Catholic Commentary
Lament Over the Enemies' Assault
3How long will you assault a man? Would all of you throw him down, like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?4They fully intend to throw him down from his lofty place. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.
Psalms 62:3–4 depicts a solitary righteous person under relentless assault from coordinated enemies who aim to strip him of his God-given dignity and status. The psalmist's direct address to his adversaries—"How long will you assault a man?"—is a rhetorical confrontation that implicitly invokes divine judgment, appealing to God as the ultimate arbiter who will account for the duration of their malice.
Your enemies' assault on your dignity is real, coordinated, and painful—but it cannot touch the eternal worth God has given you.
Verse 3: "How long will you assault a man?"
The Hebrew verb translated "assault" (tĕhôtĕtû, from the root hwt) carries the image of a sustained, battering attack — not a single blow but a grinding, relentless siege. The interrogative "How long?" (ʿad-ānāh) is one of the most emotionally charged phrases in the Psalter (cf. Ps 13:1–2; 79:5; 90:13). It is not a request for information but a cry wrung from exhaustion and disbelief — the language of a soul who has endured beyond what seems bearable and now presses God for an accounting. The phrase "a man" (ʾîš) is deliberately singular and somewhat generic, lending it a universal quality: this is the plight of any solitary just person set upon by a coordinated multitude. The lone individual against the collective assault is a recurring biblical archetype (Job, Jeremiah, the Servant of Isaiah).
The verse functions as an apostrophe — the psalmist turns directly to address his adversaries. This rhetorical shift intensifies the lament; rather than simply describing his suffering to God, he confronts those inflicting it, which implies a confidence in divine witness. The question "how long?" implicitly appeals to a God who is the ultimate judge of time and duration.
Verse 4: "They fully intend to throw him down from his lofty place."
The phrase "lofty place" (miśśĕʾēt, literally "his eminence" or "his dignity") is significant: this is not merely a physical or political position but the God-given dignity of the righteous person. The enemies' goal is not simply to harm but to unmake — to strip the person of the standing and honor that God has conferred. The verb "throw him down" (lĕhadîaḥ) suggests violent displacement, a toppling or casting away.
What is especially striking is the phrase "they fully intend" — the Hebrew conveys a settled, deliberate purpose, a counsel of malice. This is not passionate, impulsive hatred but cold, scheming opposition. The enemies have organized against a single righteous individual.
Typological and Spiritual Senses
The Church Fathers consistently read Psalm 62 in Christological terms. St. Augustine in his Enarrationes in Psalmos identifies the "man" assaulted here first as Christ himself — the one Man of perfect righteousness whom the powers of this world conspired to throw down from his dignity as Son of God and Messiah. The Sanhedrin's plotting (cf. John 11:53), Herod and Pilate's collusion (Luke 23:12), and the mockery at Golgotha ("come down from the cross!" Mt 27:40) all enact precisely what verse 4 describes: a deliberate, coordinated attempt to unseat Christ from his "lofty place." Yet their assault fails — the "lofty place" from which no human conspiracy can ultimately dislodge the Son of God is the right hand of the Father.
In the moral sense, every member of the Body of Christ who suffers unjust assault participates in this pattern. The "lofty place" is the baptismal dignity — the royal priesthood (1 Pt 2:9) conferred by incorporation into Christ — which the enemy perpetually seeks to overthrow through sin, despair, scandal, and persecution.
Catholic tradition reads these verses through at least three interlocking lenses.
First, Christological: St. Augustine (Enarr. in Ps. 62) hears in the question "how long?" both the cry of the suffering Christ and of Christ-in-his-members: "He cries out in us and we cry out in him." The totus Christus — the whole Christ, head and body — is the subject of this assault. The Catechism teaches that "the Psalms are the prayer of Christ" and that when we pray them we are united to his own prayer (CCC §2586). These verses are thus never merely historical lament; they are a present participation in Christ's own passion.
Second, the dignity of the person under assault: The "lofty place" evokes the theological principle of human dignity rooted in the imago Dei (CCC §1700–1701). What enemies attack in any just person is ultimately the image of God. Gaudium et Spes §27 condemns every assault on human dignity — physical, psychological, or spiritual — as an offense against the Creator. The verse thus carries an anthropological weight: the righteous person's dignity is not merely social status but ontological standing before God.
Third, spiritual warfare: St. Thomas Aquinas (Commentary on the Psalms) notes that the coordinated, deliberate assault of verse 4 mirrors the activity of the devil, who acts not randomly but with settled malice against the elect. This accords with 1 Peter 5:8 ("your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion") and the Church's understanding that spiritual combat is a genuine dimension of the Christian life (CCC §409).
Contemporary Catholics face assaults on their dignity and standing that take distinctly modern forms: professional retaliation for witness to Church teaching, online coordinated hostility, the internal experience of being systematically undermined in communities or families for holding to faith. These verses give that suffering a name and a biblical home — and, crucially, a grammar of prayer. The "how long?" of verse 3 licenses the Catholic today to bring raw, honest frustration before God rather than suppressing it behind pious formulas. One practical application: when you find yourself the target of coordinated opposition — whether for your faith, your integrity, or your vocation — pray these verses aloud and slowly. Let them name what is happening. Then notice that the psalmist does not collapse into despair; in verse 5 he moves immediately to silence and hope in God alone. The lament is not the destination but the door. Additionally, verse 4's description of enemies who "fully intend" evil is a sober reminder to intercede for those who persecute us (Mt 5:44) — recognizing that settled malice is itself a spiritual captivity from which they, too, need liberation.
Commentary