Psalm Chapter 59

Psalm 59: The Dogs That Circle the City

The scene is David's own house, surrounded by Saul's assassins in the night. And David gives us an image that once heard cannot be forgotten: his enemies are like stray dogs circling the city after dark, snarling, scavenging, belching out cruelty with their mouths. Twice the image returns — they come at evening, they make a noise like a dog — as if the threat circles back again and again, tireless and feral. But something else circles too, something that meets the dogs' return with a greater return: "But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning." The dogs own the evening; David owns the morning. They have their noise; he has his song. It is not that the danger disappears — the psalm never pretends it does. But between the circling dogs at nightfall and the song at dawn, something has happened. God has been David's defence and refuge, and the man who went to bed besieged wakes up singing.

00:00 Deliver Me From Mine Enemies
01:00 They Return at Evening Like Dogs
02:00 I Will Sing of Thy Mercy in the Morning