Psalm 60--He Will Tread Down Our Foes

Psalm 60
English Standard Version

He Will Tread Down Our Foes
To the choirmaster: according to Shushan Eduth. A Miktam of David; for instruction; when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return struck down twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.
60 O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses;
    you have been angry; oh, restore us.
2 You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open;
    repair its breaches, for it totters.
3 You have made your people see hard things;
    you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.

4 You have set up a banner for those who fear you,
    that they may flee to it from the bow. Selah
5 That your beloved ones may be delivered,
    give salvation by your right hand and answer us!

6 God has spoken in his holiness:
    “With exultation I will divide up Shechem
    and portion out the Vale of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
    Ephraim is my helmet;
    Judah is my scepter.
8 Moab is my washbasin;
    upon Edom I cast my shoe;
    over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

​9 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
    Who will lead me to Edom?
10 Have you not rejected us, O God?
    You do not go forth, O God, with our armies.
11 Oh, grant us help against the foe,
    for vain is the salvation of man!
12 With God we shall do valiantly;
    it is he who will tread down our foes.

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The superscript gives us the historical context of this psalm.  My cross-references for these described events are 2 Samuel 8 and 1 Chronicles 18.  Though it appears David won a great victory that day, it sounds as if he wrote this psalm sounding defeated.  He looked around and the people and the Land had taken heavy damage and losses.  He described the damage to the Land as if there had been great earthquakes that opened up huge chasms that were not there before (perhaps the LORD really did open up the ground to swallow the enemies as He had done in the past).  David prayed to the LORD to seal these openings (David probably feared that Israelites would fall into them).

It seemed to David that the enemy was stronger and faster than them and that the LORD was giving them victory, but David reached back into the Old Testament to remember a name of the LORD--"The LORD is Our Banner."  David prayed for the LORD to be their Banner that day--a place to where they could gather and regroup, and a symbol of who they were--the people whom the LORD has saved and would save once again.

God had already declared victory to David telling him that he would have victory over Shechem, Succoth, the northern lands of Israel (called Ephraim here) and the southern lands (called Judah here).  The Transjordan areas called Gilead here would also be his, and the LORD would even give him victory over Moab, Edom and Philistia.  Those promises weren't all fulfilled in one day, and they weren't even all fulfilled in David's lifetime, but it's absolutely true that Israel survived, and these other kingdoms did not as God gave the victory to His people Israel time and time again.

David then accuses the LORD of not fighting with His people and not doing what He promised He would do (which the LORD doesn't seem to get upset about).  David once again cries out for the LORD's help and salvation, and it would seem from the superscript that the LORD did deliver and save them once again in a way that no one would question.  David said that it would be "vain" (that is useless) if they would trust in the salvation of man (run to another stronger army to help them).  If the LORD was not with them, then no matter how many allies they had in battle, they would lose.  However, if God is on their side, then they can fight valiantly knowing that "If God is for us, who can be against us?"  They have nothing to fear if the LORD is fighting for them, for He is the one that will squish their enemies like they were mere bugs.