Psalms — Chapter 59

DA NOBIS AUXILIUM DE TRIBULATIONE. Lapide: Psalm 59 — "Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man." Lapide: "vana salus hominis" — the vanity of all human help when God withdraws His support. The lesson of military defeat (the psalm is titled after a defeat of Israel): God permits defeat to teach the people that the victory is His, not theirs. Lapide: this is the theology of the Cross — apparent defeat that is actually victory through divine power.