Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 22:11
And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
11. he rode upon a cherub ] As the Shechinah, or mystic Presence of God in the cloud of glory, rested over the Cherubim which were upon the “Mercy-seat” or covering of the Ark (ch. 2Sa 6:2), so in this Theophany God is represented “riding upon a Cherub,” as the living throne on which He traverses space.
The Cherubim appear in Scripture ( a) as the guardians of Paradise (Gen 3:24): ( b) as sculptured or wrought figures in the Tabernacle and Temple (Exo 25:17-20; Exo 26:1, &c.): ( c) in prophetic visions as the attendants of God (Eze 10:1 ff; cp. Ezekiel 1; Isaiah 6; Revelation 4). The Cherubim of the Tabernacle and Temple seem to have been winged human figures, representing the angelic attendants who minister in God’s Presence: those of Ezekiel’s vision appear as composite figures (Eze 10:20-21), symbolical perhaps of all the powers of nature, which wait upon God and fulfil His Will.
was seen ] The true reading is that preserved in Psa 18:10, did fly, a peculiar word used of the swooping of an eagle (Deu 28:49; Jer 48:40; Jer 49:22). The consonants of the two words are so nearly alike ( ), that the rarer word would be easily altered into the more common one. For “the wings of the wind” cp. Psa 104:3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 11. He rode upon a cherub, and did fly – he was seen upon the things of the wind.] In the original of this sublime passage, sense and sound are astonishingly well connected. I shall insert the Hebrew, represent it in English letters for the sake of the unlearned reader, and have only to observe, he must read from the right to the left.
ruach canphey al vaiyera :vaiyaoph kerub al vayirkab
wind the of wings the upon seen was he and :fly did and cherub a upon rode he
The clap of the wing, the agitation and rush through the air are expressed here in a very extraordinary manner.
Other beauties of this kind will be noted in the exposition of the Psalm alluded to above.
I now subjoin Dr. Kennicott’s remarks on this chapter: –
“The very sublime poetry contained in this chapter is universally admired, and yet it cannot be perfectly understood, till it is known WHO is the speaker, who the person thus triumphant over mighty enemies, whose sufferings occasioned such a dreadful convulsion of nature, and, who, upon his deliverance, inflicted such vengeance on his own people, and also became thus a king over the heathen. Should we be told that this person was David, it will be very difficult to show how this description can possibly agree with that character: but if it did in fact agree, yet would it contradict St. Paul, who quotes part of it as predicting the conversion of the Gentiles under Christ the Messiah. Ro 15:9; Heb 2:13; and see Peirce’s Commentary, p. 50. Now if the person represented as speaking through this Divine ode be David only, the Messiah is excluded. In consequence of the difficulties resulting from each of these suppositions, the general idea has been that it relates both to David and to the Messiah as a prophecy of a double sense; first, as spoken by David of himself, and yet to be understood in a secondary sense, of the Messiah. But it must be remarked here, that if spoken only of David, it is not a prediction of any thing future, but a thanksgiving for favours past, and therefore is no prophecy at all. And farther, it could not be a prophecy descriptive of David unless the particulars agreed to David, which they evidently do not. If then David be here necessarily excluded from the single sense, he must be excluded also from the double sense, because nothing can be intended by any sacred writer, to relate to two persons, unless it be TRUE of both; but it not being the case here as to David, we must conclude that this song relates only to the Messiah; and on this subject an excellent Dissertation, by the late Mr. Peirce, is subjoined to his comment on the Epistle to the Hebrews. It may be necessary to add here two remarks: the twenty-fourth verse now ends with, I have kept myself from mine iniquity, which words, it is objected, are not proper, if applied to the Messiah. But this difficulty is removed, in part, by the context, which represents the speaker as perfectly innocent and righteous; and this exactly agrees with the proof arising from the Syriac and Arabic versions, and also the Chaldee paraphrase, that this word was anciently ab iniquitatibus; consequently, this is one of the many instances where the final mem is improperly omitted by the Jewish transcribers. See my General Dissertation, p. 12. Lastly, the difficulty arising from the title, which ascribes the Psalm to David, and which seems to make him the speaker in it, may be removed, either by supposing that the title here, like those now prefixed to several Psalms, is of no sufficient authority; or rather, by considering this title as only meant to describe the time when David composed this prophetic hymn, that when delivered from all his other enemies as well as from the hand of Saul, he then consecrated his leisure by composing this sublime prophecy concerning MESSIAH, his son, whom he represents here as speaking, (just as in Psa. 22, 40, and other places,) and as describing,
