Psalms 57:5

This doxology illustrates his view of the connection of his deliverance with God's glory.

Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens,.... That is, show thyself to be God, that sittest in the heavens, and art higher than they, by saving me, and disappointing mine enemies; that I, and those that are with me, may magnify the Lord and exalt his name together. The Targum is, "be thou exalted above the angels of heaven, O God;'' let thy glory be above all the earth; that is, above all the inhabitants of the earth, as the Chaldee paraphrase: let the glory of God in my deliverance be seen by all that dwell upon the earth; for by how much the lower and more distressed his case and condition were, by so much the more would the glory of God be displayed in bringing him out of it. Nothing lies nearer the hearts of the people of God than his glory; this is more desirable than their own salvation: David breathes after the one, when he says nothing of the other, that being uppermost; though his meaning is, that the one might be brought about by the other.

This psalm is very much like that which goes next before it; it was penned upon a like occasion, when David was both in danger of trouble and in temptation to sin; it begins as that did, "Be merciful to me;" the method also is the same. I. He begins with prayer and complaint, yet not without some assurance of speeding in his request (Psa 57:1-6). II. He concludes with joy and praise (Psa 57:7-11). So that hence we may take direction and encouragement, both in our supplications and in our thanksgivings, and may offer both to God, in singing this psalm. To the chief musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave.

57:5 This verse is repeated in 57:11 and 108:5. • God’s glory—his manifest presence that excludes all evil (8:1; 19:1-4; 24:7)—will fill the whole created order (Isa 6:3).