RETURN TO SYLLABUS
PSALMS 55
LESSON #12/P2
THE BETRAYER

• MEMORY VERSE: PSALMS 55:22

• THE SUB-TITLE: "To the chief Musician on Neginoth, Maschil, A Psalm of David."
• "NEGINOTH" = A STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.
• "MASCHIL" = TEACHING AND UNDERSTANDING

• POSSIBLE BACKGROUND:
• DAVID EXPERIENCED MANY VERY DARK SITUATIONS IN HIS LIFE WHERE HE FELT THE ENEMY WAS ON ALL SIDES ABOUT TO OVERWHELM HIM.
• THIS PSALM DOES NOT TELL US EXACTLY WHICH SPECIFIC SITUATION PROMPTED DAVID TO WRITE THIS PSALM. HOWEVER, SOME OF THE STATEMENTS IN THE PSALM SEEM TO BE REMINISCENT OF ABSALOM’S REBELLION.
• DAVID’S SON, ABSALOM, RAISED A LARGE FOLLOWING AND SOUGHT TO REPLACE DAVID AS KING. TO PREVENT ABSALOM FROM DESTROYING THE CITY OF JERUSALEM, DAVID FLED TO MOUNTAIN CAVES WEEPING. THEN HE RECEIVED WORD THAT A CLOSE FRIEND AND MEMBER OF HIS CABINET, AHITHOPHEL, HAD GONE OVER TO ABSALOM’S SIDE. (2SAM 15:30-31)

• THE PRIMARY INTERPRETATION:

• READ PSA 55:1-11
• DAVID’S DESPERATE CRY TO GOD (1-2)
• "…I MOURN IN MY COMPLAINT AND MAKE A NOISE…" (2)
• DAVID SAYS HE IS LIKE A SQUEAKY WHEEL IN HIS PRAYER. HE KEEPS BRINGING HIS REQUEST TO GOD. THIS IS WHAT WE CALL PERSEVERANCE IN PRAYER.
• READ LUK 18:2-8 THE PARABLE OF THE UNJUST JUDGE
• THE WIDOW CAME CONTINUALLY TO THE JUDGE FOR HELP.
• DAVID IS DOING EXACTLY WHAT THE WIDOW DOES IN THE PARABLE.
• DAVID’S FEELINGS (4-5)
• "MY HEART IS SORE PAINED WITHIN ME…" (4)
• WE SEE DAVID’S EMOTIONAL PAIN IN THAT BOTH HIS SON AND HIS GOOD FRIEND HAVE TURNED AGAINST HIM.
• "…THE TERRORS OF DEATH HAVE FALLEN UPON ME." (4)
• DAVID WAS IN FEAR OF HIS LIFE AS HE LEFT JERUSALEM FOR THE MOUNTAIN CAVES.
• DAVID KNEW ABSALOM HAD TURNED A LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE AGAINST HIM, BUT HE DID NOT KNOW HOW MANY, AND HE DID NOT KNOW WHO.
• "…HORROR HATH OVERWHELMED ME." (5)
• THIS IS A DEEP DREAD OF WHAT THE FUTURE WILL BRING FOR HIS KINGDOM, AND FOR THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL IF ABSALOM BECOMES THEIR KING.
• DAVID’S OPTIONS: (6-7)
• DAVID HAD VARIOUS OPTIONS IN THIS SITUATION:
