Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 18:29
For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
29. For by thee I run after a troop,
And by my God I leap over a wall.
The language is general, but it seems to contain a reminiscence of two memorable events in David’s life: the successful pursuit of the predatory ‘troop’ of Amalekites which had sacked Ziklag (1 Samuel 30; in Psa 18:8 ; Psa 18:15 ; Psa 18:23 the same word troop is used of the Amalekites): and the capture of Zion, effected with such unexpected ease that he seemed to have leapt over the walls which its defenders boasted were impregnable (2Sa 5:6-8).
The rendering run after is preferable to break (A.V. marg.). The point is the speed of the pursuit, not the completeness of the defeat.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For by thee I have run through a troop – Margin, broken. The word troop here refers to bands of soldiers, or hosts of enemies. The word rendered run through means properly to run; and then, as here, to run or rush upon in a hostile sense; to rush with violence upon one. The idea here is that he had been enabled to rush with violence upon his armed opposers; that is, to overcome them, and to secure a victory. The allusion is to the wars in which he had been engaged. Compare Psa 115:1.
And by my God – By the help derived from God.
Have I leaped over a wall – Have I been delivered, as if I had leaped over a wall when I was besieged; or, I have been able to scale the walls of an enemy, and to secure a victory. The probability is that the latter is the true idea, and that he refers to his successful attacks on the fortified towns of his enemies. The general idea is, that all his victories were to be traced to God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 18:29; Psa 18:33-34
By Thee have I run through a troop.
Surmounting impossible difficulties
This is a poetical way of representing the fact that impossibilities have often been made possible in our own experience. Looking back upon certain combinations of circumstances, we cannot but feel that we were surrounded by great and high walls, and that troops of dangers thickened around us in deadly array, Now that we see ourselves in a large place, we are tempted to believe that we are still in a dream, and that our liberty is a thing which we hold only in the uncertain light of a momentary vision. When our imagination is vexed by the cross colours which make up the panorama of life, it is easy to persuade us that tomorrow we shall be back again in chains, for we have enjoyed but an imaginary liberty. Then, under happier circumstances, we see how the miracle is a simple reality,–that we have in very deed escaped perils which at one time seemed to be insurmountable, and that our escape is due entirely to the exercise of the almightiness of God. It is remarkable how, under such circumstances, we unconsciously magnify our own importance in the universe. We do not mean to be ostentatious and proud when we declare that God has exerted Himself specially on our behalf, and has indeed Himself been disquieted until our comfort was restored and established. The Psalmist speaks here as if he were the sole object of the Lords care, and as if the Infinite took delight only in his well-being and prosperity. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
Energy put into a man
Sir Alexander Ball was one of those great men who adorned our navy at the end of the eighteenth century. The following anecdote is told of him by his friend the poet Coleridge. In a large party at Malta I had observed a naval officer listening to Sir A. Ball with a mixed expression of awe and affection that gave a more than common interest to so manly a countenance. This officer afterwards told me that he considered himself indebted to Sir Alexander for that which was dearer to him than his life. When he was Lieutenant Ball, said he, he was the officer I accompanied in my first boat expedition, being then a midshipman, and only in my fourteenth year. As we were rowing up to the vessel which we were to attack, amid a discharge of musketry, I was overpowered by fear, and seemed on the point of fainting away. Lieutenant Ball, who saw the condition I was in, placed himself close beside me, and still keeping his countenance directed towards the enemy, pressed my hand in the most friendly manner, and said in a low voice, Courage, my dear boy. You will recover in a minute or so. I was just the same when I first went out in this way. Sir, added the officer to me, it was just as if an angel had put a new soul into me. With the feeling I was not yet dishonoured, the whole burden of agony was removed; and from that moment I was as fearless and forward as the oldest of the boats crew.
One trophy for two exploits
What is true of David is true of Davids Lord. The Holy Ghost has presented to us the experience of Jesus in that model of experience through which David passed. So the text tells both of Christ and the believer also. Let us speak of it.
