Ps 3:5

Ps. 3.5

Diag.

I lay down  /  Then  /  I fell asleep

I awakened  /  because  /  the Lord  /  sustains me

This verse is the center of the Psalm (eight lines before, eight lines after). It is the culmination and the turning point and it is, to my mind, one of the most surprising and elegant expressions we have come across so far. In Ps. 2 the laughter of God was so unexpected and yet so perfectly timed and expressed that it seemed both completely unpredictable and absolutely necessary. It was as if things were moving along, step-by-step, and all of the sudden a note is struck that catches us completely off guard. It is not an off-key, of course. But, nonetheless, we were not prepared for it.

The same thing happens in these two lines. Nothing could more perfectly express what David has experienced thus far, yet nothing could be more unpredictable.

The Psalm began with David sensing the constricting power of the “many” bearing down on him. As if he was having his breathe steadily squeezed from him by a boa David is being pushed further and further into fear and despair; “How many…; How many….; How many….” Each repetition is tightening of the coils and one senses David is about to be overcome. This is only made even more painful by the war taunt, spoken behind his back, that his God has abandoned him. The “many” and David both sense that he is defenseless and his walls are crumbling.

All of the sudden, things change. Hope awakens as David turns his gaze to the Lord and finds Him to be more intimate to him than the coils of despair and fear as the “many” press in around him. The Lord is to David a circular shield, protecting his front and his back (and, his back is precisely where the taunt that the Lord had abandoned him was spoken). The reader here breaks free from this sense of isolation too. Communion, dialogue, has been reestablished and the oppressive closeness of the “many” is repealed by this realization. Although David is in exile from his throne in Zion, the throne on which he was anointed in Ps. 2, he can still appeal to that source of power. It is his Father’s house. The exiled enthroned one can still appeal to the power that established his throne. And David, because his exile does not represent the overthrowing of his throne, is assured that an answer will come. His anointing has not been abandoned.

This means, in a most profound manner, that David’s sheep will not be abandoned. This is one of the most important, but hidden, aspects of this Psalm. This is the prayer of a king, not just an individual suffering from persecution. David’s destruction would mean the destruction of those he has been called to protect: his sheep. When David was first called he was out “tending sheep”. This ancient symbol of kingship (which pervades the entire ancient world, not just in Israel) is a symbol of the intimacy between the King and his subjects. Without him proper order and protection are removed. The sheep will begin to wander, and when they do the wolves will descend because there is no one to protect them. David’s assurance that an answer will come from Zion is an assurance that he, as king, will not be abandoned; David, as shepherd, cannot ever be divorced from David the individual. Remember in Ps. 2: his birth as a “son” was his being made “a king”. David’s fear is not one for himself alone. It is for his people.

Notice, though that everything is set into the future: “I will cry out…” “He will answer…” This is the expression of a hope that is set in the future but more real to David than his present circumstances. And this is expressed in some of the most beautiful and poignant words—

“I will lay down. Then I fell asleep.”: David could have said that “he would offer sacrifice” or that “he would sing God’s praises”. There were a hundred different ways of expressing David’s assurance that God will answer him. And yet he chooses an image of utter vulnerability and peace.

1)       Sleep as vulnerability and peace: A person is never more defenseless and subject to attack than when one is asleep. Throughout the OT, especially in the history sections, men are routinely killed (kings, nonetheless) when they are asleep. Either because they have been lulled asleep or because their guards have not performed their jobs, these kings cannot protect themselves. Anyone who is concerned about upcoming dangers, or who has a sick child, knows that sleep is one of the most difficult things to come by. Concern, fear, worry: all of these chase sleep away. And they do so because the person does not feel safe. There is no to ‘guard them’ when they close their eyes to the world. For when a person closes their eyes, they are saying that the world is at peace. Sleeping is a profound symbol of established justice/rightness. A lack of ability to sleep is associated with a need to stay ‘vigilant’, a need to be on guard, a sense that the world is ‘not right’ and therefore the eye must be open and searching. A lack of sleep betrays and symbolizes a sense of insecurity, danger and doom.

a.       Another aspect of sleep implicit in these descriptions is utter passivity. All of David’s active faculties are allowed to rest. The Lord will be his shield, his walls, his guard. If David before felt like city whose gates had been thrown open for the enemy, he now feels utter security. He is assured that his defenses will stand while he withdraws.

b.       This points to another significant turning point. In the first few verses David had withdrawn utterly into himself. Yes, these words are voiced as a prayer, “O Lord…”, but there is a sense here that David is alone. He wonders if the words of the many, that his God has abandoned him, are in fact true. Isolation, withdrawal into himself: all of these represent a man who is attempting to create within himself a buttress against the gathering dark. He is like a man who is suffering from extreme cold and whose extremities are loosing feeling in order to preserve the beating heart.

                                                               i.      In sleep, something similar yet utterly different is happening. In sleep one’s defenses are allowed to fall. One is allowed to ‘fall’ asleep. And this ‘falling’ is an inward one. The body becomes limp and unresponsive. It is an ingathering. Yet, sleep, unlike fear, is a withdrawal of passivity, not a withdrawal of frantic activity. In fear one withdraws in order to more actively guard what remains. In sleep, one withdraws and allows everything to be open. In fear, the gates and jammed shut. In sleep, the gates are thrown wide open.

2)       The play on verb tense is exquisite. “I will lay down” is set either in the future (“I will soon lay down…”) or as something in the present that is assured (“I will lay down”). But this is matched by, “I fall asleep.” The present moment has arrived, and it has arrived in the embrace and falling into sleep. David’s eyes have closed. The reader, too, breathes a deep sigh of relief.

a.       Sleep as an expression of trust: Within the context of this Psalm, David’s sleep must be understood with that unique image of the Lord as a circular shield “round him”. One must picture falling asleep surrounded by shield of glory around him. There is in this a very moving image: one sees the son falling asleep knowing that his Father is awake to protect him. David can enter the necessary place of rest because he knows his Father will doesn’t sleep.

b.       And this sleep is itself an expression of David’s relationship with his Father. On the heels of Ps. 2 we may come to think of David’s dialogue with his Father as one of the more glorious revelations of the Lord’s inner life. But here, something even more intimate is hinted at. Even when the communication ceases, when David is cut off from the world and asleep, the relationship is, in a very real sense, at work at an even great depth. This lack of communication speaks much louder than any verbal dialogue. David’s expression of intimacy, trust and love could not be greater, and it could not be greater than now, when his enemies are bearing down on him. In the midst of this, David sleeps in the assurance of his Father’s protection.

3)       “I awakened, because the Lord sustains me”:  Set in the past one sees David opening his eyes. His shield has not been overcome. And he is, of course, not surprised. Furthermore, one sees here the dawning of morning’s light. The night has passed and the light within David’s eye is matched by the literal light of the sun rising. This ‘rising’ of David comes about because he is ‘sustained’ by the Lord. Everything we have drawn from so far goes into this simple word “sustain”: the reversal that emerged from David’s turning of his gaze from the many to the Lord; his ‘crying aloud’; the Lord being his circular shield; his assurance that although he is not seated on this throne, and answer will still come from there; his closing of his eyes. In short, the whole drama leading up to his ‘rising’ is the sustaining hand of the Lord. This is a very ‘pregnant’ word, full of meaning that cannot be grasped without this whole dynamic.