Psalm 3 — Why, O Lord are they multiplied?

When he fled from the face of his son Absalom. ^3:1^ Why, O Lord, are they multiplied that afflict me? Many are they who rise up against me. Many say to my soul, “There is no salvation for him in his God.”

^3:2^ But you, O Lord, are my protector, my glory, and the lifter-up of my head.

^3:3^ I have cried to the Lord with my voice and he has heard me from his holy mountain. ^3:4^ I have slept and slumbered and I have risen up, because the Lord has protected me.

^3:5^ I will not fear thousands of the people, surrounding me. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God. ^3:6^ For you have struck all those who are my adversaries without cause; you have broken the teeth of sinners.

^3:7^ Salvation is of the Lord and your blessing is upon your people.

14. The previous psalm showed the designs of his adversaries. Here he begs for divine aid against their designs. And this psalm came forth by way of prayer. In this psalm we can first set out the foundation in history, and then the allegorical sense, and finally the moral.

The historical sense is clear through the title, when he fled from the face of his son Absalom. As 2 Samuel 15 says, Absalom, David’s son, was pursuing his father seeking to kill him. David gave way to him, leaving barefoot with his men from Jerusalem. He understood that this came upon him because of his sin of murder and adultery, just as Nathan the prophet had prophesied to him: the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me (2 Sam 12:10). But, when Absalom was pursuing David, David’s army turned against him, and Absalom was brought by the motion of his mule under a full-branched oak, where, hanging there caught by his head, the branches encircling his neck, he was killed by Joab, the leader of David’s army. After his death, David, restored to the kingdom, reigned in peace.

Therefore, this psalm, why, O Lord, is against this persecution. Through it, however, the persecution which Christ suffered from his own son Judas was prefigured. Little children, yet a little while I am with you (John 13:33). And again, can the children of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? (Matt 9:15). Christ fled from this Judas when, after he had left, he withdrew with the other apostles to the Mount of Olives as the Passion drew near.

And just as David offered peace to his hostile son when he commanded the people going into war, saying, save the boy Absalom (2 Sam 18:5), and saying, after he had been killed, who will grant to me that I might die in place of you, Absalom my son? (2 Sam 18:33), so Christ did toward Judas the traitor, as is clear at the supper and in the kiss. On account of this Absalom is well said to mean “peace of the father.” (Cf. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms 3.1 (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, 38:7–8).) For the Hebrew abba is translated “father” in Latin. Shalom is “peace.” And Judas betrayed Christ with an offering of peace. And just like Absalom, Judas also died hanging. After his death, Christ reigned in peace, since he rose in glory. And this can be applied to all the tribulations of the Church.

According to the moral sense it can be against the afflictions which she suffers from her enemies, whether temporal or spiritual. And the feelings of a man crying out are expressed.

He makes two points regarding this.

First, he anticipates the attempt of his adversaries, or lays out his own torment to God.

Second, he testifies that the divine help is with him: but you, O Lord, are my protector.

But when he says, they are multiplied, namely, the gentiles, the people, the rulers, and the princes, he is describing the persecution in regard to the number of those harming him. And it is not only these strangers but also his son. They are multiplied beyond the hairs of my head (Ps 39:13).

And in regard to the motive of the harm, he testifies that it is without cause. Why? As 1 Samuel 26:18 says, What have I done? or what evil is there in my hand?

And in regard to his many torments, he testifies that they disturb him with a multitude of afflictions: they afflict me. The thistle is a prickly plant. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you (Gen 3:18). Therefore, those things that prick one afflict one. Now they pricked Christ by beating, scourging, spitting, and mocking him, and by intending his death. This is what he means when he says, many are those who rise up, namely, by their actions. For Absalom desired to kill David, as is clear in the advice of Hushai in 2 Samuel 17. Similarly, Judas handed Christ over to death.

Further, they afflict him by disparaging him or proposing falsehoods: many say to my soul, “There is no salvation for him in his God.” Against this is what Psalm 36:39 said, but the salvation of the just is from the Lord. For if the wicked considered this, they would not insouciantly rise up against the just, but because they do not believe this, or because they scorn the power of God or the justice of men, they say with their mouths and works, there is no salvation for him in his God, that is, in him whom he worships and treats as his God.

The persecutors also say this about Christ, for if they had hoped in the Resurrection, Judas would not have handed him over, nor would they have killed him. And the sense is, “He will not save him, nor is he the son of God.” So they said, if you are the Son of God, come down from the Cross (Matt 27:40), and, if he is the king of Israel, let him now come down from the Cross, and we will believe him (Matt 27:42).

15. But you, O Lord. This is the second part. Here he shows the help brought by God.

And he makes two points regarding this.

First, he shows that the divine help is particularly present to him;

second, that the divine help is present generally to all, at salvation is of the Lord.

And he puts forward three points regarding the first.

First is the divine help;

second is the experience of help, at with my voice;

third is the sense of security, at I will not fear.

Therefore, he says, but you, O Lord, as if to say, “These rise up for war, but you undertake to protect.” And this is better expressed by the text of Jerome which says, my shield around me, as though he is defending me like a shield. (Jerome, Psalterum juxta Hebraios.) For he guards life not only against those who desire to harm, but also glory against those who defame, and so he says, my glory: he who glories, let him glory in the Lord (2 Cor 10:17); but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me (Jer 9:24).

And you not only assist me against those who defame me, but also you make me prevail over those oppressing me; thus he adds, the lifter up of my head. Psalm 26:6 says: and now he has lifted up my head above my enemies.

