My chronological Bible study structured by Skip Andrews has taken a short intermission with psalms that David may have written at the time of the events in the study. David had just defeated Goliath and had given the glory to the Lord.
(Psalm 5:1) (To the chief musician upon Nehiloth, a psalm of David) Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation.
David wrote this psalm to the chief musician on the flute, which is what most early Bible commentators believe is meant by Nehiloth. He began by asking the Lord to hear his words and consider his thoughts.
(2) Hearken to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I will pray.
The fact that David was crying out to the Lord and pleading with Him to really hear and pay attention to his prayer, seems to place this psalm at a time when David was more distressed than he would have been at this time. However, since there are 150 psalms, and David wrote at least half of them, Mr. Andrews did the best he could at placing them chronologically during David's time. Although David had been anointed by God to be king of Israel on earth, He acknowledged that he was subject to the King of the universe.
(3) My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You and will look up.
I believe David's point was that he prayed to the Lord every morning. Every morning the Lord heard from David, and he would look up to the Lord for guidance.
(4) For You are not a God who has pleasure in wickedness; neither shall evil dwell with You. (5) The foolish shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity.
David knew that he could go to the Lord with his complaints or requests for help regarding the wicked because the Lord took no pleasure in wickedness. He did not allow the wicked to stand in His sight as He hated all workers of sin and wickedness. Every one of us, including David, sin at one time or another, some more often than others. But David spoke of the workers of iniquity, those who made it their mission to do evil. The God of love and mercy who will forgive all who come to Him and repent, has no such love for the ones who purposely do evil in His sight.
(6) You shall destroy them who speak falsehood; the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
David knew that the Lord would bring to destruction liars as He hated bloodthirsty men of fraud. A man might lie without danger of the law of man, but he will not escape the law of God. Again, this pertains to the workers of deceit and fraud. While we all may occasionally experience the chastisement of the Lord because of lying or some such sin of fraud, that is because God loves us and wants to teach us. It is the workers of deceit and fraud who have no fear of the Lord that He abhors.
(7) But as for me, I will come to Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; in Your fear I will worship toward Your holy temple.
But as for David, he would go to the Lord daily, every morning, in the midst of His great love and mercy. In reverential fear of the Almighty God, he would worship before the temple of God, if not before the physical temple, he looked toward and forward to that temple of God's holiness, which may have meant the Messiah, as David often prophesied about the coming Messiah.
(8) Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make Your way straight before my face.
But as for David who would sin in his lifetime, unlike a worker of iniquity, he would come to the Lord daily asking Him to lead him in the righteous way of the Lord, not in David's imperfect way against his enemies, but in the Lord's perfect will and way. He asked the Lord to make His way straight or plain so that he might clearly discern it.
(9) For no faithfulness is in their mouth, their inward part very wickedness, their throat an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.
David spoke of his enemies. The original word "koon" translated as "faithfulness," meant more precisely "to be erect, set up," so when used figuratively, it meant "established, fixed, sure." In that way, there was nothing fixed, established, sure, and trustworthy, in their mouths, nothing that could be trusted as faithful. Their hearts were very wicked, and as their mouths flattered with deceitful words, their throats were as graves open to receive their victims. The words of the wicked, from an abundance of wickedness in their hearts, are used to trick and lure victims to their destruction.
(10) Destroy them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against You.
The original word "asham" that was translated as "destroy" meant more precisely "to be guilty, by implication to be punished or perish." I couldn't help but notice the similarity to our word "ashamed." Let them become ashamed as their evil plots work against them and expose their guilt. Cast them out in the multitude of their sins. I don't believe David's prayer was to literally kill his enemies and cast them into hellfire, nor do I believe it would be Christian and proper to pray so, as we all have a multitude of sins. However, the enemies of God, those who have rebelled against Him and His word, should be cast out from among God's people as their wickedness is exposed. Maybe it's because I have not personally been tested by an enemy who wanted to kill me, and therefore have not desired vengeance, but my heart honestly hurts that such wickedness in the world today is against God. And I have prayed that the wicked's schemes fall on their own heads and are exposed. What is harder to do, and what I believe Jesus intended for us to do when He told us to pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:44), is to pray for their salvation and mercy for them because they are just lost to the devil, and that is a dreadful sorrowful thing.
(11) But let all who put their trust in You rejoice; let them ever shout for joy because You defended them; let them also who love Your name be joyful in You.
David prayed that all the people who put their trust in the Lord be able to rejoice and shout for joy because He had defended them. It's easy to rejoice and shout for joy when we perceive our prayers have been answered positively to our liking, and our enemies have not succeeded, but we should always be joyful in the Lord just because of His name and Who He is. After all, His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9), and we can't always see that what looks bad to us is actually good in the long run. Additionally, we know that in the end, we win, that is Jesus Christ wins and takes us with Him to His eternal home.
(12) For You, Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor will You surround him as a shield.
David acknowledged that the Lord would ultimately bless the righteous, and that is not because of righteousness in themselves, but because they love and follow their Lord's guidance, they make Him the Lord of their lives, and because they do that, He surrounds and protects them with His favor because they are His.
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