I. In relation to Christ. And
1. For the first sentence, By Thee have I run through a troop. Christs enemies were as a troop for number. Who can count them? But also for their discipline. They were marshalled under that skilful and crafty leader Satan, the arch fiend and Prince of Darkness. And his servants are well trained. He came against Jesus with his army, in settled order. It was no wild rush of Some Tartar host, but a well arranged and well regulated attack. Never let us undervalue the strength of Christs enemies. Now, this sentence has been read in varied ways, and each is very suggestive. One reads it, By Thee have I run to a troop; so that Jesus did not wait for the attack, but made it Himself, See how He went forth to meet Judas and the armed band on the night of the betrayal. But our version reads, through a troop, and this is also accurate. For His victory was complete. They stood firm as if they would not flinch, they thought they had defeated Him; but His Cross was the very symbol of His omnipotence, for in weakness was He strong. See Him running through this troop. And how speedily. His sufferings were but short. What a stride was that which Jesus took when He marched right through His enemies, and laid them right and left slain before Him. There is yet another version, By Thee have I run after a troop. As if he would say, I met them, fought them, vanquished them, pursued them, and captured them. He led captivity captive. Note the words, By Thee. He acted as the servant of God. But it is blessed to think that the Father as well as the Son, yea, the whole Trinity of sacred Persons, is engaged for our redemption.
2. The second sentence, By my God have I leaped over a wall. David seems to be describing the capture of some fortress, such as Jebus, afterwards called Jerusalem. Now Satan had shut us all up in a mighty fortress. It had as one bulwark the strength of sin and the law; as another the suggestions of Satan to mens hearts; and then there was the deep ditch of mens sins, and the mound outside of Human Depravity. Now Christ comes, and He leaps over these walls. And He not only Himself surmounted these walls, but brought all His people on His shoulders, as AEneas carried off his old father Anchises. And all this also was by my God. He acted as Mediator. Let our souls meditate much upon Christs victories.
II. To the believer. He has his troops of enemies and his imprisoning wall. But sometimes he makes the mistake of trying to climb over the troop when he should break through them, and of trying to break through the wall which he should climb over. Let him have courage for the troop to run through them, and discretion for the wall to climb over it. And by means of faith he can do this. Luther often used to defy Satan to battle. I care not to do that, but he used in his queer quaint way to say, I often laugh at Satan, and there is nothing makes him so angry as when I attack him to his face, and tell him that through God I am more than a match for him, tell him to do his worst, and yet I will beat him; and tell him to put forth his fury, and yet I will overcome him. He that has made God his refuge need fear no storm. Look, said a poor woman to a lady who called to see her, Look, maam, Ill show you all Im worth. And she showed her her cupboard with nothing in it but a dry crust; and a chest, but it was empty. That is all I am worth, maam, but I have not a doubt or fear but that God will supply my need. Now that woman bad learnt how to run through a troop and by her God to leap over a wall. What have you for your soul like that? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 29. I have run through a troop] This may relate to some remarkable victory, and the taking of some fortified place, possibly Zion, from the Jebusites. See the account 2Sa 5:6-8.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
By thee I have broken through the armed troops of mine enemies. I have sealed the walls of their strongest cities and castles, and so taken them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
29. And this on past experiencein his military life, set forth by these figures.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For by thee I have run through a troop,…. Or, “I have run to a troop”: to meet one f with courage and intrepidity, as some interpret it g; or, as others h, “I have run after a troop”: that is, pursued after one, as David pursued after the troops of the Amalekites who burnt Ziklag, 1Sa 30:8; to which Jarchi refers this passage; or rather, “I have broke a troop”, or “through one” i; for the word, as some Jewish writers k observe, comes from a root which signifies to “break” in pieces, and is fitly used for the destroying or cutting in pieces a troop of the enemy; and is true of Christ, when he engaged with the troops of hell, and broke the squadrons of the infernal fiends, and spoiled or disarmed principalities and powers, and triumphed over them on the cross, and made a show of them openly, when he dragged them at his chariot wheels, and led captivity captive;
and by my God have I leaped over a wall; which refers to the scaling of walls, and taking of fortified places; and so the Targum, “By the word of my God I will subdue fortified towns”; so Apollinarius has it, passed over a tower, or took it; which was literally true of David, in many instances. Jarchi applies this to his taking the fortress of Zion from the Jebusites: a learned writer l thinks this refers to his leaping over the city wall, and slipping through the city watch, when Michal let him down through a window: it may be applied to Christ, who broke down the middle wail of partition, the ceremonial law, which stood between Jew and Gentile; or rather it may design the many difficulties which were in the way of the salvation of his people, which he surmounted and got over with great strength and swiftness; such as fulfilling the law, satisfying justice, bearing sin, and making atonement for it, undergoing a shameful and an accursed death, and grappling with numerous enemies, whom he conquered; and he is said to do all this by his God; because, as man and Mediator, he was strengthened and assisted by him.
