To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, [A Psalm] of David. Concerning "Jeduthun", See Gill on "Ps 39:1", title. Kimchi thinks this psalm was written concerning the captivity; and Jarchi twtdh le, concerning the decrees and judgments made against Israel by their enemies; and so some of their ancient expositions ; but it seems to have been composed by David when in distress, either through Saul and his courtiers, or by reason of the conspiracy of Absalom.
Theodoret takes it to be a prophecy of the persecution of Antiochus in the times of the Maccabees. Vid. Yalkut Simeoni in loc.Ver. 1. Truly my soul waiteth upon God,.... In the use of means, for answers of prayer, for performance of promises, and for deliverance from enemies, and out of every trouble: or "is silent" , as the Targum; not as to prayer, but as to murmuring; patiently and quietly waiting for salvation until the Lord's time come to give it; being "subject" to him, as the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions; resigned to his will, and patient under his afflicting hand: it denotes a quiet, patient, waiting on the Lord, and not merely bodily exercise in outward ordinances; but an inward frame of spirit, a soul waiting on the Lord, and that in truth and reality, in opposition to mere form and show; and with constancy "waiteth", and "only" on him, as the same particle is rendered in Ps 62:2; and so Aben Ezra here;from him [cometh] my salvation; both temporal, spiritual, and eternal, and not from any creature; the consideration of which makes the mind quiet and easy under afflictive provide uses: the contrivance of everlasting salvation is from the Father, the impetration of it from the Son, and the application of it from the Spirit.
hymwd "silet", Pagninus, Munster, Cocceius; "silens", Montanus, Tigurine version; so the Targum.