Tehillim 61 | “Add Days to the Days of the King”

This psalm is divided into two parts: In the first part, the poet calls out to God “from the end of the earth” (61:2), and asks that just as God has helped him until now, He will continue to guard him in the future. In the second part, the nature of the request changes, and from a personal plea on his own behalf, the poet turns to pray for the king: “Add days to the days of the king; may he live on for many generations!” (61:7). What is the meaning of this shift?

Many commentators explain that this is not a change at all — King David is the poet, and when he prays for “the king,” he is still praying for himself, but now from a national perspective. The Radak offers another explanation, and interprets “the king” as referring to the "Messianic King". According to this, the psalm was written at a later time, during the exile or another period of national decline. At first, the poet prays only for his personal salvation, but then he lifts his eyes and understands that his personal redemption is bound up with the redemption of the nation, and at its center stands the king. In a similar spirit, we too continue to pray to this day for the redemption of the entire nation – “May the offspring of Your servant David soon flower.”