Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 18:33

He maketh my feet like hinds’ [feet], and setteth me upon my high places.

33. like hinds’ feet] The hind, like the gazelle, was a type of the agility, swiftness, and sure-footedness which were indispensable qualifications in ancient warfare. Cp. 2Sa 2:18; 1Ch 12:8.

setteth me upon my high places ] The metaphor of the hind, bounding freely over the hills, is continued. David’s high places are the mountain strongholds, the occupation of which secured him in the possession of the country. Cp. Deu 32:13; and Hab 3:19, which is a reminiscence of this passage and Deu 33:29.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

He maketh my feet like hinds feet – So Hab 3:19, He will make my feet like hinds feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. The hind is the female deer, remarkable for fleetness or swiftness. The meaning here is, that God had made him alert or active, enabling him to pursue a flying enemy, or to escape from a swift-running foe.

And setteth me upon my high places – places of safety or refuge. The idea is, that God had given him security, or had rendered him safe from danger. Compare Deu 32:13. Swiftness of foot, or ability to escape from, or to pursue an enemy, was regarded as of great value in ancient warfare. Achilles, according to the descriptions of Homer, was remarkable for it. Compare 2Sa 2:18; 1Ch 12:8.

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 33. My feet like hinds’ feet] Swiftness, or speed of foot, was a necessary qualification of an ancient hero. This was of great advantage in pursuing, combating, or escaping from a fallen foe. , “the swiftfooted Achilles,” is frequently given by Homer as a most honourable qualification of his hero.

Upon my high places.] In allusion to the hinds, antelopes, mountain goats, &c., which frequented such places, and in which they found both food and safety. God frequently preserved the life of David by means of these.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Like hinds feet, i.e. most swift and nimble. As he made me wise in counsel and contrivance, (which he elsewhere saith,) so he made me speedy and expeditious in the execution; which are the two great excellencies of a captain. He gave me great agility, either to flee and escape from mine enemies, when prudence required it; or to pursue them, when I saw occasion.

Setteth me, Heb. maketh me to stand, i.e. either he placeth me in safe and strong places, out of the reach of mine enemies; or he confirms and establisheth me in that high and honourable estate into which he hath advanced me, and gives me wisdom to improve my victories.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

33-36. God’s help fartherdescribed. He gives swiftness to pursue or elude his enemies (Hab3:19), strength, protection, and a firm footing.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

He maketh my feet like hind’s [feet],…. As light and swift as theirs, as the Targum; that is, either to flee, when there was a necessity for it, as Kimchi observes; or rather to pursue after the enemy, to run through a troop, and leap over a wall, as before; see

1Ch 12:8; the same phrase is used in Hab 3:19; and may be understood in a spiritual sense of that readiness and cheerfulness with which the saints run the ways of God’s commandments, when their hearts are enlarged with his love and grace; and may very well be applied to Christ, who is often compared to a roe, or a young hart, for swiftness; who readily and at once engaged to come and do the will of God, and whose coming in the flesh, at the appointed time, was swift; and who made haste to do the work of God, in which he took the utmost pleasure; and who is a speedy and present help to his people in time of trouble; see So 2:8;

and setteth me upon my high places; the towers and fortresses, and strong and fortified places, where he was safe from his enemies; and: in a spiritual sense, may design the everlasting love of God, the covenant of grace, its blessings and promises; and Christ himself, with the fulness of grace in him, on which believers may be said to be set, when their faith is directed to them, and they live and dwell upon them; see Hab 3:19; and, the words were fulfilled in Christ, when God highly exalted him at his right hand, and set him above all principalities and powers, and made him higher than the heavens.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

David, having taken many strongholds which, on account of their steep and difficult access, were believed to be impregnable, extols the grace of God in this particular. When he says that God had given him feet like hinds’ feet, he means that he had given him unusual swiftness, and such as does not naturally belong to men. The sense, therefore, is, that he had been aided by God in an extraordinary manner, so that like a roe he climbed with amazing speed over inaccessible rocks. He calls the strongholds, which, as conqueror, he had obtained by right of war, his high places; for he could justly boast that he took possession of nothing which belonged to another man, inasmuch as he knew that he had been called to occupy these fortresses by God. When he says that his hands had been taught and framed to war, he confesses that he had not acquired his dexterity in fighting by his own skill, nor by exercise and experience, but had obtained it as a gift through the singular goodness of God. It is true in general, that strength and skill in war proceed only from a secret virtue communicated by God; but David immediately after shows that he had been furnished with greater strength for carrying on his wars than what men commonly possess, inasmuch as his arms were sufficiently strong to break even bows of brass in pieces True, he had by nature a vigorous and powerful bodily frame; but the Scripture describes him as a man of low stature, and the similitude itself which he here uses implies something surpassing the natural strength of man. In the following verse, he declares that it was by the grace of God alone that he had escaped, and been kept in perfect safety: Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation. By the phrase, the shield of God’s salvation, he intimates, that if God had not wonderfully preserved him, he would have been exposed unprotected to many deadly wounds; and thus God’s shield of salvation is tacitly opposed to all the coverings and armor with which he had been provided. He again ascribes his safety to the free goodness of God as its cause, which he says had increased him, or more and more carried him forward in the path of honor and success; for, by the word increase, he means a continuation and an unintermitted and ever growing augmentation of the tokens of the divine favor towards him.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(33) This verse is borrowed in Hab. 3:19. For swiftness as an essential of a warrior in Oriental esteem comp. 2Sa. 1:23, and the invariable epithet in Homers Iliad, swift-footed Achilles. For hind comp. Gen. 49:21. Observe his feet in Samuel.

My high places.With allusion to the mountain fortresses the poet had scaled and won.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

33. Like hinds’ feet Not only swift but sure footed, so as to walk in difficult places safely. In the Egyptian paintings the hind is the symbol of fleetness. See on Psa 42:1.

Setteth me upon my high places Perhaps, causeth my feet to stand sure on elevated, and hence insecure, paths, like the hind: but it is probably better to take high places for strongholds. “He establishes me in fastnesses,” which were commonly on tops of hills or mountains. The passage is parallel to Hab 3:19, where to “walk upon high places,” or fortresses, means to have the military control of the land. So, also, Deu 33:29, et al.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments