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Commentary on Psalms 91 verses 1–8
In these verses we have,
I. A great truth laid down in general, That all those who live a life of communion with God are constantly safe under his protection, and may therefore preserve a holy serenity and security of mind at all times (Psa 91:1): He that dwells, that sits down, in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty; he that by faith chooses God for his guardian shall find all that in him which he needs or can desire. Note, 1. It is the character of a true believer that he dwells in the secret place of the Most High; he is at home in God, returns to God, and reposes in him as his rest; he acquaints himself with inward religion, and makes heart-work of the service of God, worships within the veil, and loves to be alone with God, to converse with him in solitude. 2. It is the privilege and comfort of those that do so that they abide under the shadow of the Almighty; he shelters them, and comes between them and every thing that would annoy them, whether storm or sunshine. They shall not only have an admittance, but a residence, under God's protection; he will be their rest and refuge for ever.
II. The psalmist's comfortable application of this to himself (Psa 91:2): I will say of the Lord, whatever others say of him, "He is my refuge; I choose him as such, and confide in him. Others make idols their refuge, but I will say of Jehovah, the true and living God, He is my refuge: any other is a refuge of lies. He is a refuge that will not fail me; for he is my fortress and strong-hold." Idolaters called their idols Mahuzzim, their most strong-hold (Dan 11:39), but therein they deceived themselves; those only secure themselves that make the Lord their God, their fortress. There being no reason to question his sufficiency, fitly does it follow, In him will I trust. If Jehovah be our God, our refuge, and our fortress, what can we desire which we may not be sure to find in him? He is neither fickle nor false, neither weak nor mortal; he is God and not man, and therefore there is no danger of being disappointed in him. We know whom we have trusted.
III. The great encouragement he gives to others to do likewise, not only from his own experience of the comfort of it (for in that there might possibly be a fallacy), but from the truth of God's promise, in which there neither is nor can be any deceit (Psa 91:3, Psa 91:4, etc.): Surely he shall deliver thee. Those who have themselves found the comfort of making God their refuge cannot but desire that others may do so. Now here it is promised,
1.That believers shall be kept from those mischiefs which they are in imminent danger of, and which would be fatal to them (Psa 91:3), from the snare of the fowler, which is laid unseen and catches the unwary prey on a sudden, and from the noisome pestilence, which seizes men unawares and against which there is no guard. This promise protects, (1.) The natural life, and is often fulfilled in our preservation from those dangers which are very threatening and very near, while yet we ourselves are not apprehensive of them, any more than the bird is of the snare of the fowler. We owe it, more than we are sensible, to the care of the divine Providence that we have been kept from infectious diseases and out of the hands of the wicked and unreasonable. (2.) The spiritual life, which is protected by divine grace from the temptations of Satan, which are as the snares of the fowler, and from the contagion of sin, which is the noisome pestilence. He that has given grace to be the glory of the soul will create a defence upon all that glory.
2.That God himself will be their protector; those must needs be safe who have him for their keeper, and successful for whom he undertakes (Psa 91:4): He shall cover thee, shall keep thee secret (Psa 31:20), and so keep thee safe, Psa 27:5. God protects believers, (1.) With the greatest tenderness and affection, which is intimated in that, He shall cover thee with his feathers, under his wings, which alludes to the hen gathering her chickens under wings, Mat 23:37. By natural instinct she not only protects them, but calls them under that protection when she sees them in danger, not only keeps them safe, but cherishes them and keeps them warm. To this the great God is pleased to compare his care of his people, who are helpless as the chickens, and easily made a prey of, but are invited to trust under the shadow of the wings of the divine promise and providence, which is the periphrasis of a proselyte to the true religion, that he has come to trust under the wings of the God of Israel, Rut 2:12. (2.) With the greatest power and efficacy. Wings and feathers, though spread with the greatest tenderness, are yet weak, and easily broken through, and therefore it is added, His truth shall be thy shield and buckler, a strong defence. God is willing to guard his people as the hen is to guard the chickens, and as able as a man of war in armour.
