm 14 is a community lament, in which the people of God mourn the fact that humans in general do not seek after God, and as a result, these godless people treat the people of God cruelly. Psalm 14 is identical to Psalm 53. Likely one was an alternate version before the Psalms were collected into this book, often called the Psalter.

Godless people, here the gentiles, devour God’s people. The godless are described as the fool, as the one who is corrupt, and as one who does abominable deeds. The fool is one who has stubbornly rejected wisdom. These evildoers assume that there is no God, but even if He exits, such a person assumes that God takes no interest in human affairs, and God will not answer the prayers of his people. Paul cites this Psalm in Romans 3:9 to show that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

But the Lord does exist, and He is the refuge and safe place for the faithful. The people of God are in a covenant relationship with God, and therefore they must remember that God is their refuge and that God will protect them and will defeat the evildoers. We as saved people are in the New Covenant relationship with God, so we too can pray this prayer.

In view of the threats from evildoers and the assurance as covenant people that God will deliver them, the community of faithful now prays for God’s rescue and concludes with firm hope, when, not if, God will deliver them.

Psalm 13 is an individual lament, a cry of anguish, for circumstances that have put the faithful one on the verge of despair. This is a prayer of feeling and emotion.

How long will you forget me is not a question to God as much as it is an expression of feeling unable to endure any longer. Is this your situation? The Psalm moves from God’s apparent indifference to the Psalmist’s anguish. It feels as though God has forgotten them, that God has hidden his face from them, that God has abandoned them. This is summed up in the rhetorical question, how long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

The anguish is followed by this prayer for help. The Psalmist calls on God to intervene.

The conclusion is that the Psalmist reaffirms his trust in God’s steadfast love of God’s faithful ones. The Psalmist is assured that God will save him from this crisis and will deal with him bountifully.