Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 144:10
[It is he] that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.
10. Cp. Psa 18:50. Who giveth salvation (or victory) unto kings may be meant as a general truth not to be limited to Israel only (cp. Psa 33:16), and David his servant may denote the typical ruler of Jehovah’s people (cp. Eze 34:23); or the reference may be historical, who gave victory who rescued David.
the hurtful (lit. evil) sword ] i.e. from the calamity of war. The Targ. renders ‘the evil sword of Goliath,’ but the reference is quite general.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
It is he that giveth salvation unto kings – Margin, Victory. The Hebrew word means salvation, but it is used here in the sense of deliverance or rescue. Even kings, with all their armies, have no hope but in God. They seem to be the most powerful of men, but they are, like all other people, wholly dependent on him for deliverance from danger. David thus recognizes his own entire dependence. Though a king in the divine purpose and in fact, yet he had no power but as derived from God; he had no hope of deliverance but in him. It is implied further that God might as readily be supposed to be willing to interpose in behalf of kings as of other people when their cause was right, and when they looked to him for aid. See the notes at Psa 33:16 : there is no king saved by the multitude of an host. Compare Psa 44:5-6.
Who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword – Who has done it; who can do it again; on whom alone David is dependent as all other men are. David speaks of himself by name elsewhere. See Psa 18:50; 2Sa 7:26. He refers to himself also under the name of the king, Psa 61:6; Psa 63:11. Caesar, in his writings, often speaks of himself in the same way.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Psa 144:10
It is He that giveth salvation unto kings.
The care of Providence in defence of kings
God in the government of the world exercises a peculiar and extraordinary providence over the persons and lives of princes.
I. Upon what account any act of Gods providence may be said to be peculiar and extraordinary.
1. When a thing falls out beside the common and usual operation of its proper cause.
2. When a thing falls out beside or contrary to the design of expert, politic, and shrewd persons, contriving or acting in it.
3. When a thing comes to pass visibly and apparently beyond the power of the cause immediately employed in it.
II. How and by what means God does after such an extraordinary manner save and deliver princes.
1. By endowing them with a more than ordinary sagacity and quickness of understanding above other men (1Ki 4:29; Pro 20:8; Pro 25:5).
2. By giving them a singular courage and presence of mind in cases of difficulty and danger (1Sa 10:9; 1Sa 11:6).
3. By disposing of events and accidents in a strange concurrence for their advantage and preservation.
4. By wonderfully inclining the hearts and wills of men to a benign affection towards them (2Sa 19:14).
5. By rescuing them from unseen and unknown mischiefs prepared against them.
6. By imprinting a certain awe and dread of their persons and authority upon the minds of their subjects (Dan 5:12).
7. By disposing their hearts to such virtuous and pious courses as He has promised a blessing to; and by restraining them from those ways to which He has denounced a curse. And this is the greatest deliverance of all; as having a prospect upon the felicity of both worlds, and laying a foundation for all other deliverances.
III. The reasons why Providence is so much concerned in the salvation and deliverance of kings.
1. They are the greatest instruments in the hand of Providence to support government and civil society in the world.
2. They have the most powerful influence upon the concerns of religion, and the preservation of the Church, of all other persons whatsoever.
IV. Some useful deductions.
1. The duty and behaviour of princes towards God. It shows them from whom, in their distress, they are to expect, and to whom, in their glory, they are to ascribe, all their deliverances.
