This is an extraordinary Psalm, because despite having been written 3,000 years ago, I believe that today it is not difficult to identify with it.
1-2 I cry out to God from my anguish, knowing that He will answer me. HaShem, free me from the lips of deceive, from the tongue of liars.
King David begins by praying to God, asking the Almighty to save him from these unusual enemies. Unlike other occasions in which the foe is characterized by his military power that endangers David’s life (for example, Tehilim 144), in our Psalm the threat does not come from the battlefield: this enemy is dangerous because he betrays and lies when he seems to be looking for peace, and his promises of non-aggression cannot be trusted
3 What [peace] will be achieved [with this enemy]? What [other lies] will these liar-tongued peoples add [to deceive]? 4 [His promises of peace] are [as deceptive] as the poisonous arrows of his warriors; or like the coals of broom [that do not seem to be burning] with which they simulate [a cold peace]
Their deadly arrows not only damage the wounded part of the body: they kill, because they have poison. The words of this enemy are not aimed at negotiating and gaining a little more territory: they are aimed to destroy us, not to reach a deal after which we will leave in peace and coexistence. In times of peace, the enemy’s strategy is compared to “coals of broom” : the burning embers of this wild bush are visibly off, they are not read but gray, and appear innocuous as ash to the naked eye. But when you touch this ash, it burns! This enemy portrays itself as a harmless victim, harmless as broom coals: but that’s deceiving. When you approach this foe extending your hand in peace, thinking that the burning hatred is gone, you get burned.
5 Woe to me that I have to live among the inhabitants of Meshekh [= the nations of the Levant], and that I have to reside next to the peoples of Kedar [the Ishmaelites]!
David expresses the difficult challenge of living surrounded by treacherous peoples. And he finally reveals the identity of these dishonorable foes . They are Israel’s own neighbors! Meshekh, to the north – in what today is Lebanon, Syria, Turkey – and Kedar to the south – Gaza, Egypt.
A little context will help us better understand this Psalm. In the time of King David and his son Shelomo, the Kingdom of Israel flourished and reached its economic peak. King David also signed peace treaties with other peoples, such as the Phoenicians, with whom he established commercial treaties that were beneficial to both nations. The entire region, the Middle East of that time, benefited greatly from Israel’s prosperity and stability. It was a “win / win” situation, where everyone could prosper. But for Meshekh and Kedar Israel’s “prosperity and stability” was insufferable. They just were not able to accept that Israel would be successful and in peace! Israel’s prosperity throws this enemy off balance. And this might sound absolutely crazy, but for the leaders of these peoples it was more important to destroy Israel than to benefit their own from the prosperity that Israel generously brought to the the entire region.
6 I lived for too long next to these peoples who hate peace [and only think about destroying me]. 7 I want peace, [and I seek peace]. But as I speak of peace, my enemies think about [how to destroy me with] war.
David knows these nations. He lived next to them for a long time. He knows that they do not really care about peace. For them, a peace treaty is not an objective in and by itself: it is only a temporary mean for their main goal: the destruction of Israel. They assume that Israel would naively trust their empty promises – that David will lower his guard, and become vulnerable and easily to kill. But David knows better: after being repeatedly burned by the broom’s coals, David overcame his dangerous naivety and gave up on his wishes for a peaceful coexistence. In this verse he expresses his pain, realizing that his neighbors — especially the Ishmaelites, “our cousins” the Abrahamic ancestors of Arab nations — practice the kind of existential hatred and deadly envy (known today as anti-Semitism) that Amaleq has for the Jews.
David, with my own words, finally recognizes that this enemy is like a wild and hungry tiger, approaching David with only one goal in mind… Imagine how incredibly dangerous and naive would be for David to extend his hand of peace to this tiger. And how suicidal would be to smile, and offering the tiger to go to dinner together at the best restaurant (dinner is on David!). There is nothing more dangerous than imagining that the tiger would “understands David’s language”. Or to project David’s wishful thinking, believing that the tiger shares his desires for a peaceful coexistence and will accept his suggestion of dinner for two. This tiger has appetite for me.. His killing instincts control him and my words do not affect him. And if I’m careless and if I don’t defend myself against the tiger with all what I have , I will become his dinner for one.