• OPTION #1 = HE COULD STAY IN JERUSALEM AND FIGHT ABSALOM IN A CIVIL WAR.
• THIS OPTION WOULD BE DEVASTATING TO THE PEOPLE OF JERUSALEM, SO DAVID QUICKLY PASSED OVER THIS CHOICE.
• OPTION #2 = MANY PEOPLE AROUND DAVID SUGGESTED HE JUST GIVE UP AND RUN AWAY AND LET ABSALOM TAKE OVER THE HEAVY RESPONSIBILITIES OF LEADERSHIP.
• IN VERSE 6 DAVID SERIOUSLY CONSIDERS THIS OPTION FOR IT WOULD MEAN REST FOR HIM. HE COULD SIMPLY RETIRE AND PUT A SIGN OUT, SAYING, "GONE FISHING".
• HOWEVER, IN VERSE 7 HE SEES THE REAL CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH A CHOICE.
• IF HE FOLLOWED OTHER’S ADVICE AND SOUGHT HIS OWN PERSONAL PEACE, HE WOULD NOT BE FOLLOWING GOD’S WILL AND GOD’S CALLING ON HIS LIFE. HE WOULD END UP IN THE WILDERNESS, AWAY FROM THE SWEET BLESSINGS OF GOD.
• "SELAH" = STOP AND THINK ABOUT THAT FOR HERE IS TEACHING AND WISDOM!
• READ MAT 16:26
• SOMETIMES, SEEKING TO BE OUT FROM UNDER PERSONAL PRESSURE AND GAINING PERSONAL EASE IS NOT WORTH THE COST IN OUR RELATIONSHIP TO GOD.
• OPTION #3 = DAVID COULD LEAVE JERUSALEM IN ORDER TO GAIN TIME TO RAISE AN ARMY AND ATTACK ABSALOM LATER AT HIS OWN CHOOSING.
• WE DON’T SEE THIS OPTION IN THIS PSALM BECAUSE DAVID NEVER REALLY CONSIDERED IT. AGAIN, IT WOULD MEAN A CIVIL WAR AND THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM.
• OPTION #4 = DAVID COULD USE A SPY, HUSHAI, TO COUNTER AHITHOPHEL’S ADVICE TO ABSALOM. (2SAM 15:32-37 2SAM 16:15-19 2SAM 17:1-11, 14)
• THIS IS THE OPTION DAVID CHOSE. 2SAM 17:14 TELLS US THAT THIS WAS GOD’S CHOICE.
• IN PSA 55:9 DAVID CALLS ON GOD TO "DIVIDE THEIR TONGUES".
• AHITHOPHEL WAS A VERY PERSUASIVE COUNSELOR. WHEN DAVID SENT HUSHAI AS A SPY IN THE PALACE, HIS JOB WAS TO DIVIDE OPINIONS BY HIS COUNTER ARGUMENTS.
• INSTEAD OF SENDING AN ARMY TO IMMEDIATELY PURSUE DAVID AS AHITHOPHEL SUGGESTED, ABSALOM WAITED ACCORDING TO THE WORDS OF HUSHAI.
• SKIRMISHES IN THE STREETS (10-11)
• AS DAVID FLED JERUSALEM HE SAW SOME OF THE HAND TO HAND FIGHTING IN THE STREETS BETWEEN THOSE FAITHFUL TO DAVID AND THOSE WHO HAD TURNED TO ABSALOM.

