Psalm 17:8
7 Show the wonders of Your loving devotion, You who save by Your right hand those who seek refuge from their foes. 8 Keep me as the apple of Your eye;hide me in the shadow of Your wings. 9 from the wicked who assail me, from my mortal enemies who surround me.…
Matthew Henry Commentary
17:8-15 Being compassed with enemies, David prays to God to keep him in safety. This prayer is a prediction that Christ would be preserved, through all the hardships and difficulties of his humiliation, to the glories and joys of his exalted state, and is a pattern to Christians to commit the keeping of their souls to God, trusting him to preserve them to his heavenly kingdom. Those are our worst enemies, that are enemies to our souls. They are God's sword, which cannot move without him, and which he will sheathe when he has done his work with it. They are his hand, by which he chastises his people. There is no fleeing from God's hand, but by fleeing to it. It is very comfortable, when we are in fear of the power of man, to see it dependent upon, and in subjection to the power of God. Most men look on the things of this world as the best things; and they look no further, nor show any care to provide for another life. The things of this world are called treasures, they are so accounted; but to the soul, and when compared with eternal blessings, they are trash. The most afflicted Christian need not envy the most prosperous men of the world, who have their portion in this life. Clothed with Christ's righteousness, having through his grace a good heart and a good life, may we by faith behold God's face, and set him always before us. When we awake every morning, may we be satisfied with his likeness set before us in his word, and with his likeness stamped upon us by his renewing grace. Happiness in the other world is prepared only for those that are justified and sanctified: they shall be put in possession of it when the soul awakes, at death, out of its slumber in the body, and when the body awakes, at the resurrection, out of its slumber in the grave. There is no satisfaction for a soul but in God, and in his good will towards us, and his good work in us; yet that satisfaction will not be perfect till we come to heaven.
By Tim Sullivan
"Hide me under the shadow of thy wings," says Psalm 17:8. Until recently I never considered the deeper meaning of this verse beyond its poetic depiction of the protection and comfort of the Lord. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem," Jesus said in Matthew 23:37, "how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings!" The imagery is beautiful. But as in all things of God, the more closely we examine it, the more splendor we see.
Three months after Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt they reached the Wilderness of Sinai where they settled for about a year. During this remarkable time the Lord brought Moses up into the mount for instruction in righteousness.
Exodus 24:18:
And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.
The Lord gave Moses "tables of stone, and a law, and commandments" (v. 12). He also gave Moses the revelation for the Tabernacle in the wilderness and "all the instruments thereof," including the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat.
Exodus 25:9:
According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.
The ark of the covenant was a wooden chest overlaid with gold, built to house "the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant" (Heb. 9:4). Atop it sat the mercy seat. (The mercy seat was not a place to sit down; it was a lid to cover the ark.) The mercy seat was adorned with the figures of two golden cherubims.
Exodus 37:9:
And the cherubims spread out their wings on high, and covered with their wings over the mercy seat, with their faces one to another; even to the mercy seatward were the faces of the cherubims.
The cherubims were winged angels like those that guarded the tree of life in the garden of Eden.
Genesis 3:24:
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
God instructed Moses to tell the children of Israel, "I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony" (Exo. 25:22).
Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest was allowed past the veil into "the most holy place" where the ark was (the KJV Bible does not use the popular term, "the holy of holies."). 1 Kings records the first time this took place in the temple built by Solomon.
1 Kings 8:6:
And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims.
People like to say that you can’t put God in a box. But if there were ever a box that could contain eternal truth, it was the ark of the covenant. Every detail tells the story of man’s redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ.
There are far too many truths than can be addressed in this one article. But even now the picture should be clearer to you: God communed with man "under the wings of the cherubims" – under the wings of the mercy seat. You and I meet God under the shadow of his wings of mercy!
Psalm 17:8:
Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings...
Galatians 3:24 says that "the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." The ark of the covenant represented the righteousness of God. No human being could meet its standard. The mercy seat, sprinkled with the blood of atonement, made it possible for man to approach God. It is only because of God’s mercy that we can stand before him. If not for mercy, we would all be consumed.
Lamentations 3:22–23:
It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Jesus is God "manifest in the flesh" (1 Tim. 3:16). He is the righteousness of God personified, but he is also the mercy of God personified. He is the mercy seat that allows us access into God’s presence.
John 14:6:
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
In the shadow of his wings we find God’s mercy.
Psalm 57:1:
Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.
We who are weak, sinful, and inadequate can find rest under his wings, knowing "his mercy endureth for ever" (Ps. 118:29).
Psalm 36:7:
How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
Psalm 91:4:
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Under the shadow of his wings we find help in our time of need.
Psalm 63:7:
Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
Under the wings of his mercy we find healing.
Malachi 4:2:
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
And under his wings of mercy we will abide in his tabernacle forever.
Psalm 61:4:
I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.
By reason of "the multitude of [God’s] tender mercies" (Ps. 69:16), the Lord calls out to even his most rebellious children (put your name here!) to find refuge under his wings.
Luke 13:34:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
Hide me, Lord Jesus, under the shadow of thy wings. Let me find refuge in your mercies forever. Amen!
Cross References
Numbers 6:24
May the LORD bless you and keep you;
Deuteronomy 32:10
He found him in a desolate land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.
Ruth 2:12
May the LORD repay your work, and may you receive a rich reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have taken refuge."
Psalm 16:1
A Miktam of David. Preserve me, O God, for in You I take refuge.
Psalm 27:5
For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will set me high upon a rock.
Psalm 36:7
How precious is Your loving devotion, O God, that the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
Psalm 57:1
For the choirmaster. To the tune of "Do Not Destroy." A Miktam Of David, when he fled from Saul into the cave. Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy, for in You my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of Your wings I will take shelter until the danger has passed.
Psalm 61:4
Let me dwell in Your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah
Psalm 63:7
For You are my help; I will sing for joy in the shadow of Your wings.
Psalm 91:1
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:4
He will cover you with His feathers; under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and rampart.
Proverbs 7:2
Keep my commandments and live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
Zechariah 2:8
For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: "After His glory has sent me against the nations that have plundered you--for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye--