3.That he will not only keep them from evil, but from the fear of evil, Psa 91:5, Psa 91:6. Here is, (1.) Great danger supposed; the mention of it is enough to frighten us; night and day we lie exposed, and those that are apt to be timorous will in neither period think themselves safe. When we are retired into our chambers, our beds, and have made all as safe as we can about us, yet there is terror by night, from thieves and robbers, winds and storms, besides those things that are the creatures of fancy and imagination, which are often most frightful of all. We read of fear in the night, Sol 3:8. There is also a pestilence that walketh in darkness, as that was which slew the first-born of the Egyptians, and the army of the Assyrians. No locks nor bars can shut out diseases, while we carry about with us in our bodies the seeds of them. But surely in the day-time, when we can look about us, we are not so much in danger; yes, there is an arrow that flieth by day too, and yet flies unseen; there is a destruction that wasteth at high-noon, when we are awake and have all our friends about us; even then we cannot secure ourselves, nor can they secure us. It was in the day-time that that pestilence wasted which was sent to chastise David for numbering the people, on occasion of which some think this psalm was penned. But, (2.) Here is great security promised to believers in the midst of this danger: "Thou shalt not be afraid. God by his grace will keep thee from disquieting distrustful fear (that fear which hath torment) in the midst of the greatest dangers. Wisdom shall keep thee from being causelessly afraid, and faith shall keep thee from being inordinately afraid. Thou shalt not be afraid of the arrow, as knowing that though it may hit thee it cannot hurt thee; if it take away the natural life, yet it shall be so far from doing any prejudice to the spiritual life that it shall be its perfection." A believer needs not fear, and therefore should not fear, any arrow, because the point is off, the poison is out. O death! where is thy sting? It is also under divine direction, and will hit where God appoints and not otherwise. Every bullet has its commission. Whatever is done our heavenly Father's will is done; and we have no reason to be afraid of that.
4.That they shall be preserved in common calamities, in a distinguishing way (Psa 91:7): "When death rides in triumph, and diseases rage, so that thousands and ten thousands fall, fall by sickness, or fall by the sword in battle, fall at thy side, at thy right hand, and the sight of their fall is enough to frighten thee, and if they fall by the pestilence their falling so near thee may be likely to infect thee, yet it shall not come nigh thee, the death shall not, the fear of death shall not." Those that preserve their purity in times of general corruption may trust God with their safety in times of general desolation. When multitudes die round about us, though thereby we must be awakened to prepare for our own death, yet we must not be afraid with any amazement, nor make ourselves subject to bondage, as many do all their life-time, through fear of death, Heb 2:15. The sprinkling of blood secured the first-born of Israel when thousands fell. Nay, it is promised to God's people that they shall have the satisfaction of seeing, not only God's promises fulfilled to them, but his threatenings fulfilled upon those that hate them (Psa 91:8): Only with thy eyes shalt thou behold and see the just reward of the wicked, which perhaps refers to the destruction of the first-born of Egypt by the pestilence, which was both the punishment of the oppressors and the enlargement of the oppressed; this Israel saw when they saw themselves unhurt, untouched. As it will aggravate the damnation of sinners that with their eyes they shall behold and see the reward of the righteous (Luk 13:28), so it will magnify the salvation of the saints that with their eyes they shall behold and see the destruction of the wicked, Isa 66:24; Psa 58:10.
When the great David heard and understood this, he [David] said to him “who dwells in the shelter of the most High; He will overshadow you with his shoulders,” which is the same as being behind God (for the shoulder is on the back of the body). Concerning himself David says, “My soul clings close to you, your right hand supports me.” You see how Psalms agree with the history. For as the one says that the right hand is a help to the person who has joined himself close behind God, so the other says that the hand touches the person who waits in the rock on the divine voice and prays that he might follow behind.
“Say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God.’ ” I am hemmed in by enemies. You, therefore, are my refuge. “ ‘In whom I will trust.’ For he will rescue you from the snare of the hunters.’ ” Note carefully that the psalmist did not say “I trust” but “I will trust.” As long as we continue in a life of sin, we certainly are not trusting; if we put an end to sin, then our hope is confident. “For he will rescue you from the snare of the hunters.” There are many hunters in this world that go about setting traps for our soul. Nimrod the giant was a “mighty hunter before the Lord.” Esau, too, was a hunter, for he was a sinner. In all of holy Scripture, never do we find a hunter that is a faithful servant; we do find faithful fishermen.“For he will rescue you from the snare of the hunters.” “We were rescued like a bird from the fowler’s snare; broken was the snare, and we were freed.” What snare is this that has been broken? “The Lord,” says the apostle, “will speedily crush Satan under our feet”;10 “that you may recover yourselves from the snare of the devil.” You see, then, that the devil is the hunter, eager to lure our souls unto perdition. The devil is master of many snares, deceptions of all kinds. Avarice is one of his pitfalls, disparagement is his noose, fornication is his bait. “And from the destroying word.” As long as we are in the state of grace, our soul is at peace; but once we begin to play with sin, then our soul is in trouble and is like a boat tossed about by the waves.