f “occurram turmae”, so some in Vatablus. g Apud Kimchi in loc. h Apud Aben Ezra in loc. i “Conteram”, Pagninus; “perfregi”, Vatablus; “perrupi”, Musculus; “perrumpo”, Tigurine version, Castalio; so Ainsworth. k Kimchi & Ben Melech. l Delaney’s Life of King David, vol. 1. p. 62.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Grateful Remembrance of Past Deliverances; Confidence in the Divine Goodness. | |
29 For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall. 30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. 31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God? 32 It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. 33 He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet, and setteth me upon my high places. 34 He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. 35 Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. 36 Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. 37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed. 38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet. 39 For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me. 40 Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me. 41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not. 42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets. 43 Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me. 44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me. 45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places. 46 The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted. 47 It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me. 48 He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man. 49 Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. 50 Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and showeth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.
In these verses,
I. David looks back, with thankfulness, upon the great things which God had done for him. He had not only wrought deliverance for him, but had given him victory and success, and made him triumph over those who thought to triumph over him. When we set ourselves to praise God for one mercy we must be led by that to observe the many more with which we have been compassed about, and followed, all our days. Many things had contributed to David’s advancement, and he owns the hand of God in them all, to teach us to do likewise, in reviewing the several steps by which we have risen to our prosperity. 1. God had given him all his skill and understanding in military affairs, which he was not bred up to nor designed for, his genius leading him more to music, and poetry, and a contemplative life: He teaches my hands to war, v. 34. 2. God had given him bodily strength to go through the business and fatigue of war: God girded him with strength (Psa 18:32; Psa 18:39), to such a degree that he could break even a bow of steel, v. 34. What service God designs men for he will be sure to fit them for. 3. God had likewise given him great swiftness, not to flee from the enemies but to fly upon them (v. 33): He makes my feet like hinds’ feet, v. 36. “Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; but” (whereas those that take large steps are apt to tread awry) “my feet did not slip.” He was so swift that he pursued his enemies and overtook them, v. 37. 4. God had made him very bold and daring in his enterprises, and given him spirit proportionable to his strength. If a troop stood in his way, he made nothing of running through them; if a wall, he made nothing of leaping over it (v. 29); if ramparts and bulwarks, he soon mounted them, and by divine assistance set his feet upon the high places of the enemy, v. 33. 5. God had protected him, and kept him safe, in the midst of the greatest perils. Many a time he put his life in his hand, and yet it was wonderfully preserved: “Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation (v. 35), and that has compassed me on every side. By that I have been delivered from the strivings of the people who aimed at my destruction (v. 43), particularly from the violent man” (v. 48), that is, Saul, who more than once threw a javelin at him. 6. God had prospered him in his designs; he it was that made his way perfect (v. 32) and it was his right hand that held him up, v. 35. 7. God had given him victory over his enemies, the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, and all that fought against Israel: those especially he means, yet not excluding the house of Saul, which opposed his coming to the crown, and the partisans of Absalom and Sheba, who would have deposed him. He enlarges much upon the goodness of God to him in defeating his enemies, attributing his victories, not to his own sword or bow, nor to the valour of his mighty men, but to the favour of God: I pursued them (v. 37), I wounded them (v. 38); for thou hast girded me with strength (v. 39), else I could not have done it. All the praise is ascribed to God: Thou hast subdued them under me, v. 39. Thou hast given me their necks (v. 40), not only to trample upon them (as Josh. x. 24), but to cut them off. Even those who hated David whom God loved, and were enemies to the Israel of God, in their distress cried unto the Lord: but in vain; he answered them not. How could they expect he should when it was he whom they fought against? And, when he disowned them (as he will all those that act against his people), no other succours could stand them in stead: There was none to save them, v. 41. Those whom God has abandoned are easily vanquished: Then did I beat them small as the dust, v. 42. But those whose cause is just he avenges (v. 47), and those whom he favours will certainly be lifted up above those that rise up against them, v. 48. 8. God had raised him to the throne, and not only delivered him and kept him alive, but dignified him and made him great (v. 35): Thy gentleness has increased me–thy discipline and instruction; so some. The good lessons David learned in his affliction prepared him for the dignity and power that were intended him; and the lessening of him helped very much to increase his greatness. God made him not only a great conqueror, but a great ruler: Thou hast made me the head of the heathen (v. 43); all the neighbouring nations were tributaries to him. See 2Sa 8:6; 2Sa 8:11. In all this David was a type of Christ, whom the Father brought safely through his conflicts with the powers of darkness, and made victorious over them, and gave to be head over all things to his church, which is his body.
