Unfounded Hatred

Meaning in Psalm 59

Alfred D. Byrd

DAVID had killed the giant Goliath.
Many in Judah were praising a hero—
Humble shepherd, resplendent captain—
As greater by far than Saul, their king.
He'd given David a prize of honor—
Michal, his daughter, a princess as wife—
But held in his heart unfounded hatred
Making him threaten the life of a friend.
The king sent out his henchmen to lurk
In shadow around the house of David.
Careless, the hero might come to his death.
If not for Michal, who loved him as wife,
Her man would have died, a knife in his back.
With her help, he left by window at night
And fled for the hills, an exile from hope.
Amid the darkness in which he hid,
He raised his voice to his God in song:

"I've done no wrong to king or to land,
Yet I have to spend my days on the run.
The good that I've done must look like evil,
Treason to king, to those who hate me.
Dogging my steps, they seek me with swords;
They long to bathe their blades in my blood.
The first of the swords was a lie on their lips.
It led to a sword that could cut my flesh.
Out here, alone in the hills at night,
I taste their triumph, but call on my God.

"My God, You must laugh when You look from Your throne
At what goes on in the world that You made.
We think of ourselves as strong and wise;
We brag and boast as we say, 'We're safe.'
We make ourselves the measure of things
And fail to observe how small we are
Beside the arch of the sky above—
The sky, no more than a rest for Your feet.

"Please teach us, my God, where we stand with You.
Please show us, my God, how empty are those
Who seek their own will and flout Your law.
They recall a pack of dogs that run wild.
They growl and snap at all who pass by.
They nose through garbage and gobble what's ripe;
Then they heave on the street. How wretched a life!
When they face a foe who shows them resolve,
They yelp and run with tail between legs.
Please let Your people observe the wicked—
Mighty in shadows, but helpless in light—
And choose Your law, which leads one to life.

"My God, I think of Your love in darkness.
Help me recover my name and my home.
When I need no longer lie down in fear,
But can stand again secure in the light,
I'll take my harp in hand to praise You.
Singing aloud, I'll proclaim to the world
My God, my shield, the hope of my life."

If this poem spoke to you, you may enjoy my Biblical epic poems

A Song of the One, the age-old account of Creatlon, Fall, Redemption, and Glory retold in verse for a new millennium, and

The Stars Bow Down: An Epic of Joseph, the timeless tale of a favorite son whose brothers sold him into slavery, but whom God raised from a prison to save the known world from famine.