“Nor the attack of the noonday demon.” This is better expressed by the Greek. Symptosis implies a chance occurrence when something strange happens unexpectedly; or symptoma may denote a disaster in which many perish at the same time. Grasp, then, what it means. Even though many have been seduced, nevertheless, you who are in the state of grace may escape seduction. I shall give you an example so that even the more simple[-minded] among you may understand what I mean. If you should go to the city, a monk all by yourself, and while you are strolling about you hear a shout in the circus and someone says to you, “Come and see, it is the circus,” and you hold back remonstrating, “I have no permission, I cannot go”; if he should call your attention to the thousands of people there and say to you, “Two hundred thousand people are there, are they all going to be lost, and you alone be saved?” You have to be aware that symptoma is the devil’s own doing. What I am trying to say is that you have to know that many do perish and are lost.
Thus then do thou say also, "In Him will I trust. For He Himself shall deliver me" [Psalm 91:3], not I myself. Observe whether he teaches anything but this, that all our trust be in God, none in man. Whence shall he deliver you? "From the snare of the hunter, and from a harsh word." Deliverance from the hunter's net is indeed a great blessing: but how is deliverance from a harsh word so? Many have fallen into the hunter's net through a harsh word. What is it that I say? The devil and his angels spread their snares, as hunters do: and those who walk in Christ tread afar from those snares: for he dares not spread his net in Christ: he sets it on the verge of the way, not in the way. Let then your way be Christ, and you shall not fall into the snares of the devil....
But what is, "from a harsh word"? The devil has entrapped many by a harsh word: for instance, those who profess Christianity among Pagans suffer insult from the heathen: they blush when they hear reproach, and shrinking out of their path in consequence, fall into the hunter's snares. And yet what will a harsh word do to you? Nothing. Can the snares with which the enemy entraps you by means of reproaches, do nothing to you? Nets are usually spread for birds at the end of a hedge, and stones are thrown into the hedge: those stones will not harm the birds. When did any one ever hit a bird by throwing a stone into a hedge? But the bird, frightened at the harmless noise, falls into the nets; and thus men who fear the vain reproaches of their calumniators, and who blush at unprovoked insults, fall into the snares of the hunters, and are taken captive by the devil...Just as among the heathen, the Christian who fears their reproaches falls into the snare of the hunter: so among the Christians, those who endeavour to be more diligent and better than the rest, are doomed to bear insults from Christians themselves. What then does it profit, my brother, if you occasionally find a city in which there is no heathen? No one there insults a man because he is a Christian, for this reason, that there is no Pagan therein: but there are many Christians who lead a bad life, among whom those who are resolved to live righteously, and to be sober among the drunken, and chaste among the unchaste, and amid the consulters of astrologers sincerely to worship God, and to ask after no such things, and among spectators of frivolous shows will go only to church, suffer from those very Christians reproaches, and harsh words, when they address such a one, "You are the mighty, the righteous, you are Elias, you are Peter: you have come from heaven." They insult him: whichever way he turns, he hears harsh sayings on each side: and if he fears, and abandons the way of Christ, he falls into the snares of the hunters. But what is it, when he hears such words, not to swerve from the way? On hearing them, what comfort has he, which prevents his heeding them, and enables him to enter by the door? Let him say; What words am I called, who am a servant and a sinner? To my Lord Jesus they said, "You have a devil." [John 8:48] You have just heard the harsh words spoken against our Lord: it was not necessary for our Lord to suffer this, but in doing so He has warned you against harsh words, lest you fall into the snares of the hunters.
“When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, made from a woman, made under the law.” People are upset by “made from a woman,” because we confess that he was born of a virgin. It is only of man that we confess he was made; God is always the one who makes, he cannot be made in order to be. God cannot be made; but he is made into, or becomes, something for someone, in the way in which it is said of him, “Lord, you have become (or have been made into) a refuge for us”; and, “The Lord has become (has been made) my helper.” How many things he has been made into, though he never was made at all! Now the Lord Christ was made man, … in order for him who was always the creator to be a creature. While remaining God, you see, he became man in order to become what he was not, not in order to stop being what he was.
