Psalm 54: 'O man of like soul with me, my guide and my familiar friend'

[Kris]

Hi,

Could anyone tell me who King David is refering to in the 54th Psalm when he says "And if he that hateth me had spoken boastful words against me, I might have hid myself from him. But thou it was, O man of like soul with me, my guide and my familiar friend...."?

Please forgive my ignorance.

In XC,
Kris

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear Kris you wrote:


Could anyone tell me who King David is refering to in the 54th Psalm when he says "And if he that hateth me had spoken boastful words against me, I might have hid myself from him. But thou it was, O man of like soul with me, my guide and my familiar friend...."?

This Psalm (which is numbered Psalm 55 in the Hebrew ordering, and thus in most English bibles) forms, as you probably know, one of the three psalms of the Sixth Hour, following the 53rd and preceding the 90th. As such, it is read at the hour commemorating the time of the Passion, and, to understand how the Church interprets its details, we have to keep this in mind. It is understood as a deeply Christological psalm, relating in particular to the sacrifice of Christ at the cross and his offering for humankind - the culmination in free sacrifice of the betrayal that had preceded it.



This is widely understood in many contexts beyond simply the Orthodox Church's reading of the text in its liturgical place in the hours. One of the most thorough comments on the particular verses you mention (vv. 12-14) is found in the Commentary on the Psalms of John Calvin - an individual whose theology is hardly in keeping, as a whole, with that of Orthodox Christianity. But on this passage he offers a very insightful commentary, which also gives a direct answer to the historical aspect of the question you've asked:
"With regard to the individual whom he had particularly in view, when he preferred this accusation, I do not imagine that it was Ahitophel, for the psalm itself would not appear to have been written upon the persecution of Absalom. Whether it may have been some notorious traitor in the city of Keilah, it is impossible to determine. Not the least probable conjecture is, that it may have been some great man at court, whose intimacy with David was generally known. Possibly he may have had more than one in his eye, courtiers who had sacrificed former friendship to a desire of rising in the royal favor, and lent their influence to destroy him. These, with some more eminent person at their head, may be the parties aimed at. At any rate, we are taught by the experience of David, as here represented to us, that we must expect in this world to meet with the secret treachery of friends, as well as with undisguised persecution. Satan has assaulted the Church with sword and open war, but he has also raised up domestic enemies to injure it with the more secret weapons of stratagem and fraud. This is a species of foe which, as Bernard expresses it, we can neither fly from nor put to flight. Whoever might be the individual referred to, David calls him a man of his own order, for so the term ערך, erach, should, in my opinion, be translated, and not as some, his equal in estimation, or as by others, a man esteemed by him to be his second self. He complains of the violation of the common bond of fraternity, as none needs to be told that there are various bonds, whether of relationship, profession, or office, which ought to be respected and held sacred. He makes mention also of his having been his leader and commander, of their having enjoyed sweet interchange of secret counsel together, and of their having frequented the religious assemblies in company, — all of which he adverts to as circumstances which lent an additional aggravation to his treachery. [...] Thus he would inform us, that he was betrayed by one who had been his intimate associate, and to whom he had looked up as a leader, in matters not only secular but religious. We are taught by the Spirit to reverence all the natural ties which bind us together in society. Besides the common and universal one of humanity, there are others of a more sacred kind, by which we should feel ourselves attached to men in proportion as they are more nearly connected with us than others by neighborhood, relationship, or professional calling, the more as we know that such connections are not the result of chance, but of providential design and arrangement. Need I say that the bond of religious fellowship is the most sacred of all?"Note how he draws out the meaning beyond any specific historical figure (and there is no agreement between biblical scholars, ancient or modern, as to precisely who that invidual might be). It is the betrayal of intimacy that is lamented.



The placement of the psalm in the Sixth Hour suggests in this notion of betrayal by an intimate, which is transposed upon the event of the Passion commemorated at that Hour, the betrayal of Christ's own intimates -- in one case Judas, 'his own familiar friend'; but also humanity itself, the chief intimate of the one whose handiwork it is, which he even himself becomes. So Christ can be seen lamenting at the Cross that he is handed over to death, not simply by Satan his great foe ('It is not an enemy who reproaches me, for then I could bear it; nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me'); but by his own most perfect and beloved of creatures. Christ is crucified by and among the very ones he had become:
'But it was you, a man my equal,
My companion and my acquaintance.
We took sweet counsel together,
And walked to the house of God as friends.'

