Here again we have one of the eight Psalms dates from the time of Saul's persecution - a Maskı̂l, like the two preceding Psalms, and having points of close contact both with Psa 53:1-6 (cf. Psa 54:5 with Psa 53:3) and with Psa 52:1-9 (cf. the resemblance in the closing words of. v. 8 and Ps 52:11): To the Precentor, with the accompaniment of stringed instruments (vid., on Psa 4:1), a meditation, by David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul: Is not David hidden among us? Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, had escaped to David, who with six hundred men was then in the fortified town of Keïla (Keilah), but received through Abiathar the divine answer, that the inhabitants would give him up if Saul should lay siege to the town. Thereupon we find him in the wilderness of Zîph; the Ziphites betray him and pledge themselves to capture him, and thereby he is in the greatest straits, out of which he was only rescued by an invasion of the Philistines, which compelled Saul to retreat (1Sa 23:19.). The same history which the earlier narrator of the Books of Samuel relates here, we meet with once more in 1 Sam. 26, related with fuller colouring. The form of the inscription of the Psalm is word for word the same as both in 1Sa 23:19 and in 1Sa 26:1; the annals are in all three passages the ultimate source of the inscription.
Psalm 54
Verses 1-3
Psa 54:1-3 (Hebrew_Bible_54:3-5) This short song is divided into two parts by Sela The first half prays for help and answer. The Name of God is the manifestation of His nature, which has mercy as its central point (for the Name of God is טּוב, v. 8, Ps 52:11), so that בּשׁמך (which is here the parallel word to בּגבוּרתך) is consequently equivalent to בּחסדּך. The obtaining of right for any one (דּין like שׁפט, Psa 7:9, and frequently, עשׂה דּין, Psa 9:5) is attributed to the all-conquering might of God, which is only one side of the divine Name, i.e., of the divine nature which manifests itself in the diversity of its attributes. האזין (Psa 54:4) is construed with ל (cf. אל, Psa 87:2) like הטּה אזן, Psa 78:1.
