May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Zion!
May he remember all your offerings
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices!
...............
Psalm 20 is an example of a royal hymn, one of several in which the psalmist invokes the special blessing of God upon the ruler of Israel. These royal hymns are often prophetic shadows of the coming messiah, and since the New Testament writers read them this way, it is more than fair for us to do the same. Though this passage is brief, we can apply both a historical and typological interpretation in order to gain some pearls of insight here.
Historically speaking, we are listening to the voice of a young David praying for king Saul, who happens to hate David and who attempted to kill him in fits of jealous rage on several occasions. The heart of David was to honor God, who had been faithful to miraculously slay Goliath and other enemies, thus proving He was immanently more trustworthy than chariots and horses. Likewise, David honored his king as one having God's special blessing, and thus refers to him as God's "anointed." This kind of honor is often described in the biblical narrative, where David passes up several opportunities to kill Saul and take his kingdom by force, preferring instead to trust God and carry out his duty under an unjust king.
The typological interpretation could actually go two ways: both Saul and David can be in view here as types of the messiah. I include Saul because David calls him anointed, which is what "messiah" means. In this sense, we can imagine this prayer as a prayer for the messiah to reign in power, to be blessed in all of his plans and desires, and be rescued from all his enemies. (We can apply this prayer by likewise blessing King Jesus and seeking favor for his kingdom purposes on this earth.)
A second type is David himself, whose example of humble prayer and devotion to a wicked and ungrateful king so clearly reflects Christ's teaching and example of loving his enemies, even to the point of personal humiliation. Seeing my sinful self in the place of Saul, I am astonished that my Savior prays for my ungrateful heart to be fulfilled and that he even prays for my offerings to be acceptable to God - a shadow of the intercession that Christ now makes as our advocate before the Father. Even in these brief words of this ancient royal prayer, the gospel message is clear and profound.
Lord, thank you for the undeserved honor of receiving your prayers, your favor, your intercession, and your eternal blessings. All glory to you, the anointed king and humble servant - the lion and the lamb. Amen.
great to see you blogging again, J. i assume you were on sabbatical...two years isn't too long. =)
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