Catholic Commentary on Psalm 60

"With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies." (Psalm 60:12)

God Has Rejected Us

Psalm 60 is a communal lament following military defeat, one of the hardest kinds of prayer: the community that has been defeated, that has experienced what feels like divine rejection, crying out to the God who seems to have abandoned them. You have rejected us, God, and burst upon us; you have been angry, now restore us! You have shaken the land and torn it open; mend its fractures, for it is quaking. The earthquake imagery expresses the totality of the disaster: not a setback but a shattering. The community feels that the ground itself is no longer stable.

God speaks from within the psalm with a declaration of ownership: Shechem and the Valley of Sukkoth belong to him. Gilead and Manasseh are his. Ephraim is his helmet. Judah is his scepter. Moab is his washbasin. Over Edom he tosses his sandal. Philistia will be subdued. The survey of the nations and the territories is a declaration of sovereignty: God has not lost control. The defeat has not changed who holds all the cards. All lands belong to the Lord.

Human Help Is Worthless

The psalm names the lesson of the defeat: Give us aid against the enemy, for human help is worthless. With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies. Human help is worthless. This is not pacifism or the renunciation of human effort. It is the recognition that in the ultimate confrontation, the resource that matters is not human but divine. The victory comes with God. Without him, the human help, however numerous and well-equipped, amounts to nothing.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, Psalm 60 is the prayer for the moment of defeat, when the evidence suggests that God has rejected rather than protected. It does not pretend the defeat did not happen. It names it: you have rejected us. Then it claims the sovereignty of God over the enemy's land and the coming victory: with God we will gain the victory. Trust the sovereignty even when the present evidence contradicts it.

Prayer

Lord God, even when you seem to have rejected us, all the earth is yours. Restore us. Give us aid against our enemies. Human help is worthless; with you we will gain the victory. Let your sovereignty be visible in the defeat and in the restoration. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

60
Victory with God
(2 Samuel 8:1–14; 1 Chronicles 18:1–13; Psalms 108:1–13)
For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A Miktam * 60:0 Miktam is probably a musical or liturgical term; used for Psalms 16 and 56–60. of David for instruction. When he fought Aram-naharaim † 60:0 That is, Mesopotamia; Aram-naharaim means Aram of the two rivers, likely the region between the Euphrates and Balih Rivers in northwestern Mesopotamia. and Aram-zobah,‡ 60:0 That is, the land northeast of Damascus and Joab returned and struck down 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
 
1 You have rejected us, O God;
You have broken us;
You have been angry;
restore us!
2 You have shaken the land
and torn it open.
Heal its fractures,
for it is quaking.
3 You have shown Your people hardship;
we are staggered from the wine You made us drink.
 
4 You have raised a banner for those who fear You,
that they may flee the bow.§ 60:4 Or that it may be displayed because of truth
Selah
5 Respond and save us with Your right hand,
that Your beloved may be delivered.
 
6 God has spoken from His sanctuary:* 60:6 Or in His holiness
“I will triumph!
I will parcel out Shechem
and apportion the Valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine;
Ephraim is My helmet, Judah is My scepter.
8 Moab is My washbasin;
upon Edom I toss My sandal;
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?
Will You no longer march out, O God, with our armies?
11 Give us aid against the enemy,
for the help of man is worthless.
12 With God we will perform with valor,
and He will trample our enemies.

*^ 60:0 Miktam is probably a musical or liturgical term; used for Psalms 16 and 56–60.

†^ 60:0 That is, Mesopotamia; Aram-naharaim means Aram of the two rivers, likely the region between the Euphrates and Balih Rivers in northwestern Mesopotamia.

‡^ 60:0 That is, the land northeast of Damascus

§60:4 60:4 Or that it may be displayed because of truth

*60:6 60:6 Or in His holiness

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