II. David looks up with humble and reverent adorations of the divine glory and perfection. When God had, by his providence, magnified him, he endeavours, with his praises, to magnify God, to bless him and exalt him, v. 46. He gives honour to him, 1. As a living God: The Lord liveth, v. 46. We had our lives at first from, and we owe the continuance of them to, that God who has life in himself and is therefore fitly called the living God. The gods of the heathen were dead gods. The best friends we have among men are dying friends. But God lives, lives for ever, and will not fail those that trust in him, but, because he lives, they shall live also; for he is their life. 2. As a finishing God: As for God, he is not only perfect himself, but his way is perfect, v. 30. He is known by his name Jehovah (Exod. vi. 3), a God performing and perfecting what he begins in providence as well as creation, Gen. ii. 1. If it was God that made David’s way perfect (v. 32), much more is his own way so. There is no flaw in God’s works, nor any fault to be found with what he does, Eccl. iii. 14. And what he undertakes he will go through with, whatever difficulties lie in the way; what God begins to build he is able to finish. 3. As a faithful God: The word of the Lord is tried. “I have tried it” (says David), “and it has not failed me.” All the saints, in all ages, have tried it, and it never failed any that trusted in it. It is tried as silver is tried, refined from all such mixture and alloy as lessen the value of men’s words. David, in God’s providences concerning him, takes notice of the performance of his promises to him, which, as it puts sweetness into the providence, so it puts honour upon the promise. 4. As the protector and defender of his people. David had found him so to him: “He is the God of my salvation (v. 46), by whose power and grace I am and hope to be saved; but not of mine only: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him (v. 30); he shelters and protects them all, is both able and ready to do so.” 5. As a non-such in all this, v. 31. There is a God, and who is God save Jehovah? That God is a rock, for the support and shelter of his faithful worshippers; and who is a rock save our God? Thus he not only gives glory to God, but encourages his own faith in him. Note, (1.) Whoever pretends to be deities, it is certain that there is no God, save the Lord; all others are counterfeits, Isa 44:8; Jer 10:10. (2.) Whoever pretends to be our felicities, there is no rock, save our God; none that we can depend upon to make us happy.
III. David looks forward, with a believing hope that God would still do him good. He promises himself, 1. That his enemies should be completely subdued, and that those of them that yet remained should be made his footstool,–that his government should be extensive, so that even a people whom he had not known should serve him (v. 43), –that his conquests, and, consequently, his acquests, should be easy (As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me, v. 44), –and that his enemies should be convinced that it was to no purpose to oppose him; even those that had retired to their fastnesses should not trust to them, but be afraid out of their close places, having seen so much of David’s wisdom, courage, and success. Thus the Son of David, though he sees not yet all things put under him, yet knows he shall reign till all opposing rule, principality, and power shall be quite put down. 2. That his seed should be forever continued in the Messiah, who, he foresaw, should come from his loins, v. 50. He shows mercy to his anointed, his Messiah, to David himself, the anointed of the God of Jacob in the type, and to his seed for evermore. He saith not unto seeds, as of many, but to his seed, as of one, that is Christ, Gal. iii. 16. It is he only that shall reign for ever, and of the increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end. Christ is called David, Hos. iii. 5. God has called him his king, Ps. ii. 6. Great deliverance God does give, and will give to him, and to his church and people, here called his seed, for evermore.