It seems to me notable, too, that this psalm and this cry are positioned before Psalm 90, which follows in the order of the Hour. It is in this psalm that humanity looks back to its crucified God, and recognises his nature: 'You turn man to destruction; but you say, "Return, O children of men".' The earlier psalm rings in Christ's 'defeat' at the cross, his betrayal by his own handiwork and the object of his most personal love; while this psalm notes the same humanity's impulse to see in the Crucified One its saviour.
'Return, O LORD!
How long?
And have compassion on Your servants.
Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy,
That we may rejoice and be glad all our days!'

Perhaps something of this is echoed in a word on the verses by Augustine, in his Exposition on Psalm 54(55):
'14. "For if an enemy had upbraided me" (v. 12). And indeed above he was "troubled in his exercise" by the voice of the enemy and by the tribulation of the sinner, perhaps being placed in that city, that proud city that was building a tower, which was "sunk," that divided might be the tongues: give heed to his inward groaning because of perils from false brethren. "For if an enemy had upbraided me, I would have undergone it assuredly, and if he that did hate me had over me spoken great words," that is, through pride had on me trampled, did magnify himself above me, did threaten me all in his power: "I would hide myself assuredly from him." From him that is abroad, you would hide yourself where? Amid those that are within. But now see whether anything else remains, but that thou seek solitude. "But you," he says, "man of one mind, my guide and my friend" (v. 13). Perchance sometimes good counsel you have given, perchance sometimes you have gone before me, and some wholesome advice you have given me: in the Church of God together we have been. "But you,…that together with me took sweet morsels" (v. 14). What are the sweet morsels? Not all they that are present know: but let them not be soured that do know, in order that they may be able to say to them that as yet know not: "Taste ye and see, how sweet is the Lord." "In the House of God we have walked with consent." Whence then dissension? Thou that wast within, hast become one without. He has walked with me in the House of God with consent: another house has he set up against the House of God. Wherefore has that been forsaken, wherein we have walked with consent? wherefore has that been deserted, wherein together we did take sweet morsels?'

[Antonios]

Dear Matthew,

Thank you for the above post regarding Psalm 55. I remember reading somewhere which identified Judas as the man spoken about in the Psalm, but the deeper aspect you mention regarding the betrayal of intimacy which is lamented, has added additional meaning to it. Truly, its almost as if the Lord is speaking this psalm to Adam after finding him hiding in the Garden.

Is this psalm read on Holy Thursday?

In Christ,
Antonios

[Kris]

Dear Fr. Matthew,

Thank you for that enlightening post. I greatly appreciate your help.

How does the idea of a Hours based Bible study sound to everyone here? An indepth study of the Psalms focusing specifically on how they relate to their particular hour. In some Psalms, the meaning is fairly obvious, but others less so.



Is this psalm read on Holy Thursday?


I could not find it referred to specifically in any of the Holy Thursday services. I also found it interesting that it is actually not included in the Imperial Hours of Holy Friday, being replaced instead by Psalm 139 (Psalm 140).

In XC,
Kris

[Antonios]

Thank you Kris. I as well am suprised this psalm isn't read during either the Holy Thursday or Holy Friday services. I guess there are so many psalms that refer to the passion of Christ, they couldn't put them all!

[Nina]

Yes, thank you Father Deacon Matthew for that enlightening post.

[M.C. Steenberg]

Thank you Kris. I as well am suprised this psalm isn't read during either the Holy Thursday or Holy Friday services. I guess there are so many psalms that refer to the passion of Christ, they couldn't put them all!

Though perhaps there is something here of the fact that the psalm is part of the 'every day experience of Holy Week' - i.e., that cycle of daily services that commemorate in a regular way the Passion. Holy Week itself is a time of special commemoration, of different texts and acts, of different services.

Though it's also quite possible that it's just not there, for reasons unknown. :)

INXC, Dcn Matthew