2. Does not God by such a protecting providence over kings point out to us the sacredness of their persons? and command a reverence where tie Himself thinks fit to place an honour? Does not every extraordinary deliverance of a prince carry this inscription upon it in the brightest characters, Touch not Mine anointed? (R. South, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. He that giveth salvation unto kings] Monarchy, in the principle, is from God: it is that form of government which, in the course of the Divine providence, has principally prevailed; and that which, on the whole, has been most beneficial to mankind. God, therefore, has it under his peculiar protection. It is by him that kings reign; and by his special providence they are protected.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Kings are not preserved by their own power or prudence, but by Gods special providence, which for the public good of the world watcheth over them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
[It is he] that giveth salvation to kings,…. Which is the reason of singing the new song to the Lord, or this is the matter of it. The Lord is the Preserver of men and beasts, the Saviour of all men, and especially of them that believe; who are in a spiritual sense kings and priests unto God; and in a temporal sense he saves high and low, rich and poor: but there is a particular providence respecting kings; who, as they are the powers ordained of God, and are his vicegerents on earth, and represent him, so they are preserved by him; were they not, there would soon be an end to all public order and government: they cannot save themselves; nor are they saved by their bodyguards about them; nor is any king saved by the multitude of his host, but by the Lord, Ps 33:16. Or, “he that giveth victory to kings”; over their enemies; which is not obtained by the strength and force of their armies, and by their military skill valour; but by the right hand and arm of the Lord: and therefore, whenever this is the case, a new song should be sung to him; see Ps 98:1. David no doubt has regard to himself, and to the many salvations God had wrought for him, and the victories he had given him; as also to the King Messiah, whom God heard and helped, as man and Mediator, in the day of salvation, and gave it to him, and in which he rejoiced, Isa 49:8;
who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword; David literally, the servant of the Lord by creation, redemption, and grace, as well as by his office, as king of Israel; him the Lord delivered from the sword of Goliath, as the Targum; from the sword of Saul, as Jarchi and Kimchi; and from the sword of strange children, as Arama; of all his enemies he had been or was engaged with in war: and David mystically, Christ the son of David, God’s righteous servant, he chose, called, upheld; and in whom he was glorified, by doing his work diligently, faithfully, and completely; him he delivered from the sword of justice, when he had satisfied it; and from wicked men, like a sword; and from all his enemies, and death itself, when he raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; see Ps 22:20. Aben Ezra thinks there is a defect of the copulative “and”: and that it should be read, “from the sword and evil”; every evil person or thing; and observes, that some take it for an adjective, and understand it of an evil camp or company.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(10) David his servant.See Psa. 18:50.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 144:10 [It is he] that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword.
Ver. 10. It is he that giveth salvation (or victory) unto kings] Ferdinand, king of Arragon, sending his son against the Florentines, thus bespake him: Victoria mihi crede, non hominum disciplinis aut industria comparatur, sed Dei O.M. benignitate et arbitrio, Deum igitur imprimis cole, in eum confide, a quo tum victorias omnes tum optima quaeque provenire dubio procul est, &c.: Believe me, son, victories are not gotten by art or industry, but given of God (Val. Max. Christian., p. 516).
Who delivereth David his servant
From the hurtful sword
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
delivereth = snatcheth; same word as “rid”, verses: Psa 7:11.
David . . . sword; with special reference to Goliath’s sword in 1Sa 17:50, 1Sa 17:51.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Psa 144:10
Psa 144:10
“Thou art he that giveth salvation unto kings;
Who rescueth David his servant from the hurtful sword.”
“David his servant” (Psa 144:10). This cannot mean anyone else except the king David who succeeded Saul. The idea is repulsive that any other of the so-called Davidic-line of kings would have been called God’s servant. Furthermore, it was nothing unusual for David to refer to himself in his writings. “He refers to himself as `David’ in Psa 18:50, and in 2Sa 7:27; and he refers to himself as `the king’ in Psa 51:6 and Psalms 53:11.
E.M. Zerr:
Psa 144:10. The passage gives God the glory for the preservation of himself and other kings. Without the help of God, the most noted of kings would not be able to escape the hurtful sword, a common weapon of warfare in those days.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
that giveth: Psa 18:50, Psa 33:16-18, 2Sa 5:19-25, 2Sa 8:6-14, 2Ki 5:1
salvation: or, victory, Isa 45:1-6, Jer 27:6-8
who delivereth: Psa 140:7, 1Sa 17:45, 1Sa 17:46, 2Sa 21:16, 2Sa 21:17
Reciprocal: 2Sa 22:51 – the tower 2Sa 23:10 – the Lord 1Ch 11:14 – deliverance 1Ch 14:11 – God 1Ch 18:13 – Thus the Lord 2Ch 32:22 – Lord Est 2:21 – and sought Psa 18:29 – by thee Psa 44:7 – But Pro 21:31 – safety Heb 11:33 – through Heb 11:34 – escaped
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
144:10 [It is he] that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his {i} servant from the hurtful sword.
(i) Though wicked kings are called God’s servants, as was Cyrus in Isa 45:1, for he uses them to execute his judgments: yet David because of God’s promise and they who rule godly are properly so called, because they do not serve their own affections, but set forth God’s glory.