When the men of Ziph had come and said to Saul: Is not David hidden with us? (Psalm 53:2 DR)
In the course of David’s fleeing from Saul, one of the greatest difficulties he encountered was his own countrymen prepared to deliver him into King Saul’s hands. They no doubt saw him as a traitor; after all, King Saul was seeking his life as a traitor, and David and his men had been employed by the Philistines as mercenaries during this time, although eventually he had to feign madness to escape from them. He thus was continually on the run, in danger on all sides.
One of his go-to places of refuge was the desert of Ziph. He and his men had just finished saving the city of Ceila from the Philistines, but King Saul was so hell-bent on slaying David that he and his army prepared to besiege that very city so as to destroy him. This is what prompted David to flee to the desert of Ziph, in which he thought he would be safe.
However, as on many other occasions his own countrymen betrayed him to the king, and this otherwise safe hiding place of Ziph became a place of danger, as the men of Ziph betrayed his location to King Saul, which gives occasion to the historical and literal meaning of the title of this Psalm. King Saul’s obsession is evident in his commands to the men of Ziph:
And Saul said: Blessed be ye of the Lord, for you have pitied my case. Go therefore, I pray you, and use all diligence, and curiously inquire, and consider the place where his foot is, and who hath seen him there: for he thinketh of me, that I lie craftily in wait for him. Consider and see all his lurking holes, wherein he is bid, and return to me with the certainty of the thing, that I may go with you. And if he should even go down into the earth to hide himself, I will search him out in all the thousands of Juda. (1 Samuel 23:21-23 DR)
Eventually King Saul is able to surround David and his men, at which David despairs of escaping, yet is fortuitously saved by a surprise assault by the Philistines that forces King Saul to leave off his search and face them.
The historical sense is of course fascinating in its own right, but since the Psalms are prophetic, it does not end there. Rather, there is both a deeper prophetic sense and a spiritual sense which these words provide for.
St. Augustine begins by noting that the contrast between Saul and David is between the earthly and the spiritual, respectively, for Saul represents the earthly kingdom and David the spiritual one:
That Saul was persecutor of the holy man David, very well we know: that Saul was bearing the figure of a temporal kingdom, not to life but to death belonging, this also to your Love we remember to have imparted. And also that David himself was bearing the figure of Christ, or of the Body of Christ, you ought both to know and to call to mind, you that have already learned. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 53, 1.)
St. Hilary of Poitiers likewise sees the prophetic connection to Christ:
Thus David’s betrayal by the Ziphims awaits for its interpretation the end. This shows that what was actually being done to David contained a type of something yet to come; an innocent man is harassed by railing, a prophet is mocked by reviling words, one approved by God is demanded for execution, a king is betrayed to his foe. So the Lord was betrayed to Herod and Pilate by those very men in whose hands He ought to have been safe. The Psalm then awaits the end for its interpretation, and finds its meaning in the true David, in Whom is the end of the Law, that David who holds the keys and opens with them the gate of knowledge, in fulfilling the things foretold of Him by David. (St. Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on Psalm 53, 2.)
For both Church Fathers the literal and historical sense is of course to be understood and is valuable in its own right, but it doesn’t exist in Scripture merely as a fact to be known. Rather, in God’s providence it furnishes a prophetic witness that points beyond itself to higher things, and was in itself in its historical enactment part of God’s providential plan which culminates in the end, which is Christ. That is, our Lord as the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures is not an interpretation superimposed upon them after the fact, but is rather providentially woven into them. They happened as they happened specifically for their prophetic witness and to be fulfilled in Christ, and as such cannot be fully understood outside of that.
This becomes evident as the passage is more fully analyzed. St. Augustine reads the meaning of the term Ziph as in some way unlocking this prophetic character:
If we inquire then by what word is translated Ziphites, we find, Men flourishing. Flourishing then were certain enemies to holy David, flourishing before him hiding. We may find them in mankind, if we are willing to understand the Psalm. Let us find here at first David hiding, and we shall find his adversaries flourishing. Observe David hiding: For you are dead, says the Apostle to the members of Christ, and your life is hid with Christ in God. [Colossians 3:3] These men, therefore, that are hiding, when shall they be flourishing? When Christ, he says, your life, shall have appeared, then ye also with Him shall appear in glory [Colossians 3:4]. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 53, 1.)
