Ps. 55.1-2 (redemption and destruction)

Give ear / O God / to my prayer
and do not ignore / my plea / for favor
Give attention to me / and answer me;
my complaint has me / at wit’s end.

As we saw in the previous psalm, this opening is very typical of the psalms. The only unique aspect to this opening is that his complaint has him “at wit’s end”. Within the context of this psalm it is clear why. Not only is he dwelling within a city whose citizens and soldiers are Violence, Strife, Evil, Trouble, Destruction, Oppression and Deceit, but even his closest friend (the one who provided him with the only sense of ‘home’ possible) has betrayed him. His threat is therefore not purely external but has invaded the entirely personal and interior relationship of friendship. It is this infiltration of his friend that has brought him to the ‘end of his wits’. Betrayal is worse than an attack by enemies (vs. 12-13). It may be that what we see here is that the only relational bond the psalmist has left is the one he has with God. Lastly, we should note exactly what the psalmist is petitioning God to do: “destroy them…confound their speech” (vs. 9); “let death surprise them…let them go to Sheol alive” (vs. 15); “redeem my life” (vs. 17); send them “to the pit of destruction” (vs. 23). It would seem that, in order for his life to be ‘redeemed’, the city and those that dwell in it must be entirely destroyed.