This Psalm begins by giving the choirmaster instructions regarding those who play stringed instruments. But it also attributes this Psalm to David. Although the introductions to these Psalms are not numbered, they are still part of the inspired text. This was the subject of a fascinating article in the “Bible Study Magazine.” It had a compelling case for the introductions being part of the original texts of these Psalms. “Most English Bibles display the superscriptions in fine print. This suggests to the modern reader that these superscriptions are secondary somehow. But this is not what we find in our best manuscripts.” The article explains that the introductions to these Psalms are acknowledged as part of the inspired text as far back as the famous and respected Aleppo Codex (ca. AD 930). Further, in the ancient “Masada Psalms Scroll,” which dates to the first century BC, we see the same introductions as we see in the Aleppo Codex. Then, in the Dead Sea Scrolls, we find that the introductions are “always the first part of the psalm text in normal writing. Yet again, there is no indication that they are secondary or added later.”[1]
We should consider the introductions as part of the Psalm. Psalm 4 begins with, “To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!” First of all, David calls for God to hear his prayer. We can identify this as a prayer because it addresses God in the second person as prayers do. We speak to God, “you.” He acknowledges God’s faithfulness to him in the past. David might be referring to his escape from his son, Absalom’s rebellion. God has been good to David. All the things he has accomplished find their source in God’s goodness.
The two phrases in this Psalm that struck me are; first, He identifies God as the “God of my righteousness.” Then he asks God to continue being merciful to him. When I think of the phrase “my righteousness,” I think of the righteousness of God as Paul uses it in Romans. In and of himself, David knows he has no righteousness to hold up before God. Just as Habakkuk and Romans teach us, the only righteousness we have is faith: “The righteous shall live by faith.” The only righteousness that we can have is a righteousness deposited in our account from the account of our Savior, who fulfilled all righteousness for David and for us prophetically. Williams says it well, “In a word, God is righteous, and He has given His righteousness to David.”[2] This explains David’s plea for mercy. He knows he’s a sinner. He knows he does not deserve God’s blessings in his life, so whatever God bestows on him, whatever prayer God answers for him, will be based on God’s mercy. Williams wraps up his explanation of this verse: “David’s address, ‘O God of my righteousness,’ also points to the final gift of righteousness given in Jesus Christ. Christ is righteous because He has fulfilled the law in perfect obedience to the Father. It is Christ who dies on the cross, not for His own sins (for He had none), but for our sins. When we receive Christ, we receive also His righteousness. Paul writes, ‘For He [God] made Him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him’ (2 Cor. 5:21). God hears us when we call because we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Indeed, we all may say God is the ‘God of my righteousness.’”[3]
[1] https://www.logos.com/grow/superscriptions-in-psalms/
[2] Williams, Donald, and Lloyd J. Ogilvie. 1986. Psalms 1–72. Vol. 13. The Preacher’s Commentary Series. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.
[3] Williams, Donald, and Lloyd J. Ogilvie. 1986. Psalms 1–72. Vol. 13. The Preacher’s Commentary Series. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.