--- title: "Psalms 60 - Study King James Bible with clarkes commentary" description: "Read Psalms 60 with clarkes commentary commentary. 1 O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again. 2 Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/60" --- [ Read](/kjv/psalms/60)[ Commentary](/study/psalms/60)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/psalms/60) Audio 1 O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again.** 2 Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh. 3 Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment. 4 Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah. 5 That thy beloved may be delivered; save *with* thy right hand, and hear me. 6 God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. 7 Gilead *is* mine, and Manasseh *is* mine; Ephraim also *is* the strength of mine head; Judah *is* my lawgiver; 8 Moab *is* my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe: Philistia, triumph thou because of me.* 9 Who will bring me *into* the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?* 10 *Wilt* not thou, O God, *which* hadst cast us off? and *thou*, O God, *which* didst not go out with our armies? 11 Give us help from trouble: for vain *is* the help of man.* 12 Through God we shall do valiantly: for he *it is that* shall tread down our enemies. [Psalms 59](/study/psalms/59) [Psalms 61](/study/psalms/61) ## Commentary To verse 1 The title, "To the chief Musician upon the *hexachord*, or *lily of* *the testimony*, a golden Psalm of David, for instruction; when he strove with Aram Naharaim, Syria of the two rivers (Mesopotamia) and Aram-Zobah, Syria of the watchmen, (Coelosyria,) when Joab returned, and smote twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt." I have only to remark here that there is nothing in the contents of this Psalm that bears any relation to this title. According to the title it should be a *song of victory and triumph*; instead of which the first part of it is a tissue of *complaints* of *disaster* and *defeat*, caused by the Divine desertion. Besides, it was not *Joab* that slew *twelve thousand* men in the *Valley of Salt*; it was *Abishai*, the brother of Joab; and the number *twelve* *thousand* here is not correct; for there were *eighteen thousand* slain in that battle, as we learn from [1 Chronicles 18:12](/kjv/1-chronicles/18/12). The *valley of salt* or *salt pits* is in Idumea. To reconcile the difference between the numbers, various expedients have been hit on; but still the insuperable objection remains; the *contents* of this Psalm and this *title* are in opposition to each other. That the Psalm deplores a *defeat*, is evident from the three first and two last verses. And the *Targumist* seems to have viewed it in this light, perhaps the proper one, by expressing the title thus: "To give praise for the ancient testimony, (סהדותא *sahadutha*,) of the sons of Jacob and Laban, (see [Genesis 31:47](/kjv/genesis/31/47),) an exemplar by the hand of David, to give instruction when he gathered together the people, and passed by the *heap of testimony*, (איגר סהדותא ayegar *sahadutha*,) and set the battle in array against Aram, which is by the Euphrates; and against Aram, which is by Izobah. And after this Joab returned and smote the Idumeans in the Valley of Salt; and of the armies of David and Joab there fell *twelve thousand* men." The Psalm, therefore, seems to deplore this disastrous event; for although they had the victory at last, *twelve thousand* of the troops of Israel were justly considered too great a sacrifice for such a conquest, and a proof that God had not afforded them that succour which they had long been in the habit of receiving. The latter part of the Psalm seems to be intended to put God in remembrance of his ancient promise of putting Israel in possession of the whole land by driving out the ancient iniquitous inhabitants. Others consider the Psalm as descriptive of the distracted state of the land after the fatal battle of Gilboa, till David was anointed king of the whole at Hebron. This is the last of the *six Psalms* to which מכתם *michtam* is prefixed; the others are [Psalms 16:0](/kjv/psalms/16/0), [Psalms 56:0](/kjv/psalms/56/0), [Psalms 57:0](/kjv/psalms/57/0), [Psalms 58:0](/kjv/psalms/58/0), and [Psalms 59:0](/kjv/psalms/59/0). I have said something relative to this word in the introduction to [Psalms 16:1](/kjv/psalms/16/1), but some *observations* of Mr. Harmer lead me to consider the subject more at large. It is well known that there were *seven* most eminent Arabic *poets* who flourished *before* and at the commencement of the career of *Mohammed*: their names were *Amriolkais, Amru, Hareth,* *Tharafah, Zohair, Lebeid*, and *Antarah*. These poets produced *each a* *poem*, which because of its excellence was deemed worthy to be *suspended* on the walls of the *temple* of *Mecca*; and hence the collection of the seven poems was termed Al Moallakat, *The* *Suspended*; and Al Modhahebat, *The Gilded* or *Golden*, because they were written in *letters of gold* upon the Egyptian papyrus. The six *michtams* of David might have this title for the same reason; they might have been *written in letters of gold*, or on *gilded vellum*, or the *Egyptian papyrus*; for the word מכתם *michtam* is generally supposed to signify *golden*, and כתם *kethem* is used to signify *gold*, probably *stamped* or *engraven* with *figures* or *letters.