• READ PSA 55:12-15 THE BETRAYER
• DAVID SAYS THAT HIS BETRAYER IS A MAN HIS EQUAL, HIS GUIDE, AND HIS ACQUAINTANCE. (13)
• IT IS BECAUSE OF VERSE 13 AND 14 THAT WE CAN ASSUME DAVID IS TALKING ABOUT THIS BETRAYAL BY AHITHOPHEL.
• DAVID SAYS HE AND HIS BETRAYER EVEN WORSHIPPED GOD TOGETHER.
• DAVID CALLS TO GOD FOR VENGEANCE (15)
• VERSE 15 SOUNDS LIKE A VERY HARSH PRAYER TO SAY REGARDING THE DESTRUCTION OF ONE’S ENEMIES, ESPECIALLY IN LIGHT OF MAT 5:44 WHERE JESUS TELLS US TO LOVE OUR ENEMIES, DO GOOD TO THEM, AND PRAY FOR THEM.
• THE DIFFERENCE IN VIEWPOINT IS BETWEEN THE OLD TESTAMENT TIME OF LAW AND THIS NEW TESTAMENT TIME OF GRACE.
• BECAUSE GOD HAS HAD GRACE ON US, WE, IN TURN, CAN HAVE GRACE ON OTHERS.

• READ PSA 55:16-19
• DAVID’S TRUSTING FAITH:
• WHEN DAVID PUT HIS TRUST IN GOD, GOD TURNED THE COUNSEL OF AHITHOPHEL TO NOTHING.
• THREE TIMES A DAY DAVID WOULD PRAY FOR GOD’S DELIVERANCE. (17)
• BY FAITH DAVID KNEW GOD HEARD HIM AND ANSWERED EVEN BEFORE HE SAW THE ANSWER. (HEB 11:1)
• ABSALOM DID NOT SEND AN ARMY AFTER DAVID TO ATTACK HIM WHEN HE WAS AT HIS WEAKEST.
• DAVID REALIZED THAT GOD WAS SOVEREIGN OVER THE SITUATION AND THERE IS NO AUTHORITY GIVEN BUT BY GOD. (ROM 13:1)
• THEREFORE, BECAUSE GOD’S WILL WAS THAT DAVID BE KING, SOMEHOW GOD WOULD TURN IT AROUND AND RESTORE DAVID’S KINGDOM TO HIM.
• "SELAH" = STOP AND THINK ABOUT VERSE 19.
• VENGEANCE BELONGS TO GOD, SO DAVID DECIDES HE WILL LEAVE REVENGE IN GOD’S HANDS. (ROM 12:19)
• THE PHRASE THAT FOLLOWS THE WORD, "SELAH", IS IN ITALICS IN THE KING JAMES VERSION OF THE BIBLE. THE ITALICS INDICATES THAT THE EXACT SPECIFIC WORDS ARE NOT IN THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE BUT THAT THE BASIC IDEA IS IMPLIED IN THE ORIGINAL TEXT. THEREFORE, THE TRANSLATORS USED THE ITALICIZED WORDS TO EXPRESS THE IMPLIED IDEA.
• THE IMPLIED IDEA AT THE END OF VERSE 19 IS THAT WHEN THERE IS NO POSITIVE CHARACTER CHANGE IN A PERSON’S LIFE, THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD.
• WE HAVE THIS VERY IDEA IN 2 COR 5:17-18
• "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation."
• IT IS THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST THAT CHANGE COMES IN A PERSON’S LIFE. IF THERE IS NO CHANGE IN A PERSON’S LIFE, HE IS OBVIOUSLY NOT TRUSTING BY FAITH IN CHRIST.
• THIS IS EVIDENTLY what DAVID UNDERSTOOD.

• PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION:
• READ PSA 55:20-23
• VERSE 20 TO THE END OF THE CHAPTER RELATES TO AHITHOPHEL’S BETRAYAL OF DAVID. HOWEVER, THESE VERSES SEEM TO EMPHASIZE THE BETRAYAL THAT WAS ALREADY PREVIOUSLY COVERED IN THE PSALM.
• THEREFORE, THEY PRESENT A FAR-REACHING PROPHETIC EMPHASIS.
• THE FIRST PROPHETIC FULFILLMENT:
• JUDAS ISCARIOT IS THE EPITOME OF A BETRAYER.
• THE SECOND PROPHETIC FULFILLMENT:
• THE ANTICHRIST IS THE END-TIME BETRAYER OF ISRAEL.
• "…HE HATH BROKEN HIS COVENANT." (20)
• THE ANTICHRIST WILL CONFIRM A COVENANT WITH THE JEWS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD. THEN, AT THE MIDDLE OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD, HE WILL BETRAY THEM AND BREAK HIS OWN COVENANT TO BEGIN TO PERSECUTE THE JEWS. (DAN 9:27)
• "THE WORDS OF HIS MOUTH WERE SMOOTHER THAN BUTTER, BUT WAR WAS IN HIS HEART…" (21)
• WE HAVE LEARNED IN THE PREVIOUS FEW PSALMS THAT THE ANTICHRIST WILL BE A MASTER ORATOR WHO WILL PROMISE PEACE AND BRING WAR.
• THE RIGHTEOUS IN THE TRIBULATION PERIOD ARE COUNSELED TO TRUST IN GOD. (22)
• THE ANTICHRIST AND THE FALSE PROPHET WILL BE CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE AT THE END OF THE TRIBULATION. (REV 19:20)

• APPLICATION OF PSA 55:
• IF A CLOSE FRIEND OR ASSOCIATE HAS EVER BETRAYED YOU, YOU KNOW THE FEELINGS DAVID EXPERIENCED IN A LIKE SITUATION. YOU CAN ALSO RELATE TO THE FEELINGS JESUS FELT WHEN BETRAYED BY JUDAS.
• HOW DOES YOUR EXPERIENCE MAKE YOU WANT TO BE MORE FAITHFUL TO JESUS?

• IF YOU HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED BETRAYAL, WHAT ONE THOUGHT OR VERSE DO YOU THINK WOULD HELP YOU THE MOST IN THIS KIND OF SITUATION?

• PREPARATION FOR PSA 56
• READ PSA 56:1-13
• WHAT DO YOU LEARN FROM THIS PSALM ABOUT DEALING WITH FEAR?

• MEMORY VERSE: PSA 56:3