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SUMMARY
Psalm 91:3 stands as a profound declaration of divine protection, assuring those who abide in God's presence of His certain deliverance from both insidious, hidden dangers and widespread, destructive calamities. This verse encapsulates the psalmist's unwavering confidence in the Almighty's power to shield His beloved from the unseen traps set by adversaries and the overt threats of disease and disaster, reinforcing the foundational truth that ultimate security is found solely in Him.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalm 91:3 employs several powerful literary devices to convey its message of divine protection. Metaphor is prominently featured in "the snare of the fowler," which vividly represents hidden dangers, deceptive plots, or spiritual attacks designed to entrap and destroy. This concrete image helps the reader grasp the insidious nature of unseen threats. The verse also utilizes Parallelism, specifically complementary parallelism, by juxtaposing "the snare of the fowler" with "the noisome pestilence." While distinct, both phrases describe forms of danger from which God delivers, reinforcing the comprehensive and all-encompassing nature of His protection. The opening word, "Surely," functions as a strong Declaration or Assurance, setting an emphatic tone of absolute certainty and divine reliability. This rhetorical choice instills profound confidence and underscores the psalmist's unwavering faith in God's protective power, inviting the reader to share in that same conviction.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalm 91:3 beautifully articulates the biblical truth of God's active and comprehensive providence over His people. It reassures believers that their security is not dependent on their own vigilance or strength, but on the unfailing power and faithfulness of the Almighty. This verse connects deeply with the broader biblical narrative of God as a deliverer, protector, and refuge for His covenant people, echoing themes found from the Exodus story to the prophetic promises of future safety. It emphasizes God's sovereignty over both human malice and natural forces, asserting His ability to shield His own from both insidious plots and widespread calamities. This divine protection is not a guarantee against all suffering, but an assurance of God's presence and ultimate deliverance through or from trials, fostering a profound sense of trust and peace in His unfailing care.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
In a world perpetually marked by uncertainty, hidden dangers, and the threat of widespread illness, Psalm 91:3 offers profound comfort and a steadfast anchor for the soul. It calls believers to a posture of unwavering trust, reminding us that our ultimate security rests not in human ingenuity, medical advancements, or political stability, but in the sovereign hand of God. This verse encourages us to cultivate a deep, abiding relationship with the Lord, making Him our refuge and fortress, so that we may confidently claim His promises of deliverance. When faced with the "snares" of deception, spiritual attack, or malicious intent, or the "pestilence" of global crises and personal sickness, we are invited to lean into God's faithfulness, knowing that He is vigilant over our lives and able to shield us. Our response should be one of active faith, seeking His presence and resting in the certainty of His protective love, allowing this truth to dispel fear and cultivate peace that transcends circumstances.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Does Psalm 91:3 guarantee that believers will never get sick or face any harm?
Answer: While Psalm 91:3 is a powerful promise of divine protection, it's crucial to interpret it within the broader biblical narrative and Christian experience. It does not promise absolute immunity from all suffering, sickness, or even death in this life. Many faithful believers throughout history have faced illness, persecution, and hardship, as seen in the lives of apostles like Paul, who endured numerous trials and afflictions (2 Corinthians 11:23-27). Rather, the verse emphasizes God's certainty of deliverance and His sovereignty over all dangers. It assures that God is able and willing to protect His people, and that ultimately, no snare or pestilence can thwart His divine purposes for those who trust in Him. It speaks to a deeper, spiritual security and God's ultimate triumph over all forms of evil and destruction, even if physical harm occurs. The ultimate deliverance is from eternal death and the power of the enemy, and God's presence is guaranteed even through trials (Isaiah 43:2).
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Psalm 91:3 finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in Jesus Christ, who is the embodiment of God's protective presence and ultimate deliverer. The "snare of the fowler" represents the insidious traps of sin, death, and the devil, who is depicted as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). Christ, through His sacrificial death and resurrection, has definitively broken the power of this ultimate fowler, delivering humanity from the snare of spiritual bondage (Hebrews 2:14-15). He triumphed over principalities and powers, disarming them and making a public spectacle of them on the cross (Colossians 2:15). Furthermore, the "noisome pestilence" can be understood not only as physical disease but also as the pervasive spiritual sickness of sin that afflicts all humanity, leading to spiritual death. Jesus, the Great Physician, came to heal this ultimate pestilence, offering forgiveness and new life (Luke 5:31-32). His atoning work provides the ultimate deliverance from the consequences of sin and the promise of a future where there will be no more death, sorrow, crying, or pain, for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21:4). Thus, in Christ, God's promise to deliver from every snare and every destructive force is perfectly and eternally realized, offering a security that transcends earthly perils and secures an everlasting dwelling with God.