Psalm 5: Arranging the Morning Fire
“O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch” (English Standard Version). David’s verb “prepare” is the Hebrew arakh—used for setting wood or pieces of an offering in order (see Leviticus 6:12). He is not tossing up a few hurried requests before breakfast; he is laying kindling, arranging his prayer as a liturgy, then waiting for God’s fire. The Psalmist stands at dawn where Israel’s daily offering stood (Exodus 29:38–42): the day begins with worship, not work. The superscription “for the flutes” (nehiloth) may mean wind instruments—breath shaped into ordered sound. Breath is a quiet theme in this psalm: the righteous spend their wind in prayer; the wicked spend theirs in deceit. One throat becomes a flute; the other, “an open grave” (v. 9; echoed in Romans 3:13).
Another detail Western readers often miss: “I will bow down toward your holy temple” (v. 7, English Standard Version). In David’s day there was no stone temple yet; he speaks of the tabernacle—God’s palace-tent—or even the heavenly sanctuary. Ancient worshipers faced the sanctuary (compare 1 Kings 8:29–30). Orientation matters: not because God is confined to a place, but because love looks somewhere.
Psalm 5 is built on a bright, bracing tension. Verses 4–6 declare that God does not welcome evil—“you hate all evildoers.” We soften that line at our peril. The Lord’s holiness is not vague disapproval; it is a fire that refuses fellowship with lies. And yet, hear the hinge in verse 7: “But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love (hesed), will enter your house.” The way in is not moral superiority; it is covenant mercy. Calvin heard in this “a tacit confession” that David would stand condemned if not carried by grace. Augustine read the “morning” as the dawn of Christ’s resurrection: we enter God’s house because Another has already stepped from the grave into the sanctuary.
Notice how David prays about enemies. The phrase “because of my enemies” (v. 8) can also be rendered “because of those who watch me.” His life is under surveillance—so he asks God to make His path straight. This is not merely private piety; it is public pilgrimage. When the world watches, God’s righteousness must guide, lest we begin to walk by cunning rather than by truth.
Then the hard petition: “Make them bear their guilt” (v. 10). This is not vengeance disguised as prayer. It is a plea that God would not permit falsehood to colonize the community. The verbs are covenantal—“they have rebelled against you.” In a world where words rot into weapons and “flattery” masks destruction (v. 9), it is an act of love to ask God to stop the spread.
Psalm 5 ends in armor. “You cover him with favor as with a shield” (v. 12). The word for shield is tsinnah, a large, door-shaped shield seen in ancient Near Eastern reliefs—big enough to hide behind. And “cover” carries the sense of surrounding or even crowning (atar). God’s favor does not merely face the front; it encircles. It is as if the worshiper, having arranged the morning fire, leaves the sanctuary wearing a ring of light.
Suggested cross-references: - Exodus 29:38–42; Leviticus 6:12 (morning offering and arranging) - 1 Kings 8:29–30 (praying toward the sanctuary) - Romans 3:13 (the open grave, universal sin) - John 2:19–21 (Christ as the true temple) - Ephesians 6:16 (the shield of faith under God’s favor)
Hymn to pray: “Awake, My Soul, and with the Sun” (Thomas Ken).
Prayer Holy God of the morning, teach me to arrange my prayer and wait for Your fire. Lead me in Your righteousness while watchers look on; make Your way straight before me. Muzzle deceit, beginning with my own mouth, and tune my breath to praise. By Your steadfast love, let me enter; by Your holiness, keep me true. Surround me today with favor like a great shield, until my life sings of Your joy. Through Jesus, risen at dawn, Amen.