Psalm 17

The subtitle wasn’t part of the original psalm. And the possible byline “of David,” isn’t necessarily a byline. The vague phrase could mean the song was written by David, about David, or was inspired by David. Almost half of the psalms are attributed to David in this way, 73 of 150. Ancient Jewish history tells of David playing a lyre and writing songs. For one, he wrote a song of mourning at the battlefield death of King Saul and his sons: “How have the mighty fallen!” (2 Samuel 1:19-27 New American Standard Bible). An ancient Jewish scroll from about the time of Jesus, discovered among the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, reports that David wrote 3,600 songs.

Goliath comes to mind. But when King Saul wanted to hunt David down and kill him, David and his men evaded Saul and his army. That’s at least partly because David didn’t want to kill the king that God told the prophet Samuel to anoint as Israel’s first king.

Literally, “when I wake up.” Many scholars see in this an early hint of a Jewish belief in resurrection from the dead. Others say that David didn’t write this prayer expecting to die and rise from the dead. He was asking God to save him and kill his enemies.