“Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings, from the wicked who do me violence, my deadly enemies who surround me.” -Psalm 17:8–9
David is praying for God’s careful and watchful protection from his enemies and uses two beautiful metaphors to ask for it. First, he asks to be kept as the apple of God’s eye. This expression seems to be highlighting the pupil, the center most feature of the eye and it’s an expression that has continued in use even to this day as when a lover says his or her beloved is “the apple of my eye.” They are the center of their focus and attention. This is what David is requesting of God: to be kept as the focus of God’s watchful care.
The first metaphor is what we call an anthropomorphism because it gives God human features (eye) when he is a pure Spirit. The second metaphor is a Zoomorphism because it gives God animal features (wings). This one gives us the image of a hen or an eagle that protects her brood by covering it with her wing. The image is one of warmth, comfort, and safety.
His prayer that God would “keep him” and “hide him” from the wicked who surround him and seek to do him violence is reminiscent of the end of the Lord’s prayer, and perhaps gives us deeper insight into what Jesus meant when he taught it. “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” -Matthew 6:13