In singing these verses we must give God the glory of the victories of Christ and his church hitherto and of all the deliverances and advancements of the gospel kingdom, and encourage ourselves and one another with an assurance that the church militant will be shortly triumphant, will be eternally so.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
(29) Better with the verbs in the present
For by thee I scatter a troop,
By thee I scale walls.
A graphic reminiscence of warlike exploits. Some, however, read from Samuel break down, instead of leap over.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
29. Run through a troop Charged through a troop. The term is military. Job 15:26; Job 16:24.
Leaped over a wall Scaled the wall of a besieged city, or, as the Chaldee, “taken a fort.” Joe 2:7
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 18:29. For by thee I have run through a troop, &c. David mentions this as one instance of God’s lighting up his lamp; or his purpose to advance him to the greatest splendours of royal majesty: his beating the troops of his enemies, and his reducing some remarkable city or fortress; both of them circumstances which render men glorious in the eyes of the world. David soon after his settlement on the throne drove the Jebusite garrison out of Jerusalem, and reduced the city to his obedience, making it the future capital of his kingdom. And I think he must refer to these actions, or to his two victories over the Philistines, mentioned 2Sa 5:17; 2Sa 5:25 because I apprehend this Psalm was composed soon after he had introduced the ark into Jerusalem. David’s habitual piety should be here remarked; as he ascribes all his successes to the assistance of God, and in the two next verses celebratesThe unerring rectitude of his Providence: As for God, his way is perfect, in every thing just and kind:The truth of his promises; the word of the Lord is tried, free from deceit, as gold refined by fire, and certainly to be performed:And that powerful protection which he affords to good men; He is a buckler, a sure defence to all those who trust in him. To this he could bear witness from his own experience; and therefore he breaks out in that just acknowledgment, Psa 18:31. Who is God, save Jehovoah? or, who is a Rock,who can give absolute security from all dangers, save our God? He then goes on to enumerate the particular favours which God had bestowed on himself, and the various perils that he had been in, under which he experienced the divine protection. Chandler. Dr. Delaney advances a conjecture, that David composed the greater part of this Psalm after the deliverance he obtained from Saul’s messengers, when they were sent to his house to take him, and when he was let down by Michal out of the window, and escaped over the garden-wall: But, as we think the above interpretation of Dr. Chandler very satisfactory, we shall only refer such of our readers as are curious to enter into the subject, to the above quoted part of the Life of David. Some render the latter clause, By my God have I taken a fort.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Psa 18:29 For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
Ver. 29. For by thee have I run through a troop ] Though but a little man, yet by God’s help he achieved great matters, did great exploits. Homo tricubitalis, saith a Father concerning Paul; Et coelum ascendit: so here. Some render it, Currebam accinctus: I ran well appointed (Bucholcer); and they interpret it of his victory over Goliath, whom he ran upon and cut off his head, after that he had hurled at him with as good a force; Perinde ac si fundae suae tunicis non lapillum, sed Deum ipsum induisset ae implicuisset, saith one; as if he had got not a stone, but God himself, into the bought of his sling.
And by my God have I leapt over a wall
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
run = broken through.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
by thee: Psa 44:6, Psa 44:7, Psa 144:1, Psa 144:10, 1Sa 17:49, 1Sa 23:2, 1Sa 30:8, 2Sa 5:19, 2Sa 5:20, 2Sa 5:25, Eph 6:10-13, Col 2:15, Rev 3:21
run: or, broken
by my God: 2Sa 22:30, 1Co 15:10, 2Co 12:9, 2Co 12:10
Reciprocal: 1Sa 14:13 – climbed up 2Ch 26:7 – God helped Psa 108:13 – Through
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
18:29 For by thee I have {x} run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
(x) He attributes it to God that he both got the victory in the field and also destroyed the cities of his enemies.