The hiding of David in the land of Ziph thus shows forth the contrast between the earthly kingdom and the heavenly kingdom as seen in Saul and David, for David’s hiding is the hiddenness of life in Christ that St. Paul speaks of in the Epistle to the Colossians, which stands in contrast to the way in which the men of this world seem to flourish in their wickedness. As the Psalmist says elsewhere:
But my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipped. Because I had a zeal on occasion of the wicked, seeing the prosperity of sinners. (Psalm 72:2-3 DR)
This temptation to despair that the righteous face in seeing the flourishing of the wicked in this world is evidenced in the hiddenness of David in the desert of Ziph:
And Saul went on this side of the mountain: and David and his men were on the other side of the mountain: and David despaired of being able to escape from the face of Saul: and Saul and his men encompassed David and his men round about to take them. (1 Samuel 23:26 DR)
However, this flourishing of wicked men in this life is only momentary, for eventually their flourishing will turn to withering:
These men, therefore, that are hiding, when shall they be flourishing? When Christ, he says, your life, shall have appeared, then ye also with Him shall appear in glory. [Colossians 3:4] When these men shall be flourishing, then shall be those Ziphites withering. For observe to what flower their glory is compared: All flesh is grass, and the honour of flesh as the flower of grass. [Isaiah 40:6] What is the end? The grass has withered, and the flower has fallen off. Where then shall be David? See what follows: But the Word of the Lord abides forever. These therefore are two sorts of men, which ye ought both to distinguish and to choose one of them. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 53, 2.)
David was hidden in the desert of Ziph, and the Ziphites betrayed him to King Saul, and thus in their alliance with him seemed to have the upper hand and thus to flourish. But their glory becomes like the glory of the grass which flourishes and then withers, since King Saul stands in for the earthly kingdoms of this world and thus of the glory—such as it is—and temporality of the things of this world. The righteous may seem to be hidden and to suffer and not prosper, while the wicked seem to flourish in the glories and riches of this world. But since those glories and riches are here today and gone tomorrow, their flourishing becomes unto them a withering:
These men sometimes are observed of the weak sons of light, and their feet totter, when they have seen evil men in felicity to flourish, and they say to themselves, Of what profit to me is innocence? What does it advantage me that I serve God, that I keep His commandments, that I oppress no one, from no one plunder anything, hurt no one, that what I can I bestow? Behold, all these things I do, and they flourish, I toil. But why? Would you also wish to be a Ziphite? They flourish in the world, wither in judgment, and after withering, into fire everlasting shall be cast: would you also choose this? (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 53, 3.)
Our Lord Himself prophetically fulfills this hiddenness, for the fullness of the Godhead was concealed, as it were, in flesh, and while He as God in the flesh could have commanded kingdoms and armies of angels to trample His temporal enemies under His feet, in His trial He hid Himself with those whose life is hidden with Him, in that He spoke of how His kingdom is not of this world. In this manner the righteous wait for the coming kingdom of our Lord, which is not fading and temporary like those of this life but eternal and from above:
Therefore here He was hidden: and all good men are hidden here, because their good is within, it is concealed, in the heart it is, where is faith, where charity, where hope, where their treasure is. Do these good things appear in the world? Both these good things are hidden, and the reward of these good things is hidden. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 53, 3.)
The goods of this world are deceptive, and we can easily be led astray into thinking that temporal blessings are a sign of spiritual blessedness, when in fact it may conceal a spiritual poverty, a withered soul that has hoped in the things of this world. In the hiddenness of the Psalmist we find the truth:
Trust not in iniquity, and cover not robberies: if riches abound, set not your heart upon them. (Psalm 61:11 DR)
St. Augustine more fully elaborates:
Though they abound, and there follow thee prosperity of the world, trust not thou in the sea, though it smile on thee. If riches flow in, if they abound, trample them, and depend upon thy God. For when thou shalt have put them beneath thee, and shalt have depended on Him, then when they have been taken away thou shalt not fall. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 53, 3.)
To trust in the goods and pleasures of this world is thus likened to trusting in the sea, which at one moment can be calm and the next a tempest which drowns and destroys. The wicked may seem to flourish in this world, but their prosperity is fleeting, and when it is gone they will be left destitute, having not trusted in God instead of in their riches. In another Psalm the Psalmist goes into the sanctuary of God, to understand concerning their last ends. It is this end which is for the understanding of David, and which draws out the hiddenness of life in Christ:
And because somewhat difficult is this understanding, from thence beginneth this Psalm, namely, how David was hiding among the Ziphites, and was not delighted with the flower of the Ziphites; but chose rather amid them humility, in order that he might have with God hidden glory. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 53, 3.)
I created a neon text-like effect with a series of glows using Deep Glow 2 and some opacity keyframes. I like how Deep Glow creates the core of the highlights within, which helps to sell the effect a bit more without a bunch of duplicated built-in native Glow effects which can be pretty tedious.
I found some abstract background textures and applied some Wiggle Hold to the position and rotation to create a bit of a frenetic movement.
I finally added in some color correction and camera shake.
Enjoy.
When the men of Ziph had come and said to Saul: Is not David hidden with us?
(Psalm 53:2 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here:
