I found Psalm 4 very difficult to comprehend until I understood two things about verse 2. The Hebrew has two phrases that the translations render as “sons of man” or “son of men,” b’ne adam and b’ne ish, but these two phrases are different in meaning. One of them, the one that we could best translate as sons of man, means simply men in general, sons of Adam. The other (b’ne ish) designates the wealthy, powerful and noble among men. The difference can be seen very clearly in a literal translation of Psalm 49:2. Though the NKJV accurately paraphrases the first line as “low and high” the Hebrew is “sons of man and sons of men.” In Psalm 4:2 the phrase is “sons of men,” the designation for the wealthy, powerful and noble. Therefore, in the first part of this psalm David is talking not to all men, but to this special class of men.
The second thing is the use of the word “glory.” In certain instances, this word means wealth. In Genesis 31:1 Jacob heard Laban’s sons saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s, and from what was our father’s he has acquired all this wealth.” The word wealth is the same word used in Psalm 4:2. Again, in Psalm 49, a psalm about the vanity of riches, verse 17 says about the rich man, “When he dies he shall carry nothing away; his glory (meaning wealth) shall not descend after him.” In Psalm 4:2 David uses the word in the same way. He puts these words in the mouth of God, “How long, O you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame?” He means, “How long will you put my wealth, which I gave you, to shameful use?”
This helps us to understand verse 6: “Who will show us any good?” That is, “Who will give us the good things that the sons of men are enjoying?” David is caught between two parties, the sons of men who are abusing the wealth that God gave, and those who envy them and covet the things that they have.
It also helps us to understand verse 7: “You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the season that their grain and wine increased.” David is not of either party. His wealth has not increased like the wealth of the sons of men, but he does not envy them. He can lie down in peace and sleep because he knows “that the Lord has set apart him who is godly [not him who is wealthy] for himself.” He prays, “Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us.” In that light is true blessedness.
Listen to a sermon on Psalm 4.