1. His triumph over death and hell;
2. The manifestations of Omnipotence in his favour, earth and heaven, trembling at God’s awful presence;
3. The speaker’s innocence thus divinely attested;
4. The vengeance he was to take on his own people the Jews, in the destruction of Jerusalem; and,
5. The adoption of the heathen, over whom he was to be the head and ruler.
“Another instance of a title denoting only the time of a prophecy, occurs in the very next chapter; where a prophecy concerning the Messiah is entitled, The LAST words of David; i.e., a hymn which he composed a little before his death, after all his other prophecies. And perhaps this ode in 2 Sam. 22, which immediately precedes that in 2 Sam. 23, was composed but a little while before; namely, when all his wars were over. Let it be added, that Josephus, immediately before he speaks of David’s mighty men, which follow in this same chapter of Samuel, considers the two hymns in 2 Sam. 22 and 23, as both written after his wars were over – Jam Davides, bellis et periculis perfunctus, pacemque deinceps profundam agitans, odas in Deum hymnosque composuit. Tom. i., page 401.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind. [See comments on Ps 18:10].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
11 He rode upon a cherub and flew hither,
And appeared upon the wings of the wind.
12 He made darkness round about Him as pavilions,
Water-gathering, thick clouds.
13 Out of the splendour before Him
Burned red-hot coals of fire.
These three verses are a further expansion of 2Sa 22:19, and 2Sa 22:11 of 2Sa 22:10. The cherub is not a personified earthly creature, for cherubim are angels around the throne of God (see at Gen 3:22). The poetical figure “riding upon the cherub” is borrowed from the fact that God was enthroned between the two cherubim upon the lid of the ark of the covenant, and above their outspread wings (Exo 25:20-21). As the idea of His “dwelling between the cherubim” (2Sa 6:2; 1Sa 4:4; Psa 80:2) was founded upon this typical manifestation of the gracious presence of God in the Most Holy place, so here David depicts the descent of Jehovah from heaven as “riding upon a cherub,” picturing the cherub as a throne upon which God appears in the clouds of heaven, though without therefore imagining Him as riding upon a sphinx or driving in a chariot-throne. Such notions as these are precluded by the addition of the term , “did fly.” The “ flying ” is also suggested by the wings of the cherubim. As the divine “ shechinah ” was enthroned above the ark of the covenant upon the wings of the cherubim, David in his poetical description represents the cherub and his wings as carrying the throne of God, to express the thought that Jehovah came down from heaven as the judge and saviour of His servants in the splendour of His divine glory, surrounded by cherubim who stand as His highest servants around His throne, just as Moses in his blessing (Deu 33:2) speaks of Jehovah as coming out of myriads of His holy angels. The elementary substratum of this was the wings of the wind, upon which He appeared. In the psalm we have , from , to soar (Deu 28:39; Jer 48:40), which suggests the idea of flying better than (He was seen), though the latter gives the real explanation. In 2Sa 22:12 and 2Sa 22:13, the “cloudy darkness under His feet” ( 2Sa 22:10) is still further expanded, so as to prepare the way for the description of thunder and lightning in 2Sa 22:14. God in His wrath withdraws His face from man. He envelopes himself in clouds. The darkness round about him is the black thunder-cloud which forms His hut or tent. The plural succoth is occasioned by the plural , “His surroundings:” it is used with indefinite generality, and is more probably the original term than in the psalm. The “ darkness ” is still further explained in the second clause, , water-gatherings. ( . . ) signifies, according to the Arabic, a gathering or collection. The expression used in the psalm is , water-darkness, which, if not less appropriate, is at any rate not the original term. , clouds of clouds, i.e., the thickest clouds; a kind of superlative, in which a synonym is used instead of the same noun.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(11) He was seen.Psalms 18, he did fly. The two words are exceedingly alike in the Hebrew, and either could easily be mistaken for the other. The form in the psalm is far more poetical.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Rides upon a cherub Jehovah communed with Moses from between the two cherubim that spread their wings over the mercy-seat.
Exo 25:22. So here he is represented as moving forth upborne on a cherub’s wing. Compare Ezekiel’s vision, where the outspread wings of the cherubim support the firmament on which rests the throne of the Divine Glory. Eze 1:23; Eze 1:26.
Wings of the wind An allusion to some sweeping tempest, an element often used as the Lord’s minister of judgment. Comp. Jdg 5:4, note.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
fly. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. App-6.
was seen. Some codices, with two early printed editions, read “and darted”.
wind. Hebrew. ruach. App-9.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a cherub: Gen 3:24, Exo 25:19, 1Sa 4:4, Psa 18:10, Psa 68:17, Psa 80:1, Psa 99:1, Eze 9:3, Eze 10:2-14, Heb 1:14
upon the: Psa 104:3, Psa 139:9
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
22:11 And he rode upon a {g} cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
(g) To fly in a moment through the world.