He felt his life was in danger. Does risk get any more personally menacing than that? It’s safe to assume that this hazard dogged David for a good portion of his life, both before and after he became king, so pinpointing just when he cried out “Rescue Me” is really an exercise in guesswork. (It might have been any of the multiple times he was fleeing from Saul, as shown here in this 17th Century painting by Jusepe Leonardo). That this desperate, foxhole-like prayer was a psalm (17) suggests that it became widely known, and that is one assumption we see underscored by a 21st Century composer named Keith Lancaster. His musical rendition of David’s cry is intense, unlike probably any other psalm that you or I have sung. So, when he echoes the words of the song title, you best be prepared. It calls upon the worshipper to put him- or herself in the most unfamiliar place – calling for vengeance from God upon a fellow human being. It might make you wonder, ‘Is this worship that God will accept? How could this be one of my fragrant sacrifices (see the book of Exodus, for example) to Him in song?’
Perhaps Keith was emboldened to write ‘Rescue Me’ for a couple of reasons, though there’s not any record of what he was thinking about when he wrote it (perhaps he might share that, if he reads this!). Keith was one of the large team of people involved with something called the Timeless project, as the first decade of the 21st Century neared its conclusion. This group is still at work (as of 2023) to bring new life to all of the Psalms, so skipping any of them is objectively a departure from their purpose. Just how Keith drew, or gave himself, the Psalm 17 assignment would be an interesting question for him! That it is one of the psalms may have been reason enough for Keith to tackle Psalm 17, to ‘pounce’ on it with vigor, as David might have said regarding his enemies’ pursuit of him, with similar words in this prayer (like verses 11-12 in the psalm). It certainly seems to break some new ground, musically attacking the words of the psalm – like ‘…bring them down’ (chorus). It could be relevant for anyone who feels like David did at the time. Just think of how Dietrich Bonhoeffer might have felt in Nazi Germany in the 1940s, or today imagine how you might react in worship if you are Ukrainian. Did Keith have some circumstance like that, maybe one on a smaller scale even, on his mind? Among the vindictive psalms (otherwise called imprecatory or cursing psalms), Psalm 17 is in fact tamer in light of some of the others. Try on Psalm 58, which is more bitter and has virtually no words to praise God, and is still more startling in that some of the superscriptions in its title provide firmer evidence, compared to Psalm 17, that it was sung corporately (words like ‘for the director of music’, ‘to the tune…’, and a potential musical term ‘miktam’). Could it be that David, like others before himself, had concluded that it did no good to try hiding his feelings, vicious and raw as they may be, from God?
Some authors have called Psalm 17 and others like it ‘problem’ Psalms, because of their malicious tone. How am I to square singing Keith’s ‘Rescue Me’ with good Christianity and ‘loving my enemies’? Answer that with another question, perhaps. Did God punish Job further for his spleen-venting tirade? One author, Philip Yancey, suggests that Christians can use these psalms (you might in fact call them pslams, as you demand that God slam someone to relieve your distress) to good effect. Yancey reminds us that God demands authenticity in our relationship with Him. So, bring Him these spiteful feelings, lay them at His feet, and ask Him to mete out justice and righteousness on His own schedule. And, there are plenty of verses in the New Testament also, in which the Savior Himself or someone else brings strong imprecatory language to bear on people (see John 2:13-17 >> Ps. 69:9 and Acts 1:20 >> Ps. 69:25 and 109:8) for their wrongdoing. You and I need be only as real with our Creator as our forefathers and our Lord were, so don’t think you’ve improved upon the human model with your reticence and apparent tolerance of wicked enemies. God’s not impressed with your attempt, and He really knows that deep inside you feel differently, OK? Is unsuppressed anger toward others eating at your gut? Try giving that to the One who made you, and see if His remedy doesn’t help you.
Read here about the Timeless project, which includes the song that Keith Lancaster wrote for the Praise and Harmony group to sing as part of that project: https://timelesspsalter.com/pages/about
Source of the picture of David fleeing from Saul: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jusepe_Leonardo_001.jpeg
Public Domain status of picture: {{PD-US-expired}}
See also Philip Yancey book The Bible Jesus Read, and chapter 4 (Psalms: Spirituality in Every Key), pages 133-39, Zondervan Publishing House, 1999.
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