Psalm 140:7

O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) In the day of battle.—Literally, in the day of arms, i.e., when he was arming for fight. God covered the warrior’s head, i.e., provided the “helmet of salvation” (Isaiah 59:17). (Comp. also Psalm 60:9 : “Strength of my head.”) Others, however, follow the LXX. and Authorised Version in understanding by “day of arms” the day of battle.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

140:1-7 The more danger appears, the more earnest we should be in prayer to God. All are safe whom the Lord protects. If he be for us, who can be against us? We should especially watch and pray, that the Lord would hold up our goings in his ways, that our footsteps slip not. God is as able to keep his people from secret fraud as from open force; and the experience we have had of his power and care, in dangers of one kind, may encourage us to depend upon him in other dangers.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

O God the Lord ... - literally, "Yahweh, Lord, the strength of my salvation" The word rendered "God," in the original, is יהוה Yahweh. The address is to Yahweh as the Lord; that is, as the supreme Ruler - who presides over all things. Him the psalmist acknowledged as "his" Lord and Ruler. The phrase "the strength of my salvation" means the strength or power on which my safety depends. I have no other hope of deliverance but in thee.

Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle - Thou hast been a shield unto me. Literally, "In the day of arms," or of armor, 1 Kings 10:25; Ezekiel 39:9-10.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. day of battle—literally, "of armor," that is, when using it.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

With thy powerful protection, as with a helmet or shield.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation,.... Temporal and spiritual, which he was able to effect; the mighty God and mighty Saviour: and this encouraged David to believe he should have deliverance; and this secured, confirmed, and established it to him; and to which he was the more induced by what experience he had had of the divine goodness to him, as follows:

thou hast covered my head in the day of battle; with the helmet of salvation, as Kimchi, Aben Ezra, and Arama observe; which, in a spiritual sense, is to a believer the hope of salvation, Ephesians 6:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:8; a defensive weapon to him; and protects him while he is engaging with his spiritual enemies in this his state of warfare, sin, Satan, and the world. Perhaps David may have respect to the divine protection of him, when he fought with Goliath. Salvation was Christ's helmet, when he engaged with all his and our enemies; even with all the powers of darkness, and obtained deliverance for us, Isaiah 59:16.

Geneva Study Bible

O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou {e} hast covered my head in the day of battle.

(e) He calls to God with lively faith, being assured of his mercies, because he had before time proved, that God helped him ever in his dangers.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. O God the Lord] Jehovah, Lord. Cp. Psalm 109:21 (note); Psalm 141:8.

thou hast covered my head] Protected it as with a helmet. Cp. Psalm 60:7; Isaiah 59:17; Ephesians 6:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:8. The perfect tense might refer to past experience, but is probably to be taken as a perfect of certainty: thou wilt̄ assuredly cover.

the day of battle] Lit. of armour, when armour is needed. The language is of course figurative, for the ‘war’ which his enemies were making upon him was carried on with the weapons of slander and calumny.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - O God the Lord. In the Hebrew, "Jehovah Adonai" - a comparatively rare address. The strength of my salvation. The solid strength upon which I ground all my hopes of salvation (comp. Psalm 89:26). Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle. In past combats thou hast protected me, as with a shield (Psalm 18:2; Psalm 33:20), wherefore I put the greater trust in thee for the future. The "head" is mentioned as one of the chief vital parts. Psalm 140:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Such is the conduct of his enemies; he, however, prays to his God and gets his weapons from beside Him. The day of equipment is the day of the crisis when the battle is fought in full array. The perfect סכּותה states what will then take place on the part of God: He protects the head of His anointed against the deadly blow. Both Psalm 140:8 and Psalm 140:8 point to the helmet as being מעוז ראשׁ, Psalm 60:9; cf. the expression "the helmet of salvation" in Isaiah 59:17. Beside מאויּי, from the ἅπ. λεγ. מאוה, there is also the reading מאויי, which Abulwald found in his Jerusalem codex (in Saragossa). The regular form would be מאוי, and the boldly irregular ma'awajjê follows the example of מחשׁכּי, מחמדּי, and the like, in a manner that is without example elsewhere. זממז for מזמּתו is also a hapaxlegomenon; according to Gesenius the principal form is זמם, but surely ore correctly זמם (like קרב), which in Aramaic signifies a bridle, and here a plan, device. The Hiph. חפיק (root פק, whence נפק, Arab. nfq) signifies educere in the sense of reportare, Proverbs 3:13; Proverbs 8:35; Proverbs 12:2; Proverbs 18:22, and of porrigere, Psalm 144:13, Isaiah 58:10. A reaching forth of the plan is equivalent to the reaching forth of that which is projected. The choice of the words used in this Psalm coincides here, as already in מעגּל, with Proverbs and Isaiah. The future ירוּמוּ expresses the consequence (cf. Psalm 61:8) against which the poet wishes to guard.