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Psalm 17 reads from “The New Oxford Annotated Bible as follows:" Hear a just cause, O Lord, attend to my cry, Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit, From you let my vindication come, Let your eyes see the right, If you try my heart, if you visit me by night, if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me, My mouth does not transgress As for what others do, by the word of your lips, I have avoided the ways of the violent, My steps have held fast to your paths, My feet have not slipped, I call upon yuou, for you will answer me, O God, Incline your ear to me, hear my words, Wondrously show your steadfast love, O savior of those who seek refuge, Guard me as the apple of my eye, Hide me in the shadow of your wings, From the wicked who despoil me, my deadly enemies who surround me, They close their hearts to pity, With their mouths they speak arrongantly, They track me down, now they surround me, they set their eyes to cast me to the ground, They are like a lion eager to tear, like a young lion lurking in the ambush, Rise up, O Lord, confront them, Overthrow them, By your sword deliver my life from the wicked, From mortals –by your hand, O Lord From mortals whose portion in life is in this world, May their bellies be filled with that you have Stored up for them, May there children have more than enough, May they leave more something over to their little ones, As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness, When I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness. The first thing that David is trying to secure in this psalm is the salvation of the Lord, where he will be with him in the afterlife in the satisfaction of beholding the Lord’s likeness. He mentions this world later in the psalm and he is contrasting this world with eternal life and this is his foremost theme of the psalm.. The wicked, have come his way, and are hunting him down specifically forcing the issue and causing David to respond. Perhaps David could have not uttered these words against the wicked but since they are seeking him in particular, he is forced to confront the matter and bring it to the Lord. The reiterations of verse 7, where David says I will call upon you, for you will answer me, O God, casts all ownership or authoring of the answer to the you, who is the Lord. The lyric poeticism of verse 2 indicates deference to the Lord choice as to what he wants to do within the closeness of the relationship and the word if can be very useful in prayer discussions as this is an example of the if prayer in verse 2. He is tagging his nemesis’s as mere mortals who are transgressing into boundaries which should be maintained only by the Lord, in effect they are playing God. He is saying to the Lord, even bless them abundantly and let them have their fill but it doesn’t matter for their final end will be where these accumulated blessings will not bridge the separation they have made from the Lord. He is contrasting as for me in the last verse compared to what others do, in verse 4 when he says, as for what others do. David is stating his case to the Lord, and basically speaking for himself as a stand alone in the presence of the Lord. There is bright contrast here about what is being said about as for others, and as for me. Others, have gone into the realm of violence to the extent that they are arrogantly pursuing David among others as if it is their very birthright. When he uses the metaphor of the young lion lying in ambush, this is the birthright of the young lion, he is following the footsteps of his nature as a lion. Not only are the wicked hounding out for David and possibly others, but they feel its there very entitlement to do so and their arrogance seems to have swelled partly due to their earthly success according to David’s observations, but it has swelled to the point where they feel it is their inherent right to pursue others violently and David’s portrait of them as lions speaks vividly to their ferocity in doing this. From the beginning of this psalm, He is directing his words to the Lord about this and says, "You see the right" meaning that the Lord sees the right and wrong that is involved here. This is an interesting verse as it refers to the very sight of the Lord, which not only imposes onto what is physically seen, but what in seen in the inner recesses of man’s intentions and heart and all of the ongoing dynamics involved. David’s understanding of the Lord’s presence includes a sight of cause. He infers this sight when he says, “ if you visit me by the night, if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me." David is well aware of the devices of the wicked, who are now after him personally and he had avoided aligning himself with them previously as he cites to the Lord, he has “ avoided the ways of the violent." It may be for this very reason that he is now the subject of their hot pursuit. He had chosen not to align with them and now he must pay the price for it form their point of view. He sees that the Lord has blessed this group of wicked out of his overriding abundance, which he mentions in verse 14. These blessings mask though what may be their true end, loss of eternal fellowship with the Lord. When he says, let them leave something behind, he doesn’t mention that they are going on to be with the Lord but mentions that he will be beholding the likeness of the Lord and that their portion will be in this life meaning more than likely that that will be their portion and that there will not be another second portion for them. The plentitude of the good things they had in their case might have contributed to their arrogance in overstepping natural boundaries and becoming like ravenous lions seeking prey through tactics such as the ambush. David here is being pursued as an innocent. In verse 8, “ He says, Guard me as the apple of the eye, hide me in the shadow of your wings," Again he is referring to the very sight of the Lord, the eye of the Lord seeing him as the apple." He asks and believes that the Lord can rise into this situation and fight for him. The Lord himself is the hideaway. In referring to himself as the apple of the eye, he realizes that he has had great favor from the Lord previously and feels that he has not compromised this great favor and still remains in that favor and he is now calling upon that vision of the Lord as he believes the Lord sees him this way. He is asking that the Lord stand right there with him, guarding him and hiding him under the shadow of the Spirit, represented by the image of wings. There is also a fullness of the Lord’s presence in this imaging or a centering as the apple of the eye also represents a centering, that the eye is keying on. What to take away from this psalm for the here and now is that sometimes the bad guy does win, at least for now and the delineation between good and evil may not be so clear because there is evidence that those who take the path of evil can also have abundance which can sometimes can mask the true nature of their intentions. David subjects himself and his actions to the process of discerning and was able to see that these prospering people overstepped their bounds and no repercussions were forthcoming. They seemed to have lost track of their own mortality and the tentacles of their violence were reaching right to the very door of David himself, who was now also a target. He may have received a prior invitation to join up and get with their ways, but wisely discerned not to go that route. He stayed on the path of the Lord and did not step aside into these evil practices. He believed that this saving power was for those who sought him, and in describing himself as the apple of the eye, he may or may not have been exclusive in this. Maybe everybody who was in the Lord’s good favor could say the same but the verse certainly signifies a centering presence to David as an individual. It is interesting that David also knows of his own status in the Lord’s eyes, status he has been careful with, realizing that even he could have turned onto the wrong path, even he could have gone to the ways of these others indicating the freedom of choice was still there. But he chose not to do this, and says he has not been deceitful with the Lord who he invites to visit him in the night, and test his heart. He specifically calls the Lord savior as well in verse 7. Central to this psalm is praying right into the vision of the Lord. David is praying right to the very presence of the vision of the Lord for him and cites this vision as something that is a wonder that can guard him and hide him and mainly that his own preservation as the apple of the eye will extend eternally. Under the shadow of the Lord’s protection, he can keep a foothold on the right paths as his overriding cause is his relationship with the Lord. A major theme that this psalm brings out is that when praying to the Lord, we know he has a different view. The Lord will have a different visual field on what you are praying about than what you have in terms of your own vision, within your own view or visual field. How the Lord sees you or any situation that is uplifted in prayer is something that you can only ask. You can’t outright speak for the Lord’s view as you just don’t have it, unless the Lord chooses to grace you towards that view. This is where things such as visions can arise as a gift from the Lord. One thing you do know, is that the Lord’s view is different. How it differs, in what matter it differs you just don’t know, but you do know it differs, that it is a different view. In Job, Chapter 38 verse 2 the Lord says, “ Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge." Here the Lord had a different view on what was being said in the discussions involving Job and his friends as he listened to their words. There should be a humble reverence towards the Lord’s view and how this really does remain in part unknown. A prayer could be for insight on this, asking the Lord to let you in on his vision for this prayer request. Even on a physical plane, if you add up all of what every person on the planet has in their sight, it wouldn’t in any way equate to the Lord’s sight. This psalm is also important for its obvious reference to the afterlife in Old Testament writings, as the major theme of the new testament is the gift of salvation.
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