Psalm 60:11

Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Psalm 60:11-12. Give us help from trouble — Do not frustrate these hopes, but afford us thy help against the Syrians also 2 Samuel 8:5, who now distress us; for vain is the help of man — No human force is able to deliver us; nor have we any confidence in it, but in thee alone. Observe well, reader, then only are we qualified to receive help from God, when we are brought to own the insufficiency of all creatures to do that for us which we expect him to do. Through God we shall do valiantly — Through his help we shall behave ourselves courageously, and do valiant acts; for he it is that shall tread down our enemies — And not we ourselves. Though we do ever so valiantly, the success must be attributed entirely to him. All our victories, as well as our valour, are from him, and therefore at his feet all our crowns must be laid. Observe again, reader, as it is only through God, and by the influence of his grace, that we can, at any time, do valiantly; as it is he that puts strength into us, and inspires us, who of ourselves are weak and timorous, with true courage and resolution; so confidence in him is the best principle, and chief means of this courage and fortitude. But we must remember this confidence must be so far from superseding, that it must encourage and quicken our endeavours in the way of duty. For though it is God that performeth all things for us, and worketh in us to will and to do, yet we must be workers together with him.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

60:6-12 If Christ be ours, all things, one way or another, shall be for our eternal good. The man who is a new creature in Christ, may rejoice in all the precious promises God has spoken in his holiness. His present privileges, and the sanctifying influences of the Spirit, are sure earnests of heavenly glory. David rejoices in conquering the neighbouring nations, which had been enemies to Israel. The Israel of God are through Christ more than conquerors. Though sometimes they think that the Lord has cast them off, yet he will bring them into the strong city at last. Faith in the promise will assure us that it is our Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom: But we are not yet made complete conquerors, and no true believer will abuse these truths to indulge sloth, or vain confidence. Hope in God is the best principle of true courage, for what need those fear who have God on their side? All our victories are from him, and while those who willingly submit to our anointed King shall share his glories, all his foes shall be put under his feet.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Give us help from trouble - From the troubles which have now come upon us and overwhelmed us.

For vain is the help of man - Margin, salvation. The idea is, that they would look in vain to man to assist them in their present difficulties. They must depend on God alone. What is here said of temporal troubles is true as absolutely in the matter of salvation. When we are burdened with the consciousness of guilt, and trembling under the apprehension of the wrath to come, it is not man that can aid us. Our help is in God alone. Man can neither guide, comfort, pardon, nor save; and in vain should we look to any man, or to all people, for aid. We must look to God alone: to God as the only one who can remove guilt from the soul; who can give peace to the troubled heart; who can deliver us - from condemnation and ruin.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11, 12. Hence he closes with a prayer for success, and an assurance of a hearing.

The Treasury of David

11 Give us help from trouble; for vain is the help of man.

12 Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.

Psalm 60:11

"Give us help from trouble." Help us to overcome the disasters of civil strife and foreign invasion; save us from further incursions from without and division within. Do thou, O Lord, work this deliverance, "lot Vain is the help of man." We have painfully learned the utter impotence of armies, kings, and nations without thine help. Our banners trailed in the mire have proven our weakness without thee, but yonder standard borne aloft before us shall witness to our valour now that thou hast come to our rescue. How sweetly will this verse suit the tried people of God as a frequent ejaculation. We know how true it is.