* That the *Moallakat* were written in this way, there can be no question; and that the works of men of great eminence in Asiatic countries are still thus written, my own library affords ample evidence. Copies of the following works are written on paper all *powdered with gold, with gold borders, and highly illuminated* *anwans or titles*: The MISNAVI of *Jelaluddeen Raumy*; The DEEVAN of *Zuheer Faryabi*; The HADIKATUSANI, or *Garden of Praise*; The SUHBET AL ABRAR; The DEEVAN of *Hafiz*; GULISTAN of *Saady*; DEEVAN of *Shahy*, with many more, all works of eminent authors, written in the finest manner, ruled with gold borders, c. Copies of the *Koran* are often done in the same manner: one in 12mo., so thickly *powdered over with gold* that the *ground* on which the text is written appears to be almost *totally gilded* another large *octavo, all powdered with gold*, and *golden flowers* down every margin; another small *octavo*, that might be almost called the *Codex Aureus*, with rich *golden borders* on every page. And, lastly, one in large *folio*, which besides superbly illuminated *anwans*, has *three gold lines to every page*; one at the *top*, one in the *middle*, and one at the *bottom*. To the above may be added a small *folio*, that opens out about *eleven feet*, every page of which is like a plate of solid gold, with the characters engraven on it. It is a *collection of elegant extracts*. Another of the *same kind*, large folio, opens out *sixty-two feet*, on which every page is finished in the same manner, with a vast variety of borders, sprigs, and flowers. And to close the whole, a copy of the *Borda*, supposed to be the most elegant MS. in Europe, entirely covered with *gold flowers* and *lines*, the writing the most perfect I ever saw; so that of this MS. it might be truly said, splendid as it is, *materiam superabit opus*. As Mr. Harmer has alluded to accounts which he has collected from other writers in order to illustrate the *michtams* of David, I have above produced a number of *evidences* to bear witness to the *fact* that such is and such was the custom in the east, to write the works of the most eminent authors in *letters of gold*, or *on a* *page highly ornamented with the utmost profusion of golden lines,* *figures, flowers*, c. In this way these Psalms might have been written, and from this circumstance they may have derived their name. I may just add, that I think these *titles* were made long after the Psalms were composed. Verse [Psalms 60:1](/kjv/psalms/60/1). ***O God, thou hast cast us off*** — Instead of being our *general* in the battle, thou hast left us to ourselves and then there was only the *arm of flesh* against the *arm of flesh*, numbers and physical power were left to decide the contest. We have been scattered, our ranks have been broken before the enemy, and thou hast caused the whole land to tremble at our bad success; the people are become divided and seditious. "Thou hast made the land to tremble, even the breaches of it, for it shaketh, it is all in commotion," [Psalms 60:2](/kjv/psalms/60/2). ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/60#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/60#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/60","name":"Psalms 60 - Study King James Bible with clarkes commentary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/60#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Psalms 60 with clarkes commentary commentary. 1 O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again. 2 Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/60#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/60"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/60#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary","name":"clarkes commentary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms","name":"Psalms"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/60","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/psalms/60","name":"60"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```