EXPOSITION
LIKE, Psalms 56:1-13 and Psalms 57:1-11, this is a cry for deliverance out of great peril, with a final expression of confidence (verses 16, 17) that the deliverance will be granted. From the psalm itself there is some difficulty in determining who are the enemies against whom aid is sought, since, while the bulk of the allusions suggest domestic enemies, there is distinct mention of the "heathen" in two places (Psalms 57:5, Psalms 57:8). Hence it has been argued by critics of note that the entire complaint is against foreign foes, and the complainant either the nation (De Wette), or a late king of Judah (Ewald), or a Maccabean leader (Hitzig), or a poet of the time of Nehemiah (Koster). But the whole character of the psalm is Davidic, and the "title" must be regarded as having more intrinsic weight than the conjectures of critics, especially of critics who are so wholly at variance one with another as these. The title lays it down that the psalm is David's, and assigns, as the occasion of its composition, Saul's sending emissaries to watch the house where David was, with the intent to kill him. The reference is clearly to the narrative in 1 Samuel 19:11-18. And the psalm itself, when carefully considered, will be found to agree well with this time and occasion.
It is generally agreed that the composition divides into four portions, two of them closed by the pause mark, "Selah," and the other two by a refrain. It thus consists of four strophes, the first of five verses (1 Samuel 19:1-5), and the other three of four verses each (1 Samuel 19:6-9, 1 Samuel 19:10-13, and 1 Samuel 19:14-17).