These things can be referred to Christ, who was conceived according to human nature in the Incarnation, because the Word was made flesh (John 1:14). Behold my servant, I will uphold him: my elect, my soul delights in him (Isa 42:1). Blessed is he whom you have chosen and assumed (Ps 64:5). Further, he was glorious in the Resurrection: glorify me, Father (John 17:5). Also, he was exalted in the Ascension: for which cause God also has exalted him (Phil 2:9).

16. Afterward, when he says, voice, he shows his experience of help.

And he puts down three things:

namely, the prayer, at with my voice;

second, its being heard, at and he has heard me;

third, how he was heard, where he says, I have slept.

Concerning the first, he touches on two things which prayer should be. For one thing, it should be attentive. And so he says, with my voice, namely, the voice of the heart which speaks to God, by which Moses, though physically silent in his heart, cried to the Lord: the Lord said . . . “Why do you cry to me?” (Exod 14:15). Susanna was heard crying out with this same voice: she, weeping, looked up to heaven, for her heart had confidence in the Lord (Dan 13:35). Now Hannah spoke in her heart (1 Sam 1:13). I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the understanding (1 Cor 14:15). And so he says, my. For when the voice does not come forth from the heart, it is not mine.

The second thing prayer should be is upright; now, it is upright when it is directed rightly, and so he says, to the Lord where there is help. But as we do not know what to do, we can only turn our eyes to you (2 Chr 20:12). My help is from the Lord (Ps 120:2).

Third, prayer should be devout, so he adds, I have cried, for a prayer is said to be clamorous according to the greatness of the desire. Let my cry come to you (Ps 101:2). With a strong cry and tears . . . offering up prayers (Heb 5:7).

Afterwards, he discusses the hearing of the prayer when he says, he has heard me from his mountain, that is, from the sublime height of the divine majesty, which is inaccessible. Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord? (Ps 23:3), that is, to his omnipotence, or to the height of his justice, which is incomprehensible. Your judgments are a great deep (Ps 35:7). Or, from his holy mountain, that is, from me, I who was the holy mountain spoken of: and in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared (Isa 2:2).

It goes on, I have slept. Here he shows how he is heard, because I have risen up. For there is a difference between someone dead and someone sleeping, since a dead person does not rise up. Do you think the man who is dead will rise up again? (Job 14:14). But the sleeper does rise up. Shall he who sleeps rise no more? (Ps 40:9). So, therefore, when a trouble is so great that a man cannot return to his earlier state, it is called death. But when he, troubled or tempted, falls into sin and rises up again, he is said to sleep. So David slept, in this sense, since he was freed from his son and from sin.

Now he is said “to sleep” who sleeps lightly, but “to slumber” who sleeps deeply. So another text has, I have taken slumber, that is, I slept deeply. So Christ is said to have slept because he bore the Passion willingly, and to have slumbered since he underwent death. So he went from sleep to slumber. This slumber is signified by Adam’s slumber. The Lord God cast a deep slumber upon Adam (Gen 2:21), since the Church was formed from the side of Christ on the Cross. Therefore, he says, I have risen up, by my own power. (Cf. ST III, q. 53, a. 4. resp.) I have the power to lay down my soul, and I have the power to take it up again (John 10:18). And this is because the Lord has protected me. Another text has, he has upheld me. (Jerome, Psalterum juxta Hebraios.) For he had the power of the divinity to rise up. When the just shall fall he will not be bruised, for the Lord puts his hand under him (Ps 36:24).

17. Afterwards, when he says, I will not fear, he describes the confidence in security, as if he should say, “Because I am heard, I will not fear.” As Psalm 26:3 says: if a camp should stand against me, my heart shall not fear. This signifies that the Church of Christ cannot ever be entirely suppressed. For after the Resurrection, the multitude of people who stood around him when he was crucified were unable to harm Christ, for Christ, rising from the dead, dies no more (Rom 6:9). And he shows whence he has this confidence when he says, arise, that is, “Show your power by making me rise from the dead,” and this is what is meant when he says, save me.

For you have struck. Earlier he said two things:

that people are troubling him: why, O Lord, are those who afflict me multiplied? And against them he says, for you have struck.

Second, that they were defaming him: there is no salvation for him. And against these he says, you have broken the teeth of sinners, that is, you have brought their evil words to nothing. I broke the jaws of the wicked man (Job 29:17). Jerome’s text has, you have broken the jaws and teeth, as if to say, “You have struck so strongly that their teeth are crushed to pieces.” (Jerome, Psalterum juxta Hebraios.) For the jaws were Absalom; the teeth were those following him. So the others were crushed when Absalom was destroyed.

18. Finally, when he says, salvation is of the Lord, he shows that the divine help is there for the whole people.

First, to preserve from evil, and so he says, salvation is of the Lord. And so prayer should be directed to God.

Second, divine help increases good things, and so he says, your blessing is upon your people, that is, your blessing is upon the people who hope in you and not in another. The blessing of the Lord always brings an increase in good: the blessing of the Lord makes men rich (Prov 10:22).

Now the gloss gives another reading of the psalm, namely that this is spoken by the whole Christ, that is, the Church and its head standing fast amidst the storms of persecution. (Glossa ordinaria.
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Or this psalm can be read in the moral sense as spoken in the person of any one of the faithful who is besieged by vices and sinful desires. And in this reading, David would be understood as any one of the faithful and Absalom as fleshly appetites, as is shown in the gloss.