Psalm 60:12

"Through God we shall do valiantly." From God all power proceeds, and all we do well is done by divine operation; but still we, as soldiers of the great king, are to fight, and to fight valiantly too. Divine working is not an argument for human inaction, but rather is it the best excitement for courageous effort, Helped in the past, we shall also be helped in the future, and being assured of this we resolve to play the man. "For he it is that shall tread down our enemies." From him shall the might proceed, to him shall the honour be given. Like straw on the thrashing-floor beneath the feet of the oxen shall we tread upon our abject foes, but it shall rather be his foot which presses them down than ours; his hand shall go out against them so as to put them down and keep them in subjection. In the case of Christians there is much encouragement for a resolve similar to that of the first clause. "We shall do valiantly." We will not be ashamed of our colours, afraid of our foes, or fearful of our cause. The Lord is with us, omnipotence sustains us, and we will not hesitate, we dare not be cowards. O that our King, the true David, were come to claim the earth, for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor among the nations.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Though I have some reputation for valour and conduct, and though my people are very numerous, and now united under me, yet all this will avail little or nothing without thy almighty help.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Give us help from trouble,.... To have trouble is the common lot of all men, but especially of the people of God. They have some troubles which others have not, arising from indwelling sin, Satan's temptations, and the hidings of God's face; and as for outward troubles, they have generally the greatest share of them, which are certain to them by the appointment of God, and the legacy of Christ; though they are needful and for their good, and lie in their way to heaven. But perhaps here is particularly meant the time of trouble, which will be a little before the destruction of antichrist; which will be great, and none like it; will be the time of Jacob's trouble, though he shall be saved out of it, Jeremiah 30:7. This will be the time of the slaying of the witnesses, the hour of temptation, that will try the inhabitants of the Christian world; and when the saints, as they do in all their times of trouble, will seek to the Lord for help, in whom it is, and who has promised it, and gives it seasonably, and which is owing wholly to his own grace and goodness; and therefore it is asked that he would "give" it;

for vain is the help of man: or "the salvation of man" (w); man himself is a vain thing; vanity itself, yea, lighter than vanity; even man at his best state, and the greatest among men; and therefore it is a vain thing to expect help and salvation from men, for indeed there is none in them; only in the Lord God is the salvation of his people, both temporal and spiritual.

(w) "salus hominis", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, &c.

Geneva Study Bible

Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. Give us help from trouble] Or, as R.V., Give us help against the adversary. Cp. Psalm 60:12.

for vain is the help of man] Lit. salvation. It is a delusion (cp. Psalm 33:17) to look to human strength for victory. See Psalm 44:6-7; 1 Samuel 17:47; Jeremiah 17:5; and cp. Jdg 7:4; Jdg 7:7; 1 Samuel 14:6; 2 Chronicles 14:11; 1Ma 3:16 ff.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - Give us help from trouble. Faith combats doubt, and, overcoming it, finds an utterance - "Give us help now, whatever thou hast done in the past." Our trouble is great. "Help us from it." For vain is the help of man. We have, therefore, no hope but in thee. Psalm 60:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The third strophe reverts to prayer; but the prayer now breathes more freely with a self-conscious courage for the strife. The fortified city (עיר מצור) is not Rabbath Ammon; but, as becomes evident from the parallel member of the verse and 2 Kings 14:7, the Idumaean chief city of Sela' (סלע) or Petra (vid., Knobel on Genesis 36:42, cf. Psalm 31:22; 2 Chronicles 8:5; 2 Chronicles 11:5 together with Psalm 14:5). The wish: who will conduct me equals Oh that one would conduct me (Ges. 136, 1)! expresses a martial desire, joyful at the prospect of victory; concerning מי נחני, quis perduxerit me, vid., on Psalm 11:3. What follows is not now to be rendered: Not Thou (who but Thou), Elohim, who...(Hitzig) - for in order to have been understood thus and not as in Psalm 60:3, Psalm 44:10, the poet could not have omitted אשׁר - on the contrary, the interrogatory הלא is the foundation on which the supplicatory הבה is raised. The king of Israel is hard pressed in the battle, but he knows that victory comes from above, from the God who has hitherto in anger refused it to His people, inasmuch as He has given power to Edom to break through the defensive forces of Israel (vid., Psalm 44:10). עזרת (not עזרת equals עזרה) is, as in Psalm 108:13, equivalent to עזרתה. The view that it is equal to עזרתי, the suffix being cast away, is not confirmed in this instance, vid., on Psalm 16:6, cf. Psalm 3:3. How vain is human succour, has been seen only very recently in the case of the kings of Zobah and Ammon, who have succumbed in spite of their confederates. Israel prays for its victorious power from above, and also obtains it thence, as is most confidently expressed in v. 14. עשׂה חיל, to do valiantly, to show valour, is equivalent to: to be victorious, as in Psalm 118:16. In God does Israel conquer, and God, who is in Israel, will by means of Israel tread down Edom in accordance with its deserts.