7. Explication of Psalm 63

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
    my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you,
    as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

In these four lines, David sets up his purpose and gives us a hint about the setting in which this poem is written. Like many of the poems in Psalms, Psalm 63 sets out to worship the protagonist. David wrote this psalm during one of his wanderings in the Desert of Judah, the “dry and weary land’ he speaks of here. During his lifetime, David spent three periods wandering the Judean wilderness: once during his youth when he was a shepherd there, once when he was fleeing from Saul, and finally when his son Absalom’s rebellion drove him from his kingdom. 

Context gives the readers strong evidence to suggest that this poem was written during his last roving of the desert, which occurs in 2 Samuel, 15-19. (1)

In these opening lines, David speaks simultaneously about the physical toil the desert takes on his body and the yearning he feels for his god. His physical needs are downplayed, however, and he chooses to focus more on the state of his soul. Though his flesh certainly faints and his body must thirst, he prefers to explain how his soul feels, letting readers know that his spiritual needs and longings are more important to him than his physical ones. 

² So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
    beholding your power and glory.
³ Because your steadfast love is better than life,
    my lips will praise you.
⁴ So I will bless you as long as I live;
    in your name I will lift up my hands.

⁵ My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
    and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, ⁶ when I remember you upon my bed,
    and meditate on you in the watches of the night; ⁷ for you have been my help,
    and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. ⁸ My soul clings to you;
    your right hand upholds me.

Here, David continues his praise of the protagonist despite of the strife he is enduring. No doubt, at this point in his life, David is very unsure of his future. His traitorous son has driven him from his city and cast him into the wilderness, where he wanders alone and without provisions. In these lines, David seems unsure whether he will survive the ordeal or not. The survival of his physical body is, again, less pressing than the state of his soul, and his faith is not shaken by his strife. “Your steadfast love is better than life,” David tells the protagonist. Though his body may hunger, his soul “will be satisfied as with fat and rich food.” 

⁹ But those who seek to destroy my life
    shall go down into the depths of the earth; ¹⁰ they shall be given over to the power of the sword;
    they shall be a portion for jackals. ¹¹ But the king shall rejoice in God;
    all who swear by him shall exult,
    for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

These final lines tell readers the fate that await those who have gone against David and his god, and they are also the lines most integral to establishing the concrete setting of this piece. Here, readers become sure that David is not talking about one of his earlier wanderings but is in fact writing during the rebellion of his son. 

The line “those who seek to destroy my life” makes it very clear that his poem is not written during his pastoral days as a shepherd, and though he could still be speaking of Saul’s desire to kill him, the fact that he refers to himself as “the king” excludes this period as well. David didn’t become king until after Saul’s death. 

The tone of this psalm changes drastically during its closing lines. What has until now been a poem written to strengthen a downtrodden David and sing praises to Yahweh turns into a bloody fantasy about vengeance against those who have betrayed him. During this ruthless trial of the guilty, David and those who follow Yahweh will give praises and rejoice in their god. 

True to his prediction, Absalom and his fellow conspirators do indeed die, though Absalom goes down a bit less spectacularly than David seems to hope. Instead of being a feast for jackals, he rides his horse under a low-hanging branch, hits his head, and dies. 

(1) http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2011/06/10/Psalm-63-Longing-to-Worship-the-LORD-While-in-the-Wilderness.aspx#Article