Commentary - Psalm 20:6-9

Bird's-eye view

This final section of Psalm 20 marks a pivotal shift in tone from petition to confident declaration. The first five verses are a prayer offered by the people for their king as he prepares for battle. But here, beginning in verse six, the king himself speaks, followed by a corporate chorus of the people. The mood is no longer one of supplication but of settled assurance. The king knows God will save, and the people know the ultimate ground of their trust. This is not a psalm about military strategy; it is a psalm about the foundation of all true victory. It starkly contrasts two kinds of confidence: the world's confidence in visible, material strength, typified by chariots and horses, and the covenant community's confidence in the invisible but all-powerful name of Yahweh. The outcome of this contrast is not left in doubt. Those who trust in the arm of flesh will inevitably collapse, while those who trust in God will rise to stand firm. The psalm concludes with a final, crisp appeal to Yahweh the King, who alone can answer and save His people when they call.

In essence, this is a Christological psalm. The anointed king is, in the first instance, David, but David is a type of Christ. The ultimate confidence expressed here is the confidence that God the Father will save His ultimate Anointed, Jesus Christ, raising Him from the dead and giving Him victory over all His enemies. Our confidence, therefore, is not in our own strength or righteousness, but in the name of our victorious King, Jesus.

Outline

Context In Psalms

Psalm 20 is a royal psalm, a prayer for the king before he goes into battle. It is paired with Psalm 21, which is a psalm of thanksgiving after the victory has been won. Together, they form a liturgical set, a "before and after" picture of God's faithfulness to His anointed king and, by extension, to His people. Psalm 20 is structured as a dialogue, likely between the congregation and the king. The people pray for the king's success (vv. 1-5), the king expresses his own confidence in God's salvation (v. 6), and then all join in a chorus of trust in Yahweh over worldly power (vv. 7-9). This psalm is set squarely within the context of the Davidic covenant, where God promised to establish David's throne and give him victory. Ultimately, it points beyond David to the Son of David, Jesus Christ, the true King who faces the ultimate battle on our behalf and secures an eternal victory.

Key Issues

The Great Divide

There are, at bottom, only two religions in the world. There are only two places to stand. There are only two things to trust in. This psalm brings us right to that great continental divide and forces us to choose a side. On the one hand, you have the religion of sight, the religion of human achievement, the religion of what can be counted, measured, and polished. This is the religion of chariots and horses. It is the confidence of the arm of flesh. It looks impressive, it sounds impressive, and it is what the natural man always defaults to. He trusts what he can see and what he can build.

On the other hand, you have the religion of faith. This is the religion that trusts in a name. Not a magical incantation, but a name that represents a character, a history of covenant faithfulness, a display of raw power in redemption. "But we will boast in the name of Yahweh, our God." This is not a denial of means. David had an army; he had weapons. But he did not trust in them. He knew that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. He knew that victory comes from the Lord. This psalm forces every individual, every church, and every nation to answer a fundamental question: When the trouble comes, when the battle is joined, what will you remember? What name will you call upon? The answer to that question determines everything.

Verse by Verse Commentary

6 Now I know that Yahweh saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven With the saving might of His right hand.

After the people have offered their prayers for him, the king now speaks. And his first word is "Now." A transition has occurred. The prayers of the people have bolstered his faith, and his subjective uncertainty has been replaced with objective, settled knowledge. Now I know. This is not wishful thinking; it is the confidence of faith. What does he know? That Yahweh saves His anointed. The word for "anointed" is mashiach, from which we get Messiah. While David is the immediate referent, he is a placeholder for the true Anointed One to come. The Father always saves His Son. He will answer Him from His holy heaven, the transcendent throne room, the divine command center. And the answer will not be a whisper, but an action: the saving might of His right hand. The right hand in Scripture is the instrument of power and action. This is a declaration that God will intervene in history with overwhelming force on behalf of His chosen king.

7 Some boast in chariots and some in horses, But we will boast in the name of Yahweh, our God.

Here the chorus begins, with the king and the people speaking together. This verse draws the battle line, but it is not a geographical line. It is a theological one. It is the line between two antithetical trusts. "Some," the pagan nations, the worldly, the secularists, they make mention of, or remember, their chariots and horses. This was the pinnacle of ancient military technology. It was the equivalent of air superiority and tank divisions. It is what any sensible military strategist would trust in. Their confidence is in their own hardware. But the covenant people have a different strategy. But we will boast in the name of Yahweh, our God. The verb here is the same, we will "make mention of" or "remember." When the enemy is reviewing his assets, his cavalry, his armor, we are remembering the name of our God. His name is His character revealed in His actions. We remember the plagues on Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the collapse of Jericho's walls. We remember that He is a warrior who fights for His people. To boast in His name is to place all our confidence not in what we bring to the battle, but in who He is.

8 They have bowed down and fallen, But we have risen and stood upright.

The result of these two different trusts is stated here as a settled fact. The tenses are prophetic perfects; the outcome is so certain it is spoken of as though it has already happened. They, the ones trusting in chariots, have collapsed and fallen. Their own strength has failed them; their idols of military might have proven to be nothing. They are down, and they are out. But we, the ones who remembered the name of Yahweh, have done the opposite. We have risen up from a position of apparent weakness and now we stand firm, we stand upright. The world sees the church as weak and foolish. We don't have the political chariots or the cultural horses. But God's power is made perfect in weakness. The victory is absolute. One side is utterly defeated, the other is completely triumphant. There is no middle ground.

9 Save, O Yahweh; May the King answer us in the day we call.

The psalm concludes with a final, punchy cry to the Lord. It is both a prayer and a declaration of allegiance. Save, O Yahweh. This is a cry for salvation, the Hebrew word being Hosanna. It is a recognition that despite the confidence expressed, the victory itself must be a gift from God. It has not yet been won, and so they cry out for Him to act. And who do they cry out to? May the King answer us. There is a beautiful ambiguity here. Is this a prayer for the human king to be responsive to his people? Or is it an appeal to the divine King, Yahweh Himself? The answer is likely both, culminating in the latter. Yahweh is the great King over all the earth. He is the one who must ultimately answer. This final line brings the whole psalm to its ultimate focus. Our hope is not in an earthly king, or a president, or a prime minister. Our hope is that the great King, the Lord Jesus Christ, will hear and answer us when we call upon His name.

Application

This psalm is a bucket of cold water in the face of the modern American church, which is constantly tempted to trust in political chariots and cultural horses. We get excited about elections, we get dismayed by court decisions, we think that if we can just get our guys into the right positions of power, then the victory will be won. We are tempted to make our boast in political platforms, demographic trends, or financial resources.

But this psalm calls us back to our only true source of confidence. Our boast is not in the Republican party. Our boast is not in a conservative Supreme Court. Our boast is in the name of Yahweh, our God. This does not mean we withdraw from the world or that we don't use the means God has given us. David used a sling. But his trust was not in the sling. Our trust must be in the name of Jesus Christ, the exalted King. We must remember that He is the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth. The nations are His inheritance. The outcome of the great battle of history has already been decided at the cross and the empty tomb. The chariots and horses of secularism, of godless humanism, of sexual rebellion, they will all bow down and fall. They are destined for the scrap heap of history. But the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, those who remember His name, will rise and stand upright. So let us stop wringing our hands about the latest news cycle and start boasting in the name of our God. Let us pray with confidence, "Save, O Yahweh," and know that the King will answer us in the day we call.