The term in the superscription, “Altaschith,” means “Do not destroy.” It occurs in Psalms 57-59 (see our study of Psalm 57, 58, and 59). Although the meaning is not clear, some have conjectured that it was a tune of a popular song. Isaiah 65.8 seems to reference it.
The structure of the psalm presents different speakers:
- the people praise God for who He is. what He has done, and for His being with them (1)
- God announces His sovereign will of judging the earth at the time He gives (2-5). There is a Selah in the center of these verses asking us to pause and consider where we stand in terms of that judgement.
- the people declare that God is the only and true Judge (6-9)
- God declares His intention to bring about the final judgment (10)
God will bring about His righteous judgement and will call all men to answer for themselves. This psalm is full of end time terminology